The Scapegoat: a Capricorn Adventure

Moon Part 2

 Peyton was waiting when Yohanna signed off duty and hurried towards her quarters. The resourceful girl had even persuaded one of the caretakers to let her in to the apartment. 

Yohanna hugged her cousin warmly. "I can't believe it is you!"

"Neither can I!" Peyton laughed. "How was your shift?"

"The afternoon shift was routine, aside from having to confiscate some vegetable matter from one traveller exiting the earth Prime Terminal." Yohanna said.

 Conditions on the moon were too harsh for feral plants to prosper, but the policy was very strict. Foreign vegetable matter was a hazard to the colony, due to the delicacy and sensitivity of the hydroponic crops, which were grown under strictly hygienic conditions.

 "Forget me - let's talk about you." Yohanna cried.  "We have been so worried about you."

"I'm sorry I forgot to send word," Peyton said. 

"How bad was it really?" Yohanna asked.

Peyton shrugged: "For a while there I was focused on pure survival."

"I'll bet."

The reports had been distressing viewing for anyone who was interested in the well-being of a Capricorn family member. Soon after the goats on Mars had sickened and died from a mysterious virus, someone had decided to blame the Capricorns. Many innocent people were accused of importing the virus because they were jealous of the animal sharing their star sign. They were deported, imprisoned and sometimes even executed.

Peyton produced a small card. "This saved my life," she said.

Yohanna took the plastic card. "My library pass," she exclaimed. "I lent it to you before you left, and I thought it was lost. I had to get it replaced."

"I reported my other identification missing and used this," Peyton said. "One of the other Capricorns in hiding was an information technology wiz and he hacked into the registry database, altering my birth-date to match yours."

Yohanna covered her ears in mock horror. "Conflict of interest," she said. "I shouldn't be hearing this."

Peyton acknowledged the problem sadly. "You don't need to worry - our hacker friend was caught and prosecuted. It was just some of his work remained undetected. I got lucky."

"You certainly did," Yohanna said. "And maybe I misremember myself. Perhaps we shared a birthday as children."

"That is the spirit," Peyton said. "We almost certainly did most things together."

"Twin cousins," Yohanna said with a grin. "I like it!

The girls had always been close. They were considerably closer than normal  cousins - but they did not compete and argue like sisters. There was a huge amount of admiration and respect for each other present in the relationship. They were best friends forever, girlfriends even; and although both had dated boys, no one had ever managed to come between them. Only distance had ever separated them and it could not break the bond. 

I've missed you," Peyton whispered.

"Me too."

"You missed you?"

"No silly."

It was an old game and the two grown women collapsed into girlish giggles. 

"You shouldn't have gone off into the wild beyond like that!"

"I'm a Capricorn and I love adventure."

"Not any more - your paperwork says Pisces," Yohanna said. "As I seem to have given you my birthday - you ought to keep it."

"Some days I feel like I really am Pisces - but there is a little bit of Capricorn in me still."

"I think there is a little bit of Capricorn in all of us if we would admit it."

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