The Blue Moon - Part 1 - Into the Forest Read Free

needed a geneticist, they came to me. I was asked to go and work there, but I said I wouldn’t unless I got a license to create a baby. When I got it, I made it seem like you were a newborn.”  
    Emmy was silent again as the news sunk in. She needed to reinterpret her entire life and didn't know where to start. She felt like a stranger to herself. The peculiar feeling went away when she thought about having a father.
    “Mum, tell me more about my dad.”
    “I could tell you stories all night my love. There's so much to tell. We met at a summer camp. Before you were created, before we had the extra light at night from the Blue Moon, we all had to work harder. It was so dark at night that it was difficult to do anything, and we had less energy. Everyone had to work to keep us all alive, even children. But children needed a break from work and school. They needed some time to be children and have fun. That's where summer camps come from. It was quite a privilege to work there, and they only hired the best college students. Your father and I were both great at school, so we got jobs at camp. There was a whole gang of us. Counsellors had more fun than the campers. It was a great time."
    “How old were you?”
    “I worked at the camp from when I was seventeen until twenty-one. Your father only worked there for two summers. He always knew he would work in space for the ADF, so he didn't bother with college. He was in space the day he turned nineteen.”
    “So you two were together for awhile before you created me?”
    “That's right.”
    “Did you live together?”
    “Not officially, but for the most part. He lived in this very house when he was able to get away from the ADF barracks. He lived on the lakefront to be near the spaceport in case he needed to deploy on an emergency. He loved the ADF and he loved being up in space. But he loved me most of all. He was a good man.”
    There was a heaviness in the air while both mother and daughter were lost in their own thoughts of what might have been. Dr. Whitewood shook her head as she took a deep breath. She'd seen something out of the corner of her eye. She stood up from the kitchen table. “I'm sorry my love. My driver is here earlier than I expected. My balloon back up to the Blue Moon is leaving. A short visit, I know. I’m sorry, it can’t be helped. I’ve got to go.”
    “When will you be back?”
    “Not sure love. Not sure. As soon as I can. Things are… busy at the moment. When I’m through this stretch, I’ll know. But before I go, I almost forgot. I have a gift for you.”
    Dr. Whitewood put her backpack onto the kitchen table. She pulled out a wrapped present. “Happy Birthday love.”
    Emmy took the gift and unwrapped it. It was a thick, leather bound book. The title read, The Traveler’s Guide to the Solar System . Emmy looked at the picture on the cover and couldn’t decipher what it was.
    “That’s the waterslide going down Niagara Falls, back on Earth,” Dr. Whitewood said, anticipating her question.
    Emmy opened the book and the pages became backlit and glowed. She rubbed the page’s material between her fingers. They were more rubbery than the pages of books she was used to reading.  
    “It's an old contraband book from Earth. It’s about all the places in our Solar System. It’s for tourists. There’s video embedded in the pages. You can watch or read about where to eat, how to get somewhere, how to get away from somewhere, the history of that place… basically, anything to do or see in the Solar System.”
    “It’s amazing, but isn't this book illegal?”
    “Pfff,” Dr. Whitewood said. “Be a scofflaw, live a little. You’ll see how small and insignificant our space-island is. Some laws are worth ignoring.”
    Something else about the gift bothered Emmy and she said, “What good is a travel book for someone who lives on a space-island where travel is forbidden? I can never visit any of these places.”
    “Things might change