Earth Legend (8 page)

Without Wilkes as a buffer, the space between
us wasn't nearly enough. I wanted to run away, to look elsewhere,
to stop breathing if that would change what was happening, but I
couldn't do any of those things. So I stretched my lips in a parody
of a smile and asked Mr. Vail what he was thinking.

"Cullen. Call me Cullen. No 'Mister'."

Cullen. "I'd rather harvest apples and
cherries than work in the greenhouses."

"Let me take you to meet the scientists so
you can see what they are doing." I opened my mouth but he
continued before I could speak. "And you might like to see the
animal barns too. I've noticed that farmers find that kind of thing
interesting."

I reminded him that I was a botanist, not a
farmer, and then, as that small smile I'd already recognized as
belonging to Cullen Vail and no one else ghosted across his face, I
realized I'd fallen neatly into his trap and was stuck. I wasn't a
farmer and I'd admitted it. I was a botanist and, as such, I was
going to the greenhouses with Cullen Vail.

No, not Cullen Vail, just Cullen. The head of
Security wanted me to call him by his first name. Was that ironic
or what?

I expected we'd take the elevator back to the
tube that ran along the center of the Destiny and ride that to the
greenhouses but instead I was led to the town square and a little
beyond, to a narrow road I'd seen but not paid any attention to
because I never went anywhere. We climbed onto what looked like a
Harley with an electric motor. It had Security written on one side.
I wrapped my hands around the iron that was Cullen's waist and
leaned into his back as we started off towards the center of the
Destiny. The heart of the beast. To the hub of government,
commerce, science and just about everything else necessary for
people to live together in harmony. Except, of course, for the
Captain's bridge. That reigned in lofty superiority at the end of
that central tube. At the front of the ship.

I expected the hub to be a city and when
Cullen parked his bike, I realized that I was right. And wrong.
Buildings there ringed the Destiny like a belt around its middle,
scattered in a haphazard arrangement of no particular design,
though I knew they followed a plan. I just didn't know what it was.
"Welcome to Center City."

"Not a very imaginative name."

"It's the center of government and it's in
the center of the Destiny."

Cullen led the way to the greenhouses. They
weren't far from the parking lot, just past a few buildings devoted
to animal husbandry and a couple more that were fisheries. I
followed, wishing I was somewhere else. Anywhere else because I've
been in the horticulture business all my life and I knew what was
waiting for me, even if Cullen didn't.

If I'd applied for a berth on the Destiny as
a botanist I'd not have been chosen even though I was a double
honors student with extensive credentials and a couple semi-major
discoveries to my name and I knew large numbers of important people
in the field. Because those things, impressive as they were,
wouldn't have been enough to get me accepted. Only political pull
would have done that and those who'd used their influential friends
to get them on board would resent me big time.

When we stepped into the closest greenhouse
my heart sank. This was going to be bad. The scientists were polite
enough to Cullen but it was soon clear to both of us that they
didn't like him pushing me onto them any more than they liked
having me around. They threw mental darts at us both.

I knew that as soon as Cullen left, if I
stayed they'd tear me apart limb from limb. I didn't want to think
what would happen if they discovered my secret. And they probably
would because professionals who have had an outsider thrust into
their midst will stop at nothing to destroy the interloper. Me.

Cullen was good at his job. He read their
thoughts exactly and their intentions. Being the kind of man he
was, I knew he'd feel responsible if anything happened. Even if
nothing happened he'd feel guilty for bringing me there and
subjecting me to their criticism. I knew he'd want to do something
to remedy things. And he did.

First, he looked around in a seemingly
aimless way that took in everything, then he stepped closer to me
and slipped one arm around my waist, a seemingly casual gesture but
no one was fooled. I was under his protection and no one had better
mess with me. His gesture would keep them well behaved while he was
there. After he left would be a different matter.

"Mind if we take a look around?" he asked
mildly. The head grower blinked and then nodded reluctantly. He
couldn't very well start an argument with the head of Security,
which meant Cullen was higher up in the pecking order of the
Destiny. So all he did wak made a half turn to indicate where we
should start our tour. Cullen's arm around my waist tightened as he
moved us in the direction the grower had pointed. The heart of the
greenhouses.

As we neared the first table in the first
greenhouse, I felt something. A wrongness. An itch at the back of
my neck. Everything looked fine to the untrained eye, but my eye
was trained and had been honed over a lifetime of watching things
grow. Of helping them grow. Of fixing problems when they didn't
grow right. So I knew that the plants in that greenhouse were in
trouble and that trouble was worse than Wilkes Zander had
intimated.

I felt their pain in my gut but any
experienced botanist even those without my extra senses could see
the slight droop to the leaves and the thinness of the stems. There
was also a lack of health in the roots that I couldn't see but
could sense. The scientists in the other room knew I saw it because
they saw it. And they didn't like the fact that I knew they had a
problem.

The head grower had followed us. I turned,
still wrapped in Cullen's arm, and gave him a questioning look. He
shrugged. "A small problem. Nothing we can't handle." He dared me
to argue further.

"I'm sure you'll fix things." I subsided and
let Cullen sweep me away from the grower and the others still
standing where we'd left them. We went to the other side of the
main room, into a second greenhouse. I cried privately for the
plants that were struggling in this alien environment but there was
nothing I could do. Not now. My only influence at the moment was
with the apple orchard and the cherry bushes. They were fine and
once I was back home in New Rochelle I'd try to figure out a way to
help the poor plants in the greenhouses without appearing to do so.
Because the botanists who worked there would tear me limb from limb
if I did anything noticeable.

The head grower left us alone as Cullen
half-dragged me between the rows of tables to still a third
greenhouse filled with tomato plants. There were acres of them, all
red and ripe but with something subtly wrong, something I could see
and the other botanists could see but Cullen was clueless about. He
stopped. "Sorry about their stupidity, Elle."

He turned me until I stood before him. We
were inches apart. He'd probably not been this close to another
human being for years, at least not willingly. A whiff of his
uniform, the soap he used to wash it, the leather belt and the
metal buttons washed over me. And something else. Cullen Vail
himself.

He clearly hadn't expected us to be so close
when he brought me around and it rendered him speechless for a
moment. He took a step backwards and bumped into a table filled
with growing tomatoes. They'd been watered recently, they were wet,
and droplets cascaded over him, spotting his immaculate uniform,
beading on his perfect hair, pearling his skin. Not knowing what
else to do, we both stared at the drops until they soaked into his
uniform or evaporated. It took a while.

"I didn't know they'd react so badly." He
scowled at the wet spots on his uniform as if staring would scare
them into drying faster. "They shouldn't do that. They are
professionals."

"That's the problem."

He slumped as he realized what I'd said. "I
brought someone into their domain and they feel threatened."

"Yes."

He sighed, a sound pulled from his toes.
"Every time I try to do something right, it backfires." Then he
realized he'd spoken out loud and stiffened. Turned into a statue.
Became overly competent.

When had he tried to do something right and
failed? What had the consequences been? I pretended not to notice.
"I like being a farmer. I'm happy where I am." I touched his face.
I shouldn't have done so but he was so unhappy that I couldn't help
myself.

He bent closer and studied me for a moment,
taking my hand that was touching his face into his own for a second
before letting it drop. Then he shook his head as if clearing out
cobwebs. "I'll take you home to New Rochelle." His demeanor
changed. The trip was finished except for the return. The stormy
eyes changed again, not banked fire this time but something
different. I couldn't imagine what it was. "But I don't like the
way they treated you. No one acts like that on my watch. On the way
out let's give them something to think about."

His arm wrapped itself tightly around my
waist as we retraced our steps. We were so close that anyone
watching would think we were lovers. The greenhouse workers would
think that and they'd know they'd come close to hexing the head of
Security's girl friend.

We said a pleasant goodbye to their glowering
faces and exited the greenhouse, still with our arms wrapped around
each other. That lasted until we turned a corner. We separated
hastily. Cullen might have shivered in relief but the motion was so
slight I couldn't be sure.

As we climbed onto his bike, he asked, "What
was all that stuff you professionals were talking about back there?
Everything looked fine to me. Was Wilkes right? Is there a
problem?"

"The plants aren't as healthy as they should
be."

"Is it serious?" He was ready to start the
bike but didn't. Instead he straddled it and gave me all of his
attention. "Tell the truth, Elle. It's important. Crucial. The
plants keep us alive. They provide not only food but oxygen. If
there's something seriously wrong, I need to know."

"I promise nothing will go wrong." I should
have let it go at that. Got on the bike and waited for him to start
it. But I didn't. "Why? What could you do if there is a
problem?"

"What I do with all problems beyond the scope
of my job. Tell the Captain. After that what happens would be his
call."

"Would he turn the Destiny around and return
to earth?"

"We've passed the point of no return."

His words hit me with the force of a freight
train. The point of no return. If I was caught, I'd not be sent
home. So what would happen? How bad would it be? I shivered. Seeing
my trembling, Cullen reached towards me. Stopped. Didn't know the
proper procedure for this situation. Decided to wing it and wrapped
me in his arms and pulled me close, though his body was still as
stiff and proper as ever.

I collapsed into his strength, thinking as I
did so how ironic it was that the man who could order me out an
airlock was trying to comfort me. If I was discovered would he do
the same before the airlock opened? Would he remember this moment
and the way our bodies melded together so nicely? Would he regret
that his job included such an awful thing as throwing me away like
yesterday's garbage? Or would he do it without a second thought?
"I'm sure the professionals will deal with the problem before it
becomes serious enough to alert the Captain."

"I certainly hope so."

He unwound himself from me and started the
bike and neither of us said anything during the trip home. I was so
glad to be back in New Rochelle that I was tempted to fall down and
kiss the ground. I would have if Cullen wasn't watching. I did
after he left and I didn't feel foolish about it at all, even
though it was fake dirt covering phony ground. It was my fake dirt
and my phony ground. It belonged to me and everyone else on the
Destiny. It was the foundation of our world, my world now, and I'd
protect it with everything in me, no matter that it was phony. I
promised that fake dirt that I'd figure out what was wrong with the
plants in the greenhouses and I'd fix it.

As I pushed open the door to my apartment, I
thought back to what was happening in the greenhouses. I hadn't
wanted to go there, but now I was glad I had because I knew that my
family's fears were right. Things were going wrong and much sooner
than any of us would have thought.

It was a good thing I'd succeeded in stowing
away. Because in the coming weeks, possibly months, until I got
things back on track, I would be all that kept ten thousand people
alive.

Chapter Six

I am discovered.

Alicia visited the next morning. Nothing new,
she stopped by often to visit Braveheart. Sometimes she brought her
own cat so mother and kitten could be together. During her visits
she'd developed an interest in the potted plants all over my place.
She liked the cherry blossoms best because of their delicate pink
color. I'd promised to give her a tiny tree for herself and she was
there to get it.

"You have to do what I taught if you want it
to be healthy."

She held it tightly. "I promise."

"If it starts to droop, bring it back and
I'll tell it to stand up straight." I laughed because it was a
joke.

She liked jokes so she giggled. Then she
scared me. "Just like you tell the orchard to grow nice apples and
cherries and they do."

She hadn't forgotten. I'd hoped she would. "I
can't really do that. I was being silly. Sometimes I talk to
myself."

"Like Grandpa Zander?"

"Yep. Just like him."

She giggled again. She was enjoying this
conversation. "No one pays attention to Gramps when he talks to
himself but when you talk to the orchard, it listens. Trees like
you." She held out the miniature cherry tree I'd potted for her,
not caring that I could talk to trees because in her child's world
it wasn't important. "It's pretty. Will it grow big?"