A recharge break is a good time to go over just what exactly we’re doing out here. I’m not sure what Cleve has been up to the past few days other than getting the rover ready, so he might have plans I’m unaware of. And I don’t want to go into Morgan territory with a secret mission again, not after how the last one turned out. It wasn’t fair of me to make Cleve and Corazon partly to blame for that factory attack, however little they are aware of it.
I also need to make sure Takuto understands the order we’re doing things. Rescuing Arx is most important to him, but it’s not at the top of the list chronologically. “So, first stop, task-wise, is the place where our cryobeds are, Beetle Ridge. We’re going to deal with that before we go to the Morgan domes to look for Arx. The data from my cryobed is the most important thing to recover from our crash site,” I say.
Cleve nods in approval. “Salvaging from the crash site is the most important thing for the colony overall.”
“But if we have limited time there because Morgan’s crews are working in the area, then the most important thing is the data from my cryobed,” I state as clearly as I can.
“We need to think of the good of the colony first,” Cleve replies, caution in his tone.
“My health data is for the good of the whole entire planet, which includes the colony,” I remind him.
“Well, then it’s the highest priority,” Cleve agrees. I relax a little, glad this isn’t going to be a source of conflict between us. An uninformed person might think I’m being really narcissistic here, but Cleve heard Dr. Citali’s shock at how stable I am with my more-than-lethal miasma levels. Understanding how I’m alive could be the key to allowing people longer, healthier lives out in Chiron’s atmosphere.
“After we deal with the crash site, the next thing on the list is going to a Morgan dome, locating Arx, and getting them out of there,” I sum up. “Cleve, are you in on that? Or are you just dropping us off and taking your haul back to Data Haven?” These seem like reasonable questions to me, given how fixated Cleve has been on recovering equipment for Data Haven from our crash site and how nervous he has sounded about going into a dome. What he has not seemed, by any stretch, is concerned for Arx.
I’ve somehow read him wrong though, as he replies, affronted, “Do you mean that I’m going to let you guys go into the enemy dome by yourselves? Do you think that I would do that? C’mon, Thorne!”
“What? No! You should come with us, Mr. Cleve!” Takuto says encouragingly.
I cringe a little to be referred to as Thorne, but I let it go. “I’m just trying to understand your priorities,” I explain.
“Is that what you want?” Cleve challenges me.
“No! I would love to have you at our back.”
“No, I’m not letting you guys go in there by yourselves!” Cleve’s strident response garners him a relieved hug from Takuto. He looks a little startled to receive it, but he does not reject the teenager’s gratitude.
“Thank you, Mr. Cleve. It’s really important to me. It’s really important to Arx, too. You’re going to love Arx. They’re really awesome.”
“I wasn’t suggesting that you would abandon us,” I tell Cleve once Takuto has released him. “I’m just trying to understand—”
“What are you saying here? You think you guys are going to get yourselves killed, and I’m going to let you do it on your own?” Cleve’s hands are on his hips, and he’s shaking his head at me.
“I’m just trying to understand your priorities, Cleve.” I can hear myself deflating. How is this conversation going so wrong? “What you consider to be the ‘good of the colony’—I don’t know where rescuing Arx fits on that hierarchy. Arx is part of Data Haven, though, and is not in a good place.”
“Definitely not,” Takuto backs me up.
“I don’t know why we’re still talking about this,” Cleve says, throwing up his hands.
“Because I’m trying to understand you so that I can predict what you will do in the future!” I tell him, more agitated by this than I should let on. “That’s why we’re still talking about it, Cleve!” Will he want us to give up on Arx if things get too dangerous? I have no idea. He’s told me, “no man left behind,” before, but nothing in his responses has indicated he has any actual interest in rescuing Arx.
“Are you two okay?” Takuto asks in a small voice, the kind a child uses when parents are fighting.
“I’m not sure what to tell you,” Cleve says to me. “I’m a pretty simple guy. What have I done that’s unpredictable?”
Well, for starters, he threw a big fuss over Takuto coming out here with us, but I’m not going to resurrect that argument right now.
“Didn’t you start a bush bug pen?” Takuto asks into the silence.
“Yeah. What’s unpredictable about that?”
“Well, no one else predicted it. I thought it was cool, though.”
“I mean, I’m not going to start a farm in there, if that’s what you’re asking,” Cleve declares. He looks at me questioningly.
“All right, I’m satisfied,” I say flatly, though I am not. The only thing I’ve nailed down is that Cleve is coming to the dome with me and Takuto, not what his disposition is on what we’re doing there. I’m so ruffled that I don’t even remember there’s a third task we were supposed to review. I walk away from the dead conversation, back toward the charged rover.
“Can I drive?” I hear Takuto ask.
“No,” Cleve tells him firmly.
“Maybe on the way back?”
“We’ll see.”
“Oh no, I’ll need to stay close to Arx then. Can you teach me to drive later?”
“Yes.” Cleve raises his voice then, calling to me, “Hey, you know how to drive?”
“No,” I say plainly. I’m not in the mood to elaborate.
“Crap,” Cleve mutters, realizing he’s got no backup driver.
“I rode in a truck once,” Takuto volunteers.
“Do you want to sit in the front, Takuto, and watch?” I offer.
“Y-yeah! That’s a good idea,” the teenager stutters in reply. As I get into the back of the rover, I idly wonder if his mild impediment is due to nervousness, lingering breathing issues, or just his natural speech patterns.