Building Harlequin’s Moon (40 page)

“Gabriel told us Clarke Base wasn’t safe because of the risk of a problem with the Hammered Sea,” Harry said. “The first time he took us up there—when we were kids. Do you remember?”

“Better than you, maybe. That was before we knew about the flares. It’s a choice between dangers. I don’t like leaving the grove either. Maybe we can find a way to take care of it?”

“Is the grove all you think about?” Gloria asked. She was laughing, but her voice was strained.

Rachel sipped her. juice. “No. But caring about the ecosystems
is
caring about the people. When the First Trees lived, that signaled Council we could live here. Ali told me that. To Council they were a symbol: the first real
success with complex life. Ali said the night they knew they could start populating Selene was the first Mid-Winter Night. They had the first party on Selene that day.

“For us, it’s where we first learned about caring for Selene. The trees will feed us over time. That’s why it matters.”

“We hope they leave some of us here,” Gloria said. “Can you ask for us?”

“Why me?” Rachel asked.

“You made Gabriel take Beth to the ship,” Gloria said.

“No, I got Gabriel to take
me
to the ship with Beth.” What was Gloria thinking? “Gloria, I can’t make Council do things.” Remembering Liren, she added, “In fact, I might be bad for any goals we have.”

Gloria looked confused, and Rachel said, “Council doesn’t all think the same way. They’re like us—they disagree sometimes. One of the High Council—the people who make the decisions—doesn’t like me. Ma Liren. So you see, sometimes I might not be the best one to make suggestions.”

Gloria frowned. “I thought everyone liked you.”

Dylan burst in the door, arms full of flowers. He must have looked all over the grove to find so many blooms. He handed a white orchid to Beth, and placed the rest in Rachel’s arms.

Fragrances blended thickly, and Rachel buried her face in the bright blooms, taking in the strong sweet scents.

“Thanks for bringing my sister home,” Dylan said.

“Council sent her home,” Rachel replied.

Dylan grunted at her, folding his arms.

“Sorry—thank you for the flowers. You didn’t need to pick so many! But really, I didn’t do anything but go up with her. I know how scary
John Glenn
can be until you get used to it. That’s all.”

“None of us would know.”

Dylan was right, but there wasn’t any way to make her words sting less. It wasn’t her fault she had different experiences than the other Moon Born.

“Here, Gloria,” she said, “do you have anything big enough to put these in? I can leave a few here, and I’ll take some home to Frank and the kids.”

Dylan gave her a hurt look, so she added, “I’ll take at least one with me when I leave tomorrow for Clarke Base.”

Dylan rewarded her with a smile.

They weren’t supposed to pick flowers, not in great big bunches. Dylan often defied authority in little ways. She liked him for it, and the flowers
were
beautiful. She didn’t have the heart to remind him how bare the jungle was after the fire.

T
HAT AFTERNOON, RACHEL
fled the business of Aldrin, and walked to the grove by herself. She headed straight for her plot. The idea that her plants, and Ursula’s, might go wild saddened her. The top leaves had been rained clean. She wiped clumps of damp soot from lower leaves so they could breathe. Small plants had smothered under the ash.

Rachel spent three hours clearing traces of the fire from both plots. Her hands were filthy, and working in the ash dredged up fire smells. At least ash would be good for the soil.

As she worked, Rachel fretted about the day’s conversations. Once she’d wanted to be a leader, way back after that first test with Gabriel and Ali. She was a leader now, or at least everybody thought she was. She shivered. It wasn’t fun.

What did people expect from her? Treesa, Astronaut, Andrew, Dylan, Gloria, Harry—they all wanted her to be
something different. And what was Andrew up to anyway? She had not fought him directly, but simply tried to sell her own version of the right choices for the Moon Born. She knew, mostly by rumor, that Andrew was holding his own informal meetings under the guise of sports. Way before the fire, Andrew and some of Selene’s young men and women played catch-the-disk and staged flying competitions, using them as cover for conversations she knew little about. She had been avoiding a confrontation, but deep in her gut she knew that it was time.

She went to Dylan, and was not surprised that he knew where to find Andrew. She didn’t like the answer at all.

Teaching Grove was a checkerboard below her as she flew high, riding a warm breeze over the meadow toward the line of blackened grass and dirt that marked the descent of
Water Bearer
. Apollo hung just above the horizon, making her shadow long and thin. The broken ship’s shadow loomed over the meadow, spiky with extended booms and mooring legs.

Rachel landed a few feet away from the furrow made by
Water Bearer’s
crash. As she was unclipping her arm wings, she heard Andrew’s voice behind her. “So you finally came to find me.”

Rachel jumped, startled. “Maybe I just came to see the ship. Why are you here?”

She started walking toward the dead ship, and he kept up, shaking his head at her, making fun. “You tell us to learn what we can. The ship may be dead, but I can get inside—the door’s warped open. I’m learning.”

Andrew camping in
Water Bearer
added to her anger. “I keep hearing about you turning people against Council. Jacob and Justin asked me all kinds of questions that
somebody’s
been feeding them. Ever since Gabriel started me teaching, I’ve worked to bring everyone together. All of us. Not just Moon Born, not even Moon Born and Council, but every human being on the face of this moon!” She realized
she was extremely loud. She lowered her voice, stepping back under the ship. Astronaut and Treesa were watching over her, but she didn’t need to make their job harder. “Andrew! We can’t fight Council. Not even you and your whole group of friends.”

Andrew met her angry words with a surprising calm. “Rachel, I’m just laying groundwork for tactics you are going to have to adopt. You have your own strength and power.”

His voice was so reasonable, it slowed Rachel down. She stopped to set her wings down. “Who says I want your tactics? Who says I want power?”

“Rachel, you have power. It doesn’t matter if you want it or not. People
want
to follow you. I know what you’re doing. I even support you; more than you know. But what if it doesn’t work?”

It was hard to stay mad at him when he was so calm. “It has to work. There isn’t any other way.”

Andrew’s answer was to turn and walk farther under the edge of the ship. Rachel followed.
Water Bearer
listed about five degrees, and Andrew had built a makeshift ladder up to the most easily accessible lock. He climbed up, beckoning to her. His face was shadowed, and she couldn’t read his expression.

“Astronaut,” Rachel said, “is it safe?” She was uneasy at the idea of going inside
Water Bearer
. At being on a Council ship, uninvited.

Astronaut replied, “There are no orders against being inside.”

“Thanks,” Rachel sent back to Astronaut, and followed Andrew into the ship.

The steps led into a short cylindrical corridor, and lights were turned on. Rachel blinked at the lights, surprised. Before she could ask Andrew about it, he spoke. “Look, Rachel, I hope your plan does work. I wish it was me they took, me they let see their ways, me they trusted. But I had
twenty years to get over being mad at you—you just did the right things. Maybe you’re still doing the right things.” The corridor was slightly tilted, and Rachel felt off balance because the handholds that hung in the walls and stuck up from the floor every half meter or so were off center. Andrew continued. “But if it doesn’t work, there has to be a different plan. Think of me as your backup.”

“Do you have a plan?” she asked.

Andrew ducked into a room. Rachel followed him, and they took seats on two of the four acceleration couches. Even though Rachel had never been on a miner like the
Water Bearer
, she recognized the control room by the huge empty view screen, by banks of gauges and keyboards. She’d seen such things on the space-planes that flew between
John Glenn
and Selene. She frowned. Much of Gabriel’s flying seemed directly related to data windows he controlled. Even though the interior lighting continued to work, nothing else flashed or even showed a steady light. Had Gabriel disabled everything, or was everything broken?

Andrew looked around the room. “Do you recognize this stuff? Do you know how to use it?”

Of course he was drawn to Council’s technology. She shook her head. “I asked. They won’t teach me to fly a ship—not even a little one.” She couldn’t let the conversation drift too far. “So, you were going to tell me your plan?”

“No. I’m not. You might tell Council. Look, Rachel, we’re both on the same side; we both want the same thing. But we’re going after it different ways. Your way is open—you tell everyone.”

Rachel let that go. “But your plan is a secret?”

Andrew looked directly at her. “Rachel, your ideas might work. And if not, it probably won’t piss Council off if you try to help them. That’s the crux of it—you want to be so helpful they’ll decide you’re useful. And hey, it works
for you at least. Maybe it will work for all of us. But if I act, it will be more like the rebellions you keep talking about in your classes. We’re slaves. You taught us history. Slaves have to rebel or run away—and there’s nowhere to run.”

Andrew almost never attended her classes. “How do you know what I teach?”

“Some folks believe like me, Rachel. We believe in both ways. If your way works, then we won’t need to try anything else. People tell me what you teach. Dylan tells me, for one.” He looked away. “That way I can get educated without drawing attention. Council doesn’t watch any of us very much—they’re too busy. But they watch me more than you. So I stay away from you, so your work has a chance. And by the way, I’m sure you have help from Council. Otherwise, things wouldn’t go so easy for you.”

Andrew reached down and opened a low drawer, withdrawing a wine bulb. “Want some?”

“Where did you get that?”

“I bought it, last Mid-Winter Night.” He shrugged, and grinned at her. “Some people don’t like the taste. I saved it for something special.”

She shook her head at him. “No, thanks. It makes me feel funny.”

“That’s the idea.” He unscrewed the top and took a sip. “It’s starting to taste funny. Maybe I should finish it.”

She glared at him. “Suit yourself.”

He took one more sip, then put the top back on.

She didn’t think he looked at all contrite. Rachel got up and paced around the small room. In order to stay a few feet away from Andrew she could take just ten steps each direction. She couldn’t tell him how much help she had. So how was she going to convince him? “Maybe you should have actually come to class. The Roman slave rebellion got put down. The American Blacks had help from white Americans in the north. Gandhi in India won, but he didn’t use violence. All
you’re
going to do is get people in trouble.
Get yourself in trouble. Look around you. Look at this ship. Council built this. They used it to help build Selene, and then to help save it. We can’t even begin to make anything like this
unless we persuade Council to teach us more
. We have to be credible and trustworthy. Confrontation can’t work.”

“That depends on what you want it to work for. It might, for example, get attention. And I’m not like you, Rachel; I don’t get favored treatment. No Council person has ever treated me very well. Not one. I’m angry at them. You should be angry at them too. Who do they think they are to tell us what to do and to keep their secrets from us?” He glared at her. “Or most of us.”

“I thought you weren’t mad at me?”

“I’m not. Maybe a little envious.” He twisted his hands together in his lap, and sighed. “We’re trying to solve the same problem. I want you to promise to help me—to tell me as much as you can about Council.”

Rachel shook her head. “I tell my classes a lot. You can come—I won’t kick you out.”

“You need me.”

Rachel swallowed, and sat down. “Why do I need you?”

“Because when they don’t listen to you—if they don’t—then you’ll need other options.”

“What options?”

Andrew shook his head. “No.”

He wasn’t going to budge. He probably didn’t even have a plan. “It
will
be bad for us if they leave. Andrew, please just promise you won’t do anything to make them mad. You’re still being punished for something that happened a long time ago. Maybe not so much—now you work like all the rest of us, but there’s a mark against your name. The jail is still there. Liren wouldn’t hesitate to put you in it.”

“Liren?”

He really didn’t know anything. “Andrew, just don’t do anything to get in trouble.”

“Who’s Liren?” he insisted.

“The High Council member behind most of the things you don’t like.”

“Is she your friend, like precious Gabriel and sweet Ali?”

“No. Andrew—you’ll get yourself killed, or made to go away, or something.”

“You haven’t convinced me Council isn’t going to just fly away and leave us. I don’t think you believe it yourself.”

Rachel was quiet for a long time. “You’re right. I’m not convinced. But we mattered during the fire. They needed us. We’ll have other chances to prove ourselves.” She sat down and looked him in the eye. “So yes, I’m afraid they
will
leave. I’m sure they want to leave. But I
am
convinced we can’t fight them directly. We have to find other ways. Tell you what, you agree to stay away from anything violent, and to stop making people angry with Council, and I’ll agree not to hinder you. If I want to argue with you, I’ll do it in private, like this.” He would understand she expected reciprocation. “But I won’t agree to anything destructive, and I won’t break Council rules. I am helping to build Selene, and I will
not
help you destroy it.”