Synthezoids Endworld 30

by Robbins, David

  “I was doing what a Warrior is supposed to do,” Crom defended himself. “I was trying to keep those things from harming any of you.”

  Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’s features softened. “I realize that. But you put yourself at unnecessary risk. Why do you think I turned the SEAL around? So I could bring its armaments to bear. There was no need for you to do what you did, however well-intentioned.”

  The front door opened and in hopped Kanto. “Got them,” he said, holding up a pair of gore-splattered throwing knives.

  When Rikki didn’t say anything, Crom grumbled, “Aren’t you going to get on him for jumping out, too?”

  “I told him to,” Rikki said. “To help you.”

  “Oh.” Crom tried hard not to show his feelings were hurt. Here he’d thought he was doing right and he was being taken to task. “I can take a hint. From here on out, I won’t do a thing unless I get your okay first.”

  “A wise decision,” Rikki said.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Weaving the SEAL around the bodies, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi started back through the woods.

  “Aren’t we going the wrong way?” Eleanor said. She was elated the giants were dead. Although perfectly willing to pit her sword against them, she was under no illusions about how difficult they would have been to slay.

  “You’re forgetting something,” Rikki said.

  “Oh, goodness,” Eleanor said, as she realized what he meant. “A.l.v.i.s! May the Lord grant that he be unharmed. We need him to help us when we get to the Valley of Shadow.”

  “Don’t you mean ‘it’?” Crom said. “That thing isn’t a person like you and me. Thanatos made the thing in his lab. Which is why I don’t trust it any farther than I can heave the SEAL.”

  Eleanor was growing irritated by Crom’s attitude. ”A.l.v.i.s is our ally,” she reminded him.

  “So it claims,” Crom said. “If you want to take the word of a talking machine, go right ahead.”

  “No matter what A.l.v.i.s is,” Kanto said, “we need it. We should treat it with respect.”

  “Respect for something put together in a lab?” Crom said. “That will be the day.”

  “You’re a barbarian, do you know that?” Eleanor said in annoyance.

  “Duh,”  Crom said. “It’s not as if I’ve made a secret of what I like.”

  Sherlock broke his long silence by pointing and calling out, “There it is! Functioning, it seems.”

  A.l.v.i.s was winding through the forest toward them. Its lights were blinking, as normal, but there was a dent in its bullet-like casing. A casing that was supposed to be well-nigh indestructible.

  Rikki braked and stuck his head out. “I was worried you had been put out of commission.”

  Coming to a stop, A.l.v.i.s chirped, “I have never been struck so hard. Fortunately, my baffles absorbed most of the force. I presume they are dead?”

  “As dead as they get,” Rikki said. “Let’s keep going. Take the lead, like before.”

  “Certainly, sir.” A.l.v.i.s tilted toward the sky. “We have ample daylight left and can cover a lot of ground. Will you stop for the night or drive on through?”

  “We’ll push on until midnight, catch some sleep, and start again at first light,” Rikki informed the synthezoid.

  “It is unfortunate your biological organisms are so frail,” A.l.v.i.s said. “I never need to sleep or rest. My internal processors convert light to energy to keep me fully charged.”

  “Sunlight or all light?” Sherlock wanted to know.

  A.l.v.i.s swiveled toward him. “Ambient light in any environment is sufficient. Why did you inquire?"

  “Curiosity,” Sherlock said.

  Their journey resumed.

  Eleanor sat back and tried to relax. Her own curiosity had been aroused, and she regarded their quietest companion with interest. “You don’t say a lot, do you?”

  “I beg your pardon?” Sherlock said.

  “Is it that you’re shy?” Eleanor said. “You don’t strike me as the timid sort, though. There must be another reason.”

  “I speak when there is need. Otherwise, yes, I tend to keep my thoughts to myself,” Sherlock said.

  “Too bad females aren’t like you,” Crom said, and chuckled. “My girlfriend never stops yakking. It’s like being with a chipmunk.”

  “There’s a girl who actually likes you?” Eleanor said.

  Kanto cackled.

  Crom snorted. “I’ll have you know several wenches are interested in me.”

  “Wenches again,” Eleanor said.

  “A word that fits women to a T,” Crom said.

  “So does ‘ladies.”

  “Some are, most aren’t.”

  “That’s insulting,” Eleanor said. “How did you get this way?”

  “What way?” Crom said.

  Eleanor glanced at Kanto and he rolled his eyes. She looked over at Rikki-Tikki-Tavi but he was concentrating on his driving. Sherlock had turned to stare out the window. “And where do you stand on females, good sir?”

  “I generally have little interest,” Sherlock said.

  Eleanor arched an eyebrow. “Surely you must. You’re of an age. Nearly everyone at the Home marries. Our Founder encouraged unions, did he not?”

  “In order to perpetuate the Family’s population, yes,” Sherlock said. “Without adequate numbers, we could hardly defend our walls.”

  Eleanor was mildly miffed that he went on staring out the window instead of paying attention to her. “Have you no manners? I was raised to look at people when I talk to them.”

  Sherlock shifted. “My apologies. Social conventions have never been my strong suit. I have long surmised that rules of conduct were invented by simpletons so they can get along without killing each other.”

  “We agree on something else, then,” Crom threw in. “Civilization was invented to keep simpletons from having their heads bashed in by those of us who live true to our natures.”

  “You forget that certain rules of conduct were bestowed on us by our Maker,” Eleanor set him straight. “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not steal. Honor thy father and thy mother. And the rest.”

  “Where’d you get all that?” Crom said.

  “From the Bible. Where else?”

  “I never read it.”

  “How is that possible?” Eleanor said. “Everyone has.”

  “Not me,” Kanto unexpectedly said. “Parts of it, yeah. When I was younger. My parents are Catholic and they’ve never read much of it either.”

  “The Bible?” Eleanor said in amazement. She turned back to Sherlock. “And you?”

  “I read it when I was seven,” Sherlock said. “For a while I considered devoting myself to the Family’s spiritual improvement. But the allure of solving mysteries proved stronger.”

  “That’s a shame,” Eleanor said.

  “Parts of it comport with a statement my hero made,” Sherlock mentioned. “A statement I’m very fond of.”

  “Which statement is that?”

  Sherlock’s face creased in a rare smile. “Consider the rose,” he quoted. “Did it evolve specifically to be a thing of beauty? And to be so fragrant? Or is it evidence of intelligent design? Something extra for us to enjoy.” His smile widened. “Flowers, my dear swordwoman, are proof of the existence of a Power well beyond our own.”

  “Wait a minute,” Eleanor said. For some reason his words ‘dear swordwoman’ caused her pulse to quicken. “Did I hear you right? You read the Bible when you were seven? The entire Bible?”

  “Only once,” Sherlock said.

  “You must like books with a lot of words,” Crom said, and laughed.

  “What I like,” Sherlock said, “is to apply the razor of my intellect to seemingly unsolvable problems. The Valley of Shadow, and in particular the secrets and dangers of God’s Needle, promise to present us with formidable challenges.”

  “In other words,” Crom said, “it’s not going to be easy. You’re n
ot telling us anything we don’t already know, junior.”

  “I believe I’m older than you are,” Sherlock said. “That would make me your senior.”

  Crom shook his head, and chortled. “Has anyone ever wanted to kick you in the ass?”

  Eleanor wasn’t bothered by Sherlock at all. Fact was, she found him fascinating. He was so different from other young men at the Home. “I like your analogy, Sherlock. And I like that you believe there is a Higher Power. I believe the same and I call that Power my Lord.”

  “God,” Crom said. “Are we going to talk religion now?”

  Rikki-Tikki-Tavi turned his head. “Let’s talk about working as a team instead. I realize you didn’t have time to get to know one another. But if we’re to make it back alive, you need to learn to cooperate. To that end, I want you to do everything in pairs. We’ll switch the pairs later, but for now, you’re not to go anywhere or do anything without your partner. Is that understood?”

  “Let me team with Sherlock,” Crom said. “He wears that damn silly cap and talks funny but he thinks a lot and we’d be good together.”

  Eleanor quickly said, “It should be Sherlock and me. He respects a lady, and I like that.”

  “It will be Crom and you,” Rikki announced, “and Sherlock and Kanto. Later, we’ll switch.”

  “Me and the wench?” Crom said, and laughed. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

  “He’s pairing us with our antithesis,” Sherlock said. “A commendable strategy.”

  “Our who?” Crom said.

  Eleanor was bitterly disappointed by Rikki’s decision. Crom was a simpleton. She had nothing to learn from him, and it was highly doubtful he would stoop to learn anything from her. She was about to object when Rikki brought the SEAL to a stop.

  A.l.v.i.s was hurrying toward them, the synthezoid’s red eyes glowing bright. “You asked to be warned,” he said to Rikki. “My sensors have picked up an anomaly that might pose a threat.”

  “Might?” Rikki said.

  “I calculate it is traveling at a rate of thirty-seven miles per hour, approaching from the north. I have never encountered one of these before. The study might prove beneficial.”

  “What are we talking about here?” Rikki said.

  “Oh. My apologies.” A.l.v.i.s chirped, then said, “I am referring to gaseous formations that dissolve human flesh like acid. I believe you call them chemical clouds.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Chemical clouds were once the bane of the Family’s existence. The very first cloud the Family encountered nearly wiped them out. This, despite the fact that, thanks to their Founder’s meticulous planning, the Home was located well away from military installations and large urban centers.

  Kurt Carpenter had hoped to spare his compound from the worst of the fallout, and in that he succeeded. He also stockpiled hazmat suits as a precaution against chemical attacks. But the first chemical cloud appeared months after the Big Blast. Since the radiation levels were not in the danger zone, the Family was going about their daily routine in ordinary clothes.

  No one foresaw that the mix of nuclear, chemical and biological toxins would result in a catalyzing stew that brought about not only widespread genetic derangement in humans and animals, but also warped Nature itself.

  On that terrible long-ago day, Carpenter had received word from a Warrior on the west wall that something strange was approaching the compound. Hurrying from his study, Carpenter climbed to the rampart and was handed binoculars by the Warrior, Soren Anderson.

  “I don’t like the looks of it,” Soren said, pointing.

  Carpenter hadn’t known what to make of what he saw; a roiling cloud that clung close to the ground, the main mass a vivid green, the outer areas lighter in shade.

  The aberration was about a hundred yards from the Home, and closing.

  Word had spread and other Family members were gathering to witness the spectacle.

  Soren Anderson pointed out several deer grazing in the open space between the Home’s high walls and the forest. None of the deer showed alarm as the cloud bore down on them. They raised their heads and stared, and then it enveloped them and they were lost to sight. There were no bleats of pain or panic.

  Anderson mentioned that it was strange how the green cloud was moving against the wind. He advised that everyone should seek shelter in the bunkers.

  Carpenter agreed.

  The Founder and Soren Anderson hurried people from the wall and the ramp, then separated to gather up Family members scattered throughout the commons.

  Soren Anderson wrote in his diary that he was ushering a group of eleven adults and children into C Block when he looked around and spied Kurt Carpenter with a woman and her child, moving toward B Block. The child tripped and the mother stopped to pick her up. Carpenter tried to get them to move faster but they were enveloped by the green cloud.

  To Soren Anderson’s horror, he saw their clothes and flesh literally eaten away in the blink of an eye. They dissolved so rapidly, they had no chance to scream or cry out.

  All this filtered through Rikki-Tikki-Tavi’s memory as he lifted his head to the north and set eyes on a vaporous green mass coming in their direction. “Can we outrun it?”

  “I calculate that at the speed the cloud is moving, it will be on us in less than a minute,” A.l.v.i.s said. “Do not worry about me. Chemical clouds are corrosive to living tissue. Since I am artificial, I am impervious. But as a precaution I will seal my exterior ports. I suggest that you secure your vehicle.”

  Rikki didn’t need urging. Quickly, he rolled up the windows and flicked a switch that closed the SEAL’s air vents. The SEAL was supposed to be air-tight. He could only hope the instruction manual was right.

  “We’re just going to sit here?” Kanto said uneasily.

  “No choice,” Rikki said. To try to drive through a cloud was to court disaster. Should the SEAL smash into a tree and become crippled, they couldn’t possibly reach the Valley of Shadow and return to the Home in time to save Blade, Hickok and Yama.

  “It’s almost on us,” Sherlock said.

  The forest to the north was shrouded in green. Like a fog bank spilling from a river, the cloud was rapidly spreading.

  “Do we hold our breath in case some gets in?” Eleanor asked.

  “You can try.” Rikki didn’t think that would do any good. The cloud didn’t need to get into a person’s lungs. It dissolved tissue from the outside in.

  “Nice knowing all of you,” Crom said, chuckling.

  The green cloud washed over and above and around them, and a sibilant hiss filled the van.

  Rikki checked the window and door seals, alert for leaks that could prove fatal. Kanto and Eleanor were doing the same. Crom wore a lopsided grin. Sherlock had his face close to his window and was intently studying the cloud.

  The hissing grew louder.

  Something came running toward them. It was a bear, a large black bear that was being eaten away right before their eyes. Most of its hair was already gone and now its skin and flesh were disintegrating into nothingness. It staggered to a stop, raised what remained of its face to the heavens, and uttered a yowl of torment and despair. It managed a tottering step, one eye hanging by a stem, its nose melted away.

  “The Lord have mercy!” Eleanor gasped.

  “Be glad it’s not us,” Kanto said.

  “It would be a quick way to go,” Crom said.

  “There’s no good way to die,” Eleanor told him.

  “Shows how much you know,” Crom said. “Give me fast over slow any day.”

  All that was left of the black bear were a few stringy sinews clinging to white bone. At they looked on, the last sinew disappeared and its bones collapsed into a pile. Then even that was gone.

  “Fascinating,” Sherlock said.

  The hissing lessened. Trees and brush appeared, untouched, pristine, somehow invulnerable to the acidic chemicals.

  The cloud was now past them.

/>   “I hope I never see another one of those as long as I live,” Eleanor said.

  Outside, A.l.v.i.s blinked to life. A metal antenna slid from a recess and rose into the air.

  The SEAL’s radio crackled and the synthezoid’s voice came through loud and clear.

  “It is safe for organics to breathe again. I detect no harmful residue, chemical or otherwise.”

  Rikki pressed the switch to his window and let it down a few inches. “Are you sure?”

  “My processors are state of the art,” A.l.v.i.s chirped.

  “What’s that mean?” Crom said.

  “My maker designed me to function flawlessly. You can rely on me where science is involved.”

  To Rikki’s mild surprise, Sherlock said, “Blade, Hickok and Yama might disagree.”

  A.l.v.i.s retracted the antenna and swiveled toward Sherlock. “I repeatedly warned your head Warrior and your Leader and your chief Scientist about using my Master’s device. They refused to listen.”

  “Maybe you should have told them everything,” Sherlock said.

  “Everything?” Rikki said, puzzled.

  “I can do no more than I am programmed to do,” A.l.v.i.s said to Sherlock.

  “Stupid machines,” Crom said.

  “Enough chatter,” Rikki said. “We have a lot of ground to cover before midnight. Take point, A.l.v.i.s. You’re doing fine so far.”

  “Thank you, sir,” the synthezoid said.

  Putting the SEAL into gear, Rikki pressed on the accelerator. Midnight couldn’t come soon enough to suit him. He could use some rest. “It’s been one thing after another since we left the Home,” he remarked. “The mutates, the giants. Now a chemical cloud. What are the odds of running into all three in so short a time?”

  “You would almost think it was deliberate,” Sherlock said.

  “God must be mad at us,” Crom said, and laughed.

  Eleanor shot him an annoyed glance.

  Rikki focused on Sherlock in the rearview mirror. “Are you suggesting it was more than random chance?”

  “The probably factor is at least a million to one,” Sherlock said. “Much too high to be mere coincidence.”