Flash Fiction Friday: The Lesser of Two

We are back in Little Pearlington in the Icarus Universe today. "The Lesser of Two" is set the evening before "An Awkward Tea Party."

It is not necessary to have read any of the other stories in the universe to understand this one.

The Lesser of Two
​

“You really think this is a good idea?” Naddie asked her mother.

“Nope.” Evie didn’t pause in her cleaning. They’d just finished dinner, and the two of them had waved the others outside while they cleared the table.

“Good. I’d be concerned if you did,” came Naddie’s terse reply. She scraped the few scraps left behind into the slop bucket that’d be taken out to the hogs come morning.

“I just don’t see what you and Huxley think’ll come of this,” she continued. “Asa’s.” Naddie floundered for what she wanted to say. “Asa’s Asa. She’s reticent and spikey, and she can’t read people worth much. Pound will eat her alive.”

“She’s a grown woman, Naddie,” Evie chided. She finished with the first few dishes and started putting them away as she dried them. “Asa’s not a people person, no, but she can handle herself.”

Nadine gathered up the last few dishes and took them to the counter, setting them down with a clatter. “Taking care of herself isn’t what I’m worried about, Mama.” She took the first dish off the top of the stack and started washing it.

“Huxley, for all his flaws, is a straightforward man,” Nadine continued as she worked. “Most folks in Little Pearlington are. Asa hasn’t had to deal with slick talkers like Pound in twenty years! Even here, that tendency of hers to see stuff as literal first has caused her some problems. Almost no one but you and me can tell when she’s joking, and she might as well flip a coin half the time when she’s trying to tell whether someone’s fooling or not.”

Naddie looked her mother in the eye as she passed her the plate to dry. “You and Huxley really want her to turn spy? What do you think Pound will do to her if he suspects she’s slipping you information?”

Evie sighed and shook her head. “You’re letting your emotions cloud your judgement,” she admonished. “I know you’re protective of Asa. I am too, but you have to see this is the lesser of two evils.”

“You're trading our main chemist for ammo!”

“We’re trying to prevent a soft siege!”

Mother and daughter stared at one another, one fuming and the other defensive. Evie broke eye contact first, glancing toward either door.

“And keep your voice down,” she hissed. “The last thing we need is word getting out about this. I only told you because I need you to back us up when we pose it to her tomorrow.”

“And if I refuse?”

“We’ll approach her anyway,” Evie said. Her jaw clenched and unclenched. “They’re gonna take her either way, baby doll. You know how many genuine scientists with her kind of experience there still are on the surface?”

“Who knows?” Naddie countered, throwing her hands in the air. “It’s not like news travels the way it used to.”

“Exactly!” Evie nudged Naddie to continue washing, and she turned to put away the one she’d finished drying. “Without the connection we used to have, Asa may as well be the only one left, and you’re her only student in all these years. Pound’s made it clear he wants her. You think he’s really going to drop it if we say no?”

Nadine frowned down at the pot she was scrubbing. She bunched up the course rag and scrubbed harder, taking her frustration out on the cookware.

“No, he won’t,” she admitted finally.

“This way,” Evie said, voice soft and understanding though no less firm, “Little Pearlington stays at full strength, and Asa’s treated as a guest. No hurting for food or medicine. No fighting. Even if Asa does mess up and get herself caught, Pound wouldn’t be stupid enough to hurt her because that’d just hurt him.

“It gives us time and inside information we can use to build allies, and hopefully we can get Pound out of our hair for good.”