The purple bean plant had grown significantly over two hundred years into a strange local tree of life, it grew aerial roots that made it look like a small forest full of birds and small creatures of the fields who found sanctuary from the cats in its branches. Its original trunk was still standing, half green, half purple, so thick now that two peoples' outstretched arms couldn't surround it.
Sarah walked through one of the fava bean plots, passed several chamomile scented cats and returned to the kitchen with a full basket of produce, to the delight of sisters Jesse and Felix, who were on kitchen duty. Sister Jesse was cooking her favorite childhood dish, chicken in a pot. Three plump birds covered in butter and spices were waiting for the vegetables to arrive. Sister Jesse uttered a sigh of relief at the sight of Sarah and her basket and quickly got to chopping and dicing.
"How long are they going to be gone?" sister Felix asked. "It's getting pretty understaffed around here, by the time we're done with the double duty kitchen shifts I'll be an accomplished chef."
"Too bad that no amount of kitchen experience can prevent sister Abigail from burning our food," sister Jesse chuckled softly.
"Watch it, Parmentier! If you don't like my cooking you can all feel free to do triple kitchen shifts!" sister Abigail complained from afar.
"Scorched runny oatmeal, what's not to like?" Jesse couldn't help herself. Sister Abigail sulked, but said nothing.
"Roberta said they ran into some delays, procurement for one of the alloys in the external hull took longer than anticipated, so she had to stay longer, but Seth will be back for dinner," sister Felix continued.
***
"How are things in Airydew?" sister Benedict asked. Seth nodded her head to signal that things were going well, as expected. Sister Benedict had an inquisitive nature and her bright blue eyes sparkled with curiosity. Sometimes she wished she could reach inside the leader's head and drag out those words she so seldom spoke.
"Like for instance?" the sister insisted, slightly annoyed.
"They finished the transoceanic bridge, it's a sight to behold," Seth indulged her. The islands of Terra Two weren't very large so the greater cities had become by necessity an extraordinary openwork of connecting bridges, intricate in their layered weaving of merges and overpasses, more beautiful in their utilitarian ever evolving ways than any pre-defined design would have allowed. The transoceanic bridge was a very ambitious project, connecting seven islands to a total length of two thousand and fifty four miles, spanning vast stretches of open water over fast running currents and twining between several gigantic purple bowls.
"Really? How so?" sister Benedict delved into Seth's mind for details and sat back in her chair with enchantment at the sight of the shimmery ribbon that linked the islands like colorful beads on a silver chain. "What else?" the sister pressed, disappointed by the taciturn leader's lack of cooperation.
"It was hot and noisy. Every public area is drowned in a combination of human talk and purple music, it gets very distracting if you speak both fluently," Seth continued in a weary tone.
"Aah, so they did take to your new language?" sister Benedict pressed on, very excited about the news and completely indifferent to the exhaustion in the leader's tone.
"Take to it? Half the population speaks nothing but! They are all running around with their portable brain enabled harmony generators, completely out of sync with each other. I walked for an hour from one end of the sea terminal to the other and it felt like attending fifteen consecutive instrument tuning sessions at the philharmonic. Thank goodness for peace and quiet!" she sighed with relief as a vibrant clatter of broken glass and metallic screeches rose to a deafening amplitude.
"Oh, don't mind that!" sister Benedict chirped cheerfully. "They're recycling a couple of buildings into a new genetics and bioengineering institute, it's going to be a few days."
Chapter Sixteen
Of Lavish Indulgence
And so it was. Between the new construction and the hoards of visitors that descended upon their community like it were the new promised land the sisters' life became quite hectic. Public interest about their endless reserves of ingenuity never dulled and their group indulged it with little bits of wonderful that always bordered on madness.
The fact that sister Roberta's current research was focused on influencing subatomic particles from beyond the edges of the known universe would have earned her a straight jacket in any reasonable society but not on Terra Two. Terra Two was built on crazy, crazy was its normal and its point of pride and people came from far and wide to watch it unfold.
Phrases like 'I told you not to look, now I have to restart the experiment!', 'The bio-molecular scanner is not a toy!', 'Can you turn this into 3-hydroxypentanoic acid?' or 'Stand here and shade this rock, I don't want it to jump!' were normal parts of the conversation for grown-ups and children alike.
The spatial printing of the genetics and bioengineering institute provided unexpected entertainment for the guests; large groups of people watched it materialize from the ground up - first the foundations, then the structure, then the systems, then the finishes. When the last piece of metal plate was finally placed and the last argument over the exact color of the anodized finish and precise composition of the alloy subsided the architects, engineers and construction team congratulated each other, did a quick walk-through and went home, planning for a more detailed check up later.
Sarah, for whom the edifice was built, hesitated in front of the open door until Seth pushed her in.
"Welcome, Sarah!" the building greeted her in a soothing voice. "So nice to finally meet you! Your suite is on the first floor, would you like me to guide you?" the soft voice continued.
"My suite?" Sarah repeated, doubtful.
"Yes, your lounge, your private greenhouse, your garden, your research lab and your VR room," the building clarified.
"Where are the classrooms, what if some of the children want to talk to me?" Sarah started panicking.
"The lounge is spacious," the building reassured her and Sarah got the distinct feeling that the word 'spacious' was a considerable understatement. "The classrooms are in the south wing, right behind the concert hall."
A bewildered Sarah stared at Seth in search of an explanation.
"We will have conferences, you wouldn't want the sophisticated people in Airydew to think us backwards, would you?" the leader elaborated.
"My 'suite' seems oversized, just off the top of my head," Sarah protested. "What am I going to do with all that space?"
"You'll get used to it," Seth replied curtly, then turned to the building interface. "Guide us, please?"
A series of simple metallic wall sconces glowed dimly to show the way.
"Why does it have wings and what's in all these rooms?" Sarah continued to protest.
"Permanent suites, guest suites, classrooms, laboratories, libraries, archives and reading areas, auditoria, music studios, storage and utilities, greenhouse units," the building enumerated.
"Why the greenhouse? We live in an equatorial climate," Sarah asked.
"Precisely. In your new controlled environments you can modify the temperature and humidity levels, as well as the day/night cycles. We have several climates already implemented," the building interface impassibly went on, "meeting rooms, common VR space, biological material processing and store rooms, crop monitoring headquarters, a small cafe..."
"We only have to walk a few hundred feet home, I think the eatery is overkill," Sarah protested.
"There are going to be guests," the building answered.
"The Prayer Hall is across the street, we have a full kitchen there," the redhead continued.
"Oh, would you just stop whining? You're annoying me!" sister Joseph ran out of patience. "Where do you keep the cacti? I want to see. Maybe I can acclimate a few lizards, you know, for the kids?" she continued with surprising excitement.
"The desert environment is also in the south wing, on the third floor," the building a
nswered solicitously. "This way, please," it led the way by lighting another sequence of sconces in a different color.
"So, what's going to happen to my office in the Prayer Hall?" Sarah asked apprehensively.
"You're a sister of our order, I expect you're going to spend a good portion of your time with us," the leader stared her down.
***
This objective became harder and harder to accomplish as the sisters' schedule quickly filled up.
"I promise I will never complain I don't have enough things to do, ever again," sister Roberta mumbled morosely from somewhere on her travelling path, she didn't know herself where she was half the time with all the meetings in Airydew, the visits to the part manufacturing studios and the ever more rarefied returns to her beloved lab.
"Be careful what you wish for, that's what I always say!" sister Joseph commented in a thoughtful voice.
"How am I going to teach the kids with all the public relations tasks taking up all my time?" Sarah interjected, secretly upset that she didn't have time to go to the apothecary ever since growing groups of people filled the institute on official business or out of curiosity.
"Want to take care of the cows instead?" sister Joseph offered.
"I wouldn't mind," Sarah replied. "I love cows."
"That's why you're not going anywhere near them! Goodness, you ask a person a simple question and all of a sudden they think they're animal husbandry specialists!" sister Joseph protested, offended.
"I don't know why they assigned this role to me, I'm terrible at socializing," Sarah continued complaining.
"You never express your opinions and can't say 'no' to a cat. Comes in handy in when engaged in delicate interactions," sister Joseph didn't skip a beat. "Why don't you assign some responsibilities to those discipline lacking pupils of yours? That is if they can understand what 'responsibility' means. Lord knows they're old enough!"
***
Despite her busy schedule Sarah secretly enjoyed one lavish indulgence: her private aromatic garden. The garden was laid out on a smooth platform overlooking the ocean, the east edge of which ended with a pair of winding stone stairs that embraced a small fountain like parentheses. The stairs ended half buried in the sand of the beach and from them a path meandered between palm trees and ferns to the edge of the water. On the west side of the garden a flagstone path flanked by white gardenias led through a narrow gate in the stone garden wall to the cloister of the Prayer Hall.
Between these two edges lay the delightful garden where Sarah snuck out to think, putter around, breathe in the humid air of Terra Two and watch the kids play on the beach.
Solomon followed her like a shadow in all her pursuits and since Sarah found reasons to come back to the garden the cat became a constant feature in it too, pretending to rest under its benches with eyes half closed, ready to pounce at anything that moved or rustled.
The contrast between the luscious green of the tropical plants and the burnt sienna of the planet's soil made everything look so healthy and vibrant that Sarah often wondered if the genetic modifications alone enabled their extensive lifespan or the planet itself had something to do with it.
The design of the garden was a simple four square with a glazed ceramic birdbath at the center and immaculate white bougainvillea spilling over the top of the wall. Pear trees and jasmine guarded the remaining edge and shaded a couple of stone benches bleached by the heat of the suns and the salt of the ocean. The pear trees served as tutors for the thick vanilla orchids whose fragrance dripped from above, rich and heavy in the humid air.
The planting beds were covered by a thick matting of aloe vera, neatly manicured due to the regular harvesting of its leaves. When in bloom its flowers echoed the reddish soil and their pendulous, translucent buds could almost be mistaken for one of the ubiquitous pieces of ceramic art that embellished the grounds of every home on their island.
When it rained Sarah sat on the large lanai that opened the lounge to the garden. She sat on a carved teak bench, so finely polished that one could almost see one's reflection, really close to the ground, between an openwork wood coffer filled with curing vanilla beans and a large basket of dried hot peppers. Sometimes she brought the marble mortar and pestle Sys had made for her to grind turmeric or cloves by hand as she let her mind be refreshed by the song of the rain and the jingle of the glass chimes.
Children showed up often and unexpectedly from the beach, from the kitchen garden, or from the classrooms and labs. Sarah's doors were never closed during the day, she just threw them wide open every morning after Matins and allowed her suite to become the hub of local activities.
Sister Joseph used the garden path and the suite as a shortcut from the Prayer Hall to the greenhouses; she had requested a variety of cold and dry climate wildlife and populated the institute's deserts, taigas and tundras. She often sought refuge in the evergreen forest from annoying tourists and pesky little buggers with ever evolving VR games.
Generation after generation of children had walked the hallways and rambled through the glazed rooms of the Prayer Hall for many decades and now, when all the action moved to the institute and the religious edifice regained the peace and decorum it was supposed to inspire the sister found it empty and quiet and looked for any excuse to spend her time in the company of the kids, the other sisters, and her beloved animals.
She still admonished the children on occasion, of course, for the chaos and rumpus they imposed on the long suffering sisters.
Sarah went back inside her lounge and looked at the low table surrounded by soft couches and chairs trying to find a couple of square feet for her research materials but between Lily's tomes of philosophy and logic, Jimmy's latest experiment, two herb drying racks and Gemma's scaled down replica of a space shuttle there wasn't any space left. She sighed and pushed aside a pottery project in progress so she could curl up in one of the chairs. It was the end of the quarter and all the kids were fretting over finals so she had decided to allow them to put off tidying until school was out.
"I thought you said you didn't need so much room. Isn't this lounge spacious?" Seth joked, grinning from ear to ear.
"I wasn't told what the room occupancy was!" Sarah protested wretchedly.
"Maybe we can build you an addition," Seth continued. "Or you can follow sister Joseph's example and spend some time with the silver foxes in the tundra," she offered.
"And to think I have my very own VR room," Sarah sighed again.
"Yeah, why don't you use it?" Seth asked.
"Jenna needs it for a school project," Sarah replied.
"Dr. Reyek and dr. Koslovski are here," sister deAngelis announced through the interlink. The science delegation from Earth's orbital greenhouse was there one day early and Sarah ran over the details in her mind to make sure the institute was ready for their arrival.
"Duty calls!" she put down her unopened research materials and walked out into the hallway winding her way through a swarm of students that spilled out of the classrooms, the labs, the greenhouses and the auditoria. The building spoke soothingly over the hubbub like a friendly resident ghost, announcing the next events, adjusting the light and ventilation levels and picking up after its rambunctious users.
Chapter Seventeen
Of Caramel Covered Blue Pears
"She's so beautiful!" Sys thought, watching her mother fluff up the dirt around the roots of an aloe vera plant. A wavy strand of luminous hair that cast two shadows on Sarah's forehead kept sweeping the ground and mirrored her every move. The redhead was so absorbed in the nurturing of the tiny succulent that she didn't hear um approach stepping lighter than a cat on the warm flagstones.
"She is, isn't she?" sister Joseph commented. "For all the good it does us!"
"I heard that! Were you talking about me or the plant?" Sarah looked up smiling and as she rose from the ground the golden tendrils of her hair seemed to be made of pure light. At the age of three hundred and sixteen her skin had maintained
its alabaster transparency, which was strange on Terra Two for a person who had dedicated her entire existence to working the fields and spent most of her time outdoors under the warmth of two suns. The purple inhabitants inside Sarah's cells didn't spare any effort and didn't miss any anomaly, her skin was flawless and radiant, with no visible pores, lines, wrinkles, or dark spots, with a rosy blush on the apples of her cheeks, a perfect complement to her almond shaped green eyes shaded by lush eyelashes. Golden specks floated in the transparent green of her irises making them look liquid and restless like the ocean she spent so much time gazing upon. Stranger still for a fair green eyed redhead, Sarah's skin had no freckles and the long nights she spent bent over the micron microscope didn't paint dark circles under her eyes.
"They must really love you!" Sys commented.
"I know they do," the redhead's smile broadened. "Sarah. Sister. Remember?"
"When you two are done checking each other's make-up can cat-brains go back to doing some actual work around here? The weekly crop report isn't going to write itself! Whoa, crazy!" the sister exclaimed, puzzling the two. "Chicken assault, the hens are very protective of their young," she continued. "So when are you going to send me the report?"
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