Author’s Note: It’s been quite a while since I’ve written a new story in the series I’ve been calling The Diaspora in my head for quite some time. This prologue is meant to sit at the front of the collection should I ever compile them into a single work, to help ease the reader into the world of the story. For now though, I don’t think it needs to be read in any particular order with the others, I hope it’s able to stand on its own.
Wind rattled at the shutters again. She wouldn’t be able to go out for some time yet.
Xochi’s heart sank a little bit as she looked up and saw floating down in the afternoon light dust that had snuck past the weather seals. Mama would at best chide her for impatience though if she complained, or more likely anymore, would simply ignore her. Her mother’s eyes almost never left the news feeds anymore. So shei chose a new picture on her coloring program—a big tree with a red trunk like her friend Arabella said still grew in nature preserves up north, she’d even claimed to have seen one once— Xochi wasn’t so sure anything so big and so green had ever existed. She settled in and got to coloring in her little spot in the corner as the dust settled around her and the news feed chattered on from Mama’s tablet and the wind rattled the shutters once more.
Fortunately it was a very big picture she had to color in, because it didn’t sound like the dust storm was going away very soon. Maybe this time she’d try the watercolor brush, it was always the hardest to get right, but when it worked she was always the most proud of the watercolors. If she took her time, maybe the hours would slip by until the winds died down around sunset and she could sneak out for an hour or two to meet up with her friends.
With Mama’s eyes stuck on the news she could probably sneak out right now and not be noticed, but there wouldn’t be any other kids out. No other kids had big sisters taken in by the Delaney Program, so their parents wouldn’t be so distracted by watching the same old news. It was always the same, some ship moved from orbit around one moon to one staging point to one asteroid to gather materials to near earth to collect its passengers and then they were gone. The news was always the same for Xochi, always the same and always sad. It only ever reminded her that Coral was gone, gone and she wasn’t coming back.
Teacher’s told Xochi that her sister had gotten very lucky. She was selected to work as maintenance crew aboard one of the Delaney starships, the only person in Wasco, in all of Kern County in fact, to be selected. Arabella said she met some people who were sure to be chosen when she was visiting her family up in San Jose, but Xochi wasn’t so sure. Her teachers said that far less than one percent of those who applied would be accepted. Xochi wasn’t so sure about that either, how could you have less than one percent? But they’d shown a video at school from the Delaney company when Coral was accepted about the program. It started with mean, old Yvette Delaney talking about why she started her interstellar colony program and her vision for the future and the sacrifice of the colonists, Xochi didn’t like that too much. But then some nicer people came on and explained about the maintenance workers, or The Watchers as they called them.
They explained how the program needed very special people to be Watchers and work aboard the ship for five years while everyone else slept to make sure nothing went wrong. After five years Coral would go back to sleep and wake up on a new planet, fresh and green, a new home for Coral and the two million people who traveled with her. Maybe they’d have big red-trunked trees on Coral’s new planet, Xochi hoped so. She colored the sky in extra blue, bluer than she’d ever seen, and tried to imagine a bright and beautiful home for her sister but it was hard.
The video went on, and explained that the reason they accepted so few people to be Watchers was that they needed only very special people. They didn’t explain very well what they meant by special, but they did say that if you had a sibling who was accepted you were much more likely to be chosen so you should be sure to apply once you were grown up.
Xochi, stopped coloring.
“Mama,” she squeaked, “do you know which ship Coral will be on?”
Her mother looked down with tired eyes. “No mija. We don’t get to know.”
“Oh,” Xochi deflated, “I was thinking if we knew which ship, maybe when I’m grown up I might be chosen by the Delaney people and I could go find her on her new planet, you know, if she can’t come back.”
Her mother made a strange hiccuping sound, and put her hand to her mouth.
Maybe that’s not such a good idea, Xochi thought. She got up and walked over to her mother.
Mama patted her head and turned back to the news feed, where the camera showed the bright glare of rocket engines amongst more stars than Xochi had ever seen. The title at the bottom said CRS Delaney’s Folly Departs.
“No mija, we don’t get to know which one she goes on, so I watch them all to make sure she gets off safely.” Mama continued stroking her hair. “Besides, it wouldn’t matter if we did know.”
“Why not?” Xochi asked, looking up confused. “Because of the way that Delaney diabla, decided to run her program.” Mama sounded angry and her hands shook a little. “All the ships are going to different places. Even if you were chosen, you’d go to a different world.”
That didn’t make much sense, Xochi thought of her big red tree. “But why Mama? If they find a nice new home wouldn’t they want everyone to go there?”
“Because it’s space mija, and space is a curse.” Her mother sighed as she dabbed at her eyes. “By the time they get where they’re going they’ll be so far away we won’t be able to talk to them, or know what kind of a planet they’ve found. Besides, all they’re likely to find is a place where they have to live under big domes like they have in Los Angeles.”
Xochi remembered her last trip to Los Angeles well. At first the dome had seemed more amazing than anything she’d ever seen, it arched up in a million triangles into the sky, and it meant the kids could run outside anytime they wanted. But after a week at her tio’s house, right in the crowded, dirty heart of it all, she couldn’t wait to leave. Sure it was boring waiting inside their apartment in Wasco for the dust storms to pass, but at least when the winds died down she and Arabella could go play down in the arroyo and build forts and chase the boys away. Kids in Los Angeles were lucky if they could find an empty piece of sidewalk to play on.
She stuck her tongue out, “That doesn’t sound very nice...” she thought a bit more, “Why did Coral want to go then?”
Mama hugged her closer, “Oh mi amor, because of hope I suppose.” She sighed again, “Because she was her own woman, who made her own choices, and you know I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Xochi reached up to touch her mother’s face, she saw the sadness she felt, but that left her confused.
“If you’re proud, why are you sad?”
“You can be proud and sad at the same time Xochi...” she trailed off, then whispered, “In this world you may need to be both at the same time.”
“But Coral might find a better place right?” Xochi asked hopefully, “A planet with big trees with red bark, and blue skies, and rivers that run all year long, right?”
“Yes mija she just might,” Mama smiled. “And if she doesn’t find somewhere just like that, maybe she’ll find a way to make it so. You know if anyone can, our Coral can.”
“And then maybe I’ll be grown up and can go find her?” Xochi asked hopefully.
“No Xochi, no.” Mama’s eyes welled again. “Coral won’t get to her new home for a very, very long time. She’ll be able to sleep most of the way, except the years she has to wake up and watch after the ship, so she’ll get there before she’s too old. Even if they can find a way to let us know they’ve found a nice home though, you and I will be gone before their message reaches home. Besides mi amor we need you here on Earth.”
“Yeah?” Xochi looked up as a tear traced its way down her mothers cheek.
“Por supuesto,” Mama smiled through the tears. “Earth will need lots of smart girls like you if we’re going to save Her.”
“How can I do that?”
“Well, you study what you love at school, you get good grades, and when the time comes we find you a place in an Academy as far away from Yvette Delaney as I can put you.”
“That doesn’t sound so hard,” Xochi smiled. “I like school.”
Mama kissed her head, “Of course you do mi corazon.” She looked up to the windows where the winds had died down, and kissed her again. “Mira, the storm’s passed for today. If you keep your respirator on until your watch tells you it’s safe you can go out and play with your friends until the sun touches the mountains.”
“Really?” Xochi’s heart leapt.
“Of course, go see how the world looks today so you can remember and see how much better this old Earth looks when you’re my age.” Mama gave her one last kiss and pushed her towards the door.
Xochi pulled the inner weather door closed behind her and grabbed her respirator, as she pulled it on her little watch lit up on her wrist, glowing a soft amber. That was good, the storm might not have been too bad, in a little while the air wouldn’t be too bad to breathe. When her watch detected a tight seal around her face and on the inner door, the outer door unlocked and Xochi stepped out onto their little patio. Dust hung in the air all around her, with the sun still hidden behind the clouds, it turned the whole world around her fuzzy and yellow. Bad news about the storm being short, it didn’t cool the air down very much, she wouldn’t be running around and playing too much today. Still she could make it down to the bend in the arroyo and make sure the storm hadn’t wrecked her fort too badly.
Down the grated metal walkway she went, small footsteps knocking the dust that clung to the steel slats down below, down the steps and she walked out into the street. Xochi couldn’t see more than a block or two, but that didn’t matter much, she knew where she was going and there was never much to see anyways—air hazy as it always was. As she walked along a couple doors slid open and kids darted out. She waved to a some friends from across the street as she passed by but continued on her way.
Grown ups almost never came out this soon after a storm, they said the yellow light was icky, but Xochi didn’t understand that. There was never much color in Wasco ever, so when the sun shone down just right through the clouds on an afternoon like this and turned everything sunflower yellow she enjoyed the brightness. Plus it was a time when only kids were out, and that was the best. A song came into her head, and she began to hum as she stepped lightly down the street.
After a few blocks she skittered off the side of a bridge and down the loose stones into the arroyo that arched away around her neighborhood. On one of the rocks a big horned lizard sat in the yellow light. It sure seemed like the lizards thought people couldn’t see them when it was yellow out, and that was true for grownups maybe—they did blend in pretty well after all—but Xochi had been hunting for them for too long to be fooled by their camouflage. Even in the yellow light. Still, she knew this guy, and he was grouchy, so she let him be. The arroyo wasn’t much, but it was the most interesting thing in Xochi’s neighborhood. Little more than the remnants of a canal built years ago when the Kern River flowed more regularly. Once or twice a year a big rainstorm would get caught way off on the mountains and release enough water to over fill the Kern and send water racing through the arroyo. That always destroyed her forts, but it always brought the best new building supplies with it.
Mama never let her come down here though in the winter when the rains might come, so by the time she got to survey the damage on her fort and look for the best new things that had washed down everything was covered in dust. But dust was ok too, sometimes it hid treasures. Every bend was full of old twisted branches washed down from the dead forests way up in the mountains, but if you knew what you were looking for you could find better bits. Pieces of pipe and metal sheeting from the hydroponic farms that stood on the far side of the arroyo, wire and cord from the factories up in Bakersfield, a couple times some odd boots, one time even an old compass on a chain that still worked. She and Arabella had used the compass to reckon where the best bend in the arroyo would be to build their new fort to protect it from the wind of the dust storms.
As she came around the bend to where her fort was tucked away on the bank, she saw a group of boys prying back the nice heavy piece of plastic sheeting they’d found for a door. Immediately, she set off running towards them.
“Oye váyanse!” She shouted at them.
There were just two of them and they were a grade below her, so they took off running. Plus they knew wherever Xochi was Arabella wasn’t far behind. When Arabella was around even some of the bigger kids would have taken off.
Fortunately today though, she’d caught them before they could do too much damage. She lifted back the heavy sheet of plastic and ducked inside. The storms always rolled in over the mountains from the east so having the compass made all the difference in figuring out where to tuck their latest construction in to; this one had lasted all summer and the dust that settled onto its tin roof only seemed to make it stronger. They’d hung the compass from one of the rafters to give it a place of honor, it still hung there today gleaming in the shafts of light that worked their way inside. Xochi swept out some of the loose dust that had blown in and then spread the wide woven blanket they kept folded, tucked up at the back to sit on while they played inside.
Footsteps crunched in the gravel outside, footsteps she’d know anywhere, her best friend. Arabella.
“Hey loser,” she laughed, stepping through the door, ducking quite a bit more than Xochi had to, now that she’d shot up a couple more inches. Immediately she pulled off her respirator, her watch protested but she was able to mute it. “Shut up, stupid thing. I know when the air’s good enough to breathe.”
Xochi laughed nervously but kept hers on for now.
“I have very exciting news Xoch!” her dark eyes lit up in the dusky light. “I was trying to tell you in Miss Cara’s class yesterday before I got in trouble. I’m moving to San Jose at the end of next school year!”
“Oh, really, wow.” Xochi squeaked, her heart dropping.
“I know, isn’t that awesome!” Arabella went on, “You know I always told you my uncle was important up there. Well he was able to sell his company off and get spots on the next Delaney ship for him and his family,” she nearly shook with excitement, “you know since they’ll be leaving forever and all that, he decided to leave us his house.’
“And now, my mother wouldn’t say so because I know it’s so expensive, but I think he might even get spots for my mom and me!”
“No way...” her reply came out as a peep, she really didn’t believe it.
Coral going away already felt like something that had happened to someone else, an event so rare that surely no way would happen to her. But now to hear that her friend, Arabella from Wasco, California, was going too, not as a Watcher but as an actual paying passenger. Well that beggared belief entirely. Berths on the Delaney ships were meant to be affordable to only the richest of the rich—for the kids at the most private junior academies and their parents—and usually not even then. The most normal way for people to buy spots was to sell some limited resource to the Delaney company in a sort of one-sided trade. In fact, that’s probably what had happened with Arabella’s uncle. The notion he’d be able to get two more spots for Arabella and her mom, well that was beyond believable. But San Jose or another planet, it mattered little to Xochi. At the end of the school year she would lose her closest friend.
Arabella had taken little notice of her friend’s quiet and was yammering on, “...I mean San Jose would be fine too. Anywhere is better than here right? So I’m happy either way, but I have a feeling Xoch, I know it right deep inside of me, I’m headed to the stars.” She finally took notice of the silence in the fort. “What’s wrong with you? You’re acting weird.”
Xochi looked up suddenly. “No–nothing. It’s just... that’s really awesome for you, hopefully I can come visit you in San Jose before...if, you know, before you leave.”
“If?” Arabella grinned, “Not if Xoch, when! And of course you can come visit me in San Jose, in fact you really should. I heard that the Delaney company will let kids as young as thirteen take a pre-test to work as maintenance crew. Since your sister made it, I bet you will too.” She was dancing around the little fort, skipping with excitement. “You know these spaceship things take a long time, so we’ll probably almost be done with school by the time my uncle’s berths come up. Maybe you could even get accepted as crew on my ship. Wouldn’t that be amazing? We’d be off exploring together, meeting all sorts of interesting people, a million miles away from Wasco!”
Xochi really wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t dreaming. If Arabella actually had a spot. If Xochi was accepted. If they wound up on the same ship. Even if all of that, she’d still be five years older than her friend by the time they got there. If all of that was even what she wanted...
“Well I’ve gotta run.” Arabella sped on, “Mother’s got another call with my uncle and I don’t want to miss what they say, but I just wanted to come and tell you the good news!”
“Oh wait...” Xochi’s voice came out small and mouse-like.
“What’s up?”
“Well, I was hoping for some help. I was thinking this was such a good spot for a fort, if we reinforce it a bit it might survive the winter.”
“Oh forget all that Xochi!” Arabella’s cutting words came out in laughter. “We won't have to play down in this dusty old creekbed any more. We can forget this fort, forget this town, forget this whole planet. We’re off to the stars!” She waved her and above her, knocking the compass and setting it swinging. “Let’s get out of here.”
Xochi paused, “I think I’ll stay a little while...I’ll see you at school tomorrow right?”
“Yep!” Her friend smiled, “and we can tell everyone we know where we’re headed.”
“Ok, I’ll see you then.” Xochi waved goodbye as her friend ducked back out the door.
She sat there for a while in the golden silence, head swimming. Of course, Arabella was known to tell some tall tales. But San Jose, that seemed real enough, and even just a ticket up there was more than mama could really afford. So she sat in her sadness for a little while, and then decided to make use of the remaining light.
Stepping out onto the gravel the afternoon had turned from yellow to amber. She surveyed the little shelf where her fort sat. It was a really good spot. Sheltered by the high bank and some brush to the east from the wind, but up on a little embankment and on the inside of a large bend. The floods would certainly come—at least once or twice—in the winter, but if she was clever and got a little lucky, maybe she could find a way to keep the structure they’d built. Sure, things would have to change, but that was no reason to just let it all get washed away if she could help it. Nature favored the spot, so it’d be a shame to let it go to waste.
First thing, she’d need a breakwater on the upstream wall to push water around if the floods came in that high. So Xochi clambered down and across the arroyo to the far bank where a snarl of stones and wood and scrap lay buried under a layer of dust. She pulled her gloves on and turned over each piece, considering them like she never had before. She’d never tried to build a fort that would really last. Those heavy stones they’d always left because they were hard to move, well now their weight was an asset. That piece of corrugated steel that was too short to be a proper wall, well maybe it could be a flume. She sifted through the rubble as the afternoon light softened.
After a while her watch chimed at her, the air was safe to breathe for now. Xochi stood up and slid off her respirator, savoring the feeling of the light afternoon breeze on her face. Dust from the storm had almost all settled by now and she could see up into the darkening, hazy clouds above. Today they weren’t too thick, she could almost see the pale periwinkle of the evening sky. Just then a star emerged, the first of the evening. Not a star though, but a ship. The great fire of the Corporate Registered Ship Delaney’s Folly’s engines, it would be the first thing they could see in the evening and the last to disappear in the morning for some time to come yet, before eventually disappearing among the smattering of bright stars they could see in the hazy skies of their little town.
Xochi looked up and wondered if Coral was on that ship. She hoped her sister was, it had the silliest name of all the fleet after all, maybe that was a good sign. Today she got lucky, cool air from the ocean had rolled in and blew a fresh breeze across her face and pushed the haze back a little bit more. There next to the Folly was Sirius, and over there Arcturus, and way over there she could just make out Vega twinkling in the evening sky, more stars than she’d see on most nights. Xochi, took some of the choicest things she’d found and dragged them over to lean against her fort, she folded up the blanket inside and tucked it away, she pulled the heavy plastic back across the door—she’d have to figure out some sort of a lock to keep those boys at bay—and made sure everything was as tight as she could get it. Then she headed back towards home, mama would want her back soon. She walked on, eyes to the stars, feet crunching through the gravel of home.