Effingham, Illinois
2170
Andrea woke with a start and glanced at the clock. It read 1:35 AM in garrish red letters. She sighed and leaned back as the noise from the lower level continued to rise. If it kept up she'd be able to make out the words soon and figure out what they were arguing about. There was the sound of something, more likely someone, falling and she winced.
The situation had escalated a few days ago. She had arrived home from that first night with Kate two weeks ago. Her father had been seated in the big armchair in the living room while her mother worked in the kitchen. He had smiled at her and all she could remember is the way her arm had cracked when he threw her across the room two years ago.
"Andrea," he held out his arms as if she was going to hug him. As if he deserved her love.
She had stepped back towards the door. "Hi dad."
He lowered his arms, having at least enough self awareness to look embarrassed.
Her mother had come back in and they had told her the news together. He would be there on the weekends now. Every weekend. He wanted to be better. To make things right. Andrea had listened, and nodded, and walked up to her room and screamed into a pillow. It had been find for two months. And now they were fighting again. A damn good one to, jusdging by the volume.
She missed Jake. In the old days they would have wound up in the same room and told each other stories or played one of Jake's video games. Now she was alone to deal with whatever weird aftermath there would be tomorrow morning.
Abandoning any hope of sleep she picked up her omnitool from the bedside table and scrolled through her activity feeds. It was only a few minutes before the green light blinked and a message popped up:
KS: Can't sleep?
Andrea felt that strange warm feeling uncurling in her stomach. She tapped out a response a smile touching her cheeks.
AC: Chronic insomnia
KS: Tragic
AC: Well, insomnia and something I ate? I dreamed a giant mouse was trying to teach me to fly a spaceship to rescue Blasto the jellyfish
It was a lie. But not a mean one. She didn't owe anyone a rundown of her families baggage. Jake still hadn't gotten back to her except to say he was busy with school and work and he'd try to find time to check up on things.
KS: Did you rescue Blasto?
AC: You know, it was very unclear. What about you?
KS: I've never met Blasto.
AC: ….
AC: you think you're cute.
KS: I know I'm cute.
Andrea's smile widened. From downstairs she could hear her father screaming curses. There was another crash. Someone had thrown something. She sat up and curled into the corner of her bed, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. She leaned her head into the wall and sighed, tapping out a response to Kate.
AC: I'm not feeding your ego.
KS: So you admit I'm cute?
AC: No comment.
KS: Not a no.
AC: So is 2am normal for you colonists or…?
KS: Space cowboys don't need sleep.
KS: JK Marissa's baby woke me up. That thing cries way too much. Is there such thing as an unhealthy amount for a baby to cry?
AC: Beats me.
Marissa was Kate's foster mom. Kate had only mentioned her, or any of the other people she lived with, a couple of times. They avoided each other's houses by unspoken agreement. Kate hadn't talked much about Mindoir or her real family. Andrea hadn't pressed either. It wasn't like she had been overly eager to offer up that much information about her own problems.
Leah Calhoun hadn't asked a lot of questions about her daughters new friend yet. Andrea had the feeling she was far too distracted and it was better not to mention anything that might create more friction. There were enough problems at home.
KS: You live in the white house right, with the tree in the back on north fourth?
AC: Planning to pay a midnight visit?
KS: Maybe. Out for a midnight stroll.
She heard the door slam and a car start, and the soft sound of her mother crying. She started to get up. She should go check on things. Sweep up whatever she had heard break. Take care of her mother. She reached for the door and something tapped at her window. Andrea jumped. There was another tap.
She walked over and glanced through. A freckled face looked up at her from the ground and they both broke into matching smiles. "Can you climb that tree," Kate called softly. She glanced at what Andrea knew was the window that opened into the kitchen, then looked back up, suddenly bashful, "I can go if you'd rather get back to bed or… something."
Andrea shook her head and held a finger to her lips and opened the screen. She grabbed a backpack and coat from where she had thrown it earleier and A few minutes later she landed on the grass. Only then did she glance behind her into the window and wince. Someone had thrown a plate into the clock that had hung on the wall and both lay shattered on the kitchen floor. There was a collection of beer bottles on the table.
Kate shifted, "You uh," she shifted uncomfortably, "you ok?" She had obviously seen the mess. She was embarrassed and it only emphasized how tall and gangly she was. Andrea stood a good six inches shorter and if genetics were any indication she wasn't likely to grow more than another inch or two.
Andrea felt suddenly mentally exhausted. She didn't know how to explain the complicated dynamics of her life. As much as she wanted to be the kind of daughter who walked back in there, picked up the mess, and put her mother to bed, all she really wanted was to escape for a while. She looked up at Kate, "can we go somewhere else?"
Kate nodded, a smile tugging at one side of her mouth.
"Who was the big guy?" She asked, "He just left your house. I thought maybe I had the wrong one."
Andrea pursed her lips, "that was my dad. I guess he's back." She attempted to shrug it off.
Kate was looking at her, eyes narrowed in thought as they headed out the gate in the backyard, "if you ever need me," she said, "I'm not that far."
Andrea made a dismissive gesture, "I'm fine." She said, "I'm handling it."
"Uh-huh," said Kate, with a tone that said this was over for the moment, but far from permanently
Andrea smiled brightly, "so," she said, "where too?"
Kate turned to her and grinned, white teeth glinting in the starlight, "you got a bike?" Andrea nodded.
"Follow me."
Effingham was a strange midwest town. Half in the suburbs, half in the sticks it clung to the edge of larger cities. It was barely a mile before the town disintegrated into farmland. Still, Andrea hadn't left the larger township often over the years since she had moved here and she was surprised when Kate led them off the paved road down one of the dirt side roads. The bounced along for another few minutes. Finallym Kate dropped her bike beside a wire gate. Andrea followed suite and glanced at her omnitool. It was just after two.
"What are we doing out here?" she asked nervously.
Kate knelt next to the electronic gate latch. Something glowed in her hands. "Finished up a hacking program I started with my brother," she said. "We promised mom we wouldn't use it but," the lock clicked and she pushed the gate open, "I don't think she'd mind."
Andrea walked through and looked around. There was nothing but an open field. A few trees. She looked back at Kate who was shutting the gate. "What is this place?"
Kate tossed something at her and Andrea fumbled at it, almost dropping the bag. "Is this… drugs?" She looked at the tiny white cubes critically.
Laughing Kate shook her head, "sugar. Put it in your pocket."
Andrea gave her a doubtful look but tucked the bag in her pocket. Kate watched, then stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled. She hadn't seen the three figures off in the distance but one by one they looked up and moved closer. Andrea squinted, "are those cows?"
Kate walked over and nudged her, "city slicker," she teased, "those are horses."
Andrea stepped back as they approached, intimidated by their size. They were huge. She only came up to the shoulder of the shortest one and they circled the two girls making tiny snorting noises.
"Kate?" she said uncertainly
Kate grabbed her hand, "don't be scared. I've got you."
That was enough to bolster Andrea's courage. One of the horses stretched out it's neck, nuzzling Kate's pockets. She giggled, Andrea had never heard that noise before. She decided to see if she could make her do it again. Letting go of her hand Kate reached out a hand and touched the horses cheek. Her other hand reached in her pocket, "ok, big guy, I know what you want." She held out a hand flat palmed and the horse bent. There was a wet sound of mastication and the sugar cube was gone. The other horses weee jostling for space around them, trying to get on of the cubes. Andrea felt something tug at her own pocket and she yelped.
"Here," Kate said, "hold it with your hand flat like this."
Andrea held out a hand, then laughed as one of the smaller horses devoured the cube of sugar. "I didn't realize they were so big." She reached into her pocket for another. Kate was scratching at the neck of one of the horses, whispering in it's ear. "You've been here before," she accused.
Kate smiled, "yeah," she said, "kinda reminds me of home. I'm supposed to start working here once school is finally out. My therapist thinks it would be good for me."
The sugar cubes gone most of the horses trotted away except the one Kate was patting. Andrea watched, then reached in her jacket pocket pulling out a sketchpad. There was something wild about Kate now, something she had never seen in anyone before. She wanted to capture it forever. All too soon, however, the last of the horses trotted away. Andrea tucked the half finished sketch in her pocket, hoping there would be enough there to make it complete later. Andrea and Kate meandered towards the far side of the pasture.
Andrea dug in her backpack and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She offered on to Kate.
"Those things will kill you, you know?" Kate said. She grabbed it out of Andrea's hands and extracted one of the cigarettes. "How do you get this stuff anyways?" She asked out of the corner of one mouth as she lit it.
"I have grabby little hands," Andrea said, "and a fake ID."
Kate shook her head and took a thoughtful drag on the ciggarette. "You thought at all about that xeno-diversity class project," Kate asked after a while. "I keep trying to write it, but I just keep getting angry. I think Miss Smith hates me."
"Well," Andrea said, "she doesn't love you. You tend to… interrupt. And, you know the point of xeno-diversity class isn't to point out all the species in the galaxy by their likelihood to attack colonies."
"It just pisses me off," Kate said, "the glaxy is a dangerous place and all she wants to do is hold hands and sing Kum-bye-yah. Just this week two colonies were attacked on the verge. The alliance got there in time for one. The other… was just another massacre."
They stopped at the fench, perching side by side. "She wasn't there, Kate." Andrea said, "She doesn't get it. None of us do. Miss Smith has never left the planet and she's probably never going to."
Kate grunted, "She wants me to write on Kar'shan." Andrea winced. Miss Smith was big on the idea that everyone could get along and bridge cultural gaps. It wasn't terrible in theory, but six months ago the residents of the batarian homeworld, Kar'shan had torn Kate's life apart. "I get so angry," Kate said, her fingers gripping at the fence post until her knuckles were white. "The only thing those four eyed bastards are good for is target practice."
Andrea held up a hand, "maybe don't lead with that," she said.
Kate snickered, "can you imagine her face?"
"Hmm," Andrea said, "maybe you're just looking at it the wrong way."
"How's that," Kate asked sharply, "Because it seems pr-"
Andrea put a hand on Kate's arm, "chill," she said, "I'm on your side. You just have to know how to…talk about things the right way." She tilted her head, "you can say a lot of really mean things if you hide it in the right words."
"So how do you talk about a bunch of murdering bastards?" Kate asked acerbically.
"Well," Andrea said, "first of all you pick a partner like me who Miss Smith loves." She pointed to herself, "so good job, you're already on the right track."
Kate chuckled, "loves?"
"The woman wishes I was her daughter."
"Ok," Kate said, "and then what?"
"Then you hang out at the diner this week and do my math homework while I write our paper on Kar'shan." Andrea grinned impishly.
Kate laughed, "sounds like a deal." She looked up at the night sky, "You know, when they told me I had to move to earth I thought it was going to be really bad."
"Kate," Andrea said conspiratorially, "I don't know if you've noticed this town is awful."
"I dunno," Kate said, "it's not so bad." She pointed to the horizon, "the sun's about to rise." She jumped down, ground the butts of their cigarettes beaneath her heel, and offered Andrea her hand, "we should head out before someone finds us." She looked out across the field, "race you?"
"You have longer legs then I do," Andrea complained hopping down and trying to catch up, "it's not fair."
Kate shifted from one foot to the other, "you gonna bitch Calhoun or you gonna run?"
Andrea walked until she was shoulder to shoulder with Kate. "I just think we should set down some ground rules."
"Ground rules?"
"Yeah Andrea said," she glanced at the gate in the distance, paced forward another few steps, then broke into a dead sprint, "like whoever's last buys breakfast," She called over her shoulder.
"No fair," Kate called from behind her, "that's cheating!"
"You gonna bitch, Shepard," Andrea called, running faster, "or you gonna run?"