Earth Legend (12 page)

Cullen stood extremely straight and tried not
to look confused as he turned the tree around and around in his
hands. Then he looked daggers at me but, though I felt every
invisible thrust, I refused to lower my gaze. We tried to stare
each other down but it was a draw.

At long last, after one more puzzled look at
the cherry tree, he returned it to Alicia and she and her
grandfather left. Then he stood lost in thought in the middle of
the room until finally he turned to the deputy. "Did you notice the
tree the little girl brought it?" The deputy nodded. "Was it the
same tree she brought out?"

The deputy chewed his lower lip. "Now that
you mention it the one she left with did seem different from the
one she took into the cell."

"And you were here the whole time so she
couldn't have sneaked a different one in?" The deputy's expression
gave him away and he was forced to admit that he'd gone out for
cookies. And he sheepishly mentioned that Wilkes Zander hadn't been
locked in my cell.

"He brought a different tree. They hoodwinked
you. You left them alone and they did their trick. It's part of a
plot to give credence to that ridiculous story of hers but it won't
work because we'll find the sick tree and prove them liars."

Almost instantly they were in my cell tearing
apart everything that wasn't nailed down. But they found nothing.
Cullen towered over me, his face a mask. "What did they bring and
where did you hide it? Tell me!"

"She brought a tree and she took it with her.
Same tree and I didn't hide anything."

"You're lying."

"Then where is it?" The cell was torn
asunder, the prisoners on either side wide awake and watching. This
was the most excitement since they'd been incarcerated.

"It was all recorded," the deputy said
quietly because the prisoners on either side of me were more
interested than they should be. "We can watch the recording."

"Of course." Cullen nodded shortly. "I'll do
that. Me, I'll watch and see what she did while you actually do
your job and stick around so no one escapes." He turned without
another word, stomped into the inner office and slammed the door.
That was all we heard for possibly an hour. Then the door opened
slowly and he stepped out and came straight to my cell. "You." He
pointed to me. "Come." The deputy opened my cell door and I
followed Cullen into that private office.

A screen covered most of one wall. Cullen
indicated that I sit, then he flipped a switch and soon I was
watching my visit with Alicia. It started with her hug, then
Braveheart being cuddled, and soon after I saw Alicia handing me
the cherry tree. I saw me touching it until it came back to
life.

He replayed the visit several times in total
silence. Then he bent close enough for me to see that his eyes
weren't solid black and that was close indeed because I saw clearly
the pure night and lightning and thunder in them. They had dark
flecks, too, and some not so dark and were night water and wind as
well as lightning and thunder. They were beautiful and deep and
frightening all at the same time. "Tell me what you did in
there."

"I made the cherry tree well."

"What did you do and how did you do it? More
importantly, what other magic tricks do you know that you might use
on an unsuspecting victim?" He was so close I could see his
nostrils flare and the tiny lines fanning out from his eyes.

"It wasn't a trick. I told you that I'm good
with plants. I make things grow. It's what I do. It's why I'm
here."

His eyes slitted and then he turned
wordlessly and left, locking the door behind him. I shrank into my
chair and stared at the ceiling, knowing at last how all those
generations of relatives had felt those few times when they'd told
people what we can do. About our abilities. And I waited, not
knowing what would happen next but knowing that whatever it was it
would probably be as terrible as it had been for all those previous
generations.

He returned half an hour later carrying a
half-dead tomato plant. I knew where he'd gotten it. From the
greenhouse. Our eyes met briefly over the plant, remembering our
time there, and then slid away as he stuck it towards me. "Prove
it. Show me."

I examined it without touching it. "It's
pretty sick."

"I knew it. You're a fraud."

"I didn't say that. I can probably make it
better though I don't know if it'll ever be truly healthy again.
Like I said, it's pretty sick but if you want me to, I'll try."

He shoved the pot towards me. "Do more than
try. Fix it. Or else."

I touched the tomato plant gently. It had
been handled roughly. Cullen didn't know about plants and he'd been
angry when he chose it so it hurt and I felt its pain. But it
wasn't dead so I tried. I closed my eyes and set my mind free.

It didn't take long. Moments later, I opened
my eyes and smiled. "It wasn't as sick as I first thought. It'll be
okay. Just give it a minute or two."

He waited, managing to stare holes through my
body even while he stared at the tomato plant that responded faster
than I'd thought. I don't know why I was surprised. Most things do
respond quickly to decent care.

It stood straighter. Its leaves lifted
towards the ceiling. It stretched to its full height and the first
of many future blossoms unfurled along a vine. As each thing
happened I felt it in the way that I always feel what's happening
with plants. I couldn't help the smile that appeared and spread
until it filled my whole being. I looked at Cullen and smiled even
more because he was staring at the tomato plant as if waiting for
it to bite him. He was shocked speechless.

I, on the other hand, felt pretty good. "I
told you so."

He answered as if in a trance. "I don't know
what you did, I don't know how you did it, but you weren't faking.
I was careful. There's no other tomato plant to replace the sick
one with. There's not a single healthy tomato plant on the Destiny
so I know you couldn't trick me." He raked one hand through his
hair, leaving it rumpled, the first time I'd seen him less than
perfect. "I don't know how you do what you do, but I accept that
you do it."

"I do." I waited because he wasn't
finished.

"Did you know that the Destiny is already
facing a crisis from a shortage of food?"

"I've heard talk."

"You can prevent it like you said?"

"I can."

You. Just you."

"Yes." I stood straight and tall and smiled
until my face was stiff. No matter what happened next, at that
moment I was proud of myself and my family.

He snapped out of his reverie and stared at
me accusingly. "You can save everyone yet you do nothing. You just
sit here and do nothing."

I waved my hand to the room and towards the
room holding the deputy, Jake and the streaker. "I'm in jail. It's
hard enough to do what I do through the walls of a normal building
but these walls are different. Worse. Impenetrable."

"Of course they are. It's a jail. Thin walls
wouldn't hold a flea."

"If you want me to save the Destiny, you have
to set me free."

"You stowed away."

"I did so to prevent what is already
happening and right now I'm all that stands between life and death
for ten thousand people."

He bit his lower lip. "I don't have the
authority."

"Talk to the Captain."

"He's busy. He hasn't slept in days, maybe
weeks."

"Because of the food shortage."

"I can't get near him. Hell, I can't even get
close enough to call out his name. He has meetings all the
time."

"If I stay in here, then very soon those
meetings won't matter."

He licked his lips and then stood up and
paced back and forth. Then he said, "Okay. I'll take you out
myself."

"You'll break the law?"

He stopped and rubbed his hands. "Of course
not." This was hard. "There are reasons to take prisoners places.
Court appearances. Depositions."

"And saving ten thousand lives."

"There will be a reason, I won't break the
law. I'll think of something, I'll get you out." He led the way to
the door. "Don't screw this up."

I saw myself in the glass of the door. I
hated my image. "Do I have to wear these clothes? I'm tired of
prison orange."

He veered past a shelf and grabbed a small
package that contained the clothes I'd worn when I was arrested.
They were clean and neat. In minutes, I was changed and ready for
freedom.

Instead I got a patch slapped onto the back
of my neck. It was similar to the comunit but instead of a cute,
multi-colored Destiny tattoo this one was an ugly black bar code.
"Don't force me to use this." He loomed over me as he strapped a
small device around his wrist. "I can now find you anywhere and you
won't like it if I push this button."

"I'm only interested in saving lives."

He gave the deputy orders regarding the
remaining prisoners and said he didn't know how long we'd be gone
so not to worry about us. Then he shoved me ahead of him and we
left the jailhouse, retracing our original path through a tunnel to
the government building rotunda and then outside into the central
part of Center City, the heart of the Destiny.

Only after so long in jail, I didn't see a
ship. I needed and wanted and saw and felt sunshine so I turned my
face upwards and didn't care that it was from a fake sun. I looked
around and felt the joy of people moving freely among buildings
that rose tall and straight into the sky. The Destiny was no longer
a ship. It was a country and Center City was the capital, complete
with streets and parks and it was beautiful.

Okay, maybe the parks weren't beautiful. When
I'd had enough sunshine and looked around, I realized that they
weren't so lovely. Leaves hung listless and the grass had the look
of late summer when it's going dormant. But nothing should go
dormant on the Destiny because every living plant had been
programmed to be continuously verdant. There was work for me in
those parks, a lot of work and I'd best get started. I strode
towards the trees.

And was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.
"Food is the first concern." He pointed me towards the
greenhouses.

"You remember what happened last time we went
there."

"Things are different now."

"The botanists are bureaucrats. Bureaucrats
don't change."

He knew I was right. "Where then?"

"The orchard where I used to live. My
orchard."

"Why that particular one? There are dozens of
orchards on the Destiny. Hundreds maybe." Suspicion flared, one
hand moved towards the button that could do unspeakable
horrors.

"Because I know that orchard. Because it's
probably the healthiest one on the Destiny. Because it'll respond
fastest."

His hand dropped and he led the way to the
electric Harley with the Security insignia on the side. It was
parked beneath an oak tree with leaves already turning brown. As we
passed beneath, I reached up to touch a branch and closed my eyes,
hoping Cullen would let me do my thing without pressing that button
but knowing that I needed to do this, to help this one tree no
matter the consequence. Because it was there and it was hurting.
When I opened my eyes his hands were free and, though his whole
body was tense, he knew what I was doing. So we waited to see how
bad the damage was. How hard it would be to bring the Destiny back
to life.

In what I felt as a huge sigh but Cullen
probably heard as a breeze, the tree came back. The leaves turned a
healthy green and the trunk stood tall once more with branches
lifting towards the sky. Cullen watched with no expression. But he
waited patiently with me until the tree was as green as Ireland in
the spring and as tall as a dwarf oak can be.

Then he waved for me to climb onto the Harley
behind him. From that position I could easily conk him on the head
and escape and he knew that but still he let me sit there.

I reached out to several fields as we passed
to let them know that help was on the way but our passage was too
swift to see if my message was received. Then we reached the
orchard. My orchard. We stepped off of the Harley and the orchard
woke up almost instantly.

"The cherry tree and the tomato plant weren't
flukes." Cullen stared at me as if seeing me for the first time. Or
as if I had two heads. "You really can do something."

"It's a family thing. Goes way back."

"If you can do this to all the crops the
Captain might commute your sentence."

"He might?
Might?
Is that all? I save
ten thousand lives and he
might
consider not sending me out
the airlock?"

"It's his call, not mine."

I refused to look at Cullen for the rest of
that afternoon as we left the now-thriving orchard and headed back
to check out the fields we'd passed earlier. As I'd hoped, they
were slowly coming back to life. Cullen wagged his head from side
to side though, again, he said nothing, just gave me a strange
stare. I guess I'm hard to get used to. Then, glancing skyward, he
checked the time because what passed for sunshine on the Destiny
was dimming. Night was coming fast. "Can you work in the dark?"

"Of course I can, but I'm tired. This is
hard. "

"If you're alive and able to function, we
keep going. You can sleep later."

"Is it that bad? The rest of the Destiny?"
His lips pressed tightly together said all I needed to know, but I
knew what he didn't. "The Destiny is huge. What I can do in one
night will hardly make a dent."

He didn't like that. He looked around. Here
and there small pockets of healthy plants stood out against the
drab, gray-green of the remaining cropland. Seeing them, he
brightened. "We can't fix everything immediately but we can go for
a psychological lift. People are beginning to panic so even small
areas coming back to life might do wonders for morale."