Starry eyed

Aubergine Purple

The scientific committee had deemed today fit for rains.Not that it could match the rains that fell on earth from the sky. I could almost hear my great-great-great-grandmother say from the echoes of the vast darkness that surrounds us. She spoke of the legendary motherland that is now a blistering cesspool of death and garbage. I have seen it. What it was, what it became and what it could have been. In the Hyper-Virtual Reality mandatory classes that everyone on this generation ship has to take. The unsightly mess of it all. Our forefathers and foremothers. The things that they made and the things that finally made them.

My grandson of the fourth order from my third daughter fidgeted around with a disgruntled face. He had completed his scheduled class. All his siblings and cousins were sleeping. This little boy could not find his peace. Now he sat wide-eyed staring at the augmented one-way glass window that was a substitute for walls, warily eyeing the unremarkable digital countdown until when the rain would begin.

Not that it would rain in the whole generation ship. That would be inconvenient. Only the inner circle of this ship where the trees grow. Where we are fortunate enough to live. And rain is a generous term if those classes were to be believed. It's more of ...what's the word?...light drizzle? Yes.

Our family has been classified under large. Being a large family is always a good thing, now that families run scarce. It's even better for me. At my age. All the young and able are assigned tasks. It takes anywhere between 3 to 5 rotatory years to finish those tasks. Rotatory years were slow rotations that the spaceship made on its own axis as it propels to its destination The younger still, have to be looked after. It makes me more than happy to do so.

I remember my tasks. Each one of them. I had enjoyed them, while I was young. But now that I'm closing 450 earth years, there's only so much an enhanced human body can do. Ideally, at my age, we are still assigned tasks to supervise the new recruits. But having the privilege of being in a large family, all my duties are waived off.

The oven jumps to life. Oh good! good!

"Come to me little one, won't you have some cake?"

Without war, the little boy comes to the table and sit on the bench clumsily. The cake holds his attention for quite a while. He was visibly upset from the harsh words exchanged this morning.

"I told you not to go to the contaminatory. It is beyond your safe perimeter. It's for your own good."

"But Nani, they took my friend there!" He said in his defiant little voice.

" Then we wait till he comes out." Even as I said those words, a guilt came over me. Those sent to the contaminatory seldom come back. It's the price we pay for survival, the letting go of so many things. But saying the truth would break the youngins little heart. He loved his friend too dearly.

The price we pay for recklessness. A bitterness had crept into my thoughts. His caregivers should have been more careful. Followed the proper disinfection protocols after re-entering the ship. Some bug must have mutated and found its way to the boy. An unfortunate fate, but not the first of its kind.

" Perhaps after the rains stop, you would want to visit the library. I could issue you a superhero file. Is that something you would want?" I spoke in a soothing voice.

" Can I share with my friend when he comes back?" He asks, with a broad smile, clearly excited by the prospect.

I bite my lower lip. Sharing of files is against the law. But it really didn't matter since... "Sure!!!" I said with a reassuring smile.

The air was always more refreshing here in the inner circle after a bout of rain. We took the jogging path instead of the walking path.

The youngins library was on the opposite side of the residential area. Reaching there took about twenty minutes.