to a degree even Ethan admired. But Pavel found a better reason to befriend him: Renard liked racing. Whenever Pavel rose early enough, Renard would come by to suggest a set of laps around one of several courses. Renard’s smaller ship was swift and maneuverable, but Pavel took risks that often paid off in a win.
When Renard discovered Pavel’s background in medicine, Pavel was sent round to set and re-set bones, provide basic dental care, and make his best guess as to odd skin rashes. Harpreet assisted, offering her particular brand of wisdom to adults and children alike. It was rewarding work, and over the course of the next week Pavel felt more and more like an accepted part of the community.
Through these interactions, Pavel became fascinated by the sort of life the desert-dwellers had created, so far from government control.
“It’s the radioactivity makes it all possible,” said Renard one morning after a race. “An instance of a curse becoming a blessing, I suppose.”
Pavel blinked as the two watched the sun cresting a set of rocky hills. “I’ve seen the high rad numbers,” replied Pavel. “And I’ve kept my eye on the numbers every time I do an exam, but it’s like no one’s affected. Heck, even the five of us look just as normal as if we’d spent no time here at all.”
Renard smiled, pulling his long hair through a tie. “It’s the tea. I wondered when you’d ask.”
“The tea?” asked Pavel.
“Only full citizens are instructed in its preparation,” replied Renard. “So don’t ask me how to make it.”
“Oh,” said Pavel, understanding dawning upon him. Along with his friends, he’d been offered a bitter drink twice daily. Their hosts had said it helped regulate health, and Pavel had been meaning to analyze its components. “I assumed it was some kind of aid against dehydration,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to get some under a spectroscope.”
Renard frowned. “Best not to examine the tea. Folks might take that as suspicious behavior. The tea is what keeps us alive out here.”
Pavel nodded. More than ever, he was curious about the tea’s constituent parts, but he saw the wisdom of keeping his curiosity to himself. They were here as tolerated guests.
But after a few more weeks had gone past, Pavel found himself itching to know what herb or root or mineral it might be that went into the brewing of the mysterious tea. He determined to ask the Shirff for permission to analyze an undiluted sample.
So, when a morning came that Renard didn’t show up for racing, Pavel trekked over to the Shirff’s dwelling.
“I’ve got a question from a medical standpoint about the tea we’re drinking every day,” Pavel said. “But I don’t want to investigate without your say-so. Would you be amenable to giving me a sample I can analyze?”
“Interesting question,” replied the Shriff. His cool tones ought to have been a warning to Pavel.
“I figured you’d be the one to ask for permission,” Pavel said.
“Shirff here’s not in a partic’lar answerifying way today,” said a familiar voice.
Pavel looked about for the source and saw Roy rising from a shadowed corner of the Shirff’s dwelling.
The Shirff raised a hand to silence the man and gazed at Pavel, head tilted slightly to one side, a frown creasing his brow. “Roy’s been insisting you looked familiar, like he’d seen you somewhere before. This morning he showed me a picture.” The Shirff stared long and hard at Pavel. “Can you tell me what exactly the Chancellor’s own nephew might be doing in these parts asking after secrets kept by settlements as like to bide on the shady side of Terran law?”
Pavel swallowed. And tried to think of an answer that wouldn’t land him or his friends tied to a cactus and left to die in the desert.
28
FATE OF A LONE GIRL
Jessamyn awoke the next morning with the sense of having left something undone. The solars? Did Mom ask me to give them a scrub? Rolling over, her arm struck the metal bar designed to prevent her from tumbling out of her bunk, and she came fully awake, millions of kilometers from her mom and the solars. Her throat felt awful—like it had the day she’d dared her brother to eat sand. Ethan had sensibly declined, but Jessamyn, curious, had tried it. One painful swallow had been enough to keep her from consuming more.
She climbed out of her bunk and shuffled to the rations room where she drank not one but two water packets to soothe