John Scalzi - Zoes Tale

Zoes Tale

Old Mans War Book 4

John Scalzi

For Karen Meisner and Anne KG Murphy

And most especially for Athena.

I lifted up my dadsPDA and counted off the seconds with the two thousand other people in the room.

Five! Four!Three! Two! One!

And then there wasno noise, because everyones attentionand I mean everyoneswasglued to the monitors peppered around the Magellans commonarea. The screens, which had held starry skies in them, were blank and black,and everyone was holding their breath, waiting for what came next.

A world appeared,green and blue.

And we all went insane.

Because it was ourworld. It was Roanoke, our new home. We would be the first people to landthere, the first people to settle there, the first people to live our livesthere. And we celebrated seeing it for that first time, we two thousandsettlers of Roanoke, all crammed into that common area, hugging and kissing andsinging Auld Lang Syne, because, well, what else do you sing whenyou come to a new world? A new world, new beginnings, a new year, a new life.New everything. I hugged my best friend Gretchen and we hollered into themicrophone I had been using to count down the seconds, and hopped up and downlike idiots.

When we stoppedhopping, a whisper in my ear. So beautiful, Enzo said.

I turned to lookat him, at this gorgeous, beautiful boy who I was seriously considering makingmy boyfriend. He was a perfect combination: heart-flutteringly pretty andapparently entirely ignorant of the fact, because hed been spending thelast week trying to charm me with his words, of all things. Words!Like he didnt get the teenage boy manual on how to be completelyinarticulate around girls.

I appreciated theeffort. And I appreciated the fact that when he whispered his words, he waslooking at me and not the planet. I glanced over at my parents about six metersaway, kissing to celebrate the arrival. That seemed like a good idea. I reachedmy hand behind Enzos head to draw him to me and planted one right on hislips. Our first kiss. New world, new life, new boyfriend.

What can I say. Iwas caught up in the moment.

Enzo didntcomplain. O brave new world, that has such people in it, he said, after I let him breathe again.

I smiled at him,my arms still around his neck. Youve been saving that up,I said.

Maybe,he admitted. I wanted you to have a quality first kiss moment.

See. Mostsixteen-year-old boys would have used a kiss as an excuse to dive straight forthe boobs. He used it as an excuse for Shakespeare. A girl could do worse.

Youreadorable, I said, kissed him again, then gave him a playful push andlaunched myself into my parents, breaking up their canoodling and demandingtheir attention. The two of them were our colonys leaders, and soon enoughthey would barely have time to breathe. It was best I get in some quality timewhile I could. We hugged and laughed and then Gretchen yanked me back towardher.

Look what Ihave, she said, and thrust her PDA in my face. It showed a vidcap of meand Enzo kissing.

You evillittle thing, I said.

Itsamazing, Gretchen said. It actually looks like youretrying to swallow his entire face.

Stop it,I said.

See? Look,Gretchen tapped a button, and the vidcap played in slow motion. Rightthere. Youre mauling him. Like his lips were made of chocolate.

I was trying veryhard not to laugh, because she was actually right about that. Wench,I said. Give me that. I snatched the PDA from her with one hand,erased the file, and handed it back. There. Thank you.

Oh, no,Gretchen said, mildly, taking the PDA.

Learnedyour lesson about violating the privacy of others? I said.

Oh, yes,Gretchen said.

Good,I said. Of course, you already forwarded it to everyone we know beforeyou showed it to me, didnt you?

Maybe,Gretchen said, and put her hand to her mouth, eyes wide.

Evil,I said, admiringly.

Thank you,Gretchen said, and curtsied.

Just rememberI know where you live, I said.

For therest of our lives, Gretchen said, and then we did embarrassingly girlysqueals and had another hug. Living the rest of your life with the same twothousand people ran the risk of being dead-bang boring, but not with Gretchenaround.

We unhugged andthen I looked around to see who else I wanted to celebrate with. Enzo washovering in the background, but he was smart enough to know that Id getback to him. I looked over and saw Savitri Guntupalli, my parentsassistant, conferring with my dad very seriously about something. Savitri: Shewas smart and capable and could be wicked funny, but she was always working. Igot between her and Dad and demanded a hug. Yes, I was all about the hugs. But,you know, look: You only get to see your new world for the first time once.

Zo,Dad said, can I have my PDA back?

I had taken DadsPDA because hed set the exact time the Magellan would skip fromthe Phoenix system to Roanoke, and used it to count off the last few minutesbefore the jump. I had my own PDA, of course; it was in my pocket. No doubt thevid-cap of me smooching Enzo was waiting for me in my in-box, just like it wasin the in-boxes of all our friends. I made a note to myself to plot revengeagainst Gretchen. Sweet, merciless revenge. Involving witnesses. And farmanimals. But for now I gave Dad back his PDA, gave him a peck on his cheek, andfound my way back to Enzo.

So,Enzo said, and smiled. God, he was even charming when monosyllabic. Therational part of my brain was lecturing me about how infatuation makeseverything seem better than it is; the irrational part (meaning, most of me)was telling the rational part to get well and truly stuffed.

So,I said back, not nearly as charmingly, but Enzo didnt seem to notice.

I wastalking to Magdy, Enzo said.

Uh-oh,I said.

Magdysnot so bad, Enzo said.

Sure, forcertain values of not so bad, meaning bad,I said.

And he saidthat he was talking to some of the Magellan crew, Enzo said,forging along (charmingly). They told him about an observation lounge onthe crew level thats usually empty. He says we could get a great view ofthe planet there.

I glanced overEnzos shoulder, where Magdy was talking animatedly to Gretchen (or ather, depending on ones point of view). I dont think theplanet is what hes hoping to view, I said.

Enzo glanced back.Maybe not, he said. Although to be fair to Magdy, certainpeople arent exactly trying hard not to be viewed.

I crooked aneyebrow at that; it was true enough, although I knew Gretchen was more into theflirting than anything else. And what about you? I said. Whatare you hoping to see?

Enzo smiled andheld up his hands, disarmingly. Zo, he said. I justgot to kiss you. I think I want to work on that a little more beforemoving on to anything else.

Ooh, nicelysaid, I said. Do these lines work on all the girls?

Yourethe first girl Ive tried them on, Enzo said. So youllhave to let me know.

I actuallyblushed, and gave him a hug. So far, so good, I said.

Good,Enzo said. Also, you know. Ive seen your bodyguards. I dontthink I want them to use me for target practice.

What?I said, mock-shocked. Youre not frightened of Hickory andDickory, are you? Theyre not even here. Actually, Enzo has aperfectly good reason to be utterly terrified of Hickory and Dickory, who werealready vaguely suspicious of him and would happily cycle him out an airlock ifhe did anything stupid with me. But there was no reason to let him know thatyet. Good rule of thumb: When your relationship is minutes old, dontfreak out the new squeeze.

And anyway,Hickory and Dickory were sitting out this celebration. They were aware theymade most of the humans nervous.