Day 43, Greenhouse 1, Attn: Whoever [f]

[ridley_parrish]

Ridley dropped seeds into the soil, operating on automatic, face blank, hands steady. He grasped the edge of a counter as a shockwave hit. A table fell over, planting flats sliding off counters. As the city steadied, he picked everything up quickly and returned to planting, unperturbed.

Comments

[ridley_parrish]

"We do what we can," Ridley answered softly, not looking at the other man, "and I can't..." He leaned hard against the table suddenly and shook his head. "I can't."

[kavluv]

"Can't what?" Kav asked, moving slightly further into the room.

"What can't you do?" Kav grew concerned, Parrishs' head low and eyes closed, mouth set in a grimace of what looked to be pain.

Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

[ridley_parrish]

"I can't go out there anymore. It's full of death. It's green here... so green." Ridley stood swaying, eyes closed, and took in the verdant scents. "No one died here. No death. Only life."

[kavluv]

"You're going to have to go out there eventually," Kav replied, reaching out and steadying the man before he fell too far into one sway.

He continued in a softer voice, "People are going to be relying on you to get the crops started, to do the research on what is and isn't edible or poisonous on this new planet."

Kav thought a few weeks back to seeing Parrish and that other woman whose name he couldn't remember getting intimate in the artificial rain as he stumbled in with a science team to fix the environmental controls.

"There is life outside here. Dumais." He suddenly remembered the name of that woman he'd seen Parrish with. "Dumais is probably worried sick...does she know you're here?"

[ridley_parrish]

Ridley let out a bark of laughter at the question, which suddenly changed to a sob. He shook his head. "I thought it was such a wonderful apartment. If we hadn't moved..." His voice died and he sagged suddenly, the other man catching him. "Oh, God! Why did we move?"