{"id":1076,"date":"2016-02-28T18:10:21","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T00:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/keithgoodnight.com\/blog\/?p=1076"},"modified":"2016-02-28T18:10:21","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T00:10:21","slug":"goodbye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keithgoodnight.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/28\/goodbye\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 31, 2183<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI wish you wouldn\u2019t go,\u201d Frank said. Jenny frowned unhappily.<\/p>\n

Linda said nothing. She\u2019d had this conversation with Jenny in the dorm, over and over for weeks. It was too late to repeat it now.<\/p>\n

But Frank and David hadn\u2019t given up yet, not even though Jenny\u2019s departure was in four hours. She was packed, her luggage was already on the cargo transport. She was going Down.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d David said. \u201cHow can you want to live down there where everything\u2019s so messed up?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want <\/em>to,\u201d Jenny said, her worried tone matching her unhappy expression. \u201cBut I don\u2019t want to risk not getting my degree. What if they evacuate the Colonies when we\u2019re all in the middle of our senior year? It\u2019ll be too late to transfer to a planetside school then. MIT accepted my transfer, my family all think it\u2019s the best thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we won\u2019t graduate together,\u201d Frank said. \u201cCome on, the four of us have been friends since freshman physics.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one responded. It was a glum group, gathered around the table beside the Tree for the last time.<\/p>\n

David tried again. \u201cLook. You know what it\u2019s like planetside, you\u2019ve seen the news. Riots, shortages, crime running out of control. The environment and the economy tanking at the same time, and everyone blaming us.<\/em> What do you think it\u2019ll be like to be an offworlder down there now? It\u2019ll be miserable, you could even be in danger\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, stop it!\u201d Linda interrupted sharply. It was no good making Jenny more miserable, scaring her when it was already too late to change her mind. \u201cShe\u2019s going to North America, it\u2019s the one continent that still on the Colonies\u2019 side, still sending us supplies\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was only because of quid pro quo in Congress,\u201d David said. \u201cYou saw the protests all across the continent when they announced it\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Linda rode over his interruption. \u201cAnd<\/em> it\u2019s MIT. It\u2019s a tech school, they\u2019ve contributed to offworld settlement from the days of the first factory platforms. Outside of maybe CalTech or Rice, you probably couldn\u2019t find a more pro-offworld place to go.\u201d She reached over and squeezed Jenny\u2019s hand. \u201cI\u2019m going to miss you. But you\u2019re going to be fine.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThanks, Linda,\u201d Jenny said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d probably have transferred to a ground school myself, except I knew my parents would never pay for the trip Down. They\u2019re still not happy I went to college at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s so stupid!\u201d Frank exclaimed. \u201cAre they still on that? Do they even look around to see where they are?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Linda\u2019s mention of her parents had been calculated: her family was a point of long-standing complaint in their circle of friends. But she didn\u2019t want to completely divert the subject, they were here for Jenny, so she damped the reaction before it went critical: \u201cThey are paying my tuition here at SCU, it\u2019s not like they tried to stop me from going to college, they just thought I ought to follow their footsteps in Colony engineering instead of turning myself into a \u2018brain.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah but without a degree you\u2019d never be able to get into real design or tech work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExactly, I\u2019d spend my career with the good, honest, hard-working people instead of joining the silly, lazy people who sit around cozy offices making plans and never deal with the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was silence for a few moments. Than Frank said, \u201cA lot of people are saying that Monroe\u2019s going to back down when he gives this speech on Sunday. His embargo\u2019s cut off industrial products going Down as well as supplies coming up, and that\u2019s made the economy down there even worse, most places. Everyone\u2019s got to have noticed that North America isn\u2019t just helping us, they\u2019ve been doing better than everyone else the last three months.\u201d<\/p>\n

David looked down at the table. \u201cYeah,\u201d he said at last. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s all about to blow over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it does, I\u2019m coming home as soon as I graduate,\u201d said Jenny. \u201cWe\u2019re all still going to grad school together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know,\u201d Frank said, \u201ceven if it doesn\u2019t. If they shut down the Colonies, we\u2019ll all join you at MIT.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenny attempted a smile. \u201cYeah, and if it happens before the academic year\u2019s over, you\u2019ll be needing to finish your senior year next<\/em> year while I\u2019m already a grad student. Better be nice to me, I\u2019m going to be your TA and grading your<\/em> senior exams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Answering smiles circled the table, but they were halfhearted. The four friends stayed there, in their old meeting place under the Tree, until it was time for Jenny to head to the spaceport. They went with her as far as the security checkpoint, and said their last goodbyes.<\/p>\n

Everyone hugged. Everyone promised to stay in touch. Everyone said \u201cSee you next year, either up here or down there.\u201d Then, with a final wave, Jenny vanished through the checkpoint.<\/p>\n

TO BE CONTINUED<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July 31, 2183 \u201cI wish you wouldn\u2019t go,\u201d Frank said. Jenny frowned unhappily. Linda said nothing. She\u2019d had this conversation with Jenny in the dorm, over and over for weeks. It was too late to repeat it now. But Frank…<\/p>\n

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