Offspring (27 page)

Ben managed a smile. “Understood.”

“Now,” she said, “if you want to help me—”

“Name it,” Kendi said.

“Go home and get my things—toiletries, underclothes. Ask Harenn. She’ll know what to send. And bring my data pad. We left so quickly I didn’t even snatch up something to read.”

Kendi slid his own pad out of his pocket. “Use mine until we get back. It’s the new one Petrie gave me. You’ll like it.”

“Thank you,” Lucia said, accepting it. She accessed the newsfeeds with a tap, and a holographic newscaster popped up.

A
—voiced her opposition to the decision,
” the caster said. “
We go live to Treetown, where the Senator is speaking from her campaign headquarters.
” The image switched to Salman Reza, who was apparently already speaking.

A
—disagree with the High Court’s decision, I nonetheless celebrate the numerous jobs it will create. A strong economy also means we can keep a strong military for our defense. Now that we no longer enjoy the protection of the Independence Confederation, we need to defend ourselves from potential enemies, and the time to prepare is now.
”

The image switched back to the newscaster. “
Senator Reza is currently trailing in the polls by considerable margin,
” he said. “
Mitchell Foxglove, who has championed mining rights for several years, is now leading the race by ten points over Ched-Pirasku, who is in second.
” The caster paused, then said, “
I’ve just received word that Mitchell Foxglove is also speaking from his headquarters in Othertown. We go live
.”

Foxglove, silver-haired and handsome, appeared above the data pad. “
My worthy opponent Senator Reza is warmongering. Every time our hard-working taxpayers make some money, she wants to turn it over to the military. Well I’m here to tell you that I think you should keep your money. Use it to feed and clothe your children and put a roof over their heads. My administration promised jobs, and we’ve delivered—even before we won the election. With your support we can continue the trend. We must never forget—
”

Lucia shut the feed off. “I think I’ll read for a bit,” she said. “And then I’ll pray. I’m truly tired of politics.”

“Me, too,” Kendi said with a heartfelt sigh. “I have the feeling Wanda’s going to call me tomorrow with a brand new schedule.”

“Then you’d better go home and get some rest,” Lucia said. “Out! I’ll be fine until you come back in the morning with my things. The baby will be fine, so don’t worry.”

“It must be nice to have so much faith,” Ben said on the way home. The gondola glided noiselessly through the dark branches, and it felt like they were floating in space. Tan had taken the one ahead of them at Kendi’s request—he’d wanted some time alone with Ben. The late summer air was warm and sensual, sliding over the two of them like a satin breeze. Kendi put his arm around Ben’s shoulders and inhaled the smell of leaves and flowers. He felt some of the tension leave Ben’s muscles.

“We did everything we could,” Kendi said. “So don’t you go feeling guilty if it doesn’t work out. It’s not your fault the embryo degraded.”

Ben leaned against him and Kendi smelled his scent, familiar and foreign at the same time. He stroked Ben’s sunset hair and Ben sighed.

“It’ll be fine,” Kendi said. “Just don’t—holy shit!”

Ben bolted upright, wide-eyed. “What? What’s wrong?”

“It just hit me—we’re going to have
two
kids less than three months apart. They’ll be practically twins!”

“Oh god. In all the rush, I didn’t even think about that.” Ben laughed. “Well, other parents get through multiple births and they survive. We’ve got three months between them to prepare. And we’ve got a whole houseful of people to help us.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” Kendi rubbed his face with a slightly shaky hand. “But we’re going to have to change a few plans, buy more baby things. “ll life, I don’t know how much more drama I can stand tonight.”

When they arrived back home, everyone demanded to know how things had gone. Ben made explanations.

“I’m glad it worked so far,” Martina said with clear relief.

“Nothing’s sure yet,” Keith said morosely. “She could still—ow!”

“Time to go, dear brother,” Martina said sweetly, hauling him toward the door. “We’ll check with you in the morning, guys. Good night!”

“I will put together a bag for Lucia,” Harenn said as they left, “and bring it to her first thing in the morning after Bedj-ka leaves for school. And speaking of which—it is time we went home as well. It is well past your bed-time, Bedj-ka.”

“I’ll be too tired to go to school in the morning,” Bedj-ka said brightly. “It’s almost midnight.”

“You were the one who begged leave to stay up to hear the news,” Harenn said, “and now you must accept the consequences of your choice. Come along.”

Bedj-ka groaned theatrically and Kendi laughed. “You can’t get anything past your mother,” he said, putting a hand on Bedj-ka’s shoulder. His thumb brushed the back of the boy’s neck above his shirt collar. “No point in even—”

The jolt smashed them both to their knees. Kendi knelt on the floor, gasping, until Ben recovered his wits and hauled him up with easy strength. Harenn gave a small cry and helped Bedj-ka to the sofa.

“What was that?” Bedj-ka said in a scared voice. “It felt like I touched an electric wire.”

“Are you injured?” Harenn demanded.

“I don’t think so.”

“What happened?” Ben asked, alarmed. “Kendi, are you—?”

Kendi sank into a chair. “That was a Silent jolt,” he said dazedly. “All life—Bedj-ka is Silent.”

“We can’t keep this a secret any longer.”

—Daniel Vik

No one spoke for several moments. Then amazed babbles broke out from all quarters.

“That can’t be. Bedj-ka lost his—”

“I’m Silent? But Matron said—”

“Look, I felt the damned
jolt
all the way down to my—”

“He had
dreams
.”

This last remark came from Harenn. She didn’t speak above a whisper, but she still managed to silence the room. Kendi dragged himself upright, and Ben gave him a belated hand.

“What dreams?” Ben asked.

Harenn helped Bedj-ka stand. “You have been telling me about your realistic dreams ever since Silent Acquisitions station,” she said to him. “It never occurred to me that you were showing symptoms of Silence.”

“I...I didn’t think of it either,” Bedj-ka said in an awed voice. His brown eyes were large and round. “I mean, the Enclave—the people that bought me the first time—they said that realistic dreams were early signs of Silence, but—”

“This calls for a sit-down meeting,” Kendi said abruptly. “Because I need a sit-down. And a drink. Beer?”

“We’re out,” Ben said. “Hops shortage. Tea?”

But Harenn produced a flask and handed it over. Kendi drank, and it burned all the way down. He sighed. Bedj-ka watched with open curiosity.

“Can I—?” he began.

“No,” Harenn said.

“But I got jolted, too.”

“You may have a cookie.”

A few minutes later, they had reassembled in the living room with mugs of milk and a plate of Lucia’s soft ginger cookies. Kendi was grateful Lars was currently stationed outside the house—he didn’t feel like explaining anything.

“Let’s start at the beginning,” Kendi said. “Bedj-ka, you’ve been having realistic dreams?”

“For a while, yeah. It’s like I’m really there, and when I wake up—”

A—it takes a minute to figure out that you’re not still dreaming,” Kendi finished. Bedj-ka nodded. “All life, we were staring at it all the time and never realized it.”

“Perhaps it was a fluke,” Harenn said.

In answer, Ben reached over and tapped Bedj-ka on the forearm. They both jumped.

“Not a fluke,” Ben said.

“Ow!” Bedj-ka rubbed his arm. “Mom!”

“Have another cookie,” Kendi said.

“It only happens the first time, my son,” Harenn said. “And now you will be able to find Ben and Kendi much more easily once you enter the Dream.”

Kendi sprang to his feet. “We have to tell someone. This is important. This is
big
. “ll life—a Silenced child who got his Silence back. This is—I can’t even
say
how big this is.”

“Why?” Bedj-ka asked.

“Because you may not be the only one,” Kendi said. “What if
all
the Silenced are getting their Silence back?”

“Or what if it is only Bedj-ka?” Harenn said. “Choose your words with care, Kendi. You do not want to look the fool in public. Especially now.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” Kendi started to pace. “But who do we—”

“That noise!” Ben interrupted. “God, Kendi—that noise!”

Kendi paused in mid-step. “What noise?”

“The one we heard. In the Dream. When you were a dolphin. We never did figure out what it was. Do you think it’s related?”

“Has to be,” Kendi said, his excitement rising like a wave. “Ben, the Silenced are coming back! They’re—”

“Stop!” Harenn barked. Kendi halted in mid-sentence. “You are making assumptions based on no evidence. Right now you only know you heard a strange sound in the Dream and that Bedj-ka reacts to the Silent touch. Nothing more.”

Kendi started to object, then cut himself off. Harenn was correct. For a moment he had fallen back into his old patterns, creating planets from clouds of dust. He nodded, acknowledging the wisdom of Harenn’s words.

“There’s only one thing left to do,” he said.

“What?” Ben asked, on cue.

Kendi reached into an end table and produced a dermospray. “Go hunting.”

The gray plain lay flat and hard beneath Kendi’s paws. He stood as high on his hind legs as he could, stretching long kangaroo ears until they quivered. Beside him, Ben cocked his head.

“What do you hear?” Ben whispered.

“Shush,” Kendi snuffled. “I’m trying to—wait! Wait!”

~...~

“I heard that!” Ben said with hushed excitement. “I heard it! But just barely. What is it?”

“Children,” Kendi said. His ears swiveled this way and that, trying to catch even the tiniest hint of the sound. “They’re all so young, barely touching the Dream. I can’t hear any adults. Hold on.”

He leaped into the air and shrank, his form twisting and reshaping until he was flitting through the still air as a pale blue Australian ghost bat. Sounds that had lain in the background leaped into the foreground—Ben’s quiet breathing, the soft flapping of Kendi’s own wings, the rustle of Ben’s clothing as he shifted position to look upward. The distant whispering babble of other Silent became an abrupt roar, like a dripping faucet bursting forth as a waterfall. Kendi’s sharp ears, however, had no trouble sorting out the individual voices. It was like seeing the waterfall as a trillion drops of water instead of a single raging torrent. Kendi twisted through the empty sky, listening with every speck of power he possessed. The waterfall of sound rushed and splashed around him, a picture of sound in three dimensions. Then he heard it. Scattered among the droplets of sound—

~...~

—were the newcomers. They were weak as newborn chicks, their presence shy and innocent. Children who touched the Dream without realizing what they held. Kendi’s tiny heart pounded. It was a far cry from his hope of all Silent finding the Dream once again, but if Silenced children were regaining their Silence, it meant the Dream would once again be restored to its former self. Kendi’s head swam with the possibilities. The Children of Irfan could restore themselves. The Independence Confederation might even reform with Empress Kalii back on the throne. The children would grow up and enter the Dream. In a few decades, everything would be back to normal. In a hundred years, the Despair would be nothing but a chapter in history books that bored a new generation of schoolchildren.

Ben and Kendi’s children would never know a universe without the Dream.

Kendi’s heart soared and he did a little back flip that almost cost him his equilibrium. He righted himself and flittered back down to Ben, who was waiting with ill-disguised impatience. Kendi exploded back into kangaroo form and landed with a thud that shook the ground.

“Children,” he said, and went on to explain. Ben nodded, his face mostly impassive, though Kendi could see him tense with suppressed excitement.

“We can’t make too much of this,” Ben warned. “We don’t know what it means yet.”

“The hell we don’t,” Kendi shot back. “This is huge, Ben! The children are coming back. I remember what it felt like before the Despair, how new children felt when they were just touching the Dream, and these touches feel exactly the same.”

“We should tell Grandma,” Ben said. “She’s still a Grandmother Adept with the Children and she’ll know what to do with this information.”