Tila was studying the map on her data pad when they left the room and tripped over a worker in the corridor and dropped her pad. The worker, a woman wearing a Skygarden baseball cap, caught Tila before she fell.
"My apologies," said the woman. She picked up the data pad before Tila could reach it, wiped it with her sleeve and gave it back.
"Thanks," said Tila.
"Miss nimble can't avoid everything then," said Nina.
"You wouldn't have done any better," Tila countered.
"I would have looked where I was going," said Nina.
"Okay, fair point," said Tila. "At least they keep this place nice and clean." She looked closer. "Well outside my room is clean."
"You embarrassed her, she'll come back after we've gone," said Malachi. "Let's go and find the others. You haven't called Jayce an idiot for a while. He'll be getting worried."
They walked and talked through the elevator ride up. All the while Tila observed Malachi and Nina. They seemed to fit, somehow, which surprised Tila. It was almost too perfect. It wasn't that there was anything about them as a couple which seemed like an obvious incompatibility unless you thought Nina's five-year age gap was an issue. Tila had known plenty of couples on the Juggernaut, and seen more than a few relationships blossom, and seen some die.
Malachi and Nina had a lot in common. They were both intelligent and driven to learn. Like Malachi with physical tech, Nina seemed to take personal offence at a line of code she couldn't decipher.
And now they were together New Haven would benefit all the more. Nina, like Tila, had never fully integrated into New Haven until she met Malachi, choosing instead to trade her knowledge of the Juggernaut's component ships and new arrivals among many different communities. Tila didn't blame her for that. You did what you had to on the Juggernaut. But now she and Malachi were together and polling their talents for the benefit of New Haven the community would only be stronger.
They arrived and the doors opened. They stepped out of the white elevator and into the green canopy of Skygarden.
The artificial nature of the station's sub-levels was to be expected. They were in space station after all.
The garden under stars they walked into was nothing they expected.
Only a few steps away from the elevator it was hard to tell they were in space at all. It could have been any geodesic dome on any planet at night. Their only clue from here was that, if you waited a few minutes, you could track the motion of the stars against the lattice structure of the Skygarden roof.
They walked on, crunching along a gravel path beside high banks of grass and under tall trees chosen for their long trunks and broad canopies. Smaller trees, bushes and shrubs had been planted in tiers underneath the trees, layering the greenery from sky to ground.
Two butterflys flitted past, somehow making progress despite their seemingly random flights. Above them, birds sang.
"It's so warm in here," said Nina, removing her jacket. "So humid."
A squirrel ran across their path and vanished behind a tree.
"It's all the plants," said Malachi. "They've turned this place into a greenhouse."
They passed a café cut into the earthy hillside. People sat and talked or worked or flirted while they shared cakes and sipped hot drinks. They café area seemed to live in a pool of sunlight, but there was no sun in the sky. All the light in here was artificial. She looked up as they passed through the café and saw the yellow lights and heat lamps concealed behind branches and leaves.
The whole place was an illusion, but you could fool yourself if you wanted.
Every path and turn revealed something new and hid something else. Even the larger open spaces felt private.
They reached their clearing and found wooden benches underneath one of the larger central trees. Tila checked the map on her data pad to make sure they were in the right place and was surprised to see how close they were to their elevator. The twists and turns of the garden had made their journey longer than necessary, but far more pleasant.
"Are the other's here yet? I can't see them anywhere," said Nina.
A giggling from above made them look up at the tree which towered over them. This wasn't the tall and straight tree from the centre of the dome. This one had low broad branches, perfect, as Ellie and Jayce had realised while they were waiting, for climbing.
"Ellie, get down. You'll hurt yourself," said Tila.
"It's so easy to climb," said Ellie.
"You've never climbed a tree before, how do you know?"
"How do you know I haven't?"
Tila stood up to lecture Ellie further, but had nothing to say. She didn't know.
"You know what this means, T?" said Malachi.
Tila looked down at him. Malachi recognised the scowl on her face. It came from a place that wanted to protect Ellie, and he could see it was heading to a place where she would blame Jayce.
"What?"
"You can't protect her all the time. I thought you had learned that by now."
"I can protect her from idiots," Tila muttered.
"Not every idiot is bad for her, Tila."
"None taken!" said Jayce. He sort of flopped out of the tree and somehow landed on his feet.
"Nice landing," said Malachi amiably.
"I've had worse," Jayce admitted. He looked up at Ellie who was attempting to transition from laying on a branch, to hanging from it and landing next to Jayce. It was a slow process not improved by Tila hovering underneath her and telling her what to do.
"Turn, Ellie. Move your leg there, no there. Hold on to that branch. Now go backward slowly. Hold on. I'll catch you."
Nina gestured to Ellie's dangling feet with a nod. "Mal, could you?"
Malachi dragged a chair across the gravel floor, carving twin furrows in the loose stones, and planted it firmly underneath Ellie's body. Her legs peddled furiously as she tried to find the traction Tila assured her was nearby.
Malachi stood on the chair, reached up, held Ellie by the waist and pulled her out of the tree, and lowered her carefully to the floor.
Ellie straightened her clothes and fixed her hair. "Thanks, Malachi," she said.
"I had that under control," said Tila.
"Yeah, but sometimes we need action, T. All you do is talk," said Malachi. He winked at her.
Tila sat down without a word.
Nina shuffled her chair forward. It wasn't easy with the legs deep in the gravel.
"Everyone's here and safe," she said. "Who's excited about tomorrow?"
"I am," said Ellie quickly. "I can't wait!"
"No surprise there, El," said Malachi. He sat down close to Nina and placed his arm alongside hers on the arm armrest. Tila watched Nina and Malachi hook one finger together. "Are you ready for it?"
Ellie was almost breathless with excitement. "I couldn't be more ready. I'm going to fly the fastest ships, um, faster!"
Malachi leaned forward and in a serious tone said, "But Ellie, what if you're not the fastest for once."
"What? But that's— That's just— ," she spluttered.
"Mal, buddy, you're rocking her world," said Jayce. "Anyway, she will be the best in her class. I guarantee it. No one is faster than Ellie."
"Thank you, Jayce," said Ellie.
"You caught her," Nina pointed out.
"I wanted him to," said Ellie.
"That makes one of us," added Tila.
"Two of us," said Jayce.
"You don't count," said Tila.
"Tila!" said Ellie, while Jayce laughed.
"She's always kidding about something, right?" said Jayce.
Nina and Malachi shared a look, but said nothing to dissuade Jayce from his stunning and ongoing misconception of who Tila was. He seemed happier this way.
"Hey, Jayce," said Mal. "What are you going to do while we're having adventures without you?"
Jayce looked at Ellie who shook her head. Blonde hair bounced around her shoulders.
"I didn't tell them," she said. "It's your news. Don't be shy"
"That's not his problem," said Tila.
"The news is, I'm starting an advanced degree back on Parador."
"You're studying?" said Malachi in a tone equally surprised and supportive.
"Did you say an advanced degree?" said Tila.
"He had already graduated from university when we met him," said Ellie.
"What are you studying?" said Nina. This was a curious revelation considering all she had learned of Jayce was second hand. Ellie was infatuated, Malachi was always kind, and Tila had mentioned, on occasion, that Jayce was an idiot. She couldn't trust their opinions, that was clear, but this new information didn't line up with anything else she knew. Nina had drawn the conclusion that Jayce was a good-natured, bumbling goof ball who happened to be fabulously wealthy. Tila was quick to call anyone she disagreed with an idiot, but even so, she had never considered that Jayce might actually be clever.
"Maritime law," said Jayce. Ellie beamed.
"Really? But...why?" said Malachi.
"Mal, there's more to education than engineering, numbers and tech," said Nina.
"Well, actually, everything can be ultimately reduced to numbers so—" Nina's finger on his lips silenced him.
Jayce whispered into Ellie's ear and she made a sound that wasn't so much laugh as it was a cackle. She banged the table with palm and threw her head back. When she had settled down she saw Tila staring blankly at her, and that set her off again.
Finally, Ellie wiped a single tear from her eye and cleared her throat.
"So," she said, "Jayce is pleased, obviously."
"Ellie," said Tila.
"Yes, Tila," said Ellie. A smirk twitched across her face.
"What did Jayce say?"
"Nothing!"
"Eleanor...," said Tila.
Nina's hand tightened over Malachi's. This was getting interesting.
"Hey, Tila, it was a joke."
"What was a joke, Jayce."
"That, you know, you might not know what it is." He grinned.
Tila denied her face permission to react.
"It doesn't matter what it is, I'm only surprised you were studying."
"Because you think I'm an idiot."
"Yes. Well... yes."
"Ah Tila, you always do it with such a straight face!"
"Do what?" said Nina.
"She likes to joke, you know?" said Jayce. He leaned back in his chair and put his arm around Ellie's shoulder. "She's good at it."
"She is?" said Nina.
"She is, isn't she," said Malachi. He stood up pulling Nina with him. "We've been sitting and talking long enough, why don't we see what this place has to show us? Trees in space, huh? That's new and expensive."