"That didn't go so badly," Esperanza told Lully when he relayed his conversation with Dylan.
More people were leaving today. Lully still didn't know if he or Emerson would be the ones staying. More tents were coming down and being packed away. Esperanza had volunteered them to fold the tents up to fit better on the hover.
He grimaced. "I guess. I had no idea she would be calling her crew on an off-day; that alone is rotated."
"We're out here on an off day," Esperanza pointed out.
"Oui, but we are on an expedition. We don't really have a choice," Lully replied, grunting a little as he lifted the folded fabric to set on the hover. "And we'll have more weeks like that when we join exploration."
"I know," she sighed happily and helped spread out the next tent on the ground to fold. "I'm really glad that we'll be out here more. I think it will be good for us to get away for a while. And we'll take photos of the sky and whatever we see, and you can make prints when we get home. I bet people would buy them."
"Maybe," he allowed. "One step first; we have to talk to Vertov and Madison."
"I've already messaged Madison," she replied with a grin. "Madison said exploration has been asking for a medical team member for cycles now. She is completely fine letting me go; there's others she can train to take my place."
"I don't think Vertov will be as amenable," Lully admitted. "No one else wants my job."
"We'll come up with something," Esperanza promised.
The tents were easily folded with two people; soon the only people who would be here were the skeleton crew supporting Bell and Joan. Oliver was complaining about it when they got back to the tent.
"I know you'll be fine without me," Harriet said. "It's absurd to have the both of us. And someone should watch your unruly daughter."
"My daughter? Oh, I'm not the one who spoils her," Oliver shot back. "And make sure the chicken and turnips get back here, please."
"I will," she laughed. "You two are staying, yes?"
"Oui," Esperanza replied. "The outside is growing on me. I like it out here."
"That's good," Oliver noted. "When I hear that you and Lully might be joining us. Couldn't get enough of our company, could you? It's my boyish charm that always pulls them in."
"Boyish, sure, nothing remotely like charm," Harriet snorted. "Anyway, I'm glad that you two are thinking about it. Now we'll see what the boss-men think of the arrangement. I doubt highly that Vertov will just let you go."
"Told you," Lully remarked. "Do you need help carrying anything up to the hover? We're done with the extra tents."
"Lully!"
Emerson came up to the tent and had to take a moment to breathe before continuing to speak.
"Where is your holo-rib?" he asked. "Vertov messaged me because you didn't answer."
Lully patted his person down and realized it wasn't on him. He must have dropped it. Esperanza frowned
"I'll go check by the hover; you two talk," she said.
"What's wrong?" Lully asked.
"Not sure," Emerson said. "Mostly I ran over because Vertov decided that you needed to come home more; something about the printer queues. You'll need to hurry; Joan wants to leave within the hour."
"Is this about Dylan's printing from earlier?" Lully questioned.
Emerson shrugged. Esperanza made her way back to them; Lully's holo-rib in hand.
"You dropped it by where we'd been folding tents," she said. "What's up?"
Lully could see several messages from Vertov and a missed call. He grimaced; he didn't like to be unavailable. He was sure that Vertov would be frustrated with him. He called back, but walked back to his and Esperanza's tent, not eager to start packing.
"Vertov wants me home," he told Esperanza just before Vertov answered.
"Hello?"
"Sorry, sir, I had misplaced my holo-rib. Emerson says you want me home?"
"Yes, I need to talk to you before the next congress meeting and I'd rather do it face to face. If you want, you can head back out this evening. I know that Emerson was planning on returning today, so you two will just swap."
"Merci, sir," Lully said. "I'll be there soon. Is something wrong?"
"Non, sorry. I didn't mean for you to panic. I just wanted to catch you before Joan came back today. See you soon."
Lully sighed and placed his holo-rib in his pocket. Esperanza had already started packing for him, folding his clothes to replace in his bag.
"I'm coming back," he told her. "We don't need to pack everything."
"But you can go home and bring clean clothes," she told him. "And bring me clean clothes because you're a good partner and invested in keeping me happy." She stretched up to plant a kiss on his cheek. "And this beard will be gone when you get back."
"Petal," Lully sighed. "Fine. I will.
"Merci beaucoup," she smiled. "Let me know when you get back safely, pas mal?"
"I will," he replied. "And I'll talk to Vertov about quitting. I don't think he'll understand, but," he took a deep breath of fresh air. "I was serious before. I think being out here would be good for us."
"Lully! We got to go!" Joan called, waving her arm.
Lully kissed Esperanza and promised to be back as soon as he could. He wasn't happy about leaving her, but she was capable of handling herself. She handed him his bag and he hurried to the hovers, settling in the back with the other materials. Emerson looked unhappy; he had been glad to go home.
"I'll be back," Lully promised. "And you'll get to sleep in your own bed tomorrow."
"Tomorrow can't come soon enough," Emerson replied. "I'm tired of being coated in dust."
Joan hopped up in the seat and glanced back at Lully.
"You can sit up here, you know," she remarked. "It's just you and me on this trip then I'm turning around and getting a load of people."
"Long day for you," Lully said, but clambered out of the hover to reseat himself next to Joan. This would be a good time to inquire about exploration, he decided. He wanted to make sure this was absolutely the right thing for him and Esperanza.
"Did you talk to Vertov? Is that why you're going back?" Joan inquired as she started up the hover and they headed back toward the base.
"Non, I haven't had time," Lully replied. "And I wanted to talk to him after this trip to make sure this is what I wanted."
"Well, I'll answer any questions you have," she told him. "Now that Lincoln isn't charge, exploration does more than just wander the countryside trying to stay away from the base. I joined after he died and haven't regretted it for a second. She gestured at the world around them, the lavender sky, mountains behind them.
"Look at this place," she said. "It's amazing. Magical. I get why the Aeneid didn't explore much, but now that we can breathe the air and we know when earthstorms are coming, I think we should be spending every waking second out here. I want to live out here in a house with a yard and grass, like they have in the films. I've been out to the lake a couple times, that's what made me think that you should be in exploration instead of printing."
"Oh?"
"You have vision, Lully," she told him. "A lot of people here, they dream small. I was talking to Michelle about the lake, she says that most of the furniture and things are your own credits?"
"Oui," Lully admitted. "Vertov wouldn't let me use base credits."
"And you print those fantastic nanoprints; I've heard that you're the only person in the base with your own printer."
"Esperanza negotiated with Vertov and Taylor; she bought it for me," he explained. "She told them that if I had my own; I wouldn't hold up important prints at the bay. I didn't know I was the only one."
"Well, I want you to make some prints of the landscape out here," Joan told him. "We don't really have our own corridor yet; we share with research. I want people to see what's out here, and I can't think of a better way than to cover the hallway in images. Exploration has a bit of credit saved up; we haven't needed anything but food, especially since we're the ones bringing back raw materials. Curie is going to get us our own printer; not as big as the monster than Emerson is managing; something that will fit on a hover and can print parts if need be. Bell promised to let us use her prototype electrolysis tank and so we'll be able to..." She paused, taking a breath. "Sorry, that was a lot. We're pretty excited."
"I can tell," Lully laughed. "I hope that I live up to your expectations. I'm not sure I get that excited about anything. This department seems very organized; you have a lot planned."
"The base isn't going to stop fighting over leadership anytime soon," Joan rolled her eyes. "But Curie isn't going to let that stop us from doing our jobs. Officers were easy to work around back on the Canary. Congress reads the reports and we write them with what ever information we want. So long as we are under budget, no one is going to care what we do. So we have decided to do more."
"That's...decidedly underhanded," Lully mentioned.
"So is Dylan wrestling a vote out of congress to oust Dashiell temporarily," Joan pointed out. "And Dashiell forming a new department because Cameron didn't agree with him. Congress is a great, pear shaped mess."
"I didn't know that," Lully mentioned.
Joan gripped the steering and sighed. "Cameron's tried to keep it quiet, for whatever reason Cameron does anything. But congress isn't where anything is going to get done. Anyone who thinks ten people arguing in a room is going to change anything is simply wrong. Exploration takes this to heart and tries recruit people who could help this cause. I'm sorry if that sounds too political."
"Non, I understand," Lully replied. "I do want to make this place better, and I don't want to get embroiled in the drama that surrounds congress. I've never wanted to be on congress."
Joan clapped in on her shoulder. Her grip was much stronger than Lully was expecting and he grinned back at her.
"We take care of our own," she told him. "And I speak for Curie when I say we're glad to have you with us."
"Not quite yet," Lully warned. "I haven't spoken with Vertov."
"I'm sure we can convince him," she promised.
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