Paradise 21 (32 page)

Tiff floated, white wisps of clouds swirling around her, dissipating at her touch. A gust whipped her up and she soared above a vast, white-crested ocean, riding the currents of a purposeful wind. Greenery sprawled on the horizon in a lush green thicket, bringing tears to her eyes. The waves broke against rock-strewn shores and beaches of golden sand. She twirled, reaching for the tree tops. Her fingers closed on air.

Was this the afterlife? Tiff called out for her brother, grandmother and Loot, but no one answered her pleas. She was the only soul in a vast, timeless place, full of beauty, but empty at its core. Finally looking at paradise, she’d never felt so alone.

Moments in her life flitted through her mind: her mother sitting at her ridiculous crystal ball, telling a fortune that would never come true; her brother banging a metal plate on his ship, glancing up and sticking out his tongue; the first time she saw Loot, sleeping in a ball in the heat compressor above their ship; Striker running a hand through his jet black hair as he studied a particular code late at night. It had been such a tormented life, full of suffering and want, but with moments of kindness and love sprinkled throughout. Despite all of the pain, she didn’t want it to end.

The sun peeked out behind a cloud and she turned herself over to find warmth in the rays. The light was so bright it seared her vision, blotting out the other colors of the paradise world. She shut her eyes, but the light penetrated through her lids, beckoning her closer. Tiff struggled against it, squeezing her eyes shut and clawing at the sky, but the light only grew stronger, blocking out every memory she conjured, every thought she grasped.

Tiff gasped in a long breath of sterilized air and woke up. A heart monitor beeped by her side. She lay in a real bed with sheets as white and thin as paper. Tubes stuck out of her arms. Panic sent a jolt through her. She tugged on the IVs, but each intravenous tube was taped with thick white bandaging to her skin.

“Ma’am, you need to calm down.” An older woman with red-rimmed glasses and puffy hair walked to her bedside.

She shot up, feeling pain jolt up her back. “Where am I? Where’s Loot?”

“The boy is fine. He’s resting in an adjoining room. You need to lie down.” The woman pushed her back onto the pillows. “You were hit with a laser in the back.”

The searing pain of her skin burning and melding to her cotton sweatshirt came back to her and she wilted inside. She could still see Striker’s eyes, full of sadness and pity, but no hint of love.

“I should be dead.”

“Yes. If you were anywhere else in the universe, then you would be.” The woman pointed her nose in the air. “I’ve applied advanced techniques of skin regeneration and restarted your heart. Believe me, it was easy. I’ve had a lot of practice keeping a 356-year-old man alive.”

Her bragging was all gibberish to Tiff. “Where am I? Who are you?”

“My dear, I’m Dr. Pern. You’re my patient on the
New Dawn
.”

…

Aries placed her hands against the frosty glass and wiped away the glimmering dust. The egg sat upright, a speckled specimen of a unique alien form of life. She wished she could extract it from the container, but she feared the being inside would die before they reached Refuge. No, it was better to leave it and take it out when the environment was more stable. If only she had something, anything to do other than wait.

“Pretty neat, huh?”

Aries pulled away as if caught stealing a look at the secret digital archives on the
New Dawn
. Reckon ambled down the row of egg containers, a ragtag fogey in an ethereal hatchery of blue light. “I could hardly believe it when I first saw them, too.”

“It’s funny. I always wanted to be a biologist, and now here I am, carrying the last hope of an entire species with me.” She shook her head. “I have a hard time believing it’s true.”

“Does Striker know you like biology?”

With the mention of Striker, Aries’ mouth slammed shut. She took a long breath. “I haven’t had much of a chance to talk to him these days.”

Reckon gave her a sidelong glance and then flicked his eyes back to the eggs. “Too busy flying his ship, huh?”

Even though Striker had been cold to her the last few days, she still found a need to protect him from criticism. “He mourns for those that were lost. It was all for me to be free.”

“Hey now, missy.” Reckon’s voice grew authoritative. “No one should be forced to carry out someone else’s dream. Those colonists have it all wrong. Striker couldn’t bear the thought of them forcing you to live out your life in a prison. You have too much of a free spirit in your heart. That’s why he likes you so much.” Reckon put a hand on her shoulder. “Striker’s a good man. A lot has happened to him in the last few days. Don’t worry. He’ll come around.”

Reckon reminded her of her grandfather. He had the same wrinkles around his eyes and bushy brows. “Thanks, Reckon.”

“No problem.”

The intercom clicked on and Striker’s voice echoed in the hatchery. “All hands on deck. We’re coming up on Outpost Omega.”

Aries followed Reckon up to the main deck, leaping two steps at a time. Anxiety and excitement simmered in her veins. She’d read so much about the space station in the yellowed pages of her history books, without any hope that she’d ever see it with her own eyes. The physics of the wormhole made it possible for her to span the journey of three lifetimes on the
New Dawn
.

The scene before her looked just like the textbook’s pictures. A ring of pillars with a shining flame of light at its core connected bubbles of millions of tiny lights. Eight cities, each one as large as the
New Dawn
, twinkled in space. It had been built as a communications station for all of the colony ships, a way for them to stay in contact as they fled Earth with the last hope of the human race.

“It’s breathtaking.” Aries walked up to the main sight panel as Striker maneuvered the ship to a loading dock on the far side of the closest bubble city.

“And dangerous.” Striker warned her with a flash of his eyes. “We’re all going to stay together, right?”

“Yes, sir.” Reckon gave him a salute.

“You still got the map?”

Reckon pulled out his backpack and rummaged through it. He pulled out a square metal object that reminded Aries of a Rubik’s Cube. “Got it right here.”

“What about you, Aries?” Aries thought Striker’s voice had a more tender ring to it when he spoke to her than when he spoke to Reckon, but maybe that was just her own wishful thinking. He’d said he couldn’t love again, yet so many of his actions told her otherwise.

“I’m fine. I’ll stick by you and Reckon.”

“Good.”

The ship hovered over a peninsula jutting out into space. Closer up, Aries could see grooves in the metal, where ships had taken off and landed for centuries. The paint had worn away, and the plates protecting the loading dock were warped at the corners. Pockmarks and holes where small meteors had pierced the metal made the runway look like Swiss cheese. Crude patches of scrap metal were bolted to the façade like roofs of a shantytown. It had been beautiful from a distance, but up close, the space station was literally falling apart.

“Can you activate the door code? Omega’s never seen a ship like this before.” Reckon secured his pack to his back and adjusted the straps.

“I think so.” Striker’s fingers flicked over the panels and the blue light pulsed at his fingertips. “I need to find a way to match the frequency with this alien ship.”

Striker’s hands were strong and tan. Aires wanted to reach out and hold them. Now was not the time. She still didn’t know how he’d react. After the deaths of his crew, every instinct she had felt inappropriate.

“Got it.”

The door opened and he maneuvered the ship into a loading dock. Giant clasps rose up from the floor and secured the wings in place. The door closed behind them and they waited as the chamber pressurized and filled with breathable air.

Striker turned to Aries and smiled. For the first time since the rescue mission, she saw a hint of the man she’d met in the desert. “Welcome to my home.”

Tiff’s bandages covering her back itched so much she wanted to rip them off. She feared what lay underneath. Had her skin really been regenerated? Would it look the same? She tugged on the bandage close to her neck to have a peek. The door dematerialized and she whipped her hand back, hiding it under the covers. Dr. Pern would have a fit if she caught her tampering with her work.

It wasn’t Dr. Pern coming to check in on her. Loot stood in the doorway with a goofy smile on his face and warmth in his eyes.

“Tiff!” He ran to the side of her bed and put his arms around her, his head resting on her chest. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“I’m right here. It’s okay.”

“They wouldn’t let me see you until you were better. They said you were unconscious for three days.”

“Three days?” Had it really been that long? Ever since that strange dream, she’d felt out of touch with reality. Seeing Loot grounded her. She smoothed over his hair, trying to control the tears spilling down her cheeks. “Dr. Pern told me you stayed behind even after the others left me for dead.”

Loot nodded. “I couldn’t leave you.”

The others could. She thought back to the battle scene. Striker must have thought she was dead to leave her. Indeed, she had been dead. Dr. Pern had brought her back. Apparently, even with her lying dead, saving Aries had remained Striker’s priority. She pushed the thought away because it hurt too much. “Are the colonists treating you all right?”

Loot’s eyes brightened. “Oh yeah. They bring me real food, like tomatoes and bananas, and what do they call it? Those little red bubble things? Oh yeah, grapes.”

“They haven’t charged you with any crimes?”

Loot shook his head. “Nope. Guess they think I’m just a boy. Not able to make decisions for myself.”

Tiff exhaled in relief. “Where are you staying?”

“Right beside your room.”

“Is it nice?”

“Compared to Outpost Omega?” Loot ogled the room. “Duh! Yeah.”

“Good.” At least these space colonists took care of him. Tiff relaxed some, allowing her body to rest. Her muscles ached, and she hadn’t yet gotten up to walk around.

“Hey, I know you’re recovering and all, but you have to get out there, Tiff. They have everything anyone could ever want. Workout rooms, entertainment decks, even animals like goats and pigs. I don’t know why that woman left it behind.”

“From what Reckon heard from Striker, she didn’t like who they told her to marry.”

Loot shrugged. “Small price to pay if you ask me. I’d marry the ugliest old snaggle-toothed hag just to live here.”

“Loot!” Tiff sounded angry, but she laughed. He laughed, too, and they sat in silence for a while, enjoying each other’s company. Tiff wondered if they really were dead and in some kind of heaven together. The throbbing in her back told her otherwise. No, this was real and she and Loot were together, happy and safe. She wanted the moment to last forever.

“There’s a real nice man that’s been showing me around. He says he wants to talk to you. He’s waiting outside. Will you see him?”

“Who is he?”

Loot shrugged, “Don’t know. Someone high up in the command. He’s got a wire coming out of his neck, which weirded me out at first, but he’s been real nice, telling me about the history of the
New Dawn
, asking me questions about where I came from.”

A nervous thread pulled at Tiff’s psychic senses, but she pushed it away. If this man were kind to Loot, then she owed it to him to meet him. “All right. Send him in.”

“The doctor lady says you’ll be healthy enough to walk in a week or so, then I’ll show you around, ’kay?”

“Okay.”

She let Loot go after one more hug. He walked into the corridor. An older man in a uniform paused in the doorway. “May I come in?”

“Yes.” Tiff tried to sit up without pulling too hard on all of the tubes in her arm. She had no idea how to treat this man, a colonist, one of the people who supposedly attacked the lizard men, killing them all. He seemed civil enough and even a bit nervous.

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Astor Barliss, and I’m the next commander of the
New Dawn
.”

Tiff’s stomach sank. The next commander? Here, to meet her? Boy, she must be in deep trouble. He extended his hand and she gripped it with a firm shake. “I’m Tiff.”

“As Loot has told me, yes.”

“Thank you for being kind to him. After all we’ve done, I don’t understand why your people are helping us.”

He nodded, adjusting the wire behind his neck before speaking. “Our goal here on the
New Dawn
is to preserve human DNA until we reach Paradise 21, where mankind can once more flourish. We’ve lost two able-bodied women this year, before their genetic codes were passed on. One died during an attempted escape, and your friends stole one of our colonists.”

“They’re not my friends.” Tiff crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, hoping to appear tough, so he wouldn’t see the hurt underneath. “They left Loot and me here to die.”