Greenshift by Heidi Ruby Miller Read Free Book Online

couple of days…” She gave David a quick, embarrassed
look as though she hadn’t meant to reveal that part. “Then I took some
medical classes, hoping that would make me more employable than my botany
specialty.”
    “Did it?” David didn’t
know she was a trained medic. For her to have studied everything that she had
must have taken all of her childhood. Then again, her mind was incredible.
David had always considered himself smart, or at least clever and strategic,
but Mari’s knowledge of every subject they discussed amazed him.
    “Not really, but the local
mines hired me for a few months as a combination hydroponics specialist-medic.”
    “You don’t find that job
description very often,” David mused.
    “On Deleine lots of people
do double duty. Maybe because there are more jobs than people willing to move
there,” she said, matter-of-factly rather than with resentment. “The
mining companies are always trying to keep the work force healthy enough to
keep digging. Recently they’ve been investing in ways to grow food underground
so the miners can stay down longer and longer. That was actually what prompted
the greenshift since the same research could be adapted for spaceships.”
    She paused and looked into the
distance for a moment, and David thought he saw a sadness flash across her
features. “I don’t know who would want to stay down in those dark and
filthy mines for too long, even if it’s just to oversee the equipment.”
    He had heard growing up on
Deleine, Upper Caste or not, was tough. No matter where you went on the planet,
except maybe the industrialized cities, the economy centered around colossal
mining endeavors, and most citizens there derived their income from the mines
in one way or another.
    Just when he wanted to ask if she
was okay, applause erupted up ahead as three acrobats formed a human tower on
top of each other’s shoulders. In perfect Mari style, she shrugged off her
solemnness and joined in the cheering. After the trio tumbled back into
separate spots, Mari went right onto her next thought.
    “That’s how I got my suite
on the Bard . I saved my money for a deposit, bought lab equipment piece
by piece, and decided I could be a work-for-hire scientist while seeing the
system. And I was still eighteen at the time, so that’s how much my
family knew.” Her eyes opened wider and her entire face nearly glowed with
pride in the pronouncement.
    “I admire your need for
independence,” David said. There was a lot he admired about her.
    A chilled night breeze, laced
with music and laughter, blew along the boardwalk as they approached the docks.
David welcomed the coolness on his face, but Mari’s slight frame shivered with
the ten degree drop in temperature. He wished he’d worn a jacket just so he
could make the chivalrous gesture of wrapping it around her.
    “If you’re cold, we can take
the ferry back,” he said, glancing toward the string of lights marking the
waterway docks.
    “No, I like walking.”
She tried to suppress a little chatter to her teeth. “There’s so much to
see here, and I like to be right where it’s all happening.”
    He tucked her into his side with
an arm around her shoulders, trying to warm her as best as he could. She hugged
his waist and leaned her head against his chest. They walked through the
buskers and tourists of Shiraz as though being together like this was the most
natural of states. Not that being this close to her didn’t make his heart beat
a little stronger or his pants fit a little tighter—he’d have to be comatose
not to respond to her. Still, he marveled at how right it felt to be with her.
    A traveling drum quartet parading
through stopped foot traffic in the middle of the boardwalk. The men and women,
dressed in silver with threads of light shimmering along the fabric’s seams,
high-stepped while pounding on all sizes and shapes of percussion instruments
hanging from harnesses on their shoulders.
    As the performers