ANGELA: This is sick.
TOM: I know. I appreciate you keeping it together. You, me, tent, soon.
ANGELA: Something’s coming.
Tom looked up again and saw what she meant. Beyond the epsequoia ring, the tops of bushes thrashed about on course for the circle. He caught movement to the left and saw more commotion there—things moving beneath the jungle canopy. These must have been the Threck overseers, coming to yank those worms out before it was too late.
But Unhkte’s shock nullified that idea. She sprang up to full height. “No! Raiders! Guards, get down there!”
An instant later, a naked Threck pounced from between two epsequoias, landed beside the unmoving children, and raised a large club over its head.
“No!” Angela stood and shrieked, but it did no good.
The club came down with all the Threck’s strength, smashing the first Sootskee’s head deep into the ground.
2.7
The blur of Skinny’s running legs, the crack and breath static of Qin’s frantic voice in Aether’s ear module as they descended the slope, the open direct-connect request to Tom and Angela blinking in the air before her, shouts and screams—English and Threck, grisly crunches, alarm whistles, blazing jungle flames, coughing up the fire’s lung-burning hydrogen chloride smoke, inflammatory and deadly for Epsy non-natives, “Visors! Close visors!”, Angela’s face—overwhelmed and terrified—Skinny grabbing, Tom resisting, dead Threck, dead Seekapock, more running and climbing and running.
Sweat pumped from Aether’s pores, coursing in thin streams and sheets down her back, belly, inner thighs, and forehead. On autopilot, she followed behind Angela. Tom held Angela by the wrist; Skinny had Tom by an unfastened belt strap, like a leash. He’d given up protesting several kilometers ago.
Beside Aether, other Seekapock ran, nudging her and Qin along whenever they fell back. Her bio eye stung, but it wasn’t a simple sweat sting. It was getting worse by the second, as was a similar burning around her fone eye. The inner lids and ducts.
“We need to stop,” Aether said through her open channel to the team.
Tom hacked between desperate, wheezing breaths. “Tell … that … to this … guy.”
“I can’t go anymore, either,” Angela rasped.
Aether sent a translation through her PA. “Stop. Now.” But her volume was still low from earlier. She raised it close to max and resent.
Skinny halted at once and the team collapsed in unison.
“What is it?” Skinny said.
“Why stop?” another said. “Almost close.”
Aether ignored the Seekapock. “Get your helmets off. We need to clean our faces and any hair that was exposed back there. Anyone else’s eye burning?”
Angela, on hand and knees, grappled about her neck in search of the helmet release. Her voice quavered, deep in her throat—a faltering shot at bravery. “I can’t open mine. Searing.”
Qin’s medic instincts took over. Still panting, he said, “Sit tight and no one rub anything.” He crawled past Aether to Angela, patted her arm, and opened her backpack. “It’s a good thing you two followed procedure.” He pulled out the medkit, opened the flaps, and unfolded it on the crunchy mulch ground.
“Up now,” Skinny said. “We go.”
The other Seekapock paced about the spongy scrub, facing back toward the city.
“We have injuries, Skinny,” Aether replied. “We can’t move until fixed. Go on without us.”
“Try to open them a little as I squirt,” Qin said to Angela. “You’ll be amazed how fast it’s neutralized. Come on … just a peek. I’m starting with your implant—”
“I can’t! Just hold on! Do someone else first!”
“Don’t be stubborn,” Tom said, rubbing Angela’s side. “We can all at least open our eyes. If he doesn’t get the acid out, it’ll keep doing more damage.”
“I know,” she said, still squeezing her lids shut while curling a fetal position. She reached up to rub her eyes and Qin pushed her hand back.
“None of that, now. It’ll make it worse. Tom, can you …?”
Tom grabbed Angela’s wrists and tried to roll her onto her back.
“Qin, Qin,” Angela pleaded. “Qin, listen to me … Oh, come on, let go! Thomas, if that’s you … I’m serious—”
Struggling through her own pain, Aether saw Qin’s eyes blinking rapidly—his bio eye clearly more irritated than his fone lids. She pulled a medipad from the packet and wiped it across Qin’s forehead. He flinched a little and looked at her, grateful. She flipped the pad and ran it over his closed eyes.
“Thank you,” he said as he fought with a still-belligerent Angela to pry open one eyelid.
“I know I have to and I will!” Angela shouted, tilting her head side to side. “But you can’t force me! It makes it worse! You know this, Thomas! I’m so kicking your ass! All asses!”
“This one is too loud,” Skinny said. “Threck certainly coming. Make it stop. Not leaving Orange People. Go now.”
Qin got her fone eyelids open and blasted neutralizer. “Yes! Now the other.”
Angela snorted and stiffly rolled onto her back. She growled through clenched teeth. “Just let go of my damned arms, please.” She stopped fighting and Qin was able to part the eyelids and squeeze in more neutralizer.
Tom slowly eased his grip until loose enough for Angela to yank her wrists free. Qin handed the bottle to Aether and wiped Angela’s face and hairline with medipads. Aether passed the bottle to Tom.
“Did you get yourself yet?” Tom asked her.
“I’m fine,” Aether said. “Get this stuff in there before you have corneal damage.”
Tom accepted the bottle, brow knit. “Thanks, Mom.” He leaned onto his backside, tilted his head back, and squirted the solution into each eye, wincing and blinking rapidly. “Oh man, it hurts before it doesn’t.”
Aether crawled around Qin and cradled the back of Tom’s head, his chin raised to her like a small child. She smiled inside, hearing his “Thanks, Mom” repeat in her mind while carefully dabbing his eyelids with the pad corners. “Better?”
Tom nodded and grinned, the nurturing moment not lost on him. “It’s really good to see you. You know, besides all the crazy and blood and whatnot.”
She kissed his forehead. “Just need the rest of my babies safe, too. All of them.” She released Tom’s head and helped Qin lift Angela into a sitting-up position.
“Growing anger,” Skinny said. “Go now. No say no.”
Aether ignored Skinny and held Angela’s face between her palms. “How we doing, mija?”
“It’s not crying, you know,” Angela said, half joking, as tears streamed out her still-shut eyes. “It’s involuntary.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Aether said, stroking her hair. “These are purely reflexive. Can you open the bio for me to have a quick look?”
“Not to contradict a physician,” Qin said as he rose to his feet. “But she should keep it closed.” He stuffed the medkit into Angela’s pack before sealing it shut. “Nothing more we can do here. Ang, just hold someone’s arm and use your fone for now, okay?”
Everyone helped Angela to her feet despite her protests. “I got it, I got it, I’m fine …” She slowly opened her fone eye, the other side of her face squinched up tight. “Do I look like I had a stroke? Or some old troll?”
“You look,” Aether began, biting her lip. “There may be … opportunities for appearance tuning.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Tom said. “I’m using that.”
“Don’t forget your helmets,” Aether said as she lowered her own over her head.
Tom grabbed Angela’s after sealing his own. “Want me to carry it?”
Angela scowled at him. “Oh, don’t think everything’s all hunky-dory here, mister. You can carry that, but it won’t decrease the severity of your forthcoming ruin. Holding me down …”
“We walk, Skinny,” Aether announced as they proceeded forward. “No more running for now.”
“We fast walk,” Skinny countered. “Run if hear Threck coming. Silence now.”
Moments later, Aether received a group M from Tom, sent to all of them.
TOM: We should probably debrief. Maybe one of you could start with who this “Skinny” is, where we’re going, and what that mess was all about. Angela and I made contact with the Threck council, toured the city, and were just being shown this rite of passage ceremony. I assume that attack was not on our Threck hosts’ agenda, and the survivors back there probably think we’re aligned with these other Threck.
ANGELA: Let’s not forget the imprisoning part.
TOM: Thank you so much for the reminder, my love. There was a misunderstanding, a brief detention, and relations returned to normal.
ANGELA: Or the institutional child abuse.
Aether cut in.
AETHER: Okay, you two. We’re a little more than 30 mins from the Seekapock camp (do not call them Threck). Let’s stick to the essential facts as we sync up.
* * *
Upon exiting the partially starlit jungle into the dark, wide-open, wect-columned sanctuary, Skinny stepped beside one of two Threck torches—the area’s only light sources.
She raised both arms in the air and shouted to the muddy masses of Seekapock.
“Victory!”
The crowd fell silent.
One of the others with them stepped into the light with a bundle fashioned from a cloak. She shifted her grip, clutching a single edge, and held it high, the front side falling away and a load of decimated worms dropped into the mud.
Cheers roared from the mob. Tentacles splashed and scrambled as they charged forward, fighting over the worms.
“No!” A shout from the far side of the space, near the only other torch.
Aether zoomed in and saw a small party of Seekapock, one of whom was missing most of an arm, the stump tied off with rope and coated in a muddy paste.
Eeahso tramped through the swarm, swatting obstructive heads and stomping on any limbs in her path. Her posse followed close behind.
“Eskinnee, you are the leader of all fools!” Eeahso said as she stepped close.
“I think not,” Skinny said, laughing as she gestured to the dead worms. “No more Threck.” Others briefly laughed, too, but Eeahso ended it with a look.
“Imick not for killing Threck,” Eeahso said. “Imick for survival, for punishing Threck, for making Seekapock stronger, smarter. You have doomed all Seekapock back to the water.”
“We punished Threck,” Skinny said with pride and menace modifiers. “For real for first time. And we rescue two more Orange People before Threck make them Threck.”
Eeahso looked over the group. “Which Orange People saved me from Threck?”
Skinny turned around and studied the human faces, comparing Aether and Qin, then Qin and Angela, settling on Angela. “This one! Qin! One of my first Orange People.” Skinny thrust Angela forward from the group. Eeahso eyed her.
“I’m not …” Angela protested, her bio eye still squinty as she glanced back for help.
“Orange People have mighty throw weapons,” Skinny said. “Good for Seekapock when angry Threck come looking for revenge.”
“Precisely what comes to us,” Eeahso said mournfully. “Even with Orange People weapons, we will not survive attack on land. Tell me, Skinny … tell all … when no more Threck, where do Seekapock get food? Where do Seekapock get trained afvrik and minnit? Will you keep fish bay filled? Will you train afvrik, grow food, sew garb?”
Skinny was still for a beat, then spoke quietly, with restrained gestures close to the body—a message not intended for the rest of the onlookers. “You say Seekapock need Threck for living?”
Eeahso said nothing. She reached across her and lightly probed the stump where her other arm used to be. Her eyes popped in and out, then she made a gesture normally delivered with two arms: “You and me talk later.”
Aether finally grasped it all—the Seekapock, Threck, imick, all of it. This was supposed to be the base of some great revolution. Leaders like Eeahso rallied the masses with inflammatory anti-Threck speeches, us against them, fighting the good fight, etset. The Skinnys of the population sucked it up and ate it whole, driven to harass the Threck with raids, stealing fish and produce from the Threck farms, taking clothes and work animals. But Eeahso had created a monster she could no longer control, and with the worms, Skinny had delivered a devastating and irreparable blow to the Threck.
“Skinny,” Aether said, and Skinny twisted halfway round to look at her. “What are the worms to the Threck?”
Skinny blinked and fidgeted—the same sort of confused motions from when they’d first met, underwater in the EV. “Worms to Threck …”
Aether rephrased, “Why do Threck care about worms?”
This, evidently, was clearer. Skinny’s head remained still as her legs untwisted beneath her to fully face Aether. Skinny knelt down and plucked from the mud a squished worm carcass, holding it up before her.
“This is Threck. Worm is Threck. Inside. Understand?”
Tom stepped forward, stunned. “The worms go inside and stay in?”
Skinny turned to him. “Yes. Make Threck. You see Threck nursery—Sootskee and younger—Threck care nothing for these. These are not Threck. These are animals. Nothing important. These are things Threck keep alive until old enough to make more Threck.”
Tom faced Angela, still standing beside Skinny. “That’s what Unhkte was trying to explain to us. She was showing us the final step to become an actual Threck, not some rite of passage like a freaky bar mitzvah.”
“Unhkte?” Skinny said. “You know Unhkte?”
Tom looked surprised, shocked that Skinny had understood something he’d said.
“We met,” Tom replied through the PA once more.
“You meet Towtzaw? At nursery?”
“Yes,” Tom said. “You know them?”
“Towtzaw, yes.” Skinny said. “From nursery.”
“Did you come from the nursery?” Aether asked Skinny.
“Yes. As most Seekapock.”
Now, Aether thought, this connection between the two groups began untangling. Minnie had always said that the City Threck looked down on Sea Threck as primitives, as those people from the city who had decided to heed the primal call of ocean life.
“And you escaped?” Tom asked.
Skinny regarded him. “Some we save outside gate, before get to circle. Some are cast into river if never learn how is good Sootskee.”
“Is that what happened to you?” Aether asked. “Did they throw you out?”
Skinny’s eyes hid and emerged. She surveyed the Orange People, then looked behind her at the throngs of writhing Seekapock, guts filled, content in their mud and seemingly indifferent to the worms. Aether wondered if Skinny could feel disappointment, or rejection, or desolation.
“Wait,” Tom’s PA said to Skinny. “Did your people kill every single Threck worm?”
“Yes, and we burn worm house to kill eggs. No more Threck.” Skinny dove backward into the mud pit, disappearing beneath the chocolaty surface, then climbed out, dripping, with a single, long stride. “We rescue Orange People before they become Threck. Now Orange People will help kill remaining Threck.”
Aether rushed out a quick M to the group.
AETHER: Let me handle this.
TOM: They were NOT planning to put those worms in us.
Aether sent the message in sections, as she wrote. “Skinny, we are all grateful for your help. We wish to repay Seekapock with gifts and help, but Orange People do not kill. I hope you understand.”
“Qin kill Threck,” Skinny countered with a glance toward Angela.
Damn it, Aether thought. Knew that would come back to us.
“That was an accident, and to help save people in danger.”
“Yes,” Skinny agreed. “Seekapock in danger. Threck will come to kill many now, after what Skinny did. Orange People will save Seekapock in danger.�
��
“No, Skinny. I’m sorry. I think you all need to flee to the water and hide in the underwater city you took us to.”
“Threck know this place. No say no. Orange People will do as I say.” She spun round and called out. “Swineese!”
Seekapock lounging along the mud bank popped up, looking, then grabbed weapons and began running around both sides of the oblivious mud pit occupants.
Aether noticed Tom’s posture shift in her peripheral. He was readying for a conflict. She felt Qin’s hand between her shoulder blades.
Tom replied to the group M.
TOM: Angela, move slowly away from Skinny.
“Listen to me, Skinny,” Aether began.
“No more no!” Skinny yelled as reinforcements surrounded the team.
One of the Seekapock whacked Angela in the shoulder. Angela glanced back with a start and grabbed her MW, waving it at the three twitchy Seekapock behind her.
“Tom!” Angela shouted. “We’re not going into another jail pit!”
Aether didn’t know how to defuse the situation without agreeing to do whatever Skinny wanted. Maybe that was the key. She wanted to be honest, but it wasn’t going to help right now. They’d agree to join La Revolución and then escape at the first, best, opportunity.
“Calm down, mija,” Aether said as she wrote the capitulation message. “Put it away. Tom, Qin: hands off.”
Like the others, Skinny’s eyes were wild, bouncing around the scene as if tracking a super-fast fly. Angela still had the MW in her shaking hand, though now held low at her hip. Skinny’s eyes suddenly fixed on Angela, and, in a flash, a tentacle swung out like a whip, swatting the MW out of her hand. Before the weapon even hit the ground, Skinny had her other arm planted on Angela’s shoulder and kicked off the ground, mounting Angela’s head. Aether cried out for Skinny to stop, to get off. She scrambled in her fone to send the half-composed message.
“Now, we understand the Seekapock struggle. We all agree to join the fight against Threck, and we will—”
Skinny wasn’t listening. Her tentacles coiled around Angela’s shoulders and arms, and tightened. Angela’s helmetless head had completely disappeared beneath Skinny’s body, and she dropped to her knees, hands flailing helplessly at her hips.
Exigency Page 23
