by Nancy Kress
WGA disbanded. Geneva under siege. Cannot help with alien invasion. Proceed at discretion.
"What the bloody hell?" Thekla had said. " 'Alien invasion'?"
George exploded, "Doesn't it even register that we've discovered the first aliens in the universe?"
Liu Fengmo's quiet voice somehow rose above the indignant babble. "This is a military person who speaks by quee. His interest is limited to his own desperate situation in Geneva."
Desperate situation. Jake looked closely at Liu Fengmo. The Chinese, small and neat and self-contained as a biochip, rarely spoke of anything but pragmatic matters. Jake had never heard Liu speculate before ... although Liu's words didn't carry the tentative ring of speculation. Liu, Jake suddenly recalled, had been a soldier in General Chu's disastrous war against India. "His interest is limited to his own desperate situation." Jake felt sudden coldness at his spine.
Todd McCallum had spoken for all of them. "What could be going on back on Earth?"
No one knew. No other quee message had come since.
Now a diffident voice interrupted him. "Jake? Are you busy?"
"No, come in," Jake said automatically, blanking the screen.
Frank Byfield stood in the Mira office doorway. He was the head of one of Mira City's political and judicial subdivisions, Section Six. "Do you have that decision for me? On the supplies dispute?"
Jake had completely forgotten to bring it up at the Board of Governors' meeting.
"Frank, they're still considering all the factors involved. I know you're eager to get this settled, and you're absolutely right. I'll see what I can do to hurry them along."
Byfield said unhappily, "Thanks. We really need to know before we can move forward at all."
"I know you do," Jake said warmly. "I'll talk to Gail myself this afternoon."
"I appreciate it." Byfield left.
God, the administrative details in running a colony! Why hadn't he understood that back on Earth? He had understood it; he'd been a lawyer, after all. Not a great lawyer, but adequate. And now, with six thousand people (minus a thousand Cheyenne) in his care, he wasn't even adequate.
At least he could take care of Byfield's problem right now.
He comlinked Gail, who said, "Jake? Why are you bringing this up now? It should have been thrashed out at the meeting."
"Yes, but Frank Byfield hadn't yet given me all the information. Now he has. The situation is that—"
"For God's sake, I can't listen to it now, I'm about to descend fifty feet underground into the new iron mine. The 'bots are finished with the preliminary excavation. You knew that."
"Yes, you're absolutely right, but—"
"Find me later." She broke the link.
Jake stood, took several deep breaths. He went to find Lieutenant Wortz.
She had returned with the skimmer. Jake caught her heading through the warm dusk for the women's baths, still in the uniform Scherer required of his people, with a towel slung around her neck. Jake wondered briefly what she'd look like naked. Too fleshy, he decided. He'd better resume the libido suppressors.
He was lying to himself. He wasn't going to resume them.
"Lieutenant Wortz. Can you take me to the Fur village? I know you're off-duty, but no one else is available."
She didn't react to the lie. Maybe it wasn't a lie; Jake hadn't checked. Gretchen Wortz said in her careful English, "To the Fur village? Now? I return just from there."
"I know. I'm sorry. Something's come up."
She didn't ask what; Scherer had his soldiers trained to military acceptance of authority, and on Greentrees authority was Jake. Usually this irritated him, but now he was grateful for it. Twenty minutes to walk to the skimmer, parked out beyond the electronic perimeter that kept away Greentrees' predators, and they were in the air. Two of the three small moons were up, the close one moving visibly across the darkening sky. Sunset happened fast here; Mira City sat not far from the equator.
Lieutenant Wortz surprised him by offering actual conversation. "Look down, Mr. Holman. The rhinos."
Below them moved a herd of warm-blooded, turtlelike predators. George Fox had named them something, Jake couldn't remember what, but not "rhinos." He grinned. People were using their familiar names for the unfamiliar, even though the creatures below looked nothing like rhinoceroses.
He said, "They're so slow."
"Ja. But I see the fast eaters. The lions. They live in the trees."
Jake tried to imagine tree-living lions, but gave up. Lieutenant Wortz said nothing else.
Expertly she set the skimmer down in the "meadow" beside the alien village. Purplish groundcover made a lush carpet. A few Furs were working fields. They didn't look up as Jake walked, watching carefully for red creeper, toward the cluster of huts set between the meadow and a wood of tall bluish trees. The human camp had been pitched on the east side of the village. Lucy Lasky was alone in the largest inflatable, working at a terminal.
"Hello, Lucy."
"Jake? What is it?"
She stood, looking alarmed. Of course an unannounced visit by the Mira Corp president would make her think something was wrong. Jake said quickly, "Nothing's wrong. I'm just making a routine visit to see how the work is going."
Now alarm was replaced by wariness. She thought he was checking up on her: her diligence or her relevance or her sanity. The incident on the Ariel still haunted Lucy. She said stiffly, "The work is going fine."
"Actually, Lucy, Dr. Shipley wanted me to look in quickly on his daughter. He's ... concerned. Although I'd prefer you didn't mention that to Nan Frayne."
He watched her relax. "No, of course. But Nan's doing fine, too. In fact, better than fine. She got a Fur to talk to her."
"She did!" His surprise was genuine.
Lucy smiled, a rare event, and he saw how it lit up her whole face. "She did it by pure nerve. She stood in front of a Fur on its way to a field and wouldn't get out of its face. Every time the Fur moved, Nan did, too. Lieutenant Halberg had a fit."
"I'll bet he did. She was risking her life."
"She didn't think so, because they're so passive. Anyway, the Fur tried to get around her for twenty minutes. Can you believe it? Finally the Fur just gave up and sat down on the ground. Nan sat, too, still crowding the Fur face-to-face, and started to talk. Just her own name, pointing to herself, over and over. And the Fur eventually answered!"
"What did it say?" His heart had begun to thud slowly. Alien communication.
"Nan doesn't know. It was just one sound, sort of like 'eeeeeerat.' It might be a name, or not. It took her five hours to get that much."
"Five hours of saying 'Nan'?"
"Yes!" Lucy laughed. Jake realized he'd never heard her laugh before. "And Nan's still there. This only happened today, which is why you don't have a report on it. Do you want to see?"
"In a minute. Is Halberg still standing by, covering Nan with some weapon or other?"
"Yes!" She laughed again. "They resemble one of those unmoving medieval tableaux."
"And your work? Any breakthroughs?"
Her mirth vanished. "No. Just confirmation of what I already told you all."
"That the Furs didn't evolve here. That's what I want to hear more about. Can we walk and talk? I've been sitting in the skimmer."
"Okay."
Outside, the air smelled sweetly tangy. They set out across the meadow, parallel to the edge of the wood. The tall narrow trees cast long shadows blurred by the purple groundcover. Jake drew Lucy out about her work, using every conversational skill he had, and after a while she began to talk freely, without her usual muted despair. He listened without interruption, letting her say everything she wanted to get out, sometimes nodding respectfully. The lobes of her small ears were delicate and pink as shells.
Slowly Jake felt himself unknotting.
"Do you believe me, Jake?"
"Yes. I do. I don't see how the Furs could be native to Greentrees. Not with all the facts you've uncovered."<
br />
She let out a deep breath, somewhere between a sob and a sigh.
"Lucy ... do you like it here?"
She answered more quickly than he expected, as if she'd already given the question considerable thought. "Yes. I do, even with everything that ... happened. Greentrees is beautiful, and I can do work here that nobody ever would have let me anywhere near on Earth."
"Is that why you came? For the work?"
"No." After a moment she added, "I volunteered to the Wellcome Trust because I couldn't stand to be on Earth any longer. Or even anywhere in the solar system. It won't make sense to you, maybe, but there was ... my husband left me for somebody else. He didn't even wait for our marriage contract to run out."
She said it starkly, without emotion, but Jake heard the emotion anyway. Yes, a person like Lucy would love with her whole heart, her whole universe, and if she were betrayed she might well flee an entire star system. That ought to have made her ridiculous. But, walking beside him with quiet dignity, taking the risk of telling him this, she seemed to Jake something rare and precious: a person capable of unswerving commitment.
He said, "You didn't have any children? Or other family ties to keep you on Earth?"
She shrugged. "A sister. Some cousins. No one I genuinely cared for. I'm afraid I don't love very easily. I'm cold."
"That's not coldness. That's depth."
She laughed. "Pretty to think so, anyway. Did you leave anyone important on Earth?"
"I had a brother once, but he died."
She nodded, watching the treeline, and Jake went icy all over.
He had never mentioned Donnie, not to anyone, not in fifteen years. Jake's personal records listed no brother. The news clippings in the library archives had documented him extensively—SUDDEN BILLIONAIRE TO LAUNCH FIRST EVER PRIVATE STARSHIP!—without finding any brother. What the hell had made him mention Donnie now?
"Lucy," he said, and she must have heard some terrible note in his voice, for she turned to him wide-eyed, "I never mention my brother. Please ... don't."
"Of course not. I never mention my husband, either, Jake. That's why I wanted to tell you."
He almost said, I did something horrible that I never mention, either, but he didn't say it. Instead he leaned forward slowly, took her in his arms, and kissed her.
She came more eagerly than he'd expected. Her lips were soft, her thin body light in his arms. Instantly Jake had a huge erection. He pulled her closer, letting himself drown in her scent, letting the moment obliterate everything else.
Something screamed.
It was a high shriek that pierced the soft dusk like a missile. Jake and Lucy tore apart and looked around wildly.
"It's coming from the village!" Lucy cried. She took off running.
Jake raced after her. At the edge of the village they met Lieutenant Halberg and Nan Frayne. Halberg had a drawn gun in one hand and a tanglefoam wand in the other. Nan Frayne yelled, "There!"
Beside a hut on the edge of the village, a creature dragged a Fur child. Instantly Jake saw what Gretchen Wortz had meant about "a lion that lives in the trees." The animal had the long sleek body of a cat but with tentacled forelegs and tail that probably wrapped around branches. Its tentacles held the child as long, wicked teeth tore at the furred flesh. It balanced on powerful hind legs, backing away with its prey.
"Fucking hell, shoot it!" Nan cried. Halberg, after a quick look around to ascertain the safely of every human, moved to get a clear shot and fired.
The animal dropped to the ground, a laser hole in its head. Before Halberg could grab Nan, she had darted to the child. It had stopped screaming and even from thirty yards away Jake could see that it was dead. One furry arm hung only by a few shreds of muscle. He looked away.
Two adult Furs stood off to the left. They watched Nan, Halberg, the dead predator, and the child. Their faces didn't change. Then they both continued, hoes still in hand, toward a smoldering cook-fire and peered into the pot. One dipped in a hand and began to eat.
Lucy drew a sharp breath.
Halberg said to Nan, "Get away from the carcass, Miss Frayne."
She actually complied. Nan stalked over to the adult eating his dinner and peered into his face. Then she did the same to the second adult. She walked over to Jake.
Lucy said unsteadily, "They don't care that one of their young was just killed."
"No," Nan said furiously, "and they can't care. But they aren't like that naturally. No species is, or at least not any species that can build huts and hoe fields. Fuck. What the shit is going on here?"
Lucy said, "They're sick. All of them. That's why my findings show that the species is dying out. They've got some mental defect that makes them stupider and more indifferent with every generation. They won't last two generations more."
Nan stared at her. Slowly she nodded. Jake was startled to see grief on that usually sullen face. "Yes. Yes, Lucy, you're right. They're sick with something we don't understand. A virus?"
Lucy raised one hand, let it drop helplessly. "How would we know? The physiology is completely alien."
"Then let's make it less alien!"
Nan started back toward the double carcass. Halberg put a hand on her arm to stop her, and she threw it off contemptuously. Pulling a tiny laser gun from her pocket, she sliced off the head of the Fur child. Blood, or some substance like blood, spurted out in a brownish fountain.
"Hey!" Jake called, meaning, Guns are forbidden except to Mira City security!
Nan ignored him. She picked up the small severed head and wrapped it in her jacket. "Jake, how did you get here? Skimmer? Take me back to the labs now."
Jake said quietly, "Don't give me orders, Miss Frayne."
His tone reached her, as he'd intended it should. But instead of a scornful insult, she said sadly, "Okay. Just get me back, please. We need answers before the Furs are gone completely."
Halberg said stiffly, "The others here—"
"Can stay, and you, too," Jake said. "Lieutenant Wortz is with the skimmer. Come on, Nan. Lucy?"
"I ... will come, too."
The severed head had bled through Nan's jacket. She held it on her lap anyway, climbing into the second row of seats in the skimmer, Lucy beside her. Jake sat in front. "Back to the city, Lieutenant Wortz."
"One moment, Mr. Holman. Please to hear this. It comes since two minutes ago. Computer, repeat the last message."
"Jake," Gail's voice said, "where are you? We need you. We have a situation here."
A situation. Various disasters tumbled through Jake's mind: an outbreak of some native plague, a horrendous construction accident, a skimmer crash, a colonist gone berserk and shooting...
"It's Larry Smith. He just comlinked," Gail said, which was the last thing Jake had expected. The Cheyenne had been very clear about severing all ties with Mira City. "The tribe came across a bunch of aliens living in a village. The aliens attacked instantly with spears and clubs, trying to kill everybody they could, for no reason at all. The Cheyenne have got four dead and ten injured.
"Larry said the aliens are tall and covered with reddish-brown hair, with big sharp teeth. They sure sound like Furs to me."
8
It was one thing when a bunch of primitive aliens stayed in a few distant villages and refused to interact. That was no threat at all, thought Gail. It was quite another when aliens started throwing spears and swinging clubs at humans, even if those humans were not under Mira Corp's jurisdiction. The second situation required a personal evaluation.
Scherer had not wanted her to go: "Mr. Holman is already at the site. It is the unacceptable security risk for both leaders of this colony to go."
"Why—do you think your soldiers can't protect us? If your laser cannons and what-all can't beat off a bunch of spear-chuckers, then we're all in more trouble than just losing Jake or me."
"I think it is not advisable," Scherer said stiffly.
Gail ignored him and climbed into the second skimmer with George Fox
and Dr. Shipley. Shipley had crammed as much of his infirmary as possible into the empty seats.
Shipley said, "Gail, will the Cheyenne let me treat them? They're supposed to have left behind all vestiges of modern civilization."
"Then what was Larry Smith doing with a comlink? Come on, Private Mueller, let's go." She hoped Mueller could fly the skimmer. Scherer insisted on staying to "protect" Mira City, and both Wortz and Halberg were at the camp beside the first Fur village.
Of course Mueller could fly a skimmer; Scherer had trained all his people to do everything. She wasn't thinking clearly.
The first thing Gail saw when she got out of the skimmer was a group of Cheyenne braves making spears. No more than sixteen or seventeen years old, the young men squatted in a circle and sharpened stones with Y-powered diamond cutters. A pile of fresh wooden lances sat beside them, ready to be tipped with stone. One of the boys glanced up at the group from the skimmer and then back to his work, flicking back long light brown hair circled with a headband. Gail saw his eyes, glowing with excitement.
"The eagerness of youth for war," she said to Shipley.
Shipley shook his head. "I think there's more than that here, Gail."
"Oh, sure. Mysticism. Nostalgia. Deep psychological weirdness."
"More than that."
"I thought you New Quakers were opposed to this sort of violence."
"Completely opposed," Shipley said. "But remember, the Cheyenne didn't ask for this. They had something else in mind."
Whatever it was, Gail wasn't impressed by it. Conical tents dotted the plain, which bore the ubiquitous purple groundcover. She saw open cooking hearths, a few animal skins stretched taut between poles. The huge rovers weren't immediately visible. In fact, the place didn't look all that different from a Fur village. Why would a people want to go backward?
Shipley said, "Is that Naomi?"
Gail squinted into the dusk. Yes, Nan Frayne walked quickly toward them. She carried something, and Shipley gasped at the same moment that Gail realized Nan's tunic was covered with blood.