Stellar Nurseries

Hundred

Steven turned his back on the funeral party. It was not out of lack of respect. He had known Martin for almost a hundred turns - the equivalent of thirty-five years on Earth. It was just that as mayor of the Teegarden-b implant colony, Steven had other duties to attend to. He made his way out of the funeral orchard, through the rows of sickly trees. It was a commonly-held belief that there were a thousand trees in the funeral orchard: one for every colonist who had died on Teegarden-b. Finding out exactly how many trees there actually were would have been a trivial task, but there were more important things to occupy the current generation of colonists.

The funeral orchard marked the southern boundary of the implant colony. Beyond it lay the rest of the planet. In earlier times explorers had gone out into the unknown, bringing back data for maps and specimens for the science team to examine. But, as the colony had shrunk, the colonists horizons had shrunk with it. Now nobody went beyond the Sign. There was no point.

It took Steven no more than ten minutes to walk to the Sign, even with stopping to collect a pot of black paint, a brush and a scraper. The paint was old, possibly some of the last paint made if the printed date on the pot were correct. It was kept for special occasions, like births. And deaths.

The Sign had been erected when the colony had been founded: possibly as some obscure joke; possibly as a way of instilling pride in the colony. It was made from two metal posts that had been hammered into the black soil, with a metal sheet riveted in place between them. The posts were battered and covered in dents, as was the sheet. Together they had withstood the Teegarden-b weather for over a hundred years. On the Sign somebody had painted the name of the colony, 'Implant Colony Teegarden - Landfall', along with the date of the colony's founding and its population.

Steven crouched down in front of the Sign and scraped away the last digit of the population, then began to paint a new number in its place. It only took him a minute to finish the job. Now the sign read 'Implant Colony Teegarden - Landfall Founded 2190AD Population 98'. Steven stood back to admire his handiwork.

"Here. You missed out."

Steven glanced up to see Anya leaning over the top of the Sign. Anya was the colony doctor - or as close as the inhabitants of Landfall came to having one. If anyone fell ill or suffered an injury, then she was the one they came to. In her hand she was holding an apple from the orchard. The skin of the apple was a pale green streaked with brown. The leaves on the stem were stunted and misshapen. Both of these were symptomatic of the phosphorus deficiency that plagued the colony.

"Thank you." Steven reached out and took the apple from Anya. Their fingers briefly touched - a moment of human contact.

"Can I walk back with you?"

Steven glanced over his shoulder, towards the wall of fronded plants that were the native vegetation of Teegarden-b. An overgrown dirt trail wound its way into the thickets, only to be lost to sight. "Of course." He picked up the paint pot. "I could do with the company."

The pair started to walk back towards the colony.

"How many of us are left now?" Anya asked.

"Ninety-eight."

Anya thought about this for a moment. "That's not good, is it?"

"No." Steven halted. "No. It's been the worst year that I can remember. Possibly since the colony was founded." He took the apple and bit into it. The sweet taste of its juice was spoilt by a rancid bitterness.

"Do you think we're going - ."

"No!" Steven snapped. Anya recoiled as if she had just been slapped. "Don't say things like that!" He fought to bring his temper under control. "We're just going through a bad patch. That's all." He glanced towards the orchard.