by Alex Scarrow
‘Yeah, we’re good,’ replied Jez casting a glance back at the three stuffed bags stacked by the bulkhead door.
Aaron looked down at the jimp, who was curled into a ball on the seat beside him, fast asleep. ‘And you’re taking your pet monkey with you?’
‘Yes, he’ll love it,’ Ellie replied. ‘So will Ted, for that matter.’
Aaron began to decelerate as the hill, Ellie’s ‘overlook’, rushed forward to meet then. He pulled the nose of the shuttle up slightly as they slid gracefully over the top of it.
‘And there it is,’ said Ellie. ‘Home.’
Jez looked out at the farm nestling at the bottom of the reverse side of the slope leading up to the rocky outcrop; three one-acre domes surrounding a smaller one in the middle. ‘Hey, it’s bigger than I thought,’ said Jez.
Which was odd, because to Ellie it looked a lot smaller than she remembered.
Aaron eased back on the thrusters as they moved down the slope of the hill towards the farm. ‘You did call them to let them know you were coming?’
Ellie shook her head. ‘Nope. I want this to be a big surprise.’
Aaron nodded, ‘well, a four hundred ton surface shuttle dropping out of the sky into their back yard unannounced…I think it’ll be that alright.’
As the shuttle settled to the ground amidst a furious, amber dust cloud, Ellie spotted the round bulkhead door to one of the agri-domes swing open and a figure cautiously emerge holding a protective hand up to cover its face from the swirling eddies of airborne sand.
‘Who’s that who’s just come out?’
It was hard to see…..a lean man for sure. ‘My Dad, I guess.’
Aaron turned round to face them. ‘Okay girls, I’m not going to cut the engines.’
‘You’re not? I’m going to get dust all over my hair,’ Jez complained.
‘So shoot me. Anyway, I’m not coming in for tea. I’m heading off now. I’ll be back in four or five days for you, understand?’
Ellie nodded and then put an arm around one of his shoulders and hugged him. ‘Thank you, for bringing me to see them.’
‘Hey, that’s alright,’ replied Aaron awkwardly, taken aback. ‘They deserve it as much as you do. Just make the most of your visit, eh?’
‘I will do.’
Jez reached out a hand and punched his shoulder affectionately. ‘Just don’t lose the shuttle in some seedy poker game alright? I know what you trucker-boys are like.’
Aaron laughed, ‘yeah right. And you mind your city-talk, Jez. There’s little kids on that farm.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll have them swearing like troopers before we leave.’
Ellie gently prodded Harvey out of his slumber. He uncurled himself and dutifully followed her down the walkway as she made her way to the back of the cabin. Jez picked up the smallest of her three bags and Harvey, dutifully, the other two, much heavier, ones.
Ellie looked at her, then the jimp, ‘poor little thing.’
‘Just letting him earn his keep.’
They climbed out through the bulkhead and down the ramp to the ground outside, their eyes squeezed tightly shut against the swirling gritty clouds of blown up dust and the buffeting of wind. With a whine, the ramp pulled up and closed with a metallic clang. The shuttle swiftly rose a hundred feet into the sky and the turbulent air around them began to settle. Aaron banked the shuttle slightly to afford one last glimpse of them. They returned his wave. He straightened out once more and then headed northeast.
Ellie lowered her mask and took a sniff of the air. It was quite good today. She guessed one could be outside for a good two or three minutes before needing to resort to a mask. She then turned her attention to the figure standing motionless beside the bulkhead staring at her silently, intently, as the roar of Lisa’s thrusters dwindled into the distance.
‘Ellie?’ said Jacob Quin. ‘Is that you?!’
CHAPTER 8
‘Dad,’ she replied, her voice thick with emotion. Ellie ran forward and Jacob Quin swept his daughter up in his arms, holding her tightly.
Jez watched them as they held each other silently for a full minute. She looked anxiously around at the peach sky and the reddish ground, and then towards the round entry hatch leading inside to the agri-dome.
‘Ahem, shouldn’t we head inside before we all, like, suffocate?’ said Jez, gazing uncertainly around at the infinite, flat horizon surrounding her.
Jacob Quin put down his daughter and Ellie turned round to introduce her.
‘This is my friend Jez, you know, the one I told you about. She’s lived in New Haven for quite a while, so she’s a little fazed by not having a plastic sky over her.’
‘Actually I’m a little fazed at being, like, outside? You know? Where there’s no air?’
Jacob smiled. ‘Yes of course, let’s get you all in.’
He pulled open the hatch into the agri-dome and led them inside. He watched with amused curiosity as the jimp waddled past under the burden of Jez’s wardrobe.
Inside, Ellie heard the voice of her Mum, Maria, calling through from some other part of their home.
‘What the hell was that whooshing noise, Jake?’
Jacob winked at Ellie and then replied. ‘Why don’t you come and see?’
‘Where are you?’
‘Booster.’
They listened to approaching footsteps, and then, as she entered the dome, she cast a casual glance across the field of pulsating and twitching proto-meat bulbs towards Jacob. For a moment her expression was puzzlement as she studied the two people and the weird pale grey four-armed dwarf standing with her husband beside the exit.
‘Oh-my-crud!’
Ellie smiled.
‘Ellie! Is that you?! You look so different!’
Ellie realized she must do; her clothes, her hair –longer than it was when she left, the girly make-up. It had been nearly nine months since she had last seen them. Ellie realized she must look so different from the tomboy who had run out on them all that time ago.
Maria wiped her hands, smeared with engine oil, on a rag as she slowly approached her daughter, and then without another word said, she wrapped her arms tightly around her.
Whilst mother and daughter embraced, Jacob offered a hand to Jez. ‘Pleased to meet you at last, Jez. Ellie told us you’ve been looking after her.’
Jez grabbed his hand. ‘Well,’ she replied coyly, ‘she’s done her fair share of looking after me too.’ She looked around the dome and then at the rows of green gourds that wobbled and pulsated every now and then. ‘Nice uh…farm, you’ve got here Mr Quin.’
‘Thanks. It makes us money, just. And it’s home too,’ he replied. ‘We like it.’
Jez wrinkled her nose.
‘Ah yes. That’s the meat crop, smells like spicy sweat doesn’t it?’ he said.
Jez nodded. That was a pretty good description.
Maria let Ellie go and introduced herself warily to Jez, studying the tall city-girl from head to toe as she did so. ‘I expect Shona will love examining your clothes,’ said Maria a little coolly.
Jez nodded and smiled awkwardly, ‘great.’
Jacob called out for Ted and Shona. Ellie could hear the toob in the background, cartoons playing as usual. After being called another two times, they eventually wandered in unenthusiastically, before freezing in the doorway.
It was Ted who broke the tableau first and pointed at the jimp. ‘Dad, look! An alien!!!!’
*
Supper was a stew made from the various vegetables they had growing in small patches wherever there was space in all three of the agri-domes, complimented with one of the meat gourds plucked from the soil in Booster, writhing and wriggling desperately until it was disemboweled, chopped into bloody cubes and added to the stew.
Afterwards, the Quin family and their guests sat out in the rec-area, the toob, for once, turned off and forgotten as Ted played with the jimp and Shona studied Jez in silent awe.
‘So, how did you man
age to afford to take a shuttle out here? I know those damned things are expensive,’ asked Jacob, ‘and what’s more, I didn’t know they made house calls.’
Ellie and Jez looked at each other. ‘We’re in business with the owner,’ Jez replied.
‘We do tours up to the polar cap,’ added Ellie, ‘Jez sells the tickets, I look after the passengers, and our friend, Aaron, flies the shuttle.’
Jacob nodded, impressed. ‘And you make money doing this?
Jez was about to reply that they made a lot of money, well, off the first run they had anyway. But Ellie, sitting next to her on the hammock, subtly nudged her and answered instead. ‘We do okay on it.’
She knew Mum and Dad were struggling a little right now as they crossed over from tubweed to this new meat crop. The last thing she thought they’d want to hear would be Jez bragging shamelessly about how much money she managed to extort from their passengers on their first sightseeing trip.
‘Uh…yeah, it pays us enough to get by,’ Jez added, ‘better than the job I was doing when Ellie and me first met.’
‘Oh, what was that?’ asked Maria.
Ellie answered quickly, ‘Jez used to work as an…entertainer.’
‘Ooh, that sounds good.’
Shona’s interest was piqued. ‘Like on the toob?’
Jez looked uncertainly at Ellie. ‘Not really, Shona,’ she replied hesitantly.
Ellie decided a well deployed distraction was in order. ‘So Ted, what do you think of Harvey?’
Ted turned round and grinned. ‘He’s great. I’m teaching him to play stone-paper-scissors.’
‘Who’s winning?’
‘Well he is. He keeps using all four of his hands.’
Jacob studied the jimp for a moment. ‘So is that your animal, Jez?’
‘Oh no, Mr Quin. That’s Aaron’s, our partner in the shuttle business. He bought it cheap to help us with fixing up the shuttle. It’s a strong little chap. It’s taken a shine to Ellie though.’
Jacob had noticed the sinewy strength in the creature’s four arms. He guessed any one of those four muscular limbs could do a lot of damage. ‘It’s safe isn’t it? I mean, Ted playing with it like that?’
Ellie nodded, ‘Harvey’s very docile. Gene-imps are engineered to be that way.’
Jacob smiled. ‘Harvey? Didn’t you have an imaginary friend called that, when you were Ted’s age?’
Ellie felt her cheeks color slightly. Thanks for that Dad.
Jez giggled and nudged Ellie. ‘Oooh, I’m looking forward to hearing all these teeny-weeny baby stories about you Ellie-girl.’
‘No Dad, he was called Hufty, not Harvey.’
The jimp looked up from the game with Ted. ‘Name….issss….Har-veeeee.’
‘Yes that’s right Harvey, that’s your name…not Hufty, Harvey.’
He nodded and Ellie thought she saw the flicker of a smile touch his lipless mouth.
‘Well, it’s getting past your bedtime Ted,’ said Maria.
Ted thumped the ground angrily with his fist. ‘Ohh Mum! Can’t I stay up a bit longer?’
‘No, come on. It’s past your bed time as it is.’
‘But I want to see Ellie.’
‘She’ll be here tomorrow when you get up, don’t worry.’
‘Can Harvey sleep with me in my cube tonight?’
Ellie glanced at her parents. They looked unsure about the idea. ‘Maybe tomorrow night Ted,’ she replied. ‘We’ll see how you and Harvey get on tomorrow, okay?’
Ted nodded sullenly as he got up and wandered over to the hammock to hand out kisses and hugs, whilst Maria gathered up his toys and took them across to Ted’s habi-cube.
‘I’ve really missed you, you little nugget,’ said Ellie, squeezing him tightly and ruffling his tufted blonde hair.
‘Me too. Are you staying here forever now?’
Ellie shook her head. ‘Just visiting for a few days. But I’ll be back again, and again.’
‘Okay,’ he said, satisfied with that, and then stood in front of Jez with his arms outstretched and his lips puckering. Jez was taken by surprise, expecting a timid handshake at best.
‘No one gets away without a Ted-snuggie at bed time. Except Shona, that is,’ Ellie explained.
‘Thank crud for that,’ Shona muttered.
Jez leant forward and awkwardly reached out for him. Ted wrapped his arms around her neck and planted a quick and self-conscious kiss on her cheek. ‘You’re a baby-babe,’ he said with a nervous giggle.
Jez looked up. ‘Is that good?’
‘It means he’s got the hots for you, Jez,’ laughed Ellie.
‘If he starts trying to impress you with armpit farts, then he’s really hot for you,’ added Jacob.
Maria returned from Ted’s cube and peeled him off Jez. ‘Come on then tiger-Ted, time for bed.’ She led him away, with Ted waving over his shoulder as he staggered tiredly towards his cube.
The evening drifted on pleasantly.
Maria returned with the all-clear that Ted was fast asleep, Shona went off to her cube and returned dressed up in the most fashionable of her clothes for Jez to inspect and pass approval on. Ellie watched her friend with growing affection as she took Shona on and they exchanged tattle on clothes and accessories; Shona trying on Jez’s hip bag and leather belt, and Jez some of Shona’s play-jewelry.
Later, after Shona had gone to bed Jacob Quin opened a bottle of home-brewed wine which Jez admitted was quite nice after the first startling mouthful.
Ellie was grateful that her parents didn’t cross-examine Jez, satisfying themselves with general questions about New Haven and what it was like to live there, which they both answered in turn.
Mostly honestly.
CHAPTER 9
The next day, Jacob Quin took the girls on a tour around the farm. Ellie was keen to see how well the meat crop was coming along, to be satisfied that, second time around, her father’s attempt to grow them wouldn’t end in another unpleasant bloodbath.
‘So, what are they like to grow? Are they easier than tubweeds?’ asked Ellie.
Jacob looked out across the acre spread of fidgeting meat-bulbs. ‘Yeah, I think so. The big thing to get right is the temperature and humidity in here, which, thanks to Sean’s Dad, we got nailed pretty quickly. The growth period is only four months from planting to harvest. We can get three yields per dome, per year from this.’
‘That’s great.’
‘So, we’ve only set up Booster to take these…and we’ll see how it goes. If it goes well, then I think we’ll turn over Betsy and Buttball to them.’
‘Have you still got tubweed set up in those two?’
‘Oh yeah.’
Jez arced one of her eyebrows inquisitively, ‘tubweeds?’
‘Ahh, the curse of my life, those horrible things. You want to meet them?’
Jez shrugged. ‘I’ve heard so much from you about them, I feel I know each and every one of them intimately.’
Jacob and Ellie exchanged a grin, and then he led the girls through to Betsy, Ellie’s old agri-dome. In the moist warmth of the dome, the tubweeds swayed in silent shoulder high ranks before them.
‘So what is it with tubweeds that you didn’t like?’ asked Jez, recalling on numerous occasions Ellie cursing the memory of those plants.
‘Their attitude.’
Jez looked confused. ‘Attitude? They’re plants aren’t they?’
‘Originally they were an alien species of plant. But not entirely plant. Think of them as being half plant, half animal,’ said Jacob. ‘They do have just about enough intelligence to have an attitude.’
‘And their attitude towards me was sheer malice,’ added Ellie. ‘It’s mutual, by the way.’
Jez, curious, walked towards them, ‘so what exactly can a malicious plant do to you then?’
‘You get any closer and you’ll see for yourself,’ cautioned Ellie.
Jez stopped, and then advanced very slowly, one step at a time. The tubweeds ne
arest her swayed gently backwards as she approached them, wary of the unfamiliar scent. She was amused at their movement. ‘Hey, that’s so weird…cowering plants. I guess they’re afraid of me by the look of it.’ Jez suddenly lurched forward and raised her arms, ‘boo!’
The closest tubweeds recoiled backwards with a spasmodic jerk and they heard a wave of rustling leaves ripple across the field in response. She chuckled and turned back to Ellie and her father. ‘You could sell these as like…’stress plants’ back in the city, couldn’t you? You know, if you’ve had a really daggy day at work and want to take it out on something…just have one of these sitting in the corner that you can scare the crud out of.’
‘I suppose that’s an idea,’ replied Jacob, ‘but the problem is-’
One of the tubweeds nearest to Jez decided it had cowered long enough and that she wasn’t the threat it had thought she was. With a fast and graceful sweep of its pod it swiped Jez across the back of her thigh.
‘Ouch!’ she yelped and jumped backwards. ‘I’ve just been fregging goosed by a goddamned fregging plant!’
Jacob looked down at Ellie with a look of surprise.
‘Yes,’ said Ellie, ‘she can occasionally curse like a trucker,’ she confided quietly with an apologetic glance up at her father. He shook his head and smiled in a way Ellie figured was tacit, unspoken approval.
Jez rejoined them, rubbing her leg. ‘I can see why you weren’t so fond of these psycho things.’
‘Ted and Shona have no problem with them. It was only really Ellie that had this ongoing grudge-match with them,’ said Jacob. ‘I think it’s to do with height though. They’re the same with me, pull back every time I walk past them, but not Maria who’s shorter than Ellie. I think they view anything tall as potentially threatening.’
‘And probably your smell, Jez,’ added Ellie. ‘No offence, but they don’t know your odor yet. In fact, you’ll smell unlike anything they know - coming from the city an’ all.’
Jez looked hurt. ‘I smell….urban?’
‘No,’ she laughed, ‘but you wear perfume, don’t you? They’ve never encountered Candique under-arm before. They’re probably petrified by the smell,’ Ellie added with a wink and taking a few steps towards them, ‘but me, they’ll probably still remember my smell and damn well go for me, like they used to.’