Earth Legend (21 page)

Gerald came over and said what they were all
thinking. "No one touches a hair on the head of any New Rochelle
resident." An answering growl went up from the guards. "And you two
are valued members of our community." I liked that they included
Cullen as a resident of New Rochelle even though he'd only lived
there for a short time. I gave Gerald a hug and gave everyone else
high fives as he spoke to Cullen. "Security is on the way. They
should be here in a few minutes."

By the time Security arrived, almost the
entire community of New Rochelle was on the baseball field,
watching the thugs and talking quietly among themselves as they
tried to figure out what was going on but only Alicia spoke
directly to me. "Braveheart is okay, Elle. I checked and no one
hurt him." She turned her face up to mine. "If anyone tried, I'd
have stopped them. I'd have been real mean."

I thanked Alicia for making sure my kitten
was safe, having no doubt she'd have done exactly what she
threatened if Braveheart was in any danger at all. She'd make a
fine mayor when her grandfather retired. I pitied anyone who tried
to put anything over on her.

Then Security arrived, sirens wailing and
lights flashing, and soon every single thug was gone as if they'd
never existed. The faux dirt on the Destiny had the admirable
quality of repairing itself. Every blade of grass was back in place
and no scuff marks marred the perfection of the green
landscape.

Cullen informed me that he'd been in contact
with Captain Smithers and that we were to rest for the remainder of
that day and report to him in the morning. He wanted to know who
all had attacked me and what they'd done. In a grim voice, Cullen
added, "They won't get off easy."

Cullen's bed was still in my apartment in the
bedroom next to mine. When he'd moved out, for some unknown reason,
I'd left the room intact. So after a meal of canned soup because
neither of us had the energy to cook or go to the café, he simply
walked into his room and fell onto the bed fully clothed. I did the
same in my own room but, unlike Cullen, I didn't sleep. Instead I
thought.

Of everything that had happened since that
day at the spaceport where my red hair had gotten me a place on the
Destiny. Of the plants that had died and the other plants that were
now thriving. Of the people those plants were keeping alive. Of the
far-off planet that the Destiny would reach some day that would
become a new home for everyone on the space ship I now called home.
Of the fact that most of us wouldn't live to see that day. Of the
Destiny itself, my home for the remainder of my life.

Good thing I liked the space ship those
experts had spent so much time designing. Good thing they'd wisely
considered that people who'd eventually become farmers on a far
distant planet would make the transition more easily if they lived
a rural life en route. And it truly was a rural environment. It was
so much like Earth that if I stopped to think about my surroundings
a lump would rise in my throat. Not from homesickness, rather
because the Destiny was my home and I now loved every inch of the
big, black behemoth.

The next morning, the captain was polite but
definite. "Those men who came after you in the greenhouses didn't
survive the fire, which is a good thing because it saves me the
bother of punishing them." I didn't ask what their punishment would
have been. I didn't want to know. "As for the rest of that group,
they seem to be hangers-on. They're the kind of people who'll
follow any idiot on a soapbox who convinces them that they are
superior to everyone else."

"They aren't," Cullen said quietly.

"You're right about that and I'm making sure
they get the message. I've declared martial law and it won't be
lifted until everyone knows what happens to people who put the
Destiny at risk." I gulped. "Their punishment will be severe." The
captain gazed into the distance at the still smoldering wreckage of
the greenhouse complex. There wasn't a single useable building
left. "They will rebuild the whole place, one stick at a time until
it's back in business. And in their spare time, they'll work their
asses off doing whatever chores Constance Reiwer can find for them
so seeds of the kinds of plants they destroyed can be planted and
grown. Then and only then will they be allowed to return to their
lives and will martial law be lifted. No one will ever forget what
happened."

"Seeds?" At sight of the smoldering
greenhouses, my heart had sunk. No seeds from plants that had been
burned to a crisp could possibly be viable.

A satisfied smile crossed the captain's face.
"We have seeds. Billions of seeds, all kept in a safe. Fireproof.
Explosion proof. Everything proof. Because seeds are our future."
He leaned back and let his eyes rove over the ceiling and beyond,
across that part of the Destiny visible from his command center on
the bridge. Miles of greenery gently curving as it followed the
inner side of the outer wall of the Destiny. "We did a good job
when we designed this ship. The only thing we didn't take into
account was the need for a goddess. Because we didn't know that we
needed one." He pulled his eyes back and regarded me closely. "I
know that now and am grateful that you stowed away."

A shiver crept along my spine. "About that
goddess part…"

"Yes?"

"If it's all right with you, I'd just as soon
no one knows that about me."

His brows knitted. "Why not? I'm in charge
and I'll make sure no one harms you in any way at all. Not even
verbally."

I took a deep breath. "I believe you. But
this is a long term thing. Future generations might look at things
differently." I thought back to the stories I'd heard growing up.
"People don't take kindly to anyone who can talk to plants."

His lips pursed. "They might see your
descendants as witches?"

"It's happened before. It could happen again.
So if it's all the same to you, I'd prefer to remain
anonymous."

He thought for a long time. "I'm not sure
you're right about this. I think that in a new world, a new life,
things could be different. But if it's what you want, then I'll
agree. No word of your abilities will leak out." Humor gleamed in
his face. "I'll even talk to my wife and make sure she, too, says
nothing more of your… um… abilities. And that she comes up with a
story for those abilities of yours that she's told her friends
about."

He rose and indicated that Cullen and I
follow. "Speaking of Darlene, she asked me to bring you two home
for lunch. So if you have nothing pressing, I believe she's waiting
for all of us." He touched my shoulder lightly. "Who knows, the two
of you could become good friends. I know she'd like that and
frankly, so would I."

We had a lovely meal and lingered over coffee
afterwards. Darlene was eschewing liquor for the duration of her
pregnancy and so didn't serve any but the coffee was delicious. She
ground it herself, of course, from beans grown in a field just
outside of Center City. Afterwards, the captain and Cullen had
business to discuss so they disappeared into the captain's at-home
office while Darlene led me to the garden behind her house.

It was lovely, with African violets rubbing
shoulders with daisies, unlikely on Earth but not even worthy of
mention here. I remembered the pictures on the walls of her home.
She'd painted them herself. They were portraits of the flowers she
grew. She had a green thumb and was a decent artist. I'd be glad to
be her friend even though her taste in clothes tended towards
kitchen curtains. Now she wore a pink flowing something draped over
an ethereal body that already had a small bump in the abdomen.

"So what now?" She slid onto a soft chair and
slipped out of her sandals.

"Now?" I sat primly on a nearby bench. "I
guess I go back to raising apples and cherries."

"I mean what now for you personally. I'm not
asking about your job, I know what astonishing thing you do for a
living but that's not what I'm interested in at the moment."

"Uh." I would have scratched my head except
it would have been childish. "What do you want to know?"

She laughed. Threw her head back and let it
come from deep inside of her. It was a happy sound. Before her
pregnancy such a sound would have been impossible. I was glad I'd
helped bring out that happy laugh. "I mean what about you and
Cullen. When are the two of you going to make it official?"

"Me and Cullen?" I asked stupidly.

"Who else? He's in love with you, you know,
and you're in love with him though you hide it better."

"You can't know that about Cullen. No one can
know what he's thinking. He's impossible to read."

She waved my words aside. "No he's not.
Remember that I'm married to the tough, military type. I can read
my husband him like a book and I can read Cullen too. He's in love
with you and you're in love with him." She leaned close. "The
question is what you are going to do about it."

"I… uh… haven't thought."

"Don't lie. You've thought about it."

"I haven't…"

She shook a finger at me. "Don't pretend you
haven’t given thought to the future. If you don't have children,
the future of every colonist on the Destiny will be in jeopardy.
You must have children or the gift you have brought to the Destiny
will be lost and people will die."

I sighed. "I know. And maybe I have thought
about that. A bit."

"I suggest that you do more than think. I
suggest you get moving and do something and soon before your
biological clock starts causing problems for the entire Destiny."
Before I could open my mouth to comment, she added, "From the way
you've been looking at Cullen Vail and the way he's been looking at
you, the solution is simple. But the military type doesn't talk
about love easily. In fact, they seldom talk about it at all." She
leaned close. "So you must talk to him."

I shrank inside of myself. "I'd prefer not
to."

She sniffed. "If you want to save future
generations and you want Cullen Vail to be involved, you'll have to
get the ball rolling yourself. Because he's the military type." She
grinned slyly. "I did it and look how well that turned out. You can
too."

At the sound of people coming into the
garden, she put a finger to her lips. "They are coming back. Don't
let them know what I said. But talk to Cullen. Tell him he belongs
to you or tell him where to go so you can find someone else to
father your children. But whatever you do, do it soon."

Chapter Fifteen

I tell Cullen of his part in the future.

I spent the next week mulling over her words.
She was right, of course and she was also right that the sooner I
had children the sooner the Destiny's descendants would be assured
of good harvests. Whether anyone knew it or not was irrelevant. No
one on Earth knew what my family did but we did it anyway. Now, on
the Destiny, the future of ten thousand people and their
descendants was at stake. That was huge. Darlene was right, I had
to act.

So not long after my conversation with
Darlene, when I was in the orchard checking on the cherry bushes
while the apple trees deposited apples in my cart, I heard a sound.
I turned and saw Cullen leaning against a tree and watching. "To
what do I owe this visit?" Did he know I'd been thinking of him?
Could he read minds? Was that why he was here? I hoped not.

"Just stopping by to check on you." He
cleared his throat. "Make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine." I, too, was having trouble
speaking.

"Actually, I came to tell you the news." He
moved restlessly from one foot to the other. A sure giveaway that
he, too, was uncomfortable.

That knowledge helped. Some of my nerves
dissipated. "Come, sit with me." I slid to the ground and patted a
place beside me. He coughed a couple of times and joined me,
carefully keeping his distance as I checked him from head to toe.
"You said you have news."

"Yes…"

I wasn't going to say anything about him
fathering my children. Not yet, not until I'd figured out how to
approach the subject and at that moment I had no clue what to say.
How to tell him.

But as suddenly as we'd sat on the ground, as
quickly as my breath goes in and out, I knew that Darlene was right
and that it was time and that this was the perfect opportunity to
get things straight. To get on with my life, with or without him,
no matter whether I knew how to phrase the thought or not. "Not yet
Cullen. Before you give me your news, I have something to say to
you. And it's important."

He looked at me warily, as a mouse might
regard a fox before being eaten. "What?"

At that expression, all my bravery went out
of me like a deflating balloon. I couldn't mention marriage or
children. Couldn't. Didn't know how. But I had to say something so
I bluffed. "I want to apologize. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've
caused." Just get through this meeting without making a fool of
myself and start looking for someone else to father my very
essential progeny. "I know that I've been a thorn in your side ever
since we met."

"You were never that." He scowled. "Okay,
maybe you were. No maybe about it, you were a huge thorn, a big
problem. But that's all done and over with and I'm glad you are
here because without you, everyone on the Destiny would be dead or
dying."

"Thank you for sticking with me in spite of
your feelings."

"Because of you the future is good. My future
is good." He cleared his throat. "Which is kind of what I came to
talk about."

I slid more until I was lying on the faux
grass. I regarded the phony sunlight filtering through a canopy of
thick, green leaves. No difference at all between Earth and the
Destiny, never mind that the Destiny was deliberately designed. I
reached as high as possible and brushed the leaves on a nearby
cherry bush until they danced. The movement made me smile even as
my insides churned because Cullen was beside me.