Guardians (Caretaker Chronicles Book 2) by Josi Russell Read Free Book Online Page A

Barely twenty-eight, he occasionally
showed the willfulness of the spoiled child he was. This time it was Theo that
stepped in. “That will take our survey crew off more directly profitable
exploration, Madam President. If we don’t win this grant,” at this Veronika
shot him a scalding look, “we’re going to need to find ourselves more Yynium to
mine.”
    “We’ll pay you well for three crews.”
    Saras countered quickly, as if glad to strike
back at her. “We’ll give you one.”
    The president, undisturbed, considered for a
moment. “We’ll work with that for now. But—” here her voice took on a warning
note, “as you have a vested interest in this project, I’d like a Colony Offices
Governor to ride along with the survey team and make sure that the correct area
is surveyed. Governor Elias, can your Office handle that?”
    Though Saras was a private corporation and could
say yes or no as they pleased, when the President of the UEG made a request to
the Colony Office, the Office said yes.
    After the signoffs, the committee relayed the
president’s request to the head of scheduling at the Office. Ethan had a
sneaking suspicion that as the only Governor without a pressing docket of
must-dos, he would be the one sent with the survey crew. Actually, he welcomed
a break from the office, so when they asked him, he accepted the assignment.

Chapter 4  
    Aria stood on Polara’s bed so she could reach up
near the ceiling. She swiped at the wall and peered at the cloth as she pulled
it back. Little fuzzy green plants coated it. They had been growing all over
Coriol the past couple of weeks. She folded it and swiped again. As a botanist
and crop geneticist, Aria loved plants and hated to eradicate even these, but
they were everywhere and were beginning to become a nuisance.
    They seemed to grow on any slightly damp surface,
and spring on Minea was nothing if not damp. Everywhere was damp, and Aria was
finding the little plants on the counters in the kitchen, in the bathtub, and
even on the walls in the bedrooms. Was it a mold?
    She climbed down from the bed and took the cloth
into the bright living room, where golden sunshine streamed in through the
windows and bathed her children, playing on the floor.
    Polara was crawling around, roaring, much to the
delight of her stationary, silent brother, Rigel. He watched her happily, and
Aria felt the old pang of worry that he wasn’t more mobile and verbal himself.
    She shook the thought from her mind and held the
cloth in the brightest stream of light. Peering at it, she breathed a sigh of
relief. Instead of rhizomes and sporangiophores, she saw the familiar curves of
miniscule roots and hypocotyls. Even, here and there, a tiny set of cotyledons
on the biggest of the plants. At least it wasn’t a mold.
    Aria noticed Polara peering up at the green dots
on the cloth. “Are those yucky?” the four-year-old asked.
    “Kind of,” Aria replied, “when they’re growing in
our house.” She crouched down and slid an arm around her daughter. “But look
closely, and you can see the little plant parts. See the tiny white roots?”
Polara nodded. “And some of them have brand new baby leaves. See?” She pointed
to the tiny wings of the bigger plants.
    Polara brightened. “They’re baby plants? Like
Rigel!”
    “Yep,” Aria said, straightening, “babies like
Rigel.” She glanced at the clock. “Okay, guys. We’ve got to get going or the
store might not have what we need. Polara, can you get your shoes on?”
    As the dark-haired little girl bounced off to
find her shoes, Aria tossed the cloth in the sanitizer and gathered her
shopping list and her bags. Though Ethan’s work in the Colony Offices assured that
they had the scrip to get all the groceries they needed, the company store
itself had been coming up short on supplies lately. She wanted to be there
early today.
    Ever since she’d gone two weeks ago and seen the
shortage, she couldn’t stop thinking about