Page 39 of Uprooted

Elowen

The answer is so obvious. It’s been staring us in the face this entire time.

I should have paid attention the day I noticed the difference in potassium concentration.

It never sat right with me. When Aro took me out of the dome, another piece of the puzzle fell into place.

I can’t believe I didn’t think of this right away.

The look on Andi's holographic face as I explain my hypothesis tells me everything I need to know. I can see her mind working one step ahead of me as I talk her through it. "Go find Dr. Lee," she says. The blue-tinted image of her dissolves before I have a chance to reply.

I'm breathless from the run over and get to the genetics lab just as Dr. Lee double taps the link request from Andi. Her image flickers to life on the huge screen that takes up most of the wall. She looks down at us with a smile, like a beautiful deity who's about to change the course of history.

"What do you know about turgor pressure?" she asks. It takes everything inside me to let him answer.

“It’s the primary mechanism in the pulvinus cells that open and close a flower’s petals according to the sun… or suns,” he says, succinctly answering the question. My excitement bubbles over and I take the chance to interject.

“Right! On Earth, blossoms need to be open during daylight for photosynthesis and to attract pollinators. Here, flowers also open at night so they can move around without the suns burning their roots.” I say, leading Dr. Lee to the same conclusion I came to .

“If we modify the pulvinus’s DNA to keep their ion channels closed and retain the water, the blossom will stay open.

We’ve been working on modifying the root-specific function DNA, and if we put that together with the turgor pressure, we have a viable solution.

Elowen, you did it.” Dr. Lee staggers back with a stunned look on his face.

Tears stream down my face as the realization sets in, and time stands still. We did it.

In a rush, everyone jumps into action. Dr. Lee directs the staff and everything speeds up. I’m numb as people I hardly recognize come up and shake my hand, offering their congratulations. We did it.

At the edge of my elation I have a nagging uneasy feeling. This means I’ll be leaving sooner than I thought.

* * *

Dr. Lee climbs onto a table silencing everyone in the crowded rec room.

He raises his glass. “Everybody, raise your glasses to Elowen. She followed her instincts and saw something everyone else overlooked. Her tenacious pursuit will alter the future of Earth. Her name will be etched in history books forever. To Elowen!” he says.

Everyone’s here to celebrate our breakthrough.

“To Elowen!” they cheer back.

The moment feels surreal. My face is warm from the champagne that seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was likely confiscated from a smuggler. Everyone is so happy from the accomplishment, and part of me is too. The other part of me is not ready to say goodbye.

“Speech!” Bri hollers from the back of the room. Something comes over me and I’m up on the table next to Dr. Lee. No hint of the stage fright that’s plagued me in the past.

“This was a team effort. There’s no ‘I’ in team—”

“BOO!” Bri heckles me, and the room erupts in laughter.

“Okay, okay,” I laugh, holding up a hand.

“Seriously though, we’re all great scientists but we might be the worst diplomats in the entire universe.

Don’t tell the EGA, but had we just stepped out of our Earth-centric perspective and talked with our hosts, we might have buttoned this whole thing up months ago.

But hey, we eventually got there!” I tip my glass back and take a drink, signaling the end of my speech.

What I don’t say is that I’m glad we didn’t figure it out right away.

I’m glad we overlooked the obvious more than once.

It gave me time with Aro, and that probably makes me the most selfish person here.

“Now, let’s get the party started!” Dr. Lee shouts. He climbs down from the table and animatedly talks to one of his team members. I laugh when he sloshes his drink all over himself.

The party kicked off as soon as the samples and findings were sent off to Earth so the scientists there can pick up where we left off. Everyone around me is elated and congratulating each other. I keep a smile plastered on my face, even though inside I’m devastated.

“You are absolutely incredible.” I hear his familiar voice behind me. I turn and Aro is standing there, dressed in all black again, his tunic and perfectly tailored pants. He stands out with everyone else still in their uniform and coveralls.

The fact that he made the effort to get dressed up for the occasion is not lost on me.

“You deserve some of the credit, too,” I tell him.

“No way. This was all you.”

“You need a drink,” I tell him, noticing he is empty-handed.

“Lead the way.”

After endless rounds of toasts, the party slowly dies down. Aro and I have settled comfortably on a couch. I’m tipsy and my face hurts from smiling for so long.

“You’re amazing,” he says. “You’ve said that already,” I say.

“I’ll never stop saying it. I knew it the first time I laid eyes on you,” he says.

“Yes, it is quite impressive that I didn’t even know how to operate a garbage can,” I say, reminding him of our first encounter when we first landed. My words blur together, making me sound more intoxicated than I am.

“That’s not the first time I saw you,” he says.

“It’s not?”

“Nope. I saw you on Earth. I knew right then.”

“That’s right—you were creeping on me from across the room at the treaty reception.” I playfully jab him in the ribs with my elbow.

He grabs my elbow to prevent me from pulling it away and tucks me into his side. Clearly not caring if anyone sees us like this. Maybe it’s the lowered inhibitions or the realization that my time here is coming to an end, but I don’t care if anyone sees us either.

“I couldn’t take my eyes off you. You were so beautiful and nervous. I did not like that man who dared to stand so close to you,” he says quietly next to my ear.

“Really?” I say with a yawn.

“You have no idea. Time for bed. Let’s go,” he says and helps me up.

I look around and note that we are the last ones awake in the rec room.

It’s the first time I’ve ever shut down a party.

I’m usually the first to leave. Tonight, I wanted the party to go on all night.

Because it marks the beginning of the end.

Soon we’ll be packing up our equipment and heading back to Earth to complete the final stages of our work.

In the quiet moment, I think of all the shoulds that have been plaguing me all day. I should say goodbye, but I can’t bring myself to say the words to end whatever it is Aro and I have with each other. I look over at him, but the words refuse to come out. I can’t do it.

“These idiots can’t hold their alcohol,” Aro says as we step over a passed out Tilak. I find a flattened pillow that hadn’t been claimed and tuck it under their head. We pass by a couch where Bri is snuggled up with Tai.

“I did not see that coming.” I point Aro’s attention to our friends, the last two I would have expected to see in such an intimate position.

The floor is littered with knocked-over cups. Maak is lucky enough to have grabbed a cushion from the couch to get comfortable on the ground. Others are propped up to a sitting position against the wall, heads drooping at uncomfortable angles.

Seeing Maak reminds me of the awkward exchange we had the other night when he caught us sneaking back into the muradome.

Maak kept his distance from us all night, choosing to celebrate on the opposite end of wherever we were.

I’m sure Aro noticed, but he never said a word about it.

Now that I think about it, Tai also kept his distance.

We walk hand in hand down the hallway. It doesn’t seem that important to hide now that I’m leaving soon.

Suddenly he stops and lays his palm on a door panel.

I've probably walked past this door a hundred times and never noticed it.

He pulls me inside and the dark supply closet lights up, sensing our movement .

The door slides shut behind me, and my back is against the closed door.

Aro’s forearms cage me in. He leans down and presses his lips against mine.

I kiss him back, pulling him closer to me.

I’ve been wanting to do this all night. His mouth trails down my jaw and throat. Small, punctuated kisses all over.

“I have one more adventure for us,” he says between kisses.

“Aro, please. No more rule breaking. Let’s get through this last part without any trouble.”

“I’m going to take you to see Andi,” he says and a sly smile spreads across his face. Damn, he really knows how to get through to me.

“One more adventure, but after this, it’s by the book,” I tell him firmly. There is something about him that makes me keep stepping out of my comfort zone. It’s empowering and terrifying all at the same time.

“I love your cute little human sayings, even though they don’t make any sense.”