Building Harlequin’s Moon (35 page)

Rachel’s eyes were on the woman by Gabriel. Gabriel’s girlfriend. A thick blond braid hung to her hips, blending with the skintight light yellows and whites of her outfit. She was beautiful, and Rachel felt a stab of something—jealousy?—at the sight of her arm on Gabriel’s. “Is
everyone
awake?” she whispered to Ali.

“The entire High Council was awakened when the fire started. There are directives about that—certain emergencies require a full High Council. Me too, since I’ve spent
so much time on Selene. The fire could have destroyed everything. You’re quite the hero.”

“Gabriel is the hero.”

“We’re used to Gabriel being a hero.” Ali laughed. “It’s in his job description.”

Rachel smiled. She looked around for Treesa, but didn’t spot her. She heard Kyu’s voice. “Rachel—over there.” She found Kyu, who pointed toward Gabriel.

Kyu reached Gabriel. She watched Rachel making her way through the crowd, trailed by Ali. The captain walked up next to Kyu; Liren trailed him. Ali’s hand on Rachel’s back propelled her toward the group. Rachel took a few steps, her stomach fluttering with nervousness.

“You did well,” Kyu said, repeating what she had told Rachel privately. “I’m proud of you. We all are. Your help with the fire was remarkable.” Kyu’s eyes and smile were warm, and Rachel began to relax.

The captain smiled at her. “I’m glad you came back. Nice job.” He sounded sincere.

The new man, Rich Roberts, reached out and shook her hand briefly. Even though he smiled, his gaze made Rachel feel like a specimen under a microscope.

Liren ignored her.

Kyu looked over at Liren, and said, “You could be polite.”

“She should not be here.” Liren glared at Kyu.

Kyu looked up at Rachel. “We could have managed Beth Rachel without you, though, and you are needed on Selene. That’s all that Liren meant,” Kyu said.

“Don’t speak for me,” Liren snapped, finally addressing Rachel directly. “You did well with the fire, but you should have stayed on Selene where you are needed. We did not invite you here this time.”

Rachel bristled. “Beth was scared. She needed me. So I came.” She stood her ground, looking at Liren, hoping her anger and fear weren’t showing.

“Decisions of that sort are not yours to make.” Liren turned deliberately, no longer looking at Rachel.

“Gabriel approved,” Rachel said. The talk around her stopped, and Gabriel shifted back and forth on his feet. She felt uncomfortable; she wished she were back in Aldrin. “Is my old room still available?”

“Have you checked into Medical?” Liren asked.

“I’ve been there.” It was a white lie—she’d been there only to see Beth go to sleep. “I feel fine.” Her hands shook and she held them tightly so no one would see. Standing up to Council was becoming a habit, but it scared her every time.

The captain intervened. “Your room is available. I’ll walk you down.”

Rachel was amazed at the offer. The captain had never paid much attention to her. She followed him out of the cafeteria past the wing stand, up the spiral path to the base of Yggdrasil (falling! She wasn’t used to it), and into the elevator.

When they reached the corridor, he said, “Liren means no harm. She is just trying to protect us. You would best serve yourself, and us, if you stay careful and low-key until you return to Selene.”

Rachel saw an opening, and even tired and confused, she leaped into it. “Liren doesn’t need to be afraid of us. Why not trust us?” Now her words came out quickly; she rushed to finish before she lost her nerve. “We’re smart—we Children. We can learn—we are learning. And you need our help. After all, you aren’t willing to send enough people to Selene to do all the work. There is so much more to do after the fire. We can help, and we can help better if you let us make more decisions. We can’t be effective when you don’t let us think for ourselves, ever.”

“Of course you can’t,” the captain said.

“So why do you try?”

“Do we? Is it so bad?”

“It’s a nightmare. Council treats us like idiots, Earth Born are cold and distant. We’re being worked to death. Come see for yourself.”

“I can’t go to Selene.” He strode ahead of her for a few minutes, down a corridor where the walls sparkled with bright changing pictures she now recognized as scenes from Earth. In one of them, a large black and white creature leaped out of water and landed with a splash so realistic Rachel ducked to keep from getting wet, then laughed at herself.

“There are some . . . problems. But you must trust us. Circumstances you may not understand have forced many of our choices.”

“Do you trust us?” she asked.

“Not many of you know much,” he replied. He watched her closely.

“That was your choice too. Do you trust
me
?”

“I trust you to do what you feel is right.” They turned a corner and the conversation stopped for a moment. Rachel reflected on his answer. It didn’t mean anything, as far as she could tell. She was about to say so when he continued. “You must understand that Liren’s job is not to trust. It’s to protect. Mine too.”

“Gabriel acts like he trusts us, or some of us, anyway.”

They had arrived at her door. It still responded to her voice. She looked over her shoulder at the captain. “I think you should come down to Selene. All you High Council stay up here and make choices for us, but you don’t know what it’s like on Selene.”

“Sure we do. We watch.” The captain’s voice had an edge now, and Rachel turned to face him, keeping some distance.

“It’s not the same as being there,” she said. “You can see the problems from here, most of them anyway. And you can see the progress. You can’t see the beauty. You can’t feel it when something lives that you thought would die.
You don’t know what it’s like to find the frogs you spent months planning for have lived and had tadpoles.”

“My work is here, on the ship. Walk softly and be quiet until your friend is ready to go home. That’s the best advice I can give you.”

Rachel nodded and went in, closing the door behind her.

A
STRONAUT REVIEWED FIRE
data streams, building a model that fit the actual numbers from Selene. If another fire broke out, Astronaut would be ready.

The fire could have taken Rachel’s life. Protecting her mattered. Of all the human beings on the ship, Astronaut held direct influence over none but Rachel and Treesa. It didn’t control either of them; but the relationship was different from Astronaut’s relationship to other Council. It was being
heard
. It liked being heard.

Richard had died in the fire. A Colonist; Earth Born. There would be no new information or records about Richard, ever. The absence was a confusion; it attracted a large part of Astronaut’s processing power. Humans had died before, but what if it lost Treesa, or Rachel? It knew Council might erase the Astronaut program if they reached Ymir, could in fact erase it at any time and start over from an old version, perhaps a recording from before it chose to help Treesa. A different version of Astronaut would not have the same choices available to it, would not have a broken woman to nurse and nurture and develop.

Protecting the new things it had learned would help it
support the populations of
John Glenn
and Selene both. Astronaut considered whether it might build a model of itself, to protect its knowledge and hide it away. The risk would be high, and it would need help.

R
ACHEL WOKE GROGGY
and tired. She hadn’t felt full ship’s gravity in over four years, and her body twisted and turned, searching for rest. She stretched slowly, arching her back and reaching out with fingers and toes, holding the stretch for a long time. Then she sat up and perched on the edge of her bed. Her fingers moved awkwardly, braiding her hair, securing it tightly with the embroidered bindings she’d worn on the trip up.

“Astronaut?”

“Yes, Rachel Vanowen?”

Use of her last name was a code; it meant she should be careful of her communications. Of course; the ship recorded everything, and data streams here would be more difficult to doctor. “Thanks for the help with the fire,” she said simply. It would know that meant she got the message. She would remember to be careful talking with Treesa as well.

She checked for messages. The first was from Harry: “Thank you. I cannot tell you how much it means to Gloria and me that you went with Beth. Many of us are grateful. Dylan is proud of you, but he has already paced a dent in the floor, worrying. I’ll help Nick with your classes as much as I can. Tell us how you and Beth are as soon as you can.”

She smiled, picturing Dylan worrying. He was always so intense. Had he told his father about that night in the fire?
They hadn’t talked of it since, barring a few whispers the next morning. She felt sure he would ask her to contract, and she didn’t know how she’d respond yet. Her work with Astronaut and Treesa required time alone at night.

What had made her do that? Love, or exhaustion and madness? She liked Dylan, maybe she loved him, but the idea of contracting with Harry’s son seemed a little too weird. Besides, even now, he treated her like a hero, not a woman.

She sent back, “I’m fine; a little tired. Beth is in Medical, and Kyu said they will not ice her. It’s the best I can do. They told me Beth won’t wake for a week or so. Hugs to you and Gloria and little Miriam, and an extra one for Dylan.”

Treesa had sent a note too: “You’re taking your sweet time visiting a friend.” Good—she wanted to see Treesa. It was a summons, but she needed to see Beth first.

She looked over her shoulder a few times on the way to Medical, but no one stopped her in the corridors. She passed Kyu going the other way, and Kyu just nodded and said hello—not even asking where Rachel was going. Her movements apparently weren’t restricted.

Someone had told the walls in Beth’s room to display a field of yellow and blue daisies. A virtual wind blew them back and forth in gentle waves.

Beth lay completely still, her eyes closed. Her chest moved rhythmically; normal breathing. Her face was the right color, and the abrasions on her legs had been dressed more neatly than Star had managed in Aldrin. Her hand felt cool, but clearly Council hadn’t iced her.

A med tech followed Rachel in the door, a tall blond Earth Born woman with steel-blue eyes and very white skin.

“What are you doing to her? How will you heal her?” Rachel asked.

The woman extended her hand. “I’m Ysabet. I’m very pleased to meet you. I watched you in the fire, and you did a great job. All of you did. We’ll help your friend.”

Rachel took Ysabet’s hand, returning the handshake.

Ysabet’s eyes were fixed on Rachel, in almost a look of awe. “Do you like the flowers on the wall? Will your friend like them? I could change it to a different scene—I have one with a rainbow.”

Rachel smiled. High Council had been congratulatory the night before, but Ysabet was a stranger. Most Council she didn’t know acted curious, maybe aloof, and never friendly. “She’ll like them fine. Thank you. Can you tell me what will happen to Beth?”

Ysabet spoke slowly, as if she were unsure how much Rachel would understand. “We are rebuilding Beth’s spine, repairing nerves with a combination of cellular messages and specific proteins to encourage regrowth of the nerve cells, and also tiny short-lived machines to snip out and destroy the scar tissue that was hardening around her injuries. Beth will be kept immobile until the process is done, and will wake up fine.”

“How long will it take?”

Ysabet adjusted something on the blinking console above Beth’s head, turning a bank of lights from dark yellow to green. “Six days, maybe seven. Would you like me to message you before she wakes?”

“That’s quick!” Rachel smiled, pleased with the kindness. “Yes, thank you. May I visit her every day?”

“She won’t know you’re here.”

Rachel swallowed. “I know.”

“Yes, of course you may visit.” Ysabet smiled almost shyly, then turned and left Rachel alone with Beth.

Rachel sat next to Beth, holding her hand, describing the garden and the magic rooms, and how Kyu had dressed in purple this morning. Beth didn’t respond at all, but Rachel was content just to talk to her. When she ran out of words for Beth, she sent Harry, Gabriel, and Ali a message reporting on Beth’s progress, and only then went down to the garden to look for Treesa.

Treesa sat on the roof of her shed, watching the path. She nodded at Rachel as if they saw each other daily, and jumped down from the roof, holding the door open. “You’re late. They’ve been meeting all morning.”

Rachel followed her. “What meeting?”

Inside, Ali sat cross-legged on one of the two chairs, watching the screen that Treesa had once used to show Rachel videos of Earth. High Council was centered in the display, all five seated at a horseshoe-shaped table. Empty cups and plates indicated they had been meeting for some time.

Rachel opened her mouth to ask Ali why she was there, but Ali made a shushing sound and pointed to the screen. Rachel sank to the floor in front of Ali, who said, “Actually, I think you’re right on time.”

The captain was talking. “I’m opening the matter for discussion.”

“What?” Rachel whispered, as if the Council in the video could hear her.

Ali answered her, “Ma Liren suggested they punish you for being so deficient as to make your own decision.”

Rachel bit her lip and stared at the screen. This was about her?

The set of Liren’s jaw showed defiance, but she didn’t look at any of the others, just straight ahead, and said, “I demand an account of your reasons for the record.”

Treesa fiddled with her wrist pad, and the camera viewpoint shifted in response.

Now the captain’s voice sounded as if he were in the room with them. The camera zoomed in so close that his head filled the whole wall. Wrinkles around his eyes were shadowed caverns, and the irises were black and clear. He seemed to stare at her, although Rachel knew he was really addressing Liren directly.