Part 15 (2/2)
Lilly glanced up. ”Can't see 'em from in here. I've never seen a real shooting star. They're probably beautiful.”
”Yeah, they're pretty cool.”
”Kinda poetic too, our trash raining down on us.”
”Yeah.” I wondered what to say next. ”I'm glad I found you. Evan was just going on again about how he thinks the Nomads are savages.”
”Evan is full of roach s.h.i.+t.”
I laughed, but only a little, trying not to show how much I enjoyed hearing her say that. ”What do they talk about on the signal?”
”Lots of things,” said Lilly. ”Trade, where to find supplies or spots where agriculture or fisheries are working. The Alliance works co-op. They talk, too, about the insurgency against the ACF, about getting into the Eden Domes, though mostly they don't want any part of these places anymore. They know the domes are failing. They say the DI is way lower than Eden will admit. And they're worried about this Project Elysium. They say, too, that the ACF, the People's Corporation of China, even the Russian Kingdom are all pressuring Eden to reveal what they're up to, but they won't.”
”Do the Nomads have any theories on what Project Elysium is?” I asked.
”They don't really know, but they say the domes are placed in specific locations for a reason, and that EdenCorp is looking for some kind of technology or something. But their specifics are sketchy. One broadcaster thinks they're looking for a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, another thinks it's some secret lab or something. n.o.body really knows. All they know is there's something.”
”A couple of the other domes are near landmarks, like the Pyramids and Stonehenge.”
”Ancient sites,” said Lilly. ”Yeah, the Nomads think that's intentional.”
I thought about the vision of the pyramid and the skull. ”Maybe they're looking for something old?”
”Maybe.” Lilly swiped her finger over a bar graphic, scanning satellite frequencies, but there was only the whispering static of dead air and s.p.a.ce junk. She sighed and flicked off the pad.
She put it on the rock by the candles, and I noticed a photo frame there. It showed Lilly standing in front of two adults, a man and a woman. The man in a suit, the woman in a sari. There was a tall, older-looking boy beside them. ”That's your family?” I asked.
”Yeah,” she said softly. ”Mom, Dad, and Anton. All dead now.”
”What happened to them?” I asked.
”Life,” said Lilly with a shrug. ”Anton died in Bangladesh. My parents had tried to get him in here, too, but he didn't want it. He was sixteen, old enough to say no. He said, with the world in such bad shape, it was wrong to just hide away when we could be helping. And then he ran off and joined a relief group to help climate refugees. I was only ten at the time, stuck doing what my parents said. Then, six years after I was Cryo'd, Anton drowned in a ferry accident.
”And my parents, I guess after they froze me, they kept trying to get into the ACF, but they never could. The HZ had filled up. They ended up staying in Calgary in the Borderlands. It wasn't as bad there back then, but it was still bad. Mom died of the plastics cancer. One of the super-pneumonia epidemics got Dad.”
”I'm sorry,” I said, not knowing what else to say. ”Those got my grandparents, too.”
Lilly went on like she hadn't heard me. ”You know what's creepy is that there are vid chats, from my parents, that they made me throughout their lives. I guess they made one each year so I'd know them. There's a few from Anton, too....”
She sniffed. ”They called me Tiger Lilly, their little princess-warrior. I have the files here with me, but I've never watched them. I started the first one once, but... it was too hard. I know they wanted the best for me, to save me from the chaos. Now I'm here, and I don't want their big sacrifice to be just so that I end up as some experiment.”
She glanced up at me. I saw rims of tears beneath her eyes. ”Have a seat.”
I moved to sit across from her, but she raised her blanketed arm like I should sit beside her.
I sat down in the gra.s.s and was careful not to touch her, in case that would seem too forward or weird, but then she scooted over and tossed the blanket over my shoulder. Her smooth bare thigh touched mine, her sleeve against my arm.
I saw she was looking up at the stars, so I looked up, too. ”My mom left when I was seven,” I said.
”Where'd she go?” Lilly asked.
”She didn't say. She left a note, but all it said was that she had to find her place, and that she was sorry she couldn't be happy with us. She left with a medical caravan and we could never track her down after that.”
”That stinks.”
”Yeah. Mostly 'cause I would've liked to go with her. She got to go off to find herself, and Dad and I were stuck at Hub, living like moles.”
”You could have gone after her.”
It didn't surprise me that this was Lilly's first thought, and it made me feel lame for never really considering it. Well, I'd thought of it, but not in any real way. ”I didn't want to leave my dad,” I said. ”He's kinda sick. And he likes having me around.”
Lilly shook her head. ”Parents.” I thought she'd say something else, but she didn't.
”How'd you get this stuff out here?” I asked, nodding to the candles and radio.
She pointed behind us with her head. I saw that there was another red waterproof bag lying against the tree trunk. ”I brought it out awhile ago,” she said. ”That way I can come here whenever. Have some s.p.a.ce to think.”
”Tiger Lilly Island,” I said, trying out a smile as I said it.
Lilly c.o.c.ked her eyebrow at me. ”Corny,” she said. Then she punched my shoulder, ”Just kidding, O. I like it.”
She liked it. That was all I thought about for a few seconds.
An owl called in the distance, lonely, searching. There was no answer. I pictured it out there somewhere, looking for another of its kind, except then I remembered that it might not even be real.
”They told me you want to try to break out,” I said.
”Tsh,” Lilly chuckled. ”You probably heard how that went over.”
”Yeah. Do you really think we're part of Project Elysium? Or in danger from it, or whatever?”
Lilly turned and gazed at me. It was too dark to tell what she was thinking. ”First, you tell me why you ran away from me last night. Then I'll tell you what I think.”
”Oh, yeah,” I stumbled, not knowing where to start. ”You mean... the siren?”
”That's what you said last night.” Lilly's eyes narrowed. ”You mean like the s.e.xy mermaids that drown sailors?”
”Well, no, but-I don't know what else to call it. And it looks like a girl. Well, sort of, it-”
”It's okay. I know,” said Lilly, rubbing my arm. ”I saw it.”
”You did?”
She nodded. ”Yeah, just, not at first, not when you started talking all crazy and took off. But as you were swimming away, I saw it. I tried to follow you, but you had too much of a head start. You've gotten fast, by the way.”
”Oh, thanks.”
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