We Shadows

Chapter 13: finding differences

Esperanza was a little bored as the rumbling machines did most of the work and people scurried from place to place. She was still glad she had come; Blair definitely didn't need to spent his time away from his son tapping his fingers, but she wished she would have realized there would be so little work for her to do. She could have borrowed one of Levi's books. She had never left the base for so long; Lully and she had talked about spending the night out at the lake, but with everything that kept happening at the base, that trip had been tabled indefinitely. The air was noticeably thinner, and she felt tired, even though she hadn't done anything at all.

She didn't like to bother Harriet and Oliver; they were so busy and she always felt that she was taking up too much space in their close quarters. So as dinner started she slung the bag over her shoulder and wandered between the tents and out toward the mining.

The landscape was strange and beautiful. They were far enough away that they couldn't see the base, and so there was only rocky ground and lavender sky all around. The mountain cast a shadow over the camp in the morning, but now, it was lit by the setting sun. The rocky surface glimmered in the orange light of the sun, casting long shadows as people began prepping for the cool night. The clouds were magnificent shades of purple and blue and pink, but most people didn't look up. Everyone was focused on taking shifts off to get food, and evening prep, and no one had time to look around at the new planet. Joan was standing with several others next to a large machine slicing up the side of a hill. They were shouting to be heard over the machinery and taking notes on their holo-rib. Joan waved to Esperanza, who hurried over.

"Anything wrong?" Joan shouted over the rumble.

"No, just looking around," Esperanza replied. "If anyone's been hurt, they haven't told me about it."

"Can you check on Jacques?" Joan questioned. "He hit his head during install, but if you haven't seen him, then he didn't check in like I told him to."

Esperanza nodded and headed back up to her station, hoping to see Jacques on the way.

"Hey petal." Lully came up behind her and wrapped her in a hug. "Did you have a good day?"

"It was a long, boring day," she said. "I'm glad Dylan did so much work on the environment; can you imagine if we all had to have oxygen masks?"

"We couldn't have done it," Lully agreed. "What are you up to? Have you eaten?"

"Not yet," she said. "I'm looking for Jacques; Joan said he hit his head and didn't tell me."

"I think exploration might be worse than builds," Lully laughed. "You don't have some sort of extra sense; they have to tell you when something has happened."

"I know that; it's everyone else who seems confused," Esperanza smiled. "What did mischief did you get up to?"

"Petal, I am the paragon of propriety," Lully told her, mock indignant.

She laughed and twirled out of his embrace. "I'd be happy to have dinner after I treat Jacques," she told him. "Meet you at the tent?"

He nodded and Esperanza pulled out her holo-rib, not wishing to traipse around these tents until nightfall to find this man. She was a little out of breath from her trek around the camp; hunting a patient down was not how she wanted to spend her evening. Jacques answered slowly.

"Esperanza? By the stars, I told Joan I'm fine."

"Then you won't mind if I confirm that," Esperanza said. "I just want to see if you have a concussion. If you don't, you can call both Joan and I worriers, and we can all move on."

"Fine. I just got dinner; I'll wait for you at the medical station."

Esperanza smiled and hurried back to the tent. Harriet jerked a thumb towards the back.