I gave Alicia her cat, fighting excitement. Could I harvest them? If so, I could protect my hiding place and look like I had a legitimate job at the same time. It was almost too good to be true. "I forgot. Guess I should go now and sign up." I sauntered across the park to the building she'd indicated, moving casually so she wouldn't be suspicious. But it was hard, I wanted to run.
The inside of the building resembled any government facility everywhere. Touch-screens everywhere, bulletin boards with papers pinned to them and a couple of library tables and chairs. I'd dealt with the government enough during my graduate days to find my way around with no trouble so soon I was signed up to single-handedly harvest all the apples and cherries in the orchard near New Rochelle. Thank goodness no one had already claimed them.
When I left, my name was on one more official Destiny list, just as if I was a genuine colonist and I could be fairly sure that my hiding place was safe since I was the only person harvesting anything in that particular area. I'd held my breath while flashing the comunit tattoo across the screen because I used my real name but Elle Olmstead still raised no red flags in the Destiny's database.
When I came back outside, Alicia and her cat were gone and the square was deserted. Deciding I'd accomplished enough for the moment I took a shower in the Laundromat bathroom as I waited for my clothes to get clean. As I dried myself, I took a long look at my reflection in the tiny mirror above the sink and did some serious thinking.
I'd gotten on the Destiny because I resembled a family of redheads but now that I was on board that resemblance could work against me. What if someone asked the family about me and they said they had no such daughter? What if I happened to be in the same place as that family and they denounced me? What then?
So when I was dry and dressed I headed to the grocery store and filled a bag with more than groceries. I carried everything back to the cherry bushes. Digging in the bag, I pulled out the mirror and scissors from the grocery store personal products aisle. Then I cut my hair.
When I was done, I combed brown dye from that same store through what hair was left. There was nothing I could do about the curls and I didn't dare dye my hair too dark because my few acquaintances already knew me as a redhead. But when I looked in that mirror once more, the red in my hair was muted. I wasn't a carrot top. I'd no longer be taken as a member of that family. I sighed in relief. I had a place to live, my name didn't send up red flags when I used my comunit and I was now myself instead of a member of a family that could out me.
I decided it was time to find out about this new home of mine that was whizzing through space at frightening speed. The Destiny had a full library accessible to anyone with a comunit, though some subjects were restricted to crew members with special access codes. I didn't care about those parts, I wanted to learn about every day life. So I leaned against a tree trunk and took a crash course on how to be a colonist. Among other things, I learned the proper process for harvesting apples and cherries. I vowed to do it right, to not arouse suspicion.
Using my new-found information, a few days later I went to the nondescript building in New Rochelle that I now knew was the harvesting center and picked up a cart and tractor. A half hour later, the wagon was full of cherries and apples but one of the first things I'd learned as a child was not to show off my abilities so I waited until evening to bring the full wagon back to the center. I spent the intervening time checking out the trees and bushes. They were growing nicely and would fill another cart with produce the next day if I wanted them to. But I didn't. That would be too soon.
At the harvesting center, the wagon was quickly unloaded and my paperwork processed. Nothing aroused the suspicion of the clerk who didn't even look at me as he waved me off, eager to get to the next person and be done for the day.
Soon I settled into the same routine as the legitimate colonists. I had a job and I made sure that I did it openly and properly. I procured groceries at the store and washed my clothes at the Laundromat, though I only did so when it was empty so as not to call attention to the fact that I also showered there instead of at home like everyone else.
And I listened to the music of pan pipes occasionally at night, though I never discovered the identity of the piper beyond the fact that it was a man. A large man who moved through the trees and bushes as stealthily as a cat when the music was done and it was time to leave. He never took the same route out of the orchard twice and that bothered me. He could stumble onto my hideout.
With that in mind, one day I dragged the mattress and my few possessions deeper among the cherry bushes before leaving with my harvest. When I returned the bushes had grown tightly around my things, encircling them with a wall of greenery so thick no one could find me unless they knew where to look.
The next time the piper came in the middle of the night, I lay back without fear of discovery and let myself enjoy the music as I regained the sanity I was in danger of losing because I didn't truly know how to be a fugitive. The music was enough like my aunt's songs that it reminded me that I was a worthwhile human being after all and I was mentally transported back to Earth and my home. I soon felt tears coursing down my cheeks but the thick greenery muffled the sound of my sobbing. I was grateful.
During the daytime it was easy to forget that I was a fugitive. I came to like the area and the people who lived there. I was happy and it was only at night when the music of the mysterious piper took me back home that I cried. During the day, I could almost believe I was back on Earth just outside the small town where I grew up. I'd always thought my family lived in the most perfect place possible.
Because of that upbringing I knew how small towns worked and I also knew that the Destiny was organized around a rural governmental system. I used that information and that knowledge to blend in.
I used my comunit freely now that I knew the Destiny communications systems accepted it as valid. I talked with people I met on the street though I never gave them a chance to ask personal questions. I became a member of the community.
That first week soon became another, and another, until almost two months passed. I began to think that the whole stowaway thing might work. I relaxed somewhat and only then did I realize how tense I'd been. When the mysterious piper came in the middle of the night, the music was so relaxing that one night I fell asleep in the middle of a song and had no idea when he left.
I grew so bold that I didn't panic when Cullen Vail, the man who could throw me out of an airlock, appeared, though I would have avoided him if possible. I ran into him at the New Rochelle café, a place I'd carefully avoided whenever anyone wearing a Security uniform was around, but twice Cullen Vail came in when I was already there and filling my plate. I couldn't very well drop it and run because I saw him.
When I turned around to look for an empty table, there he was, less than three feet away, filling his own plate. Lasagna and an apple, probably one from my trees. His uniform stood out in that place of casual dress.
We stared at each other too long to pretend we didn't recognize each other. His scowl, followed by a fake smile, told me he didn't want to talk to me any more than I wanted a conversation with him. But his job required that he be friendly, I'd read that in the Destiny library. Security was to keep people safe not to scare them and Cullen Vail wanted to be the perfect security person so if being friendly was part of the job then he'd be friendly or die in the attempt.
He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "Got your space legs yet?"
I looked for somewhere else to be than beside him and saw an empty table against the wall. I slid sidewise around his uniformed bulk and headed towards that table, tossing a reply back over my shoulder. "I'm fine thank you." I sat down and didn't look at him again, knowing he didn't want to be with me either, though I watched him from the corner of my eye.
When his own plate was full he joined Alicia and her family, sitting beside Wilkes Zander, the mayor of New Rochelle. He was here on business. Nothing to do with me. All I had to do was get o
ut of there as fast as possible. I gobbled my lunch and in minutes I was back among my nice, safe cherry bushes.
The second time I saw him things went down a bit differently. As I filled my plate, Alicia and her mom waved to me from a table in the middle of the room. "Come on over and join us."
I did as they asked and, as soon as I saw who was at the table, I wished I'd not taken them up on their offer, but I'd already started in their direction so I was stuck. Worse, there was only one empty seat so I had to take it. Next to Cullen Vail, of course. Alicia's mother caught my expression as I eyed him. "Do you two know each other?"
Cullen Vail gave me the kind of look usually reserved for pythons. My arm brushed his and we both jumped as if shot. Alicia's mother's eyebrows rose but she said nothing and Alicia chatted away in blissful ignorance of the tension that suddenly appeared. Cullen muttered something about having met once or twice, and then he shut up.
"The kittens are old enough to leave home," Alicia said, looking meaningfully at both Cullen and me but she focused mainly on me. "Are you ready for a kitten yet? They are born and there's one left."
"I'm so sorry, but I can't."
Temporarily giving up on me, she skewered Cullen with a look. "What about you?"
It was easy to see that he was afraid of children, but he managed to come up with an answer. "My job doesn't allow for pets. I'm gone a lot."
Her shoulders slumped and her eyes teared as her mother hugged her. "Honey, I'm sure someone will want the kitten. We'll find a home for it. There's still time."
Alicia put her head in her mom's shoulder and sobbed briefly. Then she pulled back and stared long and hard at Cullen and me again as she let us know what she wanted, saying pointedly, "Yes. We. Will. Find. It. A. Home."
Cullen Vail avoided her stare by turning towards Wilkes Zander and soon the two men were discussing the politics of New Rochelle. I listened while pretending not to, knowing this was a business meeting disguised as lunch and, since I was already committed to being a part of the group, I wanted to gather as much information as possible. Some tidbit might help me avoid capture. But all they did was talk about people they knew and soon Cullen Vail excused himself and left.
When Cullen Vail was gone Wilkes Zander shook his head, grinning widely. "That's it for two weeks."
"Huh?" I didn't understand.
"There are ten villages on the Destiny. Wilkes Zander has lunch in one of the villages every week day. He pretends to be visiting but he's checking us out." Everyone at the table laughed, this was an old joke. "Ten villages means two weeks. So he'll be back after visiting the other villages. In two weeks."
I thought back to the last time I'd met him in the café. It had likely been two weeks ago. I checked the calendar, now knowing when not to eat in town.
As soon as was decent, I told everyone at the table that I had work to do, and left. It was all I could do not to run through town and into the apple orchard. I didn't stop shaking until I was safely surrounded by the cherry bushes and apple trees that folded themselves around me and hid me from the world.
When I stopped shaking, I examined the orchard. The apples were growing their little hearts out but I'd brought a cart full to town earlier that day along with cherries that were so abundant that I'd suggested they slow down a bit, after thanking them for doing so well, of course. It happens that way sometimes in my family. Things grow better than they ever did before. We are good at what we do. But I shouldn't take another load of fruit to town for a few days. Maybe a week.
So, with nothing to do in the orchard and not daring to show up in town in case Cullen Vail was still there, I decided to take a nap but it took long minutes to slip into slumber because I was already rested and was still somewhat nervous from the fright I'd had in the cafe. I lay with my eyes shut tightly.
Then my skin prickled because someone was looking at me. CullenVail? Had he followed me from the village? But I couldn't keep my eyes closed forever. I had to face the music some time. So I opened them. And saw Alicia holding a kitten and staring down at me.
I sat up fast.
She held the kitten out. It was nothing special, black and gray mottled. Just a kitten, but she loved it. "I thought that since you're hiding, maybe you'd hide my kitten too."
"Hiding?" I gulped. "I'm not hiding."
"Yes you are. I know you are. I've been watching you. You come here all the time, you tell stuff to grow and it does, then you tell it to jump into the cart and it does, and you don't have an apartment after all." Blue eyes drilled holes into me. "I figure you ran away from home. Was it bad there? Mom says people do that sometimes and it's okay if it was bad."
"Uh…" I thought hard. "Yes. I did. I ran away." She was a kid, she didn't realize that making things grow by telling it to do so was unusual. "But not because it was bad. Because …" I thought hard. "Because I wanted to be in the orchard."
She nodded. "Sometimes I want to run away but I'm not old enough." She dropped the kitten into my lap. It was small and soft and mewed in fright. Instinctively I picked it up and cuddled it. Alicia's face glowed brightly. "You like him and he likes you. You can keep him."
"I can't … "
"I'll bring food. I promise. I won't forget, not ever." She hopped from one foot to the other. "I've got to go before my mom comes looking for me. She doesn't know I'm here, she thinks I'm in the field."
I couldn't have her mother come to my hideout. "Yes, you should go." The small thing in my arms licked my face. "I'll keep the kitten." I was desperate for Alicia to leave before she led someone to my hideout. "I'll hide it for you." I stared at it eyeball to eyeball as it mewed softly. "What's its name?"
"It's a boy kitten and it doesn't have a name yet." She was gone and I was left with one small kitten and the knowledge that my hiding place wasn't so secret after all. Alicia knew about it. Did anyone else? Fear curled around my stomach and I hugged the tiny kitten for comfort and was glad for his warm body against mine.
We were both outcasts and both in danger of being executed if we were caught. "Well, kitten." I stared at him. "I guess it's you and me now whether it's what we want or not." He mewed his agreement and I put him on the mattress where he curled against me. "Don't worry little guy. I'll protect us. We'll be just fine." I hoped we'd be fine.
Saying the words made my plight real and more dangerous than I'd been willing to admit. I laid a hand on his tiny back. "Don't be afraid." He wasn't afraid. In fact, he yawned and went to sleep. "Sure. Sleep away. Don't worry about a thing." He snuggled closer to me and began to snore gently. "You're braver than I am." So I decided to call him Braveheart.
That night the piper came again to unknowingly serenade me. I held my breath, afraid Braveheart would start meowing and, thus give away my hideout. But I held him close and he snuggled in and closed his eyes and listened along with me. My musician … for that was how I'd come to think of him … was none the wiser.
The next day I didn't know what to do with Braveheart when I brought my weekly load of apples to town so I brought him with me, tucked in a pocket. The man at the depot took time to pet him. "You're the sucker who got him, eh? I told Alicia she'd find someone to take him." He held the kitten high and scratched it under its chin. "Nice kid, Alicia, even if she is a bit of a busybody." I giggled because he'd described her perfectly. "Her grandfather is the village mayor so I guess she comes by it naturally." He doubled over laughing along with me.
I had lunch at the café, not staying long enough for anyone to ask too many questions, then, after stopping at the store for cat food and other cat necessities, I made my way back to my homey cherry bushes. I looked around and wondered if I dared bring a chair back the next time I was in town. The mattress was nice but a chair would be pure luxury.
I poured cat litter into the pan from the store, then I looked around for a private place to put Braveheart's bathroom. I parted a pair of bushes. And found myself looking at a pair of small, bare feet. I sighed. "Alicia, what are you doing here? Do
n't you know that it's hard to keep a hiding place secret if people come all the time?"
"I brought cat food." She held out a small package. "I said I would."
I was about to say that I'd already gotten food for Braveheart when a sound stopped me. Stopped us both. Froze us like statues because someone was approaching along the same path Alicia had used. I said a prayer and waited for Cullen Vail to arrest me.
Instead, Wilkes Zander parted the bushes and stared at the tableau before him. His granddaughter, a kitten, a mattress that was neatly made up for sleeping, and me. "What have we here?" was all he said in a deceptively mild voice as he took in my horrified expression. "And why is someone living in the apple orchard?"
I tried to speak and failed. I tried again, but before I could get a word out … before I could figure out what to say, even … Alicia spoke. "She's hiding. She ran away."
Wilkes Zander blinked but said nothing for a long drawn-out moment. In that moment a thousand thoughts chased each other across his face. He was everyone's grandfather, he was a nice guy, but he was no fool and there was a reason he'd been elected mayor of New Rochelle. The moment he saw me and my hideout, he knew I was a stowaway.
Braveheart mewed and went to him. The kitten knew him, Wilkes had probably played with him while visiting Alicia. Now Alicia spoke, as usual. "Elle is taking the kitten. Now they all have homes."
Wilkes' eyes narrowed and he looked at me and then they swerved to Alicia. He loved his granddaughter dearly and he knew what would happen to Braveheart if I went to jail. The kitten would be executed and Alicia would be devastated and she'd blame him.
He couldn't let that happen. He lifted his eyes to the fake sky as if seeking Devine guidance. Then he spoke, still in that mild tone of voice that hid the steel of his being that I hadn't known existed until that moment. "I think it's time to stop hiding, Elle." He stared at my newly muted red hair. "I understand why you might not want to live with your family any longer." He picked his way through a morass of possible things to say and he did so carefully. He didn't want Alicia to know the truth about me or about what he was about to do. Which was?
Earth Legend Page 4