Spear of Light (13 page)

Amfi knelt and put a hand on the dirt. “From life to death we travel, some faster, some slower. From life to death you traveled in beauty and strength, my love, my brother, my fellow. From life to death, you traveled well. Now go again from death to life.”

Her words startled him a little. “Do you believe in reincarnation?”

“We don't know what happens any more than anyone else. But I find it a comforting thought, and so did Davis.”

He held a hand out to help her up.

Cricket growled.

He looked out toward his skimmer. At first he didn't see anything at all. Then the doors opened, and Kyle Glass and two other rangers stepped out, an older man and a young woman. They said nothing but looked deadly serious.

Kyle looked calm. “Where are the robots?”

Amfi took a step away from Charlie, giving him room. She looked directly at Kyle, and said, “He helped kill Davis.”

Charlie stiffened. “Did you?”

Kyle watched Amfi closely. “They helped you give Lym away. Gleaners had no right.”

Amfi looked neither frightened nor intimidated. She smiled. The set of her lips accentuated the wrinkles around her eyes. “You gravely misunderstand the situation. Every other choice was worse. Someone had to negotiate. Someone with a level head.”

Cricket had gone completely still beside Charlie. He reached down to pet her and found her back stiff and her hair raised.

Kyle watched Amfi rather than Cricket. “There is always a choice. I'm willing to believe that you couldn't stop them. But you gave them leave to be here. None of you had that right.”

“If you start a war here,” Charlie said, “They might wipe us all out.” Dammit, he had always liked Kyle. “You have to understand that.”

“Where are the robots?” the other man asked.

“What robots?” Charlie stepped slightly closer to Amfi, trying to be sure he was between her and at least one of their assailants.

Kyle gestured for him to step aside. “Hand me your weapons.”

“I'm not going to let you hurt her,” Charlie stated. He didn't move toward his weapons in any way.

“I told you I would do what I can to protect you. But that doesn't extend to anyone else.”

“Don't be ridiculous,” Charlie snapped. “You've done enough damage. Just stop. Since the Next announced themselves, humans have murdered more people than the Next have.”

Kyle's eyes narrowed. “There you go standing up for your new best friends again.”

“Stop being an idiot. I am no happier they're here than you are.”

Kyle spit on the ground and gestured toward Charlie again, as if expecting that he would just hand over his weapons.

Surely he knew better. “I trained you. You're not going to kill me.” If Kyle were the only one here, he could convince him. But there were the others, and Kyle clearly had a leadership position.

Sure enough, he kept on-message. “We control Lym now. It's a revolution, and it's over. You have no power.”

In spite of the danger, Charlie almost laughed. “To what end?”

The man behind Kyle answered. “So that nothing more is given away. Lym needs to be run by people who understand exactly how dangerous the Next are, and who keep them away from us.”

“I hate them being here as much as you do,” Charlie repeated himself. He might as well be talking to stones as people.

The woman spoke for the first time, her voice full of accusation. “Then why are you pals with two of them?”

Losianna stepped out from behind the skimmer, a weapon in each hand.

Just as Charlie was about to shake his head at her, she fired. Blood exploded with the weapon's electronic whine, as the man next to Kyle spun to the ground, his head split open. The woman's scream matched the second whine, and she fell, choking as she curled around herself. Kyle stood, mouth agape, staring around in uncomprehending shock, his face bleached of color.

Losianna walked up to the woman whimpering on the ground and calmly shot her again.

She wasn't using stun.

The woman made no other sounds.

Now there was death and killing on both sides.

The thin gleaner girl's eyes widened in her colorless face, making her look like an avenging ghost. Charlie saw no remorse on her face.

Cricket crouched, looking from Kyle to Losianna to Charlie. Charlie stayed still and kept a hand on the tongat to keep her still and safe. He'd almost lost her just yesterday, and Kyle could still be a threat.

He pointed his weapon at Kyle. “This one's on stun.”

Kyle turned away, still holding his gun at his side, although now it wasn't pointing at anyone in particular. “Shoot me, my friend,” he said. He stared down at the dead woman. “Do it.”

Losianna looked like she just might shoot him, but Charlie shook his head.

Kyle knelt by each of the people who had been with him. He looked over at Losianna with wide, cold eyes, his jaw quivering. “You killed them.”

She glanced at the grave. He followed her glance, and his eyes narrowed.

“No!” Charlie yelled. “No more killing.”

“What do you care for this one?” Amfi asked. “He's stupid.”

Both Kyle and Losianna had the same look on their faces—determination, anger, loss. Betrayal. Shock. The look of someone ready to fight. It was worse than the look he'd seen on any of the smugglers he'd caught. A sad, scary look.

Charlie addressed both of them but kept his attention on Kyle. “He was my friend once. He doesn't need to die. Humans shouldn't kill humans because of the damned Next.” He addressed Kyle directly. “We worked together for two years. You were a good partner.”

Movement drew his attention toward the waterfall. Yi and Jason stepped out from behind the water and started toward them.

Amfi yelled, “Go back!”

Kyle raised his weapon and fired, his face crinkled in desperation. Cricket launched from her crouch and knocked Kyle onto his back. She stood over him, pinning him to the ground and looking toward Charlie for instruction.

He gestured
stay
to her.

Back at the waterfall, Jason fell in slow motion, his purple hair covering his face, one leg buckling.

Losianna raced toward Jason.

Kyle struggled to turn over, to point his weapon toward Cricket.

Toward Cricket. Kyle damned well knew better.

Charlie took careful aim and shot Kyle in the foot.

Cricket leapt aside.

Kyle dropped the gun and sat up, holding his foot. He looked up as Charlie walked over to him, pain and confusion in his face. “Why did you do that?”

Charlie adjusted the setting on his gun and shot him again in the foot, blood blooming from a small hole.

Kyle blanched but didn't scream.

Charlie didn't even feel sorry for him. “You might have just killed a friend.”

Kyle looked back up at him, panting, hate in his eyes. “I hope so.”

Charlie didn't answer. He simply felt sad and empty and cold.

“I will kill you next time I see you,” Kyle said evenly. “I will wipe everyone who helps the robots off the face of this land we worked so hard to save.”

“So be it.” Charlie caught Amfi's eye, and waved her over to his side.

She came, looking down at the wounded man with a blank expression on her face.

Charlie touched her shoulder. “I need to see about Jason. If I leave you a stunner, will you make sure he doesn't move or call for help until I get everyone safely out here?”

She didn't hesitate. “Yes.”

He handed her the gun and touched her shoulder again for a moment. “Try not to kill him.”

Her mouth tightened. “We don't kill people.”

He refrained from mentioning that Losianna had just killed two people and turned to follow after the girl.

Fear was clearly driving everyone mad. Maybe it was driving him mad, too.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

YI

Jason fell forward, onto his hands, his purple hair brushing the ground. As he fell, Yi split into different threads of action and thought. He headed for Jason, and also imagined Chrystal's fall. Even though he had only seen it on video, her fall and Jason's played side by side in his head. Both had been hit by a human, both shot with real weapons, but, in truth, by nothing more complex than ignorance.

He felt fear for Jason, sadness. Muted but deep. His brain kept going, seeing the parallels and prejudices between the two events.

Both Chrystal and Jason had been shot in the foot.

If Jason were human, he would be screaming. His foot dangled nearly free of the leg.

Yi grabbed him by the waist and pulled him backward behind the curtain of water. He'd enhanced his senses the moment he recognized danger, almost an autonomic reaction. He had merely thought to do it, not thought through the steps. Now the stream of water sang like a symphony in his ears, the water not a continuous, even fall but a series of ever-so-slightly separate streams of water each vibrating a tiny bit differently from the others, each drop making a unique noise as it hit his face or Jason's. The water smelled of moss and coming winter, of cold and the sweet rotting leaves of fall.

Yi carried Jason the few steps to the door, walking backward so he wouldn't miss any new threats.

Losianna raced past them and fumbled with the door controls. After three tries, she got the door open. “Come in! Hurry!”

Yi set Jason down carefully on the closest couch to the door. “I'm so sorry. How much does it hurt?”

Jason eyed his foot, nearly severed from his calf above the ankle. “I can't quite turn all of the pain signals off.”

“Of course you can't.”

Jason glared at him.

Charlie pelted into the room, followed by Cricket. He stopped when he saw Yi and Jason talking. A relieved smile, brief but broad, lit his face. “He's alive. I'm so glad. He's alive.” He knelt by Jason, looking into his gray-blue eyes. “I'm so sorry.”

“You didn't do it,” Jason grimaced.

“I should have known they were there.”

“No.”

That wasn't right. He should have expected trouble. He'd made a beginner's mistake and people had died. He asked Jason, “Can you walk?”

“No.”

“Your repairbot. Do you have it?”

“It's in our skimmer. It's best to be together. I've been talking to . . . to the other Jason. Nona is waiting for us in Hope. She's with Manny.”

The relief on Charlie's face was enough to lighten Yi's heart. “We have to stop by the stations before we go to town.”

“What are you going to do with Kyle?” Losianna asked, looking like she'd like to shoot him.

Charlie looked angry. “He'll get help. His other people are surely nearby. We don't have room for him, anyway.”

Yi thought about that. “You're going to take Jason and leave Kyle? Take one of us with a broken foot and leave a man you shot in the foot?”

Charlie didn't even hesitate. “Yes. He's the one who shot you.” He glanced at Losianna. “Get whatever you need. We'll be gone a few days.”

“I'll stay here,” she said. “I'm used to being alone. Someone should watch the place.”

Jason looked at her with a faint, pained smile, really an almost pathetic smile. “I'd like to know you're safe. Just for now. We'll bring you back out here as soon as everything calms down.”

Losianna rocked back on her feet and stared at him for a long time, a funny little half-smile quirking her pale lips. “Okay. Give me a long minute.”

She touched his face, stood, and disappeared down a hallway.

Cricket moved over next to Jason and sat beside him.

Yi thought about options. They weren't in a good spot. They'd saved Amfi, but most of the people on Lym didn't think much of the gleaners. They'd shot a ranger or an ex-ranger or whatever Kyle was considered now, and killed two of his followers. They'd destroyed Port Authority robots. It was going to be very hard to create any impression of this situation that would work in their favor.

Losianna came out with a stuffed rucksack and led the way to the skimmer. They picked up Amfi on the way and ended up just as crowded as they had been. More, since they had Losianna's bag. Losianna couldn't sit on Jason's lap so she settled on Charlie's, and both of them looked awkward.

Yi was glad he got to sit in the pilot's seat. It was going to be a long flight to the station.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHARLIE

Yi landed the skimmer after sunset at Wilding Station. The runway was black, and the living habitats dark. A single bright, glaring light shone like a beacon from the dispatch room. The skimmer didn't care if it was light or not, and probably the soulbots didn't either, but Charlie dug a flashlight out of the handy-box and used it to make a path of dull yellow light for himself, Amfi, and Losianna. Yi came behind them, carrying Jason, with the repairbot scuttling along in last place.

Yi settled Jason in the chair that Jean Paul usually used. He went back for the little robot, which he set up right next to Jason, who apparently gave it a silent command; it started whirring and examining the soulbot's intricate damaged ankle with extendable hands Charlie had never seen before. No surprise there. It was Next technology, after all. It would have been surprising if it didn't do something unexpected.

Losianna started a fire and put on tea, all the while ogling the two soulbots. Amfi sat in Charlie's chair with her leg up on a green and blue pillow in front of her. A night's sleep and basic medicine had helped, but she had still limped on the way in from the skimmer. Charlie knelt next to her. “Are you okay?”

She looked through him, her wrinkled face sad. “Yes.”

“I'm going to go find Gerry and see if I can get some news.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“No. Rest.”

She reached for his hand. “I am rather tired.”

He could still see the loss of Davis in her eyes beneath the exhaustion. Damn Kyle and all of the other stupid, frightened people. Davis should never have died, or even been threatened.