Point Apocalypse (16 page)

"
Yeah," I twiddled with my spoon. "I still can't see why you're telling me all this."

"Eh," Lars froze open-mouthed. He shook his head and added, "Never mind. Get on with your food."

I finished off their soup in no time, wiped the spoon with the edge of the tarp and gave it back to the logger.

"
It was good," I said to Jim, "thanks a lot."

He
nodded.

Lars put the spoon
back in his boot. "Ready to go on?"

"If you tell me why."

The logger frowned and scratched his cheek. "I want you to help us."

"How exactly
?" I hadn't expected him to say that. "I've got nothing. I only arrived here yesterday. I nearly died!"

He felt my shoulder, squeezing the muscle. "Nothing hurts?"

I shook my head.

"
Feel okay?"

"I think so."

"Then you owe me one," He let go of my arm. "What're you looking at? We spent two vials of serum to set you right. Any idea how much that costs?"

"
I see," I nodded. "So what's your problem?"

Lars looked over the men by the fire.

"I... what was I saying?"

"
The pandemic," I offered.

"
Right. So everything seemed to be fine. The disease was gone," he sighed. "I'm sure we'd have found a way to arrange it all with McLean, but... Things got a bit rough on the Continent."

"As if they were ever
easy," Georgie murmured.

Lars
shot him an angry glance. "Two years ago, there was quite a bit of commotion in the Fort. You tell me - you being in the Army and all that - what do you know about the generals' coup? Eh?"

Now we'd come to the interesting bit. I shrugged. "All I know
is that one of the generals escaped to Pangea with his men."

"He did, he did," Lars reached under his collar and scratched his hairy chest. "They sent some troops after him.
There was some action on the coast. The Fort reported that the defectors had been eliminated. We didn't even know about the coup then. We learned about it later from new arrivals. Things subsided after that but," he frowned as if searching for words. "How can I explain..."

"Just
spit it out," I said. "It's not as if we're pressed for time."

"Okay.
Here's the lay of the land. On one side, there's us, plus the oil riggers and the farmers. On the other side, there's McLean. We have more guns but he controls the city where our families live."

"Which is how he can
blackmail you," I butted in. "Your women and children."

"You're thinking in the right direction.
But he won't live long after that, and he knows it. He won't have the guts to take our families hostage. He doesn't have enough men. The moment isn't right."

"So
what's the problem, then?"

"It's the clones," he paused. "Not even..."

"The clones. They don't mix much with humans, do they?"

"
They don't. They moved east a long time ago. Everyone treats them like dirt, anyway. We've lost all contact with them."

"Why east?"

"They were sent there to drain the swamps. I don't care, let them stay there. Less mouths to feed," he sighed and went on. "But some time ago, they paid a visit to the farmers and you know what they did?" he shook his head, unbelieving. "They must have been famished out of their minds. They sent a messenger to tell the farmers they had a week to vacate their lands or the clones would destroy the crops and burn their farms. The farmers turned to the oil riggers for help, seeing as they were camped nearby. The riggers sent a party to..."

"
Wait a sec. Where are their farms?"

"In the north
. South from the swamps."

"I told you, didn't I?" said Georgie. "Remember the diagram?"

"I do," I nodded. "It's next to the City of Forecomers." I rested my elbows on my knees and turned to Lars. "I still don't quite understand the situation, though. Why are the farms so important?"

"With
out them, we're dead meat. We'd starve."

"
We wouldn't," Georgie cringed. "We-" He shrunk under Lars' stare and looked to Grunt for support. But Grunt turned away pretending he was studying the tattoo on his shoulder.

"Oh yes we would
," Lars barked. "McLean's hauls aren't enough for everyone. Also, some fish here is not good for you."

He turned to me to explain that not all Pangean food
s were edible. Some didn't agree with Earth-based life leading to toxicity and death. That's why Neumann had brought with him some animals, plant seeds and equipment. And some top-of-the-range biologists. And when they'd looked into Pangea's wildlife, they discovered that all the Earth's organisms they had introduced were mutating. Different species changed at different speeds, but they did mutate, and that included man. According to Neumann's research, first traces of mutation in humans took ten generations to manifest themselves. We wouldn't live to see it.

"Our fruit and meat is barely enough for us alon
e," Lars glanced at Georgie who was shrinking with the logger's every word. "So who is there left? The farmers, of course. There's only one place on the Continent suitable for growing Earthly crops. You know that as well as I do."

Georgie looked as if he
wanted the earth to swallow him up. Lars drove another nail into his coffin,

"Looks like
we gonna starve if the clones stick to their word."

You could cut the silence with a knife.
I raised my head and watched the sparks escaping from the fire. A quiet buzzing attracted my attention. I checked the dark gray sky above, turned and noticed a swarm of midges hovering around Wladas' head. He slept where he sat, nose down in his lap, oblivious to the world.

"Don't you think?" Lars glared at Georgie.

Georgie mumbled something. I said, "Let's get back to the point. How can the clones stick to their word, as you say? Are they really so numerous and well-armed?"

"I like the way you think," Lars slapped h
is cheek and squashed a midge between his fingers. "No, they aren't numerous at all. But they're not alone. They serve as a smoke screen for someone."

"Who
is?-"

He lowered his voice.
"Cyber troopers."

Georgie and
Grunt exchanged surprised glances. Wong stood up; Jim froze for a moment, reaching for the baked fish. Wladas alone didn't budge, sniffling in his sleep.

"They
have to be," Lars buried his mug in his broad hands. "They killed the riggers' volunteers who were marching to join forces with the farmers."

"If they killed them,
how did you find out about it?" I glanced at Wong who was all ears.

"The
cybers let one rigger go. He told us about it. So I think," Lars paused, "the Fort gave us the wrong information to begin with. The traitors weren't eliminated. They're somewhere here, on the Continent. They've been lying low for a while, and now they seem to 've started to stir. But it all looks a bit too complex. What do they want from us? We're not their enemies, surely they understand that?"

I glanced at
Wong, and he gave me a barely perceptible nod. The only person on Pangea capable of controlling cyber troopers was General Varlamov himself. And if so...

"It was just a demonstration," I sat up. "
To show you what you were up against."

If the general
had taken action, it meant I had little to no time. But the only person who knew of his future plans was Neumann.

"You're a soldier yourself," Lars poked me with his finger. "Can you tell us how to stop those cyber
motherfuckers? If we can stop them at all?"

Okay
. Now I knew what they needed me for. Lars Swenson was afraid - not so much for himself but for the city and his family in it. Ditto for McLean - that's what he'd meant when he said he wouldn't surrender New Pang to anyone. It was fear. They're all afraid, each in their own way, of the force that comes from the east. And they were right to be afraid. The best thing they could do was to unite, but it didn't work like that. McLean kept his own counsel, so he wouldn't risk everything for the loggers' sake as they hated him, anyway... So apparently, the general was using Pangean clan war in his own interests. He manipulated the clones while in fact targeting the farmers. But why? What did they have there on their lands?

The Information
chirruped in my head. The map of the Continent gleamed into view flashing numbers: settlement population, surface area, weapon inventory, etc. It looked like the riggers in their camp deep in the Continent could, in theory, stand up to Varlamov's soldiers. As for the farmers...

"W
e can stop them," I said quickly, estimating the advantages of our conversation. Now I could ask Lars for some food, guns and a car. Neumann had to be where the soldiers were. "If we disrupt their communications, we'll disable their control center."

Lars seemed to
have expected to hear something like that.

"You think you could do that?" he gave me an intent look.

"Well," I pretended I was thinking, "risking my ass to-"

"Remember," the logger boomed, "you owe us one. Help us and we'll give you whatever you want. A house in New Pang,
the best food, an interest-free loan for your future business. A car and house staff..."

"Enough," I raised my hand. "What guarantees do I have?"

"The word of the King of the Patch," Lars rose from his log and offered a broad hand.

Georgie and
Grunt started nodding to me. Jim bit his lip, starry-eyed.

I lived up to their expectations. "Okay," I rose and shook King's hand.
"I will need men though, and also..."

"
You have it."

For a few moments, we looked each other in the eye.

"So," I started carefully, trying not to overdo it. I had to admit I was going a bit too far. But Lars had already turned to the sailors ordering them to return to the camp to prepare the raiders' gear and weapons, and then to go back to the river check the boat's motor and tank her up.

Grunt
and Georgie rose in silence and headed for the trees. Jim stayed behind to serve up the baked fish. He placed two plates in front of us and left, too.

"I think
I did the right thing about the boat, don't you think?" Lars said passing me a plate. He shook Wladas awake and told him to fill our mugs. "Much quicker by river."

I
gave it some thought and nodded. "I'd also like a bit of money to buy a car. You think I can get a good one from the riggers?"

"You might.
Money I can give you, and ammo, but as for men..." he faltered.

"I'll take
Grunt, Georgie and Jim," I spoke. "They're out of a job, anyway. It'll take you some time to build another ferry. Georgie used to be a raider once, so he knows the area well. Grunt is a genius with boats. Jim is young and strong. Plus Wladas and Wong, of course," I shoved a spoonful of fish into my mouth and added, "They and I, we're literally in one boat. We're comrades in misery."

Wladas
, still sleepy and clueless, blinked and nearly spilled his mug. He grabbed it just in time and closed the flask. Lars stared at the fire, pensive.

"Okay," he finally said. "You should sail off at dawn but
make it look as if you're going back to New Pang. Grunt will take her along the bayous to bypass the tollgate. This way, no one will know you're going into the Continent. Full steam ahead once you pass the tollgate. The straits are wide enough there."

Lars turned to
Wladas, reconsidered and looked back at me. "No one will know your true objectives. Not even my men."

"
Understood."

"O
n the river, you'd better listen to what Grunt says. But in action, you're the one with the orders. Also... If you get hold of the cybers' weapons, we can always use them."

He took his mug from
Wladas and took a big gulp before attacking his fish.

"You know
what you were saying about all those plants," I set my plate aside. "You said not all food here in Pangea was edible. Does it mean that people used to get poisoned? Still do?"

"Sure," he mumbled with a full mouth. "
McLean's divers snuff it all the time."

Wong
came to the fire, picked up his share and sat opposite us. Wladas, finally awake, stood up and started to massage a stiff back.

"
Has anyone survived?" I asked after a moment's thought. "I mean, I have."

"No!" Lars exclaimed. "That's the whole thing! You're the first! The serum only helps if injected directly after the
infection. Do it a minute later, and your chances drop by half. After two minutes," he shook his head, "you're fish bait."