Free Beyond by Maureen A. Miller Page A

forest.
    "How can anyone eat that?"
    "If you're hungry enough you'll eat anything."
    Zak turned back towards the floating table he had left just inside the tunnel. He hauled the cloth off to reveal a tiny sprig of life in a silver pot. It literally was a stick with a single pinkish leaf on it. It reminded her of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.
    "You found that on the Koron’s ship?" she asked.
    "Yes." He lifted the pot and inspected the sapling. "Come with me. We've got quite a walk."
    He started down an aisle of trees and she had to rush to catch up to his long stride. If Sumpums were afraid of tall people, thank God Zak had stooped over.
    "So you're collecting plants? You think that little stick might hold the cure to your disease?"
    Zak halted. He turned and looked at her. "You've been talking with JOH."
    "Yes. He told me how the whole planet was consumed by a disease and that they can't go home until they find a cure. How do you know the cure comes from a plant?"
    "It was a plant that killed them. A vine that grew in the fields and destroyed the food. The disease came from a hunger that made everyone desperate enough to attempt to eat the tarnished food. Then the disease mutated and was transferred by touch, by air, by water-"
    "But—" Aimee looked into the golden eyes. "You weren't from that planet. Aren't you immune?"
    "No one is immune, Aimee." His tone was grave. "That's why we wear these suits. If anyone shows a sign of the disease they immediately have to be placed in a wing of the ship that has a separate ventilation and hydration system."
    "Has it happened? Has there been an epidemic on the ship?"
    Zak shook his head and stared at the little twig in his hands. "Not in many years."
    "Are there still people living in this other wing?" Her question came out as a faint whisper.
    "No," Zak said. "No one lasts very long."
    Aimee wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling cold. "How will you know when you've found a cure?"
    "Our scientists have the disease captured here in the labs. They test all the plants in this atrium against it. Everything we bring back is analyzed immediately."
    "But it's not just plant-life. You were going to bring back my dog...and you ended up with me instead.”
    Zak made a sound of disgust and turned at an intersection of exotic flora with phosphorescent leaves.
    "That was Salvan," he argued. "He is rogue. He wants to be the one to find the cure. From what I understand, his father was a brilliant scientist on their planet. And Salvan," Zak shook his head, "Salvan did not possess his father's gift. In fact, in his efforts to try and emulate his father he ended up destroying more than he created.”
    Aimee listened attentively. She did not know Salvan, but she believed Zak's depiction. It corroborated her own reservations regarding the lanky stranger who plucked her from her peaceful world.
    “What does his father say?”
    “Salvan’s parents were on the mainland when the disease struck.”
    Zak did not elaborate. He didn’t have to.
    Aimee hesitated a second and then her voice cracked as she asked, “Did they test me when I came on board?”
    Zak’s pace slowed. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and his jaw was tight as he responded bitterly. “Yes.”
    Aimee stopped and frowned. “Why do you look at me like that?” she asked his back as he kept walking.
    Zak stopped but did not turn around.
    “I don’t understand what you are asking.”
    Aimee refused to catch up to him. She held her ground. “You look at me like I am an inconvenience. Like I am an enemy. I didn’t ask to come here. I don’t want to be here. I want to go home. I am not an enemy.”
    Zak turned now and his expression was dark. Dark and attractive even in condemnation. “You are Salvan’s pet.”
    Her hands slammed down on her hips. “I am nobody’s pet . I have seen this Salvan for maybe several minutes since I’ve been on this monstrosity.”
    Zak looked somber. “You were asleep for