The Fila Epiphany

by J. J. Green

  “I’ll do my best. I want to try to put things right.”

  As she left Garwin’s cabin, Cariad reflected that there might be some redemption for the man yet, though he would never be the same again.

  Now she had to speak to Rene, who was the only Woken on Montfort’s list of people with suspicious lesions. Cariad dreaded the prospect. Though they hadn’t worked closely while preparing for the Nova Fortuna Project, Rene was a friend. Cariad could hardly imagine the possibility, but she would be devastated if it turned out that her friend was a Natural Movement saboteur.

  Not far along the corridor she met Aubriot, who had apparently come to find her. He’d taken some time to recover once the Guardians had brought him out of sedation. The drug the Guardians had given him had returned him to the state of weakness he’d experienced after his revival.

  Cariad inwardly groaned. Aubriot was the last person she wanted to see right then.

  As he marched toward her he seemed to have regained all his former strength and drive. He strode forward, head slightly bent downward, his gaze fixed menacingly on her. Yet this time Cariad was not to be intimidated. Despite his overwhelming personality, Aubriot held no true power in the colony. She doubted that Osias would be awed by him and the rest of the Gens wouldn’t care who he was. He might try to exert control over the Woken again but they were no longer running the show.

  She didn’t even give him a chance to speak.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  Aubriot halted in surprise.

  “Don’t forget that I’m not your employee any longer,” Cariad continued, walking forward, “and I’m not at your beck and call.” She pushed a fingertip into his broad, well-muscled chest. “What’s more, I think you would be wise to remember that while you might have been someone once, we’re a long way from Earth now. Here, you’re just another Woken, only you don’t have any skills that are useful to the colony. The ability to shout and boss people around don’t count. Do I make myself clear?”

  Aubriot didn’t answer. His mouth was hanging open.

  “Good,” Cariad said. She stalked past him, leaving him speechless.

  Chapter Twelve

  Hunger had become a problem much sooner than Ethan had guessed it would. By the time his fourth day without food arrived, weakness and fatigue were plaguing him.

  As usual, he’d walked all through the night. Since losing the flitter, he hadn’t seen any sign of sluglimpets or other nocturnal predators, but he’d nevertheless stuck to his plan of keeping moving during darkness. But by the time the sun had begun to rise that morning, he’d been barely able to stay upright. As soon as he could see its glow on the horizon, he allowed his trembling leg muscles to give way and he collapsed where he stood, lacking the energy to move any farther.

  He lay on his stomach, his head turned to the side. The ever-present river surged past a few meters away. On the second day, the spindly, arch-rooted plants had become interspersed with shorter vegetation that had jagged, spreading leaves and a few other diverse plants. A jagged-leaved plant was growing near Ethan’s head, and now that he was close to it he saw it was infested with tiny creatures about the size of his pinky fingernail. They were nearly the same dun green-brown as the leaves, which was why he hadn’t noticed them before.

  Too exhausted to move, Ethan watched the little animals clambering up and down the plant, cutting off parts of its leaves and carrying them away. He tracked the path of the creatures to a hole in the black, sandy soil. Were they feeding their young or doing something else with the leaf fragments? The organisms seemed familiar.

  Ethan closed his eyes. Even thinking tired him. He needed to sleep. After that, he would have to find food. He had no idea how, but if he didn’t, he guessed he wouldn’t be able to walk through the night again. And not moving at night could mean his death. If it didn’t, he would eventually die of hunger anyway if he couldn’t make it back to the settlement.

  Summoning his fragile strength to lift his head and take in his surroundings, he saw a patch of open ground that was covered in a blanket of the short rubbery vegetation that grew at the settlement. He crawled across to it and, pulling off his weapon, he lay down on his side.

  ***

  Hunger woke him. After losing the flitter, his stomach had griped with pangs for about a day but then the pain had gone away. His digestive system had seemed to accept it wasn’t going to receive any food for a while. But this time after a sleep that, judging from the sun’s position, had lasted into the afternoon, horrible cramps were wracking him.

  Ethan sat up. The weather had luckily remained dry all the time he’d been traveling on foot. However, though the temperature didn’t seem to have dropped, he was trembling with cold. He thought of the warm jacket he’d brought along on his expedition, now lying sodden underwater somewhere, courtesy of whatever had taken his flitter—perhaps the thread creatures. He also thought of the packets of dried food that were now ruined by the river water.

  His recorder hung loosely on his chest. He hadn’t made a recording or a vid since he’d begun his arduous attempt to return to the settlement. Perhaps now would be a good time to make a log of his thoughts. The way things were looking, it was doubtful he would even make it as far as the mountains. He would keep trying to return to the settlement until the end of his strength, but the reality of his situation was clear.

  Ethan lifted the device to his lips and turned it on but when he began to speak, his voice cracked. The problem wasn’t only that he hadn’t said anything for three days, he was also parched. He stood and walked unsteadily toward the river. The mountains blocked the sky to his left, but they didn’t seem much closer than they had been the previous day. Ethan guessed he probably hadn’t walked far overnight due to his weakened state.

  After removing his shirt, he flung it toward the river while holding onto one sleeve, using the method he’d developed to collect water while remaining safely out of reach of the thread organisms. His technique had improved over the days so that he didn’t end up taking in sand too, which always made him nauseated. But this time weakness made him clumsy. It took him over half an hour to slake his thirst and his mouth was painfully gritty afterward. His lips were also chapped and sore from sucking on the material with its sandy coating.

  Ethan lumbered back to the patch of ground where he’d slept and slumped down. He decided that in a while, he would try to find something to eat. Maybe he could nibble a leaf and wait a while to see if it had any ill effects. Or perhaps he could try to eat the creatures he’d noticed earlier. On board the Nova Fortuna, insects had been on the ship’s menu. Ethan hadn’t liked them much and he hadn’t missed them since living planetside, but if he had to eat the Concordian equivalent to survive, that’s what he would do.

  He turned on the recorder. He explained what had happened to the flitter and what he’d been doing ever since. “I haven’t kept up to date with making vids of everything here. Sorry about that. This is what’s around me now.” He lifted the recorder and turned it three hundred and sixty degrees before bringing it down again. “I haven’t seen any sluglimpets or other large animals, though it could be that the wildlife is avoiding me. Nothing’s followed me as far as I know, and I haven’t been attacked while I slept during the daytime, which was a big concern.

  “It’s possible that sluglimpets don’t inhabit this region. Maybe it would be a better place for a settlement if that’s the case. I don’t know. That’s for the xenobiologists who come after me to decide. But if it is, I hope I can make it back so I can tell you all about it. That isn’t looking likely at the moment but I’m going to try.”

  Ethan paused. If he was going to die in his attempt to get back, there were final messages that he wanted to leave for certain people, things he’d left unsaid because the timing hadn’t been right. His body might be found someday and though he would be only bones the recorder could remain intact for decades. He wasn’t at his last extremity yet, however. The messages could wait until
his final hours.

  “I have found some other life forms. I’ll show you them.” He walked to the clump of vegetation where he’d spotted the small creatures and recorded a vid of them cutting off pieces of leaf and carrying them away. “They don’t look very tasty, do they? But I might try some soon. I’m pretty hungry now. It’s slowing me down, and I’m probably not being as observant of what’s here as I could be. I might have passed other forms of wildlife and not noticed them, especially as I’m doing all my traveling by night.”

  He returned to his resting spot and sat down, wondering what to record next. He said, “I’m not sure what’s going to happen now. I have weeks of traveling ahead of me. I have to get over the mountains for one thing. It’s very cold up there, and the local animals could be dangerous. If I manage that, I’ll still be hundreds of kilometers from the settlement and to be honest I don’t know how to find it.” He paused again as an idea occurred to him. “Scratch that. I do know. If I head east until I reach the coast, I can follow it north to the remains of the cave settlement, and then I know the way to the settlement from there. Maybe someone will even come out that way and I’ll see them. Yes. That’s what I’ll do.”

  Despite his famished, exhausted state, optimism surged in Ethan. He wouldn’t have to wander in the wilderness, hoping to one day stumble upon the single tiny spot of human civilization on the entire continent. His new route would be much longer than traveling across country, but he wouldn’t become lost. It was a sure way back. If he could only survive long enough, he would definitely arrive home one day.

  “Signing off now,” he said. “It’s the tenth day of the fourth month, year one, Concordian Calendar.”

  No matter how certain his route, he would never reach the settlement unless he found some kind of food to sustain him along the way. Of course, he could eat something so poisonous it killed him immediately, but that was simply a risk he had to take.

  He decided to try the little creatures first. They would be more of a complete food than the plants, as he understood it. He got up and returned to the infested clump. The tiny organisms were just as busy as ever. Ethan picked one up between his finger and thumb and, not allowing himself the opportunity to be squeamish, popped it into his mouth.

  The animal squidged between his teeth, releasing a powerfully bitter liquid. Ethan heaved and dropped to his knees. He spat out the remains in his mouth. His mouth flooded with saliva and his stomach forced its way up his throat, expelling the sandy water he’d drunk earlier.

  After his stomach had emptied itself, Ethan continued to retch. Finally, his energy utterly spent, he collapsed on his back. Gazing up at the late-afternoon sky, he said, “I guess not those then.” He chuckled weakly at his own joke.

  He turned onto his hands and knees and spat to one side, trying to rid his mouth of the over-powering bitterness, which was now mixed with the taste of his own bile. It seemed so unfair that now he’d figured out a way to go home, this obstacle of lack of food should stand in his way. There had to be something he could eat. All he needed was something that provided sufficient calories and wasn’t poisonous enough to kill him before he reached the end of his journey.

  Surely there had to be something.

  He watched the little disgusting-tasting creatures carry on their leaf-harvesting task. He didn’t want to try the leaves. They probably supplied their pests’ flavoring.

  Then Ethan remembered something. He knew why the animals had seemed familiar. He’d seen a vid of similar Earth insects that also cut out pieces of leaves. He recalled they did something odd with them. He tried to recall what it was. In a moment, he had it. The Earth insects had grown a fungus on the chewed-up remains of the leaves.

  Ethan had eaten plenty of types of fungus aboard ship. If the animals weren’t edible, maybe they grew a fungus that was.

  He followed the trail to the hole he’d seen earlier. The creatures were leaving and entering it at a rate of several per second. Ethan also remembered that Earth insects often bit or stung in defense. Yet the creature he’d tried to eat hadn’t hurt him. He hoped the rest of them were the same.

  He pushed his hand into the soil around the hole and scooped it out. The texture was loose and easy to penetrate. Immediately, the creatures went crazy. They began running around as if trying to find the cause of the disaster. Several ran up Ethan’s arm. He brushed them away and continued to dig. Another two handfuls of soil later, he hit what he’d been hoping to find. A mass of soft, pale material that seemed to be the Concordian equivalent of a type of fungus. It was thick with wriggling larvae.

  Ethan’s stomach turned and threatened to resume retching but he swallowed his saliva and clenched his teeth. He had to eat. If the fungus was edible, he would eat it. It didn’t matter if it was disgusting. After brushing away as many of the larvae as he could, and ignoring the creatures that were now running all over him—thankfully not actually hurting him—Ethan took a small bite of the spongy material.

  It had little taste, and though it broke into weirdly textured fragments in his mouth, it didn’t immediately make Ethan vomit. None of this meant that the fungus wouldn’t kill him, either right away or eventually, of course.

  He ate a little more. He would wait a while to test its effects. In truth, he didn’t think his stomach could have tolerated any more of even the most wholesome food right then. But if the fungus turned out to be sustaining, he would have to eat more before nightfall. He had another long walk ahead and plenty more after that.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Cariad had to wait half an hour for Osias to answer her comm. She’d hooked her personal interface to the Mistral’s system with Captain Addleson’s permission and ensconced herself in an empty cabin for privacy.

  The new Leader was so popular, he was in need of a secretary. When he could finally speak to her, she told him of the breakthrough with Garwin. “He was with Twyla day by day for a couple of decades. And this was during the time that no one knew about the Natural Movement infiltration except its members, so Twyla might not have been very guarded about what she said or did. Garwin already told me something she said that would have clearly implicated her if she’d said the same today. I’m hoping that with time he’ll be able to recall more, perhaps some things that will give us clues on how to track these people down.”

  “That is good news,” Osias replied. “Thanks for letting me know. What’s your next step?”

  “Next, I have to interview the other suspects. I’m heading to the Nova Fortuna, then I’ll be coming planetside. I’ll need a room to work in at your residence, if your offer still stands.”

  “Yes, of course. You’re very welcome. Like I said, I want to encourage more Woken to spend time here.”

  “Well, I don’t think I’m going to be very popular when I begin bringing Gens in for questioning, but I appreciate your help.”

  Cariad said goodbye to the Leader and made a mental note to pack a bag to take with her when she went to the surface. The interview process would probably take several days. After closing her comm to Osias, she contacted Addleson to ask if she could take a shuttle to the Nova Fortuna.

  “What?” the captain replied. “You’re leaving us so soon? You only just arrived. I was hoping to catch up on gossip.”

  “I am. Sorry. Lots to do. While I’m gone, Garwin might ask to speak to me. If he does, could you pass on the message right away?”

  “Sure. If you go to the shuttle bay, I’ll make sure a shuttle’s ready for you when you arrive.”

  “Thanks.”

  Cariad sped through the ship’s corridors. She was pleased she was finally gaining some traction in the Natural Movement investigation. If there were any more saboteurs she desperately wanted to catch them before they struck again. She was also pleased to have a distraction that would help prevent her from worrying about Ethan.

  Ever since he’d left, she’d been checking his flitter’s tracking signal, which global satellites launched from the Nova Fortuna not lon
g after Arrival were picking up. Recently, whenever she checked the signal, the flitter remained in the same spot. She couldn’t understand why Ethan would choose to spend time in one area when his intention had been to explore the continent.

  She couldn’t help wondering if he was in some kind of trouble. The flitter might have broken down, though it was unlikely. In that case, he wouldn’t be able to return to the settlement. Trying to travel alone across the country would be a death sentence. Carrying enough food to sustain himself would be impossible so he would be forced to rely on finding edible plants or animals in the wild, but that would be the least of his problems. If the existence of the sluglimpets was anything to go by, Concordia was probably host to all kinds of nasty predators.

  Cariad didn’t know how to react to the unmoving flitter signal. If Ethan wasn’t having problems, it would be ridiculous to try to save him. On the other hand, if he did need help, would Osias agree to risking another life and another flitter on a rescue mission? She wasn’t sure he would. And Ethan himself had said he didn’t want anyone to come after him if he got into difficulties.

  It was too soon to make a decision about what to do, Cariad concluded as she reached the Mistral’s shuttle bay. She would just have to continue to check the signal and hope that it moved.

  ***

  “Hi Cariad,” Rene said. “I haven’t seen you in ages. What have you been up to?”

  Cariad had gone directly to the soil lab when she arrived aboard the colony ship, but now that she’d arrived, she wasn’t sure how to ask her friend about the lesion that Dr. Montfort had discovered on her. “Hi, Rene. Umm… Could I speak to you in private?”

  “Ooooh, sounds serious,” Rene replied. “How about we go outside?”