When the Earth Had a Moon (Part 1) by A.M. Cunning

Author:A.M. Cunning [Cunning, A.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MEL Press
Published: 2017-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Rex stopped his work in the mining lab to listen to Ed’s announcement. The Chinese evacuee list was posted. He went to his monitor on the wall to read the names. Mei’s name was on the list; Feng Feng’s was not. Rex put his rock samples away and went to find Mei. Luckily, his first stop was her quarters, and she was inside, so there was no need to walk around the base looking for her with his cumbersome crutch. Mei was sitting in the chair next to her bed. She waved for him to come inside.

Rex put down his crutch and sat down on her bed. “What are you going to do?”

“I can’t go back,” Mei said.

“But you have to.”

“Do I?”

Rex put his hand on Mei’s shoulder. “It’s not safe for you, not now.”

“What if I miss the shuttle?”

Rex laughed. “That’s not possible; they will be out there waiting a long time.”

“Things happen,” Mei said.

“Mei, please, there’s no reason to be here anymore.”

Mei got up and moved over to her desk. “You don’t understand. My work is not finished.”

“That’s not what’s important now.”

Mei took a stern tone. “It’s the only thing that’s important now.”

“How can you say that?”

“If I leave now, with my work unfinished, I have nothing to offer when I get home. I will have no job, and my family is not going to understand me giving birth to a baby that is not Quon’s.”

“But Mei, they have to understand that you must move on.”

“They will not support me or this child.”

“There’s no perfect solution, but I am sure a university would take you.”

“No, not without a breakthrough,” Mei said.

“You don’t know that.”

“What about you then? I suppose you’re all packed?”

Rex did not answer.

“Exactly,” Mei said.

“Things will probably get worse up here,” Rex said.

“Right,” Mei said, “and if I leave now, then whoever continues with my work will get all of the credit when things get better.”

“But you have to consider the possibility that Moon-X may walk away from everything,” Rex said.

“Not while I’m up here.”

Rex said exactly what was on his mind. “If you are planning on keeping Jack’s baby, you have to go.”

“And if I leave, and something happens up here to everyone, how could I live with that?”

Rex shook his head. “Staying won’t prevent that.”

“I won’t have to live with the knowledge of it, though.”

“Better to live,” Rex said.

“Is it?”

“Mei! Listen to yourself. You aren’t thinking right.”

“I can’t lose anyone else. Not you, not Feng Feng, not anyone. Not after—” Mei stopped speaking. She turned her head away, trying to hold back her tears and refused to look at or talk to Rex any further. Rex could offer no more rebuttals. He knew there would be no convincing her, other than taking her to the shuttle himself.

“You know what you have to do.”

“Leave me alone to think,” Mei said.

Rex nodded. Mei stood up and helped Rex get to his feet. Then she went over to her closet and grabbed a bottle of Scotch from a box.

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