The Price of Paradise

by C. S. Johnson

“Oh, it could last for several decades, if not centuries, with proper upkeep.”

  “So it’s pretty indestructible?”

  Bruce considered the question for a long moment before nodding. “Yes, I would say so,” he said. “The Perdition was built to withstand a lot,” Bruce said. “I worked with the designer, the Captain’s father, on some of the Biovid’s final additions. The greenhouse glass is part of my addition. You want to have enforced paneling for sunlight, but it’s got to be able to withstand high pressures, heat for reentrance, and a whole plethora of other potential problems.”

  “So you’re not scared of the URS up here? You’re not worried about them trying to attack?”

  Bruce waved the matter aside, his arm nearly hitting Aerie in the face as she stood behind him. “The designer thought of that, too. Biovid, for all its size, is well protected by the ship’s design. The rooms below are especially protected, because of the different designs. They easily double-up as extra escape pods.”

  “They’re that strong?”

  “Certainly. Plants and water are necessary for human life. If they’re gone, we’re not going to be far behind. While the designer wanted to safeguard some of the more exotic plants from Earth in the Biovid, he sold the idea to the URS as having a farm of sorts or a research plant in the URS-approved designs. It’s natural to think he wanted to protect that, and he wanted to provide for the possibility that there would be extra people onboard.”

  Aerie nodded. “What do the other rooms have in them?”

  Bruce shrugged as he turned around, indicating he was finished. “There aren’t a lot, but there are some larger ones. I know I am not allowed in them, and the Ark especially.”

  “The Ark?” Aerie asked. They climbed out of the pollination chamber back into the Biovid.

  “Yes. It’s where some of the seedlings are preserved and animal DNA is housed. I wouldn’t need in there anyway, for the work I do with the trees and the plants. The only time I have seen it at all was several years ago. I had a tall tree, a cashapona, and it was dying, unable to be supported by even the deepest plots available here in the Biovid. I gathered its seedlings, and one of the researchers here, Cordelia Harrick, took them and placed them in the Ark for preservation.”

  “Harrick?” Aerie frowned, recognizing the name. “I wonder if she’s related to one of my old school instructors.”

  “T’wouldn’t be surprising,” Bruce said. “A lot of our workers, especially the ones who have been here for years, are former residents of New Hope.”

  Aerie was about to ask if she could be introduced to Cordelia when a new voice called out to her.

  “There you are, Aerie.”

  Recalling that she was told not to go exploring through the Biovid chambers, Aerie felt a rush of guilt. The feeling dissolved quickly when she saw it was her mother, and there was a grin on her face that told Aerie she was not about to get in trouble for bending the rules to satisfy her curiosity.

  After all, her mother bent rules for worse reasons with bigger costs.

  “Mom.”

  ♦4♦

  Aerie felt the strangeness of greeting her mother, her uneasiness even more exaggerated by her hesitancy. Exton had warned her that her mother was here to get something, and she had been reunited with Merra long enough to know she wasn’t above using her children for her agenda.

  If Merra had been suspicious of her hesitation, she didn’t show it. “Aerie,” she called as she came up to her. “I had a feeling you would be in here.”

  “It’s my job here now,” Aerie said stiffly.

  “I know that, but you’re drawn to this place in ways that have nothing to do with your job,” Merra said. “I can tell.” Her green eyes, lovely and sharp as ever, flickered to the pollination chamber as Bruce sealed it off.

  Aerie felt her discomfort increase. How did she know? Aerie wondered. Was it something only a mother could see?

  Before she could ask, Merra nodded toward her arm, where the URS had branded her during her time in the Reeducation Program. “How’s your wrist doing since the surgery?” she asked.

  Aerie glanced down at the very visible scar on her wrist, where the new skin graft was still settling in. When she was captured by the URS and held in the Reeducation Center, her arm was branded, marking her as a patient, as well as allowing them to track her movements. The med team on the Perdition had been able to remove the device from her body. While the remaining scar would fade over time, she would likely have the mark all her life.

  “Decontamination was easier,” Aerie admitted.

  “And how’s your shoulder? Is it doing better now that the Ecclesia’s medics have been able to realign the ligament?”

  “All better,” Aerie said, her voice in clipped tones as her discomfort increased. She hated that it seemed unnatural for Merra to inquire after her condition; after nearly seven years of her absence, there was a strange opposition to each other, and Aerie hated it as much as she enjoyed it.

  “Ma’am?” Bruce looked back at her and gave her a formal nod. “I’ll go and check up on the water systems now. I’ll have the reports to you soon.”

  Aerie caught the formality. “Thank you, Doctor,” she replied, hoping he would see her gratitude.

  He seemed to catch it, because he gave her a quick smile from under his beard, before ducking away into the depths of the Biovid.

  Merra smirked ruefully as he disappeared. “I see Exton’s warned his crew about me.”

  “He knows you’re good at manipulating people,” Aerie remarked, recalling her own conversation with him earlier.

  “Good to know you’ve been warned, too,” Merra said. “I guess a regular conversation is out of the question?”

  “We’ve hardly ever had those, even before you faked your death and left me with the General,” Aerie said. At the ire in her own words, she nearly flinched in surprise, but Merra took it in stride.

  “I see you’re still working through processing it,” she said. “Good. I’d hate for you to be unaffected by it. If you are, it’s because you care, one way or another, and I’ll take what I can get.”

  Aerie bit her lip to keep herself from snapping back.

  “Emery wanted me to say hi to you from her,” Merra said. “She’s hoping you’ll touch base with her again soon.”

  “I talked to her last week,” Aerie said. “I haven’t been able to get back to the Bridge much since then.”

  “She understands. She’s hoping you’ll come down and visit, too.”

  “I don’t think I can do that.”

  “Sure you can,” Merra said. “You’re the Captain’s wife, now. You can do what you want, within reason, and with proper pretext.”

  “I don’t want to abuse my position,” Aerie muttered back.

  “But chances are you will at some point,” Merra said, crossing her arms. “There’s no need to be so high and mighty about it.”

  Aerie’s feet shifted nervously. “How is Emery doing?”

  “She’s well. Baby’s fine, too, I suppose. She’s still not showing. You’d never know she was pregnant by looking at her. Of course, the first baby doesn’t usually show that quickly. If this was her third or fourth kid, she’d be out to here already.” Merra moved her hand out in front of her own stomach a good foot, and despite everything, Aerie smiled.

  “I’m glad to hear she’s good. I was worried she wouldn’t be happy after Director Ward assigned her to help you with the Craftcarrier wreckage.”

  “We’ve had a nice time combing through the water samples and sending in the robotic sub explorers,” Merra said. “We’ve already managed to find several booby traps. Only a few have gone off on our watch.”

  “The ship is still there then?”

  “Nearly all of it,” Merra said with a nod. “It’s not leaking anything toxic, but it will need a lot of clean up. For now, I’m happy it’s still there. We might be able to pull more weapons out, and it’ll be good shield for any other Craftcarriers that migh
t decide to fight against us.”

  Aerie’s heart clenched. She was the one who had been raised in a largely utilitarian household, where the need for human compassion was never prioritized over the good of the collective and the State. Despite that, she was surprised at the lack of sympathy and grief at her mother’s statements.

  Merra didn’t seem to notice Aerie’s discomfort as she looked around. “You know,” she said, her voice softer, “I can see why you’d like this place. I always envied Evelyn for her gardening talents.”

  “Evelyn?”

  “Exton and Emery’s mother,” Merra said. “She was a short woman, and even I stood about a foot taller. Emery looks a lot like her, but this room almost feels like her.”

  “I think Exton feels that way about the ship and his father,” Aerie admitted quietly.

  “Evelyn and I were friends, even if we weren’t close,” Merra said, barely acknowledging Aerie’s words. “She was a year or two ahead of me in school, and this was before I had joined the Ecclesia. I was upset when she was picked to lead one of the research teams we were assigned to work on. But she won me over in the end, and I ended up wishing I was more like her than hating her for being different from me.”

  “Did you know Exton’s father, too?” Aerie asked.

  “Of course. Not very well, though,” Merra said. “He was good friends with Victor, though.”

  “Then why did he shoot him?”

  Merra’s eyes gleamed, and at once Aerie knew she shouldn’t have said anything. “Exton didn’t tell you what Victor told him?” she asked.

  “It’s not like we’re not busy,” Aerie murmured.

  “There’s always plenty to do when there is nothing to talk about,” Merra muttered. She gave Aerie a thoughtful look. “Why don’t you go see him and ask him yourself?”

  “I ... ” Aerie let her voice trail off. She didn’t want to tell her mother her real answer to that question. “Exton said he lied. That was all he told me. I ... I figured he just didn’t want to dignify the General’s comments by repeating them.”

  Merra snorted. “I’m sure,” she replied mockingly. At Aerie’s frown, she sighed. “I’m sure he has his reasons,” she said, this time more softly.

  “What did the General tell you?” Aerie asked.

  “Silas was a good man, and Evelyn was a dreamer through and through,” Merra said. “Dreamers and workers do well together, especially when they share a vision. Their vision was probably just too big.”

  “This coming from a woman who’s determined to overthrow the most powerful government in the world?” Aerie asked, her own sarcasm surprising her.

  Merra only nodded, as if she knew that taking Aerie at her words, rather than her jeering, she’d make more trouble. “Of course. Silas was a brilliant man. I don’t doubt that he started the Paradise’s construction without malice. But then, Silas saw an opportunity to save his community, and he took it. I can’t blame him for that, to be honest.”

  “So why did the General kill him?”

  “Victor had been training Exton for a couple of years at that point,” Merra said. “This was before I left, remember? Evelyn and I were working, secretly, on trying to prevent the URS from developing eco weapons. That was when we moved quite a bit of our research to Chaya.”

  “That’s not answering my question.”

  “I’m getting to it. Context matters, remember?”

  Aerie made a face at her.

  “Exton was the one who told Victor about the various modifications to the ship as it was built,” Merra explained. “He knew they were friends. He trusted Victor. He loved his father, even if he wasn’t sure of him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m sure he doesn’t like to think about it,” Merra said, “but Exton was very different from Silas. They clashed over a lot of things before Silas was killed.”

  “You still aren’t answering my question,” Aerie grumbled.

  “Maybe it’s better you ask your father for the information about it, then,” Merra replied. “Silas wanted paradise. He got it, just in a different way from what he was thinking.”

  “That’s cruel,” Aerie gasped, as angry tears came to her eyes.

  “Yes, it’s cruel, but that’s life for you.”

  A long moment passed as Aerie just stared at her, unable to believe what she was hearing. Seeing her mother now, listening to her now, the compassionate, caring mother she remembered from her youth seemed to be completely gone. Aerie half-wondered if her mother had died and the woman who stood before her was merely an intruder wearing her mother’s skin.

  But then, Aerie recalled, her mother had been interested in plants, too. It was at the URS’s own rules, rules which would have prevented her younger brother, Marcus, from being born, which had caused Merra to fake her own death. If her mother was different from what Aerie remembered, it was because of what the government had done to make her this way.

  Merra shrugged and turned her attention toward the curved ceilings. “Just look at this place. Even if I hadn’t known Silas personally, I would know this place was constructed to be a new Eden. This is why so many of the Ecclesia volunteered to help him, you know. The Ecclesia is not so fond of war. They are always looking for earthly deliverance; odd, really, since heavenly deliverance has already been given.”

  “Exton told me that his father refused to let the URS have it for their purposes,” Aerie said, trying to get more information.

  “But he still had it for his own, Aerie. The Biovid and the Ark are proof of that.”

  “You know about the Ark?” Aerie asked.

  “Of course. Evelyn was my friend, remember? She was in charge of coordinating a lot of the seed transfers from the Norwegian research labs.”

  Aerie glanced around curiously. “What else do you know about the ship?”

  “I know some of the other rooms house bombs. Some of them are pretty wicked, too. I remember that because it was something that convinced Victor he had to act.”

  “I would think the weapons were put there by the URS before they were ordered by Exton’s father,” Aerie said.

  “This is where sentimentality can lead to ruin,” Merra said. “Evelyn was more than a fool to believe everything he told her. You’re more than a fool, too, if you can’t see that Exton has his own flaws, and some of them are much worse than his father’s.”

  “Why did you let me marry him, then?” Aerie nearly shouted.

  “His flaws are bad, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t without honor, or that he has no potential.” Merra shrugged. “Everyone has problems, Aerie. His father, while well-intentioned, was overprotective and overbearing at times. I’m just telling you to watch for it so you won’t be so disappointed or trapped when you finally do see it.”

  Aerie shook her head, torn between leaving and arguing. “I don’t see why you think you can tell me how to feel about my husband. It’s not like you and the General have a loving relationship,” she said.

  “Your father and I trust each other more than you will ever know,” Merra told her, a hardened edge coming into her voice.

  “He got a new unit director fairly quickly,” Aerie reminded her, deliberately provoking her. “Director Phoebe was in the unit less than a month after you were gone.”

  “He had to do that, to appease Osgood,” Merra snapped, her temper flaring.

  “I’m just saying it’s unusual, now that I think about it.”

  “You can forget about her. Phoebe was selected by Osgood himself. He wanted a spy in our unit, and he took advantage of my absence quickly enough.”

  “She was a spy?”

  “Of course she was,” Merra snarled. “She is one of his cousins.”

  “Really?” Aerie felt her mouth drop open in surprise. She’d never paid much attention to her new unit director, and she was shocked to realize that Phoebe might have done that intentionally.

  “Yes, it’s true. Now you can forget about her. I don’t like thinking of
her,” Merra admitted. “But as for her presence in the unit, that was a necessity Victor had to face, much as he had to sign the warrant for your arrest.”

  “I still don’t see how you can trust him so much.”

  “Who do you think told me about Exton taking you to Nova Scotia, and who do you think told me you were being sent to the Reeducation Program?”

  Aerie said nothing. The idea that her father was a man on his own mission was not surprising, but it was hard for her to picture her mother working with him in tandem.

  “He was the one who called me, Aerie. So I could send a rescue team.” Merra reached out and put her hand on Aerie’s shoulder. “I trust him with my life, entirely, and the feeling is mutual. Our trust in each other is one of the many ways we love each other. You have no idea how much I have missed him in these last several years.”

  Realization dawned. “That’s why you’re here,” Aerie said. “That’s what you want. You want Exton to let him go.”

  “Of course.”

  Aerie bit her lip, nervous. “I don’t think he’ll let him go,” she said.

  “I’m up for the challenge of convincing him,” Merra said. “And between you and me, I have an ace up my sleeve. Right now, Victor is in perfect position to inherit the title and return the world, albeit slowly, to a constitutional, democratic republic.

  “We have already put the necessary rumors in place, saying that Osgood is working with MENACE and St. Cloud tried to stop him. When we kill Osgood, we can easily blame MENACE, tie up some loose ends, and have the people’s trust.”

  “But you’re lying to them,” Aerie said, shocked. She stepped back out of reach, letting her mother’s arm fall off her shoulder into empty air.

  “Aerie, you’re young. You don’t know how war is played out in real time. You have to know the rules to break the rules,” Merra said. “Dying for something’s easy; living for something, that’s harder. But killing for something? Even harder. Truth is rarely something people will die for. So instead, we tell them a good story.”

  “But it’s not the truth.”

  “Some stories are true, even if they never happened,” Merra said. “Like I said, you’re young. You’ll understand it later. Of course, only if you want to.”