Free The Sowing by K. Makansi

against our seed banks and he disappeared at the same time as Remy and her parents. I didn’t have to profile him for my assignment last week with General Aulion because he’s not considered a senior Resistance leader, but we’ve certainly spent a lot of time talking about him.
    “And then he disappeared, of course, and I always wondered.… It got me thinking, what if he joined the Resistance? Do you know anything, Vale?”
    Linnea has a dreamy look in her eyes as though she’s not really seeing me, even as she stares at me, waiting for my answer. I know that years ago, when we were younger, Linnea had a thing for Eli, the good-looking young hotshot who was a few years older than us. But her behavior right now is so strange, so unguarded, so unlike Linnea, that I have to wonder if something’s really wrong.
    “Linnea, I’m really sorry, but if I had any information, I wouldn’t be allowed to divulge it anyway.”
    Suddenly she snaps out of her trance.
    “Oh, well,” she says, and I can tell by her sultry voice that she’s back to normal. “Don’t worry about it, darling.” She reaches out her other hand and quite needlessly brushes my hair out of my face, now smiling at me with an expression that might seem tender if it weren’t quite so possessive. “So dinner is out, but how about later? One of my friends is hosting a get-together tonight. Why don’t you come with me? You know what they say about all work and no play….” I think about it for a few seconds, wondering what it would be like to fall in with Linnea. But something about her is just too calculating, and I can almost hear Jeremiah and Moriana reproaching me: You went out with her, Vale? What the fuck is wrong with you?
    “No, thanks. Going out at night is difficult when you have to wake up to face General Aulion at 06h00 in the morning. But I appreciate it. Maybe another time?” I have to be nice to her, if only for my mother’s sake.
    Anger flashes in her eyes like a lightning strike, and I resist the temptation to duck. But then it passes, and she smiles. “Sure, whenever you want. Until next time, darling,” she says, and turns on her heel and walks out the door. Demeter clicks it shut behind her, activating the lock again.
    I lean back in my chair and begin to replay everything that just happened. Now I can’t stop thinking about Elijah. Why was Linnea asking questions about him? Why were she and my mother talking about him, when my mother knows perfectly well he’s a member of the Resistance? What was up with Linnea’s strange behavior, and why—aside from matchmaking purposes—is my mother giving Linnea inside information?
    “Time to start digging, Demeter. Bring up all the information we have on the whereabouts of Elijah Tawfiq. Let’s find out why Linnea is so interested in him.”

7 - REMY
    Fall 67, Sector Annum 105, 16h04
Gregorian Calendar: November 26
     
    I stare aimlessly at one of the chromosomes Eli downloaded onto my plasma. I use my fingers to twirl it around and zoom in and out at random, keying in on various “genes” on the strange sunflower chromosome. I’ve looked at it from every possible angle, and it still doesn’t mean a damn thing to me. Just a big string of molecules.
    It’s been a few weeks since Eli’s big reveal. Soren, Kenzie, Jahnu, and I have spent every free moment peering at the chromosome structure on my tablet, examining the base pair sequences on Eli’s computer, or browsing through every document on cryptography we can get our hands on. And after all our work, we’re all just as stumped as he was. No one has the slightest clue what the DNA codes for, or even how to begin to decode it.
    We’ve been ducking out of our other duties as often and as early as possible. We’ve co-opted a little backroom by the giant water filter, which makes an enormous racket and serves as a deterrent for anyone who might want to come poking around. For the time being, we’d like to keep this a