by Rinelle Grey
Folly opened her mouth to object, but Tyris beat her to it. “Don’t blame yourself. They were never going to agree to our proposal. It’s not surprising. We came here expecting an empty planet and it turned out to be occupied. That isn’t your fault, it’s just bad luck.”
The stress seeped out of Kerit in a sigh, and he leaned back in the chair. “So what do we do now then?”
Tyris hesitated. He looked at Folly, then at his wife, whose face was pale and strained. “You should go lie down,” he said to her.
“I’m fine,” Marlee said quickly.
“Are you having pains again?”
“Not bad ones, just the same as I’ve been having for the last few weeks. I’ll be fine if I just sit down for a bit.”
Frown lines etched Tyris’s forehead. “You’ve done too much today. You need to rest.” He turned to Folly. “Would you mind taking Marlee back to her room and keeping an eye on her?”
Folly hesitated. Was this real concern, or an attempt to keep her out of the conversation?
Before she could decide, the doctor said, “I can go with Marlee.”
Tyris shook his head. “I need to go over the risks of the reaction with you again. If the settlers here agree, we need to be sure that the animals in the caves really will be safe. I’m sure we’ll never live it down if anything happens to any of them.”
The doctor frowned but didn’t object.
The excuse was rather weak, and it was pretty obvious Tyris was trying to get rid of her.
And could she blame him? He didn’t know her.
But did it mean he had an underhanded plan for getting her people’s agreement?
Did she care if he did?
It might be better if she didn’t know about it. “Of course.” She stood up. “I could do with a rest myself. I didn’t exactly get much sleep last night.”
Marlee opened her mouth to object again, then shut it. Leaning heavily on the arm of the chair, she pulled herself to the edge of the chair, then pushed herself out of it.
Folly stepped forwards automatically and offered her an arm to lean on.
“Thank you,” Marlee said gratefully.
Folly was conscious of several pairs of eyes watching her back as she walked out the door with Marlee, every one silent.
Could they ever accept her as one of them?
Was that what she wanted?
Marlee led her down the corridor to the next door and swiped her hand across the panel next to it. It slid open, and they walked inside.
It was almost like stepping into a different building. The carpet absorbed the metal hollowness from the hall, true, but it was so much more than that. The colourful patchwork quilt that covered the bed, that Marlee sank onto with a sigh, changed the feel of the room. The half-finished knitting and books lying open on the coffee table helped turn it into a home where someone lived, not just a room in a ship.
“Thank you for coming with me. I know you’d probably rather be back planning with everyone.”
Folly shrugged uncomfortably. “I don’t think they wanted me there.”
Marlee was silent, and Folly looked over at her. Marlee met her gaze for a moment, then asked, “Can you pour me a drink of water?” She pointed to the glass jug sitting on the bench.
“Of course.”
As Folly walked across to the jug, Marlee said, “Tyris is being cautious. He feels very responsible for all these people and doesn’t want to risk anything going wrong. It’s not a reflection on what he thinks of you. In fact, he was very impressed at your resourcefulness.”
She should feel a warm glow at the words. She was pretty sure they were true even. Tyris had seemed impressed with her inventions. Well, except for the lowering his wife down to the floor of the cave bit. But she didn’t hold that against him.
Everyone loved the fact that she could make things out of bits of scrap. That didn’t mean they respected her for it. That didn’t mean they were willing to listen to her ideas, or believe her when it really mattered. Tyris was just like all the others.
And so was Kerit. She needed to stop thinking he was different.
Handing the glass of water to Marlee, she said, “Maybe I could have helped them with their problem. But they’ll never know if they keep me out of the discussion.”
Marlee drank deeply, then put the empty glass on the bedside table. “I’m sure your chance to show us what you can do will come. Really, there is nothing that can be done until we have an answer from your mayor.”
Folly heaved a sigh and sat down on the arm of one of the lounge chairs, facing Marlee. “I suppose not. I hate sitting around and waiting.”
“You would have hated it where I lived then. We spent all of winter sitting around and waiting. Though that can be rather fun too, if you’re waiting with the right person.”
Folly’s eyes jerked up. Was Marlee talking about her and Kerit?
A blush stole across Marlee’s cheeks, and it was obvious she was reliving a personal memory, not thinking about Folly and Kerit.
A nebulous wish stirred in Folly’s belly. She hoped, someday, she could look back on those sorts of memories. She’d almost made it earlier, while waiting for this very ship to land. If only Nora hadn’t interrupted them. “Well, that’s not really sitting around waiting, is it?”
Marlee gave a shy laugh. “No, I guess not.” She paused for a minute, then said, “I know it’s none of my business, and you can tell me to butt out if you want, but I take it there’s something going on between you and Kerit?”
It was Folly’s turn to blush. It was on the tip of her tongue to deny the suggestion, but something stopped her.
Unsurprisingly, she’d had even fewer real friends than she’d had boyfriends. And she certainly couldn’t talk to Ma about Kerit. Marlee had been nothing but kind to her. And she’d trusted Folly’s invention, even when her husband hadn’t been so keen.
What did she have to lose?
“I don’t know. I think he’d like there to be,” she said before she could chicken out. The burning on her cheeks intensified.
Marlee giggled. “Well, of course. I can see that he really likes you.” She paused, then asked more seriously, “But you’re not so sure?”
Of course, that was the big question, wasn’t it? “It’s not that. It’s just…” Hell, if she was being honest, she might as well be really honest. “I’m scared, that’s all. What if he just wants… well… you know. Then afterwards, he doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore? I don’t think… I don’t think I could do that.”
Folly stared at her hands, twisting them in her lap. Marlee probably thought she was silly, being so nervous about it.
When she worked up the courage to look up, Marlee was looking sympathetic. “I guess that’s a chance we all take. I was scared, too, when Tyris and I started sleeping together. There was a big chance we would be separated by the ruling council on my planet. Eventually, I decided I’d be devastated to lose him whatever happened, that being with him couldn’t make it any worse.”
Frustration welled up in Folly. “I know, I keep telling myself that, and I nearly get there, but then the fear just overwhelms me, and I want to run. The fear of being rejected, like I have been all my life, it’s just too strong.”
Marlee nodded. “I know. Overcoming fear is hard. It took me weeks. Luckily, Tyris was very patient. He had his own fears to overcome, I guess. If Kerit cares about you, I’m sure he’ll be willing to wait until you’re ready.”
Somehow, Folly knew that was true. A little of the panicked feeling around her heart eased. Then she thought of the uncertainty of tomorrow, and the day after that, and it bubbled up again. “I know. I guess I’m just… well, if you leave Semala, which I guess you’ll have to since Nora is being uncooperative, then I have to choose—do I come with you, hoping there’s something between us, or stay here and…”
She trailed off. There was no reason at all that she could think of to remain here. Going with them was the sensible op
tion, except… “I don’t think I could handle it, stuck on a spaceship with Kerit, if he…” She couldn’t even say the words.
“Does Kerit know you feel this way?”
Folly shrugged. “Sort of. We… talked about it a bit.” She gave a wry laugh. “Right before the alien carried him off.”
“Kerit is a really nice guy,” Marlee said softly. “If he knows you feel this way, he would back off if he wasn’t pretty serious.”
Folly was sure Marlee’s words were intended to reassure her, but they had the opposite effect. Warmth flashed through her body, and the nervous panic was so intense she felt the urge to stand up and pace about the room. “That scares me even more.”
In truth, she already suspected that Kerit was serious. If she thought he was just trying to get her into bed, she would have already brushed him off.
“We’ve only known each other for a day,” she said helplessly. “How serious can he be? Maybe he intends to be serious, but what if we just don’t like each other as much once we get to know each other? What if one of us does, but the other doesn’t? It’s just all so… so… illogical.”
Marlee smiled. “It sort of is, isn’t it? I mean, what are the chances that out of all the billions of people in the galaxy, the one you happen to like will like you in return? It seems inconceivable. But that just makes it all the more special when it happens.”
It was all so easy for Marlee with her hand resting on her belly, safe and secure in the fact that the man she loved, loved her back.
It wasn’t so easy when you didn’t have that reassurance.
Yet how could you get to that point without going through all this agony of not knowing?
“How do you do it?” Folly asked. “How do you take that chance—offer up your heart—knowing it might not work?”
“You just take a deep breath and do it. Because you reach a point where there just isn’t any other option. When living without that person hurts more than the risk of rejection.”
Folly sighed. What Marlee was saying made sense, but it didn’t ease the storm inside her. Maybe she just wasn’t ready. Maybe she never would be. That thought hurt, a dull ache, hidden under the fear.
Springs creaked as Marlee sat up in the bed. She reached behind her neck, untying a string of leather, then pulled it off. She held it out to Folly.
In the palm of her hand was a little green stone creature. Was it some sort of fish? No, it couldn’t be a fish, the smooth clean lines were too beautiful and elegant to be a fish. “What is it?”
“It’s a dolphin,” Marlee explained. “Tyris gave it to me when I was dealing with the same dilemma you are now. He said it would bring me luck. I think it gave me the confidence to follow my dreams and make my own luck.”
Why was Marlee showing it to her? Was she trying to tell Folly that she had to make her own luck too? Folly had no idea how to respond, so instead she asked, “Where did it come from?”
Maybe Tyris had said it to try to convince Marlee to sleep with him? The idea of believing that an object could bring you luck didn’t seem to fit with what Folly had seen of Kerit’s logical brother.
Marlee’s smile widened. “That’s the best part. Kerit gave it to him.”
“Kerit?”
“Yes. He was rescued from a shark by a dolphin when he was out surfing one day. He was scared of going out surfing again for a while, worried about another shark coming, so he bought this dolphin. It gave him confidence, then when he didn’t need it anymore, and when Tyris’s wife left him, he passed it on. Then Tyris passed it on to me and now, I’m giving it to you.”
“To me?” Folly stared at Marlee. Surely she didn’t mean it? Why would she give something with that much family history behind it to her?
“Kerit cares about you, I can see it in the way he looks at you,” Marlee said softly. “I’m sure the two of you can work things out together, even if it takes a while.”
Marlee continued to hold out the little dolphin to Folly, and after a moment’s hesitation, Folly reached out to take it. She turned the little carving over in her hand, marvelling at the smooth shape.
And she couldn’t help feeling like she’d been given more than an object.
It felt like a promise.
Chapter 21
As the door closed behind Marlee and Folly, Tyris said, “Much as I hate to say it, the danger of the alien, and the need to eliminate it, could give us an opportunity.”
Kerit raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
His mother beat him to the answer. “If we can prove to the Colonies that this technology can work…”
“Then we can trade it for another planet, even if it is one we have to terraform,” Tyris finished for her.
Marlee’s dad nodded. “There are half a dozen planets out there that would be good candidates for our technology. Planets are rendered uninhabitable by meteors relatively frequently. If we can prove success, then the Colonies could be willing to consider a trade.”
“It’s the best we can hope for,” Marlee’s mother said. “We promised the Colonies that we wouldn’t ask for a new planet if this one didn’t work.”
“That was if the technology failed. But this planet isn’t what we bargained for, it’s inhabited and the people want to stay. We can’t live here, even if the terraforming works,” Tyris said with a sigh. “If we even tried to convince them to go, we’re no better than the Colonies were for trying to take Zerris from Marlee’s people.
It was a long shot, but since no one had any other options, what else could they do? There were only so many planets within the range of the Resolution’s anysogen engines.
But Kerit knew something they didn’t. Something they might have been told if only… “So why did you send Folly out while you told us this? Don’t you trust her?”
“From what I’ve seen so far, she seems far more likely to support our cause than that of the inhabitants of the caves,” Tyris said. “But even so, they’re her family. The only family she’s known. I didn’t think it would be fair to put her in the position of having to choose whether to betray us or them.”
Kerit stared at him, but his explanation was honest. “Well, she might have another solution for you.”
“Folly? I know she’s pretty resourceful, Kerit, but she can hardly summon a habitable planet out of thin air,” Tyris said mildly.
Kerit grinned. “No, but she might be able to get us to where we can find some new ones.”
“Just what are you talking about, lad?” Nerris asked.
Kerit hesitated. The knowledge was Folly’s to tell but somehow, he didn’t think she’d be upset at having help to look for her father’s ship. “Her dad built a ship that could travel from Urslat to here in a few hours. Folly thinks it’s still somewhere on the planet.”
You could have heard a pin drop.
Tyris broke the silence. “That’s impossible. Anysogen powered ships are the fastest we have, and it still takes two weeks.”
Nerris though, looked thoughtful. “What did you say her father’s name was?”
“I don’t know his name.” Kerit shrugged. “Folly never mentioned it.”
“Wait a sec, weren’t you looking for her father in the ruins? Why not just ask him where the ship is?”
Kerit winced. He’d almost forgotten Folly’s initial lie. “She made it up. It was the ship she was looking for, not her dad. He died in the meteor impact.”
Tyris was frowning, but before he could say anything, Nerris spoke up. “There was a scientist talking about a different method of faster than light travel before I left for Semala. Gregory Follett. A brilliant man, but he wasn’t prepared to play the political game that would have won him funding, so his theories were dismissed and ridiculed. I believe he was nicknamed ‘Folly’ by his colleagues.”
It fitted. “Did you know him?” Kerit asked.
Nerris hesitated. “I met him at a conference once. He was muttering something about their being a conspiracy to silence him. I told him that i
f he ever had a working prototype, that I’d back him. He was so happy, he shook my hand until I thought it would fall off.”
“So you think this story might be true?” Tyris raised an eyebrow.
“It could be,” Nerris said slowly. “I didn’t see his calculations, but it was based on the wormhole theory, which if you could make it work, could certainly reduce the trip to a matter of hours.”
Tyris ran a hand through his hair and looked around the room. “It doesn’t really help us if she has no idea where the ship is. This is a big planet, it could be anywhere.”
“It could have been destroyed by the meteor impact,” Yasmyn, Marlee’s mother, pointed out.
“The terraforming is still our best bet,” Kerit’s mother said. “We should focus on that first.”
“We can’t exactly search for a ship while that alien is still at large,” Tyris said. “Dealing with it needs to be our first priority. Then we can talk about Folly’s ship.” He heaved a sigh. “And right now, I’d better go make that announcement.
Kerit was glad it wasn’t his responsibility. Everyone had started this journey with high spirits, excited about a new home where they could raise their children without fear. But three weeks cramped on the spaceship had frayed even the most even tempers. They were all dying to get settled.
And now Tyris had to tell them that their search wasn’t over.
It wasn’t going to go over well.
*****
“Come in.” Marlee’s soft voice answered Kerit’s knock, so he pushed open the door.
Folly sat on the arm of a chair while Marlee rested against the pillows.
Was it his imagination, or were Folly’s cheeks red? She looked quickly down at her hands when he tried to work it out, so instead he said, “Did you hear the announcement?”
Marlee sighed. “Yes. No one is going to be happy.”
Kerit nodded. “I’m sure there will be lots of complaints all around today. Not much we can do about it though.”
“No, not at this point,” Marlee agreed. She looked from Kerit to Folly, then back to Kerit. “I think I might try and have a nap, if you don’t mind looking after Folly?”
