space suits. This is the easy answer my brain wants to settle on and lament. From what I have read about the space suit technology we could have brought, they would have baked the explorer inside, anyway. Without cooling capabilities, the space suits would get up to over two hundred degrees inside. The battery packs could keep the mini air conditioner functioning for a few hours, but it would not be suited to a days’ or months’ long adventure. My depression allows negative thoughts to consume my brain.
Luke asked me for a small backpack version of my reactor once and that is probably the best idea. Unfortunately we still do not have the resources to build or even rebuild another reactor. There are two reactors in service for the village, one generating the containment field and the other providing electricity. There is a third we call the “cold spare,” and it’s in the central cabin. I don’t think that even the people who think we are still on Earth would agree to let the cold spare walk out of the village.
I’ve decided that exploring the planet isn’t simply walking around looking at things. There are challenges and risks and multiple problems to solve. It is a new project for me to think about, and I like that. Before this, I never thought that mom would agree to let someone leave the village, so my exploration thoughts were not grounded in reality. I figured that when someone else gets elected to lead they may support the idea, but that doesn’t mean I would have to work on it.
Having a problem to solve, particularly one my mom supports, feels good. Getting my brain focused on how we combine things that we can do to accomplish something we currently cannot do brings positive thoughts into my head. Hopefully Sofie will notice my improved attitude and we can have a nice rest session.
As I look up from the tree I am working to cut down, I see Sofie and Cassandra talking over a row of beans. After some nodding, Cassandra shrugs her shoulders and smiles. Sofie puts her arms out and the two lean in for a quick hug. It looks like they are sharing good news and I hope it’s from Sofie.
Hurrying around the outside of the garden, I make my way to Sofie’s row and walk towards her. Hopefully the news is good—that I am going to be a father.
“Hey,” I call and smile big, expecting good news for the first time in weeks.
“Hey,” she answers with false joy.
Sofie is good at pretend happy, but she can’t fool me. I know when she’s putting on a smile to make someone else think she’s pleased. This is one of those times.
“You’re going to be an uncle again!” Cassandra blurts excitedly.
“Oh, ahh, congratulations.” I scratch my head and try to remember how old my nephew is.
“I never thought that I was going to be a mother. It just wasn’t something that was ever important to me,” Cassandra says. “Now that we kind of need to have children to rebuild our species, I can’t imagine not having kids.” She is still manipulative and cruel.
“Well we’re happy for both you and Liam,” I answer, knowing that Sofie may likely break into tears.
“Speaking of having children, Marybeth and Sarah have proposed trying to diversify the gene pool a little more,” Cassandra says, a hint of question in her voice.
“I think biology is going to make us wait for that. When this group of kids is old enough to have their own kids, we can start to deal with who is allowed to date who.” I don’t want to think about arranging a marriage for a child I haven’t even conceived yet.
“They are more thinking along the lines of our age group,” she says. “Sarah said that we should start by changing up pairs that aren’t working.” Then she shrugs and walks away.
What a bitch for leaving us with that. She thinks that I should let another man try to get Sofie pregnant. There probably never was a conversation between Sarah and Marybeth; this is Cassandra manipulating again.
“There’s nothing we