"The captain wants to see you." He shoved a request at me. "Clean up and head for the bridge." He carefully didn't touch my dirty self.
I cleaned up as best I could and proceeded to the bridge. It was my first time there and as I pushed open the door I decided the whole place had been designed to intimidate visitors. The captain was in a chair that fit his exalted status and was surrounded by a number of people who ignored him as they went about their jobs, the purposes of which I couldn't imagine beyond that they kept the Destiny pointed straight and true towards the planet chosen for colonization. Our new home, those of us who lived long enough to reach it.
He leaned back on his elbows and inspected me. "You're causing trouble again, Elle." I gulped as he shifted in his seat. "Every captain knows he can't make a journey without incident. You seem to be mine. Repeatedly."
"Sorry, Sir."
"There are people who don't think you should be here."
My heart sank. "I know that, Sir."
"They are growing in number and are more insistent every day."
"I know that too, Sir."
"They want you thrown in jail. Or worse."
My head snapped up. I squeaked, "Sir?"
"I told them that won't happen."
"Thank you, Sir."
"They aren't happy." He stroked his chin. "They read a lot of laws. I reminded them that, on the Destiny, I am the law but they didn't take that information kindly. I believe that protection is once again appropriate."
"No, Sir. Please."
One eyebrow arched. "No?"
"I'm safe in New Rochelle."
"The greenhouses are in Center City."
"I'd be happy to return to the orchard."
He stroked his chin and squinted in thought. Finally he said, "Okay," and just like that, I was released from work in the greenhouses. I could do what I wanted to do. "Finish the week in the greenhouses, then go back to your trees." I opened my mouth to thank him when he leaned close and spoke low. "When you get there, stay there. Don't come to Center City. Don't do anything to remind them that you exist. Their speech had the timbre of mutiny in it and I don't want to have to deal with a mutiny."
Every head in the place snapped around at his words even though they were said quietly. After that no one even pretended to be working as they waited to see what would happen next but he waved me away. The meeting was over. As I left, I felt the stares of everyone on the Bridge.
When I returned to the greenhouses, Constance Reiwer clearly wanted me to tell him what the captain had wanted but I didn't give him the satisfaction. The next morning though, when he informed me that the captain no longer wanted me to work in the greenhouses he smiled broadly. Not only did he now think that he knew what the meeting had been about, he thought it was because of him. He was getting what he wanted. Me gone. I let him think so.
As the news spread that this would be my last week in the greenhouses, I realized that Saul was the only person who would be sorry to see me go.
Chapter Thirteen
I am almost killed.
That was Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday were routine except for a bit of time spent filling out the paperwork to transfer out and for arranging to return the bike once I no longer needed it.
I was so eager to have all the last-minute details at work done that I actually arrived early Friday and had to wait until Constance Reiwer got there and unlocked the place. As the other employees sauntered in one by one, they said goodbye and pretended to mean it. Saul was truly sad.
Constance poked a finger at Saul. "Time to check the oak trees in the nearby parks. See how they are doing. It might take all day." He knew Saul and I were friends. True toh is character, he planned to keep us apart as much as possible on this, my last day.
So we went our separate ways. Saul imperceptibly shook his head and rolled his eyes in a look that said he'd find a way to see me some time during the day so we could have a proper goodbye. Then he headed out the front door and I went to the nursery at the back of the greenhouse complex.
There was a lot to do. I found myself surprisingly busy. By midafternoon, I was sweating and tired but confident that the trees would be okay with Saul. Of course, I'd already told him that he could come to me for help any time and I intended to repeat those instructions when he came to say goodbye.
I was in the middle of saying goodbye to the trees when a slight sound caught my attention. Outside of the greenhouses but loud enough to break my focus. Saul?
I looked but saw no one so I went back to the trees. Five minutes later, another sound came and this time it was Saul using his comunit to open the back door. "Hey Elle."
I waved him over. Letting the door slam behind him, he came at a half-run. He wasn't smiling. I rubbed a sore spot on my lower back. "What's up, Saul?"
"They are here."
"Who?"
"Those people from the restaurant."
My breath stopped. Those were the people who hated me. "Here? To see me?"
"I don't know. I didn't listen, just came around the back way to tell you. Warn you."
I thought. There could be a rational explanation for their being here. "Then I'm glad it's close to quitting time." I tried to laugh but it didn't come out right. "And I'm glad that Constance Reiwer is such a dictator. He'd never let anyone in his greenhouses who doesn't belong."
Saul stepped nervously from one foot to the other. "They were angry and they were drunk."
I didn't want to panic unnecessarily. "All the more reason for Constance not to let them in."
"I don't like it, Elle. You should leave."
"I don't intend to stay late. Not one second more than necessary. But I can't leave early. It would look funny and Constance Reiwer would figure out some way to use that fact against me. You know he would."
"Yeah, I do know." He heaved a sigh, then brightened. "It's almost time to leave. It'll be okay." He hugged me tight. "But be careful, huh?" I promised and he picked up a sapling to transplant. Even thought that wasn't his job today he couldn't ignore plants that needed help. He'd make sure the trees were okay when I was gone. "I'll give our boss my report on the oaks. It'll drag it out as long as necessary. I'll be around."
The next two hours dragged. We both jumped at every sound. When the clock finally said it was time to quit, we cleaned up with a hose and what was left of a bar of soap. I pulled my hands through my hair and we both dried ourselves on our shorts. Then we headed for the main greenhouse where Saul would give his report. He'd lie and say he'd been gone all day checking out trees and I'd punch out for the last time.
We didn't make it. While still deep in the bowels of the greenhouse complex, where there was no easy entrance or exit, we heard a sound. People. Several of them. Except there was no reason for anyone to be there. We were the only ones working so far from the main room. We looked uneasily one way and another but saw no one.
Then the lights went out. There was minimal faux sunlight streaming through the glass ceiling but that wasn't much. The greenhouses depended mostly on grow lights spaced throughout the various buildings so as to provide perfect conditions for plants with differing light requirements. So thought the greenhouses did take in light from our fake sun it wasn't much. Without grow lights, nothing would live. With them out now and just the light from outside, the place resembled a garden at twilight.
We could see but not clearly so we both jumped when several figures loomed mere yards away. Men, one of them carrying a glowstick so we knew they were responsible for the lights having been turned off. Why else bring their own light?
One of them pointed. "There she is."
The man beside him, larger and moving with the kind of swagger that said he was the leader, faced me. The man from the restaurant. The leader of the group that wanted me dead. "Indeed she is here, just as we thought." He took a couple of steps until feet separated us.
Saul moaned. This was my fight, not his. "Run, Saul. Get out of here." I then whispered into my comunit to c
all for help, but it was dead. The lights weren't the only thing that had been turned off. Communication was also gone.
"I can't leave you alone with these men. They are dangerous." Saul was so scared he could hardly get the words out but he stood steadfast beside me.
"Go, Saul, and don't stop until you are where your comunit works. Call Cullen."
"Cullen Vail?"
"Tell him what's happening." I made a shooing motion. "Go!"
He ran, skirting around the group of men but they didn't stop him. They wanted me. I faced the half dozen men, feeling very alone. I couldn't speak until I took a deep breath, then I asked, as calmly as possible, "Are you people lost? We don't usually have visitors at the greenhouse."
"We're not lost."
"It's late. Quitting time. Everyone will be gone soon."
They laughed. "Everyone else is already gone."
"Not yet." I didn't know the time without a working comunit but I'd given myself extra time in case there was more paperwork to complete before clocking out for the last time. "It's not quite quitting time." I pretended to think. "I'm quite sure that if you hurry back the way you came, you can catch the head grower before he leaves."
"Nope. Won't happen. He's gone. They're all gone." He didn't come closer but he thrust his head forward. I could see the lines in his face. "We suggested they leave and they agreed. In fact, we insisted and they didn't argue."
No help would come. I gulped, trying desperately to think what to say next, to stall them as I gauged the distance around them. They were facing me and close but it was a large room. If I could sidle towards the wall, moving in what I hoped would seem an aimless motion, I might be able to break into a run and get out of there before they realized what I was doing.
The plants would help. They would hide me.
No they wouldn't, they couldn't, because we were in the room packed with chemicals that had been intended to be used as fertilizer that Saul had pointed out to me on my first day of work. There were no plants in the room. None to help me disappear.
But I had to do something. I had to try. I kept talking, heard myself babbling without knowing what I was saying as I ever so slowly moved sidewise. If I could get close enough to the wall where all those boxes and bags of chemicals were piled, I might make it. From the corner of my eye, because I dared not look directly anywhere for fear of giving away my plan, I saw that there was an opening in those piles. A small path through which I could see the door. It would be a tight squeeze, but I'm small and it was my only chance.
The leader took a step towards me, his lip curling as he got close. "You are an abomination. Trash. A female who'll contaminate our blood lines." Another step. "If we let you." Soon he'd reach me. "We're here to see that doesn't happen."
I moved. Dodging sidewise I ducked to avoid the arm that reached for me and ran flat out for that small opening among all those bags and boxes of chemicals.
"Stop her!"
They were too late. I was in what turned out to be a crevice in the piles and, as I saw the door ahead, I bent low and speeded up.
"Don't let her get away!"
They came after me but they were larger than me, they didn't fit easily into that crevice and had to push the bags and boxes aside.
"Get her! Someone do something!"
The man with the glowstick threw it at me. It arced high in the air but I was running full out and it fell behind me as I reached the door to the next greenhouse, one filled with plants. I sent ahead a plea for help and they heard. I pulled a reserve of energy from somewhere inside of me and burst through the door, slamming it shut as soon as I was through.
A huge sound erupted behind me. I was so intent on running that I didn't dare turn to see what had made it. But the sound of shattering glass and the heat that swept through the greenhouse I was in told me what had happened. The mixture of chemicals that make up a glowstick give off light but they also give off heat. When it was thrown into those tons of chemicals that were never turned into fertilizer, the whole pile exploded.
It was going up fast. That first explosion was followed by another and then another. And still I ran, not daring to turn and see what was happening. I didn't know what chemicals had been stored in that room, nor did I know how much was in those bags and boxes but I knew that fertilizer can and does use ingredients that are used to make bombs. Such a bomb was now going off.
The only reason I didn't die was that the whole thing didn't go off at once, but the series of explosions behind me meant that the group of men that had come for me was undoubtedly dead or dying and I would join them soon if I didn't get out of there fast.
The plants did what they could. As I ran, they gave their lives to save mine, bending and swaying over me, taking the heat and pressure of the explosions. I felt their agony and heard their silent screams. They had no chance of surviving, their roots were anchored deep in the artificial soil but, in dying, they kept me alive.
For a while. As the explosions died away, the fire began and the entire greenhouse complex became a flaming torch so hot that even the carefully controlled humidity evaporated as the devastation moved from one house to the next, following me as I ran, catching up to me before I reached safety.
Smoke roiled around me and that was one thing the plants couldn't help with. I had to slow down and, as the fire came from behind, the smoke got worse and I knew I was lost. And that I'd die.
"Elle!" Cullen's voice cut through the smoke.
"I'm here!"
"I'm coming. Keep calling."
I shouted his name over and over as I stumbled through the dark of that smoke and flame filled place towards the sound of his voice. Then something loomed in front of me and morphed into the solid body of Cullen Vail. I fell into his arms.
"This way." He half dragged, half pulled me until, with renewed strength brought on by the knowledge that I might survive after all, I found myself able to run through the smoke without help though, as for that, he refused to let go of me.
We went back the way he'd come until he paused because he was uncertain where precisely we were in that maze of buildings. I finally got my wits about me and asked the plants for direction, something I'd not thought to do while running for my life. The plants spoke. I pointed the way. Cullen, not asking how I knew, took off in that direction.
After what seemed like hours and was probably minutes, the smoke cleared and we could see the main greenhouse ahead. It was filling with firemen in their unearthly gear. As we stumbled into the main room they stopped us and asked about anyone else in the path of the fire.
"There were some men. They started the fire. I didn't see them come out." I shrugged helplessly. A head nodded grimly because we all knew no one in that inferno could still be alive. Then he passed us by on his way into the smoke, followed by the rest of his crew.
We went outside. I gulped clean air, gobs and gobs of it. Pure, fresh air made by the plants that made up the farm that was the spaceship Destiny as I explained to Cullen what had just happened and who the men were who'd set the greenhouses on fire.
"I'm putting you in protective custody."
I'd been in jail for too many months. I planted my feet. "I'm going home."
"You live in an apartment. Difficult to protect. There may be more idiots out there."
"They don't know where I live." I hoped they didn't know. I threw Cullen's hand away from my waist and started for my bike. "And nothing you can do will stop me."
With a disgusted grunt that said something about not having the time to argue, he followed. Our bikes were nearby. We started for New Rochelle without a word, Cullen following closely, turning every so often to see if we were being followed, eyes roving constantly over the landscape. I felt totally safe though I'd never tell him that the fact of his being, of his character, of his commitment to his job and to me, contributed to that feeling.
We passed several vehicles on the way. They were filled with men and women pulling on fire gear as they moved and were
going as fast as possible towards Center City. Communication on the Destiny was excellent. Hoards of people were headed towards the greenhouses to help fight the fire. The Destiny was a huge farming community but it was also a ship and fire on a ship is exceedingly dangerous.
With every adult in New Rochelle headed to the greenhouses, it was a silent homecoming. Only Wilkes Zander to greet us. His demeanor was somber. He noted our blackened appearance and put two and two together. "Are you guys all right?" Cullen nodded grimly and told Wilkes what had happened. Wilkes' eyes narrowed. "Think there are more of them?" Cullen shrugged and Wilkes continued. "All of our able-bodied people are at the fire." His lips pursed. "But there are a few of us left here. Us old people, some kids and those adults not on fire duty. We're not helpless. We'll take care of Elle if anyone tries anything."
"I'll take care of her myself because I'm staying." Cullen pulled me around until I found my back against his chest with all of me folded in his arms. "Protecting Elle is my number one priority right now."
Wilkes nodded. "I'll keep watch anyway." He stood a little straighter. He was the mayor of New Rochelle and would protect its residents.
Cullen shrugged and we went into my apartment where we took turns showering. It took forever to get the smell of fire and smoke out of our hair and off of our skin. When we were done we threw our clothes into a recycling bin. Then we pulled them back out and dumped them into the trash. No recycling for them, they smelled too awful.
Then we simply sat.
Time passed, I don't know how much.
Thoughts crept into my mind. Memories. Family stories about those of us who'd been thought to be witches. What had happened to them. Told quietly so we kids wouldn't hear, but we did and sometimes we didn't sleep after hearing those stories. Now they came back and crowded my thoughts. I sat on my couch in my apartment on the Destiny but everything faded and disappeared until all that was left was the horror of what might have happened because it had happened to some of my relatives.
Earth Legend Page 14