Chapter 17 Dana
I brought the artificial vanilla latte to my lips and took a sip. It was my second one today, and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. I was pleasantly caffeinated, which was my usual state.
“I've got to give it to them,” I said, leaning back against my chair. “These replicators make a mean faux-faux-faux latte.”
Tasha frowned. “I get the first faux, because most coffee is made from a local substitute. And I get the second faux, because the Kadrixan replicators make a fake version of the already fake thing. But why the third one?”
“The third one’s for the vanilla,” I said. “That vanilla is fake as fuck.”
Vanilla beans were even rarer than coffee beans on Vokira. Neither plant did well on the planet, and importing them from Earth was so expensive that only the rich could have real coffee or vanilla.
“Not that I would know what real vanilla tastes like,” I said after another sip. “But whatever this is, it’s damn good.”
Shortly after Penelope had made her dramatic exit with her mate, a fight broke out right in front of Julie and me between two warriors outside of the training ring. The rut was affecting every Kadrixan in the stronghold.
It was then that I’d decided to sit out the rest of this year’s rut. I just wasn’t interested in anyone other than Gnnar. Just thinking about sleeping with any of the exceptionally muscled warriors around felt wrong.
“Technically, you’ve already done more than your share of the hard work this rutting season,” Julie had said. “Not that we’re counting.”
She’d then grabbed the warrior she’d been eyeing like a piece of cake, and they disappeared into the stronghold. I found Sami in the cafeteria, sneaking a bite before returning to Ellaston, and asked him to take me with him. Sure, I could hang out inside the women’s dorm area to avoid the warriors, but that was boring, and I was super curious about the settlement.
I’d been here since.
Tasha had flown in this morning in the arms of her warrior, holding a welcome basket for me. They looked for me in the stronghold first, and when they hadn’t found me, they’d come here. Tasha’s mate, Rrak, seemed a lot more mellow compared to Vostak. He’d left her here for a few hours so he could get a quick round of hunting done in the mountains nearby.
After he left, Tasha had confidently said, “He has like two hours at most before the rut has him crawling back. He plans short hunts during the rut every year, but it never works out. He’s like a rampaging charger during the rut, and every prey animal can hear him. He never learns.”
And that had me thinking about Gnnar and his quick hunt in the badlands. He’d had no problems hunting.
She’d then hooked her arm through mine and said she’d answer any questions I had over a replicator coffee. I couldn’t think of any questions, but I wouldn’t mind another coffee, so we headed to the fancy Kadrixan-made food and beverage replicator in the main community building.
As we enjoyed our drinks, hogging one of the unused tables, she went through the welcome kit, which to my surprise, included a communication device.
I dug my phone, which was currently about as useful as a brick since I had no way to charge it, out of my pocket. “There’s still information on here I’d like to keep,” I said. “Do you think we can transfer it?”
“Off the top of my head, I think Annabel has an adapter.”
I’d met Annabel briefly yesterday. She was one of the engineers here and had headed the project to reprogram Exotech’s robohounds and the village’s single super soldier, Igor.
“I’ll go bother her later,” I said. The last time I saw her, she had her hands inside the former Exotech super soldier, messing with who knew what. Igor just sat there, looking like he’d been turned off, until he suddenly opened his eyes and waved hello to me. The whole thing had creeped me out.
“You’ll probably want to recycle that phone after you recover the data. Unlike that one, this one’s yours to keep.”
She was referring to the fact that we didn’t really own any of the devices we had in Nova Vita. Instead, we paid a transfer fee to one of the two colony-approved providers to connect the device to our contacts and then the monthly license to use them. That meant we technically weren’t legally allowed to make any alterations to them; this included downloading and running non-approved apps and programs or replacing the shitty battery with something not programmed to fail after two years.
“There are only three numbers programmed into it right now,” Tasha continued. “Penelope’s, mine, and Julie’s. So if you think of any questions, just drop me a message. We put the newcomer guides on the device. There’s one for the stronghold and one for Ellaston.” She handed the device to me, and I chuckled when I saw the image on the home screen.
It was a picture of Julie with her arms across her chest and the words “S’up, bitches?” written over her head. Back in our school days, we’d found antiquated Earth slang and sayings hilarious and had spent a good year using them. Was it nerdy? For sure. But we didn’t care. Also, it made us realize that people back in the day on Earth weren’t much different from us.
“I know they make it sound like the stronghold and the settlement are two very distinct places, but you’ve probably guessed by now that they are not. Basically, if you are a resident of one, you’re automatically welcomed at the other, though usually we choose where we want to stay most of the time. I stay at the stronghold with my mate, and Julie is there most of the time too. But Penelope flies back and forth because she’s technically in charge of planning part of Ellaston’s infrastructure. She went to school for colony planning, so it’s perfect. I heard you were a journalist back in Nova Vita.”
“Yeah. Well, as much as I could be working for Omnia Pictures anyway. Everything I wrote had to be vetted multiple times and match their pro-colony narrative.”
“I bet. Have you given any thought to what you want to do here?”
“Not yet. I’m not even sure I want to continue being a journalist. I mean, yes, I want to put out something respectable for once. But after?” I shrugged. “Honestly, everything still feels like a dream, and I’m worried I’ll wake up in my bed at home in Nova Vita.”
What a nightmare that would be! Waking up to realize I’d never met or spent any time with Gnnar. And that it had been all in my head. That would make him a literal dream guy in the worst way possible.
“Well, if you are going to make a career change, now’s the time.” She stood. “Want to come stock the library with me? Penelope just finished her most recent Penny Wrights book.” She dug into her bag and pulled out a paperback book.
I gawked at the book. No one owned physical books anymore unless they were researching something in the archives or were freakin’ rich and had a private library. It was much cheaper to just pay for the temporary rights to read the electronic copies.
“Most people read the digital copies, but there’s nothing like physical books. I worked in the archives way back when. I started the library over at the stronghold, and when Chris and Mark started up here, they invited me to set one up here too. The collection is mostly digital, but I print up physical copies when I can, especially for reference material. And, of course, Penny’s work.”
“I haven’t met Mark or Chris yet, but I’ve heard all about them.”
“They’re usually either in their office or running around like mad trying to keep the place going. I’m sure you’ll bump into them soon.”
“I’m sure I will.” I started packing all my goodies back into the basket so I could bring them with me. “Say, you mentioned looking for me at the stronghold first. I was wondering if you know how Gnnar’s doing. Is he out of the infirmary yet?”
“Oh boy, do I have a story for you,” she said, grabbing her latte.
“I’m all ears.”
“We were asking around for you, and Gnnar comes out of nowhere in a rage and just punches my mate in the face.”
I gasped. “What? Oh no! I’m so sorry.”
She waved away my concern. “It’s the rut. They get like that. They tussled a bit, and Sarah offered to um… help him cool off…”
Who the hell is Sarah? demanded the little green-eyed monster in my head.
“But he completely ignored her. It took several warriors to restrain him so Rrak and I could retreat. I heard they’re worried it’s a side effect of some dart he got hit with, but I think it’s just the rut hitting him hard. He looked good though. Strong. I couldn’t even tell he was injured.”
“I see.” I wasn’t sure if I was glad he’d rejected the other woman or scared that he was acting so violent.
It had been hard not to think about Gnnar constantly while I was here. I kept thinking I saw him everywhere, and my heart would speed up, and I’d get that stupid, silly hopeful feeling. But when I looked, it was always some other warrior.
As we made our way to the second common building, I felt dozens of eyes on me. Sami had made general introductions when we first got here, but I didn’t remember anyone’s name on the account that I’d been dead tired.
“There’s Mark now.” Tasha waved to a man with his blond hair in a man bun.
The man she gestured to didn’t look very happy. He stormed directly toward us.
“You must be Dana. I’m Mark.”
“I am. Nice to meet you.” I stuck out my hand and put on my professional face, the one I used when meeting new people for my job, especially if I didn’t know if they were hostile or not.
He took my hand and shook. “Sorry if I’m coming off unfriendly. I don’t mean to. But we’ve got a little problem.” He turned the screen of his device toward me.
“ Omnia Pictures Journalist Kidnapped for Monster Rut,” I read out loud. “What! That’s not true.” I shook my head. “But it’s something Omnia Pictures would publish as long as Nova Vita paid the right sum.”
I kept reading. The bullshit article even had commentaries from my parents, who were begging the authorities to do everything in their power to bring me back. Except both of my parents were long gone. My dad passed when I was really young in a work-related accident, and I was raised by my mom. I lost Mom in the floods of the Big Tsunami.
But hey, they interviewed my neighbor, and that part was probably real. It was an Omnia Pictures special, seamlessly mixing truths and lies so you could never tell what was what.
“I’m so livid I can’t keep reading, but I’ve spent my whole life writing articles like this. I swear, I tried to find another job but couldn’t. And then Julie went missing, and I knew I had to use my contacts to find her.”
Mark’s face softened. “We understand. We all had to live.”
“Yeah, we get it. You had to publish what they wanted,” Tasha said, nodding. “Have you met Kat?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve met so many people in the last two days that I don’t remember.”
“She was Councillor Dubois’s assistant.”
My eyes widened. “Oh! That Kat! I have met her. But not here in Ellaston. I interviewed her once. She’s here? And alive?”
Councillor Dubois and his assistant had disappeared shortly after the information on the Utopia Project had leaked. It was assumed that they’d gone into hiding together, abandoning his “poor” wife. It was “true love,” they’d said since she was willing to go on the run and disappear with him, even after he’d lost it all. I’d always thought it was a crock of bull.
Mark nodded solemnly. “She is. She splits her time between here and the stronghold. And if the other settlers can accept her, then they can accept you. So your old job isn’t the problem. Keep reading.”
I did, and the words had me fuming. Nova Vita was considering it an act of war!
“They’re using me as an excuse to start a fucking war? Hell no! They’re after the ore in the mountains. Have been since the treaty with the Kadrixans ended. I’m not going to let it happen. Do you have a way to broadcast to Nova Vita? I’m assuming you do because I watched the documentary with the survivors you rescued from one of the labs.”
“We do.”
“Good. I’m going to make sure Nova Vita knows the truth.”
“Good for you!” Tasha gave me a double thumbs-up. “You show them who’s boss.”
“We can film it right now if you’re ready.”
“I sure am.”
Tasha continued to the library, and I stepped back into the community center with Mark, ready to rip Nova Vita a new one.