Vestige

“…why can’t I go out there…dad said you used to go off on expeditions in the old Ship to much worse places when you weren’t much older than what I am now?”

“Miriana, darling, we didn’t have rogue synths roaming around back then, either! No, I’m sorry, Miri…one of them could detect your presence there, and then what? Besides, think of all that radiation the debris still has from the Colony’s blast!”

Tyra Housenn Sohill and the eldest of her children, Miriana, were out scouting for possible regions for the Three Clans of the remnants of humanity to expand into on planet cMaj.

“Mom, all I’m saying is, it would save the Clans a lot of time if we use the debris for a new settlement like the synths instead of starting from scratch…I don’t even think they’re really interested in fighting us like they used to!”

“Well, things have been eerily quiet lately,” Tyra admitted, despite herself. “Still…at the very least, even if the Clan Council decided to do what you’re suggesting, young lady, it would have to be some of the clutter the farthest out from the main cluster…we can’t let our guards down, Miri!”

“Affirmed!”

Now mother and elder daughter were gingerly climbing and maneuvering their way through one of cMaj’s sharp-edged ridges and inclines of the planet’s myriad of cliffs, bluffs, and caves. Strapped to young-Miriana was that old, but reliable, computerated portable device that Tyra used to carry around with her during the Old Days…when that spectacular, spinning Colony had an ancient civilization called Humanity. Now, during the post-Colonial era, the near-antique device was Miriana’s inheritance from the woman who had found an ancient signal deep in the very foundation of the old Ship. Miriana also seemed to have inherited her mother’s proclivity for adventuring!

“Well, who does she remind you of, Tech-Housenn,” the portable, attached onto one of the teenager’s arms, said light-heartedly.

The middle-aged woman chuckled as she found a leveled area of the incline and sat down to rest. Her daughter joined her. They both set their bundle of supplies and equipment down and looked out at the stretching landscape of cMaj, the planet’s constant wind blowing their matted hair and their clothes.

“Why does he still call you that,” Miriana asked; her eyes surveying the flat and ragged plateau stretching the horizon from their vantage point.

Tyra jutted her head in the direction of the girl’s arm. “Why don’t you ask him?”

“Your mother will always be that curious, scrappy technician to me,” the portable said, beating Miriana to the punch. “She had done a lot for the citizens of the Colony in her youth…besides finding that warning signal in the original section of the old Ship—which put us on the path to landing on cMaj in the first place—your mother was the youngest member of that governing body we talked about before.”

“The notch governance,” Miriana tried; her face squinting.

Her mother laughed hardily. It was something she had started doing after the death of the Colony relatively recently.

“The nodule-government,” the portable corrected. Even though it was a mechanical, the portable seemed to grow wistful at that point. “To be honest with both of you, ladies, I’ve always thought that Tech-Housenn would take a leading position within the nodule someday…Well, I guess, in a matter of speaking, you have, Tyra…”

Now the trio had gone quiet. But not the constant breeze that cMaj tend to have, given its open plains and stretching plateaus.

“My turn to present an idea,” she quipped with her daughter. Tyra’s head jutted toward that stretching landscape. “Portable…what do you think is out there? I was talking with Lanay last week about how the Clans should probably start thinking about spreading out even more than we’ve been talking about…”

Miriana looked at her mother with surprised eyes. Tyra nodded and continued with a shrug.

“All three Clans seem to have adjusted our mini-agricultural schemes to a science; Luciana is pregnant again, I’m sure everyone’s heard by now; the oldest of our Clans are still young enough to handle a long trek…Lanay and I think now is the time for the Clans to move out while we can! Before Luciana’s baby is born. And before cMaj’s next autumn season…That’s what I plan to put to a vote before the Council.”

Tyra noticed the silent spot from her daughter and even the device.

“Too ambitious,” she asked them.

The portable was pretty good about letting the humans respond first. So young Miriana spoke up.

“No, no it’s actually a good idea, mom…well, you said it yourself: all three families pretty much have gotten our livelihood down to a science—literally, right here! And from the science that Cairo, Luciana, and Fillip taught all of us since I was a little kid, I’m a little afraid of the unpredictable, mom…it’s not like we have a backup if things don’t work out, out there. I don’t know, mom. Sometimes I think you still have that culture deep in you that there’s some giant colony that’s around somewhere that we can call on if things don’t turn out the way we think they should.”

Tyra seemed to genuinely listen to her daughter. The former maintenance technician silently nodded to Miriana’s point.

“Portable…?” Tyra’s eyes shifted to the device strapped around her daughter’s arm.

“Honestly, ladies, I can see it both ways. In fact, Tech-Housenn, I would even go further from the premise you’ve given. Besides a gradually growing human population and being more secured in your agricultural mini-system you’ve developed in the cliffs, Tyra, I’ve noticed something about the synthetics on cMaj in more recent months…their communications with the synths on the three moons have increased.”

Tyra and Miriana froze.

“You can hear their signals,” Miriana asked.

“No, of course not…given they are our enemies on this planet, they’ve made sure to switch to, or created, some new comm-signal that I could not interpret. Mind you, I’m able to intercept the signals, just not read them. Believe me, I’ve tried over the years since the fall of the Colony! Miriana, I’m able to pick up interference from them whenever they do long-distant communications…”

“And that could only be the lunar synths they’re contacting,” Tyra said, nodding to herself.

“Indeed,” the portable continued, “and that is why I can see your line of reasoning, Tyra, about the Three Clans venturing farther from the original campsite on cMaj…I’m only speculating here, ladies, but I’m afraid that the synthetics may have an expansion plan of their own!”

“That,” Tyra speculated, “or the lunar synthetics maybe trying to come here, on the planet, and join forces with the other synths!”

Now the two humans looked at one another with fear! Then the adolescent had a thought.

“But I thought Cairo said the synths were limited on how far they can fly? So, the lunar synths should not be able to come here…I’m sure they would’ve done it years ago, if they could.”

“Oh, the astrophysicist is right, Miriana,” the portable said. “As are you…They could no more fly to the atmosphere with their built-in rockets than a human could jump to it! The Colonists’ engineers designed the synths’ rockets only for augmentation…but why else would the synths on cMaj increase their communiques with those on the three moons, if not for consolidating their numbers as the human population grows?”

It was a question that left the two humans in a silent gaze.