Seeds of War

by Fisher, Rachel

  Sara followed her gaze and shook her head. “I know that it’s vanity, and that Sean will love me anyway,” she said, her voice thick. “But…I wish he had let me kill the fucker myself.”

  Fi was silent. Obviously Sara would have to process the change in Sean as well. “Now you know for sure though,” she hinted, and Sara frowned in confusion. “You’re the one, Sara. You had to know it for sure, and now you do.” She stood and stretched. The sky was starting to lighten, and it was easier to see in the soft violet glow. “Look, Sara, no matter how much good we do in this new world, it will never be the safe place it was when we were young. Not in our lifetimes anyway. You had to know that if the two of you had children and something happened to you, that he could kill for them…would kill for them.”

  As she said this, Fi slid her hands to her belly, cupping it with her hands.

  “Oh my God, Fi!” Sara leapt up in an icy splash. She shot a glance downstream. “Does Asher know?” Fi nodded, and Sara gave her a big hug

  “I’m sorry that we kept it from you two,” Fi said, feeling true remorse. “We just didn’t want you both to worry too much while we were out there. We knew you’d notice eventually.” Fi’s tone grew rueful as she felt the curve of her stretching torso. She was definitely getting beyond hiding it now.

  “May I?” Sara asked, her eyes wide. Fi nodded and placed Sara’s hand on her belly. “Do you feel kicking?”

  “Sometimes,” Fi smiled.

  “Oh my God!” Sean’s mouth was agape. Asher stood behind him, smiling gently at Fi over Sean’s shoulder. In three strides, Sean was beside her. “What? Are you serious? How long?” The questions cascaded from him in a jumble.

  “About six months, I think,” Fi said.

  Asher joined her. He placed his hand on her belly and leaned down to kiss her. “Growing,” he murmured.

  “They didn’t want to worry us Sean,” Sara explained and chuckled at his expression. “I just found out too, if it makes you feel any better.”

  Sean’s head swung from one to the other as he tried to comprehend it. “I need to sit down.” He plopped to the ground where he stood. Fi laughed and sat down with him, as did the others. The sun was climbing higher now and the violet sky was changing to blue. “This changes everything,” he added.

  “Not really,” Fi replied, leaning back into Asher’s waiting arms. “We have to head back to Eden anyway and I figure I will just deliver there. The timeline should be right.” Asher stroked her hair.

  Sean met his eyes. “Doesn’t this make you insane with worry?”

  Asher made a face. “Of course it does, but what choice do I have?” He smiled indulgently at Fi. “You know as well as I do that there’s no telling her what to do.”

  “Ain’t that that truth,” Sean said. “Well, regardless of Fi’s toughness and our abilities, after today I think we have to get back as quickly as we can.”

  They all agreed and began gathering their things to leave.

  Suddenly, Sara burst out into an unexpected fit of laughter. “I knew it!” she crowed. “I should have guessed.”

  “What?” Sean asked, perplexed. “What’s so funny?”

  “Fi not jumping off the cliff,” Sara poked her in the shoulder. “I knew something was up. No way you would have skipped that. Not the Fi I know.”

  Understanding lit up Sean’s face, and he and Asher burst out laughing as well. Fi pouted for a moment before she joined them. Sara had a point. It was definitely hard to conceal a pregnancy when you had a well-earned reputation for recklessness.

  “Hey, wait a minute,” Sean said. “So you didn’t drink when we were in Lakeland either did you?”

  “Um, no,” she admitted. “Asher kind of took that one for the team.”

  “And it was rough,” Asher added.

  “No wonder you didn’t seem like you had a hangover,” Sean groaned. “Because you didn’t! Man, that is so unfair, you have no idea. And here I just thought you were the best damned first-time drinker ever.”

  Their laughter followed them into the forest as they began retelling the tales of humor and woe from that night. Even though they’d shared all of these stories before, they knew that they would need a little laughter to shorten the long trip home.

  A Declaration

  ------------ Fi -----------

  Fi blew her hair out of her face in boredom and frustration. They had found a small server farm, and Sean and Sara were exploring. Though Fi knew that Sean had found other such locations on his Seeks, she’d never been with him to see it. She’d never truly understood the level of Sean’s passion until now. To her, it was just another roomful of dead equipment, but it was obviously so much more to Sean.

  He and Sara searched every nook and cranny and discussed every connection and wire until Fi thought she’d go insane. It was a struggle, but she forced herself to be patient. She knew that it was part of Sean’s mission to examine this darkened building and its contents, just as it was hers to collect plant samples from the Dead Zones and forests.

  In the end it was Sean’s effervescence that got her. When he bounced up to her with that trademark grin of excitement, the hours of boredom were immediately forgiven.

  “This is a really good one, Fi,” he explained, as Sara gave her a wink over his shoulder. “The power set up is extremely efficient, but the overall load is low.”

  Huh? Was that supposed to mean something to her?

  Sara jumped in. “We should be able to resurrect this one with a single windmill and fuel-cells.”

  “Yes, I want to make sure that we do the best we can to note this location,” Sean added. “This is one that we could work to get back up and running. If we set up a new station nearby, they could protect it.”

  “You know, Sean,” Fi shook her head, “I’ve never understood why you were bothering with server farms on your Seeks. I always thought the point was to recover as much as we could of the information from the boxes. What does it matter if you can power the whole thing, when there’s no way to connect to the Internet again?”

  “Well, there is a way. At least, there’s a way to make a start.” His smile grew and he pointed up toward the ceiling. Fi looked up, but saw only a boring white ceiling. Once again, she was stumped.

  “Satellites, Fi,” Sara said. “The Brain and Forge have been working together on an idea to reconnect pieces of the Internet, using the geostationary satellites that are still up there.”

  “The what?” Asher frowned and Fi smiled, relieved that she wasn’t the only one confused.

  “Geostationary satellites stay in a single orbit above the Earth,” Sean said. “Right now there are tons of them up there and they’re solar powered, so they should be good for a while…maybe a decade. We hope to use the new data transfer protocol the Brain came up with to reconnect small server arrays.”

  “Wow,” Fi murmured as she stared up at the ceiling. “Really?”

  “Really,” Sean grinned. “At least, we think it will work. Small server farms like this one that we can power and then test are going to help tell us if the plan will work.”

  Fi thought about this, catching some of the buzz of Sean’s excitement. What if they could actually have some of the Internet back? When she and Sean used to joke about this in their games of “Would you Rather,” she’d never considered it more than a joke.

  “Well, Sean, if anyone can make that work, it’s you and your geeky friends,” Fi laughed and he swatted at her. Fi shook out her legs, which were half-asleep from sitting cross-legged for the last two hours. She was antsy. “So, do you two have all the information you need here?”

  “Yup.” Sean pulled on his pack. “Let’s go.”

  It was a gorgeous late afternoon as the Seeders left the server farm and headed into the forest. They stopped at a river to rest and drink, and Fi decided to follow it since it was headed in the right direction. With Dead Zones nearly all dry, it was prudent to stick to water when you found it. If you could.

 
The four wound their way along the riverbank. The setting sun bathed the landscape in a hundred variations of warm honey: amber leaves, citrus clouds, ochre soils. It was early October and Indian summer was winding down, but Fi relished this last chance to wear short sleeves. She hummed as they walked and the others chatted. It was nice to be headed home without any specific timeline or goal. The only goal was to find their way home safely, and so far, at least since they had rescued Sara, that had been going well.

  They emerged onto the edge of a Dead Zone and Fi stopped. A quick scan told them that no one was around, but they stuck close to the river anyway. There were some bushes they could use as partial cover, if they had to hide. Sean and Sara chatted about the server farm as she and Asher walked in silence. Fi knew that Asher was enjoying the lovely day as much as she, so she didn’t disturb his reverie.

  A loud buzz zipped past her ear and then disappeared. Some kind of bug, she thought. When the buzz circled back around, she saw a wasp hovering at her elbow and shooed it away gently.

  “Hey, Fi?” Sara’s voice wavered and Fi whirled. A few wasps buzzed around Sara who stood still, afraid to move. The buzzing sound started to grow, like it was drawing breath. It was far too loud to be from just a few wasps. Fi cocked her ear. And it sounds like it’s coming from…the ground? A flutter caught her attention and this time she saw the black and yellow stripes. Oh, shit. In a roar, the hive burst from the ground, an angry, singular killing machine.

  “Yellow jackets!” Fi yelled. “Get in the river. Shoes and gear off!” She felt a sharp pain between her shoulders as one stung her through her shirt. She kicked out of her shoes and ripped off her pack and holster. There were at least five of them crawling on her, and the humming cloud around her was darkening. Two more shots of pain got her moving as she crashed into the icy water with the others.

  The shock of the water was nearly as bad as the wasp stings, but Fi took a deep breath and dove underwater. Two more stabs from the ones still clinging to her underwater were a grim reminder of the relentlessness of yellow jackets. She’d been badly stung once on an ill-conceived camping trip with her father. She poked her head above water for a breath. The buzzing cloud descended and she gulped and dove again.

  After a few minutes of this breathe-and-dive scenario, she saw that the swarm was dissipating, though there were still enough wasps that she didn’t feel safe getting out of the water. She turned and caught Sean’s gaze as he popped up. He nodded toward the bank, but she shook her head and sunk down as low as she could and still see.

  As she kept watch over the wasps, she saw figures appear from the nearby forest. She gasped and ducked down. Truthers. There were two men, two women, and one child. Fi hovered just high enough to see them through the bushes lining the river. One of them pointed and her heart sank. Their gear and weapons were still piled by the riverbank. Fi heard a small gasp and turned to see the others’ were watching as well. The Truthers took a few steps toward their gear, but were stopped almost immediately by the wall of angry wasps that still swarmed in the air. Fi’s heart surged triumphantly. Yeah wasps! She found herself cheering them on. Protect our stuff!

  The Truthers made another half-hearted attempt to get closer to their gear but were rebuffed again and scurried away. As they left Fi heard the child say, “…Seeders” and she pressed her lips together. Why don’t you just yell “It’s them” and start chasing us down, she thought angrily. It was getting darker as the sun slipped below the horizon and Fi felt the shivers start to set in. It was time to get out and get dry. At this point, hypothermia was a bigger worry than the wasps or the Truthers. She motioned to the others and they cautiously emerged.

  The yellow jackets were reacting to the sunset, slipping back underground in an orderly, single-file march. Still, the Seeders tread carefully as they changed. It was growing cooler by the minute.

  “Did you hear the kid call us Seeders?” Sara asked, her voice muffled as she pulled the new shirt over her head.

  “Yeah, I heard them,” Fi said. She stepped into her dry cargos carefully. Balancing on one leg with her growing beach ball of a belly wasn’t easy.

  “Why do they care so much?” Sara said, anger finally making its way into her voice. “Why don’t they just leave us alone? They can do their thing. We can do ours.”

  “I don’t know,” Fi sighed. “I guess it’s because Carter Lawson can’t let it go.”

  By now darkness had set in, and the land was lit only by a slip of moon hovering behind wispy clouds. The Dead Zone had shifted from ochre to pearl, glittering like the surface of the moon. To the east, a march of orderly shadows indicated a neighborhood.

  “I don’t want to cross this Dead Zone with Truthers so close,” Fi said. “Especially since they know that we’re here. I think that the neighborhood may be safer, in terms of cover.”

  They set off for the shadows in silence. All of them knew that being found by the Truthers now also meant facing Lobos. With Fi in her third trimester, a fight had to be avoided. They made their way through the large, sprawling neighborhood, heading east. They were always heading east now, back to Eden, and Fi was grateful. Despite trying to kid herself that she could keep up out there, the changes to her body were finally slowing her down. She was ready to crawl into a safe bed and sleep soundly.

  “The Seeders!” Fi whirled and saw a large group of Truthers at the bottom of the hill, just forty yards away.

  “Run!” Asher yelled.

  Fi’s heart leapt into her throat as they took off with Asher at their back. They didn’t need any other entreaty. A burst of adrenaline coursed through her as she pushed herself, sprinting as hard as she could. God, it was too slow! Her legs wobbled, their strides heavy and loose. She bit her lip and drove harder. Her lungs screamed for oxygen. Sara reached back and grabbed her hand, dragging her forward. Their feet flew over the pavement as they raced for the cover of the woods.

  “Keep running,” Asher shouted. “Don’t stop!”

  “Are they close?” Sara gasped.

  “Does it matter?”

  The voices behind them had faded, but not completely. As they reached the wood, they increased their speed, knowing that the forest would only slow their pursuers, not stop them.

  Fi looked back just before they flowed into the trees. Distant movement caught her eye. Asher was right. They were still coming. She increased her focus as they moved through the forest, squinting to see every advancing tree trunk and boulder. Suddenly they burst back into the Dead Zone. The moonlight peeked through clouds, casting beams like searchlights across the dusty expanse. They stopped and whirled, searching for cover.

  “There!” Sean shouted, pointing to a tumble of rocks and forest a short distance away. They took off, their feet leaving a cloud of dust hanging in the bluish air. Fi’s muscles were melting. Just three hundred more yards, she told herself. You can do this. You have to do this. It took her to her last breath to reach the rocks, and they still had to climb. Her legs felt like they would collapse. She was done. “I can’t,” she gasped, fear gripping her. She was such a liability. If she couldn’t make the climb, the Truthers would catch them.

  “We’ve got you, Fi,” Asher’s strong arms were around her.

  Sean grabbed her other side and the two men lifted her, hauling her limp body up the rock pile toward a high ledge. Fi was too exhausted to thank them. The ledge had just enough room for all of them, though it was very tight. Asher stood behind Fi, pressing her to his chest, as they peered back through the trees across the Dead Zone. Her chest heaved as she gasped for air. Her lungs were on fire, and her heart felt like it was going to explode. It was a good thing she hadn’t eaten recently, because she definitely would have thrown up.

  The Truthers burst out of the forest into the Dead Zone. Already pounding, her heart skipped as she watched them circle, searching. She fought the urge to crouch down whenever they seemed to look their way, despite knowing that they were well concealed on their perch. After a few minutes, t
hey seemed to give up and head back the way that they had come and Fi’s heart finally began to slow. Thank God they’d lost them. She took deep breaths, feeling irritated by her body’s limitations. Between the sprint and the climb, her legs had turned to jelly, and her knees ached. In the distance, she suddenly noticed an orange glow. Starting out soft, it quickly began to grow and flicker, lighting up the night.

  “No,” Sean’s whisper was fierce. “No!” Fi heard Sara shush him. “It’s the server farm, Sara. They’re burning the servers.” His voice was plaintive.

  “It’s just computers, Sean, it’s not people,” Sara murmured, trying to soothe him.

  “But it is people Sara,” he hissed, his rage turning his words to acid. “That’s what’s so fucked up! They are burning people. Those boxes aren’t just technology, they’re a record. They’re our record, as human beings.”

  Fi felt her throat tighten as his words sunk in. All this time had passed and she’d never really gotten it, Sean’s obsession with finding server farms. She’d always thought it was about reconnecting the survivors, but now she realized that it was also about what was inside the servers…from before the Famine. Her mind rewound and flashed through her memories of the Internet: the pictures and comments and messages and friends…and family. The flames in the distance danced, taunting them.

  “Those boxes are us,” Sean’s anger poured out of him, “our families, our photos, our friends, our hopes and dreams…even the stupid things like our favorite TV shows and music…what about the music?” At this his voice cracked, and Fi felt silent tears make their way down her face. “And what about the dead? The billions of dead? It’s like burning their graves!”

  Anguish burned in Fi’s chest like the flames that were erasing the last traces of thousands of lives. She stretched her hand backward down their tight little line, her fingertips reaching for Sean. Her heart ached with the knowledge of what had to be done. The Truthers had teamed up with the Lobos, they had kidnapped Sara, they were destroying everything that she and the people of Eden had worked so hard to rebuild. It was over. Eden could no longer pretend that the Truthers were harmless zealots. When Sean felt her touch, he grabbed her hand so hard that it hurt.