Free Alluvium by Nolan Oreno Page A

one another since we’d be living in close-quarters once it all began. But my relationship with Autumn progressed beyond professional courtesy, and we started meeting outside of the workplace. Outside of the mission. Before we knew what was happening, on one night after a few drinks, we woke up beside each other in the same bed. We swore right then and there that it would end after that. We were both in relationships and had commitments, and it couldn’t go any further. We had a job to do, and we couldn’t let our lust get in the way of that. But it didn’t stop. It only got worse. We brought our adultery with us across the far reaches of space and continued it here, on another world, on Mars. Imagine being crammed in this little place with only twenty-one other people. Imagine it. It’s hard not to build relationships. I wanted to stop, I really did. I felt sick with shame every time I contacted my family on the video-link system, and sometimes I couldn’t even bring myself to see them at all. I knew that when I looked into my daughter's eyes that she saw me as a hero, a savior, but if she only knew the truth of my sin. When I started to purposefully miss their video calls because of the creeping guilt, I knew I had gone too far. I missed their calls for God sakes! And the worst of it-"
    Gone on, Hollis.
    [DETECTED: HORROR]
    “The worst of it is that the night before Earth went dark they called me on video-link. My daughter wanted to talk to her father, that’s all. She was probably scared of whatever horror’s were going on down there with the war and the atmosphere breaking apart. Man, I can’t even imagine. And I just watched as the video rang and rang and rang until the call ended. I didn’t answer the last call from my family, from Rosa, because of my shame. The next morning I awoke like it was any other monotonous day. But it was different. All the colonists were huddled around the bundle of Earth communication screens in the Command Center and every single one of the screens showed nothing, only blackness and static. The entire planet was dead silent, including no radio signals besides those from orbiting satellites, and only days later did it hit us. Our planet had lost its ozone after all. Its surface was flooded with radiation from the vacuum of space. Total destruction. We were right all along in predicting Protocol Downpour would be the apocalypse if the UNF continued its use. But we were too stupid. Too fucking stupid. Too stupid and too late to do anything about it. All our work was pointless to save them. My family never contacted me again-"
    [PROCESSING...SYMPATHY]
    I am sorry, Hollis.
    “That’s why this fucking dream haunts me. It begins on that day in Paris with my family, right after our team meeting. I was scheduled to meet my family, Rosa and my wife, Elena, at the Luxembourg Gardens to teach them about my research and my tree. It was one of the last few days I had left with them. But I was late that day because I was with Autumn, cheating on my family behind their backs. I was late because I chose lust over loyalty. I realized the time and started running to meet with them, but then the storm came. By the time I got to the garden, I couldn’t find them. All I found was Rosa’s umbrella in the wind."
    You were frightened they had left you.
    “I thought they had found out what I was doing. I thought I had lost them right before I would leave them. But then I found Rosa beneath the tree, playing in the rain, and I was so relieved. I can’t tell you how relieved I was. Elena was there too, laughing with her and unaware of the sins I committed against them. And at that moment, I realized the love I had for my family. I promised myself I would never cheat on them again, and that I would be committed to them, forever."
    But you broke your promise.
    I broke my promise.
    Do you blame Autumn for this?
    “No, I’m the monster, and this child of hers will forever be a symbol of that. If it’s