“Mister Ardent,” said Jarvik Pierpont. “What do you suggest for the decorations?”
Mister. Noah smiled. “Peek into the new restaurant for one idea. They’ve got a boating theme that you could see pretty much anywhere; looks nice. You could go with that, or do something a little crazy.”
Jarvik and his wife talked. Noah stared at the empty sea beyond Castor, huge and cold. Everything they’d made was a toy next to the real spectacle of the blue. It was a privilege to be out here seeing it, one that could get snatched away if they weren’t careful.
Jarvik said, “Maybe.”
Noah said, “Come to think of it, you should do something crazy for the theme, not a style that you could see in any mom-and-pop place. Lights. An upside-down world. Magic castles. Something… something that’d make people think, I need this place.”
It was Christmas Eve. The station had red and green lights on the topdeck, and a palm tree with soaked cotton around it. Something was weird about the crowd that was gathering, braving the wind. Noah picked out Martin, some Pilgrims, those new scientists, and strangers. He stood on the black suncloth, thinking of what the difference was.
There were kids here!
High up, far from safe shores. Noah marched over to the pair of families who were herding four boys and girls and a baby between them. He felt half angry, half confused. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “This place isn’t safe.”
A mom held her son’s hand, getting tugged around. “It’s a present for them. We wanted to be here for the first Christmas in this place.”
“The first?” said Noah.
She smiled. “First of many, I hope.”
Noah walked away, beaming. Man, he’d have to do a good job if people were going to be bringing kids onto the station.
Then he got caught in a rush of people coming up, Leda and Garrett and everyone, so that the deck was packed. There was a cordon up to make it less likely someone would get pushed off, but still no guarantee. There really ought to have been more of a sturdy fence. People seemed to expect entertainment tonight, though nothing had been scheduled. The wind sounds had grown to a murmur of over a hundred people talking.
Leda led them, singing in a clear, strong voice: “Silent Night…”
Dozens of voices took the song up at once: “Holy Night…”
Then it seemed that the ocean was full of music. Instrumentals got piped in from somewhere and people went through one song after another, with strange forays into “Dixie” and tunes he didn’t recognize. Castor didn’t feel like such a dangerous place after all, like they were pushing the wilderness away. They could do this; they could hang out and have a good time together.
When they were all exhausted, they wandered off and the sounds of wind and waves faded back in. God’s background music. Noah was there watching the stars when Leda returned.
She offered him a box wrapped in newspaper, and he was ashamed. “I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I’m poor. I didn’t buy you anything.”
“It’s okay. You’ve worked to make this place livable.”
Leda still held out the box, so he opened it to find a grey wool coat. She said, “I’d be honored if you joined us.”
Noah ran his hand over the warm fabric. “It’s nice, Leda, but — I mean, this stuff about dead generals…” He didn’t want to say he thought it was disrespecting God; that would hurt her.
Leda looked around at the near-empty platform. “People need to believe in something, don’t they? They’re still with God, worshiping in a different way.”
Noah shook his head. “I don’t get it. What do you really believe in?”
“Us!” she said. “Castor, I mean. We have this place and I don’t want to lose it. Whatever we feel when we’re here together, singing, we can call that God, even if we don’t all mean the same thing.”
Noah thought back to the singing. It had been nice, but not like being in church, not as focused. They’d been having a good time. Back when he’d first seen Castor, that wasn’t God either, at least not directly. It was him seeing something that had a meaning, a purpose.
Leda said, “This Pilgrim thing is something that can bring us together. Because it’s new and small we can shape it, make it something that gives people strength and, well, hope. We can be the ones who decide what Castor is.”
She was flustered and pretty in the night air, trying to explain things he’d never put into words. Maybe it didn’t matter exactly how you did your worship as long as you meant it, and wanted to serve people. That was what life was about, right? Some silliness about Bobby Lee was a small sacrifice to put up with for the sake of helping people, of being part of the team.
He tried the coat on.
5. Garrett
Wow. The parents had demanded a Santa Claus, and Martin had refused (the jerk), so Garrett had to throw an outfit together for himself. An improvised red jacket, a white beard, the hat, and for his own amusement a costume fox-tail. The way to approach kids while in costume was to kneel with open arms and let them come to you. They mostly did, sometimes almost tackling him. He didn’t care that he was getting stared at; there was a kind of anonymity behind the outfit, so that he may as well have actually been Santa for the duration. Surrounded by gratuitous affection and enthusiasm, the focus of some kid’s dreams. Nice.
Santa time had to end eventually. He’d hardly pulled off the beard when the new chief scientist tapped his shoulder, outside Garrett’s office. “Santa, can you bring me some electricity?” The man wore a long black overcoat like a Victorian gentleman, and shivered though he hadn’t been outside for long.
“Doctor Jenner!” said Garrett. “Where are you from, anyway?” He’d not had much time to research exactly who was coming, although the credentials being tossed around were interesting. Heavy on advanced practical genetics rather than theory.
“Atlanta,” said Jenner. “I worked with the killer flu strain of ’25.”
Now Garrett shivered. “Thank you.”
Jenner looked at his boots. “Well. So. Electricity. My team is eager to set up, and liquid nitrogen only lasts so long.” There would be supplies that needed refrigeration.
Garrett had to get his brain in gear, from fantasy back to facts and figures. “Right. Our electric supply system is getting hammered from all the people here, and the decorations. But we can expand our power grid right now if you’re up for it.” He smiled and added, “My Christmas present has arrived. Are you ready for a swim?”
“In this weather? Sorry, Captain, but I’d rather keep to my test tubes. Brr! Besides, I don’t know anything about your branch of engineering.”
“I don’t know much about yours yet, but I’d like to learn.” By making the diving offer, Garrett had been trying to tweak Jenner a little to see if he was a decent guy, but it seemed like a mistake to leave things at that. Besides, there was something that needed discussion. “Seriously, it’d be good for you to have your group work on this. You should get a feel for the bigger picture of how Castor works. And the water’s not that cold.”
“We’re biologists, though.”
“Around here you have to do a little of everything. It’s not safe to ignore all the distractions from your work. The water’s warm enough, and afterwards I’ll treat your team to hot cider courtesy of your rent money.”
Jenner looked indecisive. “What exactly do you want help with?”
“A big pile of sheet.”
Getting the engineers into the water took promises of cider, good times, electricity, and cake. Motivating smart people with snack food — ah, it was like being a grad student again! “Here’s the sheet,” he said, opening a crate in Dockside. Because of all the foot traffic, he’d built a few more interior walls down here, separating the hangout of Phillip’s Place from the cargo area. The setup was awkward but workable.