“I am Larry. The age of adulthood in my Family is fourteen.” She put her hands on her hips as his face registered in shock. It was time to seize the opportunity, she knew. They weren’t ready for it, but she was building her attack. “You all do realize that the outside world made adults of them all, right?” she gestured to the people seated behind her. She shook her head. “You really don’t get it yet,” she said softly and then stared into the eyes of the judges and picked her target.
Her gaze settled on the woman, Georgina. “Ask the little one, Zoe, about the Others, the ones you call Topsiders,” Fi said, her voice growing harsh. Georgina’s eyebrows knitted together. Fi persisted, “Zoe is five. Ask her what she thinks of Houses. Or ask her the definition of starvation,” Fi continued, the anger creeping into her voice. “Ask her or any of my Family anything you want, but I guarantee you,” she paused, “they’re all adults.” Nodding to finish her point, she continued before any of the panel could respond. Think about that for a while, she thought as her anger continued to grow.
“Jose,” she began again. “Jose is a world class hunter, and like his sister Mayra, he is a well-trained survivalist and orienteering expert. He is unbelievably useful,” she emphasized. “And luckily for you, he is also an awesome person,” she added with a chuckle at his embarrassment. She turned her gaze down the row to Sarge.
“Sarge,” Fi said and her voice softened. He was one of her worries as well, due to his age. “Sarge,” she repeated and then he interrupted her.
“I would like to speak for myself if you don’t mind.” Fi frowned and then nodded. Sarge stood.
“I’m sure that taking in a senior of my advanced age,” his gaze slid to the white-haired gentleman at the table, “isn’t in keeping with your efficient use of resources here. And I wanted to let you know that I would not allow anything to keep my Lydia and Charlie, or any other Family Member, out of Eden. Not on my account anyway.” Fi started to protest, but he held up his hand and she acquiesced. She was the Leader, but it was Sarge’s life, after all.
“So here’s the deal,” he said. “I do consider myself to be useful. I kept myself and Lydia and Charlie alive through the whole horrible first six months after the Famine began.” He gestured toward Lydia. “After Lydia’s husband died with the Sickness,” he added and the group at the table all sucked in their breath. None of them had seen anything real Fi realized, and her determination grew. There was no way she would let them send her Family back out there without a fight.
“Sarge,” she interrupted. “Let me, please,” she urged and he sat down. Fi turned back to their judges. “Sarge is extremely useful in every way possible, but he’s called Sarge because he is a career soldier who has seen and endured war over and over again. If there is someone who knows something about the ways of human beings, it’s Sarge. You can’t explore Topside and risk meeting gangs of Others without his input, in my opinion,” she finished.
“John Skillman,” she said with love as she turned to John. He gave her a weary smile and she winced. The wear was visible on him, she thought, it seemed inevitable that he was Sick. “John was a veterinarian, so I know that you will be interested in having him join the colony,” she began with enthusiasm. “I see that you have livestock and a few domestic animals here,” she continued, when Larry coughed. The discomfort on his face was excruciating.
“Fi, it should be obvious to you that one of our rules is that we can’t take in anyone who is Sick,” he said in a tight voice.
Members of the Family held their breath behind her. Fi could feel the tension flowing off of them, but it was nothing compared with the torrent of rage that Larry’s statement had released within her.
“Of course I know that Larry,” Fi narrowed her eyes. “I know better than anyone in the whole goddamned universe, remember?” Larry winced. “You know that my mother Maggie died out there, right?” She tilted her head. “I’m sure Louis told you,” she insisted and Larry closed his eyes and nodded. Fi’s heart burned as she thought of her mother. This man had no right, no right at all. She drew a deep breath through her nose and exhaled.
“Ok Larry,” Fi’s voice was tight. “Let me paint a picture for you. My beautiful, vibrant, loving, gentle, fabulous mother,” she began and then choked. She hadn’t intended to stop but images of Maggie flooded her brain. She heard Lucy cough behind her and the burning from her heart crawled into her throat. She gasped and pushed through, “My mother, having just lost the love of her life, my father, faces complete hell living in exile with our growing Family, her comforts disappearing as quickly as her life. We had to watch her suffer, watch her push her body, trying to get here, to get Kiara here,” she said, waving behind her. Everyone seated at the table looked like they were going to be sick. The tears in her eyes welled over and she swiped her face with her sleeve angrily.
“And we couldn’t do anything to help her, Larry,” she cried. “That was truly the best part of all. The only blessing was that I was able to steal narcotics that we saved up for the end because her pain…it was...she…” Her body was on fire and her hands shook. She clamped them together and took another deep breath. Each word felt like acid as she said it.
“Finally…she died, with Kiara and I by her side, in a cold rain, under a fucking tarp.” Her cheeks were soaked with tears and her nose was running, but she didn’t care. Behind her, she could hear several Family Members crying, including Kiara. And she could see that Louis was crying as well. Good, she thought, screw him. Screw them all! Her thoughts were wild with fury. Larry started to speak and Fi interrupted.
“I’m. Not. Done. Yet.” Her shaking right hand hovered over the ghost of her gun and she realized how glad she was that it wasn’t there. She was capable of anything right now. She grew quiet and her voice became distant. “We had no way to give her a decent burial so we left her body, decorated in flowers, in a hole in a rock. I tried to tell myself it was like a fairytale, like my mother was a fairy princess who had to be left in the forest,” she sighed. She felt her heart harden as she remembered that day. Her eyes narrowed as she struggled to speak. “But I knew…that what had actually happened…is that we left my mother’s body in the middle of nowhere, to be taken by nature, because that was what was necessary,” she hissed.
Tears ran down her neck and into her shirt. “So yes, I know that you do not take the Sick here,” she shook her head. “But it’s time that you made some exceptions.” She turned to John. “I don’t know if John actually is Sick. He looks tired because he just carried his Sick daughter all the way here on his back for months,” her voice rose. Eyes flew open in acknowledgement and shock. Fi snorted. “Well, it’s no secret that Rachel is Sick. She’s been too weak to travel for months, so he carried her. On. His. Back.” She emphasized each word while John dropped his tear-streaked face. “And when he grew weary, the others did too,” she gestured to her Family with pride.
She turned back to Larry and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Taking about John had helped her to recover herself. She took several deep breaths. No one at the table attempted to speak. They sat in miserable silence and waited.
“Here’s the thing Larry,” she said in a calm voice, feeling centered once again. “I’ve walked around this place and I’ve seen my father’s fingerprint everywhere. I remember every word of our last months of conversations, when he told me about Diaspora and Eden,” she said, smiling. “And when we ran and I had his journal I used to take it out and read it over and over again.” She tilted her head and took a step forward and smiled. “It’s funny, I just did it to feel close to him, but now I realize that I was actually studying Eden.” She turned to Louis.
“Like the combination of geothermal and hydroelectric systems that you’re using here to generate electricity and heat water and control temperature,” she gave an example. “And the water and air recycling systems, the way you use gravity as a pump in a lot of areas. That seems like a good idea, very efficient.” The tears began to return a
s she thought about her father, the joy he would have in knowing he had helped people. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to continue. Her voice shook with anger and grief.
“The reality is that without my father’s contributions you people would all be shit out of luck. I fought like hell to get my sister here to safety and I accomplished that, and believe me none of you wants to know what it fucking took to do it. And along the way I found and was lucky enough to keep with me, the best bunch of people I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet.” The tears welled over once again as she continued. It felt like they would never stop. She gulped air and finished.
“So now we are here and I’m playing my goddamned card. We will be useful, but you will take us. All of us,” she said and folded her arms as she turned to sit down with her Family. Meeting adjourned, she thought as she put her head into her hands and sobbed. She doubled over as the agony exploded inside of her and she finally cried for them all…and finally cried for herself.
Meet Your New Leader
----------- Fi -----------
Two days later, Fi stood in front of the full-length mirror in her personal pod, braiding her long hair. Spaces within Eden were generally small, but personal pods were tiny, containing only a small section of cabinets, a mirror, and a bed. Single adults lived in these and shared common spaces. Families lived in separate self-contained pods that included both common space pods and sleeping pods. As a self-designated adult, Fi had chosen to live in a personal pod for the time being, though she spent little time in the common spaces. The last thing she wanted to do at this point was to face the curious glances of the other colonists.
When she had been shown the space the day prior, she’d found her original clothes folded on the bed. They were cleaner than she could ever remember them being. She pulled them on eagerly and a wave of reassurance washed over her. With her hair pulled back and her own black t-shirt and cargo pants, she felt like herself again. The only things missing were her gun and knife, she thought with irritation. Touching her left thigh where the strap of her knife normally provided comfort, Fi sighed. Maybe now that they had passed the Consideration she could get Gary to return the knife. She knew there was no chance he’d let her have the .22.
It had been only days since the emotional speech she had given at their Consideration. As she had expected at the time, her argument had been sufficiently convincing. All of the Family had been accepted into Eden without question. Following the actual acceptance, the judges had asked them to share their stories. Tears flowed freely down all cheeks by day’s end, and the entire group had left the room exhausted and wrung out. A soft knock came at her door and Fi startled.
“Come in,” she called and the door slid open. Larry Waters stepped into her room with an apologetic expression on his face. Fi was confused, what could Larry want from her? For a moment, she worried that he’d thought better about keeping a Family Member.
“I’m sorry, I hope that I’m not disturbing you,” he began and she shook her head.
“Not at all,” she admitted, frowning. “What’s up?” He smiled and Fi relaxed. His visit must be friendly.
“Well, I wanted to know if you would be willing to join me for part of the day today. I could show you around Eden some and we could talk more about your experiences Topside.” Fi’s frown returned. Sensing her discomfort, Larry’s face looked chagrined. “I’m sorry, I know it’s not easy for you to talk about it, but your information could be crucial to our first efforts at Reconnection,” he explained.
“Reconnection?” Fi echoed. “What’s that?”
“It was never our plan to hide out here in Eden forever Fi,” he began. “At some point we have to make our way back Topside and reconnect the survivors. We have some plans and as we mentioned, we conduct Seeks, but we will take any helpful information we can get to aid our efforts.” He paused and took a breath, studying her confused face. “I think I’m getting ahead of myself. Perhaps we should start with breakfast,” he smiled. Fi tilted her head and smiled back.
“Alright Larry, it’s a date,” she laughed. “Let’s get something to eat.” They left her pod and headed down the tunnel leading to the central areas of Eden, but instead of going to the cafeteria pod, they turned west toward the field pods. Fi walked behind Larry on the narrow walkway. “I thought we were getting breakfast?” Larry grinned at her over his shoulder.
“We are,” he said and kept walking. After another turn they emerged onto the main field pod in the giant natural cavern that Louis had shown them the first day. Again, the scene took Fi’s breath away. Beneath the blue beam of light, the apples hanging from the tree in the center gleamed. Colonists in white coats moved among the rows of fields, taking samples and caring for the plants.
Larry headed to a ladder leading from the walkway down to the actual soil of the fields. With a wave, he indicated that she should join him and she followed with excitement. The very first thing she’d wanted to do when she saw this room was to walk among the fields. They made their way from the outer edges of the circular fields through the rows. As they strolled, Larry explained some of what she was seeing.
“These fields serve as both our own colony’s food source and a living genetic vault of heirloom species,” he said with pride in his voice. “We are all living on unaltered sources of food here in Eden,” he explained and Fi took a deep breath. Though she had known this, that Eden would contain only Truefood, it was reassuring to hear. It gave her hope for John and Rachel’s possible recovery to know that they would be eating foods that enhanced health.
Her fingertips trailed over the growing corn shoots as Larry pointed out the different types of things they had planted. Fi was amazed by the extent of Eden’s crops. Of course she had expected that they would be growing cereal grains and vegetables, but they had so much more. It was truly an accomplishment, she thought as pride in her father swelled in her chest. Eden was partially her legacy as well, she knew.
“This pod is only one of our pods devoted to heirloom food and plant growth,” Larry explained, pointing to tunnels that disappeared farther to the west. “In that direction you will find our orchard pods, nursery pods, wild grass pods, and heritage livestock pods.” Their stroll through the fields brought them to the apple tree at the center and Larry stopped and turned back to Fi. He studied her face as she stroked the leaves of the tree with her fingertips.
“I notice that you seem to feel the same way about Eve that we do,” Larry grinned. Startled, Fi turned to him and then back to the tree. Larry’s shoulders shook as he started to laugh.
“Eve? You mean the tree is named Eve?” she laughed, shaking her head. Nodding, Larry chuckled and reached up to pull down two fresh apples.
“Ridiculous, I know,” he said and handed one to Fi. “Breakfast,” he said and she smiled. Of course, she remembered, Larry had promised her breakfast. Fi took a bite and chewed, the sweet, tasty apple filling her mouth.
“So how did this tree get a name?” Fi asked, her mouth still full of apple. “Do all your trees have names?” The corners of Larry’s blue eyes squeezed up as he smiled at her teasing and shook his head.
“No, Eve is special,” he murmured, squinting up into the shaft of blue light that painted the mature apple tree. “She was our first resident of these fields. It was a very careful transplant and we weren’t sure she would take, but she did,” he smiled at Fi. His expression really could be very kind, she thought. “My friends that donated her were so relieved, they had worked to keep her vibrant for so long.”
“So she’s named Eve because she was the first resident of the garden?” Fi reached out to touch Eve’s branches again and cupped a hanging apple. “And she’s female of course, so she couldn’t be Adam,” she paused. “Well, actually she’s both, but I can see going with Eve,” she corrected herself and Larry laughed out loud, startling some of the colonists working in the fields. Faces stared at them with curiosity when they saw Fi.
“You’re a bright one Fi K
elly,” Larry chuckled. “It’s a real pleasure to get to know you,” he added. Fi smiled wider.
“The feeling is mutual,” she acknowledged. She held up her apple core. “What should I do with this?”
“Pick out the seeds and pocket them. We’ll take them to the lab pods so the scientists can decide what to do with them.” Fi nodded and did so, as did Larry. Then he grinned at her and chucked his remaining apple core into the open fields. Fi’s mouth dropped open. Who would have guessed that the dour man she had met at the Family’s Consideration could be so playful? It reminded her that Larry wasn’t really that old. She followed suit, making sure she didn’t throw near any working people. Fi brushed her hands together and wiped them on her pants and then looked up into his amused face. Fi realized that her behavior had been crude and felt sheepish.
“Sorry. Manners tend to go when you live in the wilderness for a while,” she offered. He nodded and his face grew serious again and he headed into the other half of the fields with Fi trailing behind him.
“Larry,” Fi said as she jogged after him. He set a fast pace for a short man, she thought as she hurried. “I know your purpose today was to ask me about what we learned Topside. But Asher is really your best resource there. He is our documentarian after all,” she said and Larry stopped and turned.
“Ok, so what do you want to say then Fi?” he asked, curious.
“Well, it occurs to me that as the former Leader of my Family, I should ask my new Leader a lot more about himself,” she said and Larry looked surprised.
“What makes you think I’m the Leader here in Eden?” His tone was incredulous. Fi’s eyes widened. Was he kidding?
“C’mon Larry, are you serious? Eden may be democratic, but you are definitely its Leader,” her voice grew aggravated. It wouldn’t do to have a Leader who couldn’t even acknowledge it, she thought. He shook his head for a moment and then sighed, peering at her from under his eyebrows. His eyes burned with a look that was almost angry.
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