Frozen Sky- Battlefront

by Jeff Carlson

  Where would they put hundreds of thousands of sunfish, eels, ferrets, bugs and other lifeforms? At best, Earth's crews could provide support and education while finding safer locations for the tribes.

  This is their home. We need to make the best of it. But if we brought them to Ganymede or Callisto...?

  One of the sunfish in the third group was Tom. He leaped to Vonnie's side and they said hello, bumping each other. He coiled an arm around her ankle as she knelt.

  She smiled. Then she bit her lip. Tom was ailing, too. Beneath the skin, the stump of his amputated arm was streaked with dark veins. One patch was far worse than the bruising on the other males. It looked like gangrene -- decomposition caused by insufficient blood supply -- but as Ben had pointed out, the sunfish were marvelously efficient in their respiratory and circulatory systems.

  Due in part to their viscous, concentrated hemoglobin, their species did not develop blood pressure or heart disorders. Also, of course, they rarely lived long enough for age to wear them down.

  Tom was maimed, so his stump might have been necrotic, but more likely he was suffering from the same illness as the other males. Vonnie thought the sunfish were suffering from a disease like yellow fever. It wasn't as virulent as hanta or ebola, but when they didn't get enough rest or starved, their weakest members erupted into plague.

  That was why the males were sick. They'd infected themselves by eating their dead. Their females were given the best food, got the most sleep and avoided labor. They had stronger immune systems. And if most of the males died, the surviving few could sow their sperm on as many eggs as required to rebuild the tribe.

  For the sunfish, this had been a common solution too many times in their past. It was why they were essentially clones of each other. It also explained why they were so susceptible to disease. Genetic uniformity was an open door for any virus that took hold.

  Vonnie tried not to mourn for them. Feeling glum wouldn't help Tom. It wouldn't help Jan.

  As they marched, Vonnie concealed her emotions by jostling heartily with the males -- and Jan followed her example. Jan was cheery and loud as the sunfish frolicked like German kinder on a hike. Despite their wounds and their illness, the sunfish were exuberant. They screeched and howled. They had waited many days to reunite with human beings. Now they'd been rewarded by the appearance of two healthy women.

  Their journey brought them 1.8 kilometers below the surface and 7.1 kilometers from camp.

  In a splintered, angular gap between immense blocks of ice, Vonnie introduced Jan to Brigit, Natalie, Michelle and Angelica. --This is my matriarch, Vonnie cried.

  Above them, one hundred and thirty-six males and lesser females caterwauled in the blackness. They scuffled and moaned, writhing on the ice.

  Jan stayed close to Vonnie. Otherwise she seemed unaffected by claustrophobia or xenophobia, and the sunfish sensed that Vonnie was impressed by Jan's courage.

  The matriarchs buzzed among themselves. They didn't ask why the two women had come. They didn't ask for food or tools.

  They pelted them with other questions.

  --Healing? Healing? Michelle shrieked.

  --Can you smell our sickness? Brigit screeched. --Young Matriarch said she could cure us.

  Vonnie and Jan exchanged another glance, then shifted uncomfortably. Before the battle, Vonnie had seen only a limited effort by Harmeet to solve the many health issues among the sunfish. The astronauts had made promises with little follow-through... and after the fighting, none of their genesmiths or biologists had spent time developing new meds. There had been too many emergencies.

  --We do not have medicine yet, Vonnie cried. --Like you, we lost many males and females. Wise Scout is dead. We lost our homes. We've been in chaos.

  Brigit wriggled in a slow, accepting movement that was the equivalent of a nod. --We hear you. We know you. We've counted your new structures and your warriors, she screeched. --We've listened to you repair your colony.

  --We welcome you! We'll provide food and shelter! Vonnie cried, but, even more than she'd anticipated, the matriarchs were disinterested in her well-worn pledges of food and warmth.

  --We cannot live with you where the ice joins your metal homes! Angelica screeched. --We are more than a Top Clan now. We are more than a Mid Clan. We are both. We are strong.

  --You are starving.

  --We are strong! We will discover new populations of eels and bugs! We'll rebuild our farms! We rule this territory where your enemies cannot ambush us with their machines!

  --Our home is safe again, Vonnie cried, but she didn't believe it and they heard the half-truth in her voice.

  --You will be safer if you live here with us! Angelica screeched. --Bring your food! Bring your tools and your homes! We are Ghost Clan Thirty!

  Vonnie shook her head. Earth would never relocate their crews from the surface into the deep ice. Even if that order was given, most of the astronauts would protest... and there were more uncertainties between the women and the sunfish.

  Michelle scraped four arms over Jan's legs. --Who is she? Who is she? Michelle shrieked.

  --She is my matriarch, Vonnie cried.

  --No. Yes. Who is she?

  --A matriarch.

  --No, Michelle insisted, tightening her grip. Muscles rippled beneath the old scars on Michelle's back as Jan lifted her pike. Was she going to jab Michelle with it?

  "Jan, don't," Vonnie whispered.

  "I think I will," Jan said. She lowered the sharp tip of her pike into Michelle's side, prodding her.

  Michelle screeched and a hundred voices screamed with her. Overhead, the males howled and lashed, crawling on the ice. They clamored like an avalanche waiting to fall.

  Vonnie stopped herself from looking up. One glance might provoke them, although it took every ounce of will to keep her attention on Jan and Michelle.

  Jan was smart enough not to draw blood even as Michelle snapped at her thigh. Michelle's beak clacked on Jan's armor as Jan scraped the tip of the pike down her own leg, forcing it between them. She levered Michelle off, then twisted as Michelle clung to her with six arms.

  --Submit, Brigit told Michelle. --Submit. The [unnamed] human is a warrior and Young Matriarch's self-possession runs deeper now. She is more stable than you.

  --No! No! Michelle screeched.

  --Submit.

  Adding a physical component to Brigit's demands, Natalie brushed two arms on Michelle's topside.

  Michelle yielded. Michelle allowed Jan to drive her backwards. At the same time, Michelle brought her armtip to her beak, nipping and scenting at her pedicellaria. She rubbed two more of her arms together, then offered one each to Brigit and Natalie.

  The matriarchs jerked in astonishment.

  Angelica grabbed Vonnie's hip and clawed at her, too, tasting her scout suit. --Both of you carry fertilized eggs inside your metal shells? Angelica screeched.

  --Eggs, yes. We aren't pregnant yet, Vonnie cried. --Our kind bears children when we're ready, and we plan to construct a larger, permanent colony on this world. We breed less often than sunfish, although females of our age are fertile and sexually active.

  Too late, she realized what she'd said. You just made an ass out of yourself on datastreams that'll be seen everywhere on Earth, she thought, but Jan didn't refute what she'd said.

  Jan spoke in her laconic style. "They're not exactly shy, are they?" In a quieter tone, she offered her glove to Vonnie and asked, "Are you?"

  "I try not to be." Vonnie took her hand. She didn't care who was listening in camp or who criticized her in Berlin. She'd moved beyond who was sleeping with who.

  She'd met her match in Jan -- their respect for each other and the unspoken pact that had grown between them as they descended into the catacombs formed a vibrant and authentic tapestry to the sunfish.

  --You are both procreating with Mature Male? Brigit screeched, meaning Peter. What had she heard about them?

  Vonnie didn't know what to say.

 
Jan muffled a noise like a laugh. --He is mine, although our species will share mates as you share your strongest males! Jan cried. --Humans and sunfish are no different in wanting health and strength! We belong together!

  --We hear! We listen! Michelle shrieked.

  --We are Ghost Clan Thirty! Jan cried. --We will take the ice! New territory! Old territory! We will expand!

  --Where? Where?

  --We seek an open chimney! We'll pry into it and claim the ocean shores. You will feast! You will breed! We will guard its riches!

  The matriarchs screamed. They were rapturous, and the males sang of belonging. They sang of home.

  Their shrieks were the backbeat to the matriarchs' rhythm as Brigit and Angelica composed their name for Jan. Calling to each other, the matriarchs quantified the details of Jan's body language and the cadence of her voice. They judged her psyche. They called her Low Matriarch, conferring their esteem.

  Jan lifted her pike, then drove it into the ice, a pantomime of violence and desire. --Show us a portal to the far deep water! We will smash any resistance!

  --Yes! Yes! Angelica screeched.

  --You can lead us to a chimney?

  --Yes! Now! Yes! It is near!

  Vonnie's triumph swept through her like a brush fire. "We did it," she said, turning to Jan.

  They grinned at each other and Jan punched her shoulder, celebrating their success and their new friendship. They had their promise of an open chimney. The next step would be to coordinate a recon mission with mecha and sunfish scouts, then prepare the Lewis.

  Maybe they could outrace the PSSC after all.

  9.

  Vonnie and Jan slogged up through the catacombs. Vonnie's side ached, but she was content.

  Most of the sunfish had stayed deep in the ice. Eight scouts, including Tom, accompanied Vonnie and Jan on their ascent.

  Near the surface, they were met by two doppelgängers. Tom called for Vonnie's assurances. --Young Matriarch relies on metal scouts? he screeched.

  --They will obey you, she cried. --Their muscle is your muscle. Their ears are your ears.

  --Tom leads them?

  --Yes. Yes.

  He curled his seven arms into a shape meant for catching bugs, the shape in which sunfish swept living food to their beaks. It conveyed greed and domination. It might have been his equivalent of joy.

  --I am your matriarch! he screeched at the 'gängers, demonstrating more imagination than she'd thought possible.

  Tom couldn't relate to her like a man or a woman. He was limited in his worldview, but he was learning and she felt a unique kinship with him. Tom was her buddy.

  She petted his topside. He slapped her leg. They crooned to each other, envisioning success.

  Then he scurried away with his scouts and the two doppelgängers. They went west, destined for the chimney. Vonnie and Jan climbed toward camp. She watched the doppelgängers on her display, guessing how far they'd travel.

  On the surface, many people were asleep. Before everyone settled down, her radio had crackled with questions and praise that fueled her as she trudged up through the catacombs. Now she and Jan completed their journey in silence. Vonnie had her own questions for Jan, but she saved her breath.

  They reached the boundary layer between the solid ice and the pitiless vacuum above Europa.

  NASA's engineers had seated a new lock below Submodule 07. Vonnie and Jan entered the steel shaft, then an airless pit. They ascended fifteen steel rungs and stepped out among NASA's hab modules and the whale-like girth of the Lewis, which stretched thirty meters from nose to propellers.

  Mississippi was the only person on the ice. DeBrun stood watch in data/comm, where he'd assumed command during Jan's absence. Popson had joined him to monitor the doppelgängers. Nearly everyone else was in bed. Purity Cook and William Gould were inside the Lewis, and Mississippi had volunteered to work a double shift adapting five of their mecha for interior operations.

  They wanted GPs inside the sub for maintenance and potential emergencies. That meant shortening the GPs' spines and legs, then repositioning their sensor packs so the mecha could fit through the corridors and hatches.

  Using a welding laser, Mississippi had dismembered three of the five GPs that had been designated for internal support. Now she walked among their scattered parts like Doctor Frankenstein. To Vonnie's eye, Mississippi had made a larger mess than necessary, but she seemed pleased with her work. "Hey, boss," Mississippi said.

  "Looks good," Jan replied.

  Despite her exhaustion, Vonnie would have preferred to stay outside. Waiting in the ready room were Peter, Ben, Harmeet, Meiko and Jewel. Meiko and Jewel had said they wanted to congratulate Jan. Vonnie thought otherwise.

  Jan must have shared her suspicion. At the airlock, Jan switched off her communications and motioned for Vonnie to do the same. Vonnie shut off her radio. They put their helmets together and Jan said, "Thank you for taking me. I liked it. The sunfish are so strange."

  "You were fantastic."

  "I apologize for Jewel and Meiko. Those girls need to get laid. You wouldn't believe the trash they watch on the net. I'll bet fifty bucks they're praying for a big scene if Pete hugs me in front of you."

  "Pete," Vonnie said. The abbreviation amused her.

  "It's all right if I hug him, isn't it? You and I have been around the turnip truck once or twice."

  Vonnie just laughed. "Huh?"

  "We're adults. Pete said you two came close but you never really had anything -- and you're with Ben. What I'm saying is you and I should get along. If we can be friends in the ice, we can be friends up here."

  Vonnie was relieved to feel like they were going to act so damned mature. Visiting the matriarchs had bolstered her realization that her personal issues were really very small. "If you and Peter are happy, I'm happy for you," she said.

  "Excellent." Jan opened the lock. They went inside. It cycled. Then they moved into the ready room, where Meiko wanted to help them remove their suits even when Jan said, "Enough. I got it."

  Meiko eyed Vonnie and Jan as if comparing their bodies. "I can't believe you went down there with hundreds of sunfish," she said. "You were gone for hours. We thought-- Oh God, you're bruised! So is she! Look at her hip! And your arm! What did they do to you?"

  "Are you hurt?" Harmeet asked calmly.

  "I'm a medic. Let me see her," Meiko said.

  "For Christ's sake, I'm fine." Jan put on her jumpsuit and zipped it. Then she angled through the small crowd to Peter. She set her hands on his shoulders and kissed him.

  Ben glanced at Vonnie. Meiko was watching. Jewel studied them, too, although she tried to disguise it by rubbing her ear. The more Vonnie felt attuned to nonverbal cues, the more parallels she saw between humans and sunfish. Both species were communal. Group feedback directed every individual. Homo sapiens were merely less aware of their own impulses.

  Vonnie made a point of ignoring Peter and Jan. She kissed Ben. From the corner of her eye, she saw Meiko's expression rotate from disappointment to a softer emotion. The young woman had wanted them to fight until she felt a new, vicarious gratification. Meiko needed someone of her own.

  Vonnie needed to return to the ice. Keeping an arm around Ben's waist, she caught Jan's attention and said, "Let's compose our report for Earth."

  "Pete's altercasting our raw files now. Grab some food. Shower. We can meet tomorrow morning."

  "I'd like to get organized."

  "Washington and Berlin will want to review your sims," Peter said, and Jan added, "I'm wiped out. I gotta clear my head. Let's meet tomorrow."

  "All right." Vonnie smiled. Tentatively, Peter smiled back. We're going to be friends, she thought, but Ben looked unhappy until Harmeet said, "Jan? Von? We saved you some dinner in the mess hall. Ben, keep your hands off their dessert."

  "If Peter gets more cake, so do I," Ben said.

  "You can have mine," Peter told him. The conversation was trite, but it wasn't about food. Their words were an
armistice between Vonnie, Ben, Peter and Jan.

  They walked to the mess hall, where they ate as a foursome while Harmeet fetched drinks and napkins. To Vonnie, the experience was as close to a home-served meal as she'd had in years. Ben was civil, a minor miracle. Peter talked about his favorite fussball team, Bayern München. Jan told them about the current season of the NFL Dallas Cowboys. Vonnie laughed in the right places and asked about the Super Bowl, which she'd watched for a few years on the net.

  The couples parted and went to bed.

  Alone in her bunk, Vonnie bolted upright from a nightmare, one hand on her chest as if to hold her pounding heart. I'm scared, she thought. We act like everything's okay but I'm scared. I'm so scared.

  She tried to get back to sleep. She stared at the ceiling. She thought about Ben.

  Breakfast was hectic. Despite having been up late, Vonnie and the others woke with the first shift. The mess hall was full. Except for Mississippi, Cook and Gould, who'd worked through the night, nearly everyone was there. Also absent was DeBrun, who continued to stand watch in data/comm.

  That put twenty-two people in the food line, at the tables or bustling in between. Everybody wanted to speak with Vonnie or Jan. They wanted the share the experience of trekking through the ice and they needed to interact with their leaders.

  Ben took a seat beside Vonnie after fetching three coffees, hers with a dash of sugar, both of his saturated with cream. Very soon, Ben was in full form -- wired and garrulous -- swigging from his drink as he clapped people on the shoulder and babbled about hot springs and chimneys and tides in the ice.

  Vonnie smiled into her coffee, enjoying its blend of bitterness and sugar, which were so like him. At times, his sarcasm was hard to swallow. Sometimes he was protective and sweet.

  She didn't want him to join the Lewis. She had too many reasons to venture into the Great Ocean, but Ben would be safer if he stayed behind. Maybe if she asked Jan or Peter if they'd exclude him from the mission...?