Homestead, page 6
Melody placed herself between Belle and the wolves. Her lower cavity opened and a yellow and white stick emerged. It looked like an oversized two-pronged fork. Belle had never seen it before.
“What is that?” she asked, careful not to take her eyes off the wolves for a second.
“Your father thought we would need a livestock prod,” Melody said. “This should scare them.” She activated the device, and it crackled a flash of electricity into the air. Belle jumped. The wolves cowered.
Melody made a rumbling sound similar to the wolf’s growl. She moved closer to the animals. They stepped back, lowering their heads.
“Shoo!” Melody shouted.
One wolf yelped, turned tail, and ran out the barn door. The other one bared its teeth even more, and snapped at the android. Melody took another step closer and repeated her order, only louder. The wolf lunged at her. Belle screamed just as the barn door swung open wide. Her parents stood in the doorway, the light of the night sky making them look like shadows.
“Get out!” Yun shouted. He moved toward the wolf. The animal crouched low on all fours as it saw the sonic blaster Yun was carrying. Belle heard the hum of the blaster charging. Zara ran to Belle’s side.
“What’s Dad going to do?” Belle had never seen her dad with a weapon before.
“Hush,” said her mom. Belle held on to her mother.
Yun fired a shot at the ground next to the wolf, and it yelped. Keeping its eyes on the blaster, the wolf slinked past Yun and ran away into the night.
Belle burst into tears. She couldn’t tell if it was due to fear of the wolves, all of the damage done, or because of the dead chick.
“Wolves!” Zara said. “Oh my! They’re so huge!”
“You were right, Belle,” Yun said. “Are you hurt?”
“You shouldn’t have come out alone,” Zara said. “This isn’t Earth, child. You can’t keep going outside after dark. It’s dangerous at night.”
In between her tears and catching her breath, Belle told her parents how Melody had protected her. “I didn’t even know Melody had an electric prod.”
“I picked one up in Darwin, just in case,” Yun said.
Belle hugged her android. “You saved my life.”
“I was simply performing my primary function. You behave rather recklessly in dangerous situations.”
Yun chuckled, rubbing his face. “It’s a good thing I practiced using this blaster today. I didn’t want to kill the wolf, but the gun sure scared it.”
Belle was still shaking from the encounter. As she looked around, she became even more upset about the chick that died. The others around the barn looked all right, but they were too scared to come out of their hiding places.
“Lucas will never forgive me now.”
Yun put his arm around Belle. “I’m sure he’ll understand when we explain what happened.”
Belle wasn’t so sure about that. It was her carelessness that let the wolves into the barn in the first place. Yun picked up the remains of the turken chick and together they buried it out back.
“I’m sorry we didn’t believe you about the wolves,” he said. “We haven’t been listening to you much, have we?”
“I’m sorry too.” Belle hugged her dad. “I know I haven’t been very helpful either.”
They went back to the barn and Belle looked over all the damage. She couldn’t let Lucas see this. “I want to fix this before I go to bed,” she said.
“If we work together, it’ll get fixed faster,” Zara said.
Belle looked over the mess. It looked hopeless. If they couldn’t fix this, Lucas might never speak to her again.
Sol 111/Summer, Cycle 105, almost morning
It’s almost morning but I can’t sleep. I’m exhausted but my eyes won’t stay shut. I keep seeing those scary wolves’ huge yellow eyes staring at me through the dark. And the sound of Dad’s sonic blaster firing — my heart still hasn’t stopped racing!
We worked all night to fix the pens. Mom and Dad were actually pretty cool about it. They didn’t yell or scold me even once. The pens look OK now. I kind of miss that one chick that died. I can’t stop seeing its bloody body. It was a nightmare. Dad said some nice things about it when we buried it. It made me cry, but I guess it was kind of silly at the same time.
What I’m worried about most is Lucas. When I see him later, he’ll be so mad. What if he doesn’t want to be my partner anymore? How will I get to compete in the Science Fair? After the way I’ve behaved, maybe I don’t deserve to. Serves me right.
Chapter 11
HOME SWEET HOME
Lucas showed up a few hours later. He brought more supplies to fix the broken pens. Belle’s stomach twisted painfully as she explained to him what had happened the night before. As he listened, his shoulders slumped and his face darkened. Belle was afraid to hear what he was going to say. This had been all her fault. She braced herself for yelling.
“Iqnah!” Lucas mumbled without translating the word. Belle didn’t want to know what it meant. She waited for more. He dug his toe into the dirt. “I guess we have a lot of work to do today.”
“I’m really sorry,” she squeaked.
“Sulux have a saying — Veth yln. It’s sort of like ‘That’s life.’ Life here on Mars can be unpredictable. You didn’t know about the wolves. How could you?”
Belle swallowed. She couldn’t tell him she had heard the wolves once before.
“Why aren’t you mad at me? I ruined everything.”
He looked at her. “You didn’t do any of that on purpose, did you?”
“No, of course not,” she responded.
“Well then, what’s the point of being mad? It just wastes energy. And we need to use our energy to fix the project.”
He headed for the barn. Belle held the door for him. She waited outside for a moment, holding her breath.
“It doesn’t look so bad,” he said. “You did a good job of fixing things up.”
“My parents helped. So did Melody.” The pens looked almost as if nothing had happened. Except for the missing chick.
“Melody?”
“She’s my android,” Belle said. “A Personal Home Helper, model 3X. She’s great.”
“I’ve seen it around, but I didn’t know it was an intelligent robot. Aren’t you afraid?” he asked.
“First, ‘it’ is a ‘she’. Second, why should I be afraid?” she replied.
He put his supplies down. “Because of the Robot Rebellion back on Earth, and everything that happened back then.”
“That’s old news,” Belle said. “And Melody is even older. She belonged to my grandmother. Her model type wasn’t responsible for the fighting or the attempt to overthrow the authorities. Those rebel robots were highly advanced. Besides, they were all taken offline and dismantled. Melody is completely safe. She’s been my friend since I was a baby.”
He nodded. “Okay. If you say so.”
Belle looked at him. She had to figure him out. Why was he being so nice to her?
“You didn’t like me at first.” The words just tumbled out. “And honestly, I wasn’t sure I liked you either.”
Why did she say that? Now, he’d be mad at her for sure. Sometimes she didn’t think before she spoke, and it offended people. But Lucas just looked at the chicks searching for food in their pens and smiled shyly.
“I’m not very good with meeting new people. My mom says I’m an ‘introvert’, whatever that is. There is no Sulux word for it.”
Belle started to say that it meant that he was shy. But she bit her tongue instead. She didn’t want to come across as too much of a know-it-all, not when they were just beginning to get along.
“Honestly, a lot of Terrans move here, thinking life will be easy. They like to call it the ‘simple life.’ It’s an insult, really. Farming on Mars is no picnic. I see how hard my parents work. They love it, but it’s not easy. So sometimes I get mad with Terrans. Although, I see that your family is serious about making a go of it.”
He pulled out a bag of seed and threw a handful into the pen. The chicks rushed toward it.
“I get that,” Belle said quietly. She threw a handful of seed into the second pen.
He shrugged, not looking away from the chicks. “So, I guess I’m sorry for being so rude. You’re not so bad, after all.”
“Thanks,” Belle said. “You’re not so bad yourself.” She paused. “Why don’t you like Ta’al? She’s not Terran.”
Lucas exhaled loudly. Something in his body language told her that this was not something he wanted to talk about.
“We really should get to work,” he said.
Belle nodded. She knew not to push him for an answer. They were becoming friends. She didn’t want to ruin it now. She could wait until he was ready to talk.
The rest of the day, Belle did everything she could to be helpful. She didn’t complain about how wriggly the chicks were, and she went out to dig for insects when Lucas asked her to. She did her best to ask lots of questions. Some of them seemed pretty dumb, but Lucas didn’t seem to mind answering them.
All in all, it was a really good day.
In the evening, Lucas’ and Belle’s parents came to check on their project.
“We’re so proud of how much work you two have done,” Yun said.
“You’re bound to win at the fair,” Paddy chuckled.
Paddy asked Belle to explain what they were doing, and surprisingly, she was able to answer some of his questions. Lucas helped with the rest.
Then Melody came to the barn, carrying a large tray and blanket.
“Zara felt you might all like to have a picnic. It is an unusually warm evening, and the stars are particularly bright tonight.”
As Melody led them outside, Lucas lagged behind. After she spread out a blanket for them to sit on, Belle brought her over to meet Lucas. He shook Melody’s hand awkwardly, standing as far away from her as possible.
“He’s a little afraid of androids,” Belle whispered to Melody.
“Shall I tell him a few jokes?” Melody asked.
Melody stepped closer to Lucas, who froze in place.
“A duck walks into a pharmacy and says, ‘Give me some chap stick. Feel free to put it on my bill.’”
Belle held her breath. Would Lucas always be afraid of Melody?
Lucas burst out laughing. “Ha! That’s so bad.”
Belle laughed too.
“Apparently, my work is done here,” Melody said, as she returned to setting out the picnic dinner.
The two families settled around the blanket as Melody served everyone. Belle told the Walkers all about what had happened the night before.
“Melody was the one who protected me from the wolves,” she said.
Lucas’ eyes grew wide as he looked from Belle to Melody and back again. The purple rings around his brown eyes glowed in the starlight. Belle took a bite of turken leg, wiping the dripping juices from her chin. She enjoyed entertaining everyone with her story.
As the night went on, laughter and light from the moon Phobos filled the air. Belle smiled as she watched her parents and the Walkers exchanging stories and having fun. This was the first moment that Belle felt truly happy since moving to Mars. She was finally ready to call this strange red world her home.
Sol 112/Summer, Cycle 105
Tonight was pretty perfect. Lucas and I fixed our project, and then we had a fantastic picnic under the stars. Myra talked about the constellations. Paddy told us Martian fairy tales. Afterwards, Lucas showed me how to make a slingshot. Melody and I taught him about Petripuffs. We might just make him an android fan after all.
I think, even after everything that’s happened, I might just start to like it here on Mars — maybe.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A.L. Collins learned a lot about writing from her teachers at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. She has always loved reading science fiction stories about other worlds and strange aliens. She enjoys creating and writing about new worlds, as well as envisioning what the future might look like. Since writing the Redworld series, she has collected a map of Mars that hangs in her living room and a rotating model of the red planet, which sits on her desk. When not writing, Collins enjoys spending her spare time reading and playing board games with her family. She lives near Seattle, Washington with her husband and five dogs.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
Tomislav Tikulin was born in Zagreb, Croatia. Tikulin has extensive experience creating digital artwork for book covers, posters, DVD jackets, and production illustrations. Tomislav especially enjoys illustrating tales of science fiction, fantasy, and scary stories. His work has also appeared in magazines such as Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, and Analog Science Fiction & Fact. Tomislav is also proud to say that his artwork has graced the covers of many books including Larry Niven’s The Ringworld Engineers, Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous With Rama, and Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine (50th anniversary edition).
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Belle was often angry in this story. Why do you think she felt that way? What other ways could she have responded to her new life on Mars? How would you have felt if you were in Belle’s place?
Mars is farther from the Sun than Earth and has a much longer year. If you were born on Mars, how old would you be? What do you think the seasons would be like, and how would they be different from Earth’s seasons?
Lucas wasn’t very nice to Belle when they first met. Why do you think he acted this way? If you were Lucas, how would you handle meeting new people?
If you could terraform a planet, write about what you would change so that people could survive on it. Draw a map of your new planet and include everything needed for people to live there.
Lucas and the other kids at Belle’s new school make fun of Ta’al and don’t play with her. Why do you think they treat her this way? Write about how you would react if you met an odd-looking alien.
GLOSSARY
binary (BYE-nair-ee) —
something made of or having two parts
catamaran (KA-tuh-muh-ran) —
a boat with two side-by-side hulls
claustrophobic (klaw-struh-FOH-bik) —
the feeling of being confined in a small or tight space
corrugated (KOHR-uh-gay-tuhd) —
having parallel rows of folds, which look like waves when seen from the edge
desalination (dee-sah-luh-NAY-shuhn) —
the process of removing salt from ocean water
hybrid (HYE-brid) —
a plant or animal that has been bred from two different species
introvert (IN-truh-vurt) —
a shy person who keeps his or her thoughts and feelings to himself or herself
methane (meth-AYN) —
a colorless, flammable gas produced by the decay of plant and animal matter
redundant (rih-DUHN-duhnt) —
dismissed from a job because you are no longer needed
torso (TOR-soh) —
the part of the body between the neck and waist, not including the arms
MARS TERMS
deng yav (DENG YAHV) —
Sulux words meaning “upstairs”
gyrvel (guhr-VEL) —
Nabian word meaning “welcome”
horsel (HOHRSS-el) —
a hybrid animal that is part horse and part camel, used as a work animal on Mars
ivusyxd (ih-VOO-sicksd) —
Nabian word meaning “accident”
korDar (kohr-DAHR) —
Sulux word meaning “family”
Mars Cycle (MARS SY-kuhl) —
the Martian year, equal to 687 days or 1.9 Earth years
Nabian (NAY-bee-uhn) —
an advanced alien race with nose ridges and plastic-like hair; their eye color reflects their surroundings
shoat (SHOHT) —
a hybrid animal that is part sheep and part goat; farmers on Mars raise them for their milk and wool
Sol (SOHL) —
the name for the Martian day
Sulux (SUH-lux) —
an alien race with purple skin and arm and neck ridges; the Sulux come from the planet Suluxa, the fifth planet of a nearby binary star system
Terran (TAIR-uhn) —
a person or thing that is originally from Earth
teyqarro (tay-KAR-oh) —
Nabian word meaning “me too”
turken (TUR-ken) —
a hybrid bird that is part turkey and part chicken; farmers on Mars raise them for their eggs and meat
Veth yln (VETH iln) —
Sulux saying meaning “That’s life.”
FOLLOW BELLE’S ADVENTURES IN ALL THE REDWORLD BOOKS!
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Collins, A. L. (Ai Lynn), 1964- author. | Tikulin, Tomislav, illustrator.
Title: Homestead : a new life on Mars / by A.L. Collins ; illustrated by Tomislav Tikulin.
