Horizon

Chapter 6: Miguel

Miguel kicks at the sagging panel beside him. He is bored and pissed off. The stupid old ship wasn't that big, how did he get turned around? Manuel warned him not to go too far, but since when did Miguel Diego listen to anyone? Miguel kicks the panel again, just because it feels good.

He sighs, giving in. Manuel will find him, but it would be easier if he knew where Miguel was. He opens his mouth to call out to his brother when he hears the explosion, muffled as it is through the thick skin of the old vessel.

Miguel runs through the passageway, pulling himself up short when he stumbles on a cross corridor. At the other end is a porthole overlooking the colony. Miguel face-plants into the window and watches the attack on his home.

He will never admit it to anyone ever, but in the silence of his own heart he knows it is panic gripping him in that moment. Panic dragging him bodily down the length of the ship. Panting and moaning like an injured animal, he reaches an open hatch and pauses, crouching so he can leap to the ground. He huddles next to the hull for a moment, then eases himself out from its shadow, indecision making him sweat.

Before he has a chance to calm down, something lands on him from above and smothers him in the dust.

***

Three Hours to Contact

Boredom weighed on Miguel, dead weight. It was a natural state for him and his overactive mind. He prided himself on his brilliance, on the fact he was so much smarter than everyone else. He spent a great deal of his time coming up with elaborate plans to do impossible things then sat back and applauded himself for his ingenuity and inventiveness without having lifted a finger.

The run-in with Minnesota blunted his passion for it this time. She didn't have the right to tell him what to do! No one did, not even his father.

Who said the exact same thing to Miguel that morning, almost word for word.

"You are to start at the mine today," Amado Diego told him in no uncertain terms over breakfast while his baby sister Angel threw cooked cereal at him. Miguel wiped the warm mush from his cheek, feeling the heat rise in his face.

"You said next week," he muttered into his breakfast.

"You know very well your father told you today," Consuela snapped him in the back of the head with the flat of her hand. "You and Manuel both. See? Your brother is dressed and ready."

He was too, in his overalls and jacket. Mind you, he and his brother dressed that way most days so it wasn't like Miguel would have noticed, really. Still, he scowled at the betrayal.

"I'm not going." He put some force into it while his two younger brothers stared at him over their porridge, eyes drifting to Amado, waiting for the explosion. This time, he simply sagged.

"Miguel, you must do something," Amado's voice pleaded. He tried force and bribery.

Miguel wondered when he would finally start begging. "You won't go to school-" "The teacher is an i***t," Miguel snapped.

"You won't work in the mine," his father went on. "Or in the factory. What is it you want, boy? Tell us and we will do our best to give it to you."

Miguel's guilt grew with his father's speech. He knew his parents loved him. He knew that very well. They always indulged their children. His older brother and sister were already working in the mine and in the factory, productive, happy members of the colony. Even Manuel seemed fine with going below. So why did the very thought of menial labor make Manuel's heart shrink?

"I don't know," he said.

"Your teacher told us you could be an engineer." Consuela settled her rounding frame onto a creaking chair to clean up the baby. Her long black hair shone in the low light of the kitchen. "Or a doctor, even, if you would just apply yourself. We're happy to see you go to school, Miguel.

We just need to know."

He stormed from the kitchen, then, his own lack of commitment making him angry. They let him go, as they usually did. And, before long, Manuel came lumbering after him.

Another day of nothing to do and no desire to do anything about it wrapped him in a cocoon of irritation.

"Tell you to keep an eye on me?" He squinted up at his massive brother who only shrugged.

Miguel shook off his funk and sat up from where he reclined on a nicely piled stack of junk where he'd spent the day. He watched the sun set and he still didn't have an answer to give his parents. Not that he allowed himself to think about it much. What was the fun in deciding on one thing when his active mind could take him anywhere he wanted to go?

Home. Not appealing. He knew his father and mother would be back from work, the smaller children picked up from the care center. They would wait dinner on them for only so long, then eat without them. Miguel found he didn't really care.

"Hungry yet?" He turned to Manuel who studied the sky with a single-mindedness Miguel was used to.

The bigger twin rolled his head toward his brother and smiled a little. "Are you?"

Miguel loved that about Manuel. No matter what happened his brother was always willing to let Miguel decide. The next words Manuel spoke took Miguel by surprise.

"Why don't you want to work?" Manuel's expression didn't change. He seemed genuinely curious, not like their parents.

"I hate rules," Miguel blurted, then realized how true it was after he said it. "Stupid colony rules. Why should I do what they want? Why can't I take my time deciding? They can't make me." He felt his sullen mood creep back in and decided the last place he wanted to be was home.

Miguel climbed to his feet and found himself looking over the top of the pile at the old

Horizon.

"Wonder what she does there," he said of Minnesota. He'd watched her make her way across the emptiness, her slim body shrinking to insect size before she disappeared inside the ship. He'd

briefly considered turning her in, just for the fun of it, but that would have drawn attention to his present freedom and he wasn't willing to risk it.

"Dunno," Manuel answered him. Only then did Miguel realize he spoke out loud. "We could find out."

That idea was so brilliant Miguel later told himself it was his.

The brothers picked their way to the stretch of empty dirt marking the last resting place of the abandoned ship. Miguel suppressed a shudder as the setting sun fell behind the hulk, casting them in darkness. But Manuel didn't falter so Miguel had no choice but to follow.

***