Earth Legend

by Florence Witkop

  He took the tree and held it high. "How, exactly?"

  "The way she made the apple trees well when they didn't feel so good."

  "What apple trees?" He looked around for nonexistent trees. He was having a hard time dealing with Wilkes and Alicia. I understood, for they were a formidable pair.

  "The ones in the orchard where she used to live. If they didn't feel good she fixed them. I watched her do it. I tried to do it myself but I guess I'm not old enough yet. So when my tree got sick, I brought it here. My grandpa didn't want to bring me but I was really, really nice so he did and he brought Braveheart too because Braveheart missed Elle almost as much as the trees miss her but trees can't walk so they couldn't come. Just my tree and Braveheart."

  Cullen stood extremely straight and tried not to look confused as he turned the tree around and around in his hands. Then he looked daggers at me but, though I felt every invisible thrust, I refused to lower my gaze. We tried to stare each other down but it was a draw.

  At long last, after one more puzzled look at the cherry tree, he returned it to Alicia and she and her grandfather left. Then he stood lost in thought in the middle of the room until finally he turned to the deputy. "Did you notice the tree the little girl brought it?" The deputy nodded. "Was it the same tree she brought out?"

  The deputy chewed his lower lip. "Now that you mention it the one she left with did seem different from the one she took into the cell."

  "And you were here the whole time so she couldn't have sneaked a different one in?" The deputy's expression gave him away and he was forced to admit that he'd gone out for cookies. And he sheepishly mentioned that Wilkes Zander hadn't been locked in my cell.

  "He brought a different tree. They hoodwinked you. You left them alone and they did their trick. It's part of a plot to give credence to that ridiculous story of hers but it won't work because we'll find the sick tree and prove them liars."

  Almost instantly they were in my cell tearing apart everything that wasn't nailed down. But they found nothing. Cullen towered over me, his face a mask. "What did they bring and where did you hide it? Tell me!"

  "She brought a tree and she took it with her. Same tree and I didn't hide anything."

  "You're lying."

  "Then where is it?" The cell was torn asunder, the prisoners on either side wide awake and watching. This was the most excitement since they'd been incarcerated.

  "It was all recorded," the deputy said quietly because the prisoners on either side of me were more interested than they should be. "We can watch the recording."

  "Of course." Cullen nodded shortly. "I'll do that. Me, I'll watch and see what she did while you actually do your job and stick around so no one escapes." He turned without another word, stomped into the inner office and slammed the door. That was all we heard for possibly an hour. Then the door opened slowly and he stepped out and came straight to my cell. "You." He pointed to me. "Come." The deputy opened my cell door and I followed Cullen into that private office.

  A screen covered most of one wall. Cullen indicated that I sit, then he flipped a switch and soon I was watching my visit with Alicia. It started with her hug, then Braveheart being cuddled, and soon after I saw Alicia handing me the cherry tree. I saw me touching it until it came back to life.

  He replayed the visit several times in total silence. Then he bent close enough for me to see that his eyes weren't solid black and that was close indeed because I saw clearly the pure night and lightning and thunder in them. They had dark flecks, too, and some not so dark and were night water and wind as well as lightning and thunder. They were beautiful and deep and frightening all at the same time. "Tell me what you did in there."

  "I made the cherry tree well."

  "What did you do and how did you do it? More importantly, what other magic tricks do you know that you might use on an unsuspecting victim?" He was so close I could see his nostrils flare and the tiny lines fanning out from his eyes.

  "It wasn't a trick. I told you that I'm good with plants. I make things grow. It's what I do. It's why I'm here."

  His eyes slitted and then he turned wordlessly and left, locking the door behind him. I shrank into my chair and stared at the ceiling, knowing at last how all those generations of relatives had felt those few times when they'd told people what we can do. About our abilities. And I waited, not knowing what would happen next but knowing that whatever it was it would probably be as terrible as it had been for all those previous generations.

  He returned half an hour later carrying a half-dead tomato plant. I knew where he'd gotten it. From the greenhouse. Our eyes met briefly over the plant, remembering our time there, and then slid away as he stuck it towards me. "Prove it. Show me."

  I examined it without touching it. "It's pretty sick."

  "I knew it. You're a fraud."

  "I didn't say that. I can probably make it better though I don't know if it'll ever be truly healthy again. Like I said, it's pretty sick but if you want me to, I'll try."

  He shoved the pot towards me. "Do more than try. Fix it. Or else."

  I touched the tomato plant gently. It had been handled roughly. Cullen didn't know about plants and he'd been angry when he chose it so it hurt and I felt its pain. But it wasn't dead so I tried. I closed my eyes and set my mind free.

  It didn't take long. Moments later, I opened my eyes and smiled. "It wasn't as sick as I first thought. It'll be okay. Just give it a minute or two."

  He waited, managing to stare holes through my body even while he stared at the tomato plant that responded faster than I'd thought. I don't know why I was surprised. Most things do respond quickly to decent care.

  It stood straighter. Its leaves lifted towards the ceiling. It stretched to its full height and the first of many future blossoms unfurled along a vine. As each thing happened I felt it in the way that I always feel what's happening with plants. I couldn't help the smile that appeared and spread until it filled my whole being. I looked at Cullen and smiled even more because he was staring at the tomato plant as if waiting for it to bite him. He was shocked speechless.

  I, on the other hand, felt pretty good. "I told you so."

  He answered as if in a trance. "I don't know what you did, I don't know how you did it, but you weren't faking. I was careful. There's no other tomato plant to replace the sick one with. There's not a single healthy tomato plant on the Destiny so I know you couldn't trick me." He raked one hand through his hair, leaving it rumpled, the first time I'd seen him less than perfect. "I don't know how you do what you do, but I accept that you do it."

  "I do." I waited because he wasn't finished.

  "Did you know that the Destiny is already facing a crisis from a shortage of food?"

  "I've heard talk."

  "You can prevent it like you said?"

  "I can."

  You. Just you."

  "Yes." I stood straight and tall and smiled until my face was stiff. No matter what happened next, at that moment I was proud of myself and my family.

  He snapped out of his reverie and stared at me accusingly. "You can save everyone yet you do nothing. You just sit here and do nothing."

  I waved my hand to the room and towards the room holding the deputy, Jake and the streaker. "I'm in jail. It's hard enough to do what I do through the walls of a normal building but these walls are different. Worse. Impenetrable."

  "Of course they are. It's a jail. Thin walls wouldn't hold a flea."

  "If you want me to save the Destiny, you have to set me free."

  "You stowed away."

  "I did so to prevent what is already happening and right now I'm all that stands between life and death for ten thousand people."

  He bit his lower lip. "I don't have the authority."

  "Talk to the Captain."

  "He's busy. He hasn't slept in days, maybe weeks."

  "Because of the food shortage."

  "I can't get near him. Hell, I can't even get close enough to call out his name. He h
as meetings all the time."

  "If I stay in here, then very soon those meetings won't matter."

  He licked his lips and then stood up and paced back and forth. Then he said, "Okay. I'll take you out myself."

  "You'll break the law?"

  He stopped and rubbed his hands. "Of course not." This was hard. "There are reasons to take prisoners places. Court appearances. Depositions."

  "And saving ten thousand lives."

  "There will be a reason, I won't break the law. I'll think of something, I'll get you out." He led the way to the door. "Don't screw this up."

  I saw myself in the glass of the door. I hated my image. "Do I have to wear these clothes? I'm tired of prison orange."

  He veered past a shelf and grabbed a small package that contained the clothes I'd worn when I was arrested. They were clean and neat. In minutes, I was changed and ready for freedom.

  Instead I got a patch slapped onto the back of my neck. It was similar to the comunit but instead of a cute, multi-colored Destiny tattoo this one was an ugly black bar code. "Don't force me to use this." He loomed over me as he strapped a small device around his wrist. "I can now find you anywhere and you won't like it if I push this button."

  "I'm only interested in saving lives."

  He gave the deputy orders regarding the remaining prisoners and said he didn't know how long we'd be gone so not to worry about us. Then he shoved me ahead of him and we left the jailhouse, retracing our original path through a tunnel to the government building rotunda and then outside into the central part of Center City, the heart of the Destiny.

  Only after so long in jail, I didn't see a ship. I needed and wanted and saw and felt sunshine so I turned my face upwards and didn't care that it was from a fake sun. I looked around and felt the joy of people moving freely among buildings that rose tall and straight into the sky. The Destiny was no longer a ship. It was a country and Center City was the capital, complete with streets and parks and it was beautiful.

  Okay, maybe the parks weren't beautiful. When I'd had enough sunshine and looked around, I realized that they weren't so lovely. Leaves hung listless and the grass had the look of late summer when it's going dormant. But nothing should go dormant on the Destiny because every living plant had been programmed to be continuously verdant. There was work for me in those parks, a lot of work and I'd best get started. I strode towards the trees.

  And was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. "Food is the first concern." He pointed me towards the greenhouses.

  "You remember what happened last time we went there."

  "Things are different now."

  "The botanists are bureaucrats. Bureaucrats don't change."

  He knew I was right. "Where then?"

  "The orchard where I used to live. My orchard."

  "Why that particular one? There are dozens of orchards on the Destiny. Hundreds maybe." Suspicion flared, one hand moved towards the button that could do unspeakable horrors.

  "Because I know that orchard. Because it's probably the healthiest one on the Destiny. Because it'll respond fastest."

  His hand dropped and he led the way to the electric Harley with the Security insignia on the side. It was parked beneath an oak tree with leaves already turning brown. As we passed beneath, I reached up to touch a branch and closed my eyes, hoping Cullen would let me do my thing without pressing that button but knowing that I needed to do this, to help this one tree no matter the consequence. Because it was there and it was hurting. When I opened my eyes his hands were free and, though his whole body was tense, he knew what I was doing. So we waited to see how bad the damage was. How hard it would be to bring the Destiny back to life.

  In what I felt as a huge sigh but Cullen probably heard as a breeze, the tree came back. The leaves turned a healthy green and the trunk stood tall once more with branches lifting towards the sky. Cullen watched with no expression. But he waited patiently with me until the tree was as green as Ireland in the spring and as tall as a dwarf oak can be.

  Then he waved for me to climb onto the Harley behind him. From that position I could easily conk him on the head and escape and he knew that but still he let me sit there.

  I reached out to several fields as we passed to let them know that help was on the way but our passage was too swift to see if my message was received. Then we reached the orchard. My orchard. We stepped off of the Harley and the orchard woke up almost instantly.

  "The cherry tree and the tomato plant weren't flukes." Cullen stared at me as if seeing me for the first time. Or as if I had two heads. "You really can do something."

  "It's a family thing. Goes way back."

  "If you can do this to all the crops the Captain might commute your sentence."

  "He might? Might? Is that all? I save ten thousand lives and he might consider not sending me out the airlock?"

  "It's his call, not mine."

  I refused to look at Cullen for the rest of that afternoon as we left the now-thriving orchard and headed back to check out the fields we'd passed earlier. As I'd hoped, they were slowly coming back to life. Cullen wagged his head from side to side though, again, he said nothing, just gave me a strange stare. I guess I'm hard to get used to. Then, glancing skyward, he checked the time because what passed for sunshine on the Destiny was dimming. Night was coming fast. "Can you work in the dark?"

  "Of course I can, but I'm tired. This is hard. "

  "If you're alive and able to function, we keep going. You can sleep later."

  "Is it that bad? The rest of the Destiny?" His lips pressed tightly together said all I needed to know, but I knew what he didn't. "The Destiny is huge. What I can do in one night will hardly make a dent."

  He didn't like that. He looked around. Here and there small pockets of healthy plants stood out against the drab, gray-green of the remaining cropland. Seeing them, he brightened. "We can't fix everything immediately but we can go for a psychological lift. People are beginning to panic so even small areas coming back to life might do wonders for morale."

  We spent most of that night going from one place to another, each chosen by Cullen for maximum visual impact. By the time I was too tired to help even one more plant, numerous areas of healthy cropland dotted the landscape.

  "Do I have to sleep in jail?" Not that it would matter. I was so tired I could easily have slept on the super hard faux dirt. But I'd been in jail for a long time. Too long.

  "We're not far from your apartment."

  "I promise not to escape."

  "I'll make sure you don't. I'll be there too."

  I moved slowly, wearily to his bike and climbed on the back. Crawled was more like it because turning an entire ecosystem away from death and towards life had done me in. I wondered if anyone in my family had ever faced a task so daunting. I doubted it because there had always been many family members available for any job. Now there was just me. And the bulk of the work lay ahead.

  Cullen tipped my face up, his touch surprisingly gentle. If there'd been a moon, he'd have been silhouetted against it. I thought about that and wondered what he'd look like with the moon as backlighting. Then he spoke in a slightly guilty voice. "You look awful. Why didn't you say something?"

  "You were right when you said people need hope. I wanted to get as much done as possible." He climbed in front of me and I practically fell against his back as I waited for him to start. Instead, he got off and moved me in front, cradling me with his arms. I heard his low mutter before I fell asleep. "Can't have you falling off. We need you."

  We traveled through the deepening dark until we reached New Rochelle. I think we did, I might have been asleep except I kind of remember the feel of his arms and his solid body and the fresh night air curling around us both.

  He parked his bike and half dragged me to my apartment. When we stepped through the door, it was like coming home and the familiarity of the place revived me momentarily. It was a homecoming. My plants were all there, healthy and glowing and glad I was back. "Alicia
must have watered them." I yawned.

  "Unlike every other plant on the Destiny, these are healthy."

  "I'm working on strains that will thrive in this environment." I touched a floribunda rose bush. "You can eat rose petals."

  "But that's not why you like it."

  I flushed. He was right. It was gorgeous and I'd made a special project of the bush. I'd not seen many flowers on the Destiny. Practicality was rampant but flowers are nice. I decided I'd check it closer in the morning. At the moment, I was exhausted and only wanted to sleep. The plants understood, they quieted down.

  Cullen took the miniature roses from my hand and smelled them. "Nice." Then he put it down and turned all stern and businesslike. "Morning comes early. Get some sleep."

  Somehow I found my bedroom and then my bed. I fell across it, uncaring that I was fully dressed. I thought Cullen pulled a blanket over me but I was too tired to know for sure.

  In the morning, as soon as I awoke I visited all of my plants, not just the rose bush. They were doing well and Cullen was gone, my extra bedding folded neatly on one end of the couch. As I stood, uncertain what to do next, a booted foot kicked the door open and Cullen entered, uniform fresh though I couldn't imagine how that could be and arms laden with breakfast. "I fixed your coffee the way you like it. Two sugars and one cream."

  "You noticed how I like coffee?"

  "It's my job to notice details." He turned away to put breakfast on the table so I couldn't tell if his face really turned red or if it was the morning light that made it seem so. He'd brought croissants. My favorite. And cold cuts, lots of them. "For energy. Busy day ahead."

  He was right about that. Having dotted the Destiny with patches of thriving, growing, living crops the previous day to give people hope, that morning we started the grueling work of bringing the entire huge farm that was the Destiny up to snuff. Our plan was to head for the back end and work our way towards the front. We did just that though it took almost eight weeks to get everything back to normal. But, by the end of the last week, the Destiny was once again the thriving, happy world it had been when it pulled away from Earth and headed into the unknown.