Connection - 8

~1002

It had been hard to tell Everen about Shandi’s plan, but Kerra had done it. Everen had been shocked and scared. She’d tried to communicate with Shandi, but Shandi had ignored her or brushed her off with promises that it was “no big deal.”

I can’t believe she refuses to talk to me! Everen was venting to Kerra one evening when there were only twenty bags of fertilizer left.

She told me how frustrated she was that you were always so perfect and I was always helpless. She always felt forgotten. Kerra stuffed a handful of bite-sized crackers into her mouth, biting down with a chorus of satisfying crunches. Kerra thought one of the main advantages of having her telepathic anomaly was that she could still be perfectly understood by her sisters even with her mouth full.

That was years ago! Everen sent a feeling of annoyance. Everen was the best out of the three sisters at communicating non-verbally across the connection. In theory they could all send feelings, images, and even things akin to video, but Everen could do it effortlessly, whereas even the strongest of emotions still took concentrated will for Kerra to communicate. Kerra figured being stuck in a space ship with nothing to do for several years gave her plenty of time to practice her focus.

You know Shandi. Always holding a grudge. Kerra attempted to convey her weariness, but she was unsure if it got through.

She needs to grow up, said Everen, haughtily.

Kerra didn’t know how to respond. Sure, many of the things Shandi did seemed immature, but she was also clearly a charismatic and influential leader, and she had the trust of her gang. And Kerra trusted the judgement of the gang. So Shandi must be doing something extremely well. Maybe the fact that we knew her as a kid is skewing our perspective, Kerra mused.

Maybe. I don’t know. Her mind will always be a mystery to me. But not because I didn’t try. Everen was quiet for a moment before saying, Hey, any good shows recently?

Being stuck on a space ship with little to do for several years, Shandi had all but exhausted the ship’s admittedly lacking library of videos. She occasionally asked Kerra to watch and transmit a movie or episode of a show to her, though Kerra’s video transmitting abilities were shaky at best. Everen never seemed to complain though. Honestly, said Kerra, I haven’t really been watching lately. I’ve had a lot to do with Shandi’s gang waltzing in and out at any hour of the day. Not that I mind, really. I’m just sad to know they’re leaving me soon.

Oh, said Everen. Well that’s alright. I think one of the engineers was going to try to teach me how to look at charts again. I doubt I’ll grasp anything she’s saying. They always try to teach me stuff to be useful, but I guess I’m just destined to be useless. I don’t have a head for these kinds of numbers. Kerra could tell Everen was shaking her head in a mixture of self-disgust and self-pity.

Just try your best, Kerra said. No matter what, you are vital to that ship, and vital to Abyssia.

I don’t always feel that way, Everen grumbled. But thanks Kerra. I’ll talk to you later.

Kerra felt the very slight feeling of loss that signaled that Everen had stopped focusing on the connection. The conversation was over. Kerra leaned back on the overstuffed couch and sighed. She was about to do something she’d been dreading all day. Tell mom.

Kerra hadn’t told their mother—Kerra called her Ruth these days, since she seemed to prefer it for some reason—yet because she hadn’t wanted her to worry. She’d also half-heartedly tried to convince Shandi to go tell Ruth herself, but that conversation was shut down immediately. Shandi had actually tried to convince Kerra not to tell Ruth, but Kerra knew that she would have to. It was just the right thing to do. And Shandi hadn’t expressly forbidden it, so there was that.

But there had been no reason to tell her when there was still seventy bags of fertilizer to be moved out of Kerra’s apartment. It would only make Ruth worry and stress. But Kerra had decided that the time had come. Ruth deserved to know.

Kerra dressed in her usual long pants, coat, and hat—she’d retrieved it from the council building’s lost and found the next time she had gone in. She walked to the main elevator hub and rode it all the way up to the Lower Crust.

Kerra’s apartment was in the Lower Downs, the furthest down residential sector, and the hottest. It was dangerous to live in the Lower Downs if you were susceptible to heat stroke or dehydration and the like. The Upper Crust was the highest residential sector, the closest to the surface, and it was equally dangerous because of the high levels of radiation (although the effect of that radiation compared to the rest of the city, which wasn’t free from radiation by any means, was rather small). It was also fairly chilly up there.

Ruth lived in the Lower Crust, which was still cold enough that Kerra’s outfit didn’t look entirely out of place. Upper Mains, the sector below the Lower Crust was the optimal temperature, which is why all of the apartments there cost roughly ten times what Kerra paid for her own apartment. So Ruth lived in a rather nice part of town, and while Kerra didn’t visit often these days, she always enjoyed her trips up to the Lower Crust.

Walking to her mother’s pillar, Kerra steeled herself to break the news, trying to rehearse in her head just what exactly she’d say to broach the topic. But by the time Kerra was riding the elevator in the center of Ruth’s pillar, Kerra still had no idea.

She reached Ruth’s floor, found the correct door, and knocked.