by Darrell Bain
“I don't want you to die on my behalf,” Lyda told him sternly.
Soo gazed toward the giant creature they had just met. It looked fearsome and Lyda thought it could become dangerous if provoked, but once it opened its mouth, most of her apprehension vanished. Its chewing apparatus was that of a herbivore.
“Why are you laughing?” Soo asked. The others who had joined them were looking at her curiously, just as puzzled.
“See the top of that mushroom? If we had looked closer, we would have seen that was what it was feeding on. It's not a carnivore. In fact, I'm wondering if those mushroom things are edible. I'm getting tired of shrub berries."
Almost every shrub was replete with clusters of grape-sized fruit that satisfied both hunger and thirst but they grew wearying after a time.
Soo started to approach the animal and got a warning growl for his trouble.
“Let's leave him be and try somewhere else,” Lyda said. She led the way to another of the big mushroom growths and stopped. “I'll try some of the little ones and see what they they're like.” She dislodged a few from the sand colored earth around the big parent plant. Any place where the flooring wasn't metallic, it had the consistency and color of soft sandstone.
“How do they taste?” Ivan Petrovich, a former Russian coal mine supervisor asked.
“Like mushrooms,” Lyda grinned. Ivan was fun to talk to; they bantered a lot.
“Ask a silly question...” Ruth Larson, an Amerindian from the Midwest who had joined them that morning, said. She bent down to pick some.
“Go ahead, but don't sample yet,” Lyda told her. “Wait until we find out how they affect me."
“Then why pick now? They're everywhere."
“I'd like to see how well they keep,” Lyda said. Preserved food in her backpack had proven invaluable before; perhaps it would again.
Ruth gathered a few and handed them to Lyda.
“Thanks.” Lyda had become the accepted leader of this group of humans. All of them had undergone enough changes themselves to be able to tell that Lyda was the ablest of them. So far, she thought, but anyone who's made it this far and can overcome their fear of the animals here will be strong. I may find someone I'm willing to follow, rather than lead all the time. She didn't think it would bother her if it turned out that way. Her mind functioned so smoothly and efficiently now, she knew she would recognize a better qualified person than herself almost immediately, but so far, no one of that caliber had turned up.
* * * *
Ruth Larson was the weakest one of group, but Lyda admired her in a way. She was deathly afraid of anything resembling an insect or reptile, but she worked hard at conquering her fears. She had survived the initial dump into what they were calling the “BEM World” by fainting at her first encounter with an alien sophant, one that looked like an upright squid with a lizard head. One of the older members had started the BEM designation; Lyda had barely recognized the old science fiction term. It was the acronym, used most often in humorous ways, for “Bug-Eyed Monsters".
Ruth always stayed as close to Lyda as she could, borrowing some of her courage. She was a slight blond woman who was intelligent enough—and more—but lacked self-confidence. Lyda liked her because she made no bones about needing someone to direct her abilities; that was how she had survived so long. Lyda admired anyone who could look into themselves without flinching and recognize their own shortcomings.
Ivan had the volatile mood swings imbedded in the Russian character, but he was completely reliable in a crisis and jollied them all along with tales of Russian bureaucratic incompetence that made the American system appear to be a paragon of efficiency by comparison.
There had been one nonhuman addition to the group, a hive creature with dozens of specialized organisms that apparently shared the same brain. The individual units were either stick thin or fat but within those two categories, there were several other variations in size and shape. It even learned some English, the only species Lyda had encountered so far that appeared to care much about verbal communication. Shaguff used a gabble still meaningless to Lyda. She thought their individual world gestalts were so different that it might take years of study by comparative semantics experts to understand the other's language. The one thing the intelligent alien creatures had in common was loyalty to the group. This was proved to her in dramatic fashion one day.
Lyda had given up on finding any more compatible humans in the mushroom plain, or in the forest it merged with. The forest was so thick as to be well nigh impenetrable. After covering all the open areas within reach, she asked the others to go with her into the maze of halls and arched openings near the wall that led to more halls and entrances and corridors.
“Why?” Zhang asked. Shang Kai Zhang was a peasant from the Chinese hinterlands, relatively uneducated but extremely bright. The peasant shrewdness learned from his father's example had helped him to survive, learn and vastly increase his understanding of the rest of the world as it had been before the aliens came. He had also quickly absorbed the need to respect other cultures and different attitudes.
“There have to be more people here. That's the next place to look."
Zhang wasn't one to placidly accept marching orders. “We'll face more danger. Are more humans worth the risk?'
“Zhang, none of us would probably be here now if I hadn't taken risks for other people,” Lyda said gently. “I won't ask anyone to sacrifice themselves for someone they don't even know, but we're all human. We should try to rescue as many as we can before more of them fall victim to false assumptions. Most of the creatures here are willing to leave us alone, or even work with us, so long as they're not provoked."
Zhang studied her face for a few moments while the others waited. “All right,” he finally answered. “Perhaps your way is best."
Lyda had known he would agree. Her mind and her very understanding of human behavior had made another leap here, as had her body. She had never felt so alive, so full of vitality and purpose. Whatever the aliens intended, if it was something a human being could understand, she knew she would be ready; as would these others with her and ones she had known in the previous environments—if they still lived. She led the way back, cutting across the mushroom plain at an angle to bring them to the palace of halls she had seen the cockroachlike being chase that woman into weeks ago. She had decided to try it first, rather than the barren metal expanse with cubes and rectangles sprouting from the floor. On the way, she was startled to see the remains of a hexapod, along with the body of its presumed human companion. She had seen a few skeletons of hexapods at the last place but had presumed they all perished there. Apparently, at least one made it this far.
Almost two dozen humans and the aliens made a big enough group that they had to spread out a bit in order to find enough food to sustain them. As they hiked along on the second day of the trek back, Lyda talked to Ivan. She had found he could sense attitudes and intentions in others almost as well as she could.
“Our group is still unstable,” he said. “We'll all follow you, but we need a purpose to hold us together. Something greater than mere survival."
Lyda mulled that statement over before answering.
“That's a good observation, Ivan. Sometimes I get so busy with trying to keep everyone alive and organized for survival that I tend to think that is the purpose. I've noticed my failings in that area before, but it seems every time I finally get to a point where I can concentrate on the broader picture, the aliens gather us up and dump us somewhere else and it all starts from scratch again."
“Scratch?"
“Beginning."
“Oh. A pretty piece of slang there. English is such a wonderful language. I'm glad my intelligence and memory has improved so much that I'm able to absorb the myriad nuances of it now. Yes, there is the constant uprooting. That would be enough to drive many people mad, yet here we are, stronger than ever.” He chuckled. “I wonder if the aliens intended that?"
“I don't
know—but think about how many of us have died getting to here,” Lyda said quietly, remembering all the deaths she had seen and been a party to.
Ivan sobered. “Yes. We're fortunate, I admit."
Lyda gestured toward Shaguff and Spidey and the Hive creatures; all nearby. “Have you wondered if perhaps those beings have gone through the same winnowing process we have?"
The concept startled Ivan. He stumbled, then caught back up with her. “No. I haven't thought of that at all, nor have I heard anyone else mention such a possibility. You're a unique individual, Miss Brightner. You think, how do they say, out of the box. What do you believe?"
“There's no way of telling for sure,” Lyda said honestly, “but if I had to guess, I'd say no, for one very simple reason. I haven't seen a sign yet of them fighting among themselves, and they must be as strange to each other as we are to them."
Ivan nodded. “That sounds logical."
“Which doesn't necessarily mean it's true. Conclusions are only as good as the data they're based on. Since we don't understand how to communicate with any of them other than in a very limited fashion, we don't really have enough information to say.” Privately, Lyda believed the other intelligent beings they were interacting with were simply one more trial designed for humans, but she was as blind as ever to the ultimate purpose.
“Look,” Ruth said from her other side. “We're getting close."
They had been traveling about four hours. Lyda called a halt so everyone could rest and stock up on enough of the pseudomushrooms and scrub fruit to last for several days. After that, they entered the first great hall, with Soo leading the way at his insistence.
* * * *
Lyda split the group into four parties to explore the first corridors and some of the entranceways from them for a minimal distance. They all led from the hall into unknown terrain. Each party took a corridor with instructions to return within two hours. Lyda wanted to proceed carefully and compare notes.
When they had all returned and were together again, it was Ivan who reported the most interesting find. Lyda had remained with a core of five others to provide support if needed, but none of the other explorers had found anything except endless metallic byways.
“There's a huge cavern at the end of the second hallway that branches from this main one. It's a different kind of place. We could see a plain of tall grasses and small knolls and big trees that look like firs with big cones like ... like small furry pineapples. From where we entered, we went to the top of the first knoll to get a better view of the place. We could see a large band of humans chasing little Volkswagens with multiple antennas, but they only look like cars; they are actually animals. Their little feet just move so fast, they resemble wheels when they're in motion. We didn't try to go any closer."
“Did they see you? The humans, I mean."
Ivan shrugged. “Not that we could tell, and I thought it best to return without trying to contact them."
“Good. You did fine, Ivan. So did the rest of you. Now we know where to look for more people. Let's all eat and get some sleep, then start that way tomorrow."
Lyda posted the guards as she did every “night". Like most of the environments they were subjected to, there was continuous daylight. She had become so used to it by now that it didn't bother her, nor many of the others.
The next day, she led the way toward the cavern, which Ivan had told her was very large but not unlimited.
* * * *
They ran into trouble almost immediately. It was no little animals the size of the German cars, but what resembled a dinosaur from earth, like one of the predecessors of Tyranosaurus Rex. It stood over eight feet tall and had the same great hindquarters, but its forelegs extended far enough from the body to be useful. They were tipped with four clawed digits that could function together like a hand. This was evidenced by the snapped off trunk of a sapling, which it was using as a club to beat off the attacking humans, who were armed with makeshift spears.
The sight of Lyda's group interrupted the battle long enough for the dinosaur to break through the circle of humans and stride off at an angle between Lyda's group and the others. Several of the people who had been attacking began yelling something at them. They were just far enough away for the intermixed calls to be undecipherable. Lyda found out what they were hollering about only when she heard a scream from Ruth.
Lyda whirled around. A second great reptile was charging them, obviously having heard the cries of its own kind and was coming to the rescue. It bowled several people off their feet and made directly for Lyda, as if it somehow knew she was the driving force behind this party of humans. Its head was lowered with its toothed jaws gaped open, ready to snap her body in two.
There was nothing Lyda could do except take the second before the dino was upon her to crouch and prepare to dodge, if she could. She never got a chance to find out whether or not she would have succeeded. A gray streak passed her and put itself between her and the reptile's charging body. The teeth closed on Shaguff's rear leg and lifted him off the ground. He dangled upside down while everyone except Lyda scattered. One of the dinosaur animal's rear legs brushed her in passing, sending her flying. She hit the hard-packed earth with a bone jarring thud, but her improved body absorbed the shock easily. She rolled over and was instantly back on her feet.
Lyda stifled the start of a scream at the sight of Shaguff hanging from the miniature Tyranosaur's mouth as it turned. It flung Shaguff away, preparing to charge again. Lyda ran toward where her alien companion landed; she couldn't abandon him after he had saved her life. The creature lowered its head to see better. It took a hesitant step forward with one of its huge legs, then stopped. If Lyda had been watching, she might have seen puzzlement in the intelligent glint of its eyes as it watched her succoring the rat animal instead of running.
Lyda found Shaguff still alive, but great gaps had been torn in the flesh of his rear leg. It was leaking a copious amount of fluid the color and consistency of maple syrup. She emptied her backpack of all the cloth she had in it and began applying pressure to the worst wounds. Shaguff gibbered painfully. While she worked, some of the others who had run began returning, circling around the big dinosaur that was still where it had halted, staring at them from round orange eyes.
“Here, hold this in place,” Lyda ordered the first person she saw. “Get some more cloth and wrap the dressings in place.” She looked up to see the big group of people who had been doing the attacking moving in their direction. “Don't let any of those people hurt him or Spidey. Where's the hive?"
“We here,” the nearest one said, a spindly stick figure whose specialty was to carry what the chubby little grass harvesters sliced off at ground level and wound into bundles for later consumption.
“Come,” she said, hoping they would obey. Sometimes they did; other times, they ignored orders. This time, they chose to follow her.
Lyda led them in the direction of the pair of dinos, which had paired up and were standing together, simply observing. She figured the hive could lose a member or two and still function normally, while a member of any other species would be lost for good—including herself. As she neared them, she slowed down, alert for any hint of an attack.
Up close, the beings appeared much larger than they actually were. They towered over her by a good three feet or more but still made no threatening moves. Lyda glanced behind her and saw the hive trailing behind her. The hive was all in a row, with the different shaped specialties staying together, as always. She stopped half a dozen feet from the nearest reptile and held still with her hands hanging by her side. From this close, she could see that they each wore what appeared to be tool belts with unidentifiable gadgets secured by loops.
Two great heads lowered to the level of her eyes. They stayed there for a few minutes while she waited on them to decide what to do. Finally, first one, then the other, stretched their snouts toward her and prodded her in the chest with a motion resembling a horse looking for an apple in
a pocket. She remained very still and let them explore with their snouts and then their forelegs. She sighed with relief when she saw how careful they were being about not hurting her with the sharp tips of their flexible digits. All the while, the hive stayed in a long row strung out behind her, as useless as a tail on a grounded kite. She might as well have not brought them with her, except she had wanted to show the dinos that humans could get along with creatures different from themselves.
Lyda looked back again. The bigger group of humans had joined her own followers and were staring at the scene, some of them with their mouths hung open in utter disbelief that she had still not been harmed. At last the Tyrannosauruslike animals raised their heads, bellowed something sounding like a foghorn, and strode rapidly away. Lyda turned and hurried back to see how Shaguff was making out. She passed some of the strangers on the way, noting that they gazed at her in awe, like a prophet who had just returned to earth and begun performing miracles.
Lyda kept a tight rein on her emotions. Did no one but herself ever think of trying to make friends with the other inhabitants of this place? It beat fighting any day of the week. She knelt down by Shaguff's side. He blinked his little red eyes at her and uttered a string of gibberish.
Lyda answered with a soothing comment she knew he wouldn't understand, but she hoped the tone of her voice would convey her feelings. She saw Spidey coming through the throng of strange humans. They moved quickly aside, like the parting of the Red Sea. Spidey folded his legs under him and began using his two tentacled appendages to touch the area of Shaguff's wounds. Lyda patted them both, then stood up and moved away. She faced the combined group, standing with her legs spread a foot apart and hands on her hips, presenting a magnificent image of a strong, beautiful woman, one who could handle anything life threw at her.
