“Hello, whelp,” Noxx said, in his usual gruff way.
But the baby didn’t care about tone. He exploded into another incomprehensible exclamation of joy.
Luna saw the corners of Noxx’s mouth turn up slightly and knew he was as besotted as she was, even if he tried not to show it.
“Come, woman,” Noxx said, heading into the trees.
She followed and the cradle floated beside her.
The forest was alive with movement. It was clear that the denizens of day were in as much of a hurry to make use of their time as Noxx seemed to be.
A sort of butterfly with wings that rotated over its body like drone blades fluttered over the baby’s cradle and she could hear him squeak with delight.
Luckily, it hummed away before those fat little fists could capture it.
There was a rustling in the bushes, and Luna looked down to see a furry creature with long pink ears. It looked almost like a rabbit.
It stood on its hind legs, sniffing the air, and a tiny face peeked out of its belly pouch.
“Here,” Noxx said.
She shook her head and jogged to catch up with him.
He was holding a handful of something dry and rocky looking. It was a dull purple color.
“If you ever find this stuff, grab it,” he advised. “This helps start a fire, even if the other fuel is wet.”
She took it from him. It had an odd, chalky feel.
“I think on old Terra they called this kind of thing coal,” he told her.
“I don’t really know much history,” Luna admitted, feeling embarrassed.
“Not interested in school, eh?” he asked. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t either.”
She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she hadn’t attended more than a few years of school. Back on Terra-4, once you were old enough to get out and hustle for food and credits, you did.
“I’ll make sure Sol gets a good education,” she told him.
He blinked at her in shock.
Crap. She had said the baby’s name.
“Oh, that’s the name I wanted to give to the baby,” she explained, red-faced. “Since my name is Luna, like the moon, I thought he should have a name like the sun. Do you like the name Sol?”
Noxx blinked at her and then looked away for a moment.
“It’s good,” he said gruffly, without turning back to her.
She felt a wash of peace flow over her.
What is going on with me? Why does he make me feel this way?
“Anyway, gather the purple stuff when you find it,” Noxx said. “And the best wood is the dry stuff, thick branches. Never burn wood from that orange tree.”
He pointed at a small tree, studded with a cloud of tiny orange leaves.
“Why not?” she asked.
“It releases a noxious smoke,” he said. “Just believe me, we’d rather freeze than use that wood.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll remember.”
“Good girl,” he said. “Fill this if you can.”
He handed her a small pouch that unfolded itself into a big sack.
“I’m going back to activate the transmitter,” he said.
“Like, a comm transmitter?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “Once we can communicate with the rest of the universe, it’s going to feel a lot less isolated out here.”
Back on Terra-4, Luna had loved to tinker with the cast-off tech that the kids of her prefecture used to collect from the garbage for her. She had made some pretty cool stuff out of the bits and pieces no one else wanted - a laser array to purify drinking water, a simple doorbell, and once even a tiny combustion engine - though no one had ever found a task small enough to use it for.
Working on a transmitter sounded way more interesting than gathering firewood.
But in fairness, Noxx was probably trained in constructing it, whereas she would just be playing around.
Not interested in school?
Luna would have been very interested in school. But that wasn’t where life had taken her.
She glanced down at Sol, who was studying his own little hands with a faraway look. He was probably going to go back to sleep soon.
She smiled fondly at him.
If all of the choices in her life had brought her here, she was pleased.
Noxx had already disappeared back through the trees.
She glanced around to get her bearings, so that she wouldn’t get lost. She was pretty sure there was a tracking device on the cradle, but she didn’t want to take any chances.
Luna walked slowly among the trees, grabbing pieces of wood when she found them, but none that were close to the orange trees.
Another helicopter butterfly floated by, and she looked after it as it passed between the trees.
Clinging to the side of one of the trees was a small, green, monkey-looking creature with long ears that ended in points.
It stared back at her with wide, yellow eyes, and an expression of alarm.
Then it disappeared up the trunk of the tree.
“Amazing,” she said to herself.
Back on Terra-4 there had been no real trees to speak of. It was a dry planet, and though the prefecture had a small community garden, caring for the few specimens there had taken time and resources that few could afford. In Lunas’ experience, growing things had to be coaxed and tended, as if just the simple act of living was a battle.
This moon was incredible in comparison. It was hard to believe that all the life here sustained itself without outside help. Even the soil of Clotho was soft and damp, as if it were alive.
She picked up a few more dry branches. Her bag was nearly full now, and she was beginning to feel nervous about how much more daylight she had. She slung the bag over her shoulder and turned back the way she had come, the cradle floating along beside her.
Sol was sleeping now, his lower lip pouting slightly, as if he disapproved of whatever was happening in his dream.
“Don’t worry, we’re going back to Noxx,” she murmured to him.
The furrowed brow smoothed out, as if he had understood her.
The baby seemed almost like a Terran baby at six months old or so. He slept more than a Terran baby, but his way of trying to speak was so similar. He reminded her of the little ones at the creche back on Terra-4.
The sound of mild cursing in a gruff voice told her she was headed in the right direction.
She moved along as quietly as she could, feeling curious about what Noxx was struggling with.
When she reached the base of the tree house at last, she saw that he was tangled up in a snarl of wires, a stormy expression on his handsome face.
“I, uh, got a bag of wood,” she said.
He looked up at her.
Sol began to wail.
“Oh, no, the baby woke up,” she said to herself. “Hey, buddy, I’m here.”
She placed the bag of fuel on the forest floor and lifted Sol from his cradle, hugging him to her chest.
His cries only grew louder.
She tried pacing with him.
Meanwhile, Noxx was struggling with the wires again. It made her cringe a little. You couldn’t treat coated wires that way without ruining them.
Her hands itched to take them from him.
She realized his eyes were on Sol.
“Hey, do you think you could, um, take him for a sec?” she asked.
He dropped the wires instantly and strode over.
Sol stopped crying the moment he was wrapped in the big blue warrior’s arms.