Common vegetables hung from white plastic rods across the tops of the tanks, keeping the plants immersed in the liquid as if it were soil, with leaves and such above, and roots trailing underwater. The heat got her dizzy by the time she reached the halfway point, and she stopped, leaning on a tank full of cucumbers, to fan herself.
“Hello,” said a man.
She looked up at a dark-skinned, thin man with short black hair and a curious smile. His yellow jumpsuit bore dirt smears and fluid stains, as if he worked on a real farm.
“Oh, hi. Sorry. Just looking around.”
“Figured.” He offered a hand. “I’m Sanjay. Don’t usually get many people in here who aren’t on the team.”
“Kerys.” She shook hands. “Only been here for three days… well almost four now.”
“Ahh, you came in with the last shuttle. Heard they were bringing in a crew to check out something they discovered outside.” He scratched his head. “Was quite a long time ago they found that, wasn’t it?”
“Commute was a bitch.” She laughed.
He opened his mouth to say something, closed it, tilted his head, and chuckled. “Oh… right. So, checking the place out?”
“Yeah. One of my teammates got hurt, so they decided to cancel the second half of our work today. I should probably be evaluating the images and data from the 3D modeler instead of sightseeing. I guess I’m having some trouble focusing. Starting to feel like I’m a long way from home.”
“Heh. That we are. I came out here with the second wave, right around the time they found that hole in the ridge. Been here about three years. Doesn’t feel like it.”
“Nice little greenhouse you guys have here.” She turned in place, surveying all the overhead lights, walkways, and fluid-filled tanks. “What’s back there in the murky tanks?”
“Meat. Chicken, beef, and pork. Well, muscle tissue grown on an artificial substrate to shape it into layers. From a genetic standpoint, we’ve all been eating the same three animals for years.”
The grilled chicken fought back. Kerys put a hand on her gut. “Ugh.”
“Oh, it’s actually a lot cleaner than what you get on Earth. No insecticides, no hormones, no contamination of any kind really. There’s no bugs or parasites or anything up here. Plus…” He struck a pose as if trying to amuse a small child. “Fluffy doesn’t have to die.”
“Well, that’s something, I guess. I had this guy in one of my classes… he was so much of a vegan it got obnoxious. We stopped at this place to pick up dinner one night, and he refused to even touch the bag because people had ordered burgers and chicken. I had to drive with that thing in my lap.”
“Wow.” Sanjay shook his head.
She turned in place, eyeing a cluster of onions. “Kind of eerie in here actually. Like the veggies are watching us.”
“Maybe they are.” He wagged his eyebrows. “Or maybe you’ve been in a confined space too long.”
“Right.” She laughed. “This has to be boring as hell.”
“Oh, it’s got its moments.” Sanjay grinned while pointing his thumb over his shoulder at a bank of computer equipment in the back of the chamber. “Whenever I get too bored, I just think about how this room produces the only human-compatible food for thousands of light years. Our survival hinges on a couple of twenty-five dollar fuses and about thirty thousand lines of program code. Hope they checked it twice.”
Kerys gawked at him.
“Hah. Got you.” He winked.
She slouched, heaving a sigh of relief.
“The fuses cost closer to four hundred bucks,” said Sanjay with a straight face.
“That’s not helping.” She cringed.
He gestured at the south wall. “We’ve got Hydra rations that will keep everyone going for nine months. Avasar sends out a resupply ship on routine six-month intervals. Usually they’re unmanned, and they drop off things we can’t produce here. Medical supplies, tools, fuel for the reactor, that sort of thing. If we ran into a problem we didn’t have the parts to fix, we could evacuate in groups of twenty. It’s not as dangerous as I made it sound, but it makes me feel like I’m doing something more meaningful than farming turnips in deep space.”
She held up her hands. “Okay, I’ll give you that one.”
A beeping noise drew Sanjay’s attention to a small screen strapped to his left forearm. “Filter on 11B is acting up. I should check on that. Nice meeting you.”
“Yeah, and I should like actually do some work. Same. Nice to meet you.”
The packing room felt like air conditioning by comparison to the greenhouse. Kerys unzipped her jumpsuit a little and flapped it against her chest to cool off as she walked. She vaguely remembered seeing a section of cubicles designated for her team, and headed for the stairwell.
As soon as she emerged on the second floor, a woman called her name. Kerys whirled toward the voice. Annapurna strode out from a row of grey fabric cube walls, long black hair fanning out behind her as she hurried over with a look of urgency and concern.
“Yes?” asked Kerys.
“There you are. I’ve been trying to find you. I wanted to let you know that we’ve discovered a cavity inside that artifact.”
“How large? Is there something in it?”
“If there’s something in it, it’s not dense enough to appear on either X-ray or MRI, or some property of that substance is inhibiting our ability to detect it. The ‘head’―as people are calling it―appears to be a form of volcanic glass with a high silicon content. The cavity is about the size of a cantaloupe, and may well be a simple gas bubble that got trapped within before it cooled.”
“Oh. Is it going to be let inside?”
Annapurna offered a noncommittal shrug. “It’s not my decision exclusively, but so far I haven’t found anything that would lead me to worry. Mr. Braxton is keen on having it admitted, as is Captain Chen, so I imagine it’ll be approved. Doctor Mardling is the most hesitant.”
“I see.” She fidgeted.
“What do you think of it?” Annapurna tilted her head. “Certainly a unique discovery.”
Kerys brimmed with glee. All traces of fear evaporated. “I’m thinking it’s probably like a bust. A statue, like the Romans had Nero heads all over the place. To me, it looks like a face with four eyes. Doesn’t have a mouth that’s apparent, so perhaps this species doesn’t eat the way we think of eating. They could absorb electricity for nourishment, or photosynthesize, or even have ‘mouths’ elsewhere on the body.”
“Interesting.” Annapurna smiled, shifting her demeanor from professional to casual. “Would you mind if I asked you a personal question?”
Here we go. “I suppose. About Will, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I’ve noticed he’s been on edge since you’ve arrived. I know you have some history with him, but something is not right with him. I… don’t mean to pry, but if you ever need an ear to bend, I’m willing to listen.”
Oh, whew. She’s not going to push. “Thanks. We dated a while ago. He never got over it. It’s not a problem really. I guess he’s not coping with the shock of seeing me.”
“I can tell you that’s true,” said Annapurna. “He’s been muttering to himself when he thinks no one can hear him. He’s… not happy you’re here, but he seems more like he’s afraid you’ll get hurt. Not that he’s angry with you personally.”
Kerys sighed, adding an eye-roll. “Back home, he didn’t even want me driving. I’m a girl, so I run the risk of fatal injury doing anything but being pretty.”
She smirked. “I never pegged him for that manner of chauvinist.”
“Oh, he’s good. He hides it well. You probably won’t see that side of him unless you wind up moving in with him. I’ll give him one thing―he can stay professional at work. He saves the tantrums for where his bosses can’t see. He won’t let anything get between him and what he wants, not even himself.”
“I see.” Annapurna shifted her jaw side to side for a moment in thought. “I hope he will
be able to stay focused and that your being here won’t cause problems.”
Kerys twitched. After all she’d been through to get this job, get out here, find the artifact… now this woman had the temerity to suggest they might have to send her home if she caused Will’s work to suffer. “If Will screws up, it’s his fault. You can’t pin it on me if he can’t hold himself together and―”
“Kerys.” Annapurna put a hand on her shoulder. “That’s not what I’m saying at all. I understand more about your situation than you think I do. His name is Rajesh, and it’s been six years since I’ve detangled my life from his. If Will cannot function with you being here, it wouldn’t be you on the shuttle home. At least, not if I have anything to say about it.”
Kerys blinked. What? Wow. Really? After a few seconds of shocked staring, she exhaled with relief, shivering off the last vestiges of rage she’d summoned to defend herself. “Thanks. I’d rather stay away from him as much as possible.”
“I understand.” Annapurna smiled. “I’ll send you the result of the scan. I’m sure you’re dying to get your hands on some high res images.”
“Yes!” Kerys bounced on her toes.
“I’ve got this modeling suite and some VR goggles. Once we do a full laser-scan on a specimen, you could hold it in the palm of your hand or go walking around on it as if you were the size of a flea.”
“I feel like a little kid on my birthday. Is it in the system yet?”
“The scanning is done, but the data is still compiling. It should be ready for a simulation in about ten minutes. Come on, I’ll show you where they put your desk.”
Kerys grinned. “Awesome. Lead the way.”
7
Lamiaceae Advena
For hours, Kerys wandered the surface of a virtual recreation, exploring the alien ‘head’ she’d discovered. The simulation scaled her point of view to one-eighth of an inch tall, allowing her to see the material as a dark translucent red around an interior core of black-grey silicon. She could increase or decrease her ‘size’ by sliding a finger up or down the right side of the VR goggles, and kept going back and forth between flea and a perspective roughly equal in height to the head.
The front portion, about where the ‘nose’ would be, curved downward and back in, somewhat like the shell of a nautilus. At the point where the upward sweep met the main bulk, she discovered a seam, which made her think she’d located the mouth. Whether or not it opened for nutrient intake or served as a means of respiration, she couldn’t tell. The more she studied the relic, the more she felt convinced they’d discovered a statue, not a fossilized actual alien severed head.
“Well, hello there,” said the alien in a strange, chirpy tone, its breath fruity.
Kerys froze, staring at it. “What the… Oh. That voice. That stupid cartoon. I’m dreaming, aren’t I?”
Her eyes snapped open, revealing a close-up view of white fabric. She lay on her stomach, both arms hugging her pillow to her face. With the privacy screen on her window closed, the only light in the room came from a single blue LED at the base of her desk terminal, which proved surprising in brightness given its size. She couldn’t remember walking back from Annapurna’s desk, so she must’ve spent hours in VR, skipped dinner, and stumbled half-awake to her room.
“Ugh. What time is it?”
Her head felt like a lead weight, refusing to obey her effort to sit up. She yawned and took a deep breath laced with a strong scent somewhere between lavender and peaches. “What is that”―she sniffed―“smell?”
As consciousness spread over her brain, an odd sensation of being watched came on. She froze, breathing the flowery-fruity air for a few minutes while listening to total silence. The little blue dot at the base of her terminal cast tall shadows from small objects around it. She looked around the left side of her room at the chair, desk, and e-pads before spotting her jumpsuit, shoes, socks, and underwear on the floor. Except for her stint in cryo, she usually slept nude, but couldn’t remember undressing. Of course, she couldn’t remember walking back from Anna’s desk either.
She pushed up from the mattress enough to get a look at a small green clock display on the desk, which read: 6:19 a.m. Kerys closed her eyes and moaned into the pillow. Her team got started officially at nine. If she allowed for a shower and breakfast, she could squeeze in at least another thirty minutes of sleep.
Creak.
Again, she went as still as a mouse in the gaze of an eagle. That sense of not being alone grew stronger. After another minute of listening to herself breathe, she shifted her weight up onto her hands and poked her head out from the cubbyhole containing her bed.
A shadowy human form sat against the wall by the door, two eyes glinting in the faint glow of the blue LED.
“Sorry if I woke you,” whispered Will.
Kerys clamped the bedding over her mouth and screamed into the fabric. She kicked at the sheet, scooting away from him toward the interior wall while gasping for breath, managing to get one foot on the floor before gathering her wits. Shaking, she fought the urge to leap out of bed since she had only a blanket on, and scurried back into the coffin-sized space, wrapping herself to the chin. “W―what are you doing in here?”
His head tilted slightly to the side. “Watching you sleep. I wanted to make sure you were safe.”
“I… I…” She debated screaming louder, but chickened out, worried he’d make it look like she’d gone nuts if she caused a scene.
“Nice to see you still wear the same pajamas.”
Warmth rushed to her cheeks.
“You must’ve been exhausted. You didn’t even crawl under the blanket. Hope you don’t mind that I covered you.”
She broke out in a sweat, clutching the bedding tight to her chest. Any number of bad scenarios played out in her mind. Had he come to take revenge? Her friend Ashley had been convinced he’d show up and kill her for leaving him. She didn’t know him. She only heard me bitching about him all the time. He wouldn’t… would he?
“How long have you been in here?”
A line of teeth appeared in his silhouette, a smile, tinted blue. “A little while. I couldn’t sleep. It always did make me feel better listening to you breathe at night. You don’t know how much I’ve missed that.”
She tucked her feet under her and sat up, still clinging to the blanket. “I locked the door.”
“Are you sure?”
“Umm.” She glanced at the door. An indicator over the handle displayed ‘locked’ on a red field. Rather than safe, it made her feel trapped with him. “I… don’t remember.”
“It’s all right. I got it for you.”
He sounds so comforting, but… so would a spider. “What’s that fruity smell? Are you drinking alcohol? Did you spray me with something? You shouldn’t be in here. People will get the wrong idea. Fraternizing is against company policy.”
“Don’t worry, hon. I’ve got friends back in LA. They won’t fire you if I ask them not to.”
Fire me? He’s the one that broke into my room. Kerys shook with fear and anger. “You should go before anyone notices you were here.”
Will drew his legs in and stood, his back sliding up against the wall. “It’s been so long. I’ve been thinking about everything you said that last day. You were right. I didn’t give you enough credit. I can see how you thought I was suffocating.”
She absentmindedly scratched at her leg, gripping her ankle to stop her hand from moving. “I didn’t think you were suffocating. You were suffocating.”
“Babe, please calm down. Stop shaking. I’d never hurt you.”
“Sneaking into my room in the middle of the night and just sitting there staring at me… that’s not normal, Will. Calling me twenty times a day for months after I couldn’t take it anymore…”
He tapped a panel on the wall, activating the room lights, but keeping them dim enough not to blind her. She stared at his green jumpsuit, open halfway down the chest, exposing a sweat-stained tank top, the clothes
he must’ve worked in all day.
All night he’s been in here… Kerys glared at her clothes on the floor. How long did he stare at me before pulling the blanket up. She cringed, feeling sick to her stomach and livid.
“I know it seems a bit unusual of me to be here right now, but not a day’s gone by since you left that I haven’t thought of you.” He stepped closer to the bed, gaze down, posture apologetic, but a faint smile nonetheless. “I had to make sure you were okay.”
Kerys leaned away, gaze locked on his stomach, unable to look up into his eyes. She shivered when his thighs touched the bed. The opening blocked everything above his pectorals. He lingered for a second before lowering himself to sit on the edge, head bowed forward under the sleep chamber’s ceiling.
“I’m fine, Will. Thanks for checking on me, but you really should go back to your quarters before someone sees you in here.” She edged away until her shoulders hit the cold metal above her pillow, and peered past her knees at a smile she hadn’t trusted for years.
“Everyone already expects us to get together. You’re dealing with the trauma of being out here all alone, and find one familiar face among a hundred.” He glanced down at something in his hands emitting faint light. “People aren’t wired like that, babe. Something about isolation makes us realize how precious it is to have someone. You know that Vickers woman? Built like a tank? She’s got Hellerman wrapped around her finger. Heard she’s a real girly girl.”
Kerys swallowed, hating the wall at her back for being solid. “H-Hellerman?”
“He’s the IT guy here. Runs all the tech stuff. Good people.”
“Is that how you got my door open?”
Wayfarer: AV494 Page 10
