Read Online IGMS Issue 44 by IGMS - Free Book Online Page B

deviants. I don't intend to spread those misconceptions to Blue Two."
    Jake turned to Malia. "Is the tickling in your head disturbing you? Is it giving you a headache?"
    She shook her head and smiled.
    "No brain scan," Andrea said, echoing Jake's thoughts.
    "There are no guarantees in life," Doctor Venus said. "But I think getting out of here as quickly as possible would be a very wise decision."
    Cai nodded emphatically, and they said their goodbyes.
    While the Durows waited for departure, Jake stood gazing one last time out the port window screen at the deepness of space outside. Empty still. But for the first time in ages he found himself staring at the stars that shone in the darkness, millions of stars offering what light they could.
    It felt good to notice the light.
    He turned to Andrea and saw the stars reflected in her eyes. He read anxiety as well, but the courage in her eyes clearly won out and settled over him.
    "Let's go," he said. "It's time we moved on."



 
A Good Mother
     
    by Andrea G. Stewart
     
    Artwork by Andres Mossa
----
    Pehlu was a sandpiper the first time I met him.
    In the pre-dawn hours, I escaped the confines of my fourth-level bed and crept to the shore. Even the sharp eyes and ears of third-grandmother didn't catch me. I went to the beach to be alone; only the fishermen were out on the pier, casting their lines into the sea.
    I caught Pehlu the sandpiper with a laugh in the back of my throat, my outstretched fingers a net. The ocean's breeze ruffled the feathers over my knuckles and his round eyes stared at me, bright as polished stones. He fit neatly in my thirteen-year-old hands, and his heartbeat thrummed against my palms.
    When I brought the bird level with my eyes, he spoke.
    "Ulaa."
    I nearly dropped him. "How do you know my name?"
    "Each time you come to the shore, you chase the birds and cry out, 'Ulaa comes for you!'"
    A flush crept up my neck. "I do not."
    "You do. I've seen it."
    "There are many girls my age living on the island. It could have been someone who only looked like me."
    The bird did not reply. His legs kicked the empty air beneath my hands.
    "Well," I said, finally, "what is
your
name?"
    "Peluvisinaka."
    "I like Pehlu better."
    "Very well. Can you please put me down?"
    I could not think of how to deny so polite a request, so I placed him back on the sand.
    He shook himself and began to preen.
    "You're not a real sandpiper," I said. I crouched, and the salt-seaweed smell of the ocean washed over me. A tiny crab, disturbed by my presence, scuttled back into its hole.
    "I am, for now."
    "You're a
kailun
-- a spirit."
    He snatched up a beetle and swallowed it. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
    "You talk. Sandpipers don't talk."
    Pehlu looked up at me, his head tilted to the side. "Mother tells me I shouldn't."
    A sudden rush of kinship filled my chest. "My mother tells me I shouldn't run off to the shore in the mornings. But my cousins above and below me snore, and it gets hot in the sleeper, and sometimes I feel that if I don't get away, my own skin will suffocate me."
    The sandpiper nodded, wisely as any grandfather. "I feel that way too, before I grow."
    I thought for a moment. "When you grow big enough, one of my people's grandparents will eat you. That's what happens to all the
kailun
."
    "Maybe you can keep me safe."
    I straightened, rocking my knees onto the cold sand. "We should be friends. I don't have any."
    "Neither do I."
    "Ulaa!" My mother's voice echoed down the beach. I glanced back and saw her striding toward me, her long brown hair whipping in the wind. The sun had crested the horizon, and others were making their way to the shore. By the time it was afternoon, a swell and press of bodies would move from the sleepers to the outdoors. The waves would be dotted with children, the sand covered with people plying their trades.
    "I have to go," I whispered before rising to my feet and letting my mother overtake me.
    I did not protest as she took my