Earth Legend

by Florence Witkop

  Where apple trees grew, other trees would be nearby. I needed berries from the Chaste tree for Darlene and it only made sense that the Destiny greenhouses would contain at least one of every kind of tree with food or medicinal potential. Including chasteberries. But I didn't remember trees during my previous visits. "I don’t know exactly where the trees are."

  "In the farthest building. We won't see much of you." Which was what he wanted. Did he know it was what I wanted too?

  He turned to the young man who had briefly smiled at me. He must be the bottom of the pecking order, the least important person in the room. "Saul, show Ms. Olmstead to the nursery."

  Saul put away his pruning shears and came close and indicated with his chin that I follow. I understood his silence. If he wanted to move up in the pecking order, he'd better not show me any friendship.

  Once we were away from the other botanists, though, Saul changed. Relaxed. Became curious. "The head grower said your last name is Olmstead?" I nodded. "There are a lot of Olmsteads in the agricultural business." I nodded again. "Are you related?"

  "I am."

  "Oh." That one word said he understood why Constance Reiwer didn't like me. I came from an influential family in the greenhouse business. He'd probably worked his way up.

  We continued in silence for a moment. Then, "Why'd you stow away? Why not just apply as a crew member? They'd have been happy to have an Olmstead on board."

  We were already deep in the greenhouses with the light from the artificial sun pouring through the glass ceilings. At night, when that faux sun went dark, grow lights would switch on so the plants could grow continuously. I touched the gauzy, green filament of a climbing bean plant and felt its satisfaction. The plants on the Destiny were making the transition nicely from earth to space. The colonists would thrive and be healthy. I would only be needed if something went wrong. That would happen eventually, it did on earth and it would in space. But the first, most difficult part, was done.

  I caught up with Saul. "I tried. I wasn't chosen. My genetic makeup didn't qualify."

  He sniffed. "As far as I'm concerned, all that genetic purity stuff is a bunch of crap."

  "The selection committee didn't see it that way."

  "I suspect the selection committee was composed of genetic purists. They are bigots, you know, and there are genetic bigots on the Destiny. A lot of them." He shivered delicately as I recalled the crowds that almost made us miss the Destiny's launch. The anger, the hatred. I shivered. "They spend most of their leisure time telling each other how superior they are to the rest of mankind. They have actually created a political action committee to get genetic screening for every fetus written into our constitution so no one with impure genes will be born. Ever."

  "You're kidding."

  "And they want to be the ones who decide what genes are acceptable."

  "That's scary."

  He nodded vigorously. "They meet in the restaurant in my apartment building so I hear them talk."

  "I wonder if the captain knows."

  "They aren't doing anything illegal. It's just politics, or so they say." He pushed a door open and a forest of tiny trees spread out before us. The nursery. "But if I were you, I wouldn't tell anyone about your genetic makeup."

  I like trees, always have had a thing for them. The quiet majesty of these youngsters growing towards a life of providing food made me glad to be an Olmstead. Made me glad for my unusual genes. "Mum's the word."

  We were in the bowels of the greenhouse complex, passing through one building with no growing plants in it but boxes and barrels of what looked like chemicals. "What's all that stuff?"

  Saul pointed. "When everything started dying, no one knew what to do but we knew the life of every person on board was endangered if we couldn't come up with a way of keeping the plants alive. So we tried everything, including every chemical ever known to boost plant production.

  "Some of those chemicals are lethal." Nitrogen. Anhydrous ammonia. And more.

  "It was a crisis. It was our job to feed the people on the Destiny. We'd have done anything, used anything."

  I considered the boxes and barrels. "What will they do with all this stuff now?"

  "Connie put in a requisition for it to be picked up. It just hasn't happened yet." He grinned as he pushed open another door and we entered a desert dry room filled with cacti. "Some things never change. On earth or on the Destiny, nothing gets done in a hurry." We laughed and made our way carefully around a few prickly pear cacti to still another greenhouse filled with small trees. We'd arrived at my work station.

  He showed me around a bit, pointing out things that didn't need pointing out, stretching out his time in this special place. Then, smiling again so I'd know that at least one person in the greenhouses was my friend, he left and I went to find the Chasteberry tree that would…or would not… help Darlene Smithers become pregnant. It stood in a corner and, when I explained my project, it was more than happy to help.

  Chapter Twelve

  I am outed.

  A bike was waiting as promised at the end of that first day and when I got back to my apartment Cullen's things were gone. I should have been ecstatic. I wasn't. I missed him, missed his scowling presence, his dark eyes, that hair that never was out of place even first thing in the morning, missed the bulk of him in the room next to mine all night long. I missed the way his eyes smiled at small children playing while his mouth held a serious line, the way he touched the apple trees in the orchard, lightly, seeing them for the first time in his life as living, breathing individuals. The way he shielded me from imaginary assailants and would have given his life to save mine. That last was huge. I'd never thought of myself as needing protection but, remembering Saul's comment about my impure genes, the memory of Cullen and his protective bulk grew larger and larger as time passed.

  Three months to be exact. Three months of happiness when I was alone with the trees and misery when other botanists were present. Except when Saul Darling worked with me because then time passed pleasantly, but that wasn't often. He never asked to be assigned to me because he knew he'd be ostracized by his coworkers if he did. Since I wasn't alone often, I decided to ask the captain if I could go back to my orchard.

  Except it wasn't the captain who sent me to work in the greenhouses, it was his wife. So I decided to talk to her. See if she would forgive me for not helping her become pregnant. Throw myself on her mercy, try to get her to understand that I couldn't work magic, and ask to be returned to my beloved orchard.

  So, instead of heading home one day after work, I strolled into the enclave of large houses belonging to important people. The place where Cullen lived. I passed his place and walked determinedly towards the largest house in the area, the captain's home. Darlene Smithers was just coming out, dressed in sneakers and jogging shorts, with a scarf covering her luxuriant hair.

  She saw me, waved, and came running. "Elle! So good to see you."

  How to start the conversation? Try a nice, safe topic. "You look nice." She did, too, though she resembled a teenager rather than the captain's wife. But I'd already figured that status wasn't important to Darlene Smithers.

  A wide smile split her face. "Yes I do look great and it's all your fault."

  "My fault?"

  She whirled around a couple of time. "Don't you know? Can't you see?"

  "See what?"

  She laughed. "I know I don't show yet but I thought you'd know."

  "You're…?"

  "Yep." She grabbed me and hugged me hard. "I'm pregnant. Almost three months."

  "Oh my gosh!" It had worked. My family's recipe actually worked. I shouldn't have been surprised but I was.

  "You are a miracle worker. I'm so glad you stowed aboard the Destiny because I'm pregnant and that never happened before even though we tried practically forever." She let go of me and pulled me along with her. She moved along the sidewalk like an acrobat, half dancing, half jogging. She was that excited. "And I've made sure my fr
iends know about you. You are much too precious a resource to keep to myself."

  "You told someone?" I was horrified.

  "Just a few close friends."

  I stopped, unable to walk further. Such well-meaning gossip had done in more than one of my ancestors. All kinds of labels had been thrust upon us. Witches. Warlocks. The devils' spawn. Whatever the label, the result had been disastrous.

  Darlene paused in her gyrations long enough to put her hands on my shoulders and look me in the eye. "I know you think what you do should be kept secret. But Elle, this is a new world, a new frontier. Old superstitions don't apply." She lifted her arms and spread them wide. "Those strange genes of yours are superior to ours, not the other way around." She waggled a finger in my face. "So no more being stuck in that apple forest for you. Judging from the reactions I got from my friends, I'm guessing you'll be very popular in the future. Very, very popular. Every woman who doesn't conceive ASAP will be coming to see you."

  Thanks to Darlene's fast gait that I now recognized as the exercise every mother-to-be needs, we'd left her exclusive neighborhood and reached the commercial section of Center City. It wasn't busy, no place on the Destiny was ever crowded, but at that moment every street had at least a handful of people heading home for the day just as I'd be doing if I hadn't gone to see Darlene.

  Darlene Smithers was the captain's wife and used to being the center of attention so she easily ignored the stares that came our way from a woman a few yards along the sidewalk. I wished I could do the same because the looks didn't seem like casual curiosity. In fact, they felt like poison darts. And, as I tried to figure out what was happening, I realized the woman wasn't looking at Darlene. She was looking at me. Just me.

  What happened next happened quickly. The woman pointed at me and spoke at the top of her voice. "That's her. The stowaway. Trash genes on the Destiny." Heads swiveled as others looked where she was pointing, as eyes opened wide and mouths dropped. The woman stepped closer and snarled. "Time to throw out the trash!"

  The others on the streets hesitated, unsure what to do. Then they took sides. Some turned and hurried away so as not to be drawn into a confrontation not to their liking. Some paused and watched unemotionally. Others, a small group of three or four, joined the speaker and advanced towards us.

  "Trash!" I wished they recognized the captain's wife because they might hesitate being nasty in her presence, but in her present outfit she was just another young woman out for a run. "Take the trash out!" Darlene backed a step in horror, uncertain what to do. "Keep the Destiny clean!" She reversed her steps and came close, determined to protect me.

  Someone carrying a bag of fresh vegetables reached in and withdrew a tomato. Just as a tomato had smashed against our windshield on launch day, one now hit me on the cheek. Then a second, only it didn't hit me, it hit Darlene's stomach.

  She doubled over, using her hands to protect her abdomen. I felt her fear for her unborn child. "Run, Darlene!"

  "I can't leave you alone." She took another step closer in spite of the rapidly advancing people. "It's my fault."

  "Go. Your baby…"

  More tomatoes pelted us, followed by sticks plucked from nearby trees. One hit Darlene across the shoulders. She gave me a wild look. "I'll get help. I'll call Brian."

  "Run!"

  She ran. Taking one last look at my attackers, I sought to hide. The greenhouses were close so I headed for the back door as fast as I could move. It was locked, of course, but it opened as I passed my comunit across the lock. The door slammed behind me but I kept moving, my legs pumping, throwing out mental pleas for help to the surrounding trees as I ran.

  As quickly as that I was surrounded by shrubbery and was soon lost in a forest of green. Plants can't move, of course, but their branches bend and sway. Safe at last, I slowed, then stopped and listened but heard no sound of pursuit. I leaned against a sturdy dwarf walnut tree and then slid to the ground, shaking.

  "Elle? What's going on?" Saul picked his way through the greenery and squatted beside me. "I heard a commotion outside and saw you run inside." His eyes dilated as he took in my tomato-splattered face and the cuts on my arms where sticks had found their mark. "Was it those gene-purity idiots?"

  I was too stunned to say anything for a long time. I'd heard the stories of family members in similar situations. I'd shuddered and vowed never to suffer the same fate. "They called me trash."

  He leaned back and regarded me as he thought over what I'd said. "I just wish I could grow things like you can. If that's trash, I wish I was garbage."

  "Are they gone?"

  "I'll check." He did and came back soon. "The last one is leaving." Saul was young and trying to do the right thing. "Come to the main greenhouse. We'll protect you."

  "There's no one there. Everyone has gone home for the day." I pushed tomato from my arm. "Besides, do you really think they'd protect me?"

  He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm here. I will." But we both knew no one else would help him. "I'll go ahead and see if it's safe."

  By the time Saul reached the first greenhouse and let me know that there was no one waiting outside, I'd cleaned up and was no longer shaking. But I still made my way carefully, looking ahead before entering each greenhouse, until I was in the main room. Sure enough, the sidewalk outside was deserted.

  "I can't believe what just happened. Did they really call you a witch?" But Saul checked every possible nearby place someone could hide before gesturing to me that it was safe to join him. Then he stood guard as I got on my bike and took off.

  As I zipped along the narrow path to New Rochelle that was totally artificial but looked like a rural gravel road, I realized I'd not gotten around to asking Darlene to speak to her husband about letting me get back to the apple orchard. I resolved to do so as soon as I could be reasonably sure that it was safe to be on the streets of Center City.

  Saul said nothing to the other greenhouse workers about the incident so no one sent odd looks my way though Constance Reiwer did intercept a look between Saul and myself and pursed his lips. I hoped Saul could come up with a good explanation for our silent communication. I didn't want him punished because of me. Though young, Saul was actually quite a talented grower. He had potential.

  Days passed and nothing else happened. I relaxed. Perhaps what happened was an isolated incident. But one day I learned that things were much worse than I could possibly have thought. It was Saul who knew what was going on. He suggested I learn what I was up against. He invited me to visit him at his apartment when the gene purist group was having a meeting in the restaurant that his apartment overlooked. He told me to disguise myself.

  "Is it so bad that I can't be safe at your place?"

  "It is that bad, Elle. That's why I think you should know what you're up against."

  I braided my hair tight down my back and dressed as if I was a jogger, with a hooded sweatshirt thrown in for good measure and a headband covering what little red hair showed. Satisfied with the result, I parked my bike a few blocks from Saul's apartment building and jogged the rest of the way, huffing and puffing as if I was at the end of a long run. No one gave me a second glance.

  "They meet in the outdoor restaurant. There are so many of them now that they pretty much take it over. The manager thinks they are a bunch of harmless idiots." He ushered me into a small apartment that overlooked the restaurant tables. With a window open we could see and hear everything. He waved me over. "The meeting is starting."

  There were a lot of high-fives and good-natured chest thumps and lots of drinks were served. It was all good fun until the leader spoke. "We have new information about Elle Olmstead." Boos rose from everywhere. "The trash." That was followed by laughter. "The stowaway." More laughter. "You know where trash goes." There was more but I was so in shock I didn't hear.

  When the speaker finally sat down Saul quietly closed his window and came close, gathering me in a hug that was exactly what I needed. "I wish you didn't have to hear that
, Elle, but you needed to know. They hate you and every time they meet it's worse. I'm afraid they are building up to something."

  "What can they do?"

  "I don't know but I'm afraid for you."

  I rubbed my forehead. I was getting a headache. "They are right about one thing. I wouldn't have been allowed on the Destiny if I'd applied."

  "You have more talent in your little finger than the rest of us put together."

  "Not that talent matters to those people out there."

  "Tell someone in authority what we heard. You need protection."

  I'd had protection and hated it. Guarding me had been Cullen's job and we were both glad when it ended. "I'll think about it." I wouldn't. "Thanks for the heads up. Now that I know what's going on, I'll be careful."

  "Tell someone soon."

  "I can take care of myself, Saul." I looked down at the crowd around the tables and couldn't help shuddering. They were eating and drinking and visiting each other, but in time the meeting would disband and they'd leave. If I was around when that happened, someone might recognize me even disguised as I was. I was suddenly afraid and needed to be gone. "I should leave while I still can."

  "Take care, Elle."

  "See you tomorrow."

  I sneaked out the back of the building and walked two blocks directly away from my bike before heading back to where it was parked. I was that scared. As I kicked the starter I was glad it was electric and silent so no one could hear. I drove straight home and locked my doors, the first time ever. Cullen had locked them nightly but once he was gone, I didn't bother. Why should I? I knew everyone in New Rochelle and had no enemies.

  Until now.

  The following week was quiet and I went back to trying to figure out how to get out of work at the greenhouses and back to the orchard. Talking to Darlene Smithers hadn't worked and I didn't want to bother the captain directly. He was an okay man but he didn't truly want to have to acknowledge my gift. So I potted new saplings and watered older ones and sent those that were ready to leave into the wider world of the Destiny and generally threw as much dirt around as possible to work the fear out of me. Until one day when Constance Reiwer sought me out. I pushed mud from my face and wondered what he could possibly want. He usually ignored me as eagerly as I ignored him.