by Nōnen Títi
But after a while Jema became aware of another witness: Rorag stood across the path. The moment she looked at him, he ran.
“How long before Learners will reopen?” Nini asked.
“I don’t know. Nobody speaks of it; too many more important things to do.”
“I thought the idea was to keep the kids safe? We’ve had two of them in the clinic with bee stings because they’d gone inside the enclosure.”
“I’ll have to ask Frantag.”
“Go talk to Daili,” Nini said.
“I think Frantag decides from now on.”
“Go talk to Daili. Not about Learners.”
Jema blushed in the dark. She’d never told Nini about not going to Daili. She’d thought endlessly about what to say to Daili, or to Nini if the question came up. “I will,” was all she could get out now.
But how could she go to Daili after all this time? Daili would feel rejected. She didn’t need Jema’s company. She had a new family. It was too late. On the other hand, suppose she did go; just knock at her door? What was the worst that could happen? That she’d be told to get lost…
Nini looked up at her. The vague moonlight reflected in her eyes.
“I will,” Jema repeated.
A Bit of Trade
Aryan couldn’t blame people for being fed up with doing mundane jobs every day without compensation. In fact, he’d gladly accepted a pouch of wine, made from the globular, salmon-coloured outcrops they’d found in the sandy dunes, in return for a favour here and there. Once you knew who to talk to, it turned out there were plenty of things to get for a little something else, and if you had nothing to give, it wouldn’t hurt to take over somebody’s shift emptying excretorials. A few of those and Aryan was soon able to sell his wine in return for a share in the soap bars brought from SJilai. He had even acquired a proper seat for his home, which somebody had taken out of the damaged lander.
SJilai herself was full of items Aryan considered profitable for trade. For now, she was still occupied by a team of engineers, technicians, farmers, and pilots, who were in daily contact with the crater team in the communication lander to provide weather reports for Kalim and organize the collection and packing of items needed on the surface. At the start of Station Two’s second moon, Gabi and Petar had brought down foodbars, the instruments from the science lab for the now-ready facility, the entire hydroponics array with another batch of seedlings – since the first lot had perished due to the creature plague – and the water storage containers from the SJilai washrooms, so each family could collect its own daily supply at the well instead of having to go there for every drink. A new team had gone back up with Heddo and Ottag and would return at the start of the fifth moon with more foodbars and seedlings, after which Aryan wanted to take a period in orbit himself.
The most recent payable job on land was squashing pests in the farmer fields, but Aryan had seen enough of those. Instead he had taken to helping out with the assembly of the seakabins and fishing nets, since a number of fishermen preferred being paid for collecting the tubers that had been found edible in the mountains up north.
The eastern dunes, where the kabins were constructed, were even windier than the settlement, but there were enough hands available to keep the panels from blowing away. These panels were prefab, like the homes; long and thin to create the rounded shape needed to keep the kabins afloat.
“How will you navigate?” Aryan asked Erwin, who had been a captain all his life.
“I have printouts of the stars and Jenet is using the SJilai scans to make me a map of the currents. You can come along if you feel like having a trip out on the ocean.” He was hoping to be able to leave at the end of the fourth moon.
Aryan trusted the calm Veleder man, and to explore the ocean for real food sounded just as attractive as a return to SJilai did. “Three kabins don’t seem much if you have to cater for a mas of people.”
“Let’s first see if there is anything to be taken out of the ocean at all,” Erwin said. Jenet had expressed doubts about that possibility after the first samples from deeper water had been collected.
“How did you manage to sample the deeper water if the seakabins are not yet ready?”
Erwin pointed to a pretty neat-looking raft made of prefab planks and ropes, which now sat idle, since the guy who’d built it had been locked away for attacking someone with a knife two days ago. Nobody else felt comfortable going out on that raft.
“Locked up, like in a cell? Where?” Aryan asked.
Erwin gestured into the general direction of the settlement. “No cell; they put him under house arrest.”
“So why did he attack?”
“I don’t care for the details. The boy was no match for Haslag, is all I know.”
The man Erwin indicated was at least as tall as Benjamar and twice as wide; nobody in his right mind would just attack this man, not even with a knife. Following his curiosity, Aryan approached the giant and brought up the incident a little later.
“Just a stupid kid. I could have struck him down with one finger,” Haslag said.
Thalo, who’d been working alongside Haslag, turned around. “And you should have. Serves him right for minding other people’s business.”
Aryan answered his challenge with a nod: time to change the subject. He asked them if they were intending to leave on the kabins.
“No way. People were meant to live on land, not in space or on water,” Thalo replied.
Aryan preferred either of those over land and Haslag agreed that there was little excitement to be found in this settlement; he figured he’d go wander. The planet should be big enough to find a more productive place to live.
“Are you kidding? Once they’ve got their electricity up and running we’ll turn this into a real town instead of some backward farming community,” Thalo said.
Erwin pulled Aryan away and told him not to get involved. “Thalo intends to take over the settlement and make the Habitat One people work for him. He’s getting some support too.”
“That’s stupid,” Aryan said.
“Not in his mind it isn’t. He’s out for revenge. To be honest, I’ll be quite happy to retreat to the sea and leave him behind.”
Aryan returned home that evening to find Feya at his door, as she’d done several times since coming to the surface nearly three moons ago. Like Petar, she’d worked out that the exploded lander was the one with the transplanted fuel tanks. Logic told her those were the cause and she had been in charge of that transplant. Like last time, Aryan invited her in and told her to stop blaming herself. “There’s no proof that was the cause and we will never know.” He gave her a cup of his new dune-wine. After the second cup she went into tears, saying she kept meeting those who’d lost their families because of her. Aryan had no better answer than to repeat that it wasn’t her fault and to give her more wine. When she finally left, she could hardly walk.
The next day, when returning from the crater, Aryan met Erwin and some of his men coming out of the clinic. “What’s wrong?”
He was informed that two of the kabin builders had gone to collect more of the globular outcrops in the dunes when suddenly the red fog had come in. Once it had moved on, both men had been found dead. “The doctor said they died from a heart attack. Can you believe that? Both at the same time and they were young men,” Erwin said.
“Maybe she was wrong.”
“Maybe, but something in that fog killed them. Something in there is not healthy, I tell you.”
Nobody was going back to the dunes today. With nothing better to do, Aryan went to get some hot water for the dried coffee he’d traded for and had a wash with what was left. Feeling refreshed, he walked to Maike’s home, which meant following Central Circle back to East Street, then up Circle Road and from there south to Sixth Street until he was nearly at the crater once more.
She opened the door as soon as he knocked. “Come in.”
Aryan’s attention was taken by the presence of a youn
g boy, who he recognized from that rain that had brought down the bugs. Leyon was sitting on Maike’s rug. Aryan had hoped for more than just to talk and that didn’t involve young boys. “No, I can see you’re busy.”
“Don’t be stupid, Aryan, come in.”
She had no right to call him stupid in front of the kid and he could not very well give in since he’d already said no, so he turned away. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Leyon was just leaving,” she called after him and repeated he was being stupid.
Annoyed with himself, Aryan went to Gabi’s home instead. She was alone and happy to see him, which she expressed with so many words he had to almost literally silence her. Once on her mat, however, she turned her verbal activity into physical action and he made no attempts to stop her there. The next morning, when returning home, Maike walked up to meet him, having been at his door. “Why did you leave like that? If I didn’t want you there I wouldn’t have asked you in,” she said.
“I can tell when I’m too much.”
“You can’t tell anything or you would have stayed.” She planted herself square in front of him, her hands on her hips, and with her green eyes – the only bit of green this planet had – challenging him to try and force her out of the way, her breasts pointing at him.
“Look, Maike, I don’t want to argue about it. You have the right to be with whoever you want.”
“I do, and I will, but Leyon is just a kid who needed some help.”
“Help with what? You still feel obliged to accommodate the users? Bet they’re eager enough. What do you do, rehabilitation coaching?”
“You don’t know the half of it. Many died because of your lander, but I don’t take it out on you. Besides, it seems that Feya took all the blame.”
“Aren’t you lucky then that most of them were women? Is that why you have so much respect from the men, or is it the belt?”
He didn’t even know where he got that from so quickly, but he was ready for her fist when she raised it, somehow aware of the reaction this word would cause. With one move he caught her arm in mid-air, turned and pushed her off balance so she landed in the mud. He walked past her, half expecting to feel her jump on him from behind, but when he looked back, she sat where he’d left her.
Aware that he’d messed up, he changed his clothes before going to the kabins. There he found Thalo in the process of repeating his desire to turn the tables on the Habitat One people and he was ready to start with Aryan. “If you think you leaders can get away with murder while we take the blame, you’re wrong. The engineer won’t be the only one to pay for that lander and you can tell your lady friend to watch her back, because she’ll be the first to go.”
“What are you on about?”
“She was last seen coming out of your home. Next thing she’s lying in the river, stone dead and still drunk.”
Aryan’s fist hit Thalo square on the nose. Only then did he let the meaning of the words sink in. Thalo had meant Feya.
“What was he on about?” Aryan asked Haslag, who was preventing Thalo from getting back at him.
“Come with me.” Erwin once again dragged Aryan away before explaining that Haslag and Thalo had found Feya last night, lying in the river near the lake, way north of the settlement. They’d had no business being there other than collecting the forbidden tubers and had consequently been interrogated by Frantag about the cause of her death. That had upset Thalo, who vowed he’d never bring anybody to the infirmary again, unless through causing their injuries. “She’d been there all day; bled to death after cutting her wrists. I think Frantag should apologize for that accusation if he wants to keep the peace,” Erwin said.
“How could she be so damn stupid? I told her not to blame herself. I told her three times.”
Unable to get the image out of his head, Aryan returned to town. On Circle Road he was invited into Benjamar’s home, where he found a similar chair to the one he had himself. “Doing a bit of trading?”
Benjamar admitted that he had. “I compromised. I decided there is no harm in exchanging luxuries here and there as long as the survival needs like food and water remain controlled for now.”
As was normal for him, Benjamar came straight to the point. He had also talked to Feya several times in the last moons, as had Kalgar and many others. She had listened to nobody, unable to shake the guilt. “I thought you should know that she came for help to many of us and she virtually lived on that dune juice.”
Aryan repeated to him what Erwin had said about keeping the peace with Thalo.
“You may be right,” Benjamar answered, “But Frantag also reacted out of shock and I don’t think now is the right time to berate him for asking questions.”
Aryan left it at that and went home. It didn’t take away his anger about the useless waste of a life, but it was decent of Benjamar to say this, rather than assume as Thalo had. What got on his nerves was that they’d all known that Feya had spent her last evening with him; this whole town gave him a feeling of claustrophobia, which was ridiculous, seeing its size. In the city on DJar he would have had more privacy. Maybe Haslag’s idea wasn’t so bad after all.
He went back to Maike’s home that evening to see if she’d be willing to talk; he could use Thalo’s threat as an excuse. She opened the door when he knocked, but threw it closed again when she saw him. He kicked it so hard it flew open once more, but then walked away himself. Damn her.
The prospect of going to SJilai became more appealing, no matter how much fun Gabi was. During the last kor of the fourth moon of Station Two, Aryan reluctantly wished Erwin good luck and prepared the boys for their trip down. “Let Ottag do the flying; let him have one real go. Take a few days of training,” he told Heddo.
Four days before their scheduled return, Aryan found Kalgar at his door. “Come on in.”
“I don’t see the need to send another crew up there,” Kalgar started, looking weary. He sat down in Aryan’s new chair without commenting on its origin. “If we can get the people coming back to transport all the remaining foodbars and then shut down the system, we still have the option of going back, if the landers are taken care of, but the continuous trips up and down are taking its toll on the lander site as well as the landers themselves.”
Aryan had also considered that. As long as she orbited, they could monitor SJilai from the ground. “What about the security of the land providing?” he asked.
Kalgar answered they would never leave again. “More than four SJilai stations have passed since first establishing orbit and we are seeing progress.” He had enough confidence in the fish farm and the newly tested tubers, and good hopes that the fishermen would come back not only with edible sea creatures, but also sea plants that could be eaten. The pests were gone. Branag had designed a new irrigation system for the farmers, who were ready for the new seedlings. Equally confident were the scientists, who were tending the engineered plants. The cattle, though not producing more than fertilizer, were still alive. All in all, it looked promising.
“Okay, if you feel it’s safe,” Aryan answered, not sure if he was sorry to miss out on the chance of going back up or not.
Kalgar expressed his regret over Feya and enquired about the cause of the explosion.
“I’m not looking for a cause. Accidents happen.”
“So when are you going to talk to Maike?” Kalgar asked, leaning back into the chair.
It was unlikely that its comfort had enticed him to start a random conversation about Maike. “Why do you ask?”
“Because it’s pretty obvious the two of you had a fight,” Kalgar answered.
“It’s nothing. She’ll come around.”
“She has been in a pretty bad mood this last kor. She called you all kinds of names not suitable for repeating.”
“What are you saying? She talks about it in front of others? Who?”
Kalgar explained that they’d been in a meeting with Roilan. They were trying to get the old government back together, whi
ch was why Kalgar was here; to invite Aryan. Yesterday they’d asked Maike to be in charge of law-enforcement, since they had put two guys under house arrest. Maike had spoken her grief about Aryan.
“Damn her. All we had was an argument; no need to spread the news. And I will not return to being in any government.”
“I think she considers it more than an argument,” Kalgar said.
“Well, it is not your business or anybody else’s, so leave it alone.”
Kalgar shook his head. “You’re right, it isn’t, but I think you should apologize, if you still remember how.”
“For one thing, you’re assuming I was wrong. For another, I never say sorry for what I am and, by the way, I thought you and Frantag were the experts at arguing nowadays.”
Kalgar grinned and stood up. “I’m not kidding, Aryan. Whatever you told Maike is really hurting her and I think you should make amends, like that time with Markag. Only this time I’m serious.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Exactly what I said, Aryan. You must have worked out in that government room that nobody, including Markag, had any idea what you were there for.”
“Come again?”
“Don’t get upset, Aryan. It’s five years ago. It’s pretty funny if you think about it.”
Aryan was beginning to realize he’d been the victim of a joke. “I don’t get it. Are you suggesting Markag never ordered me to apologize; that I went in there and embarrassed myself for nothing?”
“No, not for nothing. I wanted to know how far you would go for this journey and you didn’t disappoint me,” Kalgar answered.
“You set me up?”
“I never said Markag ordered you to go. My exact words at the time were: ‘You are to go and apologize.’ It was you who assumed it was by order of Markag.”
The anger that soared inside Aryan hadn’t quite made it to the surface when he saw Kalgar grin. “Nobody knew? No challenge?” he asked again.
“No. I made it up on the spot then. I was the challenge, if anything.”