Forever Magazine Issue 2 by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: magazine, novelette, novella, science fiction, science fiction magazine, short stories, short story
Publisher: Wyrm Publishing
Published: 2015-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

6

“I had a brother,” Lai told me.

It was my first run, outbound; she’d woken us both early so I could get used to the bed sickness you got the first few times, trembling fingers and legs that sometimes gave out on you when you weren’t even doing anything. She jogged with me through the corridors until I was sweaty and shaking, and then we sat in the pilot seats at the comm and she pulled up the viewscreen and pointed out Gliese 581. It had a thin halo around it, a band of dust.

“That’s the worlds,” Lai said. “D’s somewhere in there, second-to-last orbit out. You can’t see it yet.”

I looked closer, jumped a little when Lai said, “Capella, zoom in on Gliese a second,” and it reappeared big enough that I could see tiny spheres amid the noise, the ghosts of planets.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

Lai was smiling, small and real, not like the one she turned on Morales when he was giving her shit.

“It’s not bad,” she said. “They’ve gotten farther than most colonies. The surface still isn’t much to talk about—domes in the capital city still, in case the atmosphere turns on them, and a lot of cargo-crate bricks in the outlands. Out in the wilds it’s a lot of ferns and brackish water and forests of native trees that don’t bear any fruit. But they’ve got the gardens now, and their population’s growing. It’s no wonder they’re so mad Earth gave up on them ever coming up with something impressive.”

“What were they expecting, gold?”

“Flying fish,” Lai said. “Dragons. Who knows. Something more exciting than just a place to breathe. Someplace that would send supplies, not need them.”

“Do they send anything back?”

Lai smiled. “Yeah. Somebody got smart and started planting rice. The GAU was pretty happy to hear that. The colony traded for some bees, a run or two back. I guess they’re working on whatever needs pollinating and grows in soggy ground. Who knows what they have now.”

I remembered it must be nearly fifteen years since she’d seen it last. (It’s the first time I really think about the relativity. For a second I feel sharp and helpless, hard enough to stop your heart.)

“They’re never going to see you get old, are they.”

I wasn’t talking about Gliese; she must have known.

“My brother didn’t,” she said. “But he had a daughter, Faye, and every time I come back she’s in a different tax bracket. She’s seen it. I’m a great-aunt already, and I suspect by the time I get back there will be more.”

The speech was sad, but practical in the way of people who travel long distances—truckers and sailors everywhere you go. She didn’t sound like she was running. I envied her.

“My brother didn’t get it. This. But he didn’t give me shit about it like my sisters did. Faye sends messages.”

“What does she say?”

“Not much,” Lai said, with half a grin. “Like I’m a hologram that shows up every two decades for New Year and hands out red envelopes and talks about some planet deep in the sky that they’ll never see.

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