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Authors: J.L. Hilton
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covered the display with his hand.
“I want to hear you .”
“I’m no singer.”
“I heard otherwise. Or is this something like tits, which we should not discuss?”
“No.” She laughed. “I just feel silly singing to someone else.”
“Singing is the expression of our emotions. When mere speaking is not enough. It is nothing frivolous. Please.”
It was the “please” that moved her. She’d never heard it spoken with such need in all her life. She tried to remember where she’d left off, and began to sing. “It’s not for the parting with my sister Kate; It’s not for the grief of my mother; It’s all for the loss of my bonny Irish lass; That my heart is breaking forever.” Then she repeated the chorus Duin must have overheard. “Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows, and fair is the lily of the valley. Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne. But my love is fairer than any.”
“Thank you.” He ate the raspberry with an air of reverence, as if he were taking communion. Raising his hand, he touched his fingertips to his forehead and then touched her brow. Without another word, he turned and left her alone in the garden.
Genny didn’t want him to go.
***
Seth wouldn’t answer her calls or her email. Whenever she l’upped his locator, he was unavailable. The location of military personnel wasn’t provided to the general public while they were on duty but Genny couldn’t decide whether he was working triple shifts or blocking her. It was a pain in the ass not knowing if she should feel sorry for him or pissed off.
Her forums were crazy with questions and discussions about Duin, but she couldn’t explain his absence. He wasn’t supposed to be transporting water in a stolen Tikati ship, and the colonel wasn’t supposed to be accepting it. Instead, Genny blogged about Asteria Colony.
“The homeless shelter was too dangerous,” one colonist told her during an interview. “My cousin was killed there, and my mom died waiting for a doctor to regenerate her kidneys. I was offered a sponsored relocation and I took it.”
Another told his story. “One night, during a riot, they started grabbing people and shoving us into blocks. We had no idea where we were going, or what to do when we got there. One guy, I think he died of a heart attack. He started freaking out during the space shift.”
“I thought they were sending us to Mars,” said a woman who had become a minor celebrity on Asteria and changed her ID to Demona DeViant . “But they shifted us out here. The block I arrived in was one big room, with a toilet and a sink for, like, fifty people. I made friends with a woman who had her own compartment in another block and we do porn vids.”
Genny was editing the blog post about Demona when she heard Duin’s voice on the other side of her compartment door.
“J’ni, I am here.”
She jumped up from the table to let him in. This time, she did not hesitate as she did in the garden, but threw her arms around him. “You’re all right.”
“I am mostly right,” he corrected in a very tired voice. “But I will not be all right until Glin is free.”
She let go of him, feeling sheepish. “Of course. I…um… I’m glad you’re back, and… I’m working on another blog post right now. But I want to interview you about the ecological issues on Glin, and maybe get some experts to talk about whether or not the damage is reversible.”
His eyes glided over her hair, the edges of her face, her throat, her eyes and around again in circles, taking in every detail. When she began to feel self-conscious, he grinned like a mad monkey and declared, “I will visit the children until you are done.”
It was strange to Genny how much he liked the children. It wasn’t that Genny disliked them—not like Taya and Wyatt. Kids mystified her. And kind of annoyed her. But Duin was so comfortable and affectionate with them, and seemed to enjoy them, even though they weren’t
“I want to hear you .”
“I’m no singer.”
“I heard otherwise. Or is this something like tits, which we should not discuss?”
“No.” She laughed. “I just feel silly singing to someone else.”
“Singing is the expression of our emotions. When mere speaking is not enough. It is nothing frivolous. Please.”
It was the “please” that moved her. She’d never heard it spoken with such need in all her life. She tried to remember where she’d left off, and began to sing. “It’s not for the parting with my sister Kate; It’s not for the grief of my mother; It’s all for the loss of my bonny Irish lass; That my heart is breaking forever.” Then she repeated the chorus Duin must have overheard. “Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows, and fair is the lily of the valley. Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne. But my love is fairer than any.”
“Thank you.” He ate the raspberry with an air of reverence, as if he were taking communion. Raising his hand, he touched his fingertips to his forehead and then touched her brow. Without another word, he turned and left her alone in the garden.
Genny didn’t want him to go.
***
Seth wouldn’t answer her calls or her email. Whenever she l’upped his locator, he was unavailable. The location of military personnel wasn’t provided to the general public while they were on duty but Genny couldn’t decide whether he was working triple shifts or blocking her. It was a pain in the ass not knowing if she should feel sorry for him or pissed off.
Her forums were crazy with questions and discussions about Duin, but she couldn’t explain his absence. He wasn’t supposed to be transporting water in a stolen Tikati ship, and the colonel wasn’t supposed to be accepting it. Instead, Genny blogged about Asteria Colony.
“The homeless shelter was too dangerous,” one colonist told her during an interview. “My cousin was killed there, and my mom died waiting for a doctor to regenerate her kidneys. I was offered a sponsored relocation and I took it.”
Another told his story. “One night, during a riot, they started grabbing people and shoving us into blocks. We had no idea where we were going, or what to do when we got there. One guy, I think he died of a heart attack. He started freaking out during the space shift.”
“I thought they were sending us to Mars,” said a woman who had become a minor celebrity on Asteria and changed her ID to Demona DeViant . “But they shifted us out here. The block I arrived in was one big room, with a toilet and a sink for, like, fifty people. I made friends with a woman who had her own compartment in another block and we do porn vids.”
Genny was editing the blog post about Demona when she heard Duin’s voice on the other side of her compartment door.
“J’ni, I am here.”
She jumped up from the table to let him in. This time, she did not hesitate as she did in the garden, but threw her arms around him. “You’re all right.”
“I am mostly right,” he corrected in a very tired voice. “But I will not be all right until Glin is free.”
She let go of him, feeling sheepish. “Of course. I…um… I’m glad you’re back, and… I’m working on another blog post right now. But I want to interview you about the ecological issues on Glin, and maybe get some experts to talk about whether or not the damage is reversible.”
His eyes glided over her hair, the edges of her face, her throat, her eyes and around again in circles, taking in every detail. When she began to feel self-conscious, he grinned like a mad monkey and declared, “I will visit the children until you are done.”
It was strange to Genny how much he liked the children. It wasn’t that Genny disliked them—not like Taya and Wyatt. Kids mystified her. And kind of annoyed her. But Duin was so comfortable and affectionate with them, and seemed to enjoy them, even though they weren’t
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