Note: Many thanks to Elana.S for beta-ing this chapter.
Red.
2168
The smells of the festival were mouthwatering: cinnamon and sugary bread sticks, tangy spiced meat, popcorn, and of course, fried everything. Andie barely restrained herself from dancing with impatience as her mother purchased food from a booth. Finally, they turned on their way back to their own stall where Matt and a bored-looking Erik were selling fresh fruit from their orchard, along with several loaves of fresh bread, baked using grain from their own field. The annual summer festival was never a huge profit for the family farm—sometimes they didn't make any profit—but Matt insisted that participating in community events like this were necessary. It let their fellow colonists know that they were still invested in Mindoir, that they cared about the people on the planet itself, not just the profits they gained from exporting offworld, which was the main source of most of their income.
Erik perked up at the sight of the food and took a large portion when their mother passed it out. Andie munched on her share, plopping into her seat, and digging through her pack to find her datapad. She'd started a good book the other day and since Matt wanted them to be present at the booth as a family, that meant no wandering away from the stall in search of other festival entertainment. But that was only for today. Tomorrow Erik and Andie were planning on doing a tour of all the dessert stalls.
Andie frowned, using both hands now to dig through her bag, but it was no use—it wasn't there. She stood, swiping crumbs from her mouth.
"Mom, Dad, I left my datapad at home. I'm going to go get it. I'll be right back."
Her parents nodded and she grabbed her air-scooter from where she'd laid it down. Once out of the fairgrounds, she hesitated a moment, then turned south. She'd take a shortcut through the landing pad. It made the trip out of New Independence a little bit longer, but once she cleared the landing field, it would be a straight shot to the farm.
She saw a shuttle on the landing pad as she arrived, feeling a slight annoyance that she'd have to go around it instead of across like she'd planned. But then she saw its thrusters go on; it was about to take off. She stopped her scooter, willing to wait. The shuttle hovered in the air a moment, dust, leaves, and grass blowing away from the jets.
A high pitched whine drew her attention and she looked up, shading her eyes to see another shuttle coming in, its path shaky—smoke trailing from its end.
It happened suddenly; the shuttle on the ground lifted off, nose pointed toward the sky and the other one coming in, limping like a wounded animal, didn't seem to be able to correct its course. There was a sound of screaming metal, the acrid stench of burning fuel, and then Andie was knocked flat on her back as a shockwave slammed into her, unable to breathe, unable to think. She had time to see the spiraling pieces of the shuttle crash to the ground before everything went dark.
#
She was playing with Macbeth, his little puppy feet pouncing playfully at her hand. Then suddenly he was enormous, but he'd grown a lot over the past year. For some reason he was sitting on her chest, making it hard to breathe.
"Get off you silly dog," she grunted, but he simply grinned down at her, tongue lolling out of his mouth. The weight of the dog seemed to increase and the warmth of his body was seeping into her skin—spreading from her chest into her arms and legs and head. It was growing uncomfortably warm and she struggled to get the dog off, but he didn't budge and she stopped trying for the moment, he was too heavy.
When she opened her eyes again, Macbeth was gone, but she was in a room she didn't recognize. Above her head, the screens on the wall sharpened into focus as she blinked her eyes. One of the screens beeped softly, a red squiggly line flowing across it.
She felt groggy and stiff, like she'd been sick for a long time. Before she could try to remember what had caused her to feel like this, a figure she hadn't seen on the other side of the room stirred. Andie saw her mother lift her head from the arm of a couch and stand with a gasp. In three quick strides she was at her daughter's side, sitting down on a chair beside the bed.
"How are you feeling, sweetheart? Any pain?" she asked, stroking her forehead, which, Andie realized, was wrapped in a bandage.
"No. Just feel… weird," she said in a hoarse voice.
"Probably from the painkillers," her mother said. "You've been through a lot."
Andie licked her lips. Her mother stood again to retrieve a glass of water and a straw and held it so Andie could sip a little.
"The nurse said you could have only a little, I'm afraid," Jo said apologetically, when she took the glass away. "Even water could upset your stomach right now. You'll have to start out slow."
"What… happened?" Andie asked finally, resting back against the pillow, suddenly tired from the effort of lifting her head to sip the water.
The hand stroking her head paused. "Do you remember going home from the festival?"
Andie frowned in concentration, then her eyes widened. "There was a shuttle coming in—it was damaged?"
"Yeah. You were in the blast radius when the engine exploded after crashing into the other shuttle. You were hurt really bad." Jo's voice slipped.
"Am I… going to be okay?" Andie felt a stab of fear through the thick cloud that seemed to encase her skull.
"Yes," Jo assured her. "You'll need time, but the doctors told me that you'll make a full recovery."
Andie exhaled in relief.
"Sweetie, there's one other thing, though." Jo's hand stopped stroking her head and moved down to grip Andie's hand on the cover. "You were… exposed to eezo when the shuttle engine exploded. Because you were already born with the nodules, you were actually very lucky. A person without the nodules would have gotten very sick from eezo exposure, but for you, the nodules absorbed the new eezo."
Andie blinked blearily, unable to follow what her mother was implying.
"Ok."
"It means…. before you only had slight biotic potential. Now, it's all but certain, though it'll be months before you notice any difference in your…" Jo hesitated, "episodes. It's very strong in your body now. When you're feeling better, the doctors can tell you what that means, but I wanted to let you know first."
Her mind feeling slow and stupid, Andie nodded, unable to attach much emotion to what should have been startling and maybe frightening news.
"Get some rest," Jo said, kissing her on the forehead. "I'm going to step out into the hallway and call your father to let him know you woke up."
"Why wasn't he here?" she asked with a yawn.
"It's midnight, Andie. We've been taking shifts so Gabby and Isaac weren't left alone at home. Everyone will come to visit tomorrow. Rest now."
So she did.