The Last Cuentista: Chapters 17–23

by Donna Barba Higuera
After Earth is destroyed by a comet, twelve-year-old Petra Peña wakes up on a new planet and discovers she is the only one who remembers Earth. She must use her stories and her wits to save humanity's legacy.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–16, Chapters 17–23, Chapters 24–30
40 words 72 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. sustenance
    a source of food or nourishment
    “I can understand your fascination in our sustenance production, considering your background in botany,” he says. “Brilliant, really. Vegetable, protein, and yeast. An indefinite supply of food.”
  2. cultivate
    prepare for crops
    I want to tell him the seeds for those plants were meant to be cultivated on Sagan.
  3. pristine
    immaculately clean and unused
    In a mirror image above, at least forty people dangle from the ceiling by harnesses, squeegeeing off the already pristine dome ceiling.
  4. maintenance
    activity involved in keeping something in good working order
    The ship was set to be self-guided and able to go for centuries without maintenance.
  5. straggler
    someone who strays or falls behind
    But still, even here, there are some stragglers. Like the teachers at my school who huddled on the playground during recess to chat over coffee. Here, they linger over bioloaf.
  6. skulk
    move stealthily
    Nyla shoos Voxy off, and he slumps his shoulders, skulking away.
  7. mundane
    found in the ordinary course of events
    Here in the hold, everyone in the Collective is just as busy with mundane chores as they are above.
  8. foliage
    the collective amount of leaves of one or more plants
    “We need to remove some of the native species. The Collective believes an airborne herbicide can kill foliage, without risking physical contact with dangerous flora.”
  9. sterile
    free of pathological microorganisms
    I guess some part of me thought they’d land, but never leave the safety of their sterile world.
  10. resistant
    relating to or conferring immunity (to disease or infection)
    “Creating an airborne herbicide isn’t a problem,” I say, telling her the truth. “It’s easy enough to do in the lab back on the ship,” I say. “I will collect any plant specimens that might be resistant. For the Collective,” I add.
  11. admonish
    scold or reprimand; take to task
    “Oh my,” he squeals. But I’m ninety-nine percent sure he has no idea what luciferin is.
    “Crick,” Nyla admonishes.
  12. luminescent
    emitting light not caused by heat
    It’s so close, I now see tiny luminescent fins like a butterfly dimming to a pale lavender the closer it flutters to the surface.
  13. frond
    compound leaf of a fern or palm or cycad
    The water butterfly nibbles on the surface of an aquatic fern frond.
  14. loll
    hang loosely or laxly
    He closes his eyes and his head lolls to one side.
  15. gurney
    a metal stretcher with wheels
    Within moments, the airlock seals and medics in beefed-up envirosuits and masks come in with a gurney.
  16. reap
    get or derive
    “None of our work or service matters if we are not alive to reap the benefits—”
  17. prawn
    shrimp-like crustacean often used as food
    Even from a distance, I can see he’s dwarfed by the largest ghost shrimp I’ve seen so far, approaching next to him. I decide he’s the Prawn.
  18. camaraderie
    the quality of affording easy familiarity and sociability
    The words in the ceiling seem to blink faster. Unity. Camaraderie.
  19. welt
    a raised mark on the skin
    She cried out as the tarantulas and scorpions and wasps stung her body. She crammed the lid back on the ceramic jar and rode home, welts and hives covering her body, the closed bug jar in her sack.
  20. faze
    disturb the composure of
    A tarantula doesn’t faze him, but “atrocious bugs”?
  21. meager
    deficient in amount or quality or extent
    “The next morning,” I continue, “the old woman went to the kitchen to boil water to cook nopales, hoping the meager cactus would be enough for the long journey to the cave. But when she stepped onto the kitchen floor...she let out a yelp.”
  22. calibrate
    make fine adjustments for optimal measuring
    I sneak to what was once the teen stasis room and find a metal calibration tool from the drawer below the ship’s atmospheric monitor, still glowing purple.
  23. jimmy
    move or force, especially in an effort to get something open
    I pull out the calibration tool and jimmy it under the lower edge of the cover.
  24. synthesis
    the process of producing a chemical compound
    I used to know any chemical equation or macromolecular synthesis without hesitation.
  25. eradicate
    destroy completely, as if down to the roots
    “It’s highly toxic. I gathered it so we’d know how to eradicate it, for the Collective.”
  26. scuttle
    move about or proceed hurriedly
    He scuttles into a hole at its base.
  27. beckon
    signal with the hands or nod
    He beckons me with his hand and jumps up, scurrying toward the door just like the white rabbit. This time, I follow without hesitation.
  28. impose
    inflict something unpleasant
    My parents and the original Monitors (except for Ben) were imposing En Cognito programs on me for which I had no interest.
  29. intersperse
    place between or among
    Interspersed with plundered foil bags that once contained frozen seeds, personal belonging bags hang from metal brackets like a file cabinet.
  30. plunder
    steal goods; take as spoils
    Interspersed with plundered foil bags that once contained frozen seeds, personal belonging bags hang from metal brackets like a file cabinet.
  31. tarnish
    make or become dirty or dull, as by exposure to air
    I wrap my hand around it and pull out my pendant, now tarnished black.
  32. succulent
    plant adapted to arid conditions with water-storing tissues
    “We aren't eating the cookies you hid behind your succulents, Mom." Mom stared at her succulents on the kitchen counter.
  33. impart
    transmit, as knowledge or a skill
    “But for all to possess that knowledge is dangerous. For now, for the Collective to be successful, we must control that knowledge, and only impart it to a few. And those few must be conditioned to serve implicitly, and absolutely, like the Zetas.”
  34. implicitly
    without doubting or questioning
    “But for all to possess that knowledge is dangerous. For now, for the Collective to be successful, we must control that knowledge, and only impart it to a few. And those few must be conditioned to serve implicitly, and absolutely, like the Zetas.”
  35. optimal
    most desirable possible under a restriction
    “The optimal habitable zone is very specific. We are nearly ready with a defoliant.”
  36. pulmonary
    relating to or affecting the lungs
    “Well, I will ensure the Collective has nanomeds to keep their bodies functioning, so they can breathe in your clean air, which is of course irrelevant without a healthy pulmonary system.”
  37. prospective
    of or concerned with or related to the future
    “I’m to take you all to a prospective settlement site to test its safety. We are not to mention it in front of anyone yet, to manage their hopes. But if we succeed it will be a great success for the Collective.”
  38. centrifuge
    an apparatus that separates particles from a suspension
    I place one sample in an empty centrifuge so I can analyze the particulate.
  39. obliterate
    do away with completely, without leaving a trace
    Sure enough, there’s plenty dichlorophenoxyacetic acid as well as trichlorophenoxyacetic acid stocked in the lab. Enough to obliterate every last plant and animal on Sagan. But the chemicals in these Earth defoliants killed most fish and mammals too, as well as humans.
  40. derivative
    a compound obtained from another compound
    Instead of using something that might harm us, I mix a concoction of a surfactant, NaCl, and a chemical derivative of acetic acid—aka Dawn dish soap, salt, and vinegar.
Created on Mon Aug 22 10:22:44 EDT 2022 (updated Fri Sep 23 12:38:04 EDT 2022)

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