help me up? I would like to get some air.
She tried to help him up, and he made it part way but then collapsed back on the
bed, pulling her down on top of him. He started to mumble apologies, but she
laughed them off.
So, is this a proposition or a proposal? she teased. I have been pulled by
strength into your bed.
I am—sorry…
Why? Am I so ugly, so undesirable that you would not want me?
No, now, wait a moment! I didn’t mean…
She saw his discomfort and found it satisfying, but she also knew he was still
weak and dehydrated, as well. She got up and looked at him. You stay where you
are. I will prepare some broth and herb teas that will get some strength back
into you. I want to see what you are like when you are whole and natural.
The speed with which he regained his strength and clearheadedness was in no
small part due to her help and attentiveness. He knew also that she’d been the
one to summon just the right help when he’d needed it, and even through the
delirium he had been aware that she’d been there all the time, tending him and
speaking soothingly to him.
He didn’t really understand why she did it. Certainly he was someone unusual,
both familiar and foreign at the same time, but that didn’t really explain it
all. It certainly wasn’t his virile good looks. He was, in fact, rather ordinary
looking or a bit worse, his skin mildly pockmarked with scars from a childhood
imbalance. It might be because she was looking for any way out of her
circumstances, although he didn’t think she had that much deviousness in her.
Finally he simply asked her.
She thought about it. Partly it is because I am doing something useful. Partly
it is because you treat me as a person, not a thing, and you do not judge.
That was simply something he had not considered. Oddly, he felt some anger.
Curse you, ancient one! he thought to himself. I have needed her these past
days, and now it is clear that she needs me as well.
He thought about her a lot over the next few days, even when she wasn’t there.
The trouble was, he did want her, did have a need for someone in his life, but
there was no getting around the two worlds. He could not stay, not this time.
There was simply too much important work left to do, work that meant much to the
future of the Hyiakutt as a nation. There was no rule against his marrying her,
but there were rigid rules barring her from access to the medicines and machines
that would allow her to adapt, at least somewhat, to the terribly different way
things were there. She would be isolated in a place where almost no one spoke
her language and where medicines did the only work for which she was qualified.
Yet it was impossible to explain it to her. She had never even seen plumbing,
let alone a toilet; how to explain disposable clothes and dialing up a meal?
Worse, how to explain that the Sioux in Council were not contemptible subhumans
and mortal enemies but rather associates who were sometimes pains in the rear?
Once through Withdrawal, he’d always just let himself go and enjoyed his Leaves.
Now the medicine man had placed a terrible burden on him—and not totally in
ignorance, either—and really spoiled things.
And yet he wanted to see her, wanted her company, wanted her. He took to
late-night brooding outside, surrounded only by the trees and the stars, trying
to sort out his own mind and his courses of action. And, one of those nights, he
had a visitor.
He heard a quiet sound behind him, one that few others would hear, and he turned
and peered into the darkness past the campfire.
He saw it after a moment and simply froze, staring at the dark form within the
lesser darkness.
It knew that he’d seen it, and it moved slowly, confidently, into the light of
the slowly dying campfire.
The thing was big—two meters tall—and roughly manlike in appearance, made of
permanently glistening blue-black material. Its face was a mask with two
trapezoidal openings for eyes that were the color and sheen of polished
obsidian. It moved with a catlike quiet and grace that seemed impossible for one
so huge.
Good evening, the Val said in a pleasant middle soprano that sounded very
human indeed. It spoke in Hyiakutt, not because it had to but because by doing
so it demonstrated in two words that it could easily have overheard all that
Hawks and the old medicine man had said. It spoke, too, in an incongruous female
voice, which told him immediately that its business wasn’t something to do
directly with him. The thought did little to calm him.
Good evening to you, Hawks responded, trying to keep the dryness in his mouth
from showing in his speech or manner. May I ask what brings you to my fire?
Routine business. You are the only Outsider here at this moment or within many
days’ distance. Legally, anyway. As such, you provide something of
an—attraction.
You seek one of my people?
No. Carmelita Mendelez Montoya is her name.
His eyebrows rose. Espanol?
No. Caribbean.
That was almost as outlandish as Spanish. Most of the islands had not been
restored, but rather new societies had been created out of the cultures that
were there. There was, simply put, no native stock surviving there to restore.
What would a Caribe be doing up here?
The Val switched to Classical English but still maintained that woman’s voice.
Running. It is a very large, desolate land, easy to get lost in. We spotted the
wreck of her skimmer on satellite photos two weeks ago. Unfortunately, by the
time I was dispatched to the scene, it appeared that everything from people to
herds of thundering buffalo had been through there. Since then I have picked up
signs that she has been moving in this direction, but nothing concrete. The area
has been sensitized to those not keyed to it. She cannot get out. She has
already lasted far longer than I would have thought she could. Still, the region
here is lightly populated and it is moni
tored. She has not as yet contacted anyone. Her supplies must be running out by
now. She will have to make contact with someone soon or starve.
And you think I’m a likely candidate. Why? And what’s she done? He, too,
switched to English; although translating was something of a struggle for him,
English was more convenient for the sort of words needed to put the conversation
into less than metaphorical statements.
What she has done is irrelevant. I only apprehend. I do not judge. As you
should well understand, it is best that you not know, in any case. As to why
you, it is simple deduction. She is physically and culturally out of place. She
speaks Espanol, some Creole, and Caribe dialects of them at that. I have
determined that she must have been close enough to see your skimmer put down and
discharge before leaving. That marks you as someone from Outside. The
civilization of your own people is so different from hers, it must look to her
like bands of savages. She will be frightened to go to them and unsure as to
what help they could offer if they didn’t kill her or eat her.
Even a Val couldn’t be allowed to get away with that one. My people are a
highly cultured race. They kill only when they have to, and eating people would
be repugnant!
I mean no offense, and I know what you say is truth. I apologize for any slur
you might have inferred. Understand that I have her inside of me. I am going on
the way she thinks.
He nodded, somewhat mollified. If he hadn’t wanted to meet this fugitive before,
he wanted to meet her even less now. The Val, however, was correct. Inside its
head was the complete readout of this Montoya’s entire record, essentially a
copy of her memories and personality up to no more than a few months ago at
best. That was the true edge the Val had and the reason why it was alleged that
no one ever escaped them. And few had.
Do what you have to do, but I do not wish to be involved, Hawks told it.
Apprehend her away from here. Unlike some people, I treasure the time I have in
my homeland. This intrusion is not welcome.
I understand, but you must understand me as well. There is only one of me.
There are only three of my kind in this whole system. I can compute
probabilities based upon all my information, but there are always unknowns,
variables beyond my ability to include. I cannot merely stand around here in the
shadows staking this area out. I can only come here and state that if you see
her or she contacts you, you will calm her and shelter her here and when
possible go down to the Four Families’ camp and use the emergency trigger.
Hawks bristled, partly in frustration. He didn’t want to turn this unknown
woman, or anyone, over to a Val or anyone else, and now he would have to. When
they finally caught her, they’d do a readout and know if she’d talked to him
and, if so, what had been said. If they didn’t like the way he had performed,
the next readout taken would be his.
I resent being placed in this position, he told the creature. This is my
land, my people, my way. My parents are buried near here. This is not the
Councils; this is not the Presidium. Neither you nor she have any right here.
And on this land, in this time, I am Hyiakutt, and I obey Hyiakutt law and
custom. If she presents no danger to my people, I will, if she comes, offer her
food and shelter as I would anyone from a strange nation passing through. If you
come, she must go with you, but I will not be your surrogate. Not here.
The great hulking form of the Val was silent for a moment. Fair enough, it
said finally. But I would not advise you to probe why she is here or why she is
wanted. If I cannot find her, I cannot control her. Every moment she is near
puts you at risk. Weigh that. I am not well versed in the details of every tribe
and nation in this area, but I am unaware that any requires suicide to protect a
stranger. Good night to you, sir.
The great creature turned and was quickly and silently lost in the darkness.
Hawks continued to stare after it long after it had left, and he did not go in
to sleep for another hour.