CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The day after the Leavers left, Brux reported, “They’ve turned off all communications with us.”
“We should have sent a spy with them.”
“Who would want to go on an impossible journey against unbelievable odds?”
After the conversation, Mike and Joe walked to the colony entrance and stood just inside the opening and watched the rain.
It was sunset, one of the times of the day the rain was least. They took their shirts off. It was as close as they would come to an Earth-like shower. They strolled down the ramp and then along the tops of levees between fields of underwater plants or alongside gurgling irrigation canals. The rain was cold, but they endured it to get the feeling of being clean. They couldn’t swim in the irrigation canals. Even in the warm months when the water heated, it was mixed with chemicals to help the plants. Swimming in it would have been like swimming in heavily-fertilized water on Earth. Building a healthy swimming pool was low on their list of priorities.
They stopped at the intersection of two canals, one running at flood level, the other halfway to the rim. By shifting watergates, they could redirect the flow in any direction they choose, except up and back to where the water came from.
The sun was setting over the mountains behind them. They watched the darkness blanket the sky. Joe broke the silence. “Even with the Leavers being gone, they could be a problem.”
“How so?”
“Look at the example it’ll set. The men could think, why am I working so hard? Those guys didn’t like it. They up and left. A lot of the guys have questioned why we should bust our butts for those who come next. They figure let’s do enough for us and the hell with the rest of them. There aren’t a lot that feel that way, but there are some.”
“I know. After what they’ve been through, what we’ve all been through, it’s hard to give every ounce of strength to what may turn out to be another cosmic joke on us. But we have to. I know this place will work. This can be a haven, a real home for us. I don’t think there’s a choice. My goal now is to minimize the disruption.”