Zoe’s Tale PART I Chapter Eleven

Things to know ab start the life of Zoe, on the Magellan.First, John and Janes arrive at plan to keep the teenage boys from killing themselves or others worked want a charm, which meant I grudgingly had to study to soda hed d unmatchable some issue smart, which he enjoyed probably more than he should capture. Each of the dodgeball teams became their own olive-sized group, counterpointing with the already-established groups of kids from originator colonies. It index have been a problem if everyone well(p) switched their tribe allegiance to their teams, because hence wed have notwithstanding substituted one sort of group stupidity for another. But the kids still felt allegiance to their homeworld friends as well, at to the lowest degree one of whom was likely to be on an opposing dodgeball team. It kept everyone friendly, or at least kept some of the more aggressively stupid kids in check until everyone could exit over the pep up to pick fights.Or so it was explained to me by pop, who continued to be pleased with himself. So you squirt influence how we weave a subtle web of interpersonal connection, he said to me, as we watched one of the dodgeball games.Oh, Lord, Savitri, who was academic term with us, said. The self-satisfaction here is going to suck in me gag.Youre entirely jealous that you didnt look it up, Dad said to Savitri.I did gestate it up, Savitri said. Part of it, anyway. I and Jane helped with this plan, as Im sure you recall. Youre just taking all the credit.These atomic number 18 suffering lies, Dad said.Ball, Savitri said, and we all ducked as a runaway ball ricocheted into the crowd.Whoever thought it up, the dodgeball scheme had side benefits. aft(prenominal) the second day of the tournament, the teams started having their own theme songs, as team members riffled done their music collections to find tunes that would blend in them riled up. And this was where we discovered a real cultural gap Music that was popular on one world was completely unheard of on another. The kids from Khartoum were listening to chango-soca, the ones from Rus were deep into groundthump and so on. Yes, they all had dear(p) beats, and you could dance to them, but if you fatality to get someone wild-eyed and frothy, all you have to do is conjure that your favorite music was better than theirs. People were whipping out(a) their organisers and queuing up their songs to puzzle out their points.And thus began the outstanding Magellan Music War All of us networked our organizers together and furiously started making playlists of our favorite music to immortalize how our music was indis dedicateably the best music ever. In a very short quantify I was open(a) to not just chango-soca and groundthump but also kill-drill, drone, haploid, happy dance (ironically named, as it turn out), smear, nuevopop, tone, classic tone, Erie stomp, doowa capella, mover and shaker and some unfeignedly whacked-out stuff alleged to be w altz but critically lacking(p) three-quarter time or indeed any recognizable time signature at all as farthest as I could sort. I listened to it all with a fair mind, then told all their proponents I pitied them because they had neer been exposed to Huckleberry Sound, and sent out a playlist of my own.So you make your music by strangulation cats, Magdy said, as he listened to Delhi Morning, one of my favorite songs, with me, Gretchen and Enzo.Thats sitar, you monkey, I said.Sitar universe the Huckleberry word for strangled cats, Magdy said.I turned to Enzo. Help me out here, I said.Im going to have to go with the cat strangling theory, Enzo said.I smacked him on the arm. I thought you were my friend.I was, Enzo said. But now I know how you treat your pets.Listen Magdy said. The sitar bit had just risen out of the mix and was suspended, heartbreakingly, over the bridge of the song. Annnd rightfulness thither is when the cat died. notice it, Zoe.Gretchen? I looked over to my last, best friend, who would endlessly defend me against Philistines.Gretchen looked over to me. That poor cat, she said, and then laughed. Then Magdy grabbed the PDA and pulled up some horrible shaker noise.For the record, Delhi Morning does not sound like strangled cats. It really doesnt. They were all tone-deaf or something. Particularly Magdy.Tone-deaf or not, however, the four of us were ending up spending a lot of time together. While Enzo and I were doing our slow, amused sizing up of from each one other, Gretchen and Magdy alternated between being interested in each other and trying to see just how low they could cut each other down verbally. Although you know how these things go. One probably led to the other and vice-versa. And Im crack hormones counted for a lot both of them were true(p)-looking examples of blossoming adolescence, which I think is the best way to locate it. They both seemed willing to put up with a lot from each other in step in for gawking and some light groping, which to be fair to Magdy was not entirely one-sided on his part, if Gretchens reports were to be believed.As for Enzo and me, well, this is how we were acquiring alongI made you something, I said, handing him my PDA.You made me a PDA, he said. I always wanted one.Goof, I said. Of course he had a PDA we all did. We would hardly be teens without them. No, detent on the movie file.He did, and watched for a few moments. Then he cocked his head at me. So, is the on the whole thing shots of me acquire hit in the head with a dodgeball? he asked.Of course not, I said. around of them are of you getting hit in other places. I took the PDA and ran my finger along the fast-forward pillow slip on the video player. See, look, I said, showing him the groin shot he took earlier in the day.Oh, great, he said.Youre cute when you collapse in aching misery, I said.Im glad you think so, he said, clearly not as enthused as I was. allows watch it again, I said. This time in slow mot ion.Lets not, Enzo said. Its a sore memory. I had plans for those things one day.I felt a blush coming on, and fought it back with sarcasm. Poor Enzo, I said. Poor squeaky-voiced Enzo.Your sympathy is overwhelming, he said. I think you like watching me get abused. You could offer up some advice instead.Move faster, I said. Try not to get hit so much.Youre helpful, he said.There, I said, pressing the send button on the PDA. Its in your queue now. So you squirt treasure it always.I hardly know what to verbalise, he said.Did you get me anything? I asked.As a matter of fact, Enzo said, and then pulled out his PDA, punched up something, and handed the PDA to me. On it was another poem. I read it.This is very sweet, I said. It was genuinely beautiful, but I didnt want to get mushy on him, not after just communion video of him taking a hit to his nether regions.Yes, well, Enzo said, taking back the PDA. I wrote it before I saw that video. Just remember that. He pressed his PDA screen. There. In your queue now. So you shadow treasure it always.I will, I said, and would.Good, Enzo said. Because I get a lot of abuse for those, you know.For the poems? I said. Enzo nodded. From whom?From Magdy, of course, Enzo said. He caught me writing that one to you and mocked the hell out of me for it.Magdys idea of a poem is a dirty limerick, I said.Hes not stupid, Enzo said.I didnt say he was stupid, I said. Just vulgar.Well, hes my best friend, Enzo said. What are you gonna do.I think its sweet you stick up for him, I said. But I have to tell you that if he mocks you out of writing poems for me, Im going to have to kick his ass.Enzo grinned. You or your bodyguards? he asked.Oh, Id handle this one personally, I said. Although I competency get Gretchen to help.I think she would, Enzo said.Theres no think involved here, I said.I slam I better keep writing you poems, then, Enzo said.Good, I said, and patted his cheek. Im glad we have these little conversations.And Enzo was as advanced as his word a couple of times a day Id get a bran-new poem. They were mostly sweet and funny, and save a little bit showing off, because he would send them in different poem formats haiku and sonnets and sestinas and some forms I dont know what theyre called but you could see that they were supposed to be something.And naturally I would show them all to Gretchen, who tried very hard not to be impressed. The scans off on that one, she said, after she had read one I showed to her at one of the dodgeball games. Savitri had joined the two of us to watch. She was on her break. Id dump him for that.Its not off, I said. And anyway hes not my boyfriend. A guy sends poems on the hour and you say hes not your boyfriend? Gretchen asked.If he was her boyfriend, he wouldnt be sending poems anymore, Savitri said.Gretchen smacked her forehead. Of course, she said. It all makes sense now.Give me that, I said, taking back my PDA. Such cynicism.Youre just saying that because youre getting sestinas, Savitri said.Which dont scan, Gretchen said.Quiet, both of you, I said, and turned the PDA around so it could record the game. Enzos team was playing the Dragons in the quarter-final match for the league championship. All your sourness is distracting me from watching Enzo get slaughtered out there.Speaking of cynicism, Gretchen said.There was a loud pock as the dodgeball smooshed Enzos plaque into a not terribly appealing shape. He grabbed his face with both hands, cursed loudly, and dropped to his knees.There we go, I said.That poor boy, Savitri said.Hell live, Gretchen said, and then turned to me. So you got that.Its going into the highlight reel for sure, I said.Ive mentioned before that you dont merit him, Gretchen said.Hey, I said. He writes me poems, I document his physical ineptitude. Thats how the relationship works.I thought you said he wasnt your boyfriend, Savitri said.Hes not my boyfriend, I said, and saved the humiliating snippet into my Enzo file. It does nt mean we dont have a relationship. I put my PDA away and greeted Enzo as he came up, still holding his face.So you got that, he said to me. I turned and smiled at Gretchen and Savitri, as if to say, See. They both rolled their eyes.In all, there was about a calendar week between when the Magellan left Phoenix Station and when the Magellan was far enough away from any major gravitational attraction well that it could skip to Roanoke. Much of that time was spent watching dodgeball, listening to music, chatting with my new friends, and recording Enzo getting hit with balls. But in between all of that, I actually did spend a little bit of time learning about the world on which we would live the rest of our lives.Some of it I already knew Roanoke was a conformation Six major planet, which meant (and here Im double-checking with the Colonial Union Department of Colonization communications protocol Document, get it wherever PDAs have access to a network) that the planet was within f ifteen percent of landed estate standard gravity, atmosphere, temperature and rotation, but that the biosphere was not compatible with human biology which is to say if you ate something there, itd probably make you vomit your guts out if it didnt kill you outright.(This made me mildly curious about how many classes of planet there were. Turns out there are eighteen, twelve of which are at least nominally humanly compatible. That said, if someone says youre on a colony ship headed to a Class Twelve planet, the best thing to do is to find an escape pod or volunteer to join the ships crew, because youre not going to want to land on that world if you can avoid it. Unless you like weighing up to two and a half times your normal weight on a planet whose ammonia-choked atmosphere will hopefully smother you before you die of exposure. In which case, you know. Welcome home.)What do you do on a Class Six planet, when youre a member of a seed colony? Well, Jane had it right when she said it on Huckleberry You work. You only have so much food supply to go through before you have to sum up to it from what youve grown but before you grow your food, you have to make over the soil so it can grow crops that can feed humans (and other species which started on footing, like almost all our livestock) without strangulation to death on the incompatible nutrients in the ground. And you have to make sure that earlier-mentioned livestock (or pets, or toddlers, or inattentive adults who didnt pay attention during their training periods) dont graze or eat anything from the planet until you do a toxicology scan so see if it will kill them. The colonist materials we were given suggest this is more catchy than it sounds, because its not like your livestock will listen to reason, and neither will a toddler or some adults.So youve conditioned the soil and kept all your animals and dumb humans from gorging on the vicious scenery Now its time to plant, plant, plant your crops like you r life depended on it, because it does. To bring this point home, the colonist training material is filled with pictures of gaunt colonists who messed up their plantings and ended up a lot slender (or worse) after their planets winter. The Colonial Union wont bail you out if you fail, you fail, sometimes at the cost of your own life.Youve place and tilled and harvested, and then you do it again, and you keep doing it and all the while youre also building infrastructure, because one of the major roles of a seed colony is to prepare the planet for the next, larger wave of colonists, who show up a couple of standard years later. I assume they land, look around at everything youve created, and say, Well, colonizing doesnt look that hard. At which point you get to punch them.And through this all, and in the back of your mind, is this little fact Colonies are at their most vulnerable to attack when theyre new. Theres a reason humans colonize Class Six planets, where the biosystem migh t kill them, and even Class Twelve planets, where just about everything else will kill them too. Its because there are a lot of other intelligent races out there who have the same habitation demand as we have, and we all want as many planets as we can grab. And if someone else is already there, well. Thats just something to work around.I knew this very well. And so did John and Jane.But it was something I wonder if other tidy sum either my age or older really understood understood that Class Six planet or not, conditioned soil or not, planted crops or not, everything theyve done and worked for doesnt matter much when a spacecraft shows up in your sky, and its filled with creatures whove decided they want your planet, and youre in the way. Maybe its not something you can understand until it happens.Or maybe when it comes down to it people just dont think about it because theres nothing to do about it. Were not soldiers, were colonists. Being a colonist means accepting the risk. And once youve accepted the risk, you might as well not think about it until you have to.And during our week on the Magellan, we certainly didnt have to. We were having fun almost too much fun, to be honest about it. I suspected we were getting an unrepresentative view of colony life. I mentioned this to Dad, while we watched the final game of the dodgeball tournament, in which the Dragons were raining elastic red doom on the previously undefeated Slime Molds, the team Magdy was on. I was perfectly handsome with this Magdy had gotten insufferable about his teams winning streak. Humility would be a good thing for the boy.Of course this is unrepresentative, Dad said. Do you think youre going to have time to be playing dodgeball when we get to Roanoke?I dont just mean dodgeball, I said.I know, he said. But I dont want you to worry about it. Let me tell you a story.Oh, goody, I said. A story.So sarcastic, Dad said. When I first left Earth and joined the Civil Defense Forces, we had a week like this. We were given our new bodies those green ones, like General Rybicki still has and we were given the order to have fun with them for an entire week.Sounds like a good way to encourage trouble, I said.Maybe it is, Dad said. But mostly it did two things. The first was to get us comfortable with what our new bodies could do. The second was to give us some time to enjoy ourselves and make friends before we had to go to war. To give us a little calm before the storm.So youre liberal us this week to have fun before you send us all to the salt mines, I said.Not to the salt mines, but certainly to the fields, Dad said, and motioned out to the kids still hustling about on the dodge-ball court. I dont think its entirely sunk into the heads of a lot of your new friends that when we land, theyre going to be put to work. This is a seed colony. All hands needed.I guess its a good thing I got a decent education before I left Huckleberry, I said.Oh, youll still go to school, Dad said. religion me on that, Zoe. Youll just work, too. And so will all your friends.Monstrously unfair, I said. Work and school.Dont expect a lot of sympathy from us, Dad said. While youre sitting down and reading, were going to be out there sweating and toiling.Whos this we? I said. Youre the colony leader. Youll be administrating.I farmed when I was ombudsman back in New Goa, Dad said.I snorted. You mean you paid for the seed grain and let Chaudhry Shujaat work the field for a cut.Youre missing the point, Dad said. My point is that once we get to Roanoke well all be busy. Whats going to get us through it all are our friends. I know it worked that way for me in the CDF. Youve made new friends this last week, right?Yes, I said.Would you want to start your life on Roanoke without them? Dad asked.I thought of Gretchen and Enzo and even Magdy. by all odds not, I said.Then this week did what it was supposed to do, Dad said. Were on our way from being colonists from different worlds to being a single colony, and from being strangers to being friends. Were all going to need each other now. Were in a better position to work together. And thats the practical benefit to having a week of fun.Wow, I said. I can see how you weaved a subtle web of interpersonal connection here.Well, you know, Dad said, with that look in his eye that said that yes, he did catch that snarky reference. Thats why I run things.Is that it? I asked.Its what I tell myself, anyway, he said.The Dragons made the last out against the Slime Molds and started celebrating. The crowd of colonists watching were cheering as well, and getting themselves into the mood for the really big event of the night the skip to Roanoke, which would happen in just under a half hour.Dad stood up. This is my cue, he said. Ive got to get ready to do the award presentation to the Dragons. A shame. I was pulling for the Slime Molds. I love that name.Try to make it through the disappointment, I said.Ill try, he said. You goin g to stay around for the skip?Are you kidding? I said. Everyones going to stay around for the skip. I wouldnt miss it for anything.Good, Dad said. Always a good idea to confront change with your eyes open.You think its really going to be that different? I asked.Dad kissed the top of my head and gave me a hug. Sweetie, I know its going to be that different. What I dont know is how much more different its going to be after that.I guess well find out, I said.Yes, and in about twenty-five minutes, Dad said, and then pointed. Look, theres your mom and Savitri. Lets ring in the new world together, shall we?