The Secret of Spring (12 page)

Spring finally located the small opening she had tumbled through, but it was now far over her head. The level of the mountain was slowly diminishing while more papers flew up into the giant vacuum. How to reach it?

The suction increased again with a roar, and papers flew violently by her toward their demise. She had to bat them from her face as they swarmed around like angry bees. They stung, too. Her hands already showed tiny beads of blood from the sharp edges. It was a slow process, but given enough time, she could probably die from paper cuts.

Spring tried vainly piling up armloads of the trash to rebuild her mountain beneath the opening. It was futile, for the suction undid her work as fast as she built it up. What she needed was more heavy material, but that was buried under the lighter papers, their weight sliding them down as they lost support. There was simply no easy way of reaching the portal.

Well, maybe not that particular one, but the ship was on several levels. It should have chutes at each. There were two more levels beneath the dining area, so if she positioned herself directly beneath the present opening and rode the mountain downward, eventually she should find a second shaft to dive into.

The roar of the machinery was growing deafening as the suction increased for a third time. Some of the lower debris flew up and around the center, resembling an indoor tornado. It was all she could do to keep her position next to the rim as the papers beneath gave way.

At least the suction kept new arrivals of trash from falling on her head, as they were quickly sucked up into the swirling torrent. Fortunately it had all been lightweight trash.

Pieces of boxes and broken dishes slammed into the walls around her. She squatted as low as possible while most of the rubble was drawn above her head. She took a blow to one arm from the edge of a box, but it would leave no more than a nasty bruise. The worst part was that her support was disappearing and she was beginning to feel lighter. She needed more weight.

Squatting and digging about desperately, her hands struck something solid. It was an ugly old chair, dirty and natty, with the fibers hanging out. It was beautiful. Spring wrapped her arms around and under the sides of it and ceased her assent. It had worked.

For a while. She descended faster, but the suction grew stronger and her position more precarious with each passing moment. Suddenly, she felt herself beginning to rise. Her foot struck a hard object at the side. It was an old nutrition robot.

Holding on to the chair with her left arm, she slid her right one into the ejection slot of the robot. Ugh, she touched something fuzzy. A
smouse
. Spring dropped the unit as the rodent leaped out, landing near her foot and scrambling off. She shot suddenly upward.

Quickly kicking out with her foot, she jammed it into the slot before it was out of reach. Bending back down, she replaced her foot with her right arm again, and this time there were no resident rodents to chase her out. The upward thrust had ended.

Safe once again, she reoriented on the now distant hole above, making sure she was still on target. According to her calculations she should be nearing the second chute, if there was one. But what if they weren't evenly aligned? What if it was in a completely different spot? She should have been watching the other walls as well. What if she had already passed by it?

"
Spring
, this is not the time to panic," she said aloud. Inwardly, she realized there was probably not going to be a better one. All at once, she stopped her downward slide as one of the chair legs caught on something at the side. The chute. She had almost missed it in her panic.

Crawling past the chair into the shaft, she gave it a kick and it joined the nutrition robot in an upward spiral as it succumbed to the now fierce suction. When she had a house of her own someday, she would get a chair just like that one, and damn the decorator.

It was a relief to be in out of the trash storm, but it was time to begin the next challenge, the climb up and out of the shaft. It should not be too hard. It was at a slanting angle, and not straight up until the very end. Removing her shoes and letting them fall down through the slot, she braced her toes against the hard metal. They gave a better traction than her thick-soled slickers. Good name for them.

Progress was slow, but with patience and proper positioning, she made a steady headway. Then there was a distant scraping sound from above. Sound? Maybe the exit was closer than she thought? Spring strained her eyes in the darkness. There was a darker shadow closing in with the noise. No. That was the source. A looming shape sliding directly for her. A huge unit of some type-a cooling unit? Some of the reflective light tubes were still working. Those things weighed a ton.

Hardly thinking, she edged back to the wall of the shaft and turned on her side, pressing in as closely as she could. In seconds it whooshed past, missing her by centimeters. She stayed frozen for a minute. It was a miracle it had missed. It could have sent her flying back down into the junk heap, probably crushing her skull in the process. She lay trembling, realizing how close she'd come to a senseless death.

Spring moved carefully forward, listening for sounds as if her life depended on it. Because it did. No more missiles
came
shooting from above, though, and with slow deliberation she at last reached the opening and pressed outward.

It wouldn't give.

"Idiot," she screamed. Of course it wouldn't open. It needed pressure from the outside, but was static from the back.

She banged with frustration on the inside of the small door as hard as she could with only one hand. She needed the other one to grip the edge of the shaft, while scotching her feet against the sides. The drop was straight down from the entrance.

She tried yelling, then screaming. Even Elton would be welcome at this point. It was soon evident no one could hear her, and she couldn't hear anything from the outside either. What if it was sound proof? To have come so close to escape and gain nothing. Tears of frustration and fear began to form, running silently down her cheeks in the darkness.

She winced as light flashed brightly through the open door, almost releasing her tenuous grip on the edge. Luckily, she was holding with both hands, having given up on banging. Two strong male arms reached down and drew her up and out into the ship's corridor. Her redheaded friend stood looking on anxiously as the maintenance ensign helped to steady
Spring
on her feet.

"How did you know?" she asked the girl, while holding tight to the ensign's sleeve and bracing against the wall. Her knees still wanted to wobble. Her bare toes cramped as they straightened.

"When you didn't return to the compartment, I searched for you everywhere. I even knocked on the door of a mutual friend," she said, giving
Spring
a knowing look. "There was just no place else to try. Then, I found this gem next to the trash bin upstairs." She held out a small glistening bit of quartz in her hand.

Spring remembered absently placing it in her pocket after finding the healing stone for her friend's headache.

"I knew it was part of your collection," the girl continued. "Since I couldn't locate you, I asked where the chute led and learned that the disposal unit was in progress. Then I just panicked and notified the maintenance crew. They shut it down, but you weren't there. So much had already been disintegrated that we were afraid." She swallowed hard. "But I knew you were resourceful, so we decided to check all the openings on the chance you'd clung on and not
fallen
the entire way down. I see we were right."

"Not exactly. I did go down, but managed to climb out,"
Spring
said.

"But sir! That's impossible. The suction," the ensign exclaimed.

Spring was now able to stand on
her own
two feet again. "Improbable, Ensign, but not impossible, for as you see, I am living proof."

"Sir, I do not wish to pry at such a time, but how did this accident occur? These chutes are well beneath head level and must be pushed forcefully to open wide enough for something, someone, as large as yourself to squeeze through. I only wish to avoid any more such, uh, accidents to our passengers, you understand." He wasn't buying it.

Spring drew herself up to full height, wishing for the built-up slickers. "As you say, it was an accident. I dropped something. My jewel, there. Very valuable. I was looking for it, and bending over. I leaned up against the wall. The chute. And well, that's the way it happened."

The ensign still looked dubious. "Sir, that is highly unlikely-"

"Yes, isn't it?" she interrupted. "But that's an accident for you. Don't worry, Ensign. I have no intentions of pressing charges." She'd give him something to think about.

The ensign's face fell. "Charges, sir?"

"Why yes. For negligence."

"But, but-"

"No, not at all. Accidents do happen. Why cause innocent parties such as yourself additional hardship?"

The ensign backed off. He had not considered that turn of events. "Yes, of course. Right you are, sir. Clearly an accident. Thank you, sir."

Spring took her friend's arm and walked quickly away while the ensign was sufficiently grateful for his narrow legal escape. She needed to get private before she collapsed from fatigue and reaction.

The rest of the voyage seemed destined to pass uneventfully, thanks to
Spring's
providential companion. They had yet to exchange names, since
Spring
could not truthfully reveal hers. They simply referred to each other as Friend.

There was only one last incident with Elton, which took place in the dining area. Spring was finishing her meal, when he suddenly appeared from nowhere and seated himself beside her without an invitation.

"May I?" he said, not waiting for the answer.

Spring was so shocked she could say nothing. Before she had to, however, her watchful friend arrived and seated herself on the other side, placing a possessive arm around
Spring's
shoulders. She followed the gesture with a swift kiss to
Spring's
cheek.

"So here you are, my beloved," cooed the redhead. "I couldn't bear to stay away a moment longer. What a night we had," she said, wiggling closely next to
Spring
. "I can hardly wait for a repeat performance."

Spring looked at her friend in amusement. Were she a man, she might have blushed at such a declaration, but as it was, she just wanted to giggle.

Elton took in the implication as he was meant to. His romantic hopes dashed, he bit his lip and quickly arose. "I regret I have business elsewhere," he said curtly, departing in a huff. It was all the girls could do to keep from bursting out in laughter while he was still within earshot. Free at last!

12

The Visitor

Herb's life had proceeded uneventfully. Each day he reported to his father's firm of Moss and Ivy, Inc. and went through the motions of corporate life, Paradise style. It was as good a job as any, and paid better than most. He would soon have the necessary
merrygolds
for his union to Lily. The work was not hard, though that may have been partly due to the fact he was the boss's son, and his immediate supervisor had no desire for complaints. But Herb had no complaints. Not really.

In the evenings he usually stopped by Lily's where they would sit in the swinging vine on the veranda or go for long walks down the garden path, observing the sub-sapient plant life.

Lily loved the roaring dandelions, tiger lilies, screaming wild flowers, and smoking snap dragons. His own taste ran more to the domestic varieties of dogwoods and pussy willows. They would look them over and speculate which sort of pet they wanted to buy once their union was settled.

Lily preferred pussy willows, saying they were happy with just a saucer of milkweed, while dogwoods ate too much and were noisy. Herb argued that their bark was worse than their bite, and insisted the first choice should be a puppy plant. Lily gave in as usual, and so it was decided.

His only diversion from the set routine had been an occasional letter from his secret correspondent, "Moon Maiden." Secret, because Lily would never understand why he wanted contact with any other female, even on an intellectual level, and he had no wish to hurt her.

Also, he felt a bit juvenile about the whole thing. Pen pals were for sprouts, not full grown
Veganoids
. Yet, he had to admit the correspondence had grown increasingly important to him. Only that morning he had received one Special Star Ship Delivery. Unfortunately, he had been in a rush, so tossed it aside for later. Lily had met him at the firm after work and they had eaten dinner at a new place she'd heard about.

It was pleasant enough with simple fare. He had chosen the breadfruit and honeysuckle, with jumping beans and eggplant. The beans were good, but the devil to keep on the plate.

Lily had only ordered corn flowers and buttercups, wondering that he could consume so much. She teased Herb about his appetite, saying it would be a full time job feeding him, envisioning
herself
chained to the garden.

For dessert, they both had the
tapi
okra pudding with sugarcane sauce, followed by steaming cups of coffee beans and tea roses. They capped off the evening with a lazy garden walk.