Ice Cold on Barnard’s Star
The only time Zuzanna saw her mother was breakfast. Even then, Madam Kazia Wojcik was already awake for hours, getting in as much work as possible before she left their habitat. Work that was killing the planet they were currently living on. Work that her mother said was necessarily to give Zuzanna a better life, a life that meant the planet’s death. Madam Wojcik dismissed such statements as teenage melodrama. But the science was there. The facts all pointed to the same conclusion. Everything Alexandra said was true.
“Good morning, kochanie,” her mother said as Zuzanna walked into the kitchen. “How did you sleep?”
“Nothing but nightmares,” Zuzanna muttered. Her mother groaned
“Well, you’ll be pleased to know that I have decided to take the public tube into work today. You have convinced me it’s best. Now. Will that help you sleep?”
Zuzanna widened her eyes in mockery. “The mighty Madam Kazia, touching shoulders with potential terrorists, oh my stars!”
Her mother just shook her head. Scowled. Zuzanna wanted suddenly to say something encouraging, to make sure her mother didn’t change her mind and take a private tube, but the daughter’s mouth wouldn’t move.
“You’d better hurry,” Zuzanna said instead. “Those public tubes don’t wait.”
Her mother glared at her. “You know that’s the problem with all you idealists. You and your terrorist friend. You make all these demands, but it’s never enough. You point out all these problems, but give no solutions. None of you even know what it is you want.”
“I know I don’t want you to be late for your important work.”
Madam Wojcik cursed impressively at her daughter, then grabbed her work console and left. Out into the frozen world that her company was corrupting. Faction first, her mother mumbled before she slammed the door. The FSR mantra for any situation. For today it was faction first, comfort second, because Madam Kazia Wojcik was getting the public tube.
And, despite herself, Zuzanna was proud of her mother. But she didn’t have much time before she had to catch the tube to school. So Zuzanna read the latest instructions she received from Alexandra, before deleting the message and heading straight to her mother’s room.
*
“Good morning, kochanie. More nightmares last night?”
“More like an accurate portrayal for how the world will end if your company has its way.”
“Hmm. A convenient opinion these days, to be sure. Did you see the news?”
Zuzanna pretended not to hear her mother.
“Zuzanna, I said, did you see the news?”
“Pardon? Sorry, I wasn’t listening.”
Madam Wojick clenched her fists. “You never listen, kochanie. That’s your problem.”
“Oh? Do I get a turn on that one? Start listing off all your problems?”
“Let’s not start this morning, please. Well, if you did see the news, you would see that a group of eco-terrorists attempted to break into our processing plant last night. They failed, obviously, because of our new security AI, Hjalmar. No one was caught, unfortunately. You should know, however, that your friend was one of the suspects identified on our surveillance footage, along with many other known violent criminals. The authorities will be bringing her in for questioning today.”
Zuzanna’s friend, Alexandra Makris, was one of the greatest women in Barnard’s Star and the fools of the FSR would never catch her. That’s what Zuzanna wanted to say, but there was no point. People didn’t change, and neither did factions. Not unless you forced them.
“Uh huh,” she just replied to her mother’s little rant, and rolled her eyes, hoping for an explosion of some sort from the mighty Madam Wojcik. And her mother didn’t disappoint. Ex-military, turned head of security to deal with environmental protests and eco-terrorism, Kazia Wojcik took her job very seriously, and would not tolerate disrespect. So the mother shouted and roared at the daughter, about how she was throwing away her life if she believed idealistic idiots like Alexandra Makris, and to punctuate the point, Madam Wojick picked up one of their kitchen chairs and smashed it against the habitat wall. Faction first, chairs second… The force was enough for them both to pause in horror, wondering if the fatal sub-zero temperatures of Barnard’s Star were about to come blasting in.
The habitat wall endured, thankfully, and Zuzanna’s mother stormed out of the kitchen. Leaving her work console behind her. Unlocked. On the table.
*
“Good morning.”
No kochanie? No sweetheart or sweet dreams? Zuzanna just grunted.
“I’ll be working late today,” her mother told her next.
Zuzanna didn’t respond, just buried her head in her school console. She didn’t need someone to mother her. She was old enough to survive on her own. Three more months and she’d be finished school, then Zuzanna was gone.
“Well, goodbye, my daughter.” A pause. “I love you…”
Zuzanna’s head popped up from her console at that, startled at the addition. She didn’t think Madam Wojcik was allowed to love. Faction first, remember, love second. Her mother waited for a moment, to see if Zuzanna would maybe say it back, and … she wanted to, but her mouth wouldn’t make the sound. Madam Wojcik left for work on her private tube today. She needed to get in quick. There were rumours going around about another planned attack.
Zuzanna’s console lit up. It was Alexandra.
“Did you get it?”
“Yes.”
“I knew you would! I’m coming over.”
“Really?” Zuzanna’s heart started racing. “When?”
“I’m on my way now.”
*
Alexandra was coming to her habitat. Zuzanna was going to be alone with the woman she had idealized for years. When was the last time they’d seen each other? Months certainly. Ever since Alexandra quit school. To concentrate on her work. To save all the planets of Barnard’s Star. Zuzanna showered. Tidied her bedroom. Changed her outfit at least five times. She had no idea what she should do with her hair. When would…
Alexandra messaged.
“We’re outside.”
Zuzanna released the environmental airlock for their section and hurried to open the blast door. It was only when she’d unlocked and opened it that she wondered about the “we.” Alexandra, looking radiant, as always, bright enough to warm this frozen world, but she wasn’t alone. There were three others with her. Two men and one woman, all older. Alexandra was the only one who smiled. She hugged Zuzanna and gave her cheek a kiss. Usually, that would have sent her head spinning, but she was distracted by the three strangers prowling into her house.
“These are my … friends,” Alexandra told her.
“Hello,” Zuzanna greeted.
One of the men, the one with the beard and shaved head, scoffed. “So this is Madam Wojcik’s home? We should burn the place down.”
“Ah ha, no!” Alexandra laughed. “He’s joking.”
Zuzanna shifted uncomfortably. Alexandra took her hand. “So, you got it? You copied your mother’s codes?”
The other three started to crowd around her at those words, and Zuzanna nodded, gesturing to her school console. She’d used the mimic software Alexandra had sent her, stored everything from her mother’s work console onto her own. Looking down at it now, Zuzanna saw a message flash darkly from her mother at this very minute. What would she be—?
“Go to your bedroom. Lock yourself in. Go now!”
Zuzanna’s mouth opened dumbly, while she frowned at the words. Alexandra asked what was wrong, but Zuzanna’s mother had already sent another text.
“The two men with your friend are both wanted for murder. Please, go now, before my officers arrive and you are taken hostage. Go!”
The man with the beard was leaning over Zuzanna now, trying to read what was in her message, so she pocketed the console quickly and smiled at Alexandra.
“I, um, kept the copy stored in my room. You know, in case Madam Wojick checked my console. I’ll go get it.”
“I’ll go with you,” the man whispered down her neck, but Alexandra pushed him away.
“She can get it herself.” She smiled at her friend. “We’ll wait here.”
It took everything Zuzanna had not to race down to her room. It took even more not to turn around and get one last look at Alexandra. She had barely turned the lock on her door when she heard the walls to the habitat exploding in. The howl of artic winds whipping in. The roar of challenge filtered through protective suits. The answering defiance of human lungs before they froze. The rifle fire was brief but shattering. The silence afterward more powerful still.
When her mother found her, Zuzanna was still huddling in her room. Madam Wojcik gathered her daughter up and hugged her with all her might.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay, kochanie. It’s over now.”
Zuzanna could barely hear her over the sounds of her own sobbing. She thought she heard her mother whisper: faction first, and sudden rage threatened to undo her then, at this of all times, to remind her that faction came first, and that friends come second. The friend who she had just gotten killed! But her mother repeated what she said, and held her daughter tighter while she spoke.
“Family first, kochanie. Aways, family first.”