Page 1 of The Brightness Between Us

Part One

MINERVA (SAGITTARION BB)

YEAR 17

OWL

Chapter 1

Ambrose watches digits count down. Clad in the gauzy blue fabric of a regulation Fédération suit, he pulls out a tray of water pouches and sifts through them while he’s waiting for his meal to heat. He holds two up to the ship’s fluorescent lights: identical sleeves markedwater, though the word is printed in different fonts. He centers one in front of each seat of the dining chamber.

The light inside the device blinks off, and he removes a food packet from inside, setting it on a plate. He puts another in and resets the timer, then goes about preparing the rest of the table: straws for the water sleeves and a simple printed runner, playing cards centered in the middle. While he waits, Ambrose shuffles them and straightens the stack.

I know what comes next, because I’ve seen this recording many times before. A shadow from the doorway, then Kodiak is beside him. This younger space-borne version of Father is jacked up, networks of veins standing out on his arms, his back a thick triangle.

Ambrose says something I can’t hear—a side effect ofthe blind room they’d set up nearby is that there’s no audio on this reel, just moving images—and Kodiak smiles. He curves his larger body around Ambrose’s where he waits at the counter. Ambrose settles in, hangs his head back so Kodiak can kiss his neck. Kodiak presses himself tighter against him.

It’s romantic, but gross. These are the dads, after all.

I avert my eyes to the window—the screen—behind them to see what it’s showing. Revolving stars, among them the glowing clots of galaxies. I study the newness of the ship’s materials. Some relics of theCoordinated Endeavorstill exist at our settlement—like the chair that Ambrose is currently settling into as the reel continues to play—but the ones we use are dingy and cracked.

The dads play cards, take drags of water (the label printed sans serif for Kodiak, serif for Ambrose), and converse easily, probably about the subtleties of their sleeves of roasted eggplant and tofu curry. It makes my heart pang with nostalgia, even if it’s for something I’ve never known. I’m jealous of them, even though I don’t think I want what they have. This life—one with a romance—is not in my future. I’m the only human alive with a womb, so I might end up carrying a child if the gestation device goes down, but it won’t be the result of sex.

Just when I get hopelessly moody and internal, Father interrupts. Real Father. He walks right through the projectedreel, causing the images of his younger beefcake self to jump and stagger across his face. “You’re late,” he says. “Turn this off. I don’t see why you’d want to watch that, anyway.”

I tap my bracelet to stop the projection. “Really? You want to take this away? There’s basically nothing I’m allowed to watch already, since you won’t let us learn anything about Earth.”

Father passes through his own image, stalking toward the mucklands. I fall in line behind him. We pass along the inside of the settlement’s perimeter fence, until Father deactivates the gateway and we slip through to the outside. I’m relieved when the pneumatic guns resume their protective buzz at our backs. Once we’ve scanned the area for malevors, we start slopping out the reserve cistern.

We use polycarb paddles to scoop out clods of soil and glowing microorganisms. Each scoop makes athwucknoise as it hits the ground. It’s the sound equivalent of my slurpy mood.Thwuck thwuck thwuck.

Father prefers to stay silent unless there’s something important to say. And normally that’s fine, I guess. But not today. I’m going for it. “So far it hasn’t happened, but what if this makes us sick at some point?” I ask. “I mean, look at this stuff that lives in our water. It’s gross, and it grows quick.” To emphasize my point, I hurl the next scoopful to the ground, so it makes an extra loudthwuck.It also sprays Father’s pant leg. Whoops.

He looks down at his stained pants, then at me. His face is perfectly controlled. “What do you propose we do instead, Owl? Your usual idea?”

“Well, yes, actually,” I say as I resume scooping, leaning deep into the cistern to scrape the seam where wall meets bottom. My words echo on the polycarbonate. “The usual. What if the rains go from occasional to never happening at all? What then? You need to let me go search for standing water. A sea or a lake.”

“Not likely,” Father grunts.

“Sure, okay, but if the rains did stop, it would be too late to go searching for water because we’d be lying around, all dried out,” I say. I drop my paddle and lean against the cistern, glaring out at the horizon. We’ve explored almost none of this planet. It’s ridiculous.

“If the water gets unhealthy, we can reprioritize how we use our metals,” Father says. “We can print some advanced filters.”

“You’re being obtuse!” I say. It just comes out of me. I’m not even sure if I used that word right. I read it for the first time yesterday, and I’ve been wanting to try it out. Judging from Father’s expression, it’s maybe a little harsh? I make a mental note to try out new words only on Dad, not Father.

Father stares at me, then goes back to scooping out the cistern. “We’re done here.”

I pretend I’m not scared of Father, so I can push further.“We’re not done!” I say. “Yarrow will be sixteen in a few days. I’ll be sixteen a while after. That would have been adult age in most any Earth frontier society. We can’t hide away in some tiny little safe corner of this planet forever.”

He pauses, the cords in his neck tight. Then he goes back to scooping.

“Listen to me for once! Send me out. You three can keep the settlement safe. I’ll be careful.”

“I know you think you’re capable of going on a solo expedition,” Father says, his words evenly spaced. “But you’re still my daughter, and I’m the one who will make the decision of when and if you go adventuring.”

“I don’t care how many kids died before and after me and Yarrow. That’s not our fault.”

All goes still. It’s like the planet itself is in shock. I’m hot with anger, and being mean is the only way I know to get rid of that sort of heat.

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