“Does that mean that we’ll share our love with each other?”
“Yes.”
“And we’ll share our bed with each other?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll care for me and help me be brave, and you’ll let me care for you and try to keep you from—” She stopped and bit her lip, unable to finish.
“Yes, that too. And I’ll expect you to argue with me every day to make me better than I could ever be without you.”
“OK, I just wanted to make sure nothing was changing. Your proposal is accepted.” She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me down on top of her.
When she was done kissing me I asked her, “I know you planned for me to propose to you. Was I on schedule?”
She giggled. “Close enough. You don’t mind? It doesn’t bother you?”
“I find it endearing and attractive. But I’d like to read the letter you wrote to your father. It might tell me what comes next.”
“Never. I want you to feel that you have some control over your life. Now get off me so we can get some lunch. I have a wedding to plan.”
She sighed as we walked to the mess hall. “There should be family with us, and friends. But I have you and that will be enough.” She looked up at me. “We may want to do this again someday. I’d like to meet your dad and sisters, see where you and Jake grew up.”
“I’d enjoy that. I’ll marry you as often as you like.” She smiled, holding hands with me as we walked.
Two days later we were married on the Dulcinean Heritage Trail, a warm simulated sun catching red highlights in Alice’s hair and making her eyes sparkle. Captain Adriensoon’s words were simple and brief and the assembled personnel of Falling Star applauded our first kiss as husband and wife.
When Geo shook my hand afterward he told me how happy he was for me but the expression on his face seemed to be one of wonder, the wonder one would have watching someone jump off a cliff. But then I looked at Alice where she was sitting with the XO and Sara O’Dell, both hands gesturing as she told them some story, and I had no doubt that I was in the right place, or at least the place Alice planned for me to be, which at that moment were the same things.
Captain Adriensoon pulled Alice and me aside as the celebration started to break up.
“Ted, this is your certificate of marriage,” she handed me a large envelope, “and a small wedding present from Captain von Muller and myself. When we reach Bodens Gate tomorrow afternoon you’ll find that your full pay for your first hop has been deposited in your account. Also in this envelope are hard copies of your twelve month leave of absence papers from RuComm and letters of recommendation. You are free to apply to any position you wish for the next year, consistent with your new marital status, of course. I hope that you’ll choose to come back to us. Your RuComm access will still work for the next year and you can keep your display pad and watch.”
Alice kissed the Captain’s cheek. I settled for a handshake.
“Alice, would you excuse us for a few minutes?” the Captain asked. Alice nodded and went to talk to Sara. Captain Adriensoon leaned forward and spoke softly to me, “Bring Hannah back if you can, Ted, but don’t lose your life trying the impossible. You have other responsibilities now.” She frowned, debating how much to tell me. “I’ve known Professor Vandermeer for ten years working with him for our RuComm visits. The way Alice is now, confident, happy, and almost beautiful the way she’s glowing today–”
“Almost?”
The Captain smiled. “She’s very beautiful. This is how I remember Alice from most of my time on Dulcinea. But not the year after her husband was killed. You need her to tell you about that time if she hasn’t already. I think she’s healed, partly from her time with the church but I suspect mostly from your love for her. You hold her life in your hands. Don’t hurt her, Ted. I know what Hannah meant to you not that long ago, but you chose a different destiny on Cleavus. Are you strong enough to see this through?”
“Would you believe me if I told you that I’d seen inside Alice’s soul while we were on Cleavus and that she’d been inside mine? You don’t need to answer, I know how crazy it sounds. There’s a lot I don’t know about her, but there won’t be anything that can separate us. I still love Hannah but the feelings we had for each other were too close to insanity to last, even if we hadn’t been forced apart. What I feel for Alice is deeper and more stable.” I smiled. “Every time we’ve had a fight we seem to love each other even more when it’s over.”
I looked at where Alice was moving her head back and forth, kneeling down then standing on her tip toes trying to resolve the illusion of a cliff face Falling Star was using to hide a bulkhead in the ring corridor. She waved at us when she noticed us watching.
“How could anyone not love her?”
The Captain smiled at me. “Just keep believing in her, Ted. You’ll be fine.”
The Bodens Gate terminal was not as grand as the one in Palma Sola. The concrete support beams around the windows were short and stout to support the weight of the roof against the extra gravity. The windows looked out onto a wall of trees that hid the view of Eindhoven twenty kilometers distant and the view of the Warrens that crowded much closer. The view of the Warrens might have been obscured but not the smell. I looked at Alice and she looked back at me, bent forward slightly under the weight of her pack.
“Burning trash,” she said, “and open sewers. They warned me about the smell.”
I glanced behind us where I could see the clean white metal of Falling Star’s shuttle through the window by the gate, still waiting on the pad.
“Second thoughts already, Ted? It’s springtime in Palma Sola now, the flowers are starting to bloom and the air is warm and sweet.”
I had a sudden memory of Hannah telling me about sitting in the sidewalk cafes near the University on long summer evenings, wearing a light sundress, taking notes about the words and conversations flowing around her for her next paper.
“No,” I told Alice, “no second thoughts.”
“Wow. That was a complex set of emotions that just flowed through you. You scare me sometimes.”
I took her bag for her. “Good.”
We reached the main concourse and Alice approached an elderly man dressed in stained work overalls. She embraced him and kissed both of his cheeks.
He put his hands on each side of her face, his smile making the lines around his eyes deeper than they already were. “Alice, you’ve traveled a long, weary road to be here with us. I pray that the yoke ahead for you is easy and the burden light.”
“Seeing you makes it so. Father Ryczek, let me introduce you to Ted Holloman, my husband.”
He took both of my hands in his, squeezing with surprising strength, penetrating grey eyes looking into mine. “You are looking for something here. For you I pray that you find even more than you hope for.”
“Thank you, sir. Or should I call you ‘Father’?”
“As you wish.” He smiled. “The people here have called me many things, but I’m still me.” He looked around us. “I was told you had a dog with you.”
Alice and I both looked around. “I thought this might happen,” I told him. “Merrimac was abandoned with us on Cleavus.”
“So perhaps he is on his way home now?” Father Ryczek asked.
“I suspect he is, although I thought he’d at least say good-bye.”
“We must be on our way as well if we’re to reach the Mission by nightfall. Here, girl,” he reached up and helped Alice remove her backpack and put it on himself, “let me carry this for you. You look like a twig bending under too much snow.”
“Thank you, Father.”
We loaded our belongings into a boxy vehicle of a type unfamiliar to me. It looked to be heavily worn and weathered but durable and it ran smoothly once started. It was a good mechanical alter-ego for Father Ryczek.
“Do you see that city north of us?” We looked out the window at the towers reflecting the afternoon sun. “Eindhoven. Take a good look because this is as close as you’ll get.” We came around a curve, descending from the high ground where the terminal had been built and Father Ryczek pulled over and stopped on the shoulder. “That’s the Warrens.” We could see an endless chaos of low buildings built without any obvious plan, all shrouded in hazy smoke rising from countless small fires. “Almost ten miles on a side and still growing. You know miles?”
I nodded. “I just convert it to kilometers in my head… about sixteen, right?”
Ryczek nodded. “That’s the Mission, right there.” He pointed. “It kind of stands out, don’t you think?”
I looked, not seeing anything that stood out. “I’ll take your word for it.”
He smiled like I had passed some sort of initial test. “I think you’re the first person from Earth to ever volunteer here. You all seem a little too civilized to me to be able to survive in the Warrens.” He looked into my eyes and I held his gaze. “But then you aren’t here to serve God, are you?”
“No, sir,” I admitted.
“That’s OK. I think God can use you anyway.” He turned to Alice who was sitting between us in the front seat. “And you, young woman. I know why you’re here too. Don’t worry, I’m sure God will use you just as you are.”
Alice opened her mouth to reply then closed it looking troubled.
We proceeded down to the Warrens, passing through security checkpoints and an impressively high wall. We went from wide paved roads to narrow dirt ones and then we were surrounded by houses and shops, people walking on the streets, talking with friends, the smell of food cooking. Some lifted a hand in greeting to Father Ryczek as we passed.
After a few minutes Alice asked him, “Father, we were told what a dangerous place this is but these people don’t seem afraid. They’re just going about their lives, laughing, shopping, sitting and talking. It looks so normal and safe.”
He laughed. “That’s your first lesson. The people that live in the Warrens are people. They’re generous and cruel, they laugh and love and fight sometimes, not so different from you. A surprising number of them are seeking after God. Now your second lesson. There is a tight social order in the Warrens. That woman there,” he pointed. “She’s perfectly safe on this street but take her a mile or two away and she’ll never make it home. If you want to survive here remember Matthew 10:16, ‘I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.’ You will hear gunfire tonight, little Alice. It’s the sound of people killing and people dying.”
I felt her fingers intertwine with mine as she took my hand.
When we reached the Mission the front gate wouldn’t open. Father Ryczek got out with a hammer that was under his seat and banged on it until it started to move, then pushed it the rest of the way. After we passed through he pushed the remote to close it and a couple of passersby helped shove it until it latched.
“It’s working pretty well today. Wait a month until the cold weather starts to settle in and it will take four or five of us to move it.”
After we parked Alice got out and opened the back of the vehicle to get her pack and bag. She let out a little chirp of a scream and I saw her fall backwards onto the ground. I ran to her and found Mac sitting next to her looking concerned.
“Well, your dog seems to have made it after all, although how such a big creature could have smuggled himself on board is a mystery.” Father Ryczek scratched Mac’s head and looked into his eyes. “Merrimac, you should know that we have a few cats around here to keep the rats and mice under control. I trust you will be able to behave yourself around them?”
Mac’s eyes closed and his tongue lolled out, enjoying the head scratch. “I will take that as your promise, then.” Father Ryczek looked at Alice and me. “He’s a good boy. There’s something gentle and peaceful about him. I can understand why you couldn’t bear to leave him on Cleavus.”
I looked at Alice who was still sitting on the ground, a pleading look in her eyes. I helped her back to her feet.
“Yes, sir,” I answered, “he does seem to enjoy our company for some reason.”
“Leave your bags here for now, they’ll be safe enough. I need to get in and bless tonight’s meal so everyone can start.”
The dining hall was set up with a cafeteria line and the several long tables were already filling with a cross section of the neediest of the area’s residents. Father Ryczek hurried to the front of the room and raised his arms to bless the evening meal. Alice and I made our way through the line, each getting a tray with a large bowl of soup, a generous piece of bread and as much salad as we could possibly want. Dented metal pitchers on the tables held cold water for us to drink.
We sat between a woman who had not bathed for some time and a small child of six or seven who was fascinated by the texture of Alice’s hair. But the food was good and after the woman next to me introduced herself, I found her to be intelligent and thoughtful, interested in who we were and what had prompted us to come to the Warrens. When I told her that I was looking for a friend who had gone missing she said she was sad for me.
She then told her own story, how the cruel Bovita clan had killed her husband six weeks ago and kidnapped her two children and the children of other leaders to hold as hostages to ensure her clan’s allegiance. The Bovita, she claimed, would brainwash the children and if she ever got them back they would be Bovita and not hers anymore. She claimed that she once had held status but was now reduced to the charity of the church, for which she was nonetheless thankful. She kissed my hand.
After dinner, Father Ryczek helped us get our bags and carry them to our room. He showed us how to use the key in the ancient lock. “Turn the key then lift up hard on the knob to get it to turn. The building has settled over the years and nothing lines up quite right anymore.”
He turned on the lights and one of the panels winked on, then off, then on, then off till he tapped in gently with his finger.
“It seems like you need a lot of small repairs,” I commented.
“Indeed we do. I expect it’ll keep you very busy.”
I must have looked surprised because he turned toward Alice who was sitting on the edge of the bed looking at the floor.
“Alice, you didn’t tell him?”
“No, Father. I was going to wait till morning.”
He sighed. “Very well, I’ll do it for you. Ted, you are our new handyman. I’ll send you a prioritized list tonight and tomorrow I’ll show you where the tools and supplies are kept. Also,” he held a long bony finger up to my face, “you are assistant cook. We always need more help in the kitchen. Breakfast is at 0600 tomorrow so I expect you to be in the kitchen by 0430 to start getting set up.”
He knelt down next to Alice and hugged her. She put her arms around him and he said to her, “Alice, you don’t know how I prayed for you to be here with us.”
After a few moments whispering to her he stood and walked to the door. “Rest well, both of you.” The door closed behind him then he opened it again, peering around the edge at us, looking very stern. “I should warn you. The walls here are thin and my room is just down the hall. Don’t be too loud, newlyweds.”
The door closed again and we could hear him laughing as he walked away.
I sat on the floor next to the bed and took Alice’s hand. “What’s wrong, my love? Is it that we can’t seem to get Mac to run away?”
She shook her head, then nodded, then shook it again. “Maybe, partly. It’s mostly Father Ryczek.”
“Really? I like him a lot already.”
She sighed. “He messed up my plan. You were supposed to volunteer to be the handyman. It was supposed to be your idea.”
“I was about to, if it makes you feel better. Is this the first ti
me someone’s gotten the jump on you?”
She rolled her eyes. “My dad does it to me all the time. Most people never even see it coming, like my two Lieutenants on the Margo Islands. Philip and now you seem to enjoy it and I’m OK with that. My dad and Father Ryczek see right through me. That I hate.”
I climbed up onto the bed, pushing her backwards as I came until I was straddling her on all fours looking into her eyes. “Well, newlywed, how quietly do you think you can make love to your husband tonight?”
“Hmm, only one way to find out, I suppose. Although I like it better when it involves screaming as loud as I can.”
“We’ll do that again one day.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
CHAPTER 14
THE WARRENS
ALICE THREW UP AT 0400 the next morning. The bathroom was too far away down the hall so I held a trash can for her with one hand and pulled her hair back away from her face with the other. I kissed her gently on the forehead when she was done.
“I’m worried about you. You’ve been sore and achy and tired all the time and now throwing up. I’d like the medic to check you later this morning.”
Alice sighed. “Put your head here on my belly. Merrimac is close enough that you should be able to feel it even without him touching us.”
I put my hands on her and she pulled my head down. “Feel for it. Listen.”
After a moment I could feel it and I looked up at her. “Little soul.”
“Yes. Little soul.”
“There’s a small girl soul floating inside you, content, sleeping now, I think. How long have you known?”
Alice bit her lip. “Since the night you put her in me. Our first night.”
“How is this possible?” Alice raised her eyebrows. “I mean…”
She smiled at me, putting her hand on my cheek. “I know what you mean. I had my fertility reversed when I married Philip because we wanted to wait. We were young and there was plenty of time, or so we thought.” She shrugged. “No technology is perfect. This child, our child, was determined to get knit together.”
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