by Pam Uphoff
"Good job. You two are good at group work."
Ajha walked away, and Ebsa looked over at Hob. "That is just a Clostuone?"
Hob grinned. "Yep. And you're pretty strong too. Sometimes I think these ratings of ours are insane." He slanted a glance toward Ra'd. "And you are flat scary. Two sixteen?"
"Two fifteen and a priest gene." Ra'd snorted. "All it is, is power. Ebsa's got better control, and he can see how to apply the power."
Hob nodded. "That's why we follow Ajha. He's just . . . "
They exchanged shrugs and nods.
Ebsa squirmed.
Ra'd snickered. "So, do you know how to slice like the Fiend?"
"I'm not as good, but I'm still One damn good at it. C'mon. I'll bet you two can pick it up easily."
The students drifted in, curious, and Ajha wound up giving lessons. Very carefully. Nobody lost any fingers, and Ebsa was disappointed to not manage a complete slice through the arboreal victim. At least he could section the logs and produce burnable wedges. Not that they burned worth beans.
And in the morning it was time to map the area. The students did the work, with a team member assigned to each of them to "assist." While heavily armed. Ajha and the Fiend kept an eye on the professor as he roamed. Dan and Alamo started mapping tree locations, Ra'd walked off with Ufly, and Paer with Whti. Ebsa grit his teeth, both glad he wasn't dealing with the snob, and wishing Paer was with the more polite Irgo. Or maybe not. Ebsa tried for indifference and followed Irgo. Hob had pulled camp duty—in case they needed a vehicle quickly. They mapped types of moss, noting signs of nibbling as they went, and the smaller insects in sight.
"We'll get more aggressive about finding and identifying insects later. Now we need the base map to plot all locations on." Irgo bent and studied more moss. "This one's new. It's got . . . "
Extra mossy moss! Ebsa kept a straight face and noted location and extent on the grid. Snapped out a slap at a falling something . . . hairy twig, brown and dry, fallen from above.
"Damn. You're fast."
Ebsa shrugged. "We all are. They train us mercilessly to develop the Speed."
"Huh. I try it sometimes, fencing. I don't really give a whoop, but I can't neglect the social games if I'm ever going to get a tenure track position."
"Yeah. I've heard academia is as competitive and backstabbing as government."
"In a smaller arena, with less publicity, and just as many hidden allegiances and feuds."
"And that is why I'm here in the Directorate."
That got him a skeptical glance.
Ebsa shrugged. "At my level? It's a bit competitive in the offices, but out here you'd better do your best, and being caught undermining a teammate is a good way to never get Across again." Or so my profs say. I haven't been at this long enough to know. Guess I'll find out . . . any time now.
"Huh, well I wouldn't want to compete against that Ra'd . . . umm, I didn't get the joke about the BFG 3000?"
"Big Fucking Gun. It's . . . well I'm not sure where the term came from."
"I see. An insulting term for an over-the-top huge weapon."
"Exactly. I mean, if you can't magically stabilize it and absorb the recoil, you really don't want to shoot it."
Igo grinned. "Voice of experience?"
"Yep."
It was an uneventful day. In the evening Ajha eyed the interns.
"I'm supposed to keep you lot in shape. Morning runs might not be wise, so perhaps a bit of martial arts is in order.
"Martial Arts!" Alamo looked horrified. "Surely the president's daughter . . . Princess Paer! Surely there's no need for you to be trained to kill!"
Paer glared. "First, I am not a Princess. Second, the choice is to be competent or to be weak and dependent. I'm competent."
"But, but . . . "
Irgo jumped in. "You've got bodyguards! You have no need to lower yourself."
Ebsa shook his head. "Don't. Just don't go there. Any of you."
That got all five of the academicians bristling.
"What would a Clostuone upcomer know of the High One?" Whti glared.
"You're the most desirable woman in the Empire!" Ufly leaned toward Paer.
Who burst out laughing. "Oh One. You lot are idiots. My dad is a Modernist. No one with an ounce of ambition will ally with him. Marry me? Fat chance. Especially since that One damned reporter analyzed my DNA from the glass I drank from during that interview. Everyone knows I'm a two sixteen and will never have children. So even if I had the faintest interest in The Game, I'd be known as pure poison." She crumpled her tray, dumped it in the fire and stalked out of the camp.
"If you lot would listen and think instead of talk, it might help your social life." Ebsa dumped his tray, grabbed his shotgun and followed Paer.
A thin arc of the sun shown above the horizon, and it was dark under the trees. He didn't spot Paer until she turned her head at his running steps. He could see the tear tracks on her cheek. She turned her head away, arms wrapped around herself, head down, shoulders hunched.
He stood beside her, silent. Listening and watching for movement in the dark. Waiting for her to say something, some hint of the real problem.
"You know, until I was nine or ten I was a very girly girl. Dolls and stuffed toys. Pink ponies. Baby dolls. It never occurred to me that I wouldn't have children. Even after I got all competitive with the horse shows. It was just solidly there in the back of my mind. College, husband, children. I never thought about it, it was just a gut deep assumption. When . . . when I started reading things besides horse books . . . and I took biology and realized what that two hundred and sixteen really meant . . . well. I cried about it, and then I decided to win the Olympics. Maybe breed horses. Maybe marry some handsome widower with children . . . maybe . . . Nothing has replaced that bedrock certainty that I want children. Not even Exploration teams. I sometimes think about finding Endi and seducing him. Maybe he could get me pregnant." She took an angry swipe at her cheeks.
Ebsa cleared his throat. "Actually, all you need is that Comet Fall Joy Juice. Ask Rael about it."
She stopped dead. "Oh."
He swallowed and searched frantically for something to babble about. "Yeah. Well, even with the little bit of that stuff that's floating around illegally, the reproductive part of the Game is toast. Every husband has got to be scrambling to get some to dose his high status wife with."
"Ebsa!" She suddenly grinned. "Oh One. That's true now, isn't it?"
"Yeah." He cast a worried look her way. "Not that I actually know if it works all the way to the top Oners. But Endi was sure seducing the upper ranks."
A deep sigh. "Rael gets grumpy about all those children he's got. But when she talks about her niece and nephew, she says she can't cope with babies. That teenagers are at least sapient."
Ebsa snickered. "I've seen her with them. Five minutes and she starts looking like she wants to run away screaming. Well . . . not that bad, but . . . "
Paer sighed, her shoulders relaxed. "Thanks, Ebsa. It never occurred to me that I could have my old dream back. Now I'll have to think about it."
She eyed him for a long moment. And then turned and walked back toward camp.
Oh . . . Did I just miss an opportunity to kiss her? Not that what I feel matters. Because I am an upcomer. Lucky to know the name of my father. Mother doesn't know the name of hers, and I never heard about grandmother. I'm just the latest in a string of bastards, the one who finally made it into the ranks of the One.
He walked back to camp and racked the shotgun.
Beat up Ra'd. Winced when Ra'd beat up Paer. Then Ebsa found himself facing the Fiend . . . Ten minutes later they bowed politely to each other and called it a draw. Paer beat Dan, who was pretty good. Ra'd creamed Hob, who was pretty bad. Then Ajha got into it.
"Since Ra'd took Hob out so early, he needs a bit more exercise."
Damn, the man was fast! Cool Speed and well trained, thinking. Ra'd held his own until he lost his temper. Then Aj
ha let him use up all his energy and floored him.
At least Ra'd had had enough practice getting his temper back under control to react well, and get it under control.
He took Ajha's extended hand to stand, and hobbled over to sit on a log. "Ouch. I have got to work on keeping my temper."
Ajha nodded. "So you know that's the problem."
"Oh yeah. I figured that out the first time Ebsa beat me. I've had nine months to work on it, and the old bad habits still ambush me. Sorry."
Ajha just grinned and rotated his shoulder. "Next time I'll try Ebsa." He glanced at the Grad students. "If any of you want to join in . . . "
Universal shakings of heads.
Whti sniffed. "We fence, of course."
Ajha's grin widened. "Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow" started with the systematic netting and killing of every kind of critter that ate plants. And the ones that ate them. Or both, of course. Most of them small, insectile, biting, or stinging. Except for the ones that were arachnoid. And bit and stung. The docbox got a brief workout, analyzing and nullifying toxins. The fab turned out gloves.
By the end of the day, Ebsa was almost looking forward to being humiliated.
Fortunately Ajha started the fencing with some basic assessment of ability. Ebsa and Hob were allowed to sit out the sparring.
"Thank the One." Hob sat on the ground and stretched his legs out. "I'm an Electronics Intel Techie. I barely know which end is sharp."
"Yeah." Ebsa shucked his jacket and used it as a cushion. "I've never seen Ra'd fence. Or Paer, for that matter."
Hob dropped his voice. "Ra'd's a bit odd. What's his background?"
"Oh." Time to lie. "Military brat, I think. Orphaned. He doesn't talk about it."
"Huh."
"So, how'd you wind up on a team? How much electronics do they need?"
Hob snickered. "I think they mostly wanted me away from the Directorate computers. And some of the places Ajha gets sent, I come in handy. And then the Boss grabbed me permanently. He just looked the subdirector straight in the eye and said I was a good steady driver, and did a good job keeping the records straight. Thank the One. I was pretty much a disaster, back there. Ditto Fiend and Dan."
The first ting of metal pulled their attention back to the cleared spot.
The Fiend faced off with Witty. They slid masks in place.
Ebsa leaned toward Hob. "Up all night fabbing gear?"
Hob grinned. "Whatever it takes to avoid the bug collection duties."
Ebsa glanced at the welts on his hands. Fading, now. And not hardly itching. "Maybe I can blame the stings for my inability to fence."
Hob just snickered.
Blades clashed, scrapped and tinged. Ebsa reached for Speed, just to watch. Not that seeing it helped his comprehension a bit . . . Ajha was judging, holding up fingers to count hits on both sides. The Fiend won on fierceness points. Or something. Then Ra'd and Ufly . . . Ra'd had to push to beat him. Expert, with speed. Ra'd was faster, but less practiced. Dan got chased around by Alamo. Paer beat Irgo, despite the man's superior reach. Even the professor got in on the fun, getting trounced by Ajha.
Ebsa sighed. Another thing I don't have time for.
Dinner from the fabber. Macro scale molecular fabricator. Worse than vat meat from yeast.
"Don't complain." Dan looked around to see if Ajha was listening. "Or we'll be eating bugs. We've got enough food stored for every other meal, more-or-less. Tonight we just have to suffer."
Ebsa bit his lip . . . "My mom's a professional chef. I know some tricks that can help make this stuff palatable."
Dan looked dubious. "Is that possible?"
It was interesting, watching the scientists map, identify, count, dissect . . . everything.
And occasionally run from something.
"Don't kill it, don't kill it! Get pictures!" Irgo bolted past him, a millipede from a nightmare hard on his heels. Probably only a meter and half long. Moving way too fast to count the legs along its sinuous body.
Ebsa pulled up his strongest physical shield and darted in front of it. It was quite happy to switch targets; the pincers around its mouth clamped down on his calf, as it hit him at full speed.
He yipped as he hit the ground, concentrating hard on keeping his shield up, as he got rolled. The critter couldn't get through his shield, but it could squeeze it. The vice around his leg let go, and the millipede crawled over him, trying for a more vulnerable part of his body, before deciding he wasn't edible. As it abandoned him, Ebsa staggered to his feet, and tried to push the shield away from his body and curve it around the critter.
"Holy One!" Irgo was back, with a long stick in hand. He looked at it, and looked embarrassed.
"A stick is better than nothing." Ebsa limped around, concentrating on his circular shield. "Take some pictures fast. I don't think I can keep this up much longer."
More running steps. Ra'd slowed as he took in the situation.
"Now that is something I have never seen done with a shield."
Ufly panted up behind him. "One damn. Look at the size of that critter!"
The creepy crawler was much photographed, then, since it had stopped attacking and was attempting to escape, they all gathered to one side and let it run off the other direction.
That was the last excitement. Ebsa got to demonstrate how to get a fab to produce something close to edible, then a day and a half drive back to the beacon. Six hours of waiting, and then they were driving through dark streets and back into warehouse 329B.
One of the perks of away teams back on brief leave, they were driven to the Director's Residence and installed in "The Team Wing." Apparently the Teams returning for brief stays used it like a hotel. Huge bedrooms decorated by a lover of ostentatiousness, each with a private bath. All the hot water a man could want, after twelve days of sharing one shower with eight other men.
Huge fancy dinner. Huge fancy breakfast buffet
Then while the students and professor buckled down to organize their data, the team all returned to the warehouse to clean and inspect the crawlers. And take them to the practice track where Ajha made them all drive through the practice rings until they could do it without scraping. Then off to shop and stock back up with food. Add a few items—sturdy spears, for one—and then back to the Director's mansion for another dinner.
Alamo looked hungrily up the table to where Ajha and Professor Ecco were chatting with the director. Acting director. The last fellow had been removed and the president wasn't rushing to appoint another man. This Iffi was apparently the front runner, the most senior sub-director.
Being given a chance to prove he isn't a jerk like the last guy.
"Pity we'ah being treated like children dawn he'ah at the foot of the taible." Irgo exaggerated his drawl, gaining him some irritated glances.
I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't entirely faked. Ebsa eyed the head of the table. The acting director was turned away from Ajha and talking to the professor.
"I don't think he likes Ajha." Paer was watching out of the corner of her eyes.
Not inviting the president's daughter and her companions up near him is petty one-upsmanship. Stupid. President Orde is well into his second term, and still popular.
These War Party people really ought to be switching to the Modernists. Well, all right some of them have deep seated beliefs and loyalties. They say he has no one to replace him, no political heirs. But one of them could be that heir. Idiots.
Fean snorted. "Ajha is good at offending people, and he's a relative of Iffi's closest rival for the position. But beyond that, strong Clostuones make a lot of Withiones nervous. They don't like to admit that missing a single pair of genes can label one of the strongest of the One, as a Clostuone. Ajha's a two hundred and five. He's got all twelve insertions." She turned and eyed Ebsa. "You're another one, aren't you?"
"Umm, yeah?" Ebsa struggled to keep a straight face. That was a bit personal, wasn't it. She isn't . . . after me, is she?
/> Irgo snorted. "So as a high Clostuone, you're in the top fifteen percent of all Oners?"
Ufly scowled at Ebsa. "Too bad we're in the top one percent."
Whti sniggered, "Bad for you, good for us. What's your count?"
Too personal. Even wives and lovers don't usually get that info. "Gosh Whti, I don't swing that way." Ebsa widened his eyes and tried to look shocked, as Alamo burst into laughter. The others tried to cover their own laughs and Whti glared.
"Very funny."
"Just because I bragged on Ajha, doesn't mean we're all going to flash our numbers." Fean shrugged. "No one here is weak, and I think we all know it."
"Tomorrow." Ajha's voice from up the table caught everyone's attention. "We have a gate reservation for fifteen hundred hours. Does that work for you, Professor?"
Ecco took a deep breath, released it and nodded. "However much I'd love to dig into the Carboniferous data . . . we need to get back into the field." He looked down the table to his students. "Back up everything to the University comps. Then pack and we’ll leave right after lunch."
Chapter Three
Permian
World EP0722
The Permian had a thin forest of conifers and ferns instead of moss. Of course the conifers were bushy and short and some of the ferns were imitating palm trees . . . Stepping outside, there was a faint smell of salt water and rotting seaweed on the hot, humid, breeze. On the horizon, light glinted off water. Ebsa checked his compass. South to the ocean. Or inland sea.
Empty sky. "No gulls. No birds yet." So why does it smell like home?
Irgo nodded. "Mid- Permian, so there won't be any of the sail-back early mammal-like reptiles." He sounded a little wistful.
"Darn. Dimetrodons were cool." Ebsa walked out and took a slow look around. Moving dots in the distance.
Ra'd joined them binocs to his eyes. "Right, we're millions of years too early for triceratops, but those guys are giving a good imitation, even without horns." Ra'd handed Irgo his binocs.
"Dinocephalians. Big ones." Irgo's drawl was gone again.
"Dino meaning 'terrible' right? Terrible heads?"