Page 18 of The Brightness Between Us

“I assumed that would be the case,” OS says. “But I know you like to be presented with what appear to be options.”

“Awesome. I sure do like that appearance of options, OS. I really love it.”

Without a further word, Rover whirs into motion, continuing around the edge of the pond. I watch it for a few seconds. Over my whole life I’ve only seen it misstep (mis-float?) once, landing on its side in a silty puddle. It made an adorable set of squeaks before righting itself at the edge, spinning to fling away all the sludge.

Much as I wish it to, that doesn’t happen today. Rover isas perfectly capable as ever. I square my shoulders against my pack and rise to my feet, my wound briefly screaming, then I start after Rover.

For a moment Rover is silhouetted by Little Sister. I stop to enjoy it for a moment, this primitive big-sky landscape, pale sun filling part of that sky, a perfectly round, human-produced sphere blotting out another circle. Rover, of course, has paid no attention to the aesthetics of the moment, and passes over the crest as soon as it can.

“Thanks for the memories,” I grumble as I trek after it.

Rover emits a set of high-pitched screams from the far side of the ridge.

I’ve never heard Rover make such sounds. I break into a run, pack bouncing against my sore muscles, and scramble up the ridge on all fours, gray-green scree tumbling all around.

Turns out Rover stopped just on the other side. I find this out because I fall right over it and land on my belly, the extra weight of my pack aggravating my fall, driving my cheek into the unforgiving terrain. I push myself up with blood-laced palms. “Damn, Rover.”

“Owl, look!” OS says.

I peer down the rise. All the same Minerva landscape, until...

From out of nowhere, a jungle.

It’s not green; it’s the color of rust. But here are, well, what are sort of trees. About twice my height, and covered in felty crimson leaves. Tendrils and vines run in between them. It’s a small and dense grove—the usual muckland begins again on the other side.

“Is it safe to approach, do you think?” I ask Rover.

“I don’t detect any danger signs,” OS says. Rover has already started floating down the slope.

The plants grow densely at the center of the clot, swirling out in runners. It looks like a spiral galaxy, only this galaxy is made of vegetation. Like the first moment when I swirl algal syrup into my porridge, the darker green laying its threads into the lighter green.

I whoop.

“We ought to be quiet,” OS says as we creep toward the plants.

“You beeped your head off just a few seconds ago!” I protest.

“That was different,” OS says. “And I don’t even have a head.”

“How is that possibly your response—oh, thecolor!” I say, soon out of breath as I increase my pace to a jog. The growth is a profusion of rusty reds. The first new colors I’ve ever seen, outside of projections.

“It is quite similar in shade to the extraterrestrial plantlife that arrived with us on theCoordinated Endeavor.” OS responds.

“Yarrow will be so mad. We’re not just bringing invasive Earth species, we’ve brought one from a whole other part of the galaxy, too.”

“You are not upset by this possibility?” OS asks as I jog alongside Rover.

I consider it. “I guess I’m not. This muck could use something more interesting growing in it. Come on!”

I’m practically skipping along now. For the last six meters or so before the jungle starts, there’s what looks like rusty clover on the ground. As I get closer I can confirm it’s the alien weed, the very one the dads found on an asteroid they harvested mid-galaxy. I’ve seen the reels from their early days on Minerva, when the weed flourished around the ship’s wreckage. As theEndeavorandAurorasank into the soft soil, though, the alien weed started subsiding. Maybe it’s because of the rising temperatures on Minerva. Maybe it was getting something it needed out of the exposed hulls. Maybe it just didn’t like our company.

Or maybe it was relocating out here.

Maybe it’s not a plant at all.

Rover scans the alien moss, then speeds up to catch me as I wait by the jungle line.

“Think it’s safe to go in?” I ask.

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