Midnight Never Ends by R. Patricia Wayne

Author:R. Patricia Wayne [Wayne, R. Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Marina and I began our harvest with the apples. Finding one within arms reach, I snatched it from the tree and took a big bite. It filled my mouth with its juicy sweetness. I never imagined that real apples could taste so good. The MRE’s apple-substitute flavor would never taste the same again.

“Oh my god,” I said aloud. After holding the apple in between my teeth, I signed to her, “This is the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten.”

She laughed, then signed back. Since you’re eating, I’ll climb the tree. I’ll drop the apples and you catch them, okay?

“How about we eat, then we’ll work.” I pointed upward. “Grab an apple.”

She giggled. Sure.

And as we sat in the overgrown grass, enjoying our apples, I took the opportunity to learn more about Marina. We’d been signing off and on since we met, but this was our first real conversation.

“How does everything stay so pristine around here?” I signed to her. “After all these years being vacant, who keeps this station clean?”

She laughed. We have an environmental service system, don’t you?

“What is that?” I cringed.

They are little automated drones, smaller than a shoebox, and there’s a bunch of them. Every Sunday night, everyone knows we need to go back to our apartments by midnight. If any of the hallways, offices, and shops are not clear, they don’t get cleaned. If they are, something like sanitizer sprays out of the ceilings and dries quickly. The drones do the rest. There are slots in the walls. They use them to go from area to area, dusting, vaporizing loose trash, polishing floors. Basically, anything that needs done, they’ll do it.

“We don’t have anything like that. That’s a really good idea. Why didn’t we think of that?” I smiled at her. “So, you lived in an apartment with your parents?”

Yes. Where do your parents live? In an apartment like me?

Well, that was a sore subject. I decided to give her the abbreviated version.

“My parents died when I was two. I’ve been living in a ranger training camp for as long as I can remember.”

I’m sorry about your parents. Do you like living with the rangers?

I nodded. “I’ve learned everything they taught me. It was easy for me. And now I’m a communications specialist with a rewarding career waiting for me when I get home. As long as I don’t have to go back to camp for a couple months in order to graduate, that is.”

Oh! You can have a real job at sixteen?

“Fifteen, actually. I chose to stay an extra two years in order to become a specialist. Even people who aren’t rangers get jobs at fifteen. You can’t do that here?”

No. You can work part-time when you’re underage, but you can’t get a full-time job until you’re eighteen. Or older, if you go through the university program.

“That sounds cruel. Well, once you’re on Mars, you won’t have to stay in school for those three extra years. You’ll be a free woman the day you turn fifteen.

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