Ships of Earth

ONE THE LAW OF THE DESERT Shedemei was a scientist, not a desert traveler. She had no great need for city comfortsshe was as content sleeping on a floor or table as on a bedbut she resented having been dragged away from her laboratory, from her work, from all that gave her life meaning. She had never agreed to join this half-mad expedition. Yet here she was, atop a camel in the dry heat of the desert wind, rocking back and forth as she watched the backside of the camel in front of her sway in another rhythm. It made her faintly sick, the heat and the motion. It gave her a headache. Several times she almost turned back. She could find the way well enough; all she had to do was get close enough to Basilica and her computer would link up with the city and show her the rest of the way home. Alone, she'd make much better timeperhaps she could even be back before nightfall. And they would surely let her into the cityshe wasn't kin by blood or marriage to anyone else in this group. The only reason she had been exiled with them was because she had arranged for the dryboxes full of seeds and embryos that would reestablish some semblance of the old flora and fauna on Earth. She had done a favor for her old teacher, that's allthey could hardly force her into exile forthat. Yet that cargo was the reason she did not turn back. Who else would understand how to revive the myriad species carried on these camels? Who else would know which ones needed to go first, to establish themselves before later species came that would have to feed on them? It's not fair, thought Shedemei for the thousandth time. I'm the only one in this party who can begin to do this taskbut for me, it's not a challenge at all. It's notscience, it'sagriculture. I'm here, not because the task the Over-soul has chosen me for is so demanding, but because all the others are so deeply ignorant of it. "You look angry and miserable." Shedemei turned to see that it was Rasa who had brought her camel up beside Shedemei's on the wide stony path. Rasa, her teacheralmost her mother. But notreallyher mother, not by blood, not byright. "Yes," said Shedemei. "At me?" asked Rasa. "Partly you," said Shedemei. "You maneuvered us all into this. I have no connection with any of these people, except through you." "We all have the same connection," said Rasa. "The Oversoul sent you a dream, didn't she?" "I didn't ask for it." "Which of us did?" said Rasa. "No, I do understand what you mean, Shedya. The others all made choices that got them into this. Nafai and Luet and Hushidh and I have come willingly...more or less. And Elemak and Meb, not to mention my daughters, bless their nasty little hearts, are here because they made some stupid and vile decisions. The others are here because they have marriage contracts, though for some of them it's merely compounding the original mistake to come along. But you, Shedemei, all that brings you here is your dream. And your loyalty to me." The Oversoul had sent her a dream of floating through the air, scattering seeds and watching them grow, turning a desert land into forest and meadow, filled with greenery, abounding with animals. Shedemei looked around at the bleak desert landscape, seeing the few thorny plants that clung to life here and there, knowing that a few lizards lived on the few insects that found water enough to survive. "Thisis not my dream," said Shedemei. "BCard, Orson Scott is the author of 'Ships of Earth' with ISBN 9780812532630 and ISBN 0812532635.