Dryland's End

by Felice Picano

  He had one second to choose between ’Dward running – the Gods’ vehicle now visible and louder than ever – and Oudma inside the pod, now screaming Ay’r’s name as the T-pod tipped over even farther. He froze, unable to decide. He loved both of them, had to save both of them – but couldn’t.

  Pain made the decision for him. A root sliding along the ground had come close enough to him that it suddenly made a feint at his leg. Protected by the larval cloth leggings, Ay’r still felt the stab. He pulled back, stomped the root into the ground, turned, tapped the pod open, and backed off.

  Oudma was trying to get out. Ay’r shouted for her to stay in.

  Before any of the other roots could react, he dove into the pod and shouted for it to close. It did so and Ay’r saw a single probing white root end aiming toward his face. It was a few inches inside when the pod dome sealed itself and, in doing so, snapped off the root point.

  To his surprise, outside, the broken white root rose up and began to sway back and forth rapidly against the outside of the pod like the wounded limb of an animal. As it did, it ejected a thick milky fluid. Like everything else about the root-trees, the sticky spray was viscous, disgusting.

  “Where’s ’Dward?” Oudma cried.

  “We’re ascending. Now!” Ay’r ignored her, shouting into the T-pod’s voice-activated mechanism.

  “My brother!” She grabbed him from behind. “Where is he?” The pod ascended directly into a hundred snaking white tuber roots quickly encircling it and bringing its rise to a jarring stop. Oudma fell back in her netting, and he was released from her grasp.

  “Power!” Ay’r shouted. “I’m being held here.”

  “It’s using all of its power!” the Fast reported.

  “What’s happening, Ay’r!” Oudma called out.

  “Ser Kerry!” P’al was in communication. “What’s wrong?”

  Ay’r outlined what was happening as calmly as he could as root after sickly white root shot out to enmesh the T-pod. He began to feel the rotation begin. Alli turned back the shuttle immediately to come to his aid. Ay’r tried telling both P’al and the Fast what he had seen the roots do with the fishlike creature, how strong they were, how desperate the situation was – but all he could come out with to explain his problem was, “It’s going to plant me!”

  “Have you considered rotating?” the Fast asked.

  “It’s rotating me enough, gratitude!”

  Suddenly Alli Clark was on: “Ay’r! Use your lasers to cut through.”

  “It was because it thought it was being attacked that I’m in this spot to begin with,” he explained.

  “Too late to be sensitive!” she instructed. She was right. “Where are the lasers?” he asked.

  “Two forward, one aft,” the Fast replied, its calmness irritating now.

  “Is there any way for a strong pointed root to get inside the pod?”

  “A root? Ser Sanqq’?”

  “Oh, never mind. Hit the lasers. Front first.”

  The lasers were thin and broke a dozen roots, splashing white stuff all over the front of pod.

  “Now I can’t see anything!” he shouted.

  “Should I keep the lasers going?”

  “Yes! All of them! Front and back.”

  As it broke more roots, the milky fluid completely covered the front and back of the pod and streaked the top, sides, and bottom of the pod badly. Even so, the pod stopped rotating and began to inch up. It seemed to take forever to move upward as fresh shoot after fresh shoot emerged to be cut down and splash its liquid against the pod until finally – with a sudden lurch – the pod was free.

  “Ascend!” Ay’r shouted. Once he felt the ascent, he ordered cleaners to come on. But the aero-cleaners could do little more than smear the already drying terribly sticky substance. “I’m going to have to fly blind. Place me near those ruins,” he ordered the Fast.

  “There’s another pod there. I suggest that you hold back until I can find out what it is.”

  “How are you seeing that?”

  “I’m not,” the Fast responded. “I picked up its sound through the surface sensors on your pod.”

  “It’s those damned Gods! They must have seen ’Dward! Hurry!”

  “We’re on our way back,” P’al reported. “Our shuttle is still over the Eastern Archipelago.”

  “It seems to be an older model,” the Fast reported. “It makes a lot of noise. I suggest backing off and hovering out of sight until they –”

  “Is it still there?” And when the Fast didn’t respond, Ay’r shouted to P’al and Alli, “It’s the Gods! They’ve got ’Dward! I’m going to try to stop them!”

  He ordered the Fast, “Put me down right on top of the other pod, if you can!”

  “I don’t advise –”

  “Override your advice.” Ay’r said the harsh words by which even the most-intelligent Cybers shut up and did what they were told.

  “Ay’r, don’t do anything foolish!” Alli Clark said. “We’ll be there in ten minutes Sol Rad.”

  “I’m landing!”

  “Remember, they have weapons!" she comm.ed. “And you’re flying blind!”

  The pod bumped to the ground and seemed to settle between hummocks.

  “If you’ve put me anywhere else than exactly where I said ...” Ay’r threatened.

  “You needn’t get testy,” the Fast retorted.

  “Now open it!” Ay’r tensed, not knowing what to expect: more of the treacherous pointed white shoots, or the Gods, or what.

  What he saw was nothing. Or rather the ruins. And nothing else.

  He leaped out of the pod.

  A faint sickly-sweet odor still hung in the air. But there was no pod but his own. No Gods. And, worst of all, no ’Dward.

  Ay’r began calling his name, hoping the youth had hidden during the pod’s exertions. He continued around the ruins shouting out “’Dward!” until he stopped and heard the faint buzzing sound and looked up and saw streaks in the sky. Not yellow and tattered mist, but blue-white, with parallel contrails. He knew with a terrible finality that they had abducted ’Dward.

  “Fast, follow the direction of that T-pod!”

  “Unable to follow without visuals,” the Fast reported.

  “P’al! Can you try to cut it off?” But Ay’r got no answer.

  When the shuttle landed eight frantic minutes later, Ay’r rushed up to it and almost pushed P’al back inside, trying to see if they had gotten ’Dward.

  They hadn’t.

  “We’ve got to find ’Dward immediately,” Ay’r insisted. “Get back in. I’ll pilot. The Fast will tell you their direction. What are you waiting for? Hurry! He’s been injected. And it’s already working on him, just as you thought it might, P’al. I know. Last night he – What are you waiting for? Eve damn you! We’ve got to go!”

  P’al took Ay’r by the shoulder, put a hand up to his neck as though to comfort him – and pinched him quickly and hard.

  Ay’r wanted to ask why he had done that, but he felt his body slumping under him. And then his mind went blank.

  Chapter Eight

  Several minutes after coming out of what seemed to be the fourth Fast jump in a very short time, Rinne heard noise outside the chamber walls.

  She looked up from where she lay, strapped to a jump lounge. The inner walls of the chamber were rimed with bluish crystalline condensation. Only a few inches away from her, North-Taylor Diad was still slumbering, his face rimed with the same bluish crystalline condensation. As was her own face, Rinne assumed, looking at her hands, which were, and unbuckling herself to sit up. Across the bare, curved-wall chamber, only Ewa, among the others, was coming to.

  Ckw’esso had warned them about the condensation occurring: it was a result of some slight, but innocuous chemical reaction of the Fast jump upon the billions of liters of liquid hydrogen that surrounded them. The chamber they lay in was hidden within one of six enormous tanks of hydrogen, deep in the bowels of a Deneban comm
ercial freighter operated by the Third Nest’s Bella=Arth.s. The chamber had been built for Bella=Arth. stowaways who wanted either to leave or to return to Deneb XII without MC authorities’ knowledge. One day Sol Rad. after the attack of Admiral Thol upon the open side of the nest, the elders of the Bella=Arth. community had agreed to allow the survivors to use it for safe passage.

  There was the noise again.

  “Do you hear it?” Rinne asked Ewa, who was now sitting up and, like Rinne, wiping her skin and clothing of the condensation.

  Ewa looked toward the source of the sound, then asked, “What does it mean?”

  It could only mean that they had been discovered, long shot as that seemed to be. For an answer, Rinne shook Diad awake, wiping his face and hands, and pleased by his smile of recognition, his simple greeting of “Gemma!”

  “We’re hearing noise,” Rinne said. “Listen!” Diad unstrapped himself, sat up, and listened.

  “What Sidereal Time do you have?” He checked his belt device.

  Rinne checked her wrist connection. “It’s earlier than expected for arrival.”

  “But it does sound like Ckw’esso is emptying this tank of hydrogen?” he asked her.

  “Why would she do that earlier than expected? Unless ... someone demanded it.”

  “Stay calm.” Diad held her closely. “After all, Gemma, this is a freighter. Maybe they’ve sold all the other hydrogen.”

  She felt better being held by him, but no less alarmed. “What did Ckw’esso say to you about how this would work?”

  “You were there,” he reminded her. “You heard, too. She agreed to get us as close to Hesperia as possible. Or, failing that, to a resort world under Hesperian influence.”

  “Yes, I know. I meant what did she say about how we would get out of the chamber?”

  “We can’t get out until it’s emptied of liquid hydrogen. That was one of the risks we accepted.” He smiled, held her closely. “Along with being blown to bits if the tank exploded.”

  “I’m less worried about being blown to bits than falling into the clutches of Wicca Eighth!”

  “Yesterday you were calling for Her resignation. You feeling a bit more cowardly today Sol Rad.?” he teased.

  “That was before the Fast imploded,” she said. “Should we awaken the others?”

  Diad was listening carefully to the noises. “I’m sure that’s what it is – they’re emptying the tank.” He shrugged. “I don’t know about the pregnant women, but I think maybe we ought to awaken Lill, the Hesperian Fast crew, and possibly the skimmer pilots, although if Ckw’esso has MC company out there, we’re sitting ducks, asleep or awake.”

  “We’ve got a dozen stunners among us,” Rinne said.

  Diad chuckled. “You really are turning into a revolutionary, aren’t you?”

  “Don’t think I won’t use one to defend us,” she said stoutly.

  “So will I!” Ewa said.

  “Fine!” Diad agreed. “Let’s get ready for a shoot-out.”

  By the time they had managed to awaken Lill – who grumbled and then, hearing the situation, became instantly alert and showed Rinne and Ewa how to use the guns – and the Fast crew and pilots, the other women were also coming out of Fast jump, although they were groggy. They were left where they were, and Ewa, Rinne, Diad, Lill, and the males stood flat against the walls on either side of the only door into the chamber, stun guns loaded, cocked and ready, as the noises changed tone and rhythm. Clearly someone was walking around out there.

  Rinne tried to recall what the chamber had looked like when she’d first seen it. A compressor: it had been disguised as compression machinery! The door was half hidden behind crossbars and a huge pressure lock. Would MC Security guards fall for the disguise? She looked at Diad, next to her. He didn’t seem nervous at all.

  “I think you’re actually enjoying this!” She whispered an accusation.

  “In a way, I am. I’m certainly enjoying seeing you so excited,” he added, his tongue running over his black mustache.

  “Males!” Lill commented.

  A second later, the noises were right at the chamber door. Rinne watched Diad tense, as all of them did, except perhaps the women still on their Fast lounges. The outer door slid open with much grating. Diad and Lill opened the inner door, then stood back. When they had entered the chamber earlier, the space between the two doors had been covered with a seal of liquid Plastro, to ensure air tightness within and no possible contact with the liquid hydrogen without. Rinne now heard the seal being slit open, saw an antenna slide in through the rip, and feel around a bit. Diad was closest to the door. He grabbed the antenna and began to palpate it softly between his fingers. Suddenly he released it.

  “It’s Ckw’esso,” Diad said, clearly relieved. “Her antenna displayed no tension. We’re safe!”

  The Plastro seal was ripped open completely, and Ckw’esso came inside.

  “Apologies!” she said. “We’ve been forced to make an unexpected stop.”

  Before Rinne or Diad could ask why, the Bella=Arth. added, “Business! But also business that concerns yourselves and the future pupae.”

  “You haven’t been stopped?” Rinne asked.

  “Not at all. But there’s been much news on the Inter. Gal. Networks and it would be best if all your people – including soldiers and future queens – gathered now.”

  After all the women had been awakened, they once more had the opportunity to be amazed by the smallness of the chamber they had hidden in compared to the vast – and now empty – liquid-hydrogen tank within which it was embedded, and then by the size of the tank section of the freighter itself, a lengthy conveyance ride until they had arrived at the much-smaller living quarters. Ckw’esso had set aside one area for the Humes to gather. Drinks and snacks had been set out, and all of the stowaways realized they were hungry.

  They were joined by another Bella=Arth., introduced as Mcr’ass’t, who was the freighter’s equivalent of captain and who laid out the situation, with Ckw’esso translating.

  “The most recent Inter. Gal. Comm.s have reported the conclusion of a four-party Realignment Statute for Deneb XII. The parties involved were the Matriarchy, Deneb XII’s Hume rebels who have taken the name ‘Immediate Response,’ along with voting observers from Hesperia’s Inner Quinx and the Orion Spur Federation. Under the terms of the Realignment Statute, all matters and relationships on Deneb XII are returned to as they were the hour Sidereal Time before the opening of the Alpheron Spa.”

  “Sounds like a Bella=Arth. solution!” Diad said.

  Rinne knew he meant that the Bella=Arth.s would emerge from this crisis unscathed.

  “Indeed it does!” Ckw’esso admitted. “However no Bella=Arth. was present. Perhaps the Two Species are learning nest-ways?” She pondered.

  “Perhaps,” Diad laughed.

  “What does the Realignment Statute mean in terms of us and these women?” Rinne asked.

  “In terms of yourselves, Ambassador Taylor, Councilor Rinne, Commander Lill, the Hesperian Fast crew, and the six skimmer pilots, it means that nothing has happened, and you may return to your previous positions.”

  “Don’t be so naive!” Lill spoke up for them.

  “We are only presenting the terms of the statute, which provides full amnesty for all participants in the crisis.”

  Excluding renegade Councilors, Rinne thought. The last place she could go was back to Melisande. She knew it; they all knew it.

  “No one knew you were even there!” she said to Lill. “You could claim you were taken hostage by our group.”

  “Gemma’s right!” Diad assured the MC Commander. “I’ll back you up.”

  “What about the women we rescued from the spa?” Rinne now asked Ckw’esso and his captain.

  “No provisions were made for them,” Ckw’esso said and turned her head away, a sign of shame.

  “None at all?”

  “The Matriarchy refused to negotiate any realignment which admitted t
heir existence. Therefore, no mention of them occurs anywhere in the statute.”

  Lill said, “That means they can go home!”

  “The statute does not say they cannot. Nor,” Ckw’esso added, “that they ever left their homeworlds.”

  Rinne was beginning to understand. Wicca Eighth had pulled a fast one.

  Evidently, Ewa also understood. “We can’t go home!”

  “Why not?” Ckw’esso asked, over the murmur of the other pregnant women.

  “Because in several weeks or months we’re going to give birth to Equo-Homs. That’s why. If we return to our homeworlds, we’ll face mandatory abortions – or worse!”

  “Ewa’s right,” another young woman spoke up. She identified herself as Janitra and went on to try to explain to the other spa refugees exactly what the recent past should have shown them: They were not welcome anywhere in the Matriarchy.

  “What does the Health Councilor say?” another woman asked.

  “I’m afraid they’re right,” Rinne had to agree. “And despite the so-called MC amnesty, I’m afraid I share your position. Let’s face reality: we’re persona non grata now.”

  Diad said he thought that Hesperia would be glad to take the women and their offspring. He’d comm. to make certain, but he thought –

  “That won’t do,” Ewa interrupted him. “If my baby is going to grow up with four legs, he’ll need plenty of space to run. He can’t stay in anything like a city until he grows up.”

  Rinne was pleased by Ewa’s newfound maturity. She listened while Ewa and Janitra persuaded the two refugees still holding out that they could neither return to their homeworld nor go to Hesperia. The pregnant women were brutally honest, realistic, and candid. When they were finished, the holdouts tearfully agreed.

  “Then we’ll arrange for the Quinx to find an appropriate world,” Diad said.

  “In actuality, such a solution may be at hand,” Ckw’esso said. “That is another reason why I awakened you. True, we did not have to empty that particular tank to pump liquid hydrogen down to the planet below. We did so because we reached the same conclusions you have reached independently regarding the queens-to-be among yourselves, and to give you the opportunity to discuss the situation among yourselves and to look over the planet below.”