Read Online The Creative Fire: 1 (Ruby's Song) by Brenda Cooper - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Brenda Cooper
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racing.
Marcelle tapped her toes. Ruby started walking the room, introducing herself.
Onor paced. He wasn’t as outgoing as Ruby, didn’t really understand why she wanted to meet everyone right away. They were stuck here. There was time. Besides, if he started shaking hands with people, they’d know his hands were sweating.
He felt nervous anytime he knew he was about to be told what to do. He hated it—hated people making him do things he didn’t want to. But his parents had died fighting the reds. Ruby. Ruby was always a rebel, and he was a planet to her sun. He couldn’t help himself, even though she scared him.
At least when the voice came it was human and not Ix, a man’s voice that he hadn’t ever heard. “Please take your seats.”
There weren’t enough seats for everyone.
More time passed, people slowly stilling until the group noise had been reduced to whispers and the quiet shuffling of bodies.
“Remain calm. C-pod may be uninhabitable for some time. The walls are too weak to provide safe life support and the gravgens remain unreliable. Students are to begin attending school immediately in the pod they now reside in.”
A thin, willowy woman next to them chewed on her lip as she stood stiffly; her entire body looked like it was listening.
“Some people will be shifted in order to place elders and children back with their caregivers. This will take place after the Festival of Changes.” The thin woman let out a long sigh and whispered, “So long?” as if she might break.
The voice repeated itself. “Approved moves will take place in two weeks at the Festival of Changes.” There was a pause before it continued. “In the meantime, everyone is on ten percent reduced rations.”
He’d expected that.
“No marriages will be allowed for a year. No pregnancies.”
He looked around at the dismay on people’s faces. If they knew they’d be home in a year, would they feel differently?
8: Ix’s Explanation
Ruby tried to walk the park path fast enough to outdistance her nerves. Her belly tightened, the way she felt just before she sang for a crowd. She’d staged her conversation with Ix in the emptiest public place she knew.
Besides, public places meant cameras, and she wanted a record of the conversation.
The park was as empty as she expected it to be. Only one pair of reds, two serious men walking side by side deep in conversation. They might be a threat, but they hadn’t noticed her so far. Reds at home knew her; in this new place she wasn’t watched as much.
She walked a long time, keeping an eye on the reds, trying to look like she was there for exercise. Waiting for the others.
The last-years had been given two weeks of alternate work assignments in place of going to class. Ruby had been assigned grunt work in bot-repair. She recognized most of the pieces she was given to clean up as having come from C-pod. Onor and Lya worked on the C-pod reclamation. Air had been blown back into the pod after the initial repairs, but they had to wear pressure suits and face masks the whole time in case of failure. Marcelle helped with elementary classes in the crèche. Hugh chafed because medical kept him on rest.
Setting aside the idea of looking for her Aunt Daria, Ruby had returned to Owl Paulie four times in ten days, slowly pulling details out of him. The second time, Hugh had shown up to stand like a ghost in the background, his black eye and bruises goading her. He’d become a silent partner in Ruby’s talks with his grandfather, bringing them water but adding neither comments nor questions.
This park was the same size and shape as her old one, but the controls refused to respond to her. The default breeze felt soft and warm. The flocks of birds and the fake flowers were more stylized and brighter, as if a different artist had worked on them. On the far edge, the orchard’s branches hung heavy with bright yellow-gold and fully ripe breakfruit, half a season away from the orchard
Marcelle tapped her toes. Ruby started walking the room, introducing herself.
Onor paced. He wasn’t as outgoing as Ruby, didn’t really understand why she wanted to meet everyone right away. They were stuck here. There was time. Besides, if he started shaking hands with people, they’d know his hands were sweating.
He felt nervous anytime he knew he was about to be told what to do. He hated it—hated people making him do things he didn’t want to. But his parents had died fighting the reds. Ruby. Ruby was always a rebel, and he was a planet to her sun. He couldn’t help himself, even though she scared him.
At least when the voice came it was human and not Ix, a man’s voice that he hadn’t ever heard. “Please take your seats.”
There weren’t enough seats for everyone.
More time passed, people slowly stilling until the group noise had been reduced to whispers and the quiet shuffling of bodies.
“Remain calm. C-pod may be uninhabitable for some time. The walls are too weak to provide safe life support and the gravgens remain unreliable. Students are to begin attending school immediately in the pod they now reside in.”
A thin, willowy woman next to them chewed on her lip as she stood stiffly; her entire body looked like it was listening.
“Some people will be shifted in order to place elders and children back with their caregivers. This will take place after the Festival of Changes.” The thin woman let out a long sigh and whispered, “So long?” as if she might break.
The voice repeated itself. “Approved moves will take place in two weeks at the Festival of Changes.” There was a pause before it continued. “In the meantime, everyone is on ten percent reduced rations.”
He’d expected that.
“No marriages will be allowed for a year. No pregnancies.”
He looked around at the dismay on people’s faces. If they knew they’d be home in a year, would they feel differently?
8: Ix’s Explanation
Ruby tried to walk the park path fast enough to outdistance her nerves. Her belly tightened, the way she felt just before she sang for a crowd. She’d staged her conversation with Ix in the emptiest public place she knew.
Besides, public places meant cameras, and she wanted a record of the conversation.
The park was as empty as she expected it to be. Only one pair of reds, two serious men walking side by side deep in conversation. They might be a threat, but they hadn’t noticed her so far. Reds at home knew her; in this new place she wasn’t watched as much.
She walked a long time, keeping an eye on the reds, trying to look like she was there for exercise. Waiting for the others.
The last-years had been given two weeks of alternate work assignments in place of going to class. Ruby had been assigned grunt work in bot-repair. She recognized most of the pieces she was given to clean up as having come from C-pod. Onor and Lya worked on the C-pod reclamation. Air had been blown back into the pod after the initial repairs, but they had to wear pressure suits and face masks the whole time in case of failure. Marcelle helped with elementary classes in the crèche. Hugh chafed because medical kept him on rest.
Setting aside the idea of looking for her Aunt Daria, Ruby had returned to Owl Paulie four times in ten days, slowly pulling details out of him. The second time, Hugh had shown up to stand like a ghost in the background, his black eye and bruises goading her. He’d become a silent partner in Ruby’s talks with his grandfather, bringing them water but adding neither comments nor questions.
This park was the same size and shape as her old one, but the controls refused to respond to her. The default breeze felt soft and warm. The flocks of birds and the fake flowers were more stylized and brighter, as if a different artist had worked on them. On the far edge, the orchard’s branches hung heavy with bright yellow-gold and fully ripe breakfruit, half a season away from the orchard
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