Playing God (33 page)

She had hoped the movement and fresh air would clear her mind and vision, but it wasn't happening. She blundered through a blur of shadows. Her temple throbbed incessantly.

Keep going, just keep going. We've got to get out of here. Got to.

All at once, Arron was beside her. “Lynn, do you see it?”

He pointed. She sighted along his arm with her good eye. Through the trees and hanging moss, she saw a cluster of buildings, most likely a Getesaph family home. Nothing moved in the yard, and no light shone through the windows.

Probably deserted. Probably the owners were dead, but maybe they were just evacuated. She glanced anxiously at Resaime, who leaned against a tree, panting hard. Was it safe to take her there? They were already dancing with the plague out here. What if they took her inside to sleep with it, too?

“I know,” said Arron as if he read her thoughts. “But you're both about ready to fad over, and I'm not feeling so good myself.”

Lynn nodded. There was no choice.

“Are you good, Resaime?” Lynn straightened her shoulders. “Only a little farther.”

“I'm good.” Resaime pushed herself away from the tree.

Her ears drooped until the tips almost brushed her shoulders. “Let's get there.”

The homestead lay a few yards from the edge of the woodlands. Its paddies and tended bogs stretched out north and west beyond it. It was a typical Getesaph construction, a conglomeration of connected buildings, all of them three stories tall, with terraces on the second and third stories and steeply slanting ladders zigzagging between them.

Heaps of deflated leaves had blown right up to the door. Tiny mushrooms sprouted from the wooden doorframe. The gates on the livestock runs all hung open and swayed in the breeze.

Lynn swallowed. This place had been abandoned too long and too carelessly for its owners to have just been evacuated.

Lynn touched Arron's shoulder. “One of us needs to go in first and make sure the dead haven't just been left there.”

“Right. I'll—”

The house's main door swung open and two Getesaph, guns leveled, stepped out into the sunlight.

All three of them froze. The left-hand Getesaph gestured at their hands with her gun's long muzzle.

Which explains why nobody followed us,
Lynn thought ridiculously as she raised her hands.
They were ahead of us.

“All right,” said Arron in his perfect, smooth Getesaph. He raised his hands high over his head. “We want no blood from you.”

The right-hand Getesaph's ears stood straight up. “Scholar Arron?”

Arron opened his mouth and closed it again. Lynn's heart started beating again, hesitantly.

“They didn't say it was you.” She turned to her arms-sister. “Did you know about this, Balt?” She didn't use a title, which meant these two were sisters in blood, not just in arms.

The left-hand Getesaph shrugged irritably. “Entsh, if no one gave you names, no one would give them me. They just said we were out after two Humans and a
devna.”

Res bared her teeth. Lynn made a decision. She carefully lifted the strap for her gun off her shoulder and laid the weapon on the ground. “Res, put the gun down,” she said in Getesaph. “These are allies of Arron's.”

The look Arron gave her was grateful. The look Res gave her was disbelieving, but she plucked the gun strap off her shoulder and laid the weapon down gently on a pile of leaves. The Getesaph's skin calmed visibly.

“Ovrth Entsh, Ovrth Balt,” Arron had seen the black bands on their uniform cuffs before Lynn had, “this is Manager Lynn of Bioverse, Inc.” He waved a hand toward Lynn. “She came here to help with the relocation. With us is Resaime Shin t'Theria, who is daughter to an ally.”

“You're allies with the
devna?”
Entsh's eats tipped back uncertainly. She had not lowered her gun.

Arron ignored the question. “Ovrth Entsh, what is going on?”

Her ears flickered back and forth, confused. “What do you mean?”

Arron gestured broadly with both hands. “I mean what is happening to the evacuation? Why were we being held? Why did we have to escape from a dungeon?”

Balt lowered her gun to an at-rest hold. Lynn found breathing suddenly became easier. “How can you not know what you've done?”

“I know what I've done.” Arron tapped his chest. “I found out that the names on the relocation passenger lists don't match the people who were relocating. What I don't know is why the Parliament is doing this?”

Balt pressed her nostrils closed. “Parliament isn't doing anything but sitting around with its eyes shut,” she muttered.

“Quiet, Balt.” Entsh dropped the muzzle of her gun until it was pointing at the ground. She shook her sister's shoulder gently with her other hand. “Scholar Arron, we've got to take you with us.”

Arron blinked. “Why?”

Both ovrth stared at him in disbelief. The wind blew cold against Lynn's bare scalp, bringing with it all the smells of the damp forest.

Entsh made a strangled noise in her throat. “Because we have to.”

“Why, Ovrth Entsh?” Arron spread his hands again. “If it's not the Parliament holding us, who is it? What are they trying to do to the evacuation?”

Entsh's ears waved uncertainly. Balt touched her shoulder, whether in comfort or in warning, Lynn couldn't tell.

Arron shook his head. “I've sat in your house and recorded the words of your family. You have shown me hospitality and kindness and remembered my name and station well. The World Mothers know I never expected you to treat me like this.”

Balt drew her lips back until just a hint of white showed between them. Lynn stood stock-still and tried not to breathe. She willed Res to remain quiet.

Balt kicked at a stand of weeds that spat water out of their tips. “It's not worth it to stand here discussing the idiocies of the officeholders.”

“If you think it's idiotic, why are you helping?”

Entsh's skin rippled uneasily. “Scholar Arron, it is complicated. The Defenders are in revolt. You stumbled across it. You have to be held until events are in motion. You'll be let go. It is already planned.”

“They tried to kill the ally of my sister,” said Arron quietly. “I will not go back there, and I will not let you take her back.”

Entsh's gaze raked over Lynn. “This is your sister?”

One careful step at a time, Arron stepped sideways until he stood directly in front of Lynn. “Yes, she is, and I will stand before her and her ally.”

“Scholar Arron,” said Balt. “Don't do this.”

“Don't do what?” Arron threw up his hands. “Don't refuse to be illegally arrested? Don't protect my sister and her allies? Then tell me why!”

The silence stretched out for more heartbeats than Lynn could count. Clouds scudded across the sun, turning the shadowed light grey. Arron stayed where he was, hands in the air. Resaime fidgeted badly. Her nostrils closed and flared open again behind her filter mask like they had a life of their own. The ovrth stood still, with Balt's hand on Entsh's shoulder, communing in the silent, almost telepathic way Dedelphi shared with their sisters.

Finally, Entsh said, “All we truly know is that the Defenders are going to take hold of the
city-ship
called
Ur.”

Lynn felt all the blood drain out of her face. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “David.”

Balt's face tightened. “What did she say?”

“She has, we have, family aboard the
Ur.”
Arron lowered his hands. “What else are they planning?”

Balt waved her ears. “We don't know. We're helping them because of favors our family owes to the employers of employers, and we haven't been asking questions. We think it's ridiculous. How can our people hope to know where to start to take over these ships? All it will do is anger the Humans.”

A look of hope spread across Arron's face. “If you think this is ridiculous, help us. Take us to a Human outpost. Or near one. We can warn Bioverse and stop the whole insanity before it starts.”

Balt bared her teeth. “Didn't you hear us say we are doing this because of family obligation?”

“Yes.” Arron clenched his hands into fists. “But I also heard you say it couldn't accomplish anything, and that you didn't know who this wounded. Now you know, and now you can accomplish something. You can prevent Bioverse from leaving.”

The folds of Entsh's face sagged. “We cannot, Scholar Arron.”

Lynn licked her lips. “How many of your family have you lost to plague?”

Balt and Entsh turned eyes and ears to her. “What?” asked Entsh in a quiet, dangerous voice.

Lynn stepped around Arron and stood next to him. “How many family have you lost to plague?” Her voice sounded harsh and shaky like the wind in the tree branches. “How many daughters? Which of your mothers? How many sisters and cousins?”

Balt turned her ears away. “The Humans have no cure. That is known.”

“No,” said Lynn. “But we can keep the sick alive longer. We can help their bodies fight off the illnesses with greater success. We can save lives by keeping the body strong and preventing reinfection during the course of the illness.”

Entsh's ears wavered. “Is this true, Scholar Arron? Have the Humans saved lives?”

Arron nodded once. “The medical technology Bioverse brings is greater than anything in the Hundred Isles of Home. It has already saved lives.” Lynn wasn't sure if Arron knew that for a fact, but all that mattered right now was that Balt and Entsh believed it.

Arron's eyes narrowed at the ovrth. “Who is dying, Sisters?”

Balt said nothing. She just gripped her sister's arm so hard, Lynn could see Entsh's skin squirm in protest.

“Our sister Plenth has lost three of her daughters. Two more are ill with joint-rot.” She bared her teeth at Lynn. “Could the Humans save them?”

“I don't know,” said Lynn honestly. “But if Bioverse leaves, we can't try, can we? If Bioverse leaves before the real cures are found, how many more are going to die?”

“Help us,” Arron extended both hands just a little, not enough to touch them, even accidentally. “Let us help your family. No one has to die from this mistake.”

Entsh shook her head until her ears flapped. “How can we break our promise?”

“It depends what's more important, your family's debts or the lives of your sister's children. There is still time. There is still a chance, if our care-takers can reach them.” Lynn wished she could speak as smoothly as Arron did. At the moment, it didn't matter. The ovrth had stopped paying attention to her. They were looking at each other. Entsh's ears stood up so straight they quivered. Balt's were flat against her scalp.

“Just make up your minds,” breathed Res in t'Therian. Lynn looked at her and shook her head helplessly. Res's skin was practically jumping off her bones.

I feel the same, believe me.

Then, Entsh's ears dipped. “You'll have to stay here tonight. There's a crossroads across the northwest field. We can meet you there at first light with a carrier.”

“But we have to …”

“It doesn't matter,” said Ovrth Entsh. “The roads and tunnels are crawling with our people. They won't have moved on until morning.”

Lynn bit her lip. “Can you get a message to the outpost for us? We have to warn …”

Bait's ears dropped back. “We aren't doing enough for you?”

Arron laid a hand on Lynn's arm. “We are sorry. But our family is in danger. You can understand that?”

“Yes,” said Entsh softly. “We can understand that.”

Lynn closed her eyes and tried to control the fear that had grabbed hold of her. Arron kept his hand on her arm. “There is an outpost near here, though?” he asked.

“About forty miles southeast.” Balt flicked her ears toward the window. “On the other side of Mrant Chavan.”

“We'll head out now.” Entsh caught her sister's shoulder and steered her toward the stairwell. “And start thinking of what we're going to tell our trindt.”

They shouldered their guns and marched into the woods. No one else moved. They all just stood around listening until the stomping and rustling of the ovrths’ passage faded away.

Arron looked at Lynn and leaned against the wall of the house.

“I did not think that was going to work.”

Lynn collapsed beside him. “How do you know them?”

Arron shook his head. “I don't remember.”

Res's jaw dropped. “You're joking.”

Arron shrugged. “I've lived here for ten years. I've met a lot of people. I've got teragigs worm of recordings.”

Res bowed to him. “Good bluff.”

“Thank you.” He cast Resaime an appraising look. “Are you good?”

“Yes.” Resaime rubbed her arms. “I just haven't stopped twitching yet.”

“Neither have I.” Lynn pushed herself away from the wall. She thought about David. Imagination pictured him hiding behind a desk, like they had, hearing the sound of gunfire and destruction all around him.

She looked across the farmyard and for a moment seriously wondered if she could make all forty miles in a night if she started now.

Arron coughed. “I'm going to check the house just to make sure there's … Nothing.” He rubbed his forearms briefly. “There should be a garden near the house. There might be something edible left in it. You and Res could check.”

“Good idea.” She gestured toward the screening trees. “The brush should give us enough cover so Balt and Entsh's arms-sisters won't see us from the roads, as long as we don't go out into the fields. Want to help me, Res?”

Resaime hesitated. Her skin bunched and twitched. She looked nervously around, as if expecting more Getesaph to drop out of the trees. “All right,” she said at last.

They circled the house and found a weed-choked garden. A lot of the plants had been trampled and broken, but a couple of rows of spiky, broad-leaved plants had survived. Resaime squatted down and rummaged through the leaves. After a moment she held up a broad, flat pod. “Beans,” she said. “I've seen Humans eat these, so we're good.”

“Great.” Unsure of her balance, Lynn knelt and began plucking pods to stuff into her pants pockets, which were, remarkably, still whole. A rich, green scent filled the air around her.

“I didn't want to kill them.”

Lynn jerked her head up and turned so she could see Resaime. Resaime sat on her haunches, her gaze fastened on the bean pods in her hands.