Interference

by Sue Burke

  She sat down with a big grin and spread her skirt on the bench. She wanted to volunteer, I knew it. This team stank already.

  “I want to volunteer,” she said. “I’m a geologist, so I’m a natural for your team. Well, a geologist in training, but I need to learn, and that’s the way, isn’t it? Jump in and see if you swim!”

  “Well, it’ll be dangerous. Very.”

  “And I’m a woman, right? Women are for safe, important things, right? This isn’t safe enough, is it? It’s not important, is it? I knew you’d pull that on me!”

  “I just wanna be honest up front.”

  “I know the risks. I’ve studied coral, too. See?” She held up her left index finger. There was a scar on the pad where a hunk of flesh was chopped out.

  “Stung?”

  “I know the risks.”

  My Black Hat friends were already laughing at me.

  I wanted to say she was a risk, too. She’d try to take over the team. Women were like that. If we hadn’t been in the dining hall surrounded by everyone, I’d have said that. Instead I said, “Geology, huh? How can that help us on this team?”

  “A lot!” she said. “We have maps and reports going back more than a century for the plains. I know it all! I think the key’s going to be hydro. Water. Corals thrive on moisture. The plains are part of an enormous watershed. Did you know the ground level has been sinking in part of the south forest? Six full centimeters in some places! The locustwood trees give us constant reports.”

  “They do like to talk.”

  “Next to Stevland, they’re the smartest plants. In my opinion, anyway. I know some people are impressed by the pineapples, but they don’t have the memory and scope that the others do. They’re just a group intelligence. And we don’t know about the corals at all. Maybe they’re intelligent, too. We have so much to learn!”

  “We’ll be traveling by river. What do you know about the rivers in the plains?”

  “Everything! Several rivers converge at different points in the plains to create ours, and they all meander.” She unrolled her paper. It was a map. “I created this from all available sources. I’ve been working on this for months!”

  It was big and detailed. Maybe too detailed, but everything was there, swamps and landmarks, hills, major life concentrations and zones. I studied it a while, then looked up. She was watching me, waiting for me to be dazzled.

  “This’ll be useful.”

  My friends laughed. She glared at them. I didn’t want her on my team, but I wanted that map. I needed that map. It was the best map I’d ever seen. And she probably came with it.

  I stayed serious, like a leader should be, to remind her I was the leader. “What else can you do?”

  She’d been waiting for that question. She launched into the story of her life. Before she was halfway through, my Black Hat friends wandered off with excuses because they were dying of boredom. So was I, but I had to listen. Being a leader had downsides.

  “… so I’ve done fieldwork before. You know everything about every animal visible to the naked eye, or that’s what they say, and I can do that with anything mineral. And with corals, at least the ones we have in the forest. Well, like you too, probably.”

  “They say that about me?”

  “Is it true?”

  “I haven’t seen everything.”

  She clapped her hands and laughed. “And you’re an explorer! You’ve climbed mountains!”

  “Lots of people climb mountains. Just not as high as me.”

  “I’ve never climbed one. I want to see everything, too! Starting with the plains.”

  “It’ll be dangerous and cold and wet and uncomfortable. It won’t be fun.”

  “I have warm clothes! I want to come.”

  Jose had told me that the first thing you want from a team member is enthusiasm, and next knowledge and skills. This conversation had only one outcome, and I didn’t like it.

  “Okay. But I don’t know when we’re leaving yet. We still have a lot to plan.”

  “Then I’m on the team?” She gave a little shriek and got up and danced around. Danced! People looked at her and laughed. I wished I could make this trip alone. But that wouldn’t be safe. And a team leader mustn’t say things like that out loud, and people were watching, so I couldn’t get away with it.

  Honey calmed down, but only a little. “I’m going to the Coral Plains!”

  “Remember, this isn’t a real expedition. If we find something, then they’ll send a real one.”

  “Right, we do the hard part, which is to go into the unknown, and once it’s known, then the real work begins? No. This is the real expedition. You know that. And I’m on the team!”

  I had to say something nice, so I said, “You’re a great addition.” That was the formal welcome, though mostly only old people used it, and I suddenly understood why. It gave you something nice to say when you needed to say something other than what you were thinking. I wasn’t sure I’d wanted to learn that.

  I had Honey on the team. I’d need at least one more person. I also needed to start planning the trip. Jose was out hunting, but I’d arranged to meet him in the late afternoon. I told Honey to be there with her map. I hoped he’d approve of her. I knew he’d like the map. Meanwhile, I’d talk to Stevland. He knew a lot.

  The Meeting House was empty, and inside, Stevland was making noises. I ducked under the doorway and listened. They were animal noises, each one exactly right. He was going through bird species one by one, by clades, all their barks and woofs. Even eagle jabber. I’d never seen eagles, but maybe someday I’d be lucky. They liked big prey, including Humans, and I liked challenges.

  “Stevland,” I said, “do a bluebird reef.” Anyone could do one bluebird, but only Stevland could do a couple of dozen birds at once.

  After a pause, a lot of noise came from the speaker, first just ordinary barks, then an alert of approaching danger, then the whole reef reacted to try to scare it away.

  “Wow, that was good. They saw a spider coming.”

  “Correct.”

  “You got it exactly.”

  “I appreciate your praise. You are an expert.” Then he switched voices and sounded exactly like Jose. “You have come here to discuss your expedition.”

  I laughed again. “You can do anything.”

  “Sound analysis is as easy as chemistry. Your trip will bring back important information.”

  “That’s what I think.”

  “Not everyone shares Queen Rust’s opinion.”

  “Farmers do.”

  “Farmers think circularly and repetitively. They are inclined to assume that what has happened before will happen again. They are tied to seasons.”

  I thought a minute. “Hunting is tied to seasons, too.”

  “Correct. But you expect things to change, so you will see changes more readily. This is why you are a proper choice to lead this team. Honey is on your team now. She will provide good balance. But you need a Glassmaker, too. Every team should have one. I recommend a worker known as Scratcher whose queen is Thunderclap. She is not like Rust. She listens. Scratcher is an older worker, but he is strong and active and very experienced. He can run your camp so efficiently that you and Honey will be free to explore without other concerns.”

  “If you think so, I’ll ask for him.” I knew that Thunderclap ran the carpentry workshop, and no one hated her even though she was a queen.

  “I appreciate your trust. She has the raft you can use. And I must trust you with one key piece of information, since you are leading an important team. I do not believe that velvet worm venom is fatal to Glassmakers, although it is to Humans. It may not even make them ill. In any case, the antidote will do them no harm and will reverse the mechanical action of the venom.”

  So Cawzee was just faking it! Figures.

  “But you tell everyone it will kill them.”

  “There are already enough divisions on Pax. The saliva will dissolve any flesh, so the antidote m
ust be applied to the wound. Also, any bite is trauma and requires prompt attention. As a team leader in a remote situation, you must have all the facts to make immediate, correct decisions. I wish I could go with you. The electronics workshop is creating a radio transmitter, and we are almost ready to implement that, but not in time. We need a little more metal.”

  “We’ll take bats.”

  Stevland switched to bat language. “Warmth. Food.” His traditional goodbye.

  I tried to answer “water and sunshine” in Glassmade. Maybe I said “water and lizards.”

  After I’d left, I thought a lot. We always believed that Stevland was honest by nature. And I could understand his worry. This used to be the Glassmakers’ city. They left, abandoning Stevland, we Humans found the ruins two hundred years later and took over, the Glassmakers came back a century ago, we fought, Humans won, and the surviving Glassmakers wanted to live in peace with us. But rumors said they’d like to wipe us out and take over. I didn’t believe the rumors, but I couldn’t forget them. Rumors also said Stevland never forgave them for abandoning him, either.

  I went to see Thunderclap. There were eight queens, and for all that they were supposed to be integrated, I didn’t know them well because I’d never tried. I found her directing the carpentry workshop, a tall, wide wooden building close to the river but above the normal flood stage. She and two Glassmaker workers and five Humans were all busy measuring, cutting, and pounding. It smelled like fresh-cut wood, sweet as a forest. Tools and boards and logs were everywhere. She wore a smock over a simple dress, and seemed a little swollen. Pregnant. Another worker or major on the way.

  She saw me, put down a box she was working on, and dashed over to greet me, taking my hands the way queens like to. The air smelled like roses, she was that happy to see me. Was she expecting me?

  “I’d like to ask Scratcher to be on my team.”

  She wiggled happily and held my hands tighter. “Scratcher be-him very happy to come with you. He travels much, enjoys travel, but not yet goes to the Coral Plains. He has many skills. I will send for him.” She squawked something to one of the workers, who dashed off. “I desire he make a great addition to your team.”

  “Stevland says so.”

  “I desire say-you Rust say wrong things. We always must investigate. I perhaps come with you if queens perhaps take such grave risks. You be-you very brave. In that-far plains live terrible species and killers, you never know with every step what be-it beneath your foot or aim at your back.”

  “It won’t be that bad.”

  “I will instruct Scratcher to obey you like you be-you me.”

  Finally, someone who understood chain of command. I wanted to thank her, but she kept talking.

  “We need travel, we Glassmakers. To stay in one place is like be-us plant, and we be-us animals. Travel forces test of ideas to see if be-they true everywhere, testing roles and duties and learning which be-them correct. Places must change, we must find ideas which remain the same.”

  I was about to say I was an explorer because I changed when I went places, because I wanted to grow like a plant, at least mentally. Maybe some other day. “Scratcher will be a great addition to the team.”

  She took me by the hand and led me out of the workshop to the docks. A wide raft was tied there, with a little cabin that straddled two of the four fat white logs. She gestured at it like it was a prize.

  “Your raft. It be-it perfect for travel. Sail for fast travel, pole to push if no wind, rudder to guide.”

  I pulled it close and stepped onto the back deck. The raft barely dipped under my weight. In any river race on a windy day, this kind of boat won. Sturdy and fast. With a quick leap, she was standing beside me. My smile was rewarded with a cloud of perfume. Then she rubbed her hands on her neck and reached out to anoint me with her scent. That would help Scratcher feel loyal to me, so I let her. She stroked my cheeks, my hair, and my clothing in a way that seemed a little personal. It smelled like pine and leather. I liked it.

  A worker appeared at the riverbank, tan fur with reddish-brown patches like her. He bent his front legs to bow to her. She said something to him in Glassmade too fast and quiet for me to understand well. Something about “important” and a lot of “you.” She gestured to me, and we both climbed off the raft onto the riverbank. He bowed again to her, and then to me, and walked over to my side.

  “Where you go, I go.”

  I wasn’t sure I wanted that kind of loyalty, but I knew what I had to say one more time. “You’re a great addition to the team. Our team. Now I need to talk to people about the plains, and I’d like you to come with me. You should know everything I know.”

  “Where you go, I go.”

  I turned to the queen. “I’ll need to know all about the raft. I’ve used them, but not enough.”

  “Very wise,” she said, rosy again. “You will return-you both tomorrow when Lux is high. We will teach you to use it and cross war zone in river.”

  “Great. I’ll bring Honey. She’s on the team, too.”

  Halfway to Jose, Scratcher took my hand like a child, but his grip was strong and his hand was dry and rough like someone who had spent a lifetime working hard.

  The hunters’ headquarters was in a room attached to the north gate to the city, mostly a place to store and repair weapons. Honey had her map spread on the workbench and was showing it to Jose when we arrived. Would he approve of her?

  He looked up at me, then at Scratcher, and nodded. “You’ve got yourself a great team. Let’s start.”

  He went over everything he knew about velvet worms and the plains, and soon a biologist and another hunter joined us. Honey constantly asked questions and took notes. Scratcher asked what was edible, afraid of fire, or attacked at night.

  But it turned out that Honey could hardly shoot an arrow and Scratcher had never wielded anything bigger than a kitchen knife. So I was in charge of security. Good. No competition. By then it was almost sundown.

  “Let’s meet again tomorrow right after dawn for breakfast,” I said. “We’ve got training and preparation all day, and we leave the day after tomorrow at dawn.”

  “All right!” Honey said. “We’re leaving! This will be exciting!”

  Scratcher smelled sweetly content.

  I went home. I share a house with five other guys, kind of crowded, but we’re all lazy, and that way we split housekeeping down to nothing. Pretty soon Scratcher was knocking at the door, carrying a thick blanket and wearing a pair of side baskets with a few things in it.

  “Where you go, I go.”

  I was even less sure I wanted that, but he was happy to curl up on the floor and hardly snored at all.

  * * *

  He wasn’t easy to wake up at dawn. An hour later, I had laid out plans for the day, surprising Honey with all the details that went into a trip like this. I hoped she might resign from the team, but instead she got more enthusiastic. I started with a review of security, things like always staying in the line of sight of someone. I could guard them, but they had to avoid being stupid. If they could.

  At midmorning, when the bright star Lux was high in the sky, Thunderclap showed us every detail about the raft, with tedious details like tacking with the sail, bright orange so we could be seen and rescued if needed. We practiced crossing the war zone. At the end of the forest, the trees made sort of a net across the river with their roots. We’d have to cross that carrying the raft, but we could detach the mast from the cabin, the cabin from the platform, and the platform from the logs. The logs were foam-wood, so even little Scratcher could carry one alone if he had to, and they would float high. Everything was made light so the raft would move fast with the slightest breeze or push by a pole.

  We had a great raft, a great map, and an enthusiastic team. I was hyped, hyped, hyped for the trip. We’d be smart and fast.

  We spent the afternoon gathering supplies and picking out three homing bats to return to the city with a message in case of trouble, tra
ining with them, then reviewing the maps to plan each day’s trip. Seven days at most, two to get to the edge of the forest, three or four to roam around the Coral Plains, and then back home in less than two, since we could float downstream on the current. I sent Scratcher with Honey to pick out the right clothes for her. He came back after twice as long as I thought it would take.

  “How did it go?”

  “Many questions.” His herbal scent said he was tired. He wanted to pack the cabin, so I helped carry down supplies and left him there and went to fetch my stuff.

  On the way back, I walked past the Meeting House, and I heard Stevland talking with Fern like they were best friends, advising her on some new project.

  After she left, I slipped in. “You should tell me more about her.”

  “Certain aspects of Human interaction lie beyond my expertise.”

  “Come on. A lot—”

  He interrupted. “I have a root just for you.”

  “I bet it’s packed with memories.”

  “It is only partially full, and it can continue to grow. I expect there will be much to know about you in the future.”

  “You keep track of everyone that way? Fern, too?”

  “Some people I wish to forget, though it is unwise to act on that type of emotion. Most people I wish to remember long after they are gone.”

  “You’re already waiting for us to die.”

  “I live for centuries. You will be very much worth remembering. Your trip will add significantly to our understanding of the plains.”

  I knew he tried to stay out of romances even if he had to change the subject, but it was worth a try.

  “Did Fern mention me?”

  “Like everyone, she is curious about the velvet worms.”

  He’d changed the subject. Oh, well. “What do you think we’ll find out?”

  “If I knew, you could stay home. I detect significant changes to the south, and, like you, I am curious. I cannot travel to the plains. But … will you take some seeds and plant them? Perhaps one will live.”

  “Sure.”

  “In case of danger, abandon them. I abandon groves as necessary. I wish I could be on your team.”