The Clockwork Rocket

But while she’d never know what the children’s mothers had wanted, she could be sure that no one had allowed them the kind of choices she’d had herself.

When the meal was over, Giusto took her aside.

“I want to hear about your co-stead,” he said. “What is it that he does? I should know what kind of business my great-nephews will inherit.”

“There is no business,” Yalda said. “I study at the university. I support myself with tutoring. That’s my life: work and study. There is no co-stead.”

Giusto’s face betrayed no surprise. “So you’re free? That’s good news! I’m glad there’s no one tying you down.”

“You approve?” Yalda was confused.

Giusto said, “Without a co-stead to worry about, you can take your father’s place on the new farm. Your brother can hardly work the farm alone, with young children.”

“Young children?” Yalda gestured around the clearing. “There aren’t enough children here already?”

“It’s Lucio’s time,” Giusto said. “How long should he wait? We’ve bought the farm already. Only Vito’s death has held things up.”

Yalda said, “Here’s a plan: rent out the second farm for a few years, then once your grandchildren are a little older, either Aurelio’s family or Claudio’s can take it over, along with Lucia and Lucio.”

Giusto buzzed derisively. “You want to scramble the generations? You want your brother to be so old when his children are born that his cousins’ children have to raise them for him?”

“What Lucio and Lucia do is up to them,” Yalda replied. “But I’m not going to work on that farm.”

Giusto was growing angry now. “So you’ve forgotten your own family?”

“My family doesn’t need me,” Yalda said calmly. “I’ve told you how you can make the second farm work.”

“Your duty is to take your father’s place there.”

“I doubt that would have been his opinion.”

“What is it that you think you’re doing in Zeugma?” Giusto demanded. “I’d like to know what’s so important that everything else in your life can be neglected.”

“I’m studying light,” Yalda said. “Star trails. The Hurtlers.”

“Hurtlers?”

“They’re a bit like shooting stars. We saw one, here, years ago—”

Giusto cut her off impatiently. “I taught Aurelio and Claudio to recite the sagas, and I’m willing to do the same for you. If you want a real education, start with six ages’ worth of knowledge.”

“All of it at least six ages out of date,” Yalda retorted.

Giusto stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. As far as Yalda could tell, his whole idea of knowledge was as something static, perfected in the distant past by the great poets and philosophers. The only truth to be had was passed down from them; there was nothing new to be found.

“I’m not leaving Zeugma,” she said. “No one understands light fully, yet, but people are working toward it—in Zeugma, in Red Towers, in the other cities. You can’t ask me to walk away from that! It’s the most exciting thing happening in the world right now. And I’m part of it.”

Giusto looked away, disgusted. “That was your father’s first mistake.”

“What mistake?” Yalda demanded angrily.

“Flattering you,” Giusto replied. “Letting you think that you were something special, as a compensation for having no co. That, and sending you to school.”

Yalda hadn’t expected to find it easy to sleep, but it felt perfectly normal to be lying in the clearing again, with the soil beneath her and the stars above. Ada had taken Aurelia’s spot, but she was asleep long before Yalda settled into her own old indentation. The flowers arranged around the sleepers glowed softly in every hue, but if Yalda raised her head slightly she could see the wheatlight beyond them.

She woke well before dawn, confused for a moment to have heard no bells, but sure of the time regardless. She rose and walked over to Lucia’s bed, then crouched down and touched her sister’s shoulder.

Lucia opened her eyes; Yalda gestured for silence, holding a motionless hand in front of her tympanum. Lucia climbed to her feet and followed Yalda to the edge of the clearing.

“I’m going now,” Yalda said. “The trucks leave the village early.”

“Do you have to? I’d hoped you’d stay a few more days.” Lucia sounded disappointed, but not greatly surprised.

“Why don’t you come with me?” Yalda suggested.

“To Zeugma?”

“Why not?”

Lucia buzzed softly with mirth. “What would I do there?”

“Whatever you like,” Yalda replied. “You can look around and decide what suits you. I’ll take care of you until you find a job.”

“But there’s work for me here; I don’t need a new job.”

Yalda said, “Don’t you want to see more of the world than this?”

“That might be nice,” Lucia conceded. “But I’d miss everyone.”

“You could come back and visit, any time,” Yalda promised her.

Lucia thought for a while. “Let me wake Lucio.” She took a few steps before Yalda grabbed her arm.

“No! You can’t—”

“You’re not inviting him too?”

“No.”

“Are you crazy?” Lucia was baffled. “Why would I go to Zeugma without him?”

“That’s the whole point of leaving!” Yalda said, exasperated. “If you go by yourself, you won’t have to worry.”

“Worry about what?”

“Children.”

Lucia said, “We’re not having children for at least four more years. If we went with you to Zeugma, it wouldn’t be any different.”

“Four years?”

“Yes.”

Yalda sat on the ground, shivering, not knowing whether to believe her. “Aurelia didn’t wait. Claudia didn’t wait.”

“Well, I’m not Aurelia.”

“Don’t you miss them?”

“Of course I do,” Lucia replied. “If you missed them so much,” she added pointedly, “you should have visited more often.”

Yalda was ashamed. “I didn’t think I’d lose the chance so soon.” She searched her sister’s face, determined to uncover the family’s secrets. “What happened? Did Giusto force them?”

“He nagged them,” Lucia said. “But they had their own ideas, it wasn’t all down to him.”

“And you think he’ll let you wait four years?”

“It’s not his decision, Yalda! Lucio and I have everything planned: we’re going to work on the new farm together and save as much money as we can. Then when the time comes, he’ll hire some people to help run the farm for a couple of years while he takes care of the children. If some of the young cousins want to do it, that’s fine, but we’re not going to rely on that.”

Yalda said, “And what if you change your mind? What if you want to wait longer?”

“Then we’ll wait,” Lucia said mildly. “He’s not going to force me.”

“What makes you so sure of that?”

“He’s my co! I’ve known him my whole life.”

“Men are driven to have children,” Yalda said. “It’s in their nature, they can’t help it.” How had Daria put it?