“Send the other six to the north bank to work on the smelter and foundry.”
Darius heard the click of crutches approaching, and looked up to find Roger Miller standing at the rear of the bridge. His wounds had healed for the most part, though he still wore a cast on his shattered leg. The doctors had done what they could to mend the damage inflicted by Kintney, but they believed that the former lieutenant would at the very least walk with a limp for the rest of his life. His ability to perform the kind of hard labor so desperately needed had been nearly annihilated, so Darius had given him clerical duties under his office, answering both to Darius and Tom.
“Sorry to bug you, Governor,” he said. “But you have a visitor.”
“You don’t have to call me Governor,” he sighed. “Who is it?”
“Doctor Kimura.”
Darius froze for a moment in surprise. He had no expected business with the doctor, and it was out of character for him to disturb those who were at work.
“Send him in, Roger.”
Miller nodded and hobbled his way to the stairs, then used the hand railing to hop down the flight.
“What’s this about?” Tom asked.
“I don’t know.”
A minute later the doctor emerged from below. His clothes were disheveled and stained, and his hair was a tangled mess. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in days, and moved by shuffling one foot in front of the other, as if he didn’t have the strength to walk. His eyes were sullen, and he acted as if his soul had been torn from his body.
“Darius,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper. “I must speak with you.”
“What’s wrong, Doc?”
“Please, it is a… personal matter.”
Darius nodded to Dayton, who collected his reports and took his leave. He nodded at Dr. Kimura on his way off the bridge. Kimura stumbled over to the vacant seat and let his frail body sink into it.
“I have lost everything, Darius.”
He blinked in response, unable to pose an appropriate counter question.
“I brought my family along because I could not bear to be alone. I feared for them, yes, but not as much as I feared for myself. Not as much as I feared the thought of being an old man wasting away amongst strangers.”
“You did the right thing by…”
“Did I?” he snapped. It was the first time he knew of that Dr. Kimura had ever interrupted anyone. “My son-in-law is dead. Saika blames me for that. She blames me for the loss of their child, as well. My grandchild.”
Darius gasped audibly. At once his heart began to ache with the pain that his friend was enduring. “I’m so sorry, Doctor. I had no idea.”
He nodded with trembling lips, tears streaming down his face. “Saika miscarried two days ago. It probably is my fault. We never tested the stasis to see if it was safe for pregnant women. We didn’t know it could do this.”
“That’s right. You didn’t know whether it could or not. And Saika didn’t tell you she was pregnant before the launch, so how could you have known anything would be wrong?”
“I cannot blame my own child for what happened. What kind of monster would I be? She couldn’t have known what would happen.”
“Exactly,” Darius replied. “Neither of you could have known. Don’t beat yourself up for what you couldn’t have stopped.”
Dr. Kimura turned his chair to the side and stared out of the canopy. “It will make no difference, Darius. Saika will not talk to me, nor will she see me. I have one daughter who is dead, that I never got to say goodbye to. I have another who I am dead to, and she will not allow me to say a word. She will barely even talk to Sarah, and then only to speak ill of me. I am lost, and Sarah is breaking under the pressure. I am the reason for that as well.”
“I am very sorry, Doctor. Please, what can I do to help you?”
“You must make her see, Darius. Make her see that she is hurting me. Make her see that I never meant for any harm to come to her. I was the one who was supposed to die if we were discovered. Brandon made the same choice, but she will not listen.”
A twinge of apprehension picked at him. Darius had promised to help the doctor bear the weight of his sins, but convincing Saika to accept something she viewed so contemptuously was not something he considered to be in the realm of possibility.
“I’ll talk to her, Doc. It will be a while, though. Saika’s too hurt right now to see that it’s not your fault. It was all Eriksen. He could have avoided this if he had just let the past go, like Tom did with Major Forrest.”
Kimura forced a smile. “Thank you, Darius. You are true to your word, as always.”
“It’s the least I can do. If you need to give her some space, please feel free to sleep aboard Gabriel. The ship is open for you, except the support section.”
“Again, thank you.”
As Dr. Kimura departed from the bridge, Darius found himself wondering whether the harder part of his job was going to be planning the development of the city or playing peacemaker for the conflicts that were sure to rise. Though heated, the schism between Dr. Kimura and his daughter would not be the last, and they were not likely to be personal.
The next time I intervene on someone’s behalf, I’m going to be changing the course of everyone’s lives forever. He held that thought for a moment. Like when I stood up to Eriksen. Hopefully less costly in the end.
Gabrielle Serrano
12 June, Year of Landing, early evening
Camp Eight
“Can you go get Pelusina, honey?” Jeanette Vandemark asked, smiling softly.
Behind her, Gabi’s mother screamed and wailed as she pounded her fists on Dr. Petrovky’s chest wildly. James was barely able to restrain her. Gabi whimpered in the corner, fearing that her mother would break free and start beating on everyone in the room.
“You can’t do this, you bastard,” her mother screamed hysterically.
“Calm down, Maria. You’re not helping anything,” James growled as he tightened his arms around her chest and dragged her backward away from the doctor.
“You can’t take my baby away from me! You’re even worse than Haruka, you son of a bitch!”
The pure hatred in her mother’s voice cut into Gabi’s soul, and she could no longer hold back the flow of tears. Jeanette knelt next to her, rubbing her back and talking to her in a soothing voice.
James grunted and smirked. “Should have thought about that if you were so desperate to get rid of her. Who did you think the villagers would put in charge, you?”
“James, that’s not helpful,” Dr. Petrovsky retorted. “This is going to be hard enough for her as it is.”
“Shut up, you asshole,” her mother hissed. “You’re doing this to me. You’re letting him take her from me.”
“You need to rest. You’re not well.”
“First you want me to work, now you don’t. Make up your minds, but don’t take Gabi from me.”
Jeanette picked up Gabi and held her tight to her chest. She placed her warm hand over Gabi’s ear, drowning out much of the angry rhetoric that filled the room. Jeanette took Gabi around the rear partition wall and found the dirty stuffed cat that had become Gabi’s last remaining positive memory of Earth. She then carried Gabi from the clinic and down to the beach. Gabi cried nearly the entire way. Her eyes burned with her tears and she choked as she breathed in the mass of saliva in her mouth.
“I’m so sorry you had to see that, dear,” Jeanette said when she finally placed Gabi under a tree, looking out over the sparkling water.
She clutched Pelusina tightly. “Why are you taking me from Mama?”
“You need somewhere safe to stay while she gets better. Doctor Petrovsky says she’s really sick, and she can’t be around you right now.”
Terror rushed through her. “Is she going to die like Haruka?” she squeaked.
“No, honey. She’s not going to die.”
“Then why can’t I be with her?”
Jeanette was always kind
to Gabi, though when she sighed and looked away, her sadness was clear. “Because Doctor Petrovsky thinks she might hurt you.”
Gabi wanted to refute this, but she had been the target of her mother’s anger several times since her father died. On more than one occasion her mother had lashed out and struck her with no warning.
“It’s only for a little while. We want you to be with your mom, but she needs to get better. You can stay with us; the girls would love to have you over. They want to sing with you, and Will promised to take you to class every morning.”
“But I want my mama!”
Jeanette wrapped her arms around Gabi’s shoulders. “I know. As soon as the doctor says she’s better. We won’t keep you from her one minute longer, I promise.”
Gabi leaned forward against her knees, crushing her stuffed animal between her legs and body. She rested her head on the tops of her knees and watched the fishermen as they paddled their canoes in to shore for the day and unloaded their catch. One had to fend off a particularly bold gull that tried to steal a meal from the basket at the prow of the boat.
“Mama said that James is worse than Haruka. Why did she say that?”
“She didn’t mean it. Your mom is really sick, and one of the things this sickness does is make her say funny things.”
“So she didn’t want the people to vote for her?”
“Not if she had any sense.”
“And she’s not angry that they picked James?”
Jeanette paused for just a second. “Maybe a little bit, but it’s not because she thinks he’s a bad person. You know your mom has had a really rough time since we’ve been here, right?” Gabi nodded. “You have too. We really want things to get better for both of you and this is part of it.”
“Okay, I guess.”
Gabi turned back to the sea and watched everyday life unfold in front of her. She had a moment of sadness at the realization that her life was harder than the other kids on the beach, but that sentiment passed as she made a new set of plans for when her mother was better.
The first thing we’ll do is watch a sunset together. Just me and Mama.
Calvin McLaughlin
14 June, Year of Landing, 14:03
North Concordia
The weight of a thousand stares threatened to suffocate Cal, but his tongue was tied and made lame by the beautiful young woman standing before him with joyous tears in her emerald-green eyes and a smile on her trembling red lips.
No bridal gown was available for Alexis; formalwear was not something that any of the colonists had packed for their hasty evacuation, nor was it on the project team’s list of necessary supplies for the colony. He had no idea what she would be wearing when she walked down the aisle, and the one wedding tradition that wasn’t complicated by either logistics or supplies was the one where he could not see the bride beforehand. Cal had no argument with that, and had kept his distance.
When she had finally emerged from the neatly split crowd he froze for a moment, then his head spun and he thought he was going to pass out. This was the first time he had ever seen her dressed up, and though it was a simple short-sleeve red dress borrowed from another colonist, the way it flowed with her fluid movements gave him teases of her curves. She wore a circlet of native flowers which rested just above her brow, and the aluminum ring flashed in the sun as the leather necklace danced in the slight breeze. Even though a casual onlooker might have mistaken Alexis for a bridesmaid, Cal thought with absolute certainty that she carried the crowd’s rapt attention.
Cal also had to borrow his attire for the day. His ill-fitting slacks were too wide in the waist and a hair short in the leg, and the blue button-down shirt he sported was made for a larger man; it flapped and waved with every variation of the wind. If he had been given a choice he would have avoided the necktie altogether, but Hunter had insisted, tying the double Windsor knot so tightly that it almost choked Cal.
He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, not even as Reverend Malson gave his speech about marriage and union. Cal’s love for Alexis stood firmly as a wall against the waves of terror and doubt that wracked him as he stood before her. He had never looked in her eyes for this long, and he wondered if she could see through his countenance and into his soul.
Then her smile twitched just a hair wider, and she mouthed the words “I love you.” All he could do was swallow and nod as all his sensibilities seemed to fail him at once. For a fleeting moment he believed that she might have done that just to see if he would pass out. Then he remembered that, despite how well she could read him, she wasn’t actually in his head.
He had just enough time to take a deep breath before the preacher finished his speech and went straight into the vows. Cal managed to get them out without stumbling over his tongue, and also somehow kept upright as Alexis delivered the same vows in return.
The exchange of rings took on a very different form since no gold had yet been sourced on Demeter. Instead, Cal untied the leather band that hung from Alexis’s neck and slid a second aluminum spacer ring – sourced from a failed hard drive from one of the ships – into place next to the existing one, then joined the two pieces of metal together with a thin strip of leather before adorning his wife with the jewelry once more. She then slipped another identically crafted necklace over his head. In an instance the symbolism of union sunk in, and even before Reverend Malson declared it before the crowd, Cal knew that they were married.
He leaned in and kissed her tenderly, apprehensive of the mass of onlookers. As she pressed back against him with rising passion, his tension melted away, and the whoops and cheers from the crowd faded into the background of the moment. Only the warmth of her skin and the gentle tickle of her breath on his skin as she finally pulled away lingered in his senses.
The moment was all too short, and Cal found himself and his wife ushered away by Hunter. They made the short trek from the outskirts of Concordia to a spot overlooking the ferry landing on the river’s bank, where Hunter placed them to receive congratulations from the wedding’s attendees. The stream of well-wishers came and went in a blur; after a few minutes he could hardly remember who had already greeted them, and friendly faces in the crowd faded into the background as they mixed with the vaguely familiar acquaintances that made up the hundreds who came to exchange pleasantries with the newlyweds. The smells of grilled fish and roasted vegetables taunted Cal as he stood in line with his stomach grumbling.
The jubilant sentiment of the colonists was overwhelming, and after nearly an hour Hunter had to pry Cal and Alexis away for the wedding feast; this was actually equal parts buffet and picnic, thanks to the lack of formal dining area and catering facilities. The evening air was cool enough to be pleasant, and the shadows crept into the east valley as the sun sank into the western mountains. The newlyweds enjoyed their dinner parked on the back side of the hill watching the river, surrounded loosely by close friends who kept the guests at bay while they could eat.
“This is delicious,” Alexis whispered as she took a bite of the river trout.
“I could get used to it. Or I have to get used to it. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Oh come on,” she teased as she pushed his shoulder gently. “I know you love it when Gail grills it over the wood we have here.”
“Of course I do. Just wish I had a steak right about now.”
“Can’t butcher any cattle yet, and you know it.”
“I know,” he grinned impishly. “But if I go much longer, I might forget what one tastes like. Then what would I do?”
“Hmm,” she pondered mockingly. “Go crazy and live life as a hermit in the woods, I guess. Or stay here with your wife.”
“Tough decision. I’ve always loved the woods.”
He chuckled as she slapped him across his shoulder in mock indignation. As Cal looked around he saw the wedding guests settled into their social circles, scattered like pebbles over the landscape. Hunter made eye contact with Cal and made a swift bob of his head and snappe
d his fingers, a gesture he made whenever he forgot something. He placed his plate on the ground and disappeared down the hill.
Hmm. Wonder what he missed.
Cal set his plate well to the side as he finished up the meal, leaving only a scrap of flatbread made from the flour ground from a local tuber, which he relished as he lay back in the crisp brown-and-green grass. Wispy clouds passed far overhead, tinted pink and orange by the fading sunlight. The smell of searing fish gave way to the sweet smoke of campfires, and even the din of the dozens of conversations lowered, giving an air of relaxation to the otherwise festive day.
“How long do you think before we can make our getaway?” Alexis asked.
“Well, let’s see. There hasn’t been a toast yet. Hunter hasn’t given whatever philosophical or embarrassing speech he has planned. Doctor Taylor said she has a surprise for us later, and the Porters haven’t shown up with our rides.”
“So we ditch the horses and sneak out early. I don’t think anyone will notice.”
“Alright, let’s do it. I’ll be right behind you, sneaking right through the middle of everyone in the middle of the reception,” he grinned.
“Spoil my fun, why don’t you.”
Cal’s smile cracked slightly as he caught Traci Josephson approaching them. The grievous wounds delivered by the reaper bear had nearly healed. Only a single bandage on her forearm and wrist remained, and in that hand she bore two cups. Grasped in her other hand was a dark green bottle. Her ever present scowl was oddly absent, replaced by a hollow look that Cal couldn’t quite read. He scrambled to his feet to greet her, taking a half step in front of his bride in the process.
“Traci,” he nodded, his smile evaporating in her presence.
She stretched out her bandaged hand and passed the enameled cups to Cal, then offered the bottle. “Ceretti forgot this back at camp. It’s yours for the toast, a little something from his private stash. You can call everyone together when you’re ready.”
Project Columbus: Omnibus Page 89
