The Ashwell Challenge: An Anthology

A Gift for Us All

by D. N. Ashwell

The music pounded in the glasses lined along the bar, the liquid rippling with each deafening beat. Frills of laser light pierced the dimness in a mesmerizing wave mixing with the steam and sweat of the mob dancing in the middle. Liselle hunched over her glass protectively as her crewmates abandoned sense to escape their lives, even if it was only for a night. She coughed at the putridness clinging to the place. Finally, after two weeks in the mines, they had been given a chance to clean up and get new linens only to immediately cloak any freshness in the stale odor of the station's too packed, too small club.

"Oi, Liselle!" the bar shook as a gigantic woman, taller than two men put together and yet somehow still stocky, stumbled into the table, "You gotta lighten up, eh? How often do we get to let off a load before we're back at the mine pulling more load up outta the ground?"

"Not quite my scene, but I'll take one for the crew," Liselle snorted, raising her drink to Adria and taking a long pull. She had to raise her voice as much as she could to be heard over the blaring, and still the music drowned out her words in patches. The giant woman nodded as if she had understood, but there was no saying for certain. At least she had understood the tip of the glass.

"Cheer up! Djikstren updated the calculations. Only another two or three shifts 'fore we're at the motherload and when we take it to market, we should be set for a good while. I'm thinkin' to take the time to coach some youngsters in gravity ball. Heck, maybe even make a career change outta it now that the colony is stable. Whadda 'bout you?"

Liselle tilted her head ambiguously, but before she could answer, Adria pushed the conversation along. For that, Liselle was thankful, "Oh, you always keeping your nose in 'em books. Whaddya think about this? I was reading about it on the shuttle here."

"You, reading?" a slender man with sharply hooked nose leaned back against the counter on the other side of Liselle.

"Oi, Djikstren, I may be three of youse, but I still gotta brain. You have your calcs, I have my drill," she pat her hip where the exosuit controls usually rested and smiled broadly. She raised her glass in a cheers, "But good job with the calcs so far. If we can pull a big one on this load, we may just be free of the debt we took to get here, then gravity ball here I come."

"Always the chipper one, Adria," he replied, "And just doing my job."

"Maybe ain't just a job," she nodded, "You could have a gift for it. What? Don't think I don't see you light up when you are studying the numbers."

Liselle flicked through the article Adria had laid on the bar, "Divine gift? Sounds like a load of bull to me. A little religiously fanatical, even."

"I've always been a believer," Adria nodded reverently, "Considering all of creation, how could I not be, but I ain't never heard of anything like this."

"Well, I've heard the stories of people who do superhuman feats in times of duress, but that seems a bit few and far between."

"Well, a gift can be more subtle. Not everyone can speak in tongues, you know."

"Well, if it's a divine gift, shouldn't everyone know theirs or at least be searching for it? I'm not a devout myself, but if I knew I had a gift given from some being on high, I would be doing everything in my power to find it," Djikstren said between swallows.

Liselle rubbed her chin, "Well, you all believe there's a God and he has enemies, right? If I were a god's enemy, I certainly wouldn't want his believers to know this. It'd only strengthen their ranks."

"You can always use a divine gift for evil or selfish means though," Djikstren said.

"In this case we are talking about a charism, a divine gift that can only be used if it is for the glory of said God and his creation..."

"And it's meant to be shared," Adria nodded seriously. The expression looked so strange on her face that Liselle had to laugh inside. The gentle giant had become so engrossed in the conversation she'd forgone her normal exuberance.

"But it does beg the question, how does one know it's a divine gift and not a natural talent? I have a gift for study, but that could just be because I come from a family of researchers," Djikstren said.

"Good point, but I think it would be more than a natural or developed compulsion, just like Adria's calling towards gravity ball. She's only just learned about it a couple months ago."

"But that could just be novelty," Djikstren noted.

"Could be, but I don't think that's what exactly her calling is. Her calling is to coach, just as she coaches the team through our drilling rounds. According to the article, that could be a gift of Encouragement. And when have you not been encouraged by our little ray of sunshine?" Liselle chuckled.

Adria beamed, "Ooo, you really think so?"

She nodded, "Of course. And Djikstren, just because you have developed a talent for your work doesn't mean that you don't have a divine gift for it. How many surveyors do you know who can develop better mineral detection algorithms at twenty? Your knowledge is what has allowed the colony to stabilize so rapidly. Sounds a lot like a charism to me."

Djikstren pondered it for a minute before conceding, "Could be..."

"Oh, I know yours, Liselle," Adria cut him off, literally bouncing around on her toes in her giddyiness, "Wisdom. It's different than Djikstren's gift. See, you have an uncanny amount of insight and can find a creative solution to anyone's specific problem. How many people go right to you first as a sounding board?"

"It's never just one, but all of our gifts that have gotten us this far," Liselle said.

"Hear, hear, I'll drink to that," Djikstren raised his glass, the others joining him, "Together we work, together we live, together we succeed."

"And in a few weeks, when all this is over, we keep in touch, no matter where across the colonies our paths take us."