Time and Dirt
(First Day -- Previous Day -- Day 16 -- Next Day)
Day 16
Heliopause Colony on Planet Vertumna, Medbay
“Solane... today it’s two weeks, no wait, 15 days since we could only see each other here... and I dread having to talk to Dr. Instance again to convince her to let you stay for a while longer at least. Although she’s at least *slightly* more receptive to it than most of the council. Chief Administrator Seeq announced at the meeting last night that he would already set about organizing the... the-the de-decoration of the re-...cycler... for the funeral...
...
At this point I’d feel that I’d be the only one crying at it... we have been alone here the entire time, haven’t we? ... But I’ll make them call it off. It’s just not going to happen. Ugh, I just wish Dr. Instance didn’t make me feel like a small stupid kid so much. It’s like she’s always viewing me with disdain. But she seems to do that with everyone, except sometimes not with Tang.
Oh, there she is, I’ll go talk to her then, I guess. Sigh...
...
Okay, she didn’t want to hear me talk about it much, but she’s willing to consider it if she can see you making progress...
Please, show her that it’s not just me... not just me imagining all of it. Show her you can hear me. I don’t want her judging stare on me again.
Solane, please, open your eyes! Or do I need to pinch y-
There! You... you opened them! Yes... Let me turn around and see how Dr. Instance reacted. ... Wow, I have never seen her so taken aback. She looks like I brought you back from the dead or something! Like you’re a ghost. Heh, maybe I do have unearthed some secret powers, what do you think?
Oh, your eyes closed again. That’s okay, keep resting until you’re feeling strong again. I know you can do it.
Let me tell you about the bugs I saw today in the garden... the dorbsmoths and the seramoths and bright glowspiders...
They are all so big, I could make those white-purplish striped larvae seramoths scuttle with a broom before they could eat my clothes again, but the dorbsmoths were almost as tall as me, and I didn’t want to hurt them too much. They’re generally so sweet and docile, and their huge blue furry wings so beautiful, they just like to eat our cabbages and it was difficult to dissuade them ... I eventually managed by holding some lavender under their long feeders and then leading them away to a crack in the colony walls outside. It’s really amazing how they manage to squeeze themselves through such tiny openings despite their size.
And the glowspiders, well, their webs sometimes cover the crops but it’s harmless, just something to remove before eating, and honestly doesn’t look that bad. Usually that’s the only thing you see of them, too, but today I happened to be up earlier than normally to pick some flowers, native yellies and bobber fruit petals to bring to Auntie Seedent who wanted to use them to make something she called “tea” for breakfast. Picking them fresh on the same day is supposed to make the taste light and delicate, and relax your body and mind!
And this was before both suns had risen, and as I was gathering them into this mushwood basket one of my fathers had made for me I saw the night turning into twilight and that’s when they arrived! I was wondering why it was getting so light at night outside of the season of glow, and when I looked up from the flower bed it was like I saw countless bright lightbulbs swinging through the air! Large ones, beautifully shining in the gradually brightening sky ...
Can you imagine that bugs on Earth are supposed to be so small, many of them can sit at the top of your fingertip? It’s so weird for me to think about. We should count us lucky to be here, even with everything that is happening.
Do you still remember when we arrived here? In some months it’ll be seven years already...
My mother always told me we were born in a place of hope, in a home among the stars that was hurtling towards a better future. I don’t even remember much about our time on our old spaceship before it landed except that we were already best friends back then, too. But I do remember how excited I was to finally go outside and see a big world for the first time!
The open sky! The wide open sky, stretching on forever and ever... The suns in the sky, shining so warmly, the acid snow falling, tickling your skin. I remember even being amazed by the puddles of water on the ground! And the ground itself, the dirt... holding it in your hands for the first time and seeing things grow from it... it was... it was a dream come true after only knowing hydroponic horticulture.
Although at first it was really a nightmare because I was worried about you being stuck in medbay for two weeks, and I wasn’t even allowed to see you! But then I trusted the adults around us and spent the time helping setting up the fields and geoponics buildings.
And when you finally joined me we both could spend hours just marveling at all this beautiful world showed us. It seemed like the most wondrous place imaginable... I mean, it still is. Just... then it seemed like all so peaceful. Life was simple, wake up, marvel at the world, eat and go to work teaching Earth plants to live in their new home. Or go to school where they would try to teach you the same but on holopalms. I guess the mushwood experiment we did was neat, I think we tried to reduce the pH of their soil by adding that acidic snow to it, hoping it would help the tree grow. It didn’t do much but it was fun to try and learn!
There’s so much else from that time I still remember, Solane... Especially the things we did when Tammy was still around I will always remember. I wonder how much you will still remember when you wake up.
We’ll definitely not run out of things to talk about the next days!”