by E. R. Torre
“The universe wants to take away all my fun,” Laverna said and laughed.
The laugh was bitter and died quickly.
Three days later Laverna spotted Val Carson, a fellow scavenger, driving down a worn gulley near her. She reached for her backpack and the knife hidden within.
Of the prospectors still at work in these parts, Val Carson was the one she was most familiar with. He was in his mid-forties and had a stake in the land near hers. Val was a tall, gaunt man with graying hair and, though Laverna never told him, a warm, inviting smile. She bumped into him a couple of times in Max’s Bar and he seemed friendly enough.
As friendly as he was, he was also competition. Like Laverna, he was another loner in the middle of nowhere and being alone made you vulnerable. Laverna’s military training and the instincts taught through them told her to be wary of him or anyone else when she was in the desertlands.
So she was wary.
Her hand remained on her hidden knife.
Val Carson, if he suspected anything, didn’t give any indication. He waved to her as he drove by.
Laverna relaxed and took her hand out.
She waved back.
That night she thought about Val Carson.
She felt a deep ache swirl within her and found it difficult to breath. That, in turn, angered her to the point she slammed her hand against the cot’s frame.
Again and again.
She then cried herself to sleep.
25
The next day and while Laverna again searched the sands for nuggets, Carson appeared. Like the day before, he rode his hovercycle. This time he didn’t pass.
This time, he approached her stake.
Laverna frowned.
Now what? she thought, though a part of her hoped –feared?– he was coming to see her.
As much as she ached for human contact she didn’t dare take any risk with him.
She stepped to her right, toward a boulder on which lay her belt and the knife strapped to it. She could reach it quickly if need be.
Carson’s hovercycle slowed until he came to a stop a polite fifty feet from Laverna. Carson removed his helmet and set it between his legs.
“Morning, neighbor,” Carson said. His hands settled on the hovercycle’s handlebars and away from his own belt and bladed weapon.
Strapped on either side of Carson’s cycle were several bulging black canvas bags. Their size suggested Carson had either hit the mother lode or, more likely, was carrying everything he had with him and was in the process of moving his stake.
“How are you doing?” Laverna said.
“Well,” he replied. “You?”
“Living the dream.”
“If this is your dream, it’s time to wake up.”
Laverna wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“What brings you here?” she asked.
“Came to say goodbye.”
Without meaning, Laverna’s expression changed.
“Oh?” she said. It was one little word yet carried far more emotion than she wanted to express.
Carson was too polite to make anything of it. He said:
“Didn’t hit anything big. Just managed to save enough over the years to leave.”
Carson got off the cycle and slowly reached for one of the canvas bags. He unhooked and lifted it.
“Jeeze,” he said. “Thing weighs. Either that or I’m getting old.”
He laid the canvas bag on the ground.
“Anyway, I’m joining tomorrow’s caravan to Bordertown and I can’t take all this stuff with me.”
The greatest danger a scavenger faced was when taking valuables from their camp to Bordertown. Traveling alone made you an easy target for roving bands of thieves or, worse, the cast-offs known as The Demons. They traveled in large packs and hid in the only place Bordertown’s security forces wouldn’t chase them: The toxic mines. Over the years they were exposed to chemicals and radioactive wastes and those that survived changed. Equipment left behind in the toxic mines were repurposed as vehicles and weapons. The Demons used these vehicles to attack Scavengers going to Bordertown.
Their attacks were merciless and bloody and the best way to fight them off was by going to Bordertown in large, well-armed groups.
“You loaned me supplies when I needed them a while back,” Carson said. “I’m not ashamed to say I would have starved if you hadn’t given me some foodsticks.”
“You paid me back,” Laverna said. “More than I gave.”
“Maybe so but you helped me when I was most in need and now that I’m leaving, I figure all this stuff I can’t take should go to you. You won’t need it all, I’m sure, but what you don’t need can be traded. At worst, you’ll get a few extra credits.”
Carson’s generosity was beyond anything Laverna experienced in a very long time.
“I don’t… I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything,” Carson replied. He smiled. “Well, other than thanks.”
Carson pointed to one of the bags.
“There’s some fifty credits worth of foodstuff in that one,” he said. “You won’t have to worry about feeding yourself for the next month.”
Carson wiped his forehead and looked up at the sky. His graying hair glistened in the sun.
“I won’t be back and I sure won’t miss this place,” he said. His gaze returned to Laverna. “Well, that’s not completely true. I always had feelings for you, Laverna. I enjoyed the few talks we had in Bordertown.”
“Talk… talk is overrated,” Laverna said.
“I suppose,” Carson said. He nodded and turned to leave.
As he did, Laverna cleared her throat.
“How about,” she began and stopped. She pointed to her tent. “How about we don’t talk and instead keep each other company for a while?”
They spent the evening in each other’s arms.
The passion Laverna felt for Carson seemed as if part of a wonderful dream. She held tight to his shoulders and slid her fingers along the curves of his face. In the dying light she stared deep into his crystal blue eyes.
When they were both spent, they lay next to each other. Laverna couldn’t help herself and let out a laugh.
“What?” Carson said.
“We should have done this more often.”
“Why didn’t we?”
“Because we’re idiots.”
It was Carson’s turn to laugh. The laugh was so bright that when it died it left behind a heavy silence.
“It’s the rules of the scavenger game,” Laverna said. “We can’t trust each other because we work too damn hard for a handful of dust and can’t afford to lose even a grain of it. You make just enough to get by and never enough to…”
“I wish I could take you with me,” Carson said. “Maybe there’s a way. Maybe—”
Laverna put her finger over Carson’s mouth. She shook her head.
“You go,” she said. “Your equipment and supplies are welcome but they’re not enough to get me a flight out.”
“I could… I could cancel my ticket.”
“Don’t be fool. You’ll never get your money back.”
Carson closed his mouth and rubbed Laverna’s shoulder with his left arm.
“Where exactly you headed?” Laverna asked.
“The Waller Nebula. Home.”
“That’s so far from here. How did you wind up in this place?”
“Lost money on a stupid investment and got into a lot of debt I couldn’t pay back. Afterwards, I had two options. I could use my very secret skills as a master thief to break into the Nebula’s most impenetrable vaults. With the millions of credits there for the taking, I would pay off all my debts and live the rest of my life in the lap of luxury.”
Laverna giggled.
“And your other option?”
“I could run like hell.”
“You took Option B.”
“I took Option B,” Carson said and laughed. “Of course, I
was caught and brought before a Magistrate. She sentenced me to five years in debtor’s prison. I was lucky. They could have sent me away much longer. I had a wife and child and I think the Magistrate felt sorry for them, if not me.”
“Oh,” Laverna said.
“That was many, many years ago. The last time I saw either of them…” he paused and a bittersweet smile appeared on his face. “The last time I saw them I was in prison. She came to say she’d found someone else. I’m glad she did. I’d already ruined my life. There was no sense in ruining her’s or my son’s.”
“And after prison?”
“I still had to pay off the debt,” Carson said. “There are few legitimate businesses willing to take a chance on an ex-con so I came here to scavenge. Over half of everything I’ve found these past ten years went to paying my debts. A couple of years ago I did so. Since then, I’ve been saving every credit I could to pay for a flight out of here.”
Carson’s hands slipped from Laverna’s shoulder.
“You going back to her,” Laverna said.
“Not so much her as my son. I’m not crazy enough to think she’d take me back.”
Despite trying to hide it, there was hope in his words.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you remind me of her,” he said. “Always did. Maybe that’s why…”
He was quiet for several long seconds.
“Come closer,” Laverna said.
He lay back down and their arms wrapped around each other’s bodies.
“Now you know why I’m here,” Carson said. “How about you?”
“Punishment.”
“For?”
“It’s a long story,” Laverna said.
“My flight doesn’t leave for another twenty hours,” Carson said.
“I don’t want to bore you with the details.”
“Then how about the highlights?”
“Not the term I’d use to describe them,” Laverna said. “All right, you asked for it. I was in the Phaecian Armed Forces and I didn’t follow orders in a combat situation. I’ve been marked ever since. It’s kept me from getting normal work and forced me here to make a living.”
“How long have you been here?” Carson asked.
Laverna thought about that.
“I don’t know. Every day feels like the last.”
“You’ve been here since I arrived, so there’s that. How come you haven’t saved enough to move on?”
Laverna stiffened.
“I’m sorry,” Carson quickly said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“I save what I can,” Laverna said. “Whatever I don’t use on supplies gets sent out.”
“You have a kid, too?”
“No,” Laverna said. “It goes to my mother. She sick and needs the help.”
“She doesn’t have anyone else to care for her?”
“No.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Don’t know. Haven’t spoken to her in a while.”
“You send her money but you don’t speak to her?”
“I… I did at one time. It’s been a while.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know,” Laverna said. She was growing irritable. “Seven years. Maybe more. What difference does it make?”
“How do you know she’s still alive?” Carson said.
The tent grew very quiet and Carson shook his head.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“The money is being picked up.”
Carson sighed.
“Look, I really don’t mean to pry, but how do you know she’s picking it up? Maybe someone—”
“Don’t say it.”
Laverna closed her eyes. She pulled away from Carson’s side and said:
“I think you should go.”
Carson nodded. He got to his feet and walked to the tent’s opening. His naked body was silhouetted in starlight.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Carson picked up and put on his clothing while Laverna watched. She took it all in, every subtle curve and bump on the man’s body. To her eyes, he was beyond perfect. She wanted to reach out, to caress him.
To start the night all over again.
Instead, she held back. It was likely the last time she’d see him.
When Carson was dressed, he walked to the tent’s exit and paused.
“Call her,” he said. “There’s nothing worse than not knowing.”
With that, he left.
26
Outside, Carson’s hovercycle roared to life and Laverna felt its turbines kick sand around her tent.
The sound diminished as he drove off. Laverna got out of her bed and stepped to the tent’s entrance. A line of dust shimmered in the distance and trailed off before disappearing.
Prince Charming came to visit, not stay, she thought while her mind screamed for her to go after him.
There had to be something else left to say but she couldn’t think of anything.
“Take care of yourself, Carson,” she whispered.
In the morning Laverna stood outside her tent and made a list of the equipment and foodstuff Carson left behind. It was more than she remembered from her cursory look the evening before. The money she could get from selling parts of it, along with what she had on hand, was enough to afford a new power cell for her hovercycle.
She thought about that and, instead of being happy for her good fortune, felt a crushing sadness.
She couldn’t leave. As strange as it seemed, she knew it wasn’t time. She frowned.
When will it be time?
She imagined Carson’s hovercycle and the trail it left behind and, without meaning to, emptiness enveloped her.
I’ll miss you, she thought before shaking her head.
You barely knew him. Only enough to have some fun. That’s all it was, quick, meaningless fun.
“That’s a lie,” she said.
Laverna put some of his gear away and cleaned up. There was no need to head out into the desert and scavenge. Not today.
For the first time in a very long time Laverna was free.
That proved a problem.
Everywhere around her were Carson’s things and reminders of his brief stay.
She caught herself following his trail yet again.
Why do you keep looking over there? she scolded herself. You really think he’ll come back? He won’t. He won’t come back to you but you can—
“Go back to him,” she said.
Laverna slammed her hand against the seat of her hovercycle.
“What in Hades am I still doing here?”
It took a couple of minutes for Laverna to strap Carson’s gear to her hovercycle. Her movements were almost frantic and when she was done, she put on her gloves, riding jacket, and helmet before mounting her vehicle.
Her thoughts were a jumble. She’d see him before he left. That was first.
Then, after properly saying goodbye, she’d follow his advice, for Carson was right about that too.
You’re going to call your mother.
“Hardheaded fool,” she muttered.
It took all this time for her to realize it was what she had to do.
She pressed the hovercycle’s ignition switch and its turbines roared to life. She then checked her watch. It was still early. The caravan to Bordertown wouldn’t leave for at least two more hours, which meant Carson was likely still at his camp.
Laverna pressed on the accelerator and the hovercycle lifted and moved it forward.
“Be there,” Laverna whispered. “Please be there.”
She followed the worn trail leading to Carson’s camp.
27
After a half-hour of driving through placid sand hills, she neared Carson’s camp.
All the while, Laverna kept watch for any sign of him or his hovercycle. Even though they had been intimate the night before and he gifted her his belongings, they were still scavengers and she was intruding on his land. Laverna procee
ded carefully.
She slowed the hovercycle to a crawl and made sure to keep her movements as non-threatening as possible.
“Carson?” she called out now and again. “It’s Laverna.”
She received no reply and kept moving forward at a slow clip. She approached a large sand dune and, once on top of it, spotted a rocky outcrop in the distance. The sand was smooth and there was no—
She spotted something metal and shiny at the corner of her eyes. To her mind and in that fraction of a second it registered as a shuttle craft.
She spun around.
There was no shuttle craft. Beside the outcrop of rocks and lying in its eastern shade was a small tent. It was crème colored and made of canvas.
“Fucking sun,” Laverna muttered.
Laverna stopped the hovercycle and removed her helmet. She then raised her hands.
“Carson?” she called out once again. “It’s Laverna. I didn’t like the way we –I– ended things. I wanted to…”
She paused, unsure of what to say and more than mildly embarrassed by what she considered saying.
“I just wanted to talk,” Laverna said. “Have a real talk. I didn’t want you to leave without doing so.”
She waited for an answer. None came.
“Are you there, Carson?”
Still nothing.
Laverna lowered her hands. She checked her watch. It was still too early to be at the caravan stop. He had to be here.
Didn’t he?
Laverna gripped the hovercycle’s controls and started up the engine.
She made her way to the tent.
As she closed in, Laverna slowed the cycle even more until it barely moved along the sandy surface. She twice blew her horn to announce her arrival though by now she doubted Carson was there.
She saw no sign of his hovercycle and feared he had already left. Could the caravan be making an early trip to Bordertown?
She kept to a faint trail leading to the tent, one Carson no doubt used many times on his way into and out of his home. The sandy surface was hard there, providing evidence of the many years the scavenger was in this location.
After closing the gap between her position and the tent, Laverna’s hovercycle came to a full stop. She was thirty five yards from the tent yet it was more than close enough. She turned off the hovercycle’s engine and kept still for several seconds listening for any sounds. Other than the gently blowing wind, there were none.
