Free Verita by Tracy Rozzlynn Page A

family because of a car accident. I don’t feel like getting into my own details, and thankfully he doesn’t ask for them. Instead, we focus on other things, like what it was like where we grew up, what sports we play, hobbies and whatnot.
    “I hope we get to go into the field soon,” I state in an attempt to fill an uncomfortable pause in the conversation.
    “Yeah, me too. I can’t wait to see what’s out there. Maybe you’ll see your creature again,” he offers.
    “I hope so. All I’ve seen so far are its eyes, violet eyes.” I try to imagine what creature belongs to those intriguing eyes. Whatever it is, I know it’s a gentle creature. It had curious, gentle eyes. When it looked at me, I saw no malice.
    “Cool, nothing back at home had violet eyes. Looking around the perimeter, everything looks both strange and familiar.” I look back up. His comment had distracted my daydream.
    “Well, this planet may put Darwin’s theory of evolution into perspective. We may be looking at how our planet could have developed if the environment was slightly different.” I start to ponder what kind of Earth animal my purple-eyed creature may be like.
    “Possibly. There’s only one way to find out.”
    “Yeah, but first they need to let us into the field.” I sigh.
    “Speaking of, we should get back to the lab; if we don’t finish our first assignment we’ll never get outside.” He stands up and grabs his tray. I grab mine, and we head out.
    We spend the rest of the day reviewing the handbook and the policies and procedures. The rest of the week is going to drag by if we aren’t given something else to do. I’m relieved when it’s finally time to leave: the handbook truly is dry reading, and I’m getting tired of all the rules.
     
    Andi is gracious enough to meet me in front of dining hall B without me even having to ask. It’s funny: all the years I spent with Jenna as a friend, it always felt like I owed her. If she let me borrow a shirt, I was expected to let her wear my brand new boots, and not complain when they came back scuffed up. If she drove to the movies (I didn’t have a car yet), I was expected to wait in the food court line to get everyone drinks and popcorn. And I could always count on Jenna pointing out what restitution was expected if I didn’t figure it out on my own; “Brett, I saved you a seat at lunch. The least you could do is get my salad at the same time as yours.”
    I cringe at the memory of her overly sweet, buttery voice. It had taken me several hundred years and another planet before I had enough distance to see just what a terrible friend she really was.
    But now here’s Andi , giving her support with nothing expected in return except continued friendship. I wonder if she knows just how afraid I am that Brody won’t show; that it was all a big joke.
    “So, how was your day?” Andi asks with her usual bouncy voice.
    “Not bad, I got my research team and my lab today. Besides that, we mostly read up on the rules, because there wasn’t that much data collected during construction for us to study. You?” I leave out the part about getting the very same botanist who tried to scold me.
    “Mostly the same. We have work teams, but I think there will be a lot of working independently. We’ll have our main project and independent projects to work on. Oh, and Jeremy’s on my team. We mostly read up on rules today too, but I want to get started inventing. I have so many ideas already. Plus, who knows what the scientific teams will bring back for us? We just may get some brand new materials to work with.” She leans forward, grabs my hands: I had been knotting and unknotting them without realizing. I drop them to my side and smile apologetically.
    “Do you have a particular material in mind? I can keep an eye out for it.” My foot now starts tapping as an outlet for my nervous energy. Andi gives my foot an annoyed look, but then decides to ignore it.
    “No. You never know what