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harvesting. Do you?"
    She nodded and pointed to a building across
the square that looked just like all the other buildings in the
village. "Did you sign up yet? You have to sign up before anyone
else if you want to harvest the apples in that orchard."
    I gave Alicia her cat, fighting excitement.
Could I harvest them? If so, I could protect my hiding place and
look like I had a legitimate job at the same time. It was almost
too good to be true. "I forgot. Guess I should go now and sign up."
I sauntered across the park to the building she'd indicated, moving
casually so she wouldn't be suspicious. But it was hard, I wanted
to run.
    The inside of the building resembled any
government facility everywhere. Touch-screens everywhere, bulletin
boards with papers pinned to them and a couple of library tables
and chairs. I'd dealt with the government enough during my graduate
days to find my way around with no trouble so soon I was signed up
to single-handedly harvest all the apples and cherries in the
orchard near New Rochelle. Thank goodness no one had already
claimed them.
    When I left, my name was on one more official
Destiny list, just as if I was a genuine colonist and I could be
fairly sure that my hiding place was safe since I was the only
person harvesting anything in that particular area. I'd held my
breath while flashing the comunit tattoo across the screen because
I used my real name but Elle Olmstead still raised no red flags in
the Destiny's database.
    When I came back outside, Alicia and her cat
were gone and the square was deserted. Deciding I'd accomplished
enough for the moment I took a shower in the Laundromat bathroom as
I waited for my clothes to get clean. As I dried myself, I took a
long look at my reflection in the tiny mirror above the sink and
did some serious thinking.
    I'd gotten on the Destiny because I resembled
a family of redheads but now that I was on board that resemblance
could work against me. What if someone asked the family about me
and they said they had no such daughter? What if I happened to be
in the same place as that family and they denounced me? What
then?
    So when I was dry and dressed I headed to the
grocery store and filled a bag with more than groceries. I carried
everything back to the cherry bushes. Digging in the bag, I pulled
out the mirror and scissors from the grocery store personal
products aisle. Then I cut my hair.
    When I was done, I combed brown dye from that
same store through what hair was left. There was nothing I could do
about the curls and I didn't dare dye my hair too dark because my
few acquaintances already knew me as a redhead. But when I looked
in that mirror once more, the red in my hair was muted. I wasn't a
carrot top. I'd no longer be taken as a member of that family. I
sighed in relief. I had a place to live, my name didn't send up red
flags when I used my comunit and I was now myself instead of a
member of a family that could out me.
    I decided it was time to find out about this
new home of mine that was whizzing through space at frightening
speed. The Destiny had a full library accessible to anyone with a
comunit, though some subjects were restricted to crew members with
special access codes. I didn't care about those parts, I wanted to
learn about every day life. So I leaned against a tree trunk and
took a crash course on how to be a colonist. Among other things, I
learned the proper process for harvesting apples and cherries. I
vowed to do it right, to not arouse suspicion.
    Using my new-found information, a few days
later I went to the nondescript building in New Rochelle that I now
knew was the harvesting center and picked up a cart and tractor. A
half hour later, the wagon was full of cherries and apples but one
of the first things I'd learned as a child was not to show off my
abilities so I waited until evening to bring the full wagon back to
the center. I spent the intervening time checking out the trees and
bushes. They were growing nicely and would