The children sat on the floor in two perfect rows and fixed their attention on the screen. Their synchronized staring wasslightly unnerving, but at least they weren’t staring atheranymore.
Holly let out a long, relieved sigh and retreated to a chair where she could keep an eye on the children while working on her d-pad. A message appeared, indicating a correspondence from Beenan. She’d pulled some late nights going over the data on the mining retrofit and had sent back several possible solutions for the client to choose from.
Thankfully, Beenan had chosen a text message instead of insisting on another holo-call. Perhaps her “artistic” attire had so offended him, he couldn’t bear to look at her. Fine by her.
Beenan’s text was as clipped as his voice:The clients have reviewed your proposals and chose option two. They expect a detailed spec report in three days to put the project back on track. If any other client issues arise, I will reach out.
That was it. Short and to the point. Nothank you, just acknowledgment of the work, a deadline, and a warning that she might be called upon to do it again.
Holly hoped she wouldn’t hear from Beenan again until her three months were up.
Still, she had to admit, thenitsthat had appeared in her account made the work feel almost worth it. Almost.
Despite the Sol-Arc project that would eat more of her time, she had accomplished good stuff this week. The new circulator had been installed, and now the air flow under the dome was noticeably improved. The stagnant smell that had plagued the hotel guests was gone. One other turbine was running slower than it should, but Sam had added the replacement parts to his next parts order, paid for by her Sol-Arc job. Progress, even if it was incremental.
Sam had repaired the fire mitigation system in the lounge. Thankfully, the problem had only been in the lounge, but he could not say whatcausedthe problem. Corrosion had built upon the connections that prevented the system from detecting smoke or high heat. Sam admitted that he couldn’t see a reason for the corrosion. He found no moisture behind the panel that housed the system, only the presence of a chemical he hadn’t expected. It was strange, but did someone do it? Sam couldn’t say, but he didn’t like it, especially combined with the oven sabotage.
That was also fixed at the same time. Sam had located a replacement power cylinder and installed it himself, but it had taken three days to arrive. In the meantime, Holly had made good use of Harry’s heating units. She now knew far more than she ever wanted to about Harry’s personal life, his opinions on every resident of Moone’s Landing, and his theories about who was secretly in love with whom. The man was a champion gossiper, and three days of her baking in his shop had given him ample opportunity to share.
She had seen Rasker, but only in passing. He came into the lounge most days, where Holly now regularly offered baked treats and simple meals. The hotel guests had left far happier than they had arrived, and Harry had expressed hope that they would leave a positive review.
The residents started coming to the lounge, too. They were wonderful to try new recipes on, and so she had expanded her menu beyond muffins and pot pie. Cookies, cakes, casseroles. Not all at the same time, of course. She wasn’t a full-time cook or baker. You got what you got when you came in, and if you were late, you were out of luck. But the food was well-received, and importantly, Holly loved making and serving her offerings.
On the screen, the tentacled aliens had moved on to singing about the importance of sharing. The children watched in rapt attention, their small bodies perfectly still.
Holly allowed herself to relax and the hours passed more easily than she had expected. The children were remarkablywell-behaved, likely because their shared consciousness meant there were no squabbles or disagreements. When it was time for bed, they took direction without protest. They knew when these things were supposed to happen, and they moved through the routine of changing clothes, washing up, using the bathroom, and climbing into their beds with an efficiency Holly found almost eerie.
By the time Mish returned, all fourteen children were asleep in their shared room, tucked under blankets in neat rows.
Mish came through the door looking disheveled, her wild orange hair escaping from its bun in every direction. Garden dirt smudged her clothes and streaked across her forehead. But it wasn’t her appearance that caught Holly’s attention. It was her expression.
“What’s wrong?” Holly asked, rising from her chair.
Mish closed the door behind her and leaned against it, her shoulders slumping. “Someone dug up a large section of the garden.”
Holly’s stomach dropped. “What?”
“Destroyed it.” Mish’s voice was tight. “Alyce and I were able to save some of the plants, but not all of them. They were torn apart. Roots exposed. Some will have to be started over from seed.”
Holly stood up. “Do you know what caused it?”
“At first, I thought it might have been an animal.” Mish pushed away from the door and moved to sink into a chair. “It looked like something had been digging. But the more I looked at it, the more I didn’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“The fencing around the garden beds is very effective. Nothing has ever gotten through it before.” Mish rubbed her forehead, leaving another streak of dirt. “And it was too methodical. A creature, like Bean, would dig a couple holesrandomly, but this was different. Each plant was uprooted. One after another, down the row. Like someone was working through them systematically. And then I thought about your oven, and it can’t be a coincidence.”
News about the oven had spread pretty fast when people noticed Holly carrying her baked goods across the square to and from Harry’s shop. Holly told them what had happened. It was better that everyone knew. “If this is a second act of sabotage, it will start to cause alarm,” she said. “Destroying the food supply is a big problem.”
“It wasn’t completely destroyed, but it could have been.” Mish spread her hands helplessly. “Everyone has access to the garden. We all take from it in the absence of NuProd devices that offer a better variety. Protein paste and carbohydrate powder are important ingredients, but the fresh produce offers better nutrition. Weallneed that.” She shook her head. “I can’t think of a single reasonwhysomeone would do this.”
“Are you sure?” Holly asked quietly. “If someone is trying to make people like you leave Moone’s Landing, this would help that along.” Holly crossed her arms and paced the living room. “Destroy the food supply. Sabotage the lounge’s oven. Make life harder. Turn residents against each other by making them suspicious and afraid.” She met Mish’s eyes. “It could be the one thing that makes people say, ‘Forget it. I’ve had enough.’”
Mish was silent for a long moment. Her expression shifted from confusion to something harder. More calculating.
“The only person who truly benefits from getting people to leave,” she said slowly, “is Rasker.”
Holly’s chest tightened. She wanted to argue. Wanted to defend him. But she couldn’t deny the logic.
