The Rainbow Maker's Tale (2 page)

But, I was aware of her –
always aware it seemed – as though I had some uncanny sixth sense
when it came to Cassie. Mainly it was irritating as there was no
real basis for the fascination. Other than the fact that, nine
years ago, Cassie had been singled out for special attention by my
only ever friend, I had never found anything about her to be truly
different to the rest of them. Now and again, I would get the
feeling that there
might
be something different about
Cassie, but it had never come to anything more.

That’s hardly surprising –
you’ve barely spoken ten words to her during the twelve years
you’ve shared a classroom!

“Thanks,” I muttered back at
myself. I didn’t need a sarcastic inner voice to remind me that
there was no wonder I couldn’t understand Cassie – I could barely
understand myself.

A movement to my left brought
me back to the reality of the exam room and my eyes gradually
re-focused on what I had been staring at. Cassie had just removed
her own automatic discourse set and placed it carefully down onto
the plastic holder. The motion of her arm was what I had noticed
through unfocused eyes.

At first, I was engrossed only
as a distraction. I watched as she pressed her fingers against her
temple where the headset had rested a moment earlier. She massaged
the spot slowly, as though it were painful. It struck me how odd
her actions were: the discourse units were supposed to be
absolutely non-invasive when they extracted information from your
mind and relayed it into the computer system, they shouldn’t be
painful at all.

Perhaps there was something
else wrong?

I was willingly caught up in
the diversion and close to forgetting about the unanswered exam
question flashing away on the screen, slightly to the right of
where my attention was focused.

Not being stupid or in complete
denial, I knew that on some level I found Cassie attractive. Her
dark brown hair fell in soft waves to somewhere near the middle of
her back and I had often wondered what it would feel like. Cassie
had interesting green eyes too, which I knew glowed more brightly
when she was happy and laughing with her friends. She did this
freely and often, but never with me.

There was keen intelligence
behind Cassie’s eyes. They moved rapidly when considering the world
around her, taking in all the important details; they would narrow
slightly when she was grasping something critical or complex. In my
opinion – unvoiced of course – Cassie was frequently more astute
than she allowed others to see. I often wondered why she wanted to
hide that. Perhaps, if I’d ever spoken to her I might have been
able to work that out…

There was a flash of white as
Cassie moved her arm again. Her skin was fair: much paler than
mine, although the colour had a subtle creaminess to it. I always
thought of it as
never having seen the sun
, which of course
it hadn’t living on the station as we did. Neither had I, but my
skin always held a warm, golden brown glow – very different to
Cassie’s. It was the visible mark of my heritage of ancestors who
had lived in the hotter areas of the Earth.

There was more movement in
front of me.

Cassie appeared distracted
herself, peeking around at our classmates, whose illuminated faces
were trained in concentration on their screens. Everyone was
focused on the task at hand. Everyone, that is, except me. I
remembered this a second too late. Cassie’s head swivelled in my
direction and her sharp green eyes locked onto mine.

Damn!

I turned my attention back
towards the screen where it should have been focused. As I did so,
I registered mild confusion in her questioning expression. Pulling
the keyboard towards me, I thumped the keys randomly, as though I
had just paused a few moments to collect my thoughts.

Don’t be stupid! I scolded. My
childish behaviour made me feel embarrassed and I shoved the
keyboard away. It might have been a long time since I had actually
spoken to anyone, except my parents, but surely I could communicate
with someone better than this? It was obvious I had been watching
Cassie, I should just have smiled…or shrugged…or both, to show it
was nothing – just normal, exam boredom. Now I looked guilty, and
probably a bit weird as well.

Deep breath, I told myself.
Don’t be an idiot, just glance back now and if Cassie’s not looking
at you like you’re a complete freak, smile then get back to work.
That’s how a normal human being would behave.

OK, I agreed. Second
chance.

Peeking back towards the spot
that had held my interest a few seconds earlier, I was slightly
deflated to see that Cassie’s attention had already returned to her
work. My well thought-out plan was only half a minute too late to
be any use. Story of my life! I shook my head, irritated with
myself and amused by my irritation in equal measure.

Turning away, I glared at the
un-started question blinking insistently on my monitor. Beneath
were the several lines of nonsense I had typed in my hurry to
appear like a normal human being when Cassie caught me gazing
around. Very normal, I observed dryly as I deleted the text,
tapping the backspace key harder than necessary in my
annoyance.

Another loud sigh escaped my
lips as I resigned myself to the task at hand. Despite my earlier
confidence, I knew that – at a minimum – I had to pass this exam to
graduate onto the sequence of placements that would determine my
long-term role on the station. The subject of History itself was
not the problem; my interpretation of past events in my current
frame of mind was the bigger issue. I supposed that part could not
be helped: I pretty much lived in this frame of mind.

The decline of human
civilisation on Earth
…

We still existed! Why were they
always asking us to look to the past and not what lay ahead? Why
did we not learn about what our future might hold, beyond the
stifling walls of the Family Quarter – perhaps even beyond the
walls of the Space Station Hope itself? I shook my head, dismissing
my own questions. It was not the time or place for answering
those.

My hand hovered uncertainly
over the keyboard, debating whether to strap on the auto-discourse
headset or to actually use the more antiquated equipment in front
of me. In the end, I decided I needed a bit of space for my
thoughts and that might be better achieved with the keyboard.
Pulling the lightweight panel towards me and settling myself
properly into the chair, I leaned back and began to answer the last
question of my final exam.

I was re-reading my answer –
perhaps
diatribe
was a more accurate description – on the
reaction of the human race to climate change and global upheaval.
My essay definitely had a bias towards the surveillance states and
population control that had developed in response to global
warming. It was not a positive picture of humanity and I wondered
how much my recent irritations with life on the station had
influenced this. Or, how much the behaviour of our ancestors was
the source of my frustrations with life on the station. It was open
for debate either way.

“Testing period ends in five
minutes.”

I did not look up to
acknowledge the familiar electronic voice when it made the
announcement. The room was quiet now: only Cassie and myself had
been using the manual input systems, and been given the extension
to the normal examination period. Our classmates had all left
twenty-five minutes ago.

Finished with my own review, I
turned my attention away from the screen. There was nothing else in
the empty room to focus on and so I absent-mindedly watched Cassie
as she skimmed through her answer. She paused every now and again
to make a correction.

Cassie had just flopped
backwards in her seat, stretching out her arms and shoulders as
though she were particularly stiff, when our screens closed down
and the exam ended with another announcement from the speakers. For
a few seconds I remained in place, before realising that Cassie did
not appear to be in any hurry to get up. I wasn’t about to change
the habit of a lifetime and start being chatty, so decided I may as
well get out of there.

Hastily shoving my chair away
from the desk, a piercing screech tore through the silent room and
I cringed internally.
How loud?
Unsurprisingly, my lone
companion was shocked by the noise and jerked around in her seat to
stare at me. I had already moved quickly – motivated by
embarrassment – and was by the door when it occurred to me to
apologise for startling her.

“Sorry,” I muttered as quietly
as I could, whilst still allowing Cassie to hear me. My voice
carried easily in the otherwise soundless room, although the
silence following my apology seemed loud by comparison.

I busied myself with gathering
up my possessions as a distraction, hoping to escape as speedily as
possible. It took me a few seconds to realise that Cassie was
actually talking to me, not allowing me to be invisible as I
normally was.

What was she saying?

“…forgotten I wasn’t alone in
here…brain is half-asleep…”

Only half-hearing Cassie’s
words I thought it sounded like
she
was apologising to me.
What would she be apologising for?
That can’t be right, I
must have misunderstood what she’d said.

Looking up, in an attempt to
work out what she was saying, I saw that Cassie was standing beside
her desk now. She waved her arm towards her viewing screen, but
she’d stopped speaking – I had no idea what she had said.

What did that mean?
I
was more confused than ever. Feeling rather lost, I opted for a
non-committal nod, which would hopefully not mean anything stupid
or offensive.

I was wrong – whatever she had
taken it to mean – my nod was not favourably received. Cassie’s
eyes narrowed slightly, as though I had irritated her, although I
couldn’t see why such a simple action as a shrug would have that
effect. Her expression changed swiftly once more and I saw she was
trying to disguise her initial annoyance.

Cassie was the one person I
would have a reason to talk to and this was not how I would have
wanted the conversation to go. I opened my mouth with the intention
of apologising again. Maybe even admitting that I hadn’t actually
heard what she’d said in the first place, if it made things better.
It was already too late. Cassie’s eyes had drifted away from me to
focus on the floor instead and she began making her way towards the
door.

Surely I could work out how to
say a couple of sentences to a random girl in my class? It wasn’t
exactly rocket science! I wished it was, because I was darn good at
astro-engineering. Fidgeting nervously with the strap on my
shoulder bag – trying to make it exactly straight across my body –
I debated saying something else, but the words stuck in my throat
and so the silence remained. I was so out of practice interacting
with other people.

Stop squirming!
I was
frustrated with myself now. At the silent command my hands dropped
uselessly to my sides. I was about to leave the room when I noticed
Cassie’s school sack sitting on the floor beside my foot and
spotted an opportunity. Swooping down, I slid my hand fluidly
through the arm loops on the bag, lifting it quietly from the
ground. This might be a chance to make amends for whatever offence
I had caused a few moments earlier.

“Here you go,” I said as
politely as I could, trying to convey my courteous intentions as I
held out the bag towards Cassie.

She looked up – appearing
surprised by me again, but perhaps more positively this time? Her
eyes flickered to mine and held my gaze.

It was the first time we had
ever stood so close together, and I was near enough now to see the
green irises of her eyes spark as they conveyed disbelief…then
gratitude…softening to something else I couldn’t translate. I
hadn’t seen the expression before, on Cassie’s face, or anyone
else’s for that matter – my lack of understanding being a
by-product of my lonely existence.

“Oh!” Cassie exclaimed, her
eyes flashing once more. “I mean – er – thanks!”

We waited a second or so in
silence. Cassie appeared a little nervous herself now and took her
time making up her mind what to do next, before she reached out and
took the bag I was still holding for her. She swung the strap onto
her shoulder so quickly it almost smashed into the viewing screen
next to her. I nearly laughed aloud as her expression rapidly
registered shock, then embarrassment – dropping her eyes from mine
– before she regained control of her features. My mouth twitched
into a half-smile that I was unable to disguise by the time she
looked back at me and for once – feeling bold and brave – I didn’t
look away, but met the full force of her inquisitive eyes.

Cassie was an interesting
person to read. Her features remained largely still with only
minute movements and changes to her eyes indicating what she was
thinking, or perhaps feeling. I was already aware of her expressive
eyes, but was surprised by how much more I could read in them now
that she was standing a mere arm’s length away. She opened her
mouth once, preparing to say something before she seemed to change
her mind. My mouth twitched into a wider smile as I waited for
whatever it was she wanted to say; I was quite enjoying the effect
my presence seemed to be having on her. It was…new.

Only a few short moments
passed, but I was aware of her gaze roaming curiously across my
face, meeting my own eyes fleetingly, before darting away.
“Thanks,” I heard her mutter once more. It was less than I expected
after such a long silence and I struggled to interpret how her
words connected with the changes in her expression. I had no time
to dwell on this as Cassie reached past me to activate the door
panel, a clear indication that she wanted to get away.