Refugee by Piers Anthony Read Free Book Online

clarify, is actually two nations, of which ours is the lesser. Thus the other is called the Dominant Republic of Callisto. But I interrupt my father's speech: "—is weighted toward the wealthy, and it would be your word against his.
    There would be no justice there! We have been given the chance to avoid such a legal confrontation, and indeed we must avoid it, for it would surely lead to penalties we can't pay, and therefore prison." Spirit subsided; she grasped the distinction between the ideal and the practical when it was explained to her.
    No peasant ever prevailed in an encounter with the elite class. The whole system was engineered to prevent that.
    “The advantage of the plantation,” my father continued, making a fair presentation, for he always tried to be fair and usually succeeded, “is that that is my place of employment. I would no longer have to make the daily trips between domes, and that would save time and money. I could be with my family more, and perhaps begin to gain on our mortgage arrears.” He smiled tiredly. “I should clarify that even though we are being foreclosed and evicted, our debt remains as a lien against our family line, and must eventually be cleared if we are ever to achieve higher status. There will be a rental on the plantation domicile; the good colonel did not get rich by being foolish about such details. But it will be a convenient and pleasant accommodation.” He paused, and we knew there would be another side to this. There was always another side to anything in Callisto that seemed too positive for a peasant family.
    “The disadvantage is that the coffee plantation is maintained at half Earth gravity. I am not sure you children quite appreciate what that means. Half gravity may be fun for occasional play, and it is possible to spend several hours in it each day without harm, but permanent residence within it is deleterious to human health. The living bones decalcify and weaken, until it is no longer possible for a person to survive in normal Earth gravity, such as is maintained in the dome of Maraud. The process is gradual and painless, and harmless as long as residence in that gravity is maintained; it is the body's natural accommodation to the changed environment. It would be possible to return to full Earth gravity within a year, physically, though with some discomfort, but it becomes more difficult with time, and after two years no one returns.”
    “But—” Spirit burst out.
    My father nodded. “It is, as my daughter points out, no temporary choice we are making today. If we go to live in the plantation dome, we shall have an easy and peaceful life, for we can be sure no scions reside there, but our branch of Hubris will never be anything but coffee handlers. It is not a bad employment; there is honor in doing any job well, and half our national export is coffee—but we should never again have any choice. Now, it would be possible to ferry you children to school in Maraud for the rest of the current term, but after that you would have to join us full time at the plantation, for your scholastic district will be there. Unless we arrange to have you legally separated from the family—”
    “No!” my mother exclaimed. That ended that; she would tolerate almost anything for the sake of family unity except the dissolution of it. Family is important to us of Callisto; we are, as I explained, a Latin breed, reputed to be hot-blooded, and in this respect perhaps we are. Whatever we did we would do together, as a family. It was our weakness and our strength.
    My father glanced at Faith, giving the eldest child leave to speak. But Faith wrung her hands without opinion. “Whatever you decide, Father.”
    He glanced next at me. I was naturally bursting with questions, but had to settle for one: “We have to get out of Maraud. The coffee dome isn't good. Where else can we go?” It was really half rhetorical, for the planet outside the domes was airless and trace-gravity.