Across the Universe

31 AMY

ELDER TAKES ME TO A SPRAWLING GARDEN BEHIND THE Hospital, the one I ran through this morning during my jog. I hadn’t noticed its beauty — before, I’d only ever seen the walls surrounding it. But really, it’s lovely. It has a chaotic feel to it, like it has grown wild, but there are paths and clusters of plants and no weeds, all indications that a true gardener has had his hand in the development of this contained beautiful mess.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“A statue of the Eldest during the Plague.”

“So everyone who’s leader around here is called Eldest?” He nods. “That’s a stupid way of doing it. It gets confusing who’s who. How many Eldests have there been, anyway?”

“I… er… I don’t know.”

I look up at the face of the statue. It’s not carved from stone. I think it was made of concrete, or something very similar to it. Makes sense. Where would they get stone? It’s not like they could just dig into the ground to extract some.

A drop of water splashes on my head. I glance up, expecting for one crazy moment to see rain clouds. I have always loved rain, but, looking up at the plain metal ceiling, I think I will not like this ship’s version of rain. It reminds me, once again, of how false Godspeed is. There are no rain clouds, no dark sky punctuated by lightning. Here on Godspeed, when it rains, water just falls from the sprinkler system attached to the ceiling. I taste a drop of it on my tongue. It’s cool, like real rain, but there’s a slightly stale, recycled taste to it, and it smells very faintly of oil.

The “rain” is not heavy now, though, just a few drops sprinkling down, so I continue down the path, closer to the statue.

“I’m surprised you have rain,” I say.

Elder smiles at me, a sort of half-smile that looks like a smirk.

“What?”

“You talk funny,” he says, which is ironic since his words sound like “ya tal-funnae” to me.

“Ha! You’re the one with the weird accent!”

“Wee-urd axe-scent,” he mocks. I stick my tongue out at him, but I’m laughing, too.

A few raindrops fall on the statue’s head, and they snake down his face like tears, leaving behind dark trails. I squint. The face is not as detailed as I’d expect. In fact, it looks weatherworn.

“How long ago was the Plague?” I ask.

“I’m not sure,” Elder says, strolling away from the statue. “I’d have to look it up. Why were you surprised we have rain?”

“Well…” I drawl the word out, emphasizing the accent Elder says I have. His smile broadens. “It’s just that — it’s not rain. Why make it look like it? You could just water the plants yourselves with sprinklers.”

Elder shrugs. “It’s in the ship’s original design.” He pauses, then mutters to himself, “Biological Research…”

“What?”

“I saw some old plans of the ship at the Recorder Hall. Originally, the Feeder Level was labeled ‘Biological Research.’ I didn’t think of it at the time, but… Eldest engineers the weather patterns. To emulate different conditions that Centauri-Earth may have. He changes the pattern every five or so years. Last time… last time the rain was scheduled to fall only once a month. The scientists had to help the farmers develop different irrigation methods. And… ” He’s thinking now; he’s practically forgotten I’m there, listening. “When I was a kid, it used to rain a lot. I helped dig a drainage ditch. The sheep pastures kept flooding. Eldest has us change the soil sometimes, too, adding or taking away different minerals.”

He looks up at me now, but he doesn’t really see me. “The Feeder Level really is biological research — researching conditions of what Centauri-Earth might be like. There are records in the Recorder Hall of all the different methods we’ve come up with out of necessity. No… not necessity. It’s what Eldest does. It’s part of Eldest’s job….”

“That means it’s part of your job, too, right?” I say. “You’re the next Eldest.” I want to ask, Why didn’t he teach you all this? But it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing I should say aloud. Elder can see the question in my face, though. He turns down the path toward the pond, but I can tell he doesn’t have an answer for my unspoken question. He’s just got more questions, too.

I follow him down the path. Hydrangeas with big, blossoming heads spill out onto the walkway.

The rain picks up. It has a steady, methodical way of falling, but it’s close enough to real rain that I tip my head back and let the water splash on my closed eyelids and pretend.

“This whole Eldest thing… I don’t see how it works.”

“Why not?”

We stop near a pond about the size of the swimming pool in my high school. A man and woman, laughing in the rain, collapse on a bench further down the path.

“He’s not a peaceful man. He must scare everyone into obeying him.” I don’t want to admit that he’s got me scared, too, but I think Elder can guess it.

“Eldest is a great leader. I don’t always agree with him, or his methods, but they work. You can’t deny that.”

“That old man’s a dictator — that’s how it works,” I mutter. I catch Elder smirking. “What?”

“I like how you call him an old man. Most people around here worship at his feet.”

“He seemed like a jerk to me. More than a jerk. He was pretty much King Asshole to me. I mean, I know he’s your leader and all, but he did want to basically kill me.”

“Maybe he wouldn’t really throw you out of the hatch.”

“Really?”

Elder stares at the flowers at our feet. “He might have. Yes. He probably would have.”

I kick at the big orangey-red flowers, like tiger lilies, that line the edge of the pool.

The couple on the bench are really going at it. The man’s got one hand up the woman’s shirt, another hand down her pants. Elder follows my gaze and stares at the couple.

“Eldest said that the Season would start soon.”

“This is the Season? People don’t act like that in public.” At least, they didn’t used to. Is this what happens when you coop people up together on a ship, or am I just a prude compared to their evolved standards?

Elder doesn’t watch the couple on the bench; he’s watching me. The rain is pouring harder now, and I think about going in, but in a strange way I like how the rain makes me feel as if I am grounded, connected to this place. Even though I know the rain is fake, it feels the same as real rain, and I desperately need that.