If Jove Stray

Chapter 7: a whole new world

Alcott though Levi's eyebrows were going to disappear into his hairline when she walked in. She smiled, despite the venting situation. She had seen the message from Dashiell this morning but thought it was unfair that he would assume that because she had agreed, she had agreed right this very moment. She should have known better. She wasn't mad at the thin black haired man walking behind her, but she would need to angry at someone before long.

"Levi, this is Tyson," she said. "Tyson, Levi."

Levi gave a little wave from his desk. She would have to ask what Levi thought of the man from Earth. Tyson seemed confounded by everything, and fidgety on top of that, checking his pockets periodically for some imaginary thing.

"You can call me Ty," Tyson said, peering around at the plants. "So this is a garden?"

"Sort of," Alcott said, not wishing to do the full tour at the moment. "We also do some research here. I presently have the very riveting task of watching beans grow."

"You love those beans!" Levi called.

She rolled her eyes and moved around the trellis to her office. It was filled with small trays of beans, each carefully labeled. Ibsen thought he had the perfect fertilizer and it was now just much measuring and waiting. Alcott would be glad when the baby was born so she could climb trees and do other things that didn't involve sitting in a chair and glancing at the time.

"Sorry, I don't have an extra chair."

"I can sit on the floor," Tyson sighed, sliding down a wall to the ground. "How do jobs work here?"

"I was born here, so I chose to apprentice with Anatoly, she's the head of our department," Alcott explained, "Levi is from cryo, he applied to work here and Anatoly trained him."

"What did he do before?"

"And you made him sit on the floor," Levi scolded, hobbling into the room with a stool in one hand. "Alcott, we have extra chairs."

"I didn't in here," she protested. "Tyson, if you..."

She gestured for him to help Levi. He hopped up from his seat and took the stool from Levi with thanks. Levi pushed his blonde hair out of his eyes, leaning against the wall for a moment. She compared the two men for a moment. They were both thin, skinny even. Tyson's dark hair was smooth and shiny, as opposed to Levi's blonde mop. Levi was shorter than Tyson, but Levi was shorter than most people. It didn't seem to bother him much.

"Tyson just asked what you did before," Alcott remarked. "You can probably tell better than I can. I have no idea what you did."

"I was the historian on the ship," Levi explained with an eye roll. "I studied languages and literature. Alcott doesn't think that it was the greatest use of my time, but she forgets there was nothing else to do on the Aeneid. You're from Earth? What did you do there?"

"I'm a social worker. Oh, you don't have those here, do you?" His face fell when both Levi and Alcott shook their heads. He sat on the stool with a thump. "What have my parents done to me?" he whispered.

"I'm sorry," Levi said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "What does social work entail? Maybe we just don't call it that anymore."

Tyson sighed, looking up from his seat. "I worked with teenagers," he said. "I was getting my Masters. Um, I was going to go to the West Coast, work at one of the farms and help kids transition back into society. How much do you know about the Wheat Crisis here?"

"Very little," Levi replied. "Libba told me some of what happened on Earth, but the Aeneid left Earth before the crops started dying. Kids were working on farms?"

"Most people had resorted to gangs to survive," Tyson explained. "Bread was a hundred dollars a loaf; people would murder for food stamps. The cities weren't too strained; we had reserves and other work. The rural areas weren't so lucky. People would sell their kids for food when it would get bad. The group I worked for would either rescue or buy them back from gangs. My parents thought that we were only perpetuating the gangs by giving them money, but," he sighed; "people were selling young children. A lot of these kids had PTSD, depression, they were suicidal even after rescue. My job was to help them feel wanted, loved. I dodged my parents and their security team and started working on the streets. Clearly, they found me. Bastards."

"I had no idea that Earth was so bad," Alcott said. "We don't have contact with them. And we don't...have things like that happen here. There's only a couple hundred on the base."

"Oh."

Levi frowned at Tyson and then at his holo-rib.

"What's PTSD?" he asked.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder," Tyson explained. "Kids would have nightmares, anxiety, panic attacks, you know. Sometimes people can't process the horrible things around them and it was my job to help. What is that?"

"This?" Levi lifted his holo-rib. Tyson nodded.

"It's a holo-rib. It's kind of like a tablet, but the screen is a hologram. We can take you over to communications and get your own."

"I'll be fine," Tyson shrugged. "I don't want to ask my parents for money. What is currency here?"

"Everyone gets a holo-rib, you don't...pay for it," Alcott replied with a grin. "You need it to communicate. And you probably have some credits. Everyone does. Then once you figure out where you want to work, Cameron will set you up."

"Honestly, we could probably use a social worker," Levi mused. "We have our own share of tragedy, only no one knows how to help. Do you think he should talk to Madison or Cameron?"

Alcott shook her head. "No idea. I'll send a message to both. In the meantime, I really have to work now, especially if I'm going to have a surprise amount of time off. Tyson, if you want to go with Levi, I don't mind. I'm sure Levi would like the company while he sorts through varieties of blackberry seeds."

Levi groaned but headed to the door. Tyson rose from his seat but paused before leaving.

"Thank you, Alcott," he said. "I'm afraid I'm going to be asking you a million questions while I'm avoiding my parents."

She smiled at him and then returned to her work. She didn't want to be angry with Tyson; nothing here was definitely his fault. She couldn't even be upset with Val and Titus because they hadn't been the pressure. She would have a chat with Dashiell later when Tyson finally crashed. Dashiell would be very sorry that this had happened so quickly. Being pregnant did not put her in a good frame of mind.

"Alcott!"

She looked up to see Anatoly frowning from the doorway.

"Who is the random man in Levi's office?" she asked. "And why did Levi send me a message that everything is fine and you'd explain? That's not what you tell someone if you want to assure them that things are actually fine."

"Tyson is my new partner, for now," Alcott replied, wincing through the word. "I made a deal with Dashiell, though I am now regretting that a decision." She grimaced. "Don't tell Tyson. He doesn't know any of this."

"I wasn't planning on it," Anatoly laughed. "Are you pas mal? The truth now."

Alcott sighed. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Tyson is not the problem. Dashiell wasn't as...understanding as I had hoped, but just as manipulative as I expected. I might have to take some of this week off though, sorry."

"Don't apologize, Alcott," Anatoly replied. "Do what you need to."

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Tyson is going to find out sooner or later that being partners is not quite the same as it is on Earth. Should be an interesting conversation soon. Thanks for reading!