Keeper by Viola Grace

Chapter One
     
     
    Agatha poked at the fire pit, sending sparks tumbling upward. Her sister thudded into the seat next to her.
    Aggie looked at Martha with narrowed eyes. “Don’t spill that wine on my furniture…again.”
    Martha chuckled and extended the wine glass over the edge of her chair. “What did they say?”
    “They are making the final checks as to my aptitude. I just got home.”
    “And started a fire. You are worried.”
    “Definitely. I want this.” She leaned back and looked up at the stars. “I want them.”
    Martha sighed. “I am going to miss you.”
    Aggie chuckled. “I don’t know if I am accepted yet.”
    Marty handed her her phone. “Take a look. There is an email from the Volunteer Centre. Find out.”
    Aggie took her phone with trembling hands. She opened the email and swallowed hard. She picked up a new log and threw it onto the fire.
    “Well? What did it say?”
    She sat back and picked up her lemon water. “This is going to be my last fire with these stars over my head.”
    Marty sat up. “You did it? You are in?”
    Aggie lifted her glass in a toast and Marty met her halfway. “I am in.”
    Aggie spent the night with her sister, talking until they were hoarse and staring up at the stars. Marty’s husband called, but once the situation was explained, he wished Aggie good luck and told Marty to stay the night.
    For a pair of identical twins, they were very different women, but in this moment, they were one. Martha had focussed her life inward, with home and family. Aggie had gone out and lived with minimalism as far from her own kind as she could.
    Her volunteer job at the zoo was her half-assed attempt to connect with people, but she used her time there to learn all she could about detailed habits of the animals. There were indicators of mental state and mood that most of their keepers missed. Aggie had learned how to read them through focus and study, but it wasn’t exactly a marketable skill.
    She worked when she had to and volunteered as often as she could. Now, it seemed she was going to make her career as a Volunteer. It was going to be a sudden shift, but it would be welcome.
    Aggie would feel the parting from Marty most keenly, but their link went far beyond location. She would carry her sister with her to the stars.
     
    Aggie tugged at the neckline of the bodysuit. She was nervous about having something pressing on all available skin, but she was getting used to it. The artificial gravity enhancement that they had installed on the moon made it almost Earth-like, but there was something different.
    Her speciality was survival. She was learning to find shelter, water and food in any environment. The simulations had been intense and she had only killed herself twice in the first week.
    When she wasn’t crawling through simulated jungles, she was learning customs and languages. It was weird going back to school, but she was definitely getting information that Mr. Oglethorp had missed in biology class and Ms. Lahey had skipped over in chemistry.
    The languages were given to her while she slept. The first round of Volunteers had let them know how the Terran brain worked, and they were ready with learning tabs that helped put the information where she needed it.
    Every night before she went to sleep, she put on the tabs and the learning program ran until she woke. The morning was spent on being quizzed on what she had learned, and after two weeks, she was speaking nothing but Alliance Common.
    The addition of Nyal Common was a bit perplexing, but then, she was told that she would be shepherding people from one area to the next. She would have the dubious honour of being both a bodyguard and a companion to whomever needed her help.
    They were even talking about giving her something called a Wyoran framework, just for emergencies. She didn’t know what that meant, but she would do it if she had to.
    Aggie looked around her quarters and made a quick call to her sister. Martha