by John Gordon
from your mentioning clay. The red clay is a very distinct section of the area. A little further on you'll actually come to a river, probably just a trickle at this time of year; but if you come to a place where you can't ford it, travel to your left. Don't go right. There is a deep ravine and a drop that stretches for many miles. You won't be able to get across."
I reached over and touched Martin's hand. "What does happen if we're injured, or killed, on this planet of yours."
"It's not my planet; and I don't know. It's got to be different for each person. We don't die, but you can't keep on living where your body's been destroyed. It means you would have to be somewhere else."
"I mean... here. What happens here if I'm killed there? Am I still alive here?"
Martin shrugged. "Something will happen. There will be something different. I don't know what. Resnik doesn't know either. He isn't that accomplished a teacher. There are teachers, masters that know these things. So he has said. Also... each of us has an inner sense of where we are."
"So if someone is miserable they could be in some miserable world. Could they help themselves if they could get to a better place, changing their inner world instead of the outer?"
"Ed. We don't have time for philosophy. We've got to get back. Pay attention now." Martin outlined the trail that led to their pick up point. "This is a safe point. The only unguarded entrance is through this hillside cave. Then we'll be in a place where Resnik can come with immunity, sort of like a foreign embassy in our country. Once in that zone we can't be bothered by the Bracks. It's part tradition and part agreement. Complicated, but it works for them."
"So he is in their world?"
"Only because of this safe zone on each of their planets. Earth has such a zone as well. Resnik can't come where we are on Landine, only this area. The Brack's won't allow anyone except their own to travel outside the zones. We are an unwanted exception to their rules."
When Martin left, I lay in my bed, nervously, wondering if sleep would ever again be a normal occurrence.
A Different Elise
I woke up when she slipped from the hammock. Her nude body was outlined against the transparent walls of the tank. I stretched out my arm and touched the softness of her hip with my fingers.
"You take your time waking up, I tried everything short of rolling you out of the net." She ran her hands through my hair. "We'd better move. I have an odd feeling about today. The Bracks have to be on to us. We haven't traveled far and they must have the equipment to locate us."
Her odd feeling was satisfied at noon. The Bracks attacked. It was brief and effective. A single blast rocked the half-track; it shuddered, spinning to a stop.
Dan ran from the front, his head bleeding. "Solid artillery. First one and it was right on the money. Got to get out of this can, it's a death trap."
He pulled a pack from an overhead bin and I did the same. Elise was next to me, her pack already strapped on. Within seconds we were out of the tank and crouched behind a rock shelf. Another shell whined down. It flattened some scrub trees along the trail. The barrage went on for another minute, with blasts spaced methodically to the North. Then it stopped.
Mela was the first to brave the open space to the tank. She strode out and jerked the engine door open. Thick, blue smoke erupted from it.
"It's gone," was her only comment. She shook her head, pulled on her back-pack and started walking with long strides down a riverbed trail.
Food was the only thing we salvaged from the tank. We parceled it into the packs and caught up with Mela.
Going East all day, avoiding open spaces, we kept watching the sky. Shelling on that trajectory must have come from a space station or a ship. The Bracks knew we were here. They would find the tank and know that only these low hills and ravines hid their prey. There would be a landing party, probably by sail shuttle.
I fingered my holstered weapon, my mind jumping to crazy images of Earth. There I was a sedate worker in a comfortable office. I struggled to make sense of the conflicting pictures. Most of my inner battle centered around Elise.
If this world was a dream, which I concluded it could be from the scant memories I had of living in it, then the factor that drew me into it so totally was Elise. My emotions for her had somehow locked me here. The thinking made sense, but I discovered for the first time in my memory that feelings dominated me, not calm mental balance.
With a ferocious joy my hand moved to the blaster strapped to my side. I would use it if he had to. I knew how and was a very good fighter. But a good fighter from where? When did I last fight anyone?
Elise, as if aware of my inner turmoil, pulled me aside. She slid my hand beneath the tight sheath she wore and placed it on her breast. My breath drew in as I felt the taut nipple and the warm pulse of her heart.
"I want you Ed. I want you all the time now. I don't understand any of this except that I have to have you. You feel the same don't you?"
I nodded. If this was a dream, I didn't want it to end.
The clay was hard on us. Only Mala seemed immune to the hot and difficult terrain. I watched the mountains in the distance as a depressing reference. Our position seemed solidly set, immovable, regardless how far we walked. And we all watched over our shoulders, looking back for the inevitable shuttle kites, which would float down to search us out.
The kites didn't come that day. At night everyone was exhausted and it was easy to sleep. I fell into dreamland gratefully, my hand resting on Elise's soft thigh.
In A Tight Place
In the Med Centers lab, I flicked off my terminal and looked out the window. The morning sunshine peeked through the clouds onto the rich, green lawn with an ethereal brilliance. The terracotta St. Francis fed three birds with its open hand, the sparrows perching on Francis's left arm, pecking at the seeds that filled grooves there. Francis benignly looked over students that chattered and hurried to their classes.
I glanced over my computer at Elise Termins. She was wearing dark clothes and her hair was done up in an unattractive bun. From the setup she was at an angle and could easily see me but she refused to even glance at me. I finally cornered her in the small supply room.
"Elise. How about lunch with me?"
"I don't want to Ed. Everything's getting out of hand." She tried to keep from looking at me, but our eyes met and I could feel the spark of attraction. I was surprised by the strength of the feelings that passed between us. It was like last nights dream, only more powerful.
She looked down at the printer cartridge in her hand. "I didn't expect anything like this to happen. We can't control what's going on anymore. It was fun at first; but now... I just don't know. I'm changing, and I don't like what it's doing to me."
"Ed, freedom of choice is the first rule of loving someone. Here I have that freedom; but in my dreams, in the world of Landine, being out in that desert with you, I feel that freedom slipping away from me." She turned away, back to working on the shelves. "Go away Ed. I don't want to talk with you now, maybe never."
I shuffled back to my desk, remotely considering the possibility that I was insane, totally, completely insane. I looked out at the huge Oak tree, a squirrel hopped along the largest branch. A blue jay settled at the very end and chattered at the squirrel.
The crack of thunder jolted me. I looked around, expecting to see strange kite like vehicles settling nearby, and Bracks attacking with energy weapons. Instead rain poured from the clouds and stuttered across the computer room windows.
With a sigh of relief I leaned back and closed my eyes, wanting to make sense of my inner life.
Suddenly I was there. Landine! And the kite shuttles were landing.
"Stay very quiet. They may miss us," Dan whispered.
We huddled behind a rocky outgrowth. It was like a tall fold in a woman's skirt that effectively hid us from the Brack's heat seekers. A large kite shaped
craft drifted past our position. I could see faces in the long rows of windows. Gun emplacements were manned on the sides and at the rear.
"We don't have a chance," Mela whispered. "Where's Elise?"
Dan pointed at the edge of the hill. "Ahead somewhere. She was on the trail."
We watched what seemed to be the last of the kites drift from view. I scurried along a rocky path that led to where Elise had disappeared. Around the bend I found an empty shelf. The rocks along the edge were small and brown. They glinted in the hot sun and at the cliff side the line of rocks was broken. Someone had fallen.
It was a 100 foot drop and there was no sign of Elise. A shadow passed over me. Quickly I pressed myself against the rock wall. The Brack flyer had a net hanging from his belt and was searching ahead with a device on his helmet. I watched the flyer turn and disappear behind the hill. They had Elise.
Behind me I glimpsed Dan and Mela suspended in nets. Above them six flyers floated up with the struggling couple.
In desperation, looking for any chance, I spotted something. Right overhead was a shadow under a small ledge. My fingers were like vices as I searched out small crevices to grasp, and my feet found purchase on the pebbly face of the cliff, the rattle of stones could attract attention. I carefully placed my hands and feet and still with crazy speed, like a scuttling rock crab, I reached the shadow. It was what I had hoped, a