Botanicaust

attendant as he handed her an ignition fob. The usually clear nuvoplast body of the skimmer was milky white, a sign the photovoltaic bacteria sandwiched between the layers was not functioning.
    “ There ’ s still enough juice in the battery for a day run. The mechanic will replace the fluid after you get back. ”
    Raising her brows in doubt, Tula climbed inside and started the vehicle, listening intently to the nearly silent electromagnetic engine. She did not have time to be stuck on the Burn. If she didn ’ t get the girls into gene therapy today, Vitus would put the euthanization paperwork through himself.
    The skimmer felt unresponsive as she turned onto the street heading out of town, and she was about to turn around, worried the battery wouldn ’ t last, when she realized the last driver had left the tires in sand mode. She flicked the switch, but the skimmer ’ s stance remained wide and flat. Great. No street tires and no recharge. Not even the joy of full sunlight on her skin, since the milky nuvoplast diluted the intensity.
    She passed the last string of convert barracks in slow motion. It was already feeling like a long day.

    Levi picked up the gamma pad the Blattvolk woman had left and toyed with the plastic pencil. His fingers itched to put down his thoughts on paper even as his vision swam with hunger. He didn ’ t feel the pangs in his gut anymore, and he hoped the end would come soon.
    One cell over, Awnia sat catatonic on the cement floor next to the cage door. Her eyes were puffy and red, her naked arms and face covered with scratches where she had torn at herself in despair. The last time the Blattvolk brought the food canisters, she hadn ’ t risen to claim her share.
    Of its own accord, Levi ’ s hand traced the lines of an infant ’ s face on the pad. He looked down through hazy vision and swallowed. This was not Josef. This was Awnia ’ s child. Did the baby even have a name? He ’ d never heard her speak one. Just baby .
    With deft fingers, he fleshed out the drawing, and when satisfied, he held the gamma pad against the bars toward Awnia. “ Baby, ” he said, his voice raw from disuse. “ Baby, ” he repeated before skidding the device across the floor to her. He couldn ’ t get her baby back, but perhaps the drawing would be of some comfort, as his drawings had been when Sarah died.
    For a few seconds, he wasn ’ t sure she ’ d heard him. Then she crawled toward the gamma pad. A small gasp escaped her lips and she grappled through the bars for the device, immediately cradling it against her breast. Rocking the gamma pad to and fro, as if it were her child, she mumbled words he didn ’ t understand.
    After a time, her rocking slowed. She pulled the plastic pencil from the indentation and stared at it with beetled brows. He thought she might try her hand at drawing. But she didn ’ t. Clenching the implement in her fist until her knuckles grew white, she locked eyes with him. Sharp words exploded from her lips, and he was glad he was not in the same cell with her. She returned to the spot on the floor next to the cage door, but her posture was no longer limp. Instead, she seemed coiled, rigid.
    When the next food canisters arrived, Awnia remained sitting until the Blattvolk man drew next to her. With lightening speed, she grabbed the man ’ s wrist and yanked him forward, smashing his body against the bars with a strength that belied her small size. The tray and remaining canisters clattered to the floor as the man shrieked.
    Levi lurched upright toward the bars. “ No! ” But there was nothing he could do.
    The Blattvolk ’ s green face paled as blood fountained down his naked chest. He jerked away, the pencil protruding from a spot above his collarbone. Gasping, the man shouted toward the stairs.
    The Blattvolk pulled the pointed plastic from his flesh and flung it to the floor. His gasping turned to sharp words as two other Blattvolk arrived. One carried the device used to subdue Awnia before. Within a heartbeat she was prone, eyes rolled back in her head. Opening the cell, the two newly arrived Blattvolk gripped Awnia by her arms, and dragged her from the prison room. On their way out, Levi caught a single unmistakable word.
    Euthanize .

    Tula set one foot on the cracked, red-brown desert floor and immediately ducked back inside the skimmer. The salty tang of seared flesh mixed with the scent of flashed weeds churned her stomach, pushing bile up her throat.