Violet turned and glanced at Bren walking behind her. He merely lifted his eyebrows as if asking if she had something to say. Smiling slightly she said, "I know you didn't agree to follow me into the unknown without a backup plan. So what is it?"
His expression gave away nothing. "Now why would I have a backup plan when we're walking across unknown territory to a mysterious, uncharted land and toward a questionable future, just because your ancestor in a dream told you to? It makes perfect sense."
Violet laughed so hard she had to clutch her sides. "I knew it! I just knew it!"
"You knew what, Dr. Morningstar?" Bren replied seriously.
"I knew you had a sense of humor hidden under all that gruffness and testosterone."
"I have no such thing. You're imagining it."
"Right. That's why you want to bust out laughing. Admit it, you like facing the unknown. You like this adventure we're on. So tell me what your backup plan is."
"Keep walking and I'll think about telling you."
Violet turned and started forward again grateful that the previous day's confidences and subsequent actions on both their parts hadn't caused any awkward moments today. In fact, Bren almost seemed lighthearted, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. And maybe in a very real sense, it had. Maybe he'd needed to confide his burden to someone.
Bren interrupted her thoughts. "You're right, I do have a backup plan and you may not like it, but if forced to use it, I will." He paused. "Even if it means carrying you kicking and screaming back underground."
Violet stopped walking and slowly turned around. "I'm not going back there because the answers aren't there."
"I'm only saying that if we start to run out of food or water, we'll have to return. I have connections in the city that will hide us while we formulate another plan. Believe me, Dr. Morningstar, there are many who would do anything to assist you in solving the soil dilemma."
"Like Dr. Glasmir—innocent people who would die for me," she responded dryly.
"Yes."
"Well, my response is no. I won't have anyone placing their life in danger. I would rather be the one to die than…" Bren's gaze moved past her. She turned around and squinted against the sun. "What? What do you see?" Then she grinned. "Frannie told me last night that today we would cross paths with what was once a highway. She said we must follow the road north and that I would know when to turn northwest."
"And you're just telling me this now! Violet, I don't like being uninformed."
She turned back to him, placed her hands on her hips, and said, "How does it feel? You only told me about the backup plan a few minutes ago."
Bren's eyes flashed and he said, "That's different–"
Violet didn't wait for him to finish. Turning on her heel she started toward what appeared to be a sliver of ribbon in the distance.
The highway was much farther than it appeared and they didn't reach it until the sun had almost touched the horizon. Violet removed her protective sunglasses and head covering and stared at what had once been a main thoroughfare.
Bren also removed the scarf around his head and whistled low. "This is amazing. I wonder what sort of vehicles traveled this road."
"The vehicles were called automobiles or cars, and I often visited a hologram that simulated them." She grinned at her remembrance. "And what a rush of adrenaline! You could make them go fast or slow while trying to avoid hitting other cars. You would have loved it!"
Bren's response was a lifting of his eyebrows. "Interesting. You can tell me more while we rest." He slipped his backpack off and helped Violet remove hers. She sat cross-legged on the ground while Bren removed food sticks from his backpack and handed her one. She tore open the package and bit into the tasteless bar. Pointing the bar at him she said, "Have you never tasted anything better than this?"
"I don't remember having done so."
She shook her head. "I can't believe how desensitized this era is. During my era we created food with taste."
Bren shrugged. "This is all I've ever known."
For a moment they stared at each other, and again, that ripple of awareness sparked like electricity between them. Violet remembered their kisses and quickly glanced away. She said softly, "Thank you for sharing your life story with me. I know it was difficult." She uprooted a weed near her foot. When Bren didn't respond she changed the subject. "You know if these weeds and shrubs weren't here, dust storms would make it impossible to travel anywhere. It's as if…" She hesitated.
"It's as if, what?"
"It's as if Providence or God, if you will, has kept us from going extinct. As if the Great Spirit, as Frannie would say, has a plan."
"And maybe you're the key to that plan," Bren suggested softly.
"Or maybe you are," she retorted, but in a kind way.
"Never me, Violet. I'm just a patchwork…" He shrugged and didn't finish the sentence.
Violet said with conviction, "You're a human who has endured and survived the unthinkable."
"I'm just a patchwork of flesh and machine. Nothing more."
Violet glanced away so Bren wouldn't see her tears. What he didn't realize was that he had become everything to her.