I’ll do that.” He picked up a fat scroll from the corner of the table and rolled it open. “I’ll teach you to keep track of the genetic combinations and note the characteristics of the embryos and the growing spawns. You’ll also learn to move the embryos to pots when they’re ready to root in soil.”
Mara tried to read the last line on the scroll, but it appeared to be just a bunch of indecipherable numbers. “Can I take care of the spawn I have now?”
“You may keep that responsibility along with your new duties.” Mardon rolled up the scroll. “He seems to be a good specimen, so you can perform the daily maintenance.”
“I’ve done feedings plenty of times.”
He patted her on the head. “Why don’t you feed him now? After you’re done, you can consider your banishment terminated and go back to your normal labors for the rest of the day. You may tell the other girls about your new position in the control room, if you wish, but they may not join you here. You know the penalty for anyone who enters this room without permission.”
Mara firmed her chin. She didn’t want to utter the words. Acacia had haunted her dreams for too many nights, and she didn’t want anyone else to suffer like that.
Mardon nodded toward the door. “After the feeding, go back to the quarry level. I’ll see you here in the morning.”
Mara walked out without a word. With the image of Acacia’s terrified face searing her mind, she knew a round of nightmares would torment her again tonight.
The light from the control room guided her to the lantern shelf. She picked up a lantern and mechanically struck two flint stones together to light it, listening to the sound of the control room door snapping shut and the lock wheel clicking as it spun around. Plodding in a daze toward her growth chamber, she remembered to pick up a jar of plant food from the spawns’ pantry as she passed by.
Her stomach grumbled. “Quiet,” she scolded. “There’s nothing in there for you to eat, unless you’re hungry for ground-up worm guts.” Her stomach churned again. “Yeah, I know. Our dinner won’t be much better.”
When she arrived at the growth chamber, her spawn grinned. Mara jumped up to the hearth. “Are you happy to see me?” She opened the jar and angled it toward the plant. “I have something new for you. I’m going to teach you to eat through your mouth!” She dipped her finger into the wet, loamy goop and smeared a dab across the spawn’s tiny lips. The little plant moved his mouth, allowing a narrow slit to open, and Mara pushed a morsel of food in. The spawn’s thin smile widened as it smacked its lips together.
Mara laughed. “This is going to be easy! You have to be the smartest spawn ever!”
When she finished the feeding, she caressed his green cheek. “Good night,” she whispered. The spawn’s lips stretched into a yawn, his eyelets fluttered, and he seemed to drift into sleep.
Mara kissed the top of his pod, then dashed out of the growth chamber. She bolted through the corridor and into the elevation shaft, grabbing a cudgel from the shaft’s platform floor. After rapping on a metal plate that hung from the wall, she shouted into a tube that ran down the shaft. “Chazaq! It’s Mara. I need to go down three levels.”
The platform eased downward. As the descent paused intermittently, Mara imagined the huge giant at the bottom letting the rope slide through his massive hands, grabbing it every few seconds to keep her from plummeting all the way to the brick-making kilns, a forbidden zone for all the girls.
Sulfur fumes assaulted her nose, intensifying by the second. When she reached the third quarry level, she jumped out and swiveled her head. A glow from the nearby magma river illuminated the enormous cavern, but it flowed behind a granite wall, safely away from her sensitive eyes.
“Paili!” she called. “Are you down here?” Three girls walked by, each carrying a bucket of wet rocks, but only one turned to look at Mara. With her glazed eyes and dirty chin and sweat dripping from her stringy hair, she seemed more dead than alive.
Mara pulled her coif from her pocket and mopped her brow. The heat was more oppressive than usual. “Paili!” she called again, tying her coif and stuffing her hair underneath. “Has anyone seen Paili?”