“I think you’re right,” Win said. “That’s why I’m her rival, right? She thinks if she can’t get Angus, she can’t stay.”
“We’re going to need more people eventually,” Boone said. “What makes her think she has to marry in?”
They all mulled that over.
“Maybe we haven’t made it clear that we intend to grow,” Riley said.
“Maybe she thinks we don’t want her,” Win said. “She doesn’t have any friends here.”
“Because she never stops talking,” Riley said, “and it’s not even that; it’s that she never lets you get a word in edgewise. She asks interesting questions but never lets you answer them!”
“She’s an odd duck for sure,” Boone said. “I’m not sure she’d be a great fit for the commun—”
“For God’s sake, listen to you people!” Byron, who’d been filming the scene, stepped forward, mindless of his camera. One of the other crew members snatched it from him and trained it on the group again. “Is that a rule now? You have to be perfectly normal to fit in at Base Camp? No one else need apply?”
“That’s not what I meant,” Boone began.
“Sure it is. You all are looking for an excuse to keep Leslie out because you don’t like that she came on the show when you didn’t want her to. You want to call all the shots.” He pointed at Boone. “And the rest of you want everyone at Base Camp to be carbon copies of everyone else, just like Douglas and Angus.”
“No, we don’t,” Riley said, setting down the plate she was scraping with a thump.
“Really? This whole community is as homogenous as it gets! Every man here was in the Navy SEALs. Every woman is creative and educated. You’re all exactly the same. I get it. Like attracts like. But now you can’t even be talkative or you’re out?” He flung up his hands in disgust. “I’m not staying here and listening to any more of this. I’m going to film someone interesting—and make sure Leslie knows I think she’s worth ten of any of you. She’s got heart, integrity and grit. She works harder than anyone, and she doesn’t spend the rest of her time gossiping.”
He grabbed his camera and headed out the door, slamming it shut behind him.
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” Win whispered when Angus managed to position himself beside her on the way from the bunkhouse to the greenhouses a week later.
He knew exactly what she meant. Their days had devolved into an agonizing round of chores in which everyone kept far too close to each other and no one got to be alone with the one they truly wanted to be alone with.
Their only saving grace was that Byron was so determined to be near Leslie that sometimes he blocked her from being with Angus, like he was doing now. They were only five feet or so behind him and Leslie on the path, but that gave them enough time for a few whispered sentences.
“Only five more days,” Angus promised her. “We’ll get through it. I dreamed about you last night.”
She sent him a surreptitious smile. “I dream about you all the time.”
That was something.
“Plotting again?” Leslie asked loudly.
“Plotting about what we’re going to work on today.” Win picked up her pace and strode past her into the greenhouse. “That’s what we’re here for, right? To work?”
Leslie pinched her lips together and followed her inside with a flounce. Angus met Byron’s accusing look. “You were talking to Leslie. You can’t get upset I had a word with Win.”
“This is as bad as high school,” Douglas announced, bringing up the rear of the line. “And not nearly as interesting.”
“You can always go home,” Angus said.
“Don’t hold your breath. I’ve got big plans.”
Inside, Win was already working her way down the rows of seedlings, checking to make sure none had come to any harm overnight. Leslie was organizing pots and seeds. Angus headed to the back of the large building where the hydroponics setup was located. He wasn’t producing nearly as many vegetables as he’d have liked, but he was learning things, and that was important.
Some minutes later, he looked up to find Leslie standing nearby, her arms folded over her chest.
“I’m not sure I believe in hydroponics. How do we know that the nutrients you’re feeding those plants are as good as what they would get from the soil? And why is it okay to grow them this way when it’s obviously not what nature intended? If we were meant to grow plants without dirt, why would there be dirt in the first place? I don’t like how regular everything is. How an-ti-sep-tic.” She gave each syllable equal weight. “I think this is the first step toward automation, which is exactly the opposite of sustainability in my book. Plus, automation leads to robots, which leads to the loss of jobs, which leads to poverty, which leads to hunger, and do you think those robots are going to feed us out of the goodness of their hearts? They don’t have hearts. Just like some people around here,” she added in a low mutter.
Angus kept working, hoping if he didn’t engage her, Leslie would leave him alone.
“I think automation is one of America’s biggest strengths,” Douglas said, straightening from his work and glancing at the cameras to make sure someone was filming him. “This is a great country, and technology and innovation made it that way. Your father is a great proponent of innovation, isn’t he, Win?”
“I… guess.” Win kept working, not rising to the bait.
Byron passed his camera to another crew member and moved closer to Leslie, something that was occurring more and more frequently these days. “I think Leslie could probably develop all kinds of systems here at Base Camp to improve our efficiency with or without automation.
