Jennings' Folly

by Thomas C. Stone

  Outside the barn, I turned to him and asked whether he could ride a horse.

  “I’m sure I can, Amanda.”

  “Well, have you ever?”

  “Actually, no, but I have observed the mechanics of…”

  “That’s good enough. You’re coming with me. That is, if you can stay in the saddle.”

  Michael said nothing and the expression on his anime face showed neither interest nor disinterest. He was, well, a robot.

  Inside, Aunt Liza sat beside the body of Uncle Pat. I think she was talking to him when Michael and I entered. Whatever she was saying, she stopped.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “We’re going back.”

  “Who is going back?”

  “Me,” I said. “And Michael.”

  “What in the world for?”

  “Papaw said he heard the boys. He said they were alive. I’m going back to find them.”

  “That’s crazy,” Liza said. “Your Grandpaw is talking out of his head. Just go back to the house.” She indicated the robot. “Take your toy with you and leave me be for a while.”

  I didn’t argue but I did saddle two horses and lead them out. As I opened the barn door, a cold wind blew inside. Aunt Liza didn’t turn her head from her husband, but she said in a low voice. “Go ahead on, then. Get yourself killed. Then I’ll be all alone.” She began crying again and I thought of going to her, but I thought of Toby and Riley, lost in the woods and freezing to death. Without another word, I helped Michael into the saddle and I mounted Grandpaw’s big horse. Together, we rode out.

  I turned off the shield with Grandpaw’s controller and once we’d left the compound, Kaliis flicked it back on.

  I wore my radio headset and Kaliis told me he was there if I needed him.

  “Thank you,” I said and he reminded me that we had forgotten the cameras.

  “If I get killed,” I said, “I don’t want it to turn into a show.”

  Kaliis didn’t answer. Maybe he didn’t understand what I meant. Or maybe, he didn’t want to consider the prospect of my death.

  Michael and I rode on.

  *

  Michael did well, for a robot. At first, he held onto the saddle with both hands while I tied his reins to my saddle horn and led Brittany. He didn’t fall off as I imagined he would (As Papaw said, expect the worst, and if it doesn’t happen, you’re that much better off.) and we made good time, stopping at the jumble of rocks before tackling the trail along the creek.

  At the rock stronghold, I checked my equipment and my weapons. Michael watched with interest but I wasn’t sure if he had his positronic mind on the game at hand. He asked me, “When will the snow stop falling?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean to say, how long will it snow?”

  I shook my head and told him I didn’t know.

  “They haven’t told you?”

  I sat upon a rock with my Vimbacher in my lap. I had the battery compartment open and was swabbing it out. I looked at Michael. “Who are they?”

  “Why, whoever is responsible.”

  I laughed and told Michael no one was responsible for the weather. “Unless, of course, we include God in the discussion. I guess you could say He is responsible for the weather.”

  “God?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where does God live? In Summit?”

  I laughed again and shook my head. “No, although there are those who would say He does.”

  “So where does God live?”

  “I don’t know,” I told the robot.

  “In Calgary?”

  “No, I’m pretty certain He doesn’t live there, either.”

  Michael considered what I had said and finally looked up at the falling snow and the low clouds passing overhead. “More than likely, He lives in space on an orbiting platform. It would be the optimal location for controlling the weather, would it not?”

  “Well,” I told him, “I hadn’t considered it before. Look, let’s pay attention to what we’re doing.”

  “Yes,” said Michael. “How can I be of service?”

  “I recall you’re a decent shot.”

  Michael looked at me mutely but made no reply.

  “Anyway, I expect you’ll have the opportunity to show off your shooting skills.” I handed him the blaster and directed his attention to a boulder some thirty yards away. ‘See if you can hit that rock.”

  Without hesitation, Michael aimed the blaster and blew a chunk out of the boulder.

  “Nice.”

  He tried to hand the weapon back to me but I held up a hand. “Keep it. Use it if you have to.”

  “How will I know?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you.” I put the battery cover back in place and slung my rifle over my shoulder. The motion detector was in my front pocket and I took a look at the readings – null.

  Instructing Michael to mount up, I climbed atop Star, Grandpaw’s horse, and we rode toward the trail head.

  I pushed everything that had happened out of my mind. It was all too unsettling and if I was to have any chance of surviving, I needed to pay attention. I thought I had heard Riley in the background, over the radio. Grandpaw said he had heard the boys as well. Was I wrong? Could it be we’d heard something else? Sometimes the mind plays tricks, furnishing what you want to hear. Maybe the old man had heard a forest animal making a last complaint about the weather before retiring. Yet, that wasn’t Grandfather’s way. He was old, but I’d never known him to hear voices or anything like that. No, I was going with the notion that he’d actually heard Riley. I had heard him too. At least, I thought I had. The truth was, we hadn’t run across any blood trails, so there was still a chance.

  The one question I had was why would this particular creature kidnap my step-brothers? A delicacy saved for a leisurely meal? I hated to think about it in those terms, but nothing like this had ever happened before. The lizards didn’t kidnap people. They killed them on the spot and ate them. Sure, they might drag a body off a ways for a more private session, but never had we seen the lizards keep someone alive. It showed intelligence, something lacking in the beasts’ previous actions.

  The trail was bare and there were no new signs of anything passing. I looked for lizard tracks along the trail but found none, only the previous trail left by our own horses. A dusting of fresh snow covered everything, but that simply made it easier to recognize anything fresh. Unfortunately, there was nothing.

  We returned to the spot where Uncle Pat had died. There was blood on the ground, Pat’s blood, but most was already covered by the fresh snow.

  By that time, it was well after midnight, in the wee hours of the morning. I was tired and cold and wasn’t sure which way to go from there.

  I climbed down from Grandpaw’s big horse and tied him to a nearby sapling, slipping a feed bag over his ears and hobbling his legs. Michael took the initiative of getting off Brittany without my help, but then he just stood and stared at me; awaiting instructions, I suppose.

  I asked Michael to build a fire but it was beyond him, so, after checking the mass detector (null again), I showed him how to gather firewood and create a teepee of sticks before lighting.

  Michael was pleased with the outcome and sat beside me as I warmed myself and thought about our next move.

  Chapter 28

  “Help me up,” Jennings said as he reached for Liza.

  “You need to stay where you are.”

  “I feel much better. Just needed a nap, that’s all.” He tried to sit up and swing his legs to the floor, but the wounded, swollen leg wouldn’t obey and the old man’s face contorted in pain.

  Liza called for Kaliis and the alien came running up the basement stairs. “What’s the matter?”

  “He’s trying to get up.”

  “Don’t let him.”

  “I don’t think he can anyway.”

  “I’m right here. Don’t talk about me while I’m right here. I can hear
you, damn it! Kaliis, come here, help me up.”

  Kaliis hung his head. He wasn’t accustomed to refusing a request by the old man.

  “Sir,” Kaliis started, “your wound prohibits you from…”

  “Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do. My granddaughter needs my help; now get me up from here.” Jennings held out his hand.

  Kaliis gripped the old man’s open hand and Jennings tried to pull himself to his feet. As soon as he put weight on the bad leg, he grimaced and fell back onto the couch. It was then Kaliis saw that the leg had swelled so much that the fabric of his trousers was stretched tight.

  “It’s time to tend to your wound, sir.”

  “Perhaps you’re right.” Jennings had broken out in a sweat and gingerly prodded the hamstring area. “I’m all swollen up,” he observed.

  Liza insisted on taking a look at the wound and Jennings relented, allowing her to cut the fabric away.

  The leg had swelled nearly twice its original size. Liza shook her head at the sight. The bullet wound had broken open again due to the swelling but the larger problem was only discovered when they rolled Jennings over. On the back of his leg they discovered the poison prick of the kitzloc. The spot was marked by red and purple tendrils reaching out from a central white core an inch in diameter. In the middle was the original wound which appeared as a tiny stiletto stab.

  “Well, what do you see?” Jennings asked.

  “It’s not good, Gary. You’ve been stung.”

  Jennings rolled back over. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

  “How do you feel?”

  The tough old man actually smiled. “How do you think I feel?”

  He looked bad. A quick med recorder scan revealed a high fever and a bacterial infection spreading like wildfire. Kaliis started an IV and began pumping anti-biotics into Jennings’ body.

  Speaking privately to Liza in the kitchen, Kaliis told her he didn’t think the infection could be stopped.

  “What do you mean?”

  “When the infection reaches his heart, he’ll die.”

  Liza shook her head. “No, no,” she said, “I can’t take any more. We’ve got to help him.”

  “I’m not a doctor, Miz Liza. Even if I was, your human physiology is different from what I know.”

  “You knew enough to start an IV – maybe the medicine will work.”

  Kaliis glanced back into the big room where Jennings watched them from his prone position. “What are you two talking about?” he asked.

  Kaliis turned back to Liza and lowered his voice. “I fear the meds will only prolong the inevitable.”

  “Well what can be done?”

  Kaliis leveled his gaze at the Earth woman. “Remove the leg.”

  At first, Liza didn’t understand. Her brow furrowed, but then her eyes opened wide. “You mean… amputate?”

  “Yes.”

  Liza caught her breath. “Can you do that?”

  Kaliis told her again he wasn’t a doctor.

  “What are you talking about in there?” Jennings asked again.

  “There’s a surgeon in Summit,” said Liza.

  “If we call Summit for a doctor, you know Jonah will come as well.”

  Liza shook her head. “I don’t care anymore,” she said.

  Kaliis didn’t hesitate. “All right. Get on the radio,” he said. “Get the doctor here as soon as possible.”

  Liza’s eyes filled with tears again, but she merely nodded before heading down the basement stairs to the radio transmitter.

  For the third time, Jennings asked what was going on.

  “Nothing,” said Kaliis.

  *

  The snow showed no sign of letting up but at least we weren’t cold. Actually, the cold had no effect on Michael. I was the one who appreciated the fire. It lighted both sides of the creek, casting shadows that moved and danced and added to my anxiety.

  The plan I had formed was simple, straightforward. The fire was sure to attract the lizard and when it came around, I was going to blow it away. That’s what I told myself.

  In anticipation of the attack, I planted directional charges in a circle around myself and Michael, leaving us a safe area of three to four meters across in which to wait. The horses were tethered in a copse of trees forty meters away and I regretted putting that much distance between me and my escape, but I had to move them far enough to keep the two horses safe from the blasts, if and when the detonations occurred.

  The last stand scenario was not the only reason I was at that spot. That’s where Grandpaw said he had heard the boys and I hoped to track them down after taking care of the lizard. Yet, the longer I waited, and the colder it got, I began to wonder if I should not have looked further up the trail prior to planning my battle with the black lizard.

  The old ruins were nearby and although I hadn’t visited the area in over a year, it was a likely place to seek shelter. I didn’t care if the kitzloc heard me or not. I stood and cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted in the direction of the ruins. The snow fell quietly and the sound of my voice echoed through the woods, but there was no response.

  Michael watched me shout a second time and asked if he could “be of assistance?” He sat by the fire and looked at me with those abnormally large eyes, lifelike and yet… not.

  “Just keep an eye out,” I told him. “when the attack comes, it’ll happen fast.”

  “All right,” he said, lowering his head. His hands went to his face and I asked him what he was doing. In reply, he held out his right hand and looked up to me.

  I saw he had removed his mechanical eyeball and that’s what he held in his hand. The photo-data wiring was a small bundle of flexible glass tubes along which light ran to his image processing module. The transparent wires trailed from the eyeball to his empty eye socket. It was a ghastly sight but I would have laughed had our situation been different.

  Instead, I told him that wasn’t what I meant. “Put your eye back in your head,” I said. “That’s not what I meant. I wanted you to…”

  I was interrupted by a terrified scream from Brittany. I had never heard a horse make such a sound and it raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

  The firelight ended where I had tied the horses but I could tell the two animals were struggling against something I could not see. Star reared up and kicked his front legs in a churning motion. I brought the Vimbacher to bear but resisted firing at shadows. Brittany was entirely concealed by the darkness and trees. There were sounds of a fight and she neighed again, a sound so fearful it made my heart sink. Star reared again and pulled against his restraints until he managed to break free. The larger horse then ran off into the night. Luckily, I had removed my kit, but everything else was gone.

  I instructed Michael to fire a flare into the night sky and he obeyed. His shot went straight up and, with a little pop! at altitude, the flare ignited and illuminated the entire area.

  The lizard was nowhere to be seen, but Brittany lay on the ground, flanks heaving like bellows and blood pouring onto the snow from talon slices running port to starboard as Papaw would say.

  I wanted to go to her but hesitated leaving the fire and the circle of explosive charges. I wanted to draw the beast to me in order to utilize the ambush tactics my Grandfather and Uncle Pat had taught me.

  I felt terrible about Brittany but braced myself for the next attack. As good a shot as Michael had proven himself to be, I hesitated to hand over the blaster. A small mistake in aim at point blank range would spell the end for me. In the midst of a lizard attack, things could happen pretty fast, as we had just witnessed. I told Michael to watch behind us. “Try to look where I’m not looking,” I said. “If you see the lizard, tell me immediately. Okay?”

  “Certainly.”

  “And Michael?”

  “Yes?”

  “I told you, you can call me Amanda. All right? That’s my name. Friends call each other by their names.”

  Michael gave a little bow. “T
hank you, Amanda. I’ve never had a friend before, so you may refer to me as Mike.”

  The robot surprised me. I supposed it was the enhancements Kaliis had programmed into him, yet it was still amazing to see the transformation into a more sentient machine.

  “Okay Mike. Just stay alert. Throw some more wood on the fire. The more the better.”

  “I will do that, Amanda.”

  I looked back to the suffering horse and knew I had to do something. “Stay here,” I instructed Michael, and I stepped outside the circle of explosives, into the kill area.

  The fire blazed with the addition of fuel, spreading its warmth and light even further. Brittany lay on her side. Her heavy breath had abated along with the flow of blood and she barely moved. Along with each shallow breath came a whistling on the intake and a gurgling on the out-breath. She was done for and all I wanted to do was relieve her suffering.

  The snow crunched beneath my boots as I approached her. I glanced at the mass detector which I had attached to a lanyard hung about my neck. It swung in opposition to Glaucus’ “bauble” but only registered the heaving form of the dying horse and, of course, the mass and heat signature put out by Michael’s mechanical body. I approached Brittany warily, in any case.

  Her eyes rolled to look at me. Squatting, I ran my hand along her neck. She made an effort to raise her head but was too weak. As if she knew what was to transpire, she seemed to resign herself to her fate and closed her eyes. I apologized to her in a whisper, then stood and stepped back. Raising the Vimbacher, I took aim, released my breath, and pulled the trigger. She stiffened when the bullet entered her skull and then relaxed as death took the place of her fleeting life.

  With tears flowing, I returned to the fire. Michael looked at me with curiosity but offered no consolation. I would have been surprised if he had.

  I fully expected for the lizard to launch another attack when I left the relative safety of the fire, but it didn’t and I wondered why. The only reason I could come up with was that, as crazy as it might sound, the animal was toying with me. It was enjoying itself.

  I stood before the blaze peering into the surrounding darkness. “Come on,” I shouted. “What are you waiting for?”