Botanicaust

They reached Medlab and Tula tugged against his hand to stop and knock. A voice inside invited them in. Tula opened the door to find Dr. Rice, her dark face pressed to a microscope.
    “ Dr. Rice, ” Tula greeted her.
    The woman jerked away from the microscope and looked toward her guests. “ Dr. Macoby… ”
    “ We ’ re looking for Dr. Kaneka. Do you know where he is? ”
    Dr. Rice pressed a few buttons on a speaker and asked for Dr. Kaneka.
    Levi bent close to Tula ’ s ear. “ Tell her I need to talk with someone about trade. ”
    Tula steeled her jaw. Was it too much to hope he had something to trade that might tempt them? If what Kaneka had explained about their brain tissue was true, a Haldanian would be a very valuable commodity to them. “ Who do we talk to about trading for medicine? ”
    “ I am authorized to handle medical transactions. What do you need now? ”
    “ Levi wants to trade for his son ’ s treatments himself. He says the debt is his, not mine. ”
    Dr. Rice raised an eyebrow and looked Levi up and down before replying. “ I doubt his people could offer us anything of value. We ’ re quite self-sufficient here. Unless they have new technology to offer, we ’ re not interested. ”
    Tula ’ s throat tightened as her last shred of hope evaporated. She looked a Levi ’ s feet then up to his eyes. “ She says you have … ” She struggled with the word for technology and pointed to several machines in the room. “ Know things. New to them. To trade. ”
    “ They want trade in science? I don ’ t have science. I have food. Livestock. Wool. ”
    As Tula translated, Levi kept talking. “ I ’ ll do manual labor for you for the rest of my life. Tula cannot pay my debt. I ’ m responsible. ”
    Tula finished translating as best she could, although she wondered if Dr. Rice was even listening anymore. The dark woman tilted her head and turned the corners of her lips up at Levi as though indulging a child. “ No. ”
    Levi ’ s eyes widened and the color drained from his face. “ Ask her what else she wants. Anything I can give her. ”
    Tula ’ s entire body broke into a heated sweat and her stomach churned. There was no other option. Pressing her lips together, she shook her head. “ Levi, I do trade for you. Is done. ”
    He put his hands gently on her shoulders. “ You can ’ t. It ’ s not your responsibility. I ’ m a man, and I take care of my family. ” He turned to Dr. Rice. “ I take care of my family. ”
    Resisting the urge to melt against him in tears, Tula put a hand on his forearm. “ Josef need. ”
    “ Not like this. No. ”
    “ Levi, I stay here. I need stay. Outside bad for me, ” she reiterated for herself as much as him.
    “ I ’ ll build you a greenhouse. ”
    Tula ’ s throat tightened around her tears. She wanted to go with him. She ’ d never desired someone like this before. Even if she only had a few years with him, exposed to the sun, she would choose to be with him. But there was Levi ’ s son to consider. “ Dr. Rice, is there nothing at all he can provide in trade? Certainly you can ’ t produce everything you might want or need hydroponically. ”
    “ We don ’ t require anything he can offer. We offered help for his son only to make you happy. We don ’ t take in new people. Everyone here has to contribute. ”
    Dr. Kaneka spoke from the open door. “ But we don ’ t want there to be lingering resentments for either of you on this. If you truly wish to help him and his son, you have to make him believe you want to stay. ”
    Searching the doctor ’ s face for any sign of pity, she said, “ Levi brought up a valid point. Will I be free to go at some time in the future? Or am I enslaved to you forever? ”
    The man hesitated, then smiled the same way he had when he ’ d made the offer. “ My dear, if at the end of – say five years – should you wish to leave, we would have no quarrel with that. I shall draw up documents, if you like. ”
    Five years for the life of a boy, then she could be with Levi. Completely worth it. “ Levi, I stay only five … times? Here. Five - winters. Five summers. ”
    “ Years. ” He provided, his focus shifting to Dr. Kaneka. “ I don ’ t trust him. ”
    “ Is not problem. You go. You save Josef. ”
    Levi ’ s face creased into deep lines and he pressed his fingers to his temples. She had to make this easier on him somehow. Like Dr. Kaneka said, she had to make Levi believe she