Chapter 2
“Quickvine,” another girl said. “When it’s alive, it eats up carbon-dioxide and gives off oxygen. Like, a lot of oxygen.”
“Yes,” said Lina. “About twice as much as other plants its size, and it grows very quickly, making it perfect for our job of keeping the colony’s air fresh and healthy for all of you.”
A few of the diploid students rolled their eyes at Lina’s obvious manufactured excitement over the quickvine. She was losing them, and rapidly. Even the teacher had grown tired of casting pheromones to keep them in line.
Lina glanced at the thick, amber blast curtain, still in place.
“But it dies really fast, too.” The girl who had answered the previous question puffed up her chest as she carried on. “Quickvine. Quick to grow, quick to die, but it makes the air for you and I. I’m going to be a botanist when I grow up.”
“The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long, derp,” another student mocked in return, and a chuckle circulated.
The group had reached the end of their attention span. The teacher, too. She was staring at the blast curtain, as if by will alone she could make it dissolve away again.
Amazingly, it worked.
Lina shrugged. She didn’t believe that telekinesis was actually at play here, not even diploids possessed such power, but she did breathe a little easier as the barrier was shrinking, bubbling away, and the humorless guards blocking the side entrance had retreated. Cave workers swept the remaining bits of resin into reclamation portals in the floor
“Thank you for visiting Cave of the Winds,” Lina called out, as cheerfully as she could muster. The children filed out without so much as another word. She did, however, get a wan smile from the future botanist of the group. Lina smiled and waved back.
* * * *
Lina was sprinting down the colony’s tunnels and ramps, now three levels down from where she started at Cave of the Winds. Using her small size to her advantage, she dodged between clusters of dawdlers who were out strolling or shopping in the wide and high-ceilinged business district.
Lina burst into another downward tunnel, narrower than those above. The air was heavy and moist, with condensation clinging to the walls, as she descended into the bowels of the colony. The tunnels at this level were devoid of the crowds that packed the commerce areas above. No one ventured this far down unless they worked here. Or, in Lina’s case, if they happened to be sleeping with someone who did.
Arabel had just come through the wide, door-less entrance of the reclamation plant as Lina rounded the last corner. Arabel smiled upon seeing Lina, and released a bit of mating pheromone as she puckered up for a kiss. Lina happily obliged, letting herself fall into the trance provided by Arabel’s heady scent.
“You naughty girl,” Lina chastised. “You ought not to be scenting in the tunnels. You never know when there might be children about.”
Arabel shrugged, and took turns rubbing the back of her ears—the place where her scent glands were located—against the side of Lina’s neck. Lina’s eyelids fluttered, and she nearly swooned until Arabel clamped her teeth on an earlobe and hauled her back to reality.
“You’re trouble,” Lina said.
“And that’s exactly why you love me,” Arabel proclaimed, wrapping her arms about Lina’s neck. “I save you from your dull hum-drum existence. And…And you’re going to love me even more when you see all the great stuff I rescued today.”
Arabel released Lina and proudly patted the satchel that she carried slung over her shoulder and across her chest. “I got some compostable material for my plants.” Arabel pulled some out, beaming while Lina wrinkled her nose.
“And some bio-luminescent dye.” Arabel reached in again to produce a small tube, barely a quarter full with glowing orange liquid, and shook it in front of Lina’s face. “For the rave tonight. Something one of the tattoo shops had tossed out. Six colors in total. It’s gonna be fun.”
“Still holding out hope that we’ll get into the rave tonight?” Lina tossed her head back and let out a brief chuckle. “We don’t even know where it is.”
Arabel reached into her satchel a third time, as a wry smile crossed her face. She pulled forth a dirty and partially torn piece of paper. It looked like it had been wadded up and then carefully pulled apart and pressed flat again.
“We do now,” Arabel beamed. “Behold. My best find of the day.”
“I could just kiss you.”
Arabel reached behind her ear with her index finger, rubbing her pheromone gland and grinning, before she ran that same finger down the length of Lina’s nose.