Keystones: Tau Prime (2 page)

“You never told me that those were fast-growing seeds when you gave them to me!” Still flustered, Tricia sounded calmer. “Why did you give me fast-growing seeds to plant in space?”

Deklan could sense that he was on the home stretch. “Mom, it’s a giant redwood. Those are hardwood trees. There are no fast-growing seeds for them.”

Tricia’s voice dropped to a normal tone and pace. “There aren’t?”

Behind her Brice gave Deklan a covert thumbs-up.

Deklan shook his head confidently before answering. “No.”

“So that tree isn’t my fault?”

Deklan’s mouth twisted into a smile. He was about to ruin his father’s day. “Oh, it’s your fault alright. Congratulations.”

“Congratulations?” His mother’s voice jumped four octaves. “And just what is that supposed to mean?”

“You were complaining in Boa Vista that you weren’t a Keystone. I think that tree just proved you wrong.”

Tricia’s mouth worked overtime, but no sounds came out. “You think that
I
made that tree grow that quickly?”

“Well, it’s possible that there’s another Keystone who was responsible for it, but given the timeline since you planted it, I think we can establish you as the primary culprit.”

Tricia’s eyes grew wide, and her mouth formed a perfect circle. “Primary culprit?”

Word choice was everything. Deklan savored the temporary panic he had induced. “Relax,” he replied. “It’s unlikely that there are laws or even covenants in place against Keystones’ growing massive trees that are a danger to station integrity. In addition to that, it was an accident. You had no intention of growing a massive tree, nor any reason to believe that an event like that would take place. I would like to know what the roots did, though.”

Tricia’s voice again climbed to the roof. Brice gifted his son with a stare that promised a dearth of free chocolate in the near future. “Unlikely? Unlikely? You want me to relax over an unlikely?”

“In a perfect world, yes, especially with the wormhole. Somehow it strikes me as more important.”

“Why? That doesn’t affect us directly. That’s a governmental issue.”

Deklan felt his eyebrows rise high. “You don’t think a wormhole opening up nearby affects us directly?”

“Not compared to this.”

Deklan turned to look back at the screen image on his wall. “Mom, I know this seems very important right now, and it is, but first you should try planting something smaller to make sure that you really did do it. Second, I’m pretty sure that a dead tree blocking the hole it created isn’t a problem. Third, I guarantee that pretty much everyone else, with the possible exception of the parkland’s groundskeeper, if there is one, is more interested in the wormhole.”

Tricia’s voice took on a dreamy tone. “You’re right,” she said. “I should plant something else. Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful? My tomatoes never did well before. Come, Brice, we need to go shopping. I wonder where they sell seeds up here.”

Shaking his head in amazement, Deklan watched his now diverted mother dash out with his father in tow.

Less than a minute passed before his Uplink vibrated again. What had they forgotten now? Flicking the controls, he took the call on the wall screen to hide the image of the wormhole.

It was Laurel Meeks, the mother of his friend Tommy. Deklan was shocked by her tear-stained eyes. She glared at him, her face twisted with hate. “Tommy’s dead,” she blurted, “and it’s your fault.”

Deklan sat on his bed, stunned by the call. Tommy was dead, and it was his fault. He could have called him when he’d fled New York, or when he’d overnighted after the drive to Afton, but he’d waited until the last possible minute to warn his friend, and now he was dead because of Deklan’s selfishness. And what had it gained him? Nothing.

He had planned on spending the week relaxing at the all-expense-paid resort where he was at the moment, but Laurel’s call had brought him crashing back to reality. He might have escaped Earth, but that didn’t mean that he could ignore what was happening around him.

He couldn’t ignore The Sweep.

Deklan used the wall screen to search for employment and found precious little that he could do except for one particular posting. Facilitating firms across the Terra Rings were looking for hundreds of thousands of support personnel to go back to Earth. It was such a big posting looking for people on short notice that they just might hire an ex-lawyer stuntman and refugee from Earth.

He read the posting and rubbed his eyes. It meant going back to Earth today. That was something he’d rather have skipped.

His eyes danced over the job posting, which mentioned Keystone traits. They were interested in people who could move quickly or soak up physical punishment. Keystones had been a common occurrence in the world for less than five days, and already they were sought for employment. Someone somewhere was ahead of the curve.

Deklan wasn’t resistant to injury as the posting requested, but his form of rapid healing would probably get the job done. Grumbling to himself, he indicated interest in a contract and listed his Keystone ability.

Next he decided to track Michael down and see how he was reacting to the Terra Rings.

Almost instantly a voice-only communication line was established. Michael sounded excited. “Deklan, you’re awake. You need to see this tree.”

“Tree?” Deklan had forgotten all about the tree.

“The redwood that your mother planted. It’s huge!”

“Right. Yes. Where are you?”

“I’m standing on one of its branches.”

“Why?”

“I needed to get out. Not having wings was really bothering me, and the parklands are nice and big. I don’t have to worry about my claustrophobia in here.”

Deklan didn’t want to talk about the tree or the parklands. “I’ve just tried to sign up to head back to Earth,” he said.

There was a silence before Michael replied, “You’ve done what?”

“Do a job search on your Uplink. There’s a massive recruiting drive for Keystones from the Rings to be part of rescue operations.”

“After everything we did to get off Earth, you’re just going right back down?”

“This job comes with a ticket back up.”

Michael’s voice turned quiet and suspicious. “Why are you telling me?”

Deklan put his face in his hands and sighed a few times before answering. “Who else was I going to tell? Besides, if your claustrophobia is already getting to you, you might enjoy helping find people and bringing them to ships.” Deklan waited a good thirty seconds for Michael to answer.

“Maybe, but I’ve been looking into the other types of habitats we used to have. Did you know that, other than the Terra Rings and Dyson Rings, most of the habitats were spinning cylinders?”

Deklan knew that fact but didn’t see its relevance. “Sure,” he replied.

Michael’s voice grew more enthusiastic. “They’d be perfect for me. Even in a parkland the ceiling is close, but in one of those I’d be able to fly as much as on Earth.”

“Michael, they’re all gone.”

Michael’s voice became a little sheepish. “Yeah, but you know they’re going to build more.”

“Maybe, but if you’re already pining for more space, why not come to Earth now? Building a new habitat is going to take a long time.”

After another protracted silence Michael replied, “Send me the posting.”

Relieved that he was going to have some company on his trip down, Deklan thought of calling Susan. He felt reticent because she was so much more imposing now. It helped that they’d shared near-death experiences, she by that unsettling and scary shadow-man, Stalker, and he by, well, bleeding out again and again.

Connecting his Uplink to the screen in his room, he called her and watched, still amazed as a luminous face filled his display.

Susan’s sunny tone matched her appearance. “Hey, Corpsicle! You’re up. I didn’t want to wake you. There’s so much to do up here. So many people are scared of animals for what they might do that the shelters are full, and I’ve been volunteering. It’s sad, but at the same time it’s fantastic. I was just playing with a puppy that has three tongues. Somehow they all fit in his mouth. One tongue is like a normal dog’s; another is rougher; and the third is kind of silky. The owners were terrified that the puppy could be dangerous, though I have no idea how. Anyway I’ve been helping out the best that I can. Sorry, I’m not letting you get a word in edgewise. How are you enjoying your first day off?”

“A three-tongued puppy?” asked Deklan, derailed from his train of thought.

“Well, that’s the fun one. Some of the other deformities are more alarming, such as the python-cat or the octopus-monkey. But enough about me. What’s up with you?”

Deklan tried to keep his tone noncommittal. “There are job postings for relief workers to help serve as crew members on craft going between the Rings and Earth.”

“Yes,” replied Susan. “I’ve heard people talking about that.”

Deklan plunged onward. “Well, I was thinking of going.” He hesitated for a second. “Actually I’ve already asked Michael to go with me.”

Susan sounded shocked. “What? We just got here, and you nearly didn’t make it. Why go back?”

Deklan thought of Tommy. “Because I don’t think that a lot of people will want to help, and I feel bad for having left friends behind. I need to do this.”

Deklan watched as Susan turned to give him her full attention. Her eyes seemed to be searching his face to determine his full reasoning. She nodded, more to herself than to him. “Go if you have to.”

Deklan was surprised to realize that he was disappointed. “You’re not going to talk me out of it?”

Susan spread her hands wide. “It’s you. What could possibly happen to you? Just try to make sure that you don’t get Michael hurt too badly.”

“I don’t have a great track record there.”

Susan gave him a million-watt smile of encouragement. “You’ll do fine. Call me before you head down.”

Deklan finished chatting with Susan and decided to prepare himself for his upcoming venture. His time with Slate had left him with a desire for some form of personal armor. His preference was a microfiber bodysuit. Just because he could recover from ugly injuries didn’t mean that he enjoyed the experience.

A quick search located a mall near his resort hotel. Deklan was in the minority there in that he was looking for advanced personal protection, and he was still shopping when Michael’s face appeared on his Uplink.

“I’m coming with you,” announced Michael.

Deklan felt a surge of relief. He hadn’t realized how nervous he was about the return journey to Earth. “You’ve signed up?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Great. I’m preparing for our little jaunt. Have you ever worn microfiber before?”

“No.”

“I don’t know what sort of gear they’ll outfit us with, and perhaps this is an unnecessary purchase on my part, but I doubt that there’s going to be anything standard that accommodates your wings. If you meet me here, we can get you a shirt altered to allow for wing growth.”

“Where are you?”

Deklan flicked a few icons on his Uplink and sent him the store location.

About ten minutes later Michael walked into the store. His body language was off, and he was twitchy. “What’s bothering you?” Deklan asked.

Michael drummed his fingers. “I want my wings back.”

“Well, this is step one. Now let’s find something that’ll fit you. These things need to contour to our bodies like sheaths to work properly.” Deklan gestured at his own outfit. From neck to toe he was covered in overlapping layers of dark grey microfiber, which stretched like spandex over his well-muscled form. “The store owner said that they can do alterations here. Apparently they’re occasionally necessary for people with body modifications, or for personal reasons.”

Michael arched an eyebrow and tilted his chin to the left. “Personal reasons?”

“A few years back one lady wanted a pouch in which she could carry her dog. People are strange.” Deklan shook his head. “In any event I’m thinking that for you all we need to do is to cut a pair of ovoids out of the back for your wings to grow through. That should work, right?”

Michael looked at him a shade uncertainly. “Yes, I guess so.”

“Are you okay with unfurling your wings in here so that lines can be drawn on your back for alterations?”

Michael took in a short breath and nodded with his eyes closed.

“Great. Well, then, time to spend more money that I don’t have.”

Deklan stood by Michael and watched as a laser cut through the back panel of what was to be his shirt. Michael had chosen a similar weave to Deklan’s. After a small but powerful laser seared through the material, the store owner lifted the pair of ovoids out of the fabric before handing the shirt to Michael.

“Moment of truth. Let’s see if it works,” said Deklan.

Michael took off his shirt and slipped on the microfiber, wriggling to find the most comfortable fit and rolling his shoulders a few times to settle it in place.

“Think you can grow your wings out slowly so that if there’s a problem we’ll know ahead of time?” asked Deklan.

“That’s doubtful,” Michael replied before holding his breath and slumping his shoulders forward.

Deklan watched in silent fascination as Michael’s wings expanded outwards. It was like watching time-lapse photography in real time. Two small bulges appeared on Michael’s back that quickly reticulated. They would have resembled the arms of a praying mantis if they hadn’t been sprouting white feathers.

Michael knelt on the ground with his head cradled in his hands and his fully grown wings spread open over him.

Deklan hurried over to look at the gap between the base of the wings and the microfiber. It wasn’t big, but Deklan concluded that it was likely to give Michael room in the event that his wing growth wasn’t always consistent or that the shirt wasn’t sitting on him perfectly. “You’re good,” he declared.

Before Deklan had finished speaking, Michael retracted his wings and again looked like a normal person.

Whatever self-congratulatory feelings Deklan might have had were headed off by an incoming call on his Uplink. “Oh, incidentally, Michael, I haven’t yet mentioned this journey to my mother. Now’s probably the best time to tell her.” Deklan let his Uplink connect. “Hi, Mom.”