Eddy turned to go, but his left leg wouldn’t lift. He looked down to see that he’d gotten stuck under a root. He tried to pull his foot out, but another one curled up around his ankle. “What the hell?”
A third root wrapped itself up his right leg, and when he tried to grab it to break it off, it snaked around his arm as well.
Eddy pulled out the knife and tried to cut it off, but the effort was like trying to slice through iron.
He shoved the knife into his belt and tried his own. The sharp metal fared no better than the sharpened stone.
He tapped his loop. The rain was pelting his back now, and he was trapped in an awkward position as the roots continued to wrap their way up and around him.
“Get me, Andy,” Eddy gasped over the connection.
Agonizing seconds passed while the world mind tried to connect him.
Water was flowing down the gully now, running over his feet, and the roots continued to pull him inexorably toward the ground. He would drown if he couldn’t get free.
“Hey, Eddy, what’s up?” Andy’s voice sounded cheery as always.
“Andy, you have to help me!”
“IT’S BEAUTIFUL.” Colin rubbed the silver beard on his chin, staring up at the partially completed sculpture.
Trip nodded. The other former starship captain was still wildly handsome in his senior years, with his silver hair, blue eyes, and booming deep voice. “You have a lot of talent, young lady.”
Andy beamed. The afternoon rains had just passed, the clouds threading their way past the ring of the Anatovs toward Micavery and the South Pole. Her sculpture glistened in the afternoon light.
“It’s really quite impressive. It’s funny how things seem—smaller?—when you ride on someone else’s shoulders.” Colin stepped up to touch the wood. “Feels quite sturdy too.”
Andy laughed. “The town council insisted on it being able to bear a lot of weight. They think it’s a big jungle gym.”
Colin laughed. “I could see that.”
Andy traced the edge of South America. “I got the inspiration from one of our talks that time I came to your house.” She closed her eyes. “You told me what a shame it was that I’d never see the skies of Earth.” She remembered that day like it was yesterday. She opened her eyes and walked around the sculpture, picturing the last bits that still needed to be grown. “There’s so much we won’t remember in another fifty or a hundred years.”
Colin nodded. “The world mind will remember for us, but I know what you mean.” He looked up again at the sculpture. “It’s a good thing you’re doing. Someday our descendants will have no memory of Earth at all.” He laughed ruefully. “It’s thoughts like that which make me feel old.”
“You’re not that old.”
He looked up at her with a twinkle in his eyes. “I am that old. But it’s kind of you to say so.”
“I’m—” Something was coming through on her loop. “Oh fuck Ariadne!”
“What’s wrong?” Colin frowned.
“I’m sorry. It’s Eddy. He’s in trouble.” She knelt and touched the wood at the base of one of the parts of the sculpture, making a strong connection to the world mind. She closed her eyes and dipped into it, leaving Colin behind. She followed Eddy’s signal out of Darlith, past the mountains, and down into a gully where he was trapped as the runoff rose. He was thrashing about in panic.
“It’s okay, Eddy. I’m here,” she said in his head through the loop.
“Andy?”
“It’s me.” Something was holding him down. “Look, I can’t help you unless you let me in.”
“I can’t… the water is rising….”
“Eddy, listen to me.” She marshaled as reassuring a tone as she could manage. “Close your eyes. It’s gonna be okay. Let me in.”
“Okay.”
She felt Eddy’s mental resistance drop away and slipped in through his connection to the world mind. Then she was riding his perceptions like she’d done with her father the day before.
She opened his eyes.
The rain was heavy, and the runoff from the mountains was quickly rising in the narrow gully. She didn’t have much time.
Eddy dipped down into the ground below him.
Roots, like those she had summoned for the sculpture, had wrapped themselves around his legs and arms. They weren’t from a tree or bush. These were part of the world itself. Something or someone had trapped him.
She concentrated on the one around his left arm, urging it to withdraw. It loosened its grip, but then it stopped moving, resisting her efforts.
Andy had never seen that happen before. The world was always responsive to her.
She had loosened it enough to pull out Eddy’s arm with a bit of wiggling, and it didn’t reengage. That was something.
She touched the root that wrapped his other arm, and it too loosened. Then it stopped too.
The water was up to his chest now, and she could feel Eddy starting to panic again.
“Hang in there. You’re going to be okay,” she said with more confidence than she felt. If she couldn’t get it to withdraw….
She gripped the root tightly and commanded it to break.
This time she succeeded. It fell into a handful of pieces that were immediately washed away by the rushing waters.
Emboldened now, with both of Eddy’s arms free, she grasped the roots that held his legs with his hands. In seconds, both of them crumbled to bits too.
She let go of Eddy’s mind and shouted, “Run!”
Eddy wasted no time, scrambling out of the water and up the hill, while she rode his senses. He collapsed on the wet grass above the water line, gasping for breath. “Holy hell, what was that?”
“I don’t know. I’d get farther away from it, though, just in case.” The world mind didn’t attack people. This felt intentional, though how someone could have done it, she had no idea. In fact, only she and her father and the world mind itself had the capability, as far as she knew.
Was there someone else on Forever who could manipulate the world’s subroutines like she could? Or maybe better than she did?
Andy shivered. She remembered the day Ronan, the Transfer Station mind, had died. Someone from Earth had broken into the mind to infect him with a virus that had destroyed the Station and killed him, and had almost resulted in the deaths of hundreds of station personnel.
She and her father had discussed the possibility that there was another talent on Forever. Someone who could connect to and manipulate biominds directly with their own mind.
If that were true, though, how had they stayed hidden for so long without anyone noticing? Were they there still?
“Eddy, did you see anyone here when you arrived?” she asked through the loop.
“No. The place was abandoned. I’m chasing a band of Ghosts who slaughtered a dozen sheep on the Verge.”
“Some Ghosts, if they can manage something like that.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Look, I have to go. Colin is with me, and they’ll be getting worried. I need to see what you have there. Can you wait for me? I’ll come as quickly as I can.”
“Where are you?”
“In Darlith. I can be there in the morning.”
“Okay. I’ll pull back a little. I don’t want to get trapped again.”
“Good idea. I’ll see you soon.”
“Andy?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for saving my ass.”
“Hey, what are friends for?” She let him go and slipped back to herself. She opened her eyes to find Colin by her side, staring at her anxiously.
“Everything okay?” Colin helped her up.
She shook her head. “Something—someone like me, I think—attacked Eddy.” She explained what had happened. “I’m worried.”
Colin whistled. “You think there are more people like you and Aaron?”
“I don’t know.” The thought made her head hurt. “I need to go see what Eddy fou
nd. Damn.”
“What?”
“I didn’t bring anything with me. My backpack, my hiking boots—everything’s at home. All I brought was some clothes and my hunting knife.” She patted the sheath that held the short, wicked blade, made by an artisan in Micavery. “I’ll have to go back there first.”
Colin sighed. “Never thought we’d need weapons up here. Hey, I have a little pull in Darlith. Why don’t you let us help you get what you need?”
Trip nodded. “We’re happy to help.”
“I used to be someone, you know.” Colin grinned.
Andy laughed. “Yeah, so I heard. That would be great—save me a trip. Is the train running again?”
“As of a couple hours ago.” Colin rubbed his chin.
Andy frowned. “The town council will be upset if I don’t finish this—”
Colin put his arm around her shoulder. “You can complete your sculpture later. This sounds like it’s much more important.”
“I’m worried about Eddy.” Since he’d arrived on the scene six years before, they’d become like brother and sister. Anything that threatened him, threatened her.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Now come on. Let’s go get you what you need for your journey.”
AARON WAS meeting with Dania Thorpe, the city manager, when the call came through.
He tapped his temple. “Hey, Eddy, can you hold just a sec?”
“Sure, boss.”
“Are we about done here?” he asked Dania.
“I think so. I’ll get those figures for you on farm production in a couple days. It feels like we’re starting to turn the corner, doesn’t it?”
“Finally.” Resources had been tight since the refugee influx had strained the ship’s resources six years earlier. “I want to try that new corn hybrid I’ve been hearing about. Keera says it’s delicious.”
“I’ll bring some in next time.” Dania shook his hand.
“Say hi to Margene for me!”
“Will do. Same to Keera.” She gathered her notes and left the office. Aaron took Eddy off hold. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Remember that sheep thing I’ve been chasing down out here on the Verge?”
“Yeah. Where are you?”
“Near the Anatovs. Things have gone from strange to dangerous out here.” Eddy sounded worried.
“What happened?” Aaron stood and went to look out his window. He could see the peaks of the mountains in the distance. Eddy was out there somewhere.
“I think there’s someone else who knows how to dip into the world mind.”
Aaron stiffened. He’d considered the possibility, six years before, during the crisis, but he had never found the culprit behind the destruction of Transfer Station. Aaron had hoped whoever it was had died in the blast. “So, what happened, exactly?”
“How about strange roots coming out of the ground to tie me down in a gully in the middle of a thunderstorm?”
“Yeah. That’s not right.” He scratched his neck absently. “You should talk to Andy—”
“She’s already on her way. Saved my bacon too.”
Aaron chuckled. “Sounds about right. You two be careful, and let me know what you find.”
“Will do. Let me know if anything else… weird gets reported?”
“Of course.” Aaron cut the connection.
Ghosts and marauders, and now this? What was coming next?
His loop buzzed again.
“Yes?”
“Aaron, it’s Ana.”
“Hi, Ana… everything going to plan for the rendezvous?” He was worried about that as well. Too many things going on this week.
“Yes. That’s not why I called.” She sounded worried too. What, was the whole world going to hell at once?
Aaron sighed. “Lay it on me.”
“It’s about your father—”
“Sorry, Ana. We’re not talking.” After what Jackson had done? He’d planned to confront his father, but then he’d decided he was still too angry.
He could almost see her nod. “I know. I’m so sorry about what happened with Glory. But that’s not why I called.”
Aaron sighed. “What has he done now?”
“Aaron, Jackson’s gone missing. We want you to help us find him.”
Chapter Four: Puzzles
“YOU HAVE a message.”
Andy rubbed her eyes, feeling groggy, and stared up at the wooden ceiling.
She’d worked half the night to finish the upgrades for the McHenrys before she left in the morning. A deal was a deal, but the work had wiped her out.
Jon and Candra now had a waste disposal system that fed back into a dissolution pit and ultimately into Forever’s processing systems, and she’d grown them some nice wooden counters and seats for their customers as well. “Who is it from?”
“Delia.”
“Put it through.” Andy closed her eyes, and she could see Delia’s face in her mind’s eye.
“Hi, Andy. Sorry. I know this is a bad time. It’s always a bad time, I suppose….”
What was she talking about? “Hey—is everything okay? I’ll be home in a few days.”
“I…. No. No, it’s not.” There was silence for a moment.
“Delia—”
“I don’t want to see you anymore, Andy. It’s not… I mean, I don’t hate you or anything. It’s just… I met someone else. I hope you understand.” Delia cut the connection.
“Delia? I don’t understand….” What had just happened? Andy blinked, stunned. They’d been together for three years. Sure, she was gone a lot to Darlith and the farms out on the Verge. But she’d never felt like Delia resented her absences.
Maybe this was why.
She got out of bed and stumbled over to the washbasin in the corner. She splashed some water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was drawn and tired. What did I do wrong?
She’d thought everything was going well.
I met someone else.
“Goddammit.” She covered her mouth. Glory wouldn’t like her cursing like that, taking the Lord’s name in vain.
Then again, Glory wasn’t there anymore.
She tapped her loop. “Call Delia back.”
“Acknowledged.”
Andy brushed her teeth while she waited for the call to go through. They would talk it out. She would set things straight, or at least get a better explanation.
“Sorry, Andy. She’s not responding.”
Andy sank down on the bed, closing her eyes. “Dammit.” How many months had they spent together? It wasn’t easy to find someone who matched so well, especially on Forever, with its limited slice of humanity. What did I do wrong?
She wanted to throw something, to break it into a million little pieces.
This wasn’t her place. These weren’t her things.
Instead, she stuffed it down inside. She would deal with her grief later. There was nothing for her to do about it now.
She had more important things to worry about. She had to go find Eddy to try to figure out this whole Ghost thing. She’d talk to Delia when this was over.
Andy got dressed and packed her belongings, along with the new supplies Colin had purchased for her. He and Trip were so kind. She made a mental note to head out to the estate to see them next time she had a few days free, and maybe help them spruce things up.
“Thank you, Andy.” Candra gave her a hug. “You did an amazing job. It’s so much more than we expected.”
Andy was surprised to see them up so early. In the few days she’d been there, they’d never been up before first light. “You’re welcome. I’m just sorry I have to leave in such a hurry. Something came up, and I have to head back toward Micavery.” That much was true, anyhow.
John shook her hand. “Good luck. You’re always welcome here.”
Andy waved and set off toward the train station.
It was quiet this early in the morning. It was still dark out. Luthiel lanterns lit her way, cast
ing a golden glow on the cobblestone streets that ran throughout central Darlith.
Darlith felt safe. Andy had never lived in a place that wasn’t, but she’d seen the dark side of humanity during the Last War and the Collapse. Hordes of unauthorized refugees had been shipped up to Forever in the last months of the war, and many had died in transit, including small children. All so someone could make a profit that would be meaningless when the world finally annihilated itself.
Forever was different, or so she hoped. But she’d also heard whispers of Ghosts and strange incidents along the edges of civilization. And the sheep slaughter that Eddy was investigating sent shivers down her spine.
Colin was waiting for her at the station.
“Hey, I didn’t expect you to see me off!” Andy gave Colin a big hug. “Where’s Trip? And why are you carrying a backpack?”
Colin grinned. “Trip’s sleeping, but I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if an old guy tagged along with you.”
Andy laughed. “Mind? I’d be delighted. But are you sure you’re… um… in shape?”
Colin grinned. “Nicely put. Yes, I can manage. We do work all day out on the estate, you know.”
Andy blushed. “Sorry.”
“And there’s another benefit to me coming along. I commandeered a traxx, so we can make good time across country to where Eddy’s waiting.”
That was excellent news. “Who’s bringing it out?” It would be nice to have his company on the way.
“I asked Shandra to do it.”
“Oh.” She barely knew the woman. She seemed nice enough. “When will the train depart?”
“About fifteen minutes. Should we get a seat?”
“After you. Age before beauty, and all that.”
Colin snorted. “This is gonna be a long trek, isn’t it?”
KEERA LOOKED worried. “What do I do if you don’t come back out?”
Aaron shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. I’ll be inside the world mind for a long stretch, sure. But I should still be home in time for dinner.” He kissed her cheek. “Ana and Lex will be there to keep an eye on me.” He plugged his dipping interface into a jack in the wall by his bedside. It would provide a more secure link into the world mind than his own direct connection, and he could lie on his own bed so his body didn’t cramp while he was busy elsewhere.
The Rising Tide Page 4
