Bridgers 1_The Lure of Infinity

by Stan C. Smith

  As she spoke, the bird man thrust his spear at Desmond just hard enough to put a small puncture in his thigh.

  Desmond slapped his hand over the wound. “That hurt!”

  The bird creature held its spear up menacingly.

  “They want us to fight,” Infinity said. “Give me the damn weapon.”

  “You’re already hurt. You’re in no—”

  She snatched the spear from him. Without hesitating, she rushed at the armed bird man. At the last moment she crouched down, and with her left hand on the ground she swung her right leg in an arc from the side, knocking the bird’s feet from under it. Infinity was already fully erect again by the time the creature thumped onto the ground, and she drove one of the stone tips into its body. In the next three seconds she drove the tip in another five times.

  She backed off from the dying creature and turned in a full circle, holding the weapon ready for an almost-certain attack from the other bird men.

  12

  Students

  Infinity felt like she might pass out. Her drop-sweep had taken the creature down, but it had hurt like hell. Chances were, though, she’d be killed soon and wouldn’t have to endure much more. It’s obvious the bird men had wanted to watch a fight. Infinity saw only two possible consequences of her quick disposal of their companion: they would become angry and kill her, or they would pit her against another opponent. And another after that. Until she lost. Based on the fact that the bird people were now standing around chattering, the second possibility seemed more likely.

  At this point, her goal was to keep the creatures’ anger aimed at her rather than at the tourist.

  She held her double-tipped weapon ready while the creatures talked, turning frequently in case they tried attacking from behind. Finally, one of the brown birds approached her, unarmed. It extended one hand, all three fingers outstretched, and waited.

  She glared at it. “What do you want?”

  “He wants you to give him the spear,” the tourist said.

  The creature curled and straightened its fingers twice, apparently a universal gesture telling her to hand it over.

  She sighed and gave the weapon to the bird man, remaining alert in case the creature turned it on her. A second brown bird picked up the weapon next to the creature she’d killed. The two birds brandished the spears at her and Desmond. But instead of attacking, they simply stepped forward and prodded them with the weapons until they started walking.

  The crowd parted, allowing Infinity and the tourist to be herded toward the cliff face. The entire pack of creatures followed, forming a semicircle to keep the prisoners from running away. The crowd stopped in front of a fifteen-foot ladder, hanging to the ground from the lowest of the five rectangular cave openings. It was clear the humans were expected to climb the ladder.

  “Go on,” she said to the tourist. She wasn’t going to leave him undefended while she climbed.

  The ladder, which had rope loops beside each wooden rung, was made for bird men, not for humans. But the tourist quickly figured it out and climbed to the cave. She followed him up, trying to ignore the grinding agony in her hip.

  Once they were at the mouth of the cave, there was nowhere to go but inside. It opened into a single oval chamber about thirty feet deep, with surprisingly smooth walls. The chamber was empty except for a pile of ashes in the center. Apparently these creatures knew how to use fire.

  Four of the smaller brown birds had followed them up the ladder, including the two with weapons. The creatures herded them to the back wall of the chamber and then stood squawking to each other.

  The tourist sat on the floor and leaned against the rounded wall. “So, what now?”

  She groaned and carefully lowered herself beside him. A decent amount of light was coming from the cave’s opening, so she inspected the arrow wound on the front of her hip. The mud plug was still in place, but the entire area was swollen. “No idea. But every delay gets us closer to bridge-back.”

  The four bird men had stopped squawking to watch them talk.

  Desmond sighed and leaned his head back against the rock wall. “I guess there’s not much chance we can escape.”

  “Not much.”

  “I wish we could get back to Lenny and Xavier.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  He turned to look at her. “You’re a real glass-half-empty person, aren’t you?”

  “I’m here to keep you alive, not to be an optimist.”

  “Well, you have accomplished that. So far.” He was silent for a few seconds. “They didn’t seem too upset when you killed one of their kind. I can’t figure these guys out. And what’s up with all the biodiversity? If you count the yappy little squirrels and the big draft animal, at least five different species are coexisting here.”

  “That’s your department.”

  “Aren’t you curious about it? You bridge to all these amazing worlds, and you’ve seen things most people couldn’t imagine. Have you really become jaded to it all?”

  She gazed at him, and for a moment she imagined how nice it would be if she were with him again at the picnic table on the SafeTrek grounds. Or in a quiet restaurant. Or any other place where they weren’t about to be slaughtered by bird men. She was actually starting to like it when he talked to her, which was worlds away from how she felt about most tourists. Suddenly she realized these were useless thoughts, a waste of the few minutes that might remain of her life. Besides, this tourist’s existence to this point had been so different from hers that, beyond their current shared interest in staying alive, they would never have much in common worth talking about.

  “It’s a job,” she said. “Each excursion is a good paycheck, especially if the tourists bridge back in one piece.”

  “Well, you deserve a bonus for this one.”

  She decided not to tell him about getting paid double, or about the waiver on penalties for the previous tourist’s injuries. Too bad she probably wouldn’t live to collect. Her parents would get her salary for five years. Infinity hadn’t seen them since she was fourteen, and now she didn’t know if they were even alive. If they couldn’t be found, the money would go to The Scrapyard, her old training club. The place helped kids who were living on the streets to direct their anger into something productive. It had saved her life—for all that was worth now.

  A black bird’s head appeared at the ladder. Seconds later it came on up and stood upright in the cave opening. Soon another creature ascended and then stood beside the first. This one, however, was only half the other bird’s height. At first Infinity thought it was one of the tracking animals, but it had the same decorative bands, black feathers, and black beak as the larger bird.

  “It’s a juvenile,” the tourist said. “A kid.”

  Another small one appeared, and then another. They kept coming until about twenty were standing in a semicircle around the two humans. Only a third of them were black. The rest were brown with tan beaks.

  The adult black bird began squawking and clicking. It continued for several minutes. When it stopped, the kids stepped closer to Infinity and Desmond. The brown adults with spears raised their weapons, threatening to use them if the humans tried anything. The kids leaned in and touched the humans’ skin, rubbing their tiny fingers over them and chittering to each other.

  And then the kids were ordered back to the ladder, and they all climbed down, followed by the black adult. The lesson—or whatever it had been—was over.

  “This just keeps getting weirder,” the tourist said.

  “Every minute helps.”

  A screech came from the ground below. Abruptly, the four brown guards forced Infinity and Desmond to their feet and over to the ladder. They all descended to the gravel bar, and the guards led them to the spot where Infinity had killed the bird man. The creature’s body was gone, and a heavy boulder had been dragged to the spot where it had died. A thick-legged, elephant-sized beast like the one they’d seen earlier stood nearby, adorned with a rope h
arness, which explained how the massive rock had been moved.

  The bird people quickly gathered around again, as if something important were about to happen. This time the young brown and black birds were part of the crowd. Infinity had a sickening feeling the kids had been brought here to witness something unpleasant.

  A pair of brown birds emerged from the crowd, each of them wielding one of the two-tipped weapons, apparently ready to fight.

  “Here we go again,” the tourist said.

  “You stay to the side. I’ll handle this.” She watched the armed creatures, trying to come up with a strategy to surprise them both.

  The armed bird men didn’t advance. Instead, they waited while a black bird came forward, went to the boulder, and pushed aside some of the gravel beneath it. This exposed the stone tip of another spear. The bird men had buried it beneath several inches of gravel and then dragged the boulder over it, pinning it beneath the ground. Another black bird appeared, dragging a short, thick log with one hand and carrying a long wooden pole in the other. It dropped both of these items, and then both black birds backed away.

  The armed brown birds immediately lunged at Infinity, thrusting their weapons but pulling them back before touching her.

  “It’s a test.” The tourist said. “They’re trying to figure out how smart we are.”

  One of the brown birds circled to Infinity’s side, brandishing its spear.

  “No shit,” she said. She considered simply grabbing the long pole and taking out the two armed birds with it, forgoing the damn puzzle. But she had a gut feeling that wouldn’t help the tourist survive until bridge-back. “I’ll keep these two busy,” she said. “You get me that weapon.” From the corner of her eye, she saw the tourist kick the log closer to the boulder and then grab the wooden pole. The two brown birds still hadn’t attacked, and Infinity wondered if they were there only to force her and the tourist to solve the idiotic puzzle.

  “I need help!” The tourist had wedged the end of the pole under the boulder and over the log. He was now practically hanging from the other end of the pole, but this was barely moving the boulder.

  Keeping her eye on the two birds, she went to the pole and helped pull it down, prying the edge of the boulder off the ground. It took both of them to hold the boulder up, so neither of them could release the pole to retrieve the weapon.

  “Let it down,” Desmond said. “We pushed it back a little. We’ll just keep doing it until it’s off the spear.”

  The two birds could easily have attacked at this moment, but they remained in place—more evidence that their purpose was simply to provide incentive.

  The humans pried the boulder up again, moving it a few more inches. The armed birds moved in closer and hovered behind them menacingly. Infinity and the tourist pried the boulder a third time, and then a fourth. The spear was now exposed, so they lowered the rock and Infinity rushed to the weapon and pulled it from the gravel.

  She stepped away from the boulder and raised the spear over her head. “Is this what you wanted to see, dumbasses?”

  The two armed birds charged. She swiped at one of their spears, knocking it off course, but the other caught her shoulder, tearing open the flesh. Why were they attacking now? This whole scenario made no sense. “Call them off!” she cried. “We figured out your stupid puzzle.”

  “Look out!” Desmond shouted.

  The two birds were coming at her again, but this time one was behind the other. She blocked the leading bird’s weapon and buried the tip of her own in the creature’s side. The bird went down immediately and began writhing. Her weapon was firmly embedded, so she grabbed the fallen bird’s spear to face the second attacker.

  An ear-splitting screech stopped the oncoming bird. A black bird emerged from the crowd, pulled the weapon from the injured brown bird, rolled the bird over with one foot, and then ran the weapon through its back. It immediately stopped moving. The other brown bird lowered its weapon and backed away.

  The black bird took a few steps toward Infinity. She readied her weapon, preparing for a more serious attack. But the black bird stopped, extended a hand, and curled its fingers twice.

  Infinity didn’t offer her weapon. “I’ve had enough of this game. Why don’t you take it from me?”

  “Infinity, every minute counts. Don’t fight until you have to.”

  She glanced at him. The damn tourist was right. Slowly, she stood up straight and handed over the weapon.

  Several minutes later they were back in the chamber carved into the cliff face. A group of brown birds appeared and offered another bowl of water, and the humans both drank. The creatures also offered a bowl of food, this time containing what looked like raw meat. Again, Infinity told the tourist to refuse it.

  The tourist stared at the bowl of glistening flesh. “Why do I get the impression this meat is from one of the two bird men you’ve killed since we arrived?”

  “I killed one. They killed the other one themselves.” This fact was disturbing to Infinity. Not because it was necessarily bad news, but because it had been unexpected. She hated unpredictable adversaries. Most humans—except for the truly psychotic—were predictable and therefore could be defeated. But these bird creatures didn’t think anything like humans.

  The tourist said, “The larger black birds don’t seem to care about the lives of the brown ones. Maybe the brown ones are slaves and are considered disposable.”

  “Slaves aren’t disposable. I’d think they’d usually be in short supply, and they require feeding and training.”

  “Valid point. Also, most of the young ones they brought to observe us were brown. It doesn’t seem likely that slave children would be educated alongside the children of the masters.”

  Infinity glanced up at the four brown birds assigned as guards. “Listen, tourist. Before, I said we needed to keep them interested in us. Well, they are, and maybe that’s why we’re still alive. But I doubt they’re finished testing us. If whatever comes next involves fighting or killing more of them, that’s my job. I don’t know what they want from us, but I do know that if they’re going to hate one of us for killing their fighters, it should be me.”

  He sighed. “I know, to maximize my chances of living to bridge-back. I get it. But also consider that they might gain respect for you with every bird man you kill. And if I just sit on the sidelines, where does that leave me?” He looked at her in a way that almost made her break her gaze. “But here’s the deal,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot together, and I’m getting kind of attached to you. Maybe you’re a bridger, but you’re also a human being. It’s bad enough that Razor is dead. I don’t care to live the rest of my life knowing you also died trying to save my sorry ass. Why should your life be worth less than mine?”

  She looked away for a moment and then turned back to face him. “You need to let me do my job, tourist,” she said firmly.

  “I’d rather you call me Desmond. You bridgers use tourist like it’s derogatory.”

  A screech came from outside the chamber. The four guards prodded them to get up and move to the opening.

  “Okay, Desmond,” she said. “Let me do my job, and maybe we’ll both live to bridge-back.”

  Infinity had been right, the birds intended to test them again. And the young birds—the students—were front and center in the audience. High above, a rope had been suspended from the top of the cliff. Two of the short, double-tipped spears had been tied to the end of the rope about twenty feet above the gravel bar. The crowd formed a circle around the humans, and several black birds came forward and dropped some materials on the ground: three poles, each about ten feet long, a coiled length of thin rope, a pile of short sticks, and a jagged-edged rock.

  “It’s another ridiculously-simple puzzle,” Desmond said. “Maybe they think we got lucky before. They can’t quite believe we’re actually intelligent.”

  Infinity gazed up at the hanging spears. “Or maybe this is the most complicated puzzle their little bird brai
ns can come up with.”

  The crowd became quiet, watching and waiting. Infinity gazed around at them until she saw what she was expecting—the spear-wielding birds who would force them to solve the puzzle. But this time there were three of them. They came forward, ready to attack.

  So far these creatures hadn’t shown any great level of skill with their weapons, and there was a decent chance she could disarm one of them and kill all three. But what good would that do? The birds could be replaced by more, and still she and the tourist would be forced to solve the damn puzzle.

  She glanced at the tourist while also trying to keep an eye on the armed bird men. Desmond had already picked up the coiled rope and was staring at the other materials.

  Desmond said, “We can’t make a ladder with what we have here, but we can tie the three poles end-to-end to make one long pole. Then we can lean it against the cliff, and I can shinny up it and untie the spears.”

  Infinity grabbed one of the ten-foot poles and placed it next to another with two feet of overlap. “This is a chance to gain time. Don’t rush it.”

  He nodded. “Got it.” He then began slowly wrapping the rope around the overlapping poles.

  After about ten loops, they worked together to pull the rope tight and knot it. Then they overlapped the third pole with the second. The coil of rope was one long strand, so they had to trail it about seven feet from the first knot to the juncture of the second and third poles. But this didn’t leave enough rope to wrap the poles adequately.

  Infinity got off her knees and stood straight up to relieve the pain in her hip. She glared at the three armed birds. She was getting sick of being forced to perform tricks. The birds, sensing she was becoming defiant, stepped forward and held the stone tips of their weapons in her face.

  “Take this,” the tourist said. He held out the jagged rock the birds had provided. She took it from him, and he grabbed the rope and held it against the gravel. “Cut right there.”

  Aware that three spears were inches from the back of her head, she struck the rope repeatedly with the rock’s edge until it was severed. The tourist took the loose end, moved to the third pole, and began wrapping.