Colonization (14 page)

“Andromeda, you’re late. Are you okay?” Mom chopped enormous vegetables on the kitchen counter with the same laser knife she took out scouting with her that very first day. Her voice and squinty eyes had more than a hint of suspicion in them. I’d hoped she’d still be in the greenhouses, but unfortunately for me this was one of the rare evenings she came home early to make dinner.

“I’m fine. I went for a walk to clear my head.” A simmer of annoyance sped through me. Here I was trying to save the colony, and everything I did looked irresponsible.

“You don’t look well. What’s that red bump on your cheek?” Mom walked over and put her hand on my forehead.

Telling her I went to see Sirius and stumbled into the path of a transport ship didn’t seem like a great idea. “Um…I fell on the way.”

“You shouldn’t be out and about if you’re not feeling well. I see you didn’t take your crutch.” She gave me a stern glance.

I scrunched up my face. “I’m fine, really, and my ankle’s much better.”

“Okay then.” She sighed like I plagued her with a thousand woes and handed me silverware. “Here, help me set the table.”

“For three?” My voice rose in hope.

“For two. Your dad’s working late.”

“When can we all sit together at the table again as a family?” My voice came out whinier than I would’ve liked.

“Andromeda, you know how important these first months are on Paradise 21. We must establish ourselves if we’re going to succeed as a colony. A lot of work has to be done, and your dad is an important part of the power systems team.”

All I wanted was for her to say she missed our previous life, too. But she’d never utter a word of that. Not my mom. Besides, she was probably happier now than ever.

“I learned more about the microbes today,” Mom offered, probably trying to change the subject.

“Oh, really?”

“Although they’re antibiotic-resistant, I’m developing a strain that may weaken their defenses.”

“That’s great, Mom.” I had a sudden pang of guilt for calling in sick. As important as it was to find out more about the microbes, I had to find those aliens. Then I thought of my conversation with Ray. He’d said “they.” Did he mean the aliens as well? I still needed to find out what happened to him.

“Hey, Mom, have you seen Ray?”

Mom dropped the napkin holder on the table and stared at me as if I’d grown another head. “That’s a cruel joke. Honestly, I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately.”

Her voice stung, and I shook my head. “What?”

“Didn’t you hear?” Mom’s brow creased.

“No, I didn’t hear anything. Why?”

“Ray died early this morning. He fell deeper into the coma and they couldn’t keep his heart rate steady.”

It was impossible: I saw him alive and well in the jungle. He talked to me.

“Andromeda, are you okay?”

“No.” The silverware slipped from my fingers and clanged on the table. Mom moved to comfort me, but I tore myself from her grasp and flew into my room. I banged my fist against the wall panel and the portal materialized in between us.

I was afraid Mom would override the portal lock and barge in, but I heard no sounds from the kitchen. She probably left to get Dad.

Tears ran down my face as I tried to put my world back together and still have it make sense. If Ray was dead, what had I seen in the jungle? His ghost?

That was such a ridiculous thought, it almost made me laugh. Maybe he escaped and they were trying to cover it up. Maybe I was out for longer than I thought and I talked to him before he died. Then I remembered he was in a coma, so that wouldn’t make sense. Nothing made sense.

I thought about the aliens. Our scanners couldn’t detect them. They were transparent. I always saw them around crystals. Maybe they did something to Ray to make his body transparent. How? If he’d died, how would they have his body? That made me think about ghosts again, but this time it didn’t seem as ridiculous.

Ray said we needed to talk next to the crystals, so maybe they gave off some sort of psionic pulse, allowing the spirit realm to come through. I wished more than ever Great-grandma Tiff was still alive. Everyone onboard the ship thought paranormal stuff was nonsense, but Great-grandma Tiff used to tell me psychic ability ran in our family. She hinted at her own inklings from time to time. In fact, wasn’t she talking about that the evening before she died?

Thinking about Great-grandma Tiff’s death complicated everything, so I pushed that thought aside. I needed to focus on what happened to Ray. If he really was a ghost, then were the aliens all dead? Did I see the ghosts of their failed civilization? Were they trying to warn me, like Ray said?

All this time I thought they were the enemy, and here they were trying to help me, to get me to see before the same thing happened to all of us. How could I be so prejudiced?

The puzzle came together before my eyes: the aliens, Ray’s ghost, the warnings. If what Ray said was true, something endangered our colony beyond that ridge, and I was the only one who knew about it, the only one who could stop it.

I threw my arms up and paced my room. What could a lowly species integration assistant do? No one would listen to my story without throwing me in the emergency sick bay. I had no way of getting beyond that ridge.

I stopped in mid-step and froze.

I knew someone who could.

Chapter Sixteen

Mission Farewell

Dawn broke the horizon in a soft display of pale orchid light. I ran from the ship’s loading dock to the airstrip, hoping with a bursting heart I wasn’t too late. Every ship in the air might be Sirius’s and their roaring engines mocked my feeble plight. I had to wait until both my parents left our family unit or risk being bombarded by a slew of questions. I wasn’t ready to tell anyone where I was headed, or why.

A laser of pain shot through my ankle every time I stomped on it, but I clenched my teeth and closed the distance, putting myself once again under the stern gaze of Lieutenant Crophaven.

“Here to see Sirius Smith again?”

Panting, I struggled to answer him. “Yes. I couldn’t find him yesterday.”

“Well, you’re in luck. The mission was delayed due to a faulty engine capacitor. They won’t be leaving for another few hours.”

Relief flooded my body, and I felt like I’d liquefy right on the spot. “Where is he?”

“Over there by his Corsair. Keep your conversation short and don’t distract him. He’s got a tough scouting mission on his hands.”

“Yes, sir.” As if anything I had to say would calm him down?

I jogged over to the row of ships, looking for his familiar head of space-black hair. The ships all looked the same to me and I didn’t know his unit number, so I wandered around.

The paint was so new, each Corsair looked like a child’s toy, polished up for pretend missions. I touched the airbrushed symbol of the
New Dawn
, tracing the contours of the antique ship and the ship number 747.

“Annie, I thought you wouldn’t come.”

My face flushed and I turned around, startled and embarrassed.

“I came yesterday, but you were up in the air.”

“Oh.” He looked surprised, as if I’d thrown out our friendship almost as fast as he did. At first his lack of confidence in me hurt, then I grew defensive.
Serves him right.

“Listen, Mom and I dissected that flower Nova gave us, and we’ve found a bunch of microbes which may be responsible for making people sick.”

“That’s great news, Annie. I knew you’d figure it out.”

“That’s not all. And Mom doesn’t know about this part.” I leaned in closer to him and whispered, “I’ve seen things, strange unexplainable things, leading me to believe the real threat lies beyond the ridge.”

“What do you mean?”

I shook my head, wishing I could offer him more solid evidence. “I’m not sure. The problem is I have no proof, and I can’t report any of this to Lieutenant Crophaven without proof. You’re the only one who will listen to me that can help. You’ve always believed in me, and I need you to believe in me now.”

He leaned in even closer so his breath fell on my lips. “What do you want me to do?”

Intoxicated by his close proximity, I had to refocus my thoughts. “I need you to detour your mission and take some aerial photos of what’s behind that ridge. It could be nothing, or it could be something that poses a threat.”

Sirius backed away and crossed his arms, looking around him and then back at me. “You’re asking a lot. To go against my orders and change the coordinates of the mission…”

“You’re the only hope I have of knowing what’s behind the ridge.”

“I could lose my aviator’s license and everything I’ve worked for.”

“I know.” I took a deep breath, summoning the courage to ask him one more time. “Do it for the colony.”

“No.” His eyes creased, and I thought he’d deny me and we’d all die a horrible death from microbes infecting our bodies, like the aliens before us. I moved to turn away, but his hand held my arm and he leaned in close again. “I’ll do it for you.”

Before I knew it, he leaned toward me and his lips touched mine. Warmth flowed from my mouth all the way down to the bottom of my stomach. So many times I dreamed of this moment, but never under these circumstances. Part of the kiss felt so undeniably right, and another part felt heartbreakingly wrong. I ignored that part and kissed him back for a second, reveling in the softness of his lips. Then I tore myself away and ran without looking back.

I hobbled away from the airstrip, running from Sirius, and mostly running from the truth.

He isn’t mine.

I hit the jungle and sobbed, tearing the vines from the canopy as they got in my way. Sap ran down my arms as I reached the first outcropping of crystal and pounded my fists into it until it cut my arms and my blood mingled with that of the jungle’s. I coughed, unable to sob any longer, and collapsed on the turf with my head between my knees.

“Bad day?”

I looked up. Ray, exactly as he was when I last left him, stood above me like an angel of light. In any other circumstance I’d be flabbergasted, but right now I wanted more than anything to be alone. “You could say that, yes.” Instant guilt zapped through me. No matter what had happened to me, Ray had had the worst day of them all. “Why didn’t you tell me you were dead?”

“I thought it would scare you away. Or you wouldn’t believe me.”

I sniffed and wiped my face on my arm. “You’re probably right.”

“About which one?”

I threw a vine across the jungle floor. “Take your pick.”

Ray crossed his arms. “You don’t have to be testy.”

I scanned the jungle around us. “Where are the aliens? Why did they send you?”

Ray looked around him as if they’d appear over his shoulder. “They didn’t send me. I sent myself. Besides, the whole communication thing works better if you speak the same language.”

“Right.” I didn’t want to admit how much they freaked me out.

“Did you send someone to look over the ridge?”

I huffed, wanting to block the memory in my mind and relive it over and over again at the same time. “Yeah, he’s going on the mission later today. That’s
if
he takes my advice.”

Ray let out a breath of relief, but no air moved above me, reminding me he wasn’t really there. “Let’s hope it’s not too late.”

“Too late for what?”

Ray shook his head. “I’m not really sure. All I know is I’m being pulled in another direction. I can’t stay around here forever.”

“You can’t stay and help?”

“You’re the one, Annie.”

My eyes shot up. That’s what Great-grandma Tiff used to say. The light dimmed above us and he seemed less substantial, as if the sun’s rays powered the crystal, keeping his vision strong.

Suddenly I didn’t want him to leave. I had so many more questions, and I didn’t want to be alone. “Ray?”

“At least you had a chance to find love.”

My head fell, and I stared at the vines on the ground. Was love the intense yearning that blossomed deep down in my gut? If so, I wasn’t sure I wanted it. Besides, what good was love if you couldn’t act upon it?

When I looked up again, he’d disappeared.

***

After Ray disappeared, I picked myself up and decided to move on with my life. How could I be
the one
? The one to do what, exactly? His last words dropped a heavy guilt on me. I wasted time brooding about what could never be when I should have been working hard to help those around me, find a cure for Amber. I stomped over the turf to the greenhouses.

Mom looked up from her experiments with shock. “Andromeda, I didn’t expect you to come in today.”

After how I acted last night, I wouldn’t have either. “I’m sorry I’ve been so weird these past few days.”

Mom stood up and opened her arms. “It’s all right, honey. This has been a big change for all of us. I’m sorry I broke the news to you about Ray in the way I did.”

I walked the distance to her and fell into her arms. I didn’t remember the last time I’d hugged her and it felt good, almost as if we were a normal family again. The homey scent of her vegetable soup mingled with the lavender soap we used filled my lungs. Another scent hid among the rest—the tang of strange lab chemicals. Crystal dust coated the front of her lab coat. As I hugged her, my eyes strayed to the tables behind her and my heart flipped in my chest.

“Mom, what are you doing?”

A bed of blood-red flowers grew cased in glass in a horrific, twisted garden in the middle of the lab samples. There must have been twenty blossoms, all flourishing in the greenhouse’s filtered light.

“I found some seeds in the sample Nova brought us. I’m using the accelerated growth crystals to study its life cycle.”

I wanted to hold my breath and never let it go. “What if it gets loose in the air?”

Mom’s lips stretched thin. “It won’t. The glass is air-tight. We can observe the plant throughout every form of its life cycle and perhaps locate more of them around us in the jungle turf.”

The idea was brilliant, yet it made me want to quarantine the lab and shut it down, plowing the site over with a Landrover. “Lieutenant Crophaven would never authorize this.”