Page 84 of The Brightness Between Us

“Then we do what, if we make it back inside?”

“We locate Dad. We restrain Yarrow however we can. And we get OS to briefly prioritize that nanotech machinery over the bunker construction. It might resist, but this is a high priority. What if you—”

“—go aggressive too? Believe me, I’ve been thinking about that nonstop,” I say. I mean, how does anyone know what their own amygdala is up to? It’s too bad there’s not a self-test, like one of your fingers is longer than the other or something. “I feel fine, I can tell you that. Well, notfine, of course.”

“The little one gestating right now... I wonder if theothers, the ones that we’ve lost, if it was because their own...” Father’s voice trails off.

“Let’s go,” I say gently. “There’s no more time to waste.”

He nods.

The settlement comes into view. It felt like we traveled lifetimes on our escape last night, but the habitats aren’t so far off in the calm light of dawn. We slow, listening for any signs of conflict. But it’s quiet. Unnervingly so.

At the mussed boundary, I find the dense hydrocarbon pellets the pneumatic guns strewed in the soil. They ring the circumference of our home, each surrounded by its own tiny impact crater. I kneel, pick up a handful of soil, and toss it in the radius of fire. Nothing. Before I can stop her, the curious malevor toddles after the dirt, within range of the guns. Nothing happens. I didn’t mean for her to be our test subject, but at least we now know the guns are off.

Father eases into the radius. Nothing. “They seem to be offline,” he whispers.

“Do we call out?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Keep behind me,” he says. Crouching, he starts on his way to the settlement gate. The malevor and I follow.

Our world is sunshine and quiet breeze. The simple sounds of a primeval planet.

Father keeps in his crouch and pauses every meter or so, his hand in the air to stop me. I stick close and listenalong with him. Sensing our unease, even the malevor goes quiet, except for one grunt when I halt too suddenly and she bumps into my calf. About halfway, she stops following and waits, ears erect. If there was a malevor bloodbath yesterday, it was on the southern side of the settlement... but coming anywhere near the fence has clearly gotten her spooked.

Click.

The fence gate is unlocked.

Before I have time to think about what that means, Father is inside, his hand raised to stop me. The habitats bob and sway as the morning breeze kicks into a wind. I focus on their outlines, looking for any movement from behind them—or, when sunlight passes through the polycarb walls, silhouetted within.

Father reaches cover, ducking beside the wall of his and Dad’s sleeping quarters. He stays in a crouch, hands clenched into fists, before passing to the next covering habitat, out of view.

He didn’t have his hand raised anymore when he did that, and I decide that means I can follow. At least I can tell Father that later—the truth is I’m not about to let him keep me from helping. Keeping low like he did, I creep through the open expanse between where I am and the dads’ quarters. My heart surges, time expands, and my senses grow sharp. But no bullet comes.

I jump when Father appears around the edge of the half-submergedEndeavor.“If your brother is still here, he’s hidden away inside one of the habitats.” Your brother.

Father checks Yarrow’s and my sleeping quarters, comes back out shaking his head. Then he creeps into the infirmary. He shouts, and I start running. Father appears outside before I get there, hands out in a “stand down” move. “Go in,” he says. “It’s safe. I’ll check the rest of the structures to secure the perimeter. But you go in there now.”

He’s off, heading to the greenhouses.

I enter the infirmary. Rover is what I see first, hovering in the middle of the structure. A figure is in the bed, his back to me. I can’t tell from the size whether it’s Dad or Yarrow. Though, if Father still felt the need to secure the perimeter, it must be... and it is! “Dad,” I say, voice trembling. “Dad?”

He turns onto his back, wincing, then spies me at the entrance. His voice comes out as a cry. “Owl, Owl!”

I rush over, Rover beeping at me in alarm as I do. I almost throw my arms around Dad, then think better of it and put my hands on his foot instead. “You’re alive.”

He nods, eyes leaking tears. “It was a little touch and go at first. You should see this mattress cover. Soaked through with blood. It’s going to be murder to clean.”

“OS, you saved him,” I say.

Rover pivots and rolls. “The wound required constantUV treatment to prevent infection. But yes, he is saved, and I was the one to do it.”

“I was mercifully knocked out for the lifesaving part,” Dad says. He raises his shirt, showing a stretch of belly that becomes a mess of bandages. “Even so, I’ve been feeling plenty of sensations during the recovery time.”

“Yarrow,” I start. “Do you know—”

There’s a shadow at the entrance, and then Father is inside, kneeling beside Dad, like he’s praying, only his hands are clasping one of Dad’s wrists. Father—Father!—is crying into his lover’s hand. “You’re alive. I was so scared.”

---