by Sandy Nathan
“They’re gone,” Grace said, “just like that.”
They stood on the ledge, looking at each other.
“What do we do now?” asked Henry.
“We go on living until something else happens,” Grace replied.
Part Four
65
The seedpod’s cabbage-like leaves were storm-torn and tattered. Mildew streaks had formed on their cracks, along with lichen and moss. Something inside the pod struggled, causing it to rock. The thick stem that attached it to the oak’s limb held firm. The sack’s interior movement halted, and then began again. Paused and continued, surging with ever greater urgency.
The tree from which the sack hung was unconcerned. It spread its branches as it had for hundreds of years. Flooded with light, the oak forest around the tree seemed timeless. Leafy crowns rose high and wide, as majestic as living gods. Swaths of golden grass filled the meadow between the trees. Insects hummed. Squirrels darted. Nothing indicated that a struggle for life was underway.
The pod kept swaying. Jerking. Convulsing. Then it became still. Time passed. A sharp object pierced the pod’s shell from the inside, close to where it joined the stem. The object cut down the pod, creating a slit that could have been made by a knife.
A hoof protruded from the bottom of the slash, and the stinger that had made the cut retracted into it. A slender leg followed, then another hoof and leg. The sack wobbled, and a creature fell from it and lay panting on the ground.
Whatever it was curled into a ball, its too-long legs curved to its chest. Waxy and not completely formed, it might have been a larval form of a giant insect. The creature lay on its side, resting. After a pause, its head rose and looked around. A somewhat human face regarded the meadow with huge silver eyes.
“Jer’my,” it chirped. “Jer’my,” and began the laborious task of standing. It rolled up and propped its legs under itself after many tries. The creature pushed itself erect. And fell. Fell and stood. Kept trying to stand like a newborn horse. Eventually, it remained erect, revealing its gender.
“Jer’my, Jer’my,” she chattered. Her voice sounded like a cricket’s. Her skin gradually turned from waxy gray to rosy flesh. The hair on her head curled as it dried, showing its streaked silver coloration. She looked around and then fastened on a direction.
She began walking. As she walked, her legs grew straighter and more human-looking. Her torso, belly, arms, and head formed up quickly. Someone who didn’t know Ellie well would have thought the creature was she.
“Jer’my? Jer’my?” She headed straight for the community on the cliff.
66
Henry climbed the embankment from the river carrying his fishing gear and four big trout. She was lying in the middle of the path.
“Oh, no! My God!” he cried. “Ellie? Ellie, is that you?” Thin, dirty, and naked, she lay face down in the sand. Her hooves were worn and cracked. Her feet and lower legs looked like she’d trudged through sawgrass for miles.
“Ellie? Are you OK?” He turned her over. She obviously wasn’t OK; she was unconscious.
“Hey, everyone! I need help. Ellie’s down here!” He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled toward the cliff.
Heads appeared over the fence.
“Ellie? What are you talking about?” shouted Mel.
“Get down here! I need help.”
They milled around her when they got her up to the top. Grace shooed them away. “Take her into the container where the medical supplies are. I need to examine her. Get me some water and rags.”
Grace carefully examined the unconscious girl. Or whatever she was. She looked like Ellie. Peachy skin, silver streaked curly hair. Hooves. Beautiful proportions. She took her blood pressure and listened to her heart. Perfectly normal for a human. Grace pinched a fold of her skin and let go. The girl was badly dehydrated.
“Thanks, Mel,” she said as he delivered drinking water. “Can you hold up her shoulders? I’ll try to get her to drink.” The minute Mel touched her, the girl’s eyes shot open.
“Jer’my?” she squeaked. “Jer’my?”
“He’s not here now. He and Sam are at the sawmill. Do you want Jeremy?”
“Jer’my?” the girl said, blinking her eyes at Grace and Mel. Her eyes were even larger than Eliana’s, which was saying something. Shot with more silver, too. She showed no recognition of Mel or her. “Jer’my?”
“Jeremy will be back in a while. Try some water.” Grace could smell the barbecue and hear the sizzle of cooking fish. “For God’s sake, Mel, tell Henry to keep those fish away from her. Get some greens from the garden. Soybeans …”
“Well, I can tell you one thing: She’s not Ellie.” Grace had gotten some beans into the girl and she had fallen asleep in the container. Grace went out to the campfire to report to the others.
“She’s whatever was in that egg sack thing, isn’t she?” Lena said.
“I think so, but we’d have to inspect the sack to know for sure.” Grace replied. “All I know is that she’s not Ellie. I examined her completely and can tell you that she’s built exactly like a normal female human. Ellie wasn’t.”
They stared at her.
“She also has bigger eyes and she didn’t recognize either Mel or me. All she says—maybe can say—is Jeremy.”
“And not even that, Grace. She says ‘Jer’my,’” said Mel.
They nodded.
“Do you think she’s Ellie’s baby?” Henry asked.
“I don’t think so, Hen,” Lena answered. “We know what her babies were like. She delivered big pods with hundreds or thousands of babies inside. There’s just one of her.”
“Unless the rest show up tomorrow,” Mel said.
The group gasped and looked toward the edge of the ledge.
“She doesn’t seem dangerous.”
“She’s been unconscious. And neither did Ellie.”
“But Ellie never hurt us, even when she changed,” Mel reminded them.
“Do you think she’s a clone?” James’s eyes were wide.
“That might be, but she’s not an exact copy of Ellie,” said Grace. “The anatomical differences are very clear. And she doesn’t know anything. I’m not even certain that she’s speaking. ‘Jer’my’ may be her natural chirp. She doesn’t seem as intelligent as Ellie was. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“One thing’s for sure,” Mel said. “We need to keep those,” he pointed at the fish on the grill, “the hell away from her.”
“Absolutely! Vegetables only.” Grace’s forehead contracted. “There’s someone else we’ll have to keep away from her.”
“Who?”
“Jeremy. Can you imagine the shock of loving Ellie, having her turn into a monster, die, and then having whatever is sleeping in that container show up?”
They caught their breath again. “What will we do?”
“I don’t know, but the elevator just started moving. Sam and Jeremy are coming up.”
“Jeremy, I have to tell you something,” Grace approached him the minute he and Sam stepped off the elevator.
“Sure, Mom. Let me put my stuff away.” He was at the computer container/medical facility before she could stop him.
“No, Jeremy! Don’t go in there. I have to tell you something.”
He swung the door wide and stood, staring.
“WHAT IS THAT!?” He put his hands up to fend her off, then backed away from the container as fast as he could. The naked girl stepped out quickly; she was even more agile than Ellie had been.
“Jer’my? Jer’my?” She chirped, looking at him without recognition. But she held her arms out.
“Get her away from me!” Jeremy shrieked. The girl came closer. “Get away!” He turned and ran to the elevator and disappeared over the edge.
“It’s her or me, Mom. That’s how it is. I will not live on the cliff if she’s there.”
Grace stroked his shoulder. They were by the equipment barn at the base of the rock face. They’d g
one there to talk. “Jeremy, I know it’s a shock. It’s a shock to everyone. But we can’t just toss her out. She’ll die.”
“Maa-aahm,” he said in the tone he’d used as a kid. “She’s the larval form of a predatory insect. She can live anywhere, places where we’d croak in a day. Give her a chance and she’ll eat all the fish in the river. And the horses. Maybe us.”
“Jeremy, Ellie never did that.”
“You said she’s not Ellie.”
“No, she’s not. I think she’s something like a clone, but more adapted to Earth. She looks like a normal woman, Jeremy. Not like Ellie. But I don’t think she’s as smart.”
“Oh, great. You want a mentally deficient, mutant clone of a giant wasp to live with us. That sounds terrific. What about the kids? Huh? Did you think of them? What if Ellie-poo eats them?”
“Ellie loved the kids. That’s why she sacrificed herself, so they could live. I don’t think that’s a problem.”
“Well, I’m living right here at the bottom of the cliff as long as she’s here. I don’t want to see her. And I’m carrying a firearm, no matter what you say.”
“I think that’s a good idea. There are grizzly bears and wolves and all sorts of things down here. I understand what you must be going through …”
“No you don’t. None of you understand. You can’t possibly understand. Now leave me alone.”
67
“We don’t know how much the goldies taught Ellie,” Mel explained at a group meeting. “She might have been just like this before they sent her to school. Ellie said that they had taught her for many years. We all know that Ellie was somewhat … limited in her intellectual development. Jeremy told me that she was two hundred years old when they met. Think of the maturing and learning that must have happened in those years. This one is just hatched, so to speak. We need to make allowances and be patient.”
“Jer’my. Jer’my. Jer’my,” the clone chirped endlessly, hopping about the edge of the circle.
“Let me see what I can do with her. Maybe I can teach her a few words. She’ll be my project,” Mel concluded.
“Teach her a few words and shut up that damn, ‘Jer’my, Jer’my, Jer’my’,” groused James.
“Amen.”
“I’ll start tomorrow. No, I’ll start now. And the rest of you,” Mel turned around quickly and caught the kids trying to sneak away, “it’s a school day. Just because you did chores doesn’t mean you can get out of learning to read.” He turned to Sam, “That means you, too. You’re writing a book, remember? You won’t get it done unless you do it. Over to the classroom.” They’d turned one of the little caves into a schoolroom.
“Come on everyone. Time to get to work. Ellie, you, too,” Mel extended his hand to her.
She pulled away and put her hand to her chest. “Ellie?” She obviously had no idea who Ellie was. “Ellie? Ellie? Ellie? Ellie?”
“Oh, God, no,” James cried. “She’s changed channels.”
“Ellie, honey,” Mel took her hand. “Come over here. I’m going to teach you some words.” He put his hand to his chest. “I’m Mel. Can you say Mel?”
“Mel, Mel, Mel, Mel.”
He held up his hand. “No, just one Mel.”
“Just one Mel.” Her voice sounded exactly like his.
“Mel.” He held his hand up to stop her.
“Mel.”
“Yes! That’s it.”
She smiled. A real smile.
“Oh, Ellie, honey, you’re going to do fine.” Lena beamed. “Ellie, honey, go with …”
The girl touched her chest again. “Ellie honey. Just one. Ellie honey.” She smiled widely. “Ellie Honey. Ellie Honey.” Eyes widening as she caught her mistake, she said, “Just one Ellie Honey.”
“Do you want that to be your name? Ellie Honey?” Lena and Mel crowded in. “Ellie Honey?”
“Ellie Honey!” She threw her arms over her head and danced around the ledge, coming so close to the edge that everyone cringed. “Ellie Honey!” she cried.
68
“Jer, we miss you,” Mel and Jeremy sat outside the shack by the sawmill. Jeremy had been living there since Ellie Honey got her feet under her and began careening up and down the ladder like it was her own private jungle gym.
The sawmill was a couple of miles down the river from the cliff where the community lived. They put it there because the river narrowed at the mill’s site, increasing the water’s speed to drive the wheel. The area around the mill, and the route there, had been forested. Harvesting the timber to make the corrals and barns and the rest of the ranch buildings had pushed back the tree line a couple hundred yards. The back of the rock mountain housing the cliff where they lived rose above the trees. A few ravines emptied out near the mill site, but other than that, only one path led to the mill, the logging road that Mel had taken to reach Jeremy.
“Everyone wants you to come back. Talk to me about it, at least.”
Jeremy drew in a huge breath and released it slowly. “OK. I’ll tell you. I couldn’t talk to my mom about this, but I’ll tell you.” He struggled, playing with the fabric of his pants. “You and James have been together a thousand years. You know how it is …”
Mel looked at him quizzically.
“Ellie and I did it like, five million times. Not fucking, either. Loving each other. Though we did lots of fucking, too.” Jeremy waved his hands in the air. “I’m trying to say that I was inside her and she was in me. No, she is, not was. She is in me. I can’t forget her.
“She turned from a soft, sweet girl into a monster with a hard shell. I made love to a monster with antennae and stingers and wings that didn’t even recognize me, I don’t think. I mean, I didn’t really have sex with that, but it’s all mixed up for me. Ellie and monster.”
“Oh.”
“It’s more than that, Mel. That thing, the new one, makes me sick. When she came out of that container and headed for me, I wanted to jump off the cliff.”
“You practically did.”
“Yeah. I feel like vomiting when I think about her; she creeps me out so much.” He shuddered. “I loved Ellie and she died. Bud did a healing on me. I saw that it was her life cycle; she didn’t want to leave me. I’ve made peace with that.
“But I can’t deal with another one.” He looked wildly at Mel. “You know she’ll change. A couple of fish, and it’s buzz and sting time all over again. I can’t handle another bait and switch. Falling in love and then …
“I will fall in love with her. Ellie’s in my mind; she’s in my body. I don’t have any resistance to her.”
Mel regarded him. “You feel like you don’t have any control …”
“Not feel like, I don’t have any control. Ellie and that monster and sex and love. I can feel El around me, and I can hear her buzzing. It’s making me crazy.”
“You’re scared,” Mel said.
“I’m scared shitless, Mel.”
“OK. I get your point.”
“I won’t go back. Don’t try to convince me. If people want to see me, they can come here like they already do. And leave that thing behind.”
“Your mom really misses you, Jeremy. She can’t bring the baby out here easily. He’s getting big.”
“She brought him down once. She can come again.” Jeremy dug in.
“The truck doesn’t work any more, Jeremy. If she comes, she’ll have to pack him on her back.”
“She can ride a horse.”
“She won’t ride a horse. She’s afraid of falling off with the baby.”
“Sam can carry him.”
Mel sighed. “Yes, Sam could carry him, except that he works all the time already. Your brother is growing like crazy. You’ll never get to see him as a baby again. He looks so much like Sam.”
“With my mom’s blue eyes. I know, I’ve seen him.” Jeremy sulked. “OK. If you get it out of the way, I’ll come and fix the truck.”
“I guess we can do that, if you’ll come.”
“Just t
o fix the truck.”
“And tune up the computers. They’re all getting wonky without you to maintain them.”
“You have to get rid of it before I’ll come.”
Mel changed tactics. “Jeremy, one thing the computers are keeping track of is the calendar. It’s going to be Christmas in a couple of months. That really matters to your mom and Lena. They’ve got a big dinner planned. They’ve been making presents for everyone. For you, especially. Your mom and Sam—everyone—has been making gifts for you.”
“Sorry. Can’t make it.” He turned away.
“Jeremy, it’s been more than a year since you left …” Mel looked at him hopelessly. Jer’s beard had grown down his chest. He looked like he was working on dreadlocks as spectacular as the ones he’d had in the golden world. “You can’t stay here forever, Jeremy.”
“Try me.” He swung around and glared at his former teacher. “Get it, Mel. I will never, ever get involved with something that can potentially, in any way, turn into a monster and die.
“I know what you’re thinking at the camp, ‘Maybe they’ll fall in love … ’ Forget it. Never. Never. Never. I’m not going near her.”
Mel ducked his head, as though Jer had guessed exactly what everyone was thinking. Then his face became guarded.
“Look,” Mel continued, “she’s not Ellie. She’s amazing. She’s the best student I’ve ever had, including you. She’s been my student for just over a year, and there’s nothing left for me to teach her. She has to use the tapes and materials in the library. She’s way past college level in everything.”
Jeremy sniffed. “Great, Mel. She’s a brilliant mutant monster.”
“That’s not fair, Jeremy. She’s very pretty. And you’re not safe here.” The fresh hide of a mountain lion was nailed to the side of the wooden shack. “What if one of those gets you next time? There’s snakes. We can’t save you way out here.”