Facsimile (20 page)

“I can confirm it.”

I throw up my head to meet Raid’s tortured gaze. “Not you too,” I mouth silently, not trusting my voice.

Raid takes up a position beside Dace. “I’ve seen these creatures, and I heard what they said, just like Ann. Not words, exactly, but thoughts. Communication, whatever you want to call it.” His eyes seek me out. “Sorry, Ann, but I agree with Dace. We can’t allow decisions to be made when people don’t know the whole truth.”

I stare into two pairs of dark eyes, both beautiful. Examine two mouths, both of which I’ve kissed. Consider two separate, very different, boys, both of whom have betrayed me.

“You’re saying we all carry this mutation?” Mom glowers as Connor Patel moves a few steps from her side.

“Not sure, but I suspect … ”

The crowd erupts in a frenzy of movement and sound. I survey the scene as if standing outside one of our domes, looking in. Arms waving, voices barking questions, my grandfather pulling Grandmother away from one of the screaming Frye brothers, Kam lunging for Dace and Raid intervening, punching Kam in the jaw.

“I can’t … ” I don’t even realize I’ve spoken aloud until Emie turns to me with a question in her eyes. “This. I can’t do this.”

Emie reaches for me, but I shove her hand away. Stumbling, I run from the greenhouse, praying no one follows me.

They don’t. I am alone. I stand at the back door of the living quarters, my hand on the latch. The noise from the greenhouse pulses in my ears. I cast one final glance at the milling crowd before I whip open the door and dart inside.

There’s a rhythmic refrain pounding against the bones of my skull—must go, can’t stay, must escape.

I reach my bedroom without remembering how I got there. I grab my emergency pack and toss in some extra clothes and supplies. I’ll make a stop at the storehouse on my way out to scoop up some extra food and water.

Can’t stay.

Must escape.

My bike roars through the silent wasteland of Eco. The rushing air sandblasts my face, drying the tears that well in my eyes and drip down my cheeks. My helmet, still hanging from a handlebar, bangs against one knee. I know I’m courting death, riding fast without protection. But it doesn’t seem important right now.

Dace has betrayed me. Raid has betrayed me. The entire colony will discover our genetic anomaly. Earth’s doors will be closed to me. My parents are separating. I’ve hurt Emie. Everything’s been smashed into fragments.

I gun my engine. Already farther out than I’ve ever traveled, I keep my eyes focused on the horizon.

I ride with no regard for time. As I speed over the bleak landscape, my anger fades to a dull throb of frustration. Farther on, even that sensation drifts away, like shredded clouds. I feel nothing. I’m hollow as a stalk of bamboo.

Finally, the slowing of the bike forces me to stop. Climbing off, I pop up the solar collectors that hug the frame. A little time to recharge and I can be on my way. To where, I have no idea.

I’m pulled up beside a rock hill. This one is taller than those nearer the compound, its pinnacle piercing the clear sky like a dagger. I slide my bags off the bike and stumble over to the base of the rocks, seeking a little shade.

There’s a faint scent of water. I glance around and notice a gap in the stones. If I move a few of the rocks aside I suspect I’ll discover the entrance to another cavern. But what would be the point? I press my back against the rough edges of stones. It’s okay to be uncomfortable—hot and sweaty and covered in a film of dirt and sand. It suits my mood.

After drinking some water, I rummage in the bags for a snack. My fingers close about an apple. I lift it out, balancing it in the center of my palm. An apple, grown on our fruit trees. Evidence of my grandmother’s struggle, over so many years, to keep an abandoned colony alive. No one can say she hasn’t done anything with her life.

I want that—the knowledge my life means something, that I’m doing something that matters, something important. I stare at the half-eaten apple, thinking of Emie’s mission to help the cybers. Considering my mother’s plans. I want something too. Something that benefits someone besides myself.

As I toss the apple core, I notice a few of the native lizards scurrying about my boots. One darts toward my empty hand, which is lying, palm up, on a rock. The creature touches my fingertip with its tiny snout.

I hold my hand perfectly still. Perhaps the lizard smells apple, or perhaps it’s merely curious—at any rate, it leaps up. Clinging to my finger like a curling vine, the creature climbs forward.

Once it’s safely settled in my palm, I lift my hand level with my eyes. The lizard’s moss-green eyes blink, its snout twitches.

“Hello,” I say. Held up to the light, its scales flash a spectrum of colors. “You’re beautiful, you know.”

The creature’s tiny claws scrabble at my palm, pricking like pine needles.

“I won’t hurt you.” I know it can’t understand me. I calm my twitching hand and fight to regulate my breathing. Slow everything down, until all I hear is the sifting of sand over rock and all I see is the small, living being before me.

The lizard curls until its snout touches its tail. Lowering filmy lids over its bright eyes, it rests quietly in my palm.

Unprotected. Unafraid.

I raise my eyes to look out over the surrounding area. More rock hills dot the horizon like abstract sculptures, their dark edges shimmering under the bright sun. The ground’s draped in a glittering veil of golden sand, swirled with the pewter hues of dust. The sky is the color of a crocus petal—pale blue veined with periwinkle.

“You’re beautiful too,” I say.

The sound of a solar bike and a whirl of dirt drag my gaze away from contemplation of Eco’s familiar yet somehow newly discovered landscape. I gently lower the lizard to the ground, using one fingernail to deposit it into the safety of a rock cleft.

The figure walking toward me is not the person I expect. “Hello, Calla,” I say, and rise to my feet. “What’re you doing out here?”

The cyber pulls off her helmet. “Tracking you, of course.”

“Who gave you that job?” I slap the dust off my jeans and try not to stare at Calla’s poreless face.

“My boss. Just following orders himself. He may still be the captain, but apparently your mom’s now calling the shots.” Calla runs her gloved fingers through her cropped hair. “She’s pretty freakin’ frantic over your disappearance, kid.”

“I’m fine.”

“I can see that.” Calla strides closer, until we are standing face-to-face. “Decided to take a little walkabout, did you?”

“A what?”

“A journey into the wilderness. A spiritual quest. Something like that. I dunno, my mum used to mention it. Heard it from her parents.”

“Maybe,” I reply, thinking of the lizard and the way Eco now looks different to me. “So my mom sent you to retrieve me?”

“Something like that.” Calla’s gaze moves over my bags. “You have any water? Set off without.”

“That was stupid.”

“Yeah, well … ” Calla sits down in one smooth motion, crossing her legs up under her. “I’ve been known to do some stupid shit, kid. Now, you have water or what?”

I grab up the bags and settle beside her. Handing her one of my water flasks, I decide to ask the bold question. “That how you got hurt? Doing something stupid?”

Calla’s expression doesn’t change but her fingers tighten about the flask with frightening ferocity. “S’pose you could say that. I was stupid enough to try to save some dumbass’s life.” She takes a deep swig of the water. “Any other questions?”

I know that’s my signal to shut up, but I don’t owe this cyber anything. The way things are going, she won’t be doing me any favors escorting me back to the compound. “Actually, yes.”

Calla hands back the flask, her artificial eyes reflecting the light in a distinctly unnerving fashion. “Fire away, then. Not like I want to make the trip back on that piece of crap you call a bike anytime soon.”

“How many surgeries did you have to have?”

“Too many.” Calla tugs off one glove, exposing a gleaming metal hand. “S’posed to have gotten the hands covered in cyber-skin too, but that was just one procedure too many. Figured gloves were the way to go.” She wiggles the mechanical fingers. “Freaky, right?”

I swallow hard. “I’ve seen weirder things.”

Calla’s lips twitch. “Huh. Anyway, it’s a good trick to pull when some spacer gets too up close and personal, if you know what I mean.”

I ignore the implications of that remark. “You ever see your family? I mean, since your accident?”

“Once. Met up on Moonbase One, so it wasn’t that far for them to travel.” Calla lowers her head so I can no longer see her eyes. “But now, with my sister so sick, it wouldn’t work. She couldn’t make even that short a trip. Guess she’ll die without seeing me again in person. Holo visits will have to do.”

“Emie mentioned that.” I examine Calla’s silky, somehow wrong hair. “They can’t give you a pass for that? A twenty-four hour visit to Earth, just to see her? Not like you plan to stay.”

Calla lifts her head and stares into my eyes. “No cybers allowed on Earth. Not for any reason, or any bit of time. That’s the law. Well, except for the wealthy and powerful, of course.”

“What do you mean?”

“Aw, come on, kid. You think somebody in one of the leading families gets in an accident—you know, skiing or skydiving or one of those other stupid things they do to pass the time—you think they don’t get a cyber-upgrade if they lose some body part? Or if some glam babe gets burnt while undergoing one of those weird physical enhancement procedures—you think she’s going to walk around with scars when cyber-skin’s available?”

I tug on my braid. “But they don’t allow anyone on Earth who’s a cyber. They’d be deported.”

Calla points one of her metal fingers at me. “
You’d
be deported.
I’d
be deported. But the ones that run things … nah. Rules is rules, unless you’re above the law.”

“That isn’t fair.”

“Tell me about it.” Calla slumps back against the rocks. “Your friend, Emie, she’s been researching stuff. She didn’t tell you this before?”

No, she didn’t. Probably because she knew I wouldn’t really listen. “Dace found a genetic anomaly in my DNA.”

“Heard that.” Calla shoots me a look that seems to hold a trace of compassion. “Something about sharing genes with those water creatures you found?”

“Yeah.” I shift my weight, leaning closer to the cyber. “Means I’m not a one-hundred-percenter.”

“That sucks.”

“They won’t let me in now, will they? On Earth, I mean.”

“Nope.”

Although Calla’s expression can only change slightly, there’s something in her eyes that tells me, clearer than words, what she’s thinking.

We’re the same, she and I. Those gates are barred to both of us.

Calla wheezes out a sigh and gazes out across the quiet landscape. “What was this place supposed to be, anyway? Good atmosphere, decent weather—was it meant to be sold off to some rich bastards?”

“I guess you could say that.” A rock digs into the back of my head. I ignore it. “NewSkies—that was the corporation that owned the planet—planned to develop it bit by bit. Make copies—facsimiles, my mom calls them—of Earth’s most beautiful landscapes. My grandparents were part of the first team sent out. They were supposed to terraform one section. Bring water up to the surface, fill in some of caverns below, put up a dome and all that. So there’d be this—model, I guess you could call it—for people to look at. Complete with lakes and streams and trees and grass.”

“Hah.” Calla’s snort sounds like rusty gears. “Just like those ancient subdivisions they used to build on Earth.”

“I guess.” I frown, not remembering this from my holo history lessons.

“So who was going to buy these estates? I assume that’s what they planned? Can’t see rich Earthers zooming out here to snap up some resort property.”

“Oh, it was meant for rich people, all right—spacers or others who didn’t want to live on Earth.”

“Or couldn’t.” Calla slides her glove back over her artificial hand.

“Or couldn’t. Anyway, my grandparents weren’t supposed to stay forever. They were poor—they had to sign up with NewSkies to get an education and any chance for advancement—but they were one-hundred-percenters. They only signed a ten-year contract. When their time was up, they’d collect a load of credits and return home, while another team arrived to take over.”

“That was the plan, huh? But then NewSkies goes bust and just leaves them here, without enough equipment or supplies, and not a dome in sight. Well, except for those animal pens.”

“We did get the planet.” I wiggle my toes inside my boots. My feet feel like they’re falling asleep. “NewSkies had to give the deed to the colonists, in equal shares. So at least we do own Eco.”

“Little enough for all your trouble.” Calla stares up into the sky. “So, the thing is, why didn’t NewSkies let their first team in on the existence of these water creatures? The Selk, that’s what the kid calls them, right?”

“Right.” I scramble to my feet, grabbing one of the protruding rocks for balance. “They didn’t know, I guess. My grandparents didn’t have a clue. I don’t think anyone did.”