Earth Legend (11 page)

"Not large but it does the job."

"My new home."

"You should have thought of that when you
stowed away."

"It had to be done. I told you why."

"You told a wildly imaginative tale that's
not even close to credible. A child could have done better."

"It's the truth. You'll see. When the crops
fail, when the plants die, when there isn't enough food."

His lips pressed together. "I don't think
so." He looked away but before he was completely turned I saw pain.
Or uncertainty, I wasn't sure which.

When the elevator reached the ground, we
exited and I was taken to jail. Paraded was more like it, for the
area was crowded and everyone wanted to know what had happened and
who I was and what I'd done. But Cullen ignored all questions and
pushed me through the crowd and into the relative quiet of the
courthouse rotunda. Then we went through one of the many doors, all
guarded by officers in uniforms similar to Cullen's, and we were in
the jail.

It was small but sufficient. Two of the half
dozen cells were occupied and a bored deputy was at a desk. He
looked up when we entered. "So this is the new prisoner. I was told
she was coming. I've been waiting." Cullen disconnected my tether,
the deputy led me to one of the cells and shoved me inside. The
door slid shut.

Cullen inspected the two other prisoners.
"Jake again?"

"Drunk and disorderly. He'll be out in time
for dinner."

"Who's the new guy?"

"Name's Byron. Got in a fight and broke
someone's nose. He claimed self-defense but that'll be up to the
court to decide."

"He's going to trial for a broken nose?"

"He insisted. Says it's his right. Wants a
judge, jury, the works." The deputy looked over my information.
"What about the woman? Will she go to trial?"

"That'll be up to the Captain. It's his
jurisdiction. She's a stowaway so what happens is his call but I'm
guessing he won't bother with a trial."

The deputy came close and gave me a
once-over. "She's pretty, if there's a trial an all-male jury would
set her free." He glanced at the instructions Cullen had put into
the system. "This doesn't mention visitors. What do I do? We've
never had a felon before."

"Of course she can have visitors. She has
rights." He started away and then turned back, talking to the
deputy, studiously avoiding me. "But if someone wants to see her,
call me." He was thinking of my comment that there were others like
me. If there were any of them on the Destiny, would they contact
me?

"Should I make them wait until you get
here?"

He thought, then shook his head. "Don't do
that. But do make sure the security cameras are rolling. And call
me." Then he was gone and the deputy, after asking if I'd had
lunch, disappeared to find me a meal and I was left alone at last
to look around the small room that was now my home.

The jail ran on a schedule and I soon learned
to judge time by what was happening instead of by checking my
comunit. Lunch meant it was noon. Lights out was at ten. No one
wanted to disturb Jake when he was sleeping it off so mornings were
somewhat erratic. When he wasn't in jail, breakfast came early and
began a gossipy time of day. When he was in the cell next to mine,
which someone jokingly said was reserved for him, breakfast was hot
cereal that I ate as quietly as possible so as not to wake him and
the deputies tip-toed around while doing their chores. No one
wanted to deal with Jake if he was still suffering from a hangover.
Let him sleep long enough and he became reasonably decent.

So the days passed. The prisoners who were
there when I came were released and more were added. In time they,
too, left and still more days passed, turning into weeks. The cells
on either side could have had revolving doors for all the times
prisoners came and went. But I remained.

The hours were long and boring both for
inmates and guards so everyone ended up being my friend. I'm easy
to be with and a good conversationalist and for the most part the
other prisoners were regulars who I got to know quite well, though
they came and went while I stayed.

I became pretty good friends with the guards
too. They were nice guys who felt sorry for me. They didn't see how
stowing away compared to the crimes of the other prisoners. They
tried to make me comfortable. I got a new bed and bedding, better
than the other prisoners had and they said Cullen Vail had approved
the extra expense though privately I thought they said so to make
me feel better. There was a belief in the entire Security
contingent that there had been something between Cullen and me up
to the time he arrested me and nothing I said could change their
minds.

They also thought Cullen should have managed
not to find me when he learned I was a stowaway. Or that he could
have let me go. I head them muttering among themselves and,
finally, they said it out loud where I could hear and after that we
got really chummy.

I never told them the story I'd told Cullen,
the truth, though I was pretty sure they'd heard it because once
the night deputy did suggest that I might have been left alone if
I'd been able to think of a more normal reason for being on the
Destiny. After all I had papers and a comunit and that would have
been proof enough for most people and perhaps Cullen would have let
it go if I'd been less creative.

They said many times that they wished Cullen
hadn't dug into the manifest for my name. But whenever they said
that, they rolled their eyes and we all laughed because of course
Cullen would do whatever was necessary to do his job perfectly.

Most of the time they approved of that
quality in their boss because it made their jobs easier. He was
very efficient, they said. They just didn't see why he had to be
quite so efficient in my case but once I was arrested there was
nothing anyone in Security could do because the Captain had
authority over stowaways and they were only holding me until he got
around to hearing my case.

Which would be a long time, they said,
because more pressing problems had his attention. Like dying
plants. Failing crops. A shortage of food in the near future,
followed by starvation and the inevitable anger and riots that
would follow. I was in cold storage so I was put on a back burner
and languished in jail, gossiped with the deputies and generally
was bored silly.

Chapter Eight

Cullen Vail helps me escape.

One morning I was dozing between Jake who was
sleeping it off in the cell to my left and someone new on my right,
a teenager who decided to go jogging without bothering to dress
first. She almost caused a riot and at the moment was too busy
sulking to talk but the thought of another female nearby was nice.
The deputies were busy so with no social event happening I was
napping. Until the door opened and someone entered the jail and
looked around. Two someones.

I opened one eye a crack and sat up fast.
Alicia and her grandfather, Wilkes Zander, mayor of New Rochelle,
stood in the middle of the main room. Alicia tenderly held a wilted
plant. Braveheart was cradled in Wilkes' arms. He cleared his
throat loudly until someone noticed and then he said, "We're here
to visit Elle Olmstead."

"Ellle?" The deputy sat up, almost in shock.
"No one visits Elle. At least no one ever has."

Wilkes looked over his shoulder towards me.
"Sorry we didn't come sooner, Elle. Things have been going on."

"I know. Word gets around, even here.
Especially here. A food shortage?"

His sigh was answer enough. "But we're here
now."

"Did Alicia have anything to do with your
coming?" Her insistent tugs on his arm told me who was behind the
visit.

"Yep." No one could hold out against the pint
sized politician-in-training for long. Wilkes pointed to the cherry
tree in her hands. "It's almost dead, like most of the trees. She
thinks you can bring it back to life."

"Maybe." Alicia loved that tree so she'd done
everything she could. It wouldn't be as far gone as many of the
plants on the Destiny.

"And I brought Braveheart for a visit. He
misses you."

I came to the door of my cell and reached for
my kitten. "I was worried about him."

Wilkes knew what I was saying without using
words because we didn't want to talk about my possible demise in
front of Alicia. "Don't worry about Braveheart. We're keeping him
for now, but if you can't care for him later, Gerald will take
him."

"Gerald?" The guy who tallied produce at the
harvest center. I always took Braveheart and Gerald always petted
him.

A frown appeared on Wilkes' brow. "Funny
thing, that. When I asked Gerald to take Braveheart, somehow the
conversation got around to you. He said the harvest from that
particular orchard dropped precipitously as soon as someone else
took over." He watched me closely but I didn't give away what I was
thinking so he went back to the reason for the visit, turning
imperiously to the deputy. "Well? Can we see Elle or not?"

The deputy quickly unlocked the cell door and
Alicia entered but Wilkes remained outside, coming just close
enough to hand Braveheart to me. My kitten mewed and jumped into my
arms and snuggled against me, making me realized how much I'd
missed his tiny body next to mine. "I have a meeting, Elle. That's
why we came to the government center. An important meeting, so I
have to go but I'll be back as soon as it's done. You know what
it's about."

"Dying crops."

"Yep." His shoulders were slumped. It would
be a difficult meeting.

The cell door shut on Alicia, Braveheart and
myself. Wilkes left, leaving the deputy undecided about his next
move. Cullen wanted to be informed of any visitors but he'd have to
go into another room to make contact and he wasn't sure if he
should leave me alone with Alicia. Until Alicia set her miniature
cherry tree on my cot and hugged me, blubbering loudly. "I missed
you."

"I missed you too." We hugged for a long
time.

"My mom doesn't give me cookies."

"That's too bad. I wish I had some but I
can't bake in here."

"My tree is sick. You have to make it well."
Her head lifted as the deputy decided I wasn't likely to slit
anyone's throat. He went into the inner office to contact Cullen
and popped out moments later to say he'd go look for some cookies.
Alicia took time from insisting I fix her tree to tell him what
kind. She's big on chocolate chips.

As soon as he disappeared, I gently pried her
from my waist and picked up the cherry tree. "It doesn't look too
bad."

"Oh that's good. I was worried." I took the
tiny tree and turned it around a few times and then closed my eyes
and did my thing. It was easy, I'd been doing it ever since one
time when I was a kid and had an argument with a prickly pear
cactus. My whole family had erupted into laughter when the cactus
won. Then they'd showed me how to win arguments with plants and
ever since I've been pretty good at it, even the ones with
thorns.

So I was fairly confident and it turned out I
was right. When I opened my eyes the tree was already changing. The
branches lifted, the leaves brightened, the whole thing took on new
life. Alicia clapped her hands in delight. "I knew you'd do it.
Grandpa Wilkes said you couldn't but I knew better because I
watched you fix trees in the orchard."

I handed it to her. "It's okay now but you
can bring it back if it gets sick again."

She examined the tree one way and another.
"All the trees are sick. All of them. Everywhere. They are ugly.
You should make them well too."

"I can't now. I have to stay here for a
while."

"Don't wait too long because they are really,
really sick."

The deputy returned with a bag of cookies
that he shared with all of us prisoners and Alicia. He leaned back
in his chair and ate about half the bag himself but it was a large
bag, we were all satisfied, and Alicia said it was a nice party and
Jake and the teenaged streaker agreed though she did comment that
if she ate too many she might not have the same effect the next
time she went for a stroll sans clothes.

When the cookies were finished and Alicia had
brushed the crumbs from her shirt, we talked quietly while I played
with Braveheart. Then Wilkes returned. He collected his
granddaughter, the cat and the tree and they prepared to leave.

Before that happened, Cullen burst into the
room and looked wildly about. "She had visitors? Who? Where? Did
you get their names?" He dashed to the deputy's desk and checked
the visitor's roster. "Wilkes Zander and Alicia?" The deputy nodded
and pointed. Then he stepped in front of them so they couldn't
leave until Cullen stood face to face with Wilkes. "What are you
doing here?"

"Visiting a friend. Elle is our friend."

Cullen's demeanor changed. Confronted by
Wilkes' social grace, he remembered his manners. He shook Wilkes'
hand and bent down to say something to Alicia but, seeing what was
in her hands, he asked instead, "What's that?"

She held up the miniature cherry tree. "It's
my tree. It was sick. Elle made it well."

Cullen's face thinned. "And how did she do
that? Did she give it water?"

Alicia was indignant. "I water it every day
so it has enough water. She just fixed it. She made it well."

He took the tree and held it high. "How,
exactly?"

"The way she made the apple trees well when
they didn't feel so good."

"What apple trees?" He looked around for
nonexistent trees. He was having a hard time dealing with Wilkes
and Alicia. I understood, for they were a formidable pair.

"The ones in the orchard where she used to
live. If they didn't feel good she fixed them. I watched her do it.
I tried to do it myself but I guess I'm not old enough yet. So when
my tree got sick, I brought it here. My grandpa didn't want to
bring me but I was really, really nice so he did and he brought
Braveheart too because Braveheart missed Elle almost as much as the
trees miss her but trees can't walk so they couldn't come. Just my
tree and Braveheart."