Free Remnants 14 - Begin Again by Katherine Alice Applegate

know how it will be. But I believe in Billy. I wish you would trust in him, too.”
    Echo frowned. “I will try. But it’s hard. All I can promise is that I will do what’s best for my child. That’s all I know for sure.”
    “Okay,” Jobs conceded. But it was hard to let it go. In his heart, Jobs knew that a gentler, green environment would be far better for Echo’s baby than this harsh, sterile world. But Echo would have to come to that belief herself.
    “So, does your baby have a name yet?” Jobs asked, needing to change the subject.
    Echo shook her head. “We fled the colony before the Namer could perform the ritual. But even before, Marina never came to me. I think now that no one cared to waste any time on us.
    We were worthless to them.”
    “You don’t need them anyway,” Jobs said.
    Echo winced. “Don’t I?” she said. “They were my — family.”
    Jobs wanted to kick himself for being so insensitive. “What I mean is… Why don’t you pick a name? Right now. Go on.”
    The baby cooed and Echo smiled. “I have an idea,” she said suddenly. “Will j’ou be the Namer for my baby?”
    “Lumina,” he blurted.
    “Lumina?” Echo made a considering face — which Jobs found adorable — and then smiled.
    “I like that. It’s pretty.”
    Jobs laughed. “Whew, I’m glad. It just came rushing out of my mouth!”
    “What does it mean?” Echo asked, gently smoothing her baby’s fine pale hair. “Lumina,” she crooned.
    “It means light.” Suddenly, Jobs felt all choked up. What was there to cry about? Echo’s baby was blind, but… “Illumination. It sounds right for her,” he added, surreptitiously wiping a hand across his eyes.
    “Yes,” Echo said. “It sounds right.”

CHAPTER 13
    THE RESPONSIBILITY WAS ALL HIS OWN.
    Sanchez was alone. Alone with the Source and his own troubled thoughts.
    Since their initial foray, only Sanchez had been allowed inside the ship. Those were Mo’Steel’s orders. The boy was a good leader He was always on guard against trouble.
    And he was concerned that Sanchez not be interrupted during his sessions with Billy.
    Not everyone was as supportive of Sanchez’s efforts.
    Sanchez was no fool. He knew that Newton, at least, eyed him with suspicion, even hatred.
    That he — and possibly other Marauders — saw Sanchez as a traitor to their people. As a troublemaker. Someone who was going to destroy the only way of life they had ever known.
    And for what?
    For a dream.
    But Sanchez had no choice. He was what he was. He was the holy man. The storyteller. The voice of wisdom. The shaman. That was a term Violet had explained to him just recently.
    Such men — or women — were either revered or despised. Sometimes simultaneously.
    Sanchez knew this. He also was acutely aware that the burden of interpreting the message from Billy/Mother/the Source rested entirely on his shoulders.
    True, Jobs and a few others had offered to help puzzle out the mystery of what the band needed to do — to provide? — in order to make the regreening ritual a success.
    Sanchez appreciated their efforts, but he didn’t allow them one shred of responsibility.
    The responsibility was all his own.
    It was the way it should be.
    But so much could go wrong. What if his spiritual gifts failed him and he couldn’t interpret the all-important message? What if Newton killed him? In either case, the regreening ritual would never be performed.
    So much could go wrong.
    As if reflecting Sanchez’s dark thoughts, a low moan suddenly seemed to seep up through the ruined floor of the ship. It was both a sound and a feeling of intense sadness. Of suffering.
    Sanchez put his hands to his ears but the moaning grew too loud to be kept out. The Source wanted Her pain to be known.
    And then, as suddenly as it had come, the sorrow was gone, and in its place was a spirit of…
    Sanchez didn’t know the exact term for what he felt emanating so powerfully from the Source.
    It reminded him, though,