"It's more than that, Elle, and you know it. You're talented. You do something that most of us don't. Something different, I think. Something that only a botanist would know to do. I'm thinking it's something that should be noticed by those idiots in charge." He pulled back and examined me closely. There was just a hint of puzzlement in that look, as if he knew there was more to my story than being a stowaway, but he didn't know what it was and he wouldn't ask. Yet. "Cullen and I have been talking about moving you to the greenhouses with the other specialists, where your talents can be put to good use."
"I told you that I don't want … "
He shushed me again. "It's not about what you want, Elle. It's about what's best for the Destiny. Seems there's some concern about the plants not producing as well as expected." He shook his head. "It's not a real concern, of course. Nothing they can't deal with. Why we have the best minds from Earth right there in the greenhouses and they are working on the problem. If it is a problem, if it's more than just a temporary glitch. But another mind looking at things won't hurt." He stood up and I realized that part of the reason Cullen Vail had been so graceful earlier was the low gravity. Even elderly people like Wilkes moved with ease. "Anyway, now that you're here, you and Cullen can talk about it. I'm not needed for this particular conversation so I think I'll just mosey over to the café and see what their special is today."
Without Wilkes as a buffer, the space between us wasn't nearly enough. I wanted to run away, to look elsewhere, to stop breathing if that would change what was happening, but I couldn't do any of those things. So I stretched my lips in a parody of a smile and asked Mr. Vail what he was thinking.
"Cullen. Call me Cullen. No 'Mister'."
Cullen. "I'd rather harvest apples and cherries than work in the greenhouses."
"Let me take you to meet the scientists so you can see what they are doing." I opened my mouth but he continued before I could speak. "And you might like to see the animal barns too. I've noticed that farmers find that kind of thing interesting."
I reminded him that I was a botanist, not a farmer, and then, as that small smile I'd already recognized as belonging to Cullen Vail and no one else ghosted across his face, I realized I'd fallen neatly into his trap and was stuck. I wasn't a farmer and I'd admitted it. I was a botanist and, as such, I was going to the greenhouses with Cullen Vail.
No, not Cullen Vail, just Cullen. The head of Security wanted me to call him by his first name. Was that ironic or what?
I expected we'd take the elevator back to the tube that ran along the center of the Destiny and ride that to the greenhouses but instead I was led to the town square and a little beyond, to a narrow road I'd seen but not paid any attention to because I never went anywhere. We climbed onto what looked like a Harley with an electric motor. It had Security written on one side. I wrapped my hands around the iron that was Cullen's waist and leaned into his back as we started off towards the center of the Destiny. The heart of the beast. To the hub of government, commerce, science and just about everything else necessary for people to live together in harmony. Except, of course, for the Captain's bridge. That reigned in lofty superiority at the end of that central tube. At the front of the ship.
I expected the hub to be a city and when Cullen parked his bike, I realized that I was right. And wrong. Buildings there ringed the Destiny like a belt around its middle, scattered in a haphazard arrangement of no particular design, though I knew they followed a plan. I just didn't know what it was. "Welcome to Center City."
"Not a very imaginative name."
"It's the center of government and it's in the center of the Destiny."
Cullen led the way to the greenhouses. They weren't far from the parking lot, just past a few buildings devoted to animal husbandry and a couple more that were fisheries. I followed, wishing I was somewhere else. Anywhere else because I've been in the horticulture business all my life and I knew what was waiting for me, even if Cullen didn't.
If I'd applied for a berth on the Destiny as a botanist I'd not have been chosen even though I was a double honors student with extensive credentials and a couple semi-major discoveries to my name and I knew large numbers of important people in the field. Because those things, impressive as they were, wouldn't have been enough to get me accepted. Only political pull would have done that and those who'd used their influential friends to get them on board would resent me big time.
When we stepped into the closest greenhouse my heart sank. This was going to be bad. The scientists were polite enough to Cullen but it was soon clear to both of us that they didn't like him pushing me onto them any more than they liked having me around. They threw mental darts at us both.
I knew that as soon as Cullen left, if I stayed they'd tear me apart limb from limb. I didn't want to think what would happen if they discovered my secret. And they probably would because professionals who have had an outsider thrust into their midst will stop at nothing to destroy the interloper. Me.
Cullen was good at his job. He read their thoughts exactly and their intentions. Being the kind of man he was, I knew he'd feel responsible if anything happened. Even if nothing happened he'd feel guilty for bringing me there and subjecting me to their criticism. I knew he'd want to do something to remedy things. And he did.
First, he looked around in a seemingly aimless way that took in everything, then he stepped closer to me and slipped one arm around my waist, a seemingly casual gesture but no one was fooled. I was under his protection and no one had better mess with me. His gesture would keep them well behaved while he was there. After he left would be a different matter.
"Mind if we take a look around?" he asked mildly. The head grower blinked and then nodded reluctantly. He couldn't very well start an argument with the head of Security, which meant Cullen was higher up in the pecking order of the Destiny. So all he did wak made a half turn to indicate where we should start our tour. Cullen's arm around my waist tightened as he moved us in the direction the grower had pointed. The heart of the greenhouses.
As we neared the first table in the first greenhouse, I felt something. A wrongness. An itch at the back of my neck. Everything looked fine to the untrained eye, but my eye was trained and had been honed over a lifetime of watching things grow. Of helping them grow. Of fixing problems when they didn't grow right. So I knew that the plants in that greenhouse were in trouble and that trouble was worse than Wilkes Zander had intimated.
I felt their pain in my gut but any experienced botanist even those without my extra senses could see the slight droop to the leaves and the thinness of the stems. There was also a lack of health in the roots that I couldn't see but could sense. The scientists in the other room knew I saw it because they saw it. And they didn't like the fact that I knew they had a problem.
The head grower had followed us. I turned, still wrapped in Cullen's arm, and gave him a questioning look. He shrugged. "A small problem. Nothing we can't handle." He dared me to argue further.
"I'm sure you'll fix things." I subsided and let Cullen sweep me away from the grower and the others still standing where we'd left them. We went to the other side of the main room, into a second greenhouse. I cried privately for the plants that were struggling in this alien environment but there was nothing I could do. Not now. My only influence at the moment was with the apple orchard and the cherry bushes. They were fine and once I was back home in New Rochelle I'd try to figure out a way to help the poor plants in the greenhouses without appearing to do so. Because the botanists who worked there would tear me limb from limb if I did anything noticeable.
The head grower left us alone as Cullen half-dragged me between the rows of tables to still a third greenhouse filled with tomato plants. There were acres of them, all red and ripe but with something subtly wrong, something I could see and the other botanists could see but Cullen was clueless about. He stopped. "Sorry about their stupidity, Elle."
He turned me until I stood before him. We were inches apart. He'd probably not
been this close to another human being for years, at least not willingly. A whiff of his uniform, the soap he used to wash it, the leather belt and the metal buttons washed over me. And something else. Cullen Vail himself.
He clearly hadn't expected us to be so close when he brought me around and it rendered him speechless for a moment. He took a step backwards and bumped into a table filled with growing tomatoes. They'd been watered recently, they were wet, and droplets cascaded over him, spotting his immaculate uniform, beading on his perfect hair, pearling his skin. Not knowing what else to do, we both stared at the drops until they soaked into his uniform or evaporated. It took a while.
"I didn't know they'd react so badly." He scowled at the wet spots on his uniform as if staring would scare them into drying faster. "They shouldn't do that. They are professionals."
"That's the problem."
He slumped as he realized what I'd said. "I brought someone into their domain and they feel threatened."
"Yes."
He sighed, a sound pulled from his toes. "Every time I try to do something right, it backfires." Then he realized he'd spoken out loud and stiffened. Turned into a statue. Became overly competent.
When had he tried to do something right and failed? What had the consequences been? I pretended not to notice. "I like being a farmer. I'm happy where I am." I touched his face. I shouldn't have done so but he was so unhappy that I couldn't help myself.
He bent closer and studied me for a moment, taking my hand that was touching his face into his own for a second before letting it drop. Then he shook his head as if clearing out cobwebs. "I'll take you home to New Rochelle." His demeanor changed. The trip was finished except for the return. The stormy eyes changed again, not banked fire this time but something different. I couldn't imagine what it was. "But I don't like the way they treated you. No one acts like that on my watch. On the way out let's give them something to think about."
His arm wrapped itself tightly around my waist as we retraced our steps. We were so close that anyone watching would think we were lovers. The greenhouse workers would think that and they'd know they'd come close to hexing the head of Security's girl friend.
We said a pleasant goodbye to their glowering faces and exited the greenhouse, still with our arms wrapped around each other. That lasted until we turned a corner. We separated hastily. Cullen might have shivered in relief but the motion was so slight I couldn't be sure.
As we climbed onto his bike, he asked, "What was all that stuff you professionals were talking about back there? Everything looked fine to me. Was Wilkes right? Is there a problem?"
"The plants aren't as healthy as they should be."
"Is it serious?" He was ready to start the bike but didn't. Instead he straddled it and gave me all of his attention. "Tell the truth, Elle. It's important. Crucial. The plants keep us alive. They provide not only food but oxygen. If there's something seriously wrong, I need to know."
"I promise nothing will go wrong." I should have let it go at that. Got on the bike and waited for him to start it. But I didn't. "Why? What could you do if there is a problem?"
"What I do with all problems beyond the scope of my job. Tell the Captain. After that what happens would be his call."
"Would he turn the Destiny around and return to earth?"
"We've passed the point of no return."
His words hit me with the force of a freight train. The point of no return. If I was caught, I'd not be sent home. So what would happen? How bad would it be? I shivered. Seeing my trembling, Cullen reached towards me. Stopped. Didn't know the proper procedure for this situation. Decided to wing it and wrapped me in his arms and pulled me close, though his body was still as stiff and proper as ever.
I collapsed into his strength, thinking as I did so how ironic it was that the man who could order me out an airlock was trying to comfort me. If I was discovered would he do the same before the airlock opened? Would he remember this moment and the way our bodies melded together so nicely? Would he regret that his job included such an awful thing as throwing me away like yesterday's garbage? Or would he do it without a second thought? "I'm sure the professionals will deal with the problem before it becomes serious enough to alert the Captain."
"I certainly hope so."
He unwound himself from me and started the bike and neither of us said anything during the trip home. I was so glad to be back in New Rochelle that I was tempted to fall down and kiss the ground. I would have if Cullen wasn't watching. I did after he left and I didn't feel foolish about it at all, even though it was fake dirt covering phony ground. It was my fake dirt and my phony ground. It belonged to me and everyone else on the Destiny. It was the foundation of our world, my world now, and I'd protect it with everything in me, no matter that it was phony. I promised that fake dirt that I'd figure out what was wrong with the plants in the greenhouses and I'd fix it.
As I pushed open the door to my apartment, I thought back to what was happening in the greenhouses. I hadn't wanted to go there, but now I was glad I had because I knew that my family's fears were right. Things were going wrong and much sooner than any of us would have thought.
It was a good thing I'd succeeded in stowing away. Because in the coming weeks, possibly months, until I got things back on track, I would be all that kept ten thousand people alive.
Chapter Six
I am discovered.
Alicia visited the next morning. Nothing new, she stopped by often to visit Braveheart. Sometimes she brought her own cat so mother and kitten could be together. During her visits she'd developed an interest in the potted plants all over my place. She liked the cherry blossoms best because of their delicate pink color. I'd promised to give her a tiny tree for herself and she was there to get it.
"You have to do what I taught if you want it to be healthy."
She held it tightly. "I promise."
"If it starts to droop, bring it back and I'll tell it to stand up straight." I laughed because it was a joke.
She liked jokes so she giggled. Then she scared me. "Just like you tell the orchard to grow nice apples and cherries and they do."
She hadn't forgotten. I'd hoped she would. "I can't really do that. I was being silly. Sometimes I talk to myself."
"Like Grandpa Zander?"
"Yep. Just like him."
She giggled again. She was enjoying this conversation. "No one pays attention to Gramps when he talks to himself but when you talk to the orchard, it listens. Trees like you." She held out the miniature cherry tree I'd potted for her, not caring that I could talk to trees because in her child's world it wasn't important. "It's pretty. Will it grow big?"
"Not if you keep it in the pot. It'll stay the right size for the pot."
I stared out my window long after she left, shaking like a rag. I liked Alicia but there were times I wished we'd never met. It was because of her that I had an apartment and was an accepted resident of New Rochelle, not to mention that I had a kitten. But if she blurted out what she knew to the wrong people, I could end up in jail.
I shook my head. What was I thinking? She was a child. Who pays attention to children? Who believes them? I should stop worrying and get outside and be sociable. I should go for a walk. Everyone walked everywhere in New Rochelle, it was great exercise and a good way to find out what was happening in town because gossips also took walks.
I headed towards the town square because that's where I was most likely to find people, but no one I knew was there. On the other side of the square, however, several people were clustered around the harvesting center building. I knew them from delivering apples and cherries so I sauntered over. Gerald, the guy who checked deliveries, wasn't busy. No one was, which was unusual. Most days the harvest center was a bustling place. "Elle." He waved a couple of fingers in my direction. "What's doing? No apples today?"
There could be. Trees in the orchard were heavy with fruit but I didn't dare bring too much too often. "Not yet. Soon." I looked around. "Slow day
?"
There was no humor in his laugh. "Slow week. Several slow weeks."
"How so?" The hairs on the back of my neck rose. Was it beginning?
"Not as good a harvest lately as we'd like." Gerald put on a positive face. It was hard but he managed. "But it'll pick up."
One of the guys agreed. "Yeah, it'll get better. Elle's apples and cherries are growing great. So maybe some of the other crops are slow, they'll catch up and it'll get back to what it should be. You'll see."
Another spoke slowly and without the positive lilt of the first speakers. "If that doesn't happen, I'm going to ask Elle to visit my blueberries and wave her magic wand or do whatever she does to make her crops the best on the Destiny."
They all laughed and someone said something about witches, and then ducked, laughing harder, as I stuck out my tongue at him.
It was a good visit until Gerald ruined the mood. "Cullen Vail was here a bit ago, asking about you."
"Me?" A headache started pounding the back of my neck. "What did he want?"
Gerald leered. "I think he likes you."
"Not a chance." I relaxed slightly.
Gerald looked me up and down. "Who'd have thought our illustrious, slightly pompous head of Security would fall for a lowly farmer?"
Someone else broke in. "He didn't fall for a farmer. Remember what he said? Our Elle isn't just any farmer. She's got degrees. She's special. She knows more about growing food than all of us lowly dirt farmers put together."
The man with the blueberries spoke again. "Now I know I'm going to ask Elle to check out my berries. No wonder she brings in the best crops. She's an expert."
I puffed out my cheeks to hide my discomfort. "He had no right to tell you that."
Gerald waved a charitable hand. "Don't worry, Elle. We promise not to hold all those degrees against you as long as you continue to bring in great crops and teach us your secrets." He leaned against the wall and crossed one leg over the other. "You see, Elle, there's a little competition going on that you might not know about. But you're a part of it, like it or not. New Rochelle isn't the best producer on the Destiny yet but, with you around, it might be very soon. The other villages aren't bringing in crops like they did and we are getting better thanks to your cherries and apples. As soon as you teach us what you know, New Rochelle will be on the map and everyone else can eat our dust."
Earth Legend Page 6