. That seems to be most of what I’m doing this week. Trying to finish up pieces for Sunday’s local market. Continuing to write the Patreon story — here’s the third scene. (See previous days in my feed for the previous scenes.)
Tentative plan is to take 5-7 days to do scenes, and finish a ‘story’ with that. I can’t remember which SF writer it was who said you should write a story a week — sometimes that seems ridiculous, and sometimes, it seems eminently do-able, if I just, you know, do it…
*****
The door to Selah’s room irised open, revealing just enough space to fit two lofted single beds, a desk and chair beneath each, along with a built-in dresser. The university wasn’t generous with its student accommodations, but the tight quarters were comforting to Selah, like a favorite turtleneck. Just the right amount of compression. A screen on the far wall was currently set to simulate the landscape outside the dome – red dirt, scrubby trees, native koreyni scavengers flying high overhead.
“You’re late.” A harsh voice from the left bunk, and Selah looked up to find two eyes peering back at her, set in a small, furry face. Oh, she ought to be able to name this species – she’d definitely seen them about on her last trading visit to a planet. But they looked so much like her battered teddy bear – which had passed down through nine generations of family, and been re-made so many times since its origin on Old Earth that it probably had nothing left of the original bear – all Selah could think was “Teddy bear!” Which was not helpful.
“I’m sorry? I didn’t think there was a check-in time for the dorms.”
“No – late for classes. I checked your schedule; you’re supposed to be in advanced music composition right now. Professor Marwenna is going to be furious.”
For a moment, Selah felt like she couldn’t breathe. Which was ridiculous – the air under the dome was perfect for human comfort, much richer than the thin air outside the dome. It would be decades before Kriti was completely terraformed. She should be able to breathe just fine in here, though. “No, that can’t be right. Classes don’t start for two more days. I checked the calendar!”
“You didn’t check it carefully enough. Maybe your ship was set to something other than Old Earth Standard? Even small deviations can add up over time. The nav system should have compensated for that, though.”
“Our system’s overdue for upgrade. My mother’s been complaining about it for months, trying to get my fathers to prioritize the upgrades, but there’s always something else breaking that’s more critical…”
“Idiots.” The teddy bear snorted with disdain, and rolled over in the bed. “You’d better dump your bag and run, or you’re going to miss class completely.”
“But I don’t know where to go!” Selah had to fight to keep that from coming out as a wail.
“Didn’t you look at a map before you got here? You’re lucky the Tower of Art is just the next building over. Giant violet steel structure, you can’t miss it. Go!”
She didn’t even know the creature’s name, much less its species. This was her roommate for the next year? But Selah couldn’t worry about that now – not if she was about to miss her first class. She dropped her backpack on the desk and, obediently, ran.
*****