Botanicaust

that door again. He didn ’ t trust himself to bundle with her when he dreamed of her every night and every day.
    With a sigh, he slowly clambered down the rock face to the pool. He rounded the bluff to see Tula emerge from the canopy and stretch, backlit by the early sunlight. The flat plane of her stomach rose in perfect symmetry with her breasts. He itched as much for a pencil as he did to feel the softness of those breasts. Thank God she continued to wear the short skirt covering her hips and thighs.
    Pulling the brim of his hat low over his eyes to keep his gaze off her, he gathered the basket he ’ d made to carry the water bottles and sat on a small boulder at the pool ’ s edge. As she did every morning, she joined him, inching her bare feet in the water. Here on the rock she chose not to wear her rubbery plastic sandals. Her little green toes spread like leaves beneath the water.
    She smiled at him, and his heart flipped. If only she wasn ’ t marked. Everything about her was grace and beauty. Except her jade skin. Exotic as that was, it labeled her off limits. The scabs from her blisters left small, lighter colored patches of skin where they fell off, but the mottling didn ’ t make her any less beautiful. She was different to begin with.
    “ Tula, ” he said. “ Levi go . ” He made a walking motion with two fingers and pointed into the distance.
    A crease appeared between her brows. She nodded slowly.
    He wished he could express his fears. He steepled his fingers against his mouth.
    “ Tula okay you go. ” Her lips curved into a smile. She put a hand to the sky, then the water, then the shelter. But he didn ’ t think the reassurance she radiated was honest.
    “ Do you have anywhere to go? Any friends? ” He pointed out across the horizon without actually looking.
    She followed his arm and her eyes widened. Raising a trembling arm, she pointed to the sky. “ Duster! ”

    Haldanian Protectorate
    “ You can ’ t be serious! ” Vitus slammed the gamma pad onto the Councilwoman ’ s desk. Morning sunlight glinted from the privacy screen across the street, shooting a beam straight into Vitus ’ s eyes and forcing him to sit in the visitor seat.
    The Councilwoman didn ’ t flinch. “ Dr. Dedecus, the Board is simply avoiding making any irreversible errors in judgment. Hymo has a very important point, regardless of his vested interest as her lover. Dr. Macoby has been the recipient of valuable training which shouldn ’ t be wasted if she has not reverted. ”
    “ He ’ s a convert weed himself. Probably helped her escape. He should have been removed from the operation the moment the search began. ”
    “ We would not allow her full access to Conversion Department facilities until we were sure she was not a threat to security. And, in the unlikely event we were to reinstate her full clearance, you would be required to abide by our decision. ”
    “ Listen to me, Councilwoman. ” He rose halfway from the seat, and lowered again as the glare from across the street hit his face. “ I oversee the Conversion Team and their prisoners. I personally know the difficulty in achieving conversion with these mongrels. Being a doctor does not make Tula any less of a convert. And converts revert. Even with remediation, she ’ s a liability to the Protectorate. ”
    “ I ’ ll take that under advisement. ” Arnica dropped her attention to the gamma pad on her desk in dismissal.
    Vitus sucked a fuming breath and stormed out of the room. How could a native Haldanian be so blind? Even if reassigned to scrub protein vats or work the mines, Tula knew too much about Protectorate policy to be allowed to live.
    He left a message at the Department, and then headed to the special lab at Med Ops. Unlike those convert weeds, he ’ d earned the resources for his treatments. He ’ d hoped the previous procedure would take permanent hold, but instead, his ripening had accelerated. Probably because of all this extra stress. His remission could only be a matter of time. One of these days his chloroplasts would live forever.
    And if Tula came back, he ’ d be sure she never got more than a convert deserved again.

    The Reaches
    The craft came in fast from the other side of the bluff. Tula had no time to think. They both scrambled to their feet and Levi grabbed her hand, tugging her into the lake. Up to their chests in water, they crouched in a stand of spiky green and brown foliage while the duster circled the