Redwood: Servant of the State (7 page)

Evidently, Mr. and Mrs. O’Donnell concluded the boys could stay in their own place when they turned 13, the standard age of accountability for the State. Everybody pitched in to build separate quarters for the boys above and away from the family’s main house.

The triplets thought this situation to be outstanding, and often expressed amazement they had the tremendous good fortune to live on their own. Over time, I came to suspect the real reason the O’Donnells suggested the arrangement was simply to get them out of their home.

The boy’s tree house was in fact above and to the side of their parents’, about 50 feet up. To enter, we climbed up a rope ladder. Another suspicion crossed my mind after living there for a while, climbing that ladder every day: the triplets’ house was higher than everybody else’s in a deliberate effort to make them burn off energy.

This was, after all, a community of extraordinarily bright researchers and Scientists. I wouldn’t put a conspiracy like that past them.

One great advantage in starting out the day from the highest point: you could get to other parts of the station quickly. A fireman’s pole offered a quick exit straight down. I burned my arms from friction the first time I used it, then learned to control my descent better. Other exits to points all over the station were provided by zip lines.

I had to admit the zip lines were a lot of fun, but they were extremely dangerous. Letting go meant plummeting to certain death. But they were a lot of fun.

The triplets’ tree house was pretty simple. It had a large bedroom with bunk beds, which was perfect since there were three of them and four beds. I didn’t feel like I was imposing on anybody. A bathroom, a small common room, and a large porch where the fireman’s pole, the rope ladder, and zip lines were attached comprised the remainder of the house.

Meals were mostly eaten with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. O’Donnell seemed generous and polite, and never questioned me too closely, which I thought was classy. They were both Scientists, exobiologists in fact, and had been with the Redwood team since the beginning. The triplets were their only children. I really can’t blame them not trying for more …

Bert O’Donnell was a short, thin man with a shock of red hair on top that rarely stayed combed for long. I’d never seen a naturally red haired person before. His wife Margie was a natural blonde, which is also unusual, at least on frontier planets. It wasn’t the same shade as mine, though. Mrs. O’Donnell had a bubbly personality. She was talkative, polite, and always made sure we had plenty to eat. Mr. O’Donnell was more reserved and spoke less. But he often seemed to have a twinkle in his eye, as if relishing some private humor.

After breakfast with the O’Donnells on my first full day at the Ranger station, I made my way toward the garden to see if I could help out in some way. I figured I was best qualified for menial labor, being a Servant and all. On my way there Professor Cruz saw me.

“There you are, Marcus. Let’s find Physician Patel and let him have a look at you.”

So I was redirected to the medical building, staffed by the Patel family.

-+-

“Fascinating.”

Physician Patel and Professor Cruz watched a hologram of my internal organs. I’d just finished drinking a quarter liter of blood from the Ranger station’s blood bank.

“So, his body absorbs the new blood through the digestive system, and … what? Does his existing blood need fresh blood that’s been digested? Explain it to me, Jivin.”

“That I cannot do yet, Curtis. It’s obvious his body needs the blood, though. Look at this chart.”

“Hey, Doc, I could use some more of that stuff.”

They stopped talking and turned to look at me. Physician Patel had a look of surprise on his face.

“Nobody has called me ‘Doc’ since my residency back on Bharata. We don’t use the term ‘doctor’ anymore.”

I nodded. “Makes sense. ‘Doctor’ is Latin for teacher, anyway.”

The two men looked at each other. Patel blinked at Cruz, then looked back at me.

“I’m interested in how a Servant came to know Latin. But I’m tasked with your physiological attributes, so I must prioritize.”

I nodded. “Fair enough, Doc.”

“Don’t call me that. Now, earlier this morning you say you burned your arms sliding down the triplets’ flag pole. Let’s see your arms.”

I held them out. Both men stared closely at them.

“Are you sure they were burned, Marcus?” Professor Cruz asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“But they’re not burned now.”

“No, sir.”

“Indeed,” Physician Patel said. “It is as if they were never hurt. Marcus, you said yesterday when you were bitten a few years ago, the fellow ‘took a chunk’ out of your neck?”

I nodded.

“And, after a couple weeks there were no more signs of it? Where did he bite you, exactly?”

I pointed at the spot on my neck. The Physician gave the area a long close look.

“No scar tissue at all. Hm. Curtis, I’m thinking his restorative capabilities are incredible. Especially after drinking blood. Perhaps his first injury years ago healed from his own blood. Now, with new injuries, fresh blood seems to speed his healing.”

The Professor nodded. “Strong recuperative powers might also explain why he’s never knocked out for long. It also gives us a clue why Fred is still alive after being shot so many times.”

They looked at each other, and a smile of understanding crept across both their faces.

The door burst open and one of the triplets ran in.

“Professor! Come quick, Mrs. Cruz made a discovery!”

Chapter Seven

We gathered around a hologram featuring part of the forest. A scale model of green leaves and brown branches shimmered translucently. In the middle, an indistinct outline represented the primate city. All around in the branches of the trees were blinking red circles that shifted in and out of visibility. Larger purple circles would move out from the city from time to time, float around the trees, then go back. On occasion, the red and purple circles would intersect and flash briefly.

Around the table stood the Cruzes, Physician Patel and me, Dee Dee and the triplets. Ranger Jenkins walked in late. The Professor waved him closer.

“Melody, explain it again to Colt.”

“Okay. This is a three-dimensional representation of the forest surrounding ‘Monkey City’ showing what our sensors have been recording in real time. What you are seeing includes several years worth of data points. The red circles indicate Fred when he showed up within our sensor grid. The purple circles represent hunter-gathering parties exiting and re-entering the city. We finally have enough data to make a statistical model that promises to be fairly accurate.”

She moved her hand across the control panel, and the circles disappeared. A purple square exited the city and began a long elliptical arc through the trees. When it reached the outer periphery, a red square appeared next to it. Both squares flashed brightly. Mrs. Cruz froze the simulation.

“The squares represent projected activity paths, based on prior times and locations. This is our most likely prediction, based on the patterns we’ve seen, for Fred to meet up with a hunter-gathering party at those coordinates.”

“How likely?”

“The model indicates a seventy-nine percent probability.”

Jenkins nodded. “That’s pretty high.”

“That’s very high.”

“When’s the time window?”

“Six days from today.”

“Okay. We’ll have a team in place in five.”

-+-

I paused to stretch. When I volunteered for garden duty, I discovered Mrs. Ng was in charge of produce for the Ranger station. A short, brown woman, with both brown skin and hair, she had a naturally dour disposition. But she seemed at least a little happy to have a fresh volunteer, and quickly put me to work.

All morning I’d been shucking corn in a storage hut filled with a fresh shipment, and I had six large barrels full to mark my progress. It was mindless work, but I felt like I was doing something to contribute. I stretched again, and considered starting my seventh barrel when the door to the hut opened.

“Hey lazy bones. Get back to work.” Dee Dee grinned.

“Lazy? Look at those barrels marking my progress this morning. What have you been doing? Punching buttons in a computer for a statistical model? Men like me have to do real work.”

She snorted, sat down beside me and started peeling the skin off a cob.

“We all do our part here to help. Both manual and mental labor. Even Daddy chips in on chores.”

I went back to shucking with her, and we worked in silence for a while. She smelled nice.

“Are you ready for the expedition?”

“Sure, I guess. I mean, I have my food pack ready. And my omnicam. You?”

She nodded. “Mom’s not happy I’m going. Connie is convinced you’re going to attack me and the rest of crew as soon as we leave.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course she is.”

She giggled. We worked quietly a few more minutes.

“So, lots of controversy over the Professor’s picks, huh?”

She nodded. “Some. But he makes a convincing argument. There is a risk of attack from Fred, but he thinks taking young people on the team will be an advantage. Most of the researchers here are over forty. Some are middle-aged, even. They’ve been here a long time. And it’s not like they’re not physically fit, but they’re not as spry as they used to be.”

I could see Professor Cruz’s line of reasoning. I wondered how many objected to him going, seeing as he was rather old himself.

I wasn’t allowed in on that meeting. But I knew the vote passed the way the Professor wanted it, and the team was set. It included the triplets, Dee Dee, Ranger Jenkins and his wife Ella, the Professor, the Physician, and me.

A dirty blonde head popped through the doorway.

“There you are, Dee Dee. The Professor says he needs your help calibrating the replacement sensors we’re bringing.”

“Okay, Jeremy. I’ll be there in a minute.”

When he was gone I said, “How’d you know that was Jeremy?”

“You can’t tell them apart yet? Jeremy has a small scar above his right eyebrow from a fight when they were little. Jason has a scar to the side of his left eye, and Jacob has a couple of light freckles on his cheek.”

“I see.”

And I did. She was highly intelligent, had extraordinary situational awareness, a sharp mind and good memory.

“Are you well fed?”

“You mean on blood? Yeah, they’ve been overfeeding me to see what happens. Physician Patel said somebody’s been donating so the blood bank doesn’t get depleted.”

“That was me.”

I whipped my head toward her. “That was you?”

She shrugged. “They asked for a volunteer to donate some blood for you. So I did.”

It dawned on me why I was asked to sit out that last meeting. Then I started thinking about all her blood I’d been drinking lately. I felt my face flush. I looked over at her again. She was blushing, too.

“Thanks.”

She smiled.

Later when it was time to head back to the O’Donnell’s for lunch, Mrs. Ng came in and I presented her with eight full barrels of shucked corn. Her eyes grew big and for a moment I thought her expression might change from its perpetual scowl and I’d see a smile for the first time. Instead she said, “Keep at it after lunch.”

-+-

On the appointed day, we gathered on the flight deck where I’d first landed. I sailed in on a zip line shortly before the triplets, our eyes red from lack of sleep. I thought they’d never stop talking the night before, bubbling in their enthusiasm about the adventure ahead.

Mrs. Jenkins handed me a PHU and I strapped it on, then hung food and water packs off my belt. Last, I strapped the bulky omnicam to my chest. My job was to carry and position the device in the area Fred and the gathering party were expected to meet. Unlike other cams that operate by pointing in one direction and recording through a lens, this unit was fully three dimensional and would record everything within a large radius regardless of direction. Its battery pack allowed a full 48 standard hours of operation.

Due to the long history of incidents with Fred, the Professor decided to set up this omnicam at the predicted meeting place. Rather than try to watch the action unfold in person, we were to fall back and watch at a distance, then retrieve the omnicam later. All direct contact with the primates was to be avoided.

It seemed like a good idea to me. The triplets had no end of horror stories about Fred they liked to tell, especially at night before going to sleep. I had no desire to see him in the flesh.

Most of the base personnel came to see us off. Mrs. Ng had a more dour than usual expression on her face, and wouldn’t look me in the eye. She handed me a bag of William’s apples. I strapped it on with my other food supplies, and thanked her. She turned and walked away without saying a word, but I saw her rubbing her eyes.

Mrs. Cruz and Connie hugged the Professor. Mrs. Cruz hugged Dee Dee, but Connie stepped back. She looked over at me and glared. I waved and smiled. She turned her back on me. I inched closer to listen to the Cruzes’ conversation.

“Do you have to take Diane?”

“She’ll be fine. We’re not going anywhere near Fred, and she knows the equipment.”

Mr. and Mrs. O’Donnell showed up to hug the triplets. Mr. O’Donnell gravely shook each boy’s hand in turn, said a few encouraging words and left to speak to others in the party. Mrs. O’Donnell stayed and cried over them. They tried to shoo her away, were unsuccessful, and stood red-faced and embarrassed while she hugged and fussed over them.

Other people came forward and said their goodbyes. Eventually everybody had their butterfly wings on, their packs strapped, the equipment packed, and we were all ready to go. Professor Cruz gave his wife a final kiss, turned to the rest of us and gave a “follow me” motion with his arm. He grabbed his PHU controls, shot up and hovered above the platform. The rest of us shot up and hovered with him. He nodded. We turned and flew off into the woods.

-+-

We flew full speed for about three hours, dodging tree trunks, limbs and leaves, before the Professor called a break. We landed gently on a giant branch stretching out horizontally for about a hundred yards. It made a nice place to sit and rest for a while. I plopped down near the triplets and took some sips from my water pack. Dee Dee came over and sat by us.

“So the hunt begins,” she said.

I nodded. “Appropriate, considering your name.”

“What?”

“Diane. Diana. You know. Goddess of the hunt. Roman mythology …”

It was an awkward moment. I was saved by the Professor, who rounded everybody up, and we floated off the branch, on the move again.

The triplets were merciless, shouting over the wind and hum of rotors.

“Look at me! I know Roman mythology!”

“It’s all Greek to me.”

“Yes, dear. Your name in ancient Latin means ‘cabbage head.’ It’s very romantic. She was the deity of smelly soup.”

But after a while, Dee Dee pulled up even with me. I turned to look. We locked eyes and she smiled. Then she darted ahead to catch up with the Professor.

-+-

“This is the place. Set it down there, Marcus.”

I detached the bulky omnicam and set it down on the branch, turning it on. I’d been carrying it strapped to my chest for hours, and felt glad to finally unload it. I noticed the markings on the back: “Omni-corder Model X1B Property of NTAMU.”

I stretched for a minute to work the kinks out of my back. The thought occurred to me that the Professor probably wanted young people on this trip mainly to carry heavy loads. I wondered if he used that argument in the meeting.

“Are you getting a reading, Diane?”

Dee Dee’s hand screen beeped. “Yes, sir. The unit is working.”

The Professor let loose a sigh. “I was a little worried it might get roughed up in transit.”

“This field equipment seems pretty rugged,” I said.

He nodded. “Let’s secure it and vacate the premises. Then let’s replace the broken sensors.”

-+-

Later after supper, I pulled out the bag of Mrs. Ng’s Williams’ apples and shared them with the triplets.

“Oh, do Tell!” Jason said.

I smiled at the joke. His brothers shot him annoyed looks.

“No puns,” Jacob said.

Jason grinned toward me, and nodded toward Jacob. “He’s apple-lectic.”

We were camped on another large branch, well away from the expected point of contact. We had a circle of tents, with a large garbage bag in the middle. The Professor lectured us on not littering, and taking out everything we brought in with us. The only thing we were to leave behind were replacement sensors to keep the grid going back home.

Night had fallen and the nocturnal animals were out and around us. I was determined to enjoy my first night in the deep woods, even with exhaustion setting in fast. I shared a small tent with Jason, while Jacob and Jeremy were in another. Jason conked out almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. I listened to him snore softly, but felt restless and couldn’t sleep. Finally I crawled out of the sleeping bag and tip-toed carefully to the edge of the branch, where it started it sloping downward.

I laid back and looked up. No stars shown through the thick canopy of leaves. Night birds and insects chirped and buzzed. I soaked in the sounds and night air.

“Trouble sleeping?”

I sat up and turned. The Professor came nearer.

“Yes, sir. Thought I’d soak up the ambience, you know? Never been to the forest before, and certainly I never dreamed I’d get so deep.”

He nodded in understanding. “It’s a little a different this far in. There’s also a certain element of danger. There’s a slight possibility Fred might visit us tonight.”

I gulped. All of a sudden the forest didn’t seem so friendly.

“Not to worry. We’re still within the sensor grid, and I’ve set alarms to go off if anything big approaches. Still, knowing there are other ‘Freds’ near all the primate settlements, it makes an overnight stay an unsafe variable. We’ve never had a team attacked while flying, but one party, the one that explored deepest into the woods in fact, was attacked by a hematophageous monkey while sleeping. Thus our precautions.”

We sat in silence for a while, soaking up the night.

“You know, Milton was right. You’re a good worker. Intelligent. You get along well with others, and you’re willing to do your share. He said you’d make a fine asset to our community, and after watching you this week I concur.”