Horizon

by Scott Westerfeld

  “The animals are adapted to the weird physics,” Anna said. “The slide-whistle birds know how to fly in low G. And the shredder birds come looking for prey when they sense it. It’s like the creatures here evolved alongside this technology.”

  Javi stared at her. “But how long does it take birds to evolve a new way of flying?”

  “Thousands of years?” Anna said. “Millions? So either this technology is very, very old, or everything in this jungle is artificial.”

  Javi tossed a stick into the fire. “Like, genetically engineered to mess with our minds?”

  “No. But engineered for something. Which means there are engineers somewhere. We just have to find them, and beyond the waterfall is the obvious place to look.”

  Molly looked out at the jungle. Had the two of them forgotten that someone had died out there last night?

  She heard the trees creaking in the wind. Or maybe it was just her imagination and the crackle of the fire.

  Anna was still watching Kira and Yoshi, who were high in the air, yelling at each other in Japanese.

  “You want to go with them, don’t you?” Molly asked.

  Anna nodded. “We need to know more about this place.”

  “But every time we leave camp, something tries to kill us! The tanglevine. The shredder birds. And Caleb got killed by what? Gravity. A law of nature. And somewhere out there is whatever was making that—”

  The foghorn cry came again.

  This time it was loud, so close that the small hairs on Molly’s neck stood up straight. And it didn’t sound mournful …

  It sounded angry.

  “Molly!” Javi hissed, staring straight past her.

  “Uh-oh.” Anna slowly knelt to pick up the gravity device at her feet.

  Molly turned and saw the creature.

  It stood on two wrinkled legs, a large flightless bird about halfway between them and the airplane. Its neck stretched into the sky, taller than an ostrich—maybe twelve feet high. Iridescent green feathers stood out from its body, like it was an angry cat with puffed-up fur.

  Its head was the strangest thing Molly had ever seen. It seemed to be all beak, like one big razor-sharp scissor made of bone, interrupted only by a pair of beady red eyes.

  She imagined the creature scraping that beak against a tree, leaving gouges in the bark, the edges growing sharper and sharper …

  A cry came from Kira, in the middle of a bounce: “Abunai!”

  The bird cocked its head, focusing one eye on her and Yoshi as they drifted down toward a petrified Akiko.

  “Yep,” Anna said. “Dangerous.”

  “Where’s Oliver?” Molly whispered.

  Javi pointed. “In the plane.”

  Kira and Yoshi landed next to Akiko and grabbed her hand, and together they jumped back toward the aircraft.

  The giant bird ruffled its feathers and took a step toward them. Its powerful legs bent beneath it …

  Molly’s mind spun. What if this bird was also adapted to low gravity? Yoshi’s sword would be useless in midair.

  “Hey, bird!” Molly yelled, and the creature hesitated, pointing a baleful red eye at her.

  She whirled toward the fire and grabbed the biggest burning stick she could see. Smoke and sparks spilled from the fire as she dragged it out. “Give me low G, now!”

  “You got it,” Anna said, pressing buttons.

  Weightlessness fluttered through Molly as she flung the burning stick. It spun through the air until it hit the edge of the gravity field. Its flight bent down then, but momentum still carried it onward. It struck the ground and rolled, smoking and sparking, almost to the giant bird’s clawed feet.

  The bird hopped back from the stick, its talons leaving deep scrapes in the wet ground.

  “Ready for heavy,” Anna said, and normal weight settled over them.

  The bird stretched its neck forward and let out a long hiss at Molly, a long green tongue flickering from its maw.

  “I think you made it mad,” Anna said.

  Molly couldn’t argue with that. The bird was advancing now, its stubby wings puffed out even more, making it seem bigger, scarier. The feathers looked barbed at the end, like a shiny green mass of fishhooks coming straight at her.

  She reached for another flaming stick.

  “Please be afraid of fire,” she whispered.

  Javi had lunged for the survival pack and was rifling around inside. He pulled out the survival knife and held it up before himself.

  Those inches of steel looked puny in comparison to the charging bird. The heavy thump of its strides traveled through the ground and shook the soles of Molly’s feet.

  This is how the jungle works, she realized. You stumbled around, having theories and solving problems, until something bigger than you came along.

  Then you got eaten.

  From twenty yards away, the bird took a mighty bound, its huge legs propelling it into the air. It arced toward Molly, a huge missile of razor beak and hooked feathers and muscle.

  She held the burning stick in front of her …

  A crushing weight descended on Molly, and the charging bird tumbled to the ground. It hit hard, rolling toward her in a cloud of dust and thrashing talons.

  She tried to leap aside, but in the double gravity her feet felt dipped in concrete. She only managed a single step before the angry mass of claws and feathers swept past her. Pain blossomed across her shoulder.

  The bird rolled into the fire, scattering smoke and sparks. It began to shriek like a pipe organ, a high-pitched version of its foghorn cry.

  Then the heaviness lifted, straight from double gravity to almost weightless, and everything around Molly seemed to fly apart. Flaming wood exploded from the fire, along with clouds of dust, burned feathers, and scavenged clothing. The bird launched itself shrieking into the air, and Molly lofted backward in an aerial somersault. She caught a glimpse of Javi floating away, knife flailing blindly in the smoke.

  “Ready for normal!” Anna’s voice came from the chaos.

  Molly hit the ground as gravity settled onto her, landing with an oof. Smoking firewood was scattered everywhere, along with feathers and survival gear.

  “Everyone okay?” Anna asked, her arms cradling the gravity device.

  “I think so?” Javi was nearby, his eyes wide and searching. “But where’s the bird?”

  Molly squinted through the smoke and dust—

  The creature rose up from a huddle at the edge of the forest and cast an angry glare at them through its red eyes. It looked singed and ruffled, and it limped as it turned to face them.

  But it still looked ready to fight.

  Molly stood carefully. “You ready to hit that double gravity again?”

  Anna nodded, but then another flutter of lightness went through Molly—and Yoshi went drifting past overhead. He landed between the scattered campfire and the wounded giant bird and drew his sword with a flourish, metal glittering in the sun.

  The bird glowered at him a moment and let out the long, mournful foghorn blast of its cry. Then it turned and limped into the jungle, thrashing at the palm fronds with its claws.

  A moment later it was gone.

  Molly managed a smile, but then a wave of dizziness came over her.

  She looked down at her right shoulder. Her sleeve was in ribbons, and a single deep cut oozed blood. Some kind of green liquid surrounded the wound. It was shiny, pulsing in the sunlight.

  “That’s weird,” she said.

  Anna came closer and stared. “Does it hurt?”

  Molly shook her head. All of a sudden, nothing hurt. Not the cut or her bruises or her smoke-filled lungs. Suddenly, everything was soft and hazy, and she was so tired that she could barely keep her eyes open …

  By the time she tumbled forward into the grass, Molly felt nothing at all.

  The next morning at dawn they said good-bye at the stream. Yoshi’s plan was to follow it back to the waterfall, then go beyond. Not a terrible plan, Molly thou
ght. But the beyond part sounded fuzzy.

  Of course, everything sounded fuzzy today.

  The cut on her shoulder still glowed iridescent green, as if the bird had left the glimmer of its plumage in her. No matter how much she washed it, the green didn’t go away.

  But it didn’t hurt, not at all. In a way, the mysterious numbness was worse than pain would’ve been.

  “It’s all here,” Anna said. She’d filled two backpacks with gear: knives, flashlights, fire starters, signal mirrors, and a first-aid kit. She, Yoshi, and Kira were taking the remaining flares and packaged food, which wouldn’t be needed at camp anymore.

  The night before, Akiko had reluctantly agreed to lure another slide-whistle bird to its doom. Yoshi had missed with his sword, but Javi had caught the bird in a cargo webbing net. Javi himself had narrowly escaped accidental death by sword—bad planning on everyone’s part—but the bird had roasted up wonderfully with omoshiroi-berries.

  Now that it was time to part, Akiko was crying and hugging Kira. Yoshi looked embarrassed, and Anna had the same blank stare she’d worn since Caleb’s death.

  Not the most promising start to the trip, Molly thought. The cold wind hadn’t returned last night, and the glowflies were thicker than usual in the dawn light. The jungle buzzed like a broken neon light.

  “We’ll be back in three days,” Anna said, and kissed Molly lightly on the cheek. “We’ll bring help. People who know how to fix that infection … or whatever it is.”

  Molly smiled, wondering if Anna was really that confident, or if this was one of her white lies. Molly decided to lie herself.

  “I know you’ll be back. You’ve only got three days’ worth of food, after all.”

  “We should get started, then.” Yoshi shouldered his backpack, looking impatient to leave Akiko’s tears behind.

  Anna picked up the new gravity device. “Take care of Oliver. And watch out for wounded killer birds.”

  “Don’t worry about us,” Molly said as the sudden pulse of low G made her heart flutter. Then Anna, Kira, and Yoshi leaped gently up to the treetops, and a moment later they were gone.

  Normal gravity descended, and for a moment no one said anything.

  Molly broke the silence. “Maybe we all should have gone. Just to keep everyone together.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere until that wound heals,” Oliver said.

  “It doesn’t even hurt.”

  Suddenly, Molly felt meek and useless for staying here instead of exploring. But the feeling only lasted until another wave of dizziness went through her, about the hundredth since the giant bird had left its poison in her blood.

  What was happening inside her?

  And how much longer did she have to wait to find out?

  It took most of the day to reach the waterfall.

  Kira was a strong jumper, but she and Yoshi couldn’t seem to get in sync. When their timing was wrong, the three of them spun in lazy circles, leaving Anna feeling like she’d swallowed a pukeberry. It didn’t help that Kira and Yoshi kept arguing with each other in Japanese, presumably about whose fault it was.

  When the roar of the waterfall finally grew near, Anna was almost happy to worry about tanglevine instead of motion sickness.

  They alighted on the big rock that overlooked the falls. Once they’d untied themselves, Yoshi stood staring at the undergrowth, ready to draw his sword.

  “Refill the water bottles,” he said. “But be careful.”

  Anna rolled her eyes.

  “I’m taking a bath,” she said, then mimed washing herself for Kira.

  Kira nodded and pulled off her jacket.

  “It’s pretty cold,” Yoshi warned.

  “Cold sounds great.” Anna was hot and sweaty, and she wanted to wash away the thought that Molly was probably getting sicker every minute. “Anyway, jumping in is the easiest way to fill the bottles without getting near the undergrowth.”

  “If the vine attacks, I’ll kill it,” Yoshi said. “Then we can use it as climbing rope.”

  She stared at him. “You want to use me as bait?”

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” He looked away. “It’s just that tanglevine could be useful.”

  Anna almost smiled. In a way, Yoshi was like her—practical about what was necessary to survive, and a little too blunt about saying it out loud.

  But she did feel safe with him around. And nothing was more necessary at the moment than a cold bath.

  She dropped her jacket and backpack onto the rock but kept the rest of her clothes on. She might not have another chance to wash them on this expedition. Besides, Yoshi was right there.

  Anna steeled herself before jumping in, but when she hit the water, the icy reality forced a shriek from her lungs. Kira smirked down at her from the rock, but when she plunged in, she also let out a squeak.

  When the two crawled back out, Yoshi looked up from his radio with a grin.

  “Told you it was cold.”

  Anna tried to shrug, but it turned into a shiver.

  “Anything?” she asked through chattering teeth.

  He looked up into the misty spray of the falls. “Just static. But I swear, I heard something the first time I was here.”

  Anna sat up and began to squeeze water out of her shirt. “I’m not doubting you.”

  She didn’t have a choice but to believe Yoshi. Finding other people was the only hope for making Molly better. Anna couldn’t wipe away the image of the wound, shimmering like a green insect’s wings.

  As she and Yoshi had crossed the jungle that afternoon, they’d twice heard the cry of the giant bird echoing across the jungle. And both times it had come from back near the crash. Anna just hoped that the others were safe.

  Kira was squeezing out her hair. The red color from the omoshiroi-berries was partly washed out, but now she was rubbing in some of the blue berries, turning it a faint purple color.

  She said something in Japanese, and Yoshi nodded in agreement.

  “We should start climbing,” he said.

  Anna followed his skyward gaze into the mists. There was probably a whole other biome up there, with its own food web, its own edible plants and animals. Its own predators, too, of course.

  And hopefully people—or aliens, whoever might have a cure for Molly.

  Anna suspected that whatever was up there, it was going to be very omoshiroi.

  “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  They retied the bungee cords and began to climb. The incline grew steeper and steeper, until it was almost vertical—a wall of stone.

  It was like climbing in a dream. The only sound was the roar of rushing water beside them. Thanks to the gravity device, Anna could hold her own weight with one hand—or just a couple of fingers when she wanted to get fancy. The tricky part was hanging on when a strong breeze tried to tug them from the wall of rock. The thought of falling all the way back down, even in low G, made her queasy.

  And what if shredder birds attacked? They couldn’t turn off the device without falling to their deaths.

  It took the first hour for Anna to relax. The birds probably didn’t fly this high. Not that she had any real idea about their altitude—the swirling clouds erased everything except her two companions.

  “Shouldn’t we be able to see by now?” she asked. “I mean, the mist out in the jungle only went a couple of hundred feet up.”

  Yoshi stopped and hung from one hand, taking a drink of water. “Where does mist come from?”

  “Water evaporating from the jungle. But we’re way too high for that.” Anna looked up. “This mountain must have clouds rolling down it.”

  Yoshi nodded, then started translating for Kira, and Anna paused for a quick drink. Her fingers were starting to cramp. The wall of stone was so flat—there was no place to rest, not even an outcrop big enough to plant her feet on.

  Maybe it really was a wall, a huge one. But what was it keeping out?

  There was no way to find out except to ke
ep climbing to the top.

  By the time the sun started to set, both of Anna’s hands were aching. She might not weigh much, but holding on to the rocks was like carrying an egg for hours straight with no place to put it down—one slip and it was broken.

  “What if we never find a place to stop?” she asked. “What if this just goes up forever?”

  “Don’t think about that,” Yoshi said. “We keep going until we get to the top.”

  “Sure,” Anna said, but a slow panic was building inside her. She tried to remind herself—even if she lost her grip and pulled the others free, they would only drift back down together like a handful of feathers.

  But they’d lose the whole afternoon’s climb, and the breeze could carry them miles away from where they’d started. And any rescue for Molly would be another day away.

  Just then, a low, familiar moan came from the jungle below.

  “Yokaze,” Kira said.

  Yoshi translated, “The night wind.”

  “Good name,” Anna said, and shivered. It was the same cold wind that had swept through the jungle two nights before, taking Caleb away to his death.

  If the three of them fell now, the night wind might carry them over a double-G zone—they’d all be smashed to jelly. Or they might drift into the roaring waterfall.

  Anna just hoped her fingers didn’t get too cold to function. The air seemed to be getting colder every minute they climbed.

  “We should have brought gloves,” she said.

  Yoshi managed a shrug. “I told you it would be cold.”

  Anna sighed—she had brought a jacket. But she’d tied it around her waist at the start of the climb, and now there was no way to put it on.

  Then she felt it, the yokaze ruffling her hair, reaching its cold fingers beneath her shirt. A shiver trembled along her spine.

  Then a sudden gust hit, and her right hand slipped free from the rock.

  Her left hand was holding one of the scrubby plants that clung to the rocks, and it came loose, too—she found herself drifting away from the wall of stone, grabbing at air.

  “Uh, guys,” she said. “Abunai!”

  The cloudy abyss opened up beneath Anna. Even floating in low G, the yawning drop made her stomach flip inside out.