The door creaks, rusted metal groaning in protest as it's shoved aside. Lynn grunts as the hinges give out, collapsing to the ground with a dull thud. Dust flings into the air, glittering in the light of the setting sun. She pants slightly, rapidly sweeping her flashlight across the interior.
"Lights forsake me!" She kicks the side of a half-broken lawnmower. She rifles through her bag, grabbing a stake with a glowing, rust colored light. She slams it into the ground, grumbling, "Just more bloody scrap!"
She turns away, removing the black glass of her helmet to run a hand through her faded green hair. Her plain face and brown eyes were a stark contrast to her hazard suit, bright yellow striping surrounded by spaceport stickers covering her body like logos on a race car.
"No Salt, no gems, no nothing! Just rusted scrap and broken dishes." She pulls out her phone, quickly opening an app that appeared to have a lot of numbers that were all disconcertingly small. "All these houses are so well preserved that maybe I can become a landlord!" She sighs, mumbling, "He's gonna kill me if I'm not able to pay for the converter repair…"
"Lynn"
Lynn's thoughts grind to a halt, freezing at hearing her name on a job. Rue doesn't do that. Rue's all protocol on the field.
"Rue what's-"
"There's a flower, Lynn."
Their thick accent oozed with something fragile beneath the matter-of-fact tone. Why would a flower- It's surprising, maybe, but- She rushes to Rue's location.
Rue sits on a blanket of dead moss, their black and red hazard slips stark in front of the greys and browns of a collapsed and dead greenhouse. Glass glitters on the ground around them, a sparkling pond around the blooming life of an unknown flower painted on their back.
Rue's shoulders are shaking.
Lynn approaches gently, seeing that Rue has pulled away a section of glass and metal, revealing-
Lynn has no idea what she is looking at.
Glass and iron form a shell around it, open to the setting sun and casting it in a golden hue. It's… green. Vibrant dark green leaves branch off of stems, ending in large pinkish-red flowers. It gives off a faint, sweet scent. She thinks she can see thorns on the stems- in her head, she compares it to an Iron Crawler. ...Actually-
"Please tell me that isn't releasing poisonous gas."
Rue gives a small, watery laugh. "It's a rose, Lynn."
Lynn has no idea what that's supposed to be, but Rue spoke the word like it would break if mentioned too roughly. Rue turns her head to Lynn, light reflecting off their helmet like tears.
"It's from Earth, Lynn."
Oh. Oh shit.
"Oh. Oh shit."
She walks over to Rue and sits her clueless ass down next to them. A survivor she could handle- she's done drills- Food, water, and first aid are all in her kit- but this? She has no idea what to do with this. They sit in silence, the shadows growing around them.
Rue chuckles. "Yeah, pretty much." Rue's voice still sounds wet, but they've clearly recovered enough to tease her.
"Lights as my guide, Rue, what do we do?" She points at the rose, shaking her arm for emphasis.
"I-" It took several tries for Rue to start speaking. "My garden, on the ship. I'm not- I'm a biologist. I was a biologist." Rue took a deep, shuddering breath.
Lynn sits in silence.
"It's why I can get them to grow at all- I- my job was to keep them alive. And then I- Well. I worked in a lab. We were making plants that- that could pull pollution out of the ground. That could maybe even clean up Salt."
Lynn can't stop her gasp. Rue doesn't seem to notice.
"We made them pretty. Made them change colors based off of what it was cleaning. If it's beautiful, then rich people will want to plant them to show off- and clean up their lands. They just- just needed to survive doing it. That is- was my job. And- I wanted to know if it could survive Salt."
Rue's voice shakes, desperation leaking into their tone. "You- you can't tell anyone about this. I- nobody can know this next part."
There was only one thing to say. "I promise you, Rue, this goes to my grave."
Rue breathes. "I got samples. Stole them, bribed them, gave promises I couldn't cash. And we tested the flowers. Noted the ones that survived the longest. We worked on them for years. I got desperate. Funding was getting low and we needed to produce a viable product. I- I anointed the seeds."
Lynn recoiled in shock. She shouted, "What did you do! you know what that-"
"It worked Lynn."
Lynn collapsed on the ground. Her mind filled with white noise.
"It could absorb the Salt. It changed colors. And the flowers they… did things. Glowing, static, some were hot to the touch. And they had power in them. Readings indicated that they condensed the power they absorbed somehow. We- I- had no idea what they could really do. It terrified me. But those promises were starting to come knocking. The military wanted results."
Rue shutters. Their breath is ragged. "I told everyone to go home early for the weekend. I needed to be alone to prep samples for transport. I was sealed in a bunker with only my samples- and then- and-"
Rue is shaking. "And then Earth fell."
Lynn can only hear a faint buzz. "…that was…"
"I know how long ago it was, Lynn."
"So… You're…?"
"I had to eat something. I just happened to survive."
Lynn sits.
"The roses were all dead. I killed them. And…" Rue points at the rose in front of them "And yet here one is."
In the silence, Lynn realized she could hear a hum. It sounded like a forgotten Lullaby.
It was coming from the rose.
Lynn's heart is pounding.
"Five years ago, I snuck into a wreckage of a Class-A battleship. The site was so fresh that the engine cores were still leaking radiation. I found an intact Prisma-3 AI unit inside of the ship and am still in possession of it. I am- I am probably the only person on this side of the galaxy that knows how to repair and operate the core that isn't buried 10 miles deep in a Military fortress."
Rue turned to Lynn slowly. "You have a military AI. And you're alive?"
Lynn smiled lifelessly. "Her name's Linda. The core is hidden underneath the reactor."
Rue, despite themself, broke out laughing. "God, we are so fucked!"
They ripped off their helmet, their bright blue eyes glistening with tears as they gasped for air. Lynn always thought the blue and red streaks in their black shaggy hair were synthetic. Now she's not so sure.
Lynn laid back on the ground, ignoring the glass and dirt. "We're so fucking screwed!" She wanted to scream, but only managed a choked sob.
Rue, tears streaking down their face, choked out, "How the hell are we gonna get a rosebush onto a spaceship?"
Lynn broke out laughing, "Lights willing, we'll do it before Linda finds out I told you about her!"
Authors note: I am not entirely happy with this piece, but it was good writing practice and I don't want to edit it anymore. Currently I plan to use Rue and Lynn in a new story, pulling from what I learned writing this.