by Kate MacLeod
The first day she just kept the rover rolling over the prairie, bypassing all the towns.
When the sun started to set, she parked and let the dogs run and explore.
All day she had kept a nervous eye on the coronal mass ejection indicator, but it had never twitched. As she ate her dinner that night, she traded messages with her friends in space. They were busy, working with Rona and the governor and their own upper management to iron out the details, but they were certain the danger was past. Not only would the shield stay around the planet, they had orders from Bo Tajaki to improve it.
“The color of the sky is going to change slightly,” Emilie said to her. “But when we’re done with the improvements, the entire surface will be safe at all times. The domes can even come off the cities.”
Scout didn’t know how to respond to that. It seemed like something out of a dream.
But beyond anything she had ever dreamt of. The entire surface, safe. That was really going to change life in the villages and cities both.
She slept in the rover bunk, the dogs curled up close to her. Shadow preferred to be in her arms with his head on her bicep and his back to her belly. Gert, by default, curled up behind Scout’s legs.
Scout woke to the familiar feeling of Gert’s heavy head on her hip, those brown eyes waiting patiently for her to wake and let the dogs outside.
Scout complied. She ate a protein bar for breakfast, then filled a bottle of water from the sink in the kitchenette. She put on a sun-protective shirt over the rest of her clothes and carefully applied sunscreen to every exposed centimeter of her skin.
Was that, too, going to change? She would have to ask Emilie.
Scout hopped out of the rover and shut the door, but she didn’t bother locking it so far from civilization. Then she went around back and pulled her bike out of the storage space.
She gave the bike a thorough check, but everything was in good working order. Even the tires were properly inflated. She swung a leg over, put her feet on the pedals, and started rolling down the gentle slope, the rising sun warm on her back.
She whistled, and the dogs burst out of the grass to fall into step beside her. Shadow looked up at her, ears high and tongue lolling. He would have been grinning if he had been human.
Scout kept an easy pace and stopped in the shadow of a large boulder to wait out the hottest part of the day. The dogs drank down the water she poured into a bowl for them and then flopped down to nap.
If only she had somewhere she was supposed to be, some package or message with her that was her responsibility to deliver, then everything would feel just right. Like being home.
But it didn’t feel just right, and Scout wasn’t sure why. It was more than just the lack of a job; she had spent days wandering around between jobs before. Something else felt . . . well, not so much wrong as out of alignment somehow.
The heat lulled her into her own doze, and she woke a few hours later to the sound of the dogs trying to corner some small animal in its den under the boulder. Scout had them drink a little more water, had some herself, then went to pick up her bike.
She looked to the west. There was always more west. The north had its mountains, and the south had a river she had never dared cross. The east ended with the major cities along the coast of the ocean, but there was nothing but endless prairie to the west.
It was tempting, to keep pedaling away from everything. But she was never going to find anything out there. The answer she was looking for certainly wasn't out there.
Scout whistled, and the dogs ran to catch up as she pedaled back to the rover.
She reached it just as the last sliver of the sun was sinking below the horizon. The dogs were wiped out, having grown used to spending most of their time lying about.
Whatever Scout decided, the dogs would have to be a consideration. They needed space to run and critters to chase.
But their needs were easy to meet. What did Scout need?
Scout put the bike away, then climbed into the rover. She took one MRE from the stack in a crate near the kitchenette and pulled the string to start the heating element, then filled a tall glass with more water.
She filled the dogs’ bowl with kibble, and they ate companionably side by side, devouring every last bit before Scout’s food was even warm. Gert flopped down at Scout’s feet and immediately went to sleep. Shadow licked at the edges of the bowl until absolutely every crumb was consumed before hopping up onto the bench next to Scout and curling up with his head on her thigh.
Scout spooned food into her mouth. She hadn’t glanced at the label, but it was some sort of beef in a tomato sauce–type thing that wasn’t bad.
She sent Emilie a message asking about the future need for sunscreen.
Emilie didn’t answer straightaway. Probably in another of their endless series of meetings.
She thought about messaging Daisy, but she couldn’t think of what to say. She didn’t want to intrude on what was clearly a personal time for Daisy. Scout didn’t think she had ever properly mourned the loss of her sister.
In the end, she just sent a short note: “I hope all is good with you.”
Then she went to bed.
She woke when the sky was just barely hinting at something about to change in the east. Something was beeping at her.
Scout sat up, ignoring the dogs’ protests. It was her communicator. Rather than sending a message, someone was trying to call her directly.
At this hour? It could only be bad news.
Scout pushed the hair out of her eyes and answered the call.
“Yes?” she asked anxiously.
“Hey, Scout,” Tucker said. She could see part of his face on her wrist screen: eyes but not eyebrows, mouth moving in and out of frame as he talked. “I have some news for you.”
“Oh no,” Scout said.
“Oh, it’s not bad,” he said.
“At this hour?” Scout asked.
“Oh, sorry,” he said. “Wasn’t paying attention.”
Scout sighed. “What the news?” she asked.
“Your galactic marshal friend, Liam McGillicuddy, was released from tribunal custody. Some sort of deal was worked out with the Tajaki trade dynasty.”
“That is good news,” Scout said, perking up.
“He’s on his way here now,” Tucker said. “He left even before we knew he was free, so he’s nearly here already.”
“Where’s he heading?” Scout asked.
“The same place you met him before. The coordinates are still in the rover's nav system,” Tucker said. “He’ll be there by tomorrow morning. I hope you’re close enough to reach it in time.”
“Yes, plenty of time,” Scout said.
“Oh, good. Because otherwise, I could send him to your current location . . .”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll be there before he will for sure,” Scout said.
Tucker said nothing. It was hard to tell from the fraction of his expression she could actually see, but he seemed very eager to please.
“Have you heard from Daisy?” Scout asked.
“She’s been staying with Reggie in the capital,” Tucker said. “But I haven’t talked to her.”
“Has Joelle?” Scout asked. “I’m just curious how she’s doing.”
“I don’t know. Do you want me to ask?”
“No, it’s nothing,” Scout said. “Does she know about Liam?”
“I don’t think so. You want me to tell her?” Tucker asked.
Scout bit her lip. The last time Liam had come, it had meant he was going to take her away. And he had. But is that what he was coming for this time?
Were her options now staying out in the prairies of Amatheon as a messenger, staying in the capital working for the governor, or going back into space with Liam?
She didn’t know for sure what Liam was going to offer her.
But she did know that whatever it was, she wanted Daisy to have all of the same options before her before she decided.
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“Yes,” Scout said at last. “Please tell Daisy. I’d appreciate that. Thank you, Tucker.”
“Yeah, of course,” Tucker said, ducking his eyes out of frame, so she just had a view of his forehead and floppy hair.
She would never trust him again, not completely. They could never be friends. But she realized that the last of her anger had finally left her. She was okay, her dogs were okay. She could let Tucker walk his own path and she would walk hers. She didn't think they'd ever cross again, but she no longer actively wished him ill.
That was something.
Scout terminated the call, but there was no way she’d ever get back to sleep. Once the dogs had run off some steam, she started up the rover and headed for the rendezvous point.
She didn’t reach it until late afternoon. The grass was still flattened from Arvid and his crew, and there were deep indents from where the heavy craft had stood parked around the perimeter.
Scout braked the rover and killed the engine. Then she climbed back down to the back to open the door and let the dogs out for another run.
They leaped eagerly out of the doorway, quickly disappearing into the tall grass.
But they weren’t the only ones causing the stalks to sway. Scout stepped back into a defensive posture, hand reaching for a slingshot that was no longer there.
But the grass parted and Scout saw it was Daisy walking towards her. She wore no hat over her closely cut hair, and her long arms were bare, but her nanites were up to the task of fighting sun damage. She had darkened a bit, her usually Spacer-pale skin now a warm honey color. It made her hair look even more golden, her eyes more brilliantly blue.
“You got Tucker’s message,” Scout said, jumping down from the rover.
“I did indeed,” Daisy said. “There’s something for you just over here.”
“There’s what?” Scout asked.
“Just come and see,” Daisy said, waving for Scout to follow her through the tall grass.
They didn’t have far to go. A puffy package was lying against a rock, a long parachute trailing behind it. Without the rock, the package might have bounced away in the stiff breeze.
“How do you know it’s for me?” Scout asked, wadding up the parachute and shoving it underneath another rock.
“Just here,” Daisy said, pointing to the side of the package. “‘For Scout Shannon, from a friend who dwells above,’” she read.
“Caleb,” Scout said. “He’s the Months’ majordomo.”
“The Months,” Daisy said with a frown. “Let me look it over more carefully before you touch it.”
“Caleb wouldn’t send me anything that would hurt me,” Scout said, but she let Daisy examine it anyway. Better safe than sorry.
When at last Daisy gave the nod, Scout tore open the puffy protective packaging.
Inside was her belt, her boots and pants, and a clear plastic pouch filled with all of the things from her pockets.
And resting on top of all of it were her glasses.
Scout gave Daisy a deliriously happy look, then clutched it all to her chest tightly and ran back to the rover to get changed.
“I’ve felt so naked without this,” Scout said as she finally buckled the belt back around her hips.
“You do seem to be missing something without it,” Daisy agreed. She was feeling a teapot with steaming water, having already found Ottilie’s stash of tea in the highest cupboard.
“I’ve been feeling out of sorts since we got back here,” Scout said. “Not myself. Maybe it’s the belt.”
“Maybe,” Daisy said. “Would you like some tea?”
Scout was about to give a tepid affirmative when Daisy turned to set something on the dining table in front of Scout. “Or would you rather have a jolo?”
“Jolo!” Scout said, wrapping her hands around the bottle. It was so icy cold it made her fingers ache, and condensation was already dripping in great fat drops down the sides. Daisy smiled, setting her teapot and cup on the table and sliding in across from Scout.
Scout took a long swallow of jolo, closing her eyes as the rush of sugar and caffeine coursed through her blood.
“Maybe this is what was missing,” Scout said.
“Maybe,” Daisy said, as evasively as before.
“How was your time in the capital?” Scout asked.
A twinge of sadness crossed over Daisy’s face, but she blinked it away before pouring out her tea.
“It was necessary,” Daisy said. “I had to close a chapter before I could open a new one.”
“Yeah,” Scout said, looking at the bottle of jolo in her hands. Did she have chapters that needed closing?
“That belt is more than a belt,” Daisy said, the random comment catching Scout off guard. “It’s a badge of office.”
“I suppose I shouldn’t be wearing it,” Scout agreed.
“Well,” Daisy said. “I do think it suits you. The belt and the badge and the office, all of it. Have you thought about it?”
“Thought about what?”
“Being a galactic marshal?” Daisy asked, sipping at her tea.
“I hadn’t thought beyond maybe going to school,” Scout said, “and even that feels impossible.”
“It isn’t,” Daisy said. “Not for you. You’re far cleverer than you give yourself credit for, and you have so many people to support and help you.”
“The second part is definitely true,” Scout said. “Hey, do you think that’s what Liam is flying out here to do? To ask me to become a marshal?”
“Probably not that directly,” Daisy said. “Like you were sort of saying, it takes a lot of schooling. But what do you think about it? Doesn’t it seem like what you’ve been taking steps toward since the moment you met Gertrude Bauer?”
“It kind of does,” Scout said wonderingly. “I wanted to follow her everywhere, all over the galaxy. But she died. Then I wanted to finish her last job. Not technically a marshal job, but still.”
“And you named your AI teacher after her. Your mentor,” Daisy added.
“I did,” Scout said. “Maybe that is what I wanted. I was just too afraid of wanting it and not getting it to actually even think it out loud in my head.”
“It’s a long path,” Daisy said. “There will be lots of points along the way where you could change your mind, follow a different path. But it seems like the logical place to start.”
“It does,” Scout agreed. She drank the last of her jolo. She could hear the dogs erupt into another sudden chase and knew that they were near, they were safe, they were happy.
“What about you?” Scout asked. “What do you want to do next?”
“I thought that was obvious,” Daisy said, fidgeting with the delicate handle of the teacup. “I want to go with you.”
“To be a marshal?” Scout asked.
“Or whatever,” Daisy said. “Lots of paths, right?”
“That’s why you were trying to convince me? But you don’t need me. You’re smarter than I am and stronger. You’d be so far advanced from me on that path.”
“I suppose. But I’ve been alone all my life, or nearly so. I don’t want to be alone anymore. So I’ve already decided: If you want to work for the governor, I’ll do that too. If you want to work in orbit, I can find a place there. Even if you want to stay here and carry on as a bike messenger, I can get a bike of my own. It can’t take too long to learn how to do it, right?”
“Well . . . ” Scout said.
“I just know that if I choose anything apart from you and your dogs, I’ll be alone. And I think the loneliness might really kill me this time. So I’d like to stay with you. If that’s all right. I don’t want to impose—”
“Like you could even impose,” Scout said, reaching across the table to grasp Daisy’s hand. “I don’t know if I’ll stay the entire path to being a marshal, but I’d like for us to start down it together.”
Daisy smiled at her.
“But Daisy, I’m going to make sure that the network of h
elp and support you said I have, that you get one too. You’re not going to be alone again, even if we’re apart.”
“I hope so,” Daisy said.
“Now,” Scout said, getting up from the table. “Let’s go outside. I can spread a blanket on the ground, and we can watch the sunset one last time on our home world.”
“And in the morning, we can watch it rise one last time,” Daisy added.
“And then Liam will be here,” Scout said. “And then everything really begins.”
They spread out the blanket and sat down, leaning back on their hands to gaze up at the sky. Shadow and Gert eventually drifted over, Shadow curling up against Scout’s side and Gert laying her head on Daisy’s thigh.
Scout knew now what had felt out of place before. It was her. She was from Amatheon, but she no longer felt of it. There was another place that called to her now.
And that place was the entire galaxy.
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The End
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About the Author
Photograph © 2016 Jonathan Conklin
Kate MacLeod lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her husband and two sons. Her short fiction has appeared in Analog, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, PerVisions, Mythic Delirium and Abyss and Apex among others.
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Find out more about the author at www.katemacleod.net. To stay up to date on all her new releases sign up for her newsletter.
Also by Kate MacLeod
Novels
The Slums of the Solar System:
Mitwa
The Mars of Malcontents
The Whole World for Each
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