by J. J. Green
Both Strongquist and Faina continued to try to persuade her of the necessity the sedation. Cariad couldn’t get through to them, and, fearing for her own safety, she insisted on being returned to the Nova Fortuna. She wanted nothing more than to put as much distance between herself and the Guardians as possible.
“Take me back, then.” She repeated, “Just take me back.”
She had to tell the other Woken what the Guardians had done. If she couldn’t persuade them that their behavior was unacceptable, maybe others could, or Anahi might. The Guardians had said they would follow the Leader’s instructions. She had to speak to Anahi. Whatever happened, even if they complied with Anahi’s command, the Guardians’ act had changed the nature of their relationship with all the colonists irrevocably.
Eventually, Strongquist and Faina acceded to her demand. Cariad sat in stony silence, her hands trembling, the entire shuttle flight back to the colony ship. When she disembarked onto the Nova Fortuna, she left the Guardians without a parting word and went directly to Anahi at the Leader’s quarters.
The outer door to what had once been the public office was locked.
“Let me in,” Cariad demanded through the door comm when Anahi answered. “I have to talk to you.”
“What about?” Anahi asked cautiously.
Cariad blurted the news of Aubriot’s sedation. At first, Anahi seemed to not believe her, her expression suspicious.
“Do you really think I would make this up?” Cariad asked. “Open the door and let me in. We have to figure out a way to fix this.”
The door slid to one side and Cariad strode inside. Anahi was standing behind the desk in the lobby. Cariad put her hands on the desktop and leaned toward the older woman. “They just gave him a shot and knocked him out,” she exclaimed. “I only turned away for a minute, and when I turned back, they were laying him out. Just like that. Like it was the most normal thing in the world.”
“What did they say?” Anahi asked.
Cariad related the tense conversation she’d had with the Guardians, finishing with, “I thought they were going to do the same to me. It was insane. They were so calm about it. Not acting guilty at all. I can still hardly believe it. I feel like I should pinch myself.”
“Are you sure he wasn’t being violent?” Anahi asked. “Did he take a swing at them?”
“No. He was just being Aubriot. You know what he’s like. I don’t know what you were thinking when you wanted to wake him up. But there was no reason to knock him out. I mean, even if they were right that he’s a threat to the colony, they can’t just take him out of the equation. What if they decide to do it to someone else? If they do it to a Gen, we’ll have a revolution on our hands.”
“All right,” Anahi said. “Sit down.”
Cariad slumped into a seat, some of her tension and fear finally dissipating.
Anahi’s expression was grave. “I’ll speak to them. We’ll see what they say.” She opened her desk interface and sent a comm request.
Cariad couldn’t see the screen from where she was sitting, but she recognized Strongquist’s voice immediately.
“Leader,” he said. “I thought I might hear from you. I’m guessing you want to speak to us about the unfortunate decision we had to make.”
“I do want to speak to you about your unlawful assault on a colonist, yes.”
Cariad admired Anahi’s strong stance, but she doubted it would do any good. The Guardians held all the cards. They wouldn’t have gone ahead with the sedation if they thought they could be forced to back down.
“As we explained to Cariad,” Strongquist said, “Aubriot’s attitude and behavior threatened the future of the colony, and so—”
“You have no authority to act in this way,” Anahi said. “None at all. You aren’t even members of the Nova Fortuna Project. I demand that you return Aubriot to our ship immediately.”
“It is with great regret that I must refuse your request,” Strongquist replied. He did actually sound regretful.
“But you have to do as I say,” Anahi exclaimed. “You have to obey the Leader.”
“That isn’t quite correct. We have to ensure the future of the colony, at any cost. In most cases, that means we bow to the Leader’s judgment. Aubriot’s case is extreme, however, and we have no choice but to deny your request at this time. When the colony is more stable—”
Anahi closed the connection. She looked suddenly older, and very tired. After a pause she asked, “What have I done, Cariad? I never meant for things to turn out like this. I was only trying to keep us all safe.”
The long-time colleague Cariad remembered seemed to have returned. Though she wasn’t sure Anahi’s understanding of her motivations was accurate, she pitied her. She reached out and touched the woman’s hand. “You didn’t bring the Guardians here. They’re the ones we need to be dealing with right now.”
Anahi said, “But what can we do? They’re armed and only the Gens have weapons.”
“I don’t know yet, but we have to figure out a way. We can’t let the Guardians walk all over us.”
Anahi shook her head. “Their technology is far superior to ours. If we refuse to allow them aboard the ship, they can force their way on. And we can’t stop them from interfering on the planet. They can come and go as they please. They could take over the entire colony if they wanted to. If they start giving the Gens orders, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“The Gens have already broken away,” Cariad replied. “If the Guardians decide they want to take over the colony, they’ll have their work cut out for them. There are lots more Gens than us and the Guardians don’t even know where most of them are. Thinking about it, it’s we Woken I’m more concerned about. What if the Guardians decide we’re getting in the way of the success of the colony? There are only a few of us.”
“Do you really think it’ll come to that?” Anahi asked. “They’ve left us alone up until now. It’s only been Aubriot they objected to. They’ve been generally supportive, and they have tried to catch the Natural Movement saboteur.”
“Have they?” Cariad asked. “Or were they only making a show of it? Don’t you think it’s too much of coincidence that they turned up at exactly the right moment? What if they’re responsible for everything that’s happened? We only have their word about the Natural Movement plot to destroy the colony. Has anyone actually seen any evidence of it? After what I witnessed just now, I don’t feel like I know the Guardians at all. It was so cold-blooded. I don’t feel like we’re even the same species, as if humanity underwent some fundamental change after we left.”
“Interesting, but it doesn’t really help us.”
“No,” Cariad agreed.
“The fact is, the Guardians are armed and we aren’t. And it isn’t like the Gens are just going to kindly hand their weapons back if we ask. We found that out already.”
Cariad bit back the retort that popped into her mind regarding Anahi’s handling of that situation. “That isn’t to say we can’t make our own. We have plenty of scientists who could figure out how, I’m sure. We have printers we can program to make the parts. There has to be something we can do.”
“Yes,” Anahi said. “We have to do something to protect ourselves.”
“First off, we have to tell the Guardians they’re no longer welcome aboard the Nova Fortuna. And we have to continue to demand they wake up Aubriot.”
Anahi took a breath. “He’s going to be so mad.”
Cariad smiled. She preferred Anahi without her megalomaniacal streak. “I’m glad we agree about something.” She wasn’t going to let Anahi’s conciliatory mood go to waste. “What’s happened has made me realize more than ever that we need a change of attitude. We’ve been seeing the Gens as a problem that we need to fix. We’ve been imagining that we have all the answers, but both us and the Gens are alike—unfamiliar with the new world and without any experience of building a colony. We should work with the Gens, not try to control them. They aren’t
our adversaries. The Natural Movement is what’s really out to make this colony fail, and now we have another enemy: the Guardians.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ethan was piloting a flitter along the dry river bed that led to the caves, the vehicle piled high with supplies he was bringing over from the original settlement, when he saw Twyla. She passed him on another flitter going the other way, flying quickly. He lifted a hand to acknowledge her but she didn’t seem to notice him. He continued his journey, mulling over the impending issues the Gens would soon face.
Though the Gens had already transported so many containers that they’d nearly filled the caves designated as storage areas, they only had in their possession around a tenth of what had been brought down from the ship. It was a big problem. If they wanted to entirely cut ties with the Woken and the Guardians and go it alone, they couldn’t keep returning to collect more food, equipment, and other essentials. If they wanted to be independent, they had to wean themselves from their milk mother. Yet they didn’t have enough room to store everything they might need.
Ethan was also beginning to worry about the constant use of the flitters. The Manual warning that the flitters’ power supplies were finite was suddenly becoming more real. Once the flitters’ energy ran out the fledgling colony would not have the technology to replenish them.
Independence was bringing the Gens constraints and pressures as well as benefits.
Another concern on Ethan’s mind was his farm. He hadn’t been back there in a long while after Cherry had sown his crop of soy beans. He had no idea how the plants were doing. He hadn’t fertilized as he was supposed to or irrigated when the weather was dry. The work he was doing to found the new settlement was important, but was it more important than growing the food that would feed them when the ship’s supplies ran out?
He arrived at the top of the cliffs and began unloading the boxes from the flitter onto the rocky ground. Next came the job of strapping each box to a platform and lowering it to the storage cave where someone would be waiting to haul it inside. Before beginning the task, he went and sat at the edge of the cliff to take a few minutes’ break. Dangling his legs over the precipitous drop, he watched the ocean. The sky was cloudy and the water gray and foamy as it churned.
A crazy scheme took shape in Ethan’s mind. He would leave the problems of colonization behind and build a boat. Ancient vessels on Earth used the wind for power, catching it in enormous pieces of cloth called sails. He would harness the power of the wind and travel by boat across the ocean. There was another continent beyond the one chosen for the first settlement. He wanted to see it. He wanted to travel across the entire globe, visiting all the landmasses. There was a whole world out there to discover.
Ethan sighed. Maybe one day he would do it. Maybe. He already had a lifetime’s work ahead just helping to provide a reliable supply of food. He got to his feet to return to the supply boxes.
As he stood, he heard a dull thud and a shock radiated up from the ground. It was an odd sensation, unlike anything he’d ever experienced. Was it an earthquake? He’d learned about them in school. He waited to see if anything else was going to happen but nothing did so he walked over to the boxes and lifted one, ready to carry it to the platform.
A shout came from the caves, followed by a scream. Ethan returned to the cliff edge and peered over. People were climbing the ladders that led up from the caves. They were moving fast, but he couldn’t see why, or not at first. Then the cause of the disturbance became clear: water was pouring from some of the caves. They were escaping a flood.
Frozen in surprise, Ethan gaped at the sudden deluge of water. Loose, light items like clothes and packaging were being carried out and falling into the ocean below.
More waterfalls appeared. Ethan tried to figure out what was happening. Where was the water coming from? It hadn’t rained heavily recently and the river bed was as dry as ever.
“Help,” a voice cried. The sound galvanized him into action. He ran to the nearest ladder but it was full of people climbing up. He spotted another farther away that was empty, sped over to it, and began to climb down. If the caves were flooding, people would have to get out fast or risk being swept away. Even if they survived the drop into the ocean, no one could swim.
He raced down the ladder.
Another cry sounded out. Over to one side of the cliff face, the ladders were filling up rapidly. People were trying to leave the caves but the ladders didn’t have the capacity to hold all of them at once. Ethan worried that if people overwhelmed them, the structures might break free and send hundreds to their deaths. At one cave entrance people crowded, jostling and shouting as they waited their turn to get onto a ladder.
“Stay calm,” Ethan shouted across to them. “Wait your turn.”
They either didn’t hear or ignored him. The jostling grew rougher. “Hurry up,” someone shouted. “I can hardly stand up.” Ethan was amazed that any of them could stand in the torrent that swirled around their legs and poured down the cliff. Ethan could only hear the arguing voices faintly because the noise of falling water was turning into a roar.
“Help me,” a woman’s voice called. “Someone. Please!”
In the opposite direction Ethan saw a woman teetering on a cave edge, holding the hand of a toddler. A barrier had been erected at the front of their cave but it was hanging askew and water rushed through the gap. As Ethan climbed across the network of ladders toward her, the barrier swung wide and broke off entirely before spinning and tumbling down to the waiting waves. The woman lifted the child into her arms and balanced it on one hip, gripping the cave wall with the other hand. Her legs were spread out, bracing herself against the water’s current.
She couldn’t both hold the child and climb out onto a ladder. Whatever carrier she had for carrying the toddler on her back must have been swept away. “Give him to me,” he said as he reached the woman. She was soaked through and her features were pale and frightened. She hesitated, gripping the child tighter, gazing down at the waves, her eyes round.
“It’s okay,” Ethan said. “I can help you.”
A shriek sounded out. Someone was falling from the crowd Ethan had seen at one cave opening. The figure hit the water so hard the sound reverberated up the cliff over the noise of plunging water. The person quickly sank out of sight.
“Give him to me,” Ethan yelled. “Hurry up.”
Another cry came as someone else fell. Ethan turned around. Were people pushing in their fear and haste to get onto the ladders? Or had the current grown so strong it was sweeping them away?
The woman thrust the toddler at him. He grabbed the child and held him with one arm while using the other to grip the ladder. “Now you.”
A rumbling crash and roar came from deep within the caves and the cliff face shook. The mother screamed as a wave of water poured out, carrying her with it. She grabbed Ethan just in time, but his feet slipped from the rungs and he almost fell. For a frantic second the woman dangled below him, her legs windmilling. Ethan’s other arm gripped a ladder rung, bearing his weight and the weight of the woman and the child. Then one of his feet found a rung. He heaved upward. His other foot slid onto a rung. The woman also managed to climb onto the ladder.
Ethan’s gaze swept the cliff face in horror. The cave entrances that had been crowded were now empty. The second flood of water had swept countless more people to their deaths. Only the people on the ladders had survived, and possibly some others who remained within the caves, holding on against the rush of water.
Ethan climbed quickly to the clifftop. As he was putting the little boy on the ground, his mother arrived.
“Thank you,” she gasped as she grabbed her child, but Ethan was already climbing down again. There had to be more people who needed help. The entire cliff face could break away soon in the deluge.
As he was speeding down, he wondered what had happened. He’d guessed where the water had come from. It had to be from the aquifer he’d discovered
on his most recent exploration. But why had it suddenly burst? The caves had all been dust-dry. No water had flowed through them for a very long time. There was no reason for its sudden appearance except that something catastrophic had caused it.
The implications of his line of thought began to pile up in Ethan’s head but he pushed them to one side. Figuring out the why and how of what had happened would have to come later. For now, he had to help the people remaining in the caves.
He reached the first entrance and peered inside. The dark interior was empty save for the water running through it, pale and frothing with dust. Ethan made his way over to the next cave. Inside this one a handful of people were clustered. They were huddled tightly together at the back, where the floor was higher.
Cherry was among them.
“Ethan,” she said when she saw him. He couldn’t hear her over the rush of water, but he read her lips. She smiled bravely but her face betrayed her fear. Little Cherry. She was the smallest of them all. To get out of the cave, the people would have to withstand the force of current in the deeper water at the front. Deep water that was growing deeper. If they stayed where they were, eventually the water could rise high enough to sweep them away.
“You have to get out,” Ethan shouted at them. He beckoned. “I’ll help you.” Holding on firmly with one hand and balancing on one foot, he leaned out into the cave and beckoned again. A young man stepped tentatively out. His body pressed against the wall, he inched over to the cave entrance. As soon as he reached Ethan’s outstretched hand, Ethan grabbed him and gripped tightly. “Hold onto me and climb around me onto the ladder.”
The youngster did as Ethan had instructed, grasping onto his body until he finally reached the safety of the ladder. A woman and another man did the same. Then only Cherry was left. She was hugging the wall, fighting the current and watching the rushing water.
“Cherry,” Ethan shouted. “You have to come out. Come on. It’ll be okay.” He didn’t think she could hear him. She seemed mesmerized by the fast-flowing water. Ethan bellowed at her, “Cherry. Now. Hurry up.”