If Jove Stray

Chapter 28: the other side of logic

Tyson could barely believe that he had been talked into this. He had barely met with either parent and now he was headed to their berth with the intent to pretend like all was forgiven. They had left a complaining Harper back in her berth. She had said he needed to rest, which had been met with loud protestations that he was not, in fact, tired. Regardless, Cameron was firm on the matter and they headed towards Tyson's parents' berth in short order. He wasn't good at subterfuge, but he knew that Alcott was counting on him to get some sort of details.

"I'm sorry," Cameron said, a little oddly in the middle of the hall.

"Um, for what? This isn't your fault," he replied.

"I didn't stop Dashiell from partnering you with Alcott even knowing what happened with Marcus," she explained. "Dashiell, for whatever reason, brought me into his confidence, but I haven't done anything with that information. I thought -I still think- his genetic bill is for the good of the base."

"My father and he only cared about their careers," Tyson replied. "I got out of the public eye for a reason. I thought I had run far enough to get away from my parents' machinations, but apparently, they found me."

"You didn't want to go into cryo?" she inquired

"Absolutely not," he scoffed. "I had a job I loved, kids that I cared for. The Earth I left wasn't... there was a reason my family bailed."

"Then why is Dashiell so insistent on getting information from Earth?" Cameron wondered. "Wouldn't they be upset that he vanished?"

Tyson shrugged. He knew so little about what had led his parent to flee not only the country but the planet. He imagined whatever they were escaping was serious indeed.

Cameron continued down the corridor and knocked at a door. Val opened it, a wide smile forming when she saw Tyson.

"Your father will be so pleased," she said. "Come in, come in. Hello, Cameron."

"I was just helping Tyson find his way," Cameron told her. "I should get back to Harper before he decides to roam the halls looking for me."

"That man of yours is not good at sitting still," Val agreed. "Tell him thank you for his work for the printers. I guess we'll have to find someone else to do that now."

Cameron shrugged and walked back the way she had come. She was a strange person, Tyson thought. Her words seemed so calculated when she spoke like she had considered each one before saying it. He wondered about her history but sternly reminded himself that it was not his business.

"How is it," he began as soon as the door shut; "that the very moment I make friends, Dashiell Turner starts making life harder for them? Alcott is so upset about Levi, and I hate feeling so useless."

"Hello to you too, son," Titus drawled.

He was sitting on the couch drinking a glass of wine.

"So?" Tyson demanded.

Val sighed. "It's so much more complicated than that. Ty, you've only been awake for a couple days. We've only been on the planet for two weeks. This base woke Dashiell four days before the Landing Day Massacre and he said it was like a horror movie. These people are bizarrely innocent; they've never seen tragedy or terrorism. They don't understand loss and sacrifice like we do, they've been crawling in the Dark Ages, just trying to stay alive."

Val picked up her glass of wine and took a sip.

"Now I don't know the whole deal with Levi Hark, but from what Dashiell says, the man is a genius. He knows multiple languages, has a whole library memorized. He knows the old Earth code better than anyone else here. And the base told him none of that was useful and he made the best of it. But now we're taking those restrictions off him and he's balking? Think of him like one of your boys back home, Tyson. You would tell him that trying something new isn't the end of the world, and in fact, he might love it even more because it's letting him live up to his potential."