And during our week on the Magellan, we certainly didn’t have to. We were having fun—almost too much fun, to be honest about it. I suspected we were getting an unrepresentative view of colony life. I mentioned this to Dad, while we watched the final game of the dodgeball tournament, in which the Dragons were raining rubbery red doom on the previously undefeated Slime Molds, the team Magdy was on. I was perfectly fine with this; Magdy had gotten insufferable about his team’s winning streak. Humility would be a good thing for the boy.
“Of course this is unrepresentative,” Dad said. “Do you think you’re going to have time to be playing dodgeball when we get to Roanoke?”
“I don’t just mean dodgeball,” I said.
“I know,” he said. “But I don’t want you to worry about it. Let me tell you a story.”
“Oh, goody,” I said. “A story.”
“So sarcastic,” Dad said. “When I first left Earth and joined the Civil Defense Forces, we had a week like this. We were given our new bodies—those green ones, like General Rybicki still has—and we were given the order to have fun with them for an entire week.”
“Sounds like a good way to encourage trouble,” I said.
“Maybe it is,” Dad said. “But mostly it did two things. The first was to get us comfortable with what our new bodies could do. The second was to give us some time to enjoy ourselves and make friends before we had to go to war. To give us a little calm before the storm.”
“So you’re giving us this week to have fun before you send us all to the salt mines,” I said.
“Not to the salt mines, but certainly to the fields,” Dad said, and motioned out to the kids still hustling about on the dodgeball court. “I don’t think it’s entirely sunk into the heads of a lot of your new friends that when we land, they’re going to be put to work. This is a seed colony. All hands needed.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I got a decent education before I left Huckleberry,” I said.
“Oh, you’ll still go to school,” Dad said. “Trust me on that, Zo?. You’ll just work, too. And so will all your friends.”
“Monstrously unfair,” I said. “Work and school.”
“Don’t expect a lot of sympathy from us,” Dad said. “While you’re sitting down and reading, we’re going to be out there sweating and toiling.”
“Who’s this ‘we’?” I said. “You’re the colony leader. You’ll be administrating.”
“I farmed when I was ombudsman back in New Goa,” Dad said.
I snorted. “You mean you paid for the seed grain and let Chaudhry Shujaat work the field for a cut.”
“You’re missing the point,” Dad said. “My point is that once we get to Roanoke we’ll all be busy. What’s going to get us through it all are our friends. I know it worked that way for me in the CDF. You’ve made new friends this last week, right?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Would you want to start your life on Roanoke without them?” Dad asked.
I thought of Gretchen and Enzo and even Magdy. “Definitely not,” I said.
“Then this week did what it was supposed to do,” Dad said. “We’re on our way from being colonists from different worlds to being a single colony, and from being strangers to being friends. We’re all going to need each other now. We’re in a better position to work together. And that’s the practical benefit to having a week of fun.”
“Wow,” I said. “I can see how you weaved a subtle web of interpersonal connection here.”
“Well, you know,” Dad said, with that look in his eye that said that yes, he did catch that snarky reference. “That’s why I run things.”
“Is that it?” I asked.
“It’s what I tell myself, anyway,” he said.
The Dragons made the last out against the Slime Molds and started celebrating. The crowd of colonists watching were cheering as well, and getting themselves into the mood for the really big event of the night: the skip to Roanoke, which would happen in just under a half hour.
Dad stood up. “This is my cue,” he said. “I’ve got to get ready to do the award presentation to the Dragons. A shame. I was pulling for the Slime Molds. I love that name.”
“Try to make it through the disappointment,” I said.
“I’ll try,” he said. “You going to stay around for the skip?”
“Are you kidding?” I said. “Everyone’s going to stay around for the skip. I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
“Good,” Dad said. “Always a good idea to confront change with your eyes open.”
“You think it’s really going to be that different?” I asked.
Dad kissed the top of my head and gave me a hug. “Sweetie, I know it’s going to be that different. What I don’t know is how much more different it’s going to be after that.”
“I guess we’ll find out,” I said.
“Yes, and in about twenty-five minutes,” Dad said, and then pointed. “Look, there’s your mom and Savitri. Let’s ring in the new world together, shall we?”
PART II
TWELVE
There was a rattle and then a thump and then a whine as the shuttle’s lifters and engines died down. That was it; we had landed on Roanoke. We were home, for the very first time.
“What’s that smell?” Gretchen said, and wrinkled her nose.