By Jennifer Busch
A kingfisher! With a chee-chee! it darts back into the forest, imprinting the leaves with a memory of cyan and orange and hope. Chuckling softly, Aline tilts her head to the sun. Closes her eyes. Inhales crisp alpine air. Then splutters with laughter as stream-water hits her legs – the culprits her two giggling little boys.
Three beeps. The world flickers and fades to harsh holodeck grey. Energy drains from Jake and Sammy, too, their playful shrieks swallowed by the abrupt stillness. Aline sighs, draws them close, kisses their foreheads, ruffles their hair. Three years, they’ve been on Kolonie C., the ravaged Earth twinkling below them. Aline’s lucky – her boys fill the days with mischief and wonder. But they love their monthly dose of NATURPROGRAMM. Funny how, deep in your bones, you can miss something you’ve never really known.
Still, thanks to the Cross-Kolonie Collaboration surface air quality is improving, vegetation surviving longer. And back in COMMUNALSPACE 4A people are looser, louder, lighter. A pop! Fizzzz! – Reggie’s handing out – the reserved-for-an-extraordinarily-blinking-special-occasion champagne? There! On the wall-screen: Marine life revivification protocol activated!
Oh! she thinks, leading her boys in a crazy little dance, the three of them swooping and calling, like kingfishers.