Desert Wake ✔

Ch. 16, pt. 2: Trade

We got weeks upon weeks of seafarin' ahead of us. All we do at first is git settled in, earn our sea legs. The Captain don't ask us fer more details right away, but he knows, I cain tell. He knows who Ro is. It's plain as day from the way his eyes slide toward us every time our paths cross his on the decks of the Margarethe.

Four days into our voyage, bellies rollin' with the sea, blue as Ro's eyes all 'round us, dreams of brown as the fertile world waitin' fer us on a distant island, Captain Beatty invites us to dine with him in his fancy quarters. Alone. This gives me an occasion to wear Ma's silver hair clip, as well as a reason to send my stomach turnin' more than the waves ever could.

"The port was crawling with officers," he says 'fore I've even had the opportunity to pick up my fork. "You were lucky to have escaped."

"I don't know what-" Ro starts, but the captain holds up a hand to silence him.

"You carry the truth." He takes Tegan's crumpled bit of paper and waves it at us. "The truth is all I've ever wanted."

I knew this was comin', I been waitin' fer this moment. Ro looks to me, and I nod. He slips the last copy of Why the Spread of the Desert Should Matter to You out of his coat and hands it to him.

Captain Beatty takes it in one hand and brings the other up to his eyes, rubbin' like he needs to polish 'em, like that'll somehow convince himself that the booklet is real. Finally, he just says, "My gods."

Ro tells him our story best we cain, and then I say: "We'll need paper." I draw out my 'a' the way I grew up doin'. Ain't gotta hide behind a fake accent no more, not with him. "Our friend thought you'd be able to supply us with some. And while we're at it, how about you tell us a truth we've been wantin' to hear. Just what is goin' on on that island we're headed to? And if you say it ain't nothin' more than growin' pineapples and rice, I may have to snatch Ro's booklet back from you and start a dang mutiny."

#

The Captain ain't no ignorant Regions farmer comin' to plow the tropical isle, no thought as to why he's doin' it. He's a trader like Tegan, when you think of it, only more on the up and up as far as most proper people are aware of. He's been haulin' goods along the west coast fer a generation, even gittin' a commendation last spring fer all his years of service. But unbeknownst to the Council, Captain Beatty is a lot more like Tegan and her lot than he would appear to be.

Don't matter to Beatty if what he carries has got the Council's stamp of approval on it or not. If he thinks it serves the people – all of the people – he's gonna' transport it. That's why we're on this ship rather than on one populated with lawfolk in route to a jail in the capital. He believes Ro serves the people. And damned if that Captain ain't gonna git his Council-unapproved merchandise to where it cain do some good.

As fer what the Captain suspects about the true purpose of the island, well, he ain't supposed to know a thing, of course. Granddad used to say that "supposed to" and "in actuality" ain't always a match, and lucky fer us, that's the case this time 'round. The Captain is a solid sort, meanin' people tend to look upon him as a man who cain be trusted. Since fer all them proper folks know he's a loyal, upstandin' Regions citizen, they tend to spill more to him than Granddad would to the bartender after a couple of pints.

"For your own good," he cautions us, "you have to be careful how you approach these people. You need to win their friendship first, get them to tell you what it is they're really doing."

Who "these people" are is a small group of science-minded folks who believe the secret of opening a portal out of this world has been hidden away on our new island paradise. Supposedly, it's been there just about since the first pioneers found themselves stranded on this hunk of rock. Disguised as New Pioneers, these scientists have been charged by the Council with findin' that secret and learnin' how to make use of it. Supposedly the aim is to git out some kind of distress signal to other realities, lettin' 'em know we're still here and need their help.

I'm thinkin' though, that Tegan weren't too far off in her assessment that the Council is goin' to use the island's secrets to save their own sorry asses. She's right: we gotta make sure that whatever gits discovered is shared with every last unlucky person on this planet. And Captain Beatty's right too: we need to proceed with caution. Not even he knows fer certain the identities of all of those supposed secret-gatherers. He gives us the name of the two he's purdy dang sure about, a couple who traveled to the island on Beatty's last voyage there.

"Well ain't that perfect." I twist a lock of curls 'round my finger. "They got the jump start on us already."

Captain Beatty chuckles. He likes me, I cain tell. Not in the gross I-wanna-gag way of Orin and his pa, but in a fatherly-type way. It's more wholesome than I know what to do with. "They aren't necessarily the enemy, my dear. Just don't count them as friends yet either. Their loyalties, like yours, lie in finding the truth, but for what purpose they'll use that truth when it's discovered is impossible to decipher."

"If anyone is able to judge a person's character and determine what their intentions are, it's May." Ro places an arm around my waist; his fingers play with the belt loop on my trousers.

"Well that's the truth all right. I figured you out purdy much before you ever set foot on my farm." This ain't strictly true, but he don't ever have to know it.

The Captain laughs again, but then he takes on a more serious expression, like the one he always wears when he's givin' his chief officer an order. "You probably have found little to love about this world."

I wouldn't have hesitating in confirmin' this notion 'fore I met Ro, but now I gotta reevaluate. "Well, there is certainly truth in that, sir. But, like Ro here, I think I've come to an understandin' with it. I've been grieved by this world. It's been the source of much sufferin', mine and others. But it's givin' me life, too, I cain't ferget that. I don't wanna see it die."

"Nor do I." He's starin' out of the porthole, the darkest blue of night with a million pin pricks of light starin' back at him. "This world, this land, even the ocean, it's been made by the people who've lived and died here. We make it what we dream it to be. And we've had our fair share of nightmares."

The captain may be waxin' all poetic, but I gotta nod in agreement, cuz this is so much like what I've thought myself on many occasions, about the dust at least. The dust is the people. It exists cuz we do. "Do you believe the world has a spirit, sir?"

Captain Beatty turns away from the porthole so he cain see if I'm askin' my question in all sincerity. Ro knows I am. He's sittin' with his chair tilted back. The hours we just spent eatin' and discussing the state of the world with Beatty seems to have made him as comfortable as if he was dinin' at my table back at the farm.

The captain takes his time before answerin'. "It must be so. It's alive isn't it?"

"Fer now." I git up and step around the table, headin' over to peer out the porthole just as the captain had done. "We got ourselves an understandin', Captain, cuz I know it has a spirit, too, and that spirit is but one and the same with our own. We dreamed this world alive, as you say. It's alive cuz we are, and we're alive cuz of it. Good or bad, that's a connection we cain't take fer granted."

Ro sits up quick, his chair thunkin' down as he lands with his hands on the table in front of him. "So what happens if the world can't be saved? What happens if our only hope of survival is to find a way off of it?"

Well, that's the same question I've been askin' myself ever since Tegan seeded it in my mind. There ain't no way fer me to have an answer to it, though, not now. "Last I checked, I ain't got no crystal ball. I guess we gotta find out fer ourselves."

A/N: Only one more chapter to go! I can't believe this adventure is nearly over. Do you think they'll make it to the island safe and sound?

This chapter's votes will go to the "Find the Scientists Campaign." It looks like May and Ro are going to be going on a spy mission. They will really need your support when the time comes. Thank you!!!

Today's dedication is for MsRodrigues22, another fabulous reader. :)