The 45th Parallel, page 3
“How much longer?” I asked kindly, seeing her wince of discomfort as she shifted her weight from leg to leg.
“I’m only eighteen weeks,” she groaned. “Not even halfway. I’m ready to have this one already.”
“It might be twins,” I teased. Her face blanched.
“It isn’t,” she said firmly. “Kat did an ultrasound last week. Just the one, and then we are done.”
Loud chatter made me glance up, and I saw Ruby and Scarlett enter the hall, both shadowed by husbands wrangling a gaggle of children. Not technically my sisters, but cousins, Ruby and Scarlett were the two older chosen ones, born to my mother Freyja’s sister but raised here by Jorja and Bridget. We were close, and leaving them on Newgrange with their Irish partners had been difficult.
“Happy Birthday!” they squealed in unison, throwing themselves at me. “Where is Sera?”
“Over there somewhere.” I gestured toward the crowd near the stage where the band was setting up. “How are you?”
“Tired!” they chorused and laughed. “How are you?” Scarlett asked cheekily. “Still tired yourself? We all heard what happened with Finn and Reilly. You must have been exhausted with two of them on the go!”
Iona’s ears pricked up. “Who?”
Scarlett’s face brightened with glee as she regaled Iona with what had prompted our flight from Newgrange, the story highly embellished. Iona’s mouth fell open, and I cringed inwardly as several others crowded around, listening. My face flushed deeper as Scarlett finished with a dramatic description of the dual marriage proposals and the boys offering to fight to the death for me.
“That is so romantic!” I heard Lilian’s lilting voice say, and they all laughed. “Two men fighting for you!”
“But you didn’t choose either of them?” Iona asked, her eyes wide.
I shrugged. “No. I didn’t want either of them.”
“She wanted them both!” Scarlett shot back instantly. Cackles and hoots met this statement, and I felt rather than saw everyone around me stiffen.
“You know, now that you are twenty-one, you need to think about your future.”
Fuck. Usually, I was so good with feeling people approaching, but I had been so mortified by the conversation that I wasn’t sensing what was happening behind me. A fraction of a second too late, I realized Mum was standing directly behind me, hands on her hips. I whirled and faced her as the others slunk away. My face flamed.
“Mum… I am not ready to get married.”
“I didn’t say married, did I? But you know, you have a special role here, Caitlin. We need you to have children.”
“Mum! I was twenty-one like five minutes ago! Give me some time!”
“I was twenty-two when I met your father.”
“Good for you, Mum. You aren’t me.”
Wrinkles formed between her eyebrows, and I sensed the gaggle of women slinking away, leaving me to face her alone. “I am well aware of that. I studied and had a career. My skills assisted the entire community. On that note, what are you planning to do now that you are home?”
“Not plant trees,” I muttered, but like me, she had razor-sharp hearing and an exceptional sense of presence. She shot me a pointed look. Fortunately, we were alone. My mother was one of Illy’s senior officials, her second in charge. Anything she heard would be reported back. People avoided her, which I secretly suspected she liked. Mum was icy and unflappable, always in control.
“You know she couldn’t be seen to let you get away with it,” she whispered, her tone so low there was no way anyone else could have heard.
“I know, but a thousand freaking trees! Each!”
Mum’s shoulders dropped as she sighed. “Caitlin, when will you use your brain for good? In the meantime, planting will keep you out of trouble. Did you hear that the community on the Shetlands had their dome breached? The winds up there are far worse, and the constant dust storms battering the shell breached it. A huge tear, right near one of the water supplies.”
“No! Are they okay?”
“They were lucky. It was daylight, and one of the farmers saw it happen. They fixed it quickly, before the loch was infected, but now we are all on alert. Illy has teams on the mainland making more panels as fast as possible, but to operate the equipment to manufacture, they need to be outside the domes. Very few people are immune, Caitlin. You are blessed. It is a gift, and you must not keep it to yourself. You have a responsibility to your community, you know.”
“I know. You have been telling me all my life.”
“Then they need to install them, and that is dangerous too. It is technical work, you know. Using cranes, ropes, and pulleys to fit them.”
“Well, let them know I wish them all the best.” Breezing out of the hall, I went to find the girls lurking outside, avoiding my mother.
Squirming in the ridiculous girly floral dress Kendra had insisted I wear instead of my usual jeans and t-shirt, at least I managed to lose quite a lot of the flowers from my floral headband as the night progressed. It was wonderful to see people I hadn’t seen in ages, many of whom I was very close to, like my sisters raised in other communities and their parents. I was especially thrilled to see Gerry and the Orkney residents. He had been so kind to me as a child, and I always considered him a favorite uncle. Despite only seeing him for special occasions, he always made time to speak to me, ask how I was, and inquire about the projects I was working on. Ever since I was a child, he had treated me like an adult, with respect, and I loved spending time with him.
Drinks were plentiful, and between dances, I found time to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in a long time. All my siblings and cousins were here, and Sera’s siblings, Ally, Summer, and Alasdair. I actively avoided Illy but noted she was engrossed in conversing with the visiting families. It was a fabulous evening, and my heart sank when people started seeking me out to say goodnight.
“You can see where this is going,” I finished, relaying the story to Sera as I drove the cart home. Squinting, I struggled to focus my eyes on the path. We were the last to leave and would start the cleanup tomorrow. Even after many toasts and even more food and wine, I was sober enough to remember what Mum had said early in the night and the intent behind it.
“We could help,” she admitted. “We have nothing better to do.”
“Not that I don’t want to help, but where will it end? I want to spend my life doing something more exciting than planting trees and installing dome panels. You know both of them are in cahoots. They will keep giving us jobs like this until we are doing our duty and knocked up. You remember that idea I had?”
“You can’t be serious?”
“I’ll go then. I am quite happy to go alone. A little adventure is what I want. Meet new people. Surely you don’t want to stay here your entire life? Settle down and be a good little girl? Do your duty and spit out immune babies?”
“No, I really don’t.” She grinned at me in the dark as the small electric car whirred down the hill toward home. “Tomorrow. Both of our mothers are in meetings all day with the team from Orkney. I heard mine tell Gerry at the party.”
“Where?”
“They are checking the dome perimeter, testing panels, and working out how many they need to replace and in what order. They will be gone for hours.”
“Excellent.”
Chapter 4
“For fuck’s sake, hurry up!” Sera hissed in my ear. “Someone is coming!”
Tucking her laptop into the back of my pants and tying my jacket around my waist, I barely had time to bolt into the hallway and rearrange my face to angelic serenity before facing off with Bridget.
“What are you two doing here?” she asked suspiciously. Although she hadn’t taught us for years, Bridget had never lost her teacher’s instincts. She could smell a lie a mile away.
“Just fetching something for Mum,” Sera lied sweetly, bald-faced.
“Oh, what is that?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. Bridget had worked for Illy in charge of communications since Illy took over as Chief. Fuck. Now we were in trouble.
“Well,” Sera dropped her voice conspiratorially, “actually, we are organizing a surprise for Mum. You know it is nearly her birthday. And it is a big one.”
That was true. Bloody hell, she was good. Sera could always lie better than me. Perhaps it was her angelic appearance, long silky blonde hair that floated around her peaches and cream complexion like a halo, or the gentle lilting voice that sounded like she was humming. People always fell for her lies.
“Oh, of course. What is the surprise?”
“Well, if we told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?” Sera smiled sweetly. “We would hate to put you under that sort of pressure.”
Bridget watched my face, suspicious. She had known us since birth and knew we couldn’t be trusted, mainly as many of our jokes had been directed at her. But her face softened as she glanced back at Seraphine.
“True enough. Well, I am about to lock up, so you had better head home. Your mum will be looking for you.”
We scampered out, Sera walking close behind me to cover the evidence. Being caught in the central control room for the Collective would have resulted in quite a lot of explaining.
“Did you get it all?” Sera hissed as we strolled down the path toward the charging station.
“Fairly sure. It was at 98% download when I heard her walk in, and I pulled the plug. We wouldn’t have missed much.”
“I hope we got it all. My hard drive must be nearly full, and I can’t explain to Mum or Tadhg why I need an upgrade already.”
As we pulled the small electric car into Roseglen, we spotted Illy’s vehicle outside our home. Shit. She was home. Slipping into our joined homes was easy through my side. My father was a gentle giant of a man but unfocused. Mum was a hard ass, but usually at work in the late afternoons, never having been a morning person. We entered unseen and pushed the laptop under my mattress. Illy could see through anyone like they were glass, making it impossible to hide anything from her.
Dad’s face lit with joy at seeing us, and he asked how the planting was going. His concern was genuine, and I tried to keep a neutral look. After the party clean-up, we did minimal work today. Knowing we could be seen, we loaded up the cart and trailer with seedlings and equipment. We unloaded in the deadzone, then waiting for Illy to leave to attend her meeting, we slipped into the control room where all the files were centrally stored, and we could download files undetected. I felt guilty for deceiving Dad. He desperately wanted to help, and we knew planting these trees would benefit everyone. Seeing the lie was causing me discomfort, Sera told him it was going well, asked a few questions about technique, and then deflected, asking what was for dinner.
Neither of our mothers could cook, but I strongly suspected they just hated it and, like cleaning, avoided it wherever possible. They set their own work hours as senior officials, so they regularly arrived just as the meal was being served. Xanthe, the younger of my two older sisters, loved to cook, but was vegetarian, so everyone moaned when it was her turn. While she was now the teacher of Lewis, she had initially started her training as a vet with our neighbor, Isla. Xanthe had always been an animal lover, bringing home pet sheep, chickens, and other random animals during my childhood. After needing to euthanize several animals, she had not only changed her career but converted to vegetarianism. This, of course, meant that several times a week, we were as well. Fortunately, Kendra had picked up the veterinary traineeship with Isla and was a natural, according to Mum. Being away for the past few years, I had missed so much.
Unlike Mum, Dad was a morning person. Working in the greenhouses and orchards, Dad started before dawn and was usually home by mid-afternoon. In the early years, this had been so that one of our Mums could see us off to school, and Dad was there when we returned home, ostensibly to keep us supervised and out of mischief. But even now, he prepared our evening meal, and we loved the variety. We didn’t love listening to him ramble on about different varietals of crops, and I often saw Mum gaze off into space when he started speaking about species of potato and which was better in different dishes.
Tonight Dad was making pasta carbonara, one of his favorites, with a vegetarian version for Xanthe. Illy also loved pasta, one of the few meals she made from scratch, not that she often had time to cook. Illy adored her job and worked long hours. She could often be heard on radio calls at odd times of the day or night to catch communities in other time zones. But one of my earliest memories was Illy making carbonara for us as children on our long ocean voyage to Australia. Illy was a second mother to me. Technically not my mother, she was Sera’s adopted mother, but she parented me like she was, and I had always called her Mum. My parents treated Sera similarly after they had made a pact to share a home and parent all the children together after the death of Luca, Illy’s husband, and Sera and my biological father. More than once, I had heard my Mum say that the two of us needed an additional parent, as we were so difficult. But then I looked at Summer and Ally and acknowledged we were likely the easier ones.
After a lively dinner, Dad suggested we play cards. I started to object, knowing we had planned to review the files, but Mum lowered her gaze, giving me a pointed glare across the table as soon as the first sound escaped my lips. It was important to him, so I relented. Sera and I had been on Newgrange for over three years, and Dad was trying to catch up on lost time. But after the first round, my competitive streak kicked in. Mum opened some wine, and an evening filled with laughter, ribbing of my father for having no poker face, and competition ensued.
“Bridget said you were up at the headquarters today,” Illy asked as Dad shuffled the deck for our fourth round. “Did you need something?”
Fuck. She was onto us. Trust Bridget to blab.
“We were just looking for you,” Sera lied glibly.
“Oh, was there something you wanted?”
“We just had a question about the tree planting.”
Illy looked down her tiny, pointed nose, through her glasses and raised her dark eyebrows, seeing straight through our bullshit. “Really.”
“Oh yes,” Sera continued. “We wondered if it made more sense to plant the trees on either side of the moss. Didn’t you say that the moss made a three-square meter radius immune from the protozoa?”
Illy’s beautiful pale face took on a purple hue, but before she could explode and call us liars, Dad interjected. “That is a good question. Di and I tried many variations and…”
Illy continued to scowl at us across the dining table, knowing full well we had lied to her, but not willing to call us out in front of my father. Soon after, Sera and I scampered off to bed, avoiding further questioning.
“Bugger,” I hissed as we closed our bedroom door. “She nearly caught us.”
“She will save it for breakfast. Your Dad will be at work, and your Mum won’t protect us.”
“Crap. An early start it is.”
Chapter 5
“Catie, can you give me a hand with the tanks today?” Dad popped his head in as I sat over my pre-dawn breakfast. I had heard him get up but knew there was no way Mum would get up this early, even to interrogate me. Illy was the wildcard. She was a morning person and a night owl, seeming to get by on no sleep whatsoever.
My stomach clenched. I hated everything about plants but knew that Dad was unlikely to ask for help unless he genuinely needed it.
“Sure, Dad. We have nearly finished planting. One more day, maybe. Can this wait until tomorrow?”
“Not really, darling. One tank has sprung a leak, and I need your expertise to locate and repair it. There is a rapidly growing puddle on the shed floor, and I can’t work out where it is coming from. If we don’t address it today, we risk the glass panel rupturing and losing all the fish and the crops.”
“Can you let Illy know you need me? I’m supposed to be planting.”
“Already have, sweetheart. She has left for the day, and I told her Sera would need to plant alone today.”
My stomach clenched at the thought of Sera finishing up alone. But there were only forty trees left to plant at the southernmost point of the dome. It would be a long day of travel and planting, and she would not be pleased about doing it alone. After breakfast and swearing to Sera I would make it up to her, I accompanied Dad to the sheds he had built to house our aquaponics tanks. The space had been enlarged and was far more complex than I recalled. I hadn’t been here since I left for Newgrange to start my apprenticeship. Standing back, I assessed the set-up.
“Dad, you know we can run these pumps more efficiently? If we…”
He grinned, raising a hand to cut me off. “I have been wondering about that, and truly value your guidance. Let’s repair the tank, and then we can talk modifications.”
I had forgotten how easy Dad was to talk to. Kind and calm, he was a world apart from Mum and Illy. They were both hard-assed stress heads with a million things to do. Dad was relaxed and took his time. Nothing was ever a problem. We talked about my work on Newgrange, what projects I had worked on, and the technological breakthroughs we had made to support sustainable living there. Fairly quickly, we assessed that the bottom pane likely had a crack in it, and after a visit to the workshop, I built him a platform to lift the tank while he moved most of the plants and fish into a holding tank. We reviewed the damage, and I made the necessary repairs, strengthening the base panels. Dad fussed over his fish and the plants growing above, but no more water appeared after mopping up the pool underneath the tank. Turning my attention to the infrastructure, I soon lost track of where I was.
