Air whistled outside as glass shards pattered onto Jelca's radiation suit. He could ignore the shards; what he couldn't ignore was the clumsily wielded axe coming at him.
Oar tried to chop Jelca like she would chop a tree — a hard blow straight down toward his chest. If she had been at full strength, he never would have blocked the blow; but she was weak now and bleary. He caught the axe and stopped it, both arms extended as he seized the axe handle at the base of its head.
For a moment, they both were frozen there: Jelca fending off the axe, Oar trying to force it down onto his sternum. Then Oar whispered, "Fucking Explorer. This is what expendable means."
She let go of the axe, grabbed his arms, and jumped with him, straight out the hole in the wall.
Part XVIII
EGGS HATCHING
Cleaning Up, Sweeping Away
I walked halfway across the room, intending to look out the window. Then I stopped. There was nothing outside I wanted to see.
Before my eyes took too much damage from the radiation, I picked up the helmet and put it back on. The smell of it sickened me. A lot of things sickened me.
With a few sharp jerks, I yanked out the wires between the Sperm generator and its battery. I wanted to damage the machines more permanently, but didn't know what would be safe. There were people in this tower; if the generator contained nuclear materials or antimatter, smashing it might set off an explosion.
I didn't want to hurt anybody, did I?
It was easy to unlock the elevator — Jelca had simply attached an override chip to the control panel. Once I disengaged the chip, I rode to the bottom floor and carefully moved back all the ancestors Jelca had disarranged. It allowed me more time to put off going outside.
I still had to go out eventually.
Jelca was dead, of course — no mere human could survive such a fall.
It didn't help that he'd been holding Oar's axe.
I sometimes think Oar might have lived if she hadn't been so broken already. But she was half-dead before she fell, and now she'd finished the job. She did not breathe; her heart was silent.
Oar was such a thing as could die. According to her beliefs, that made her holy… sacred.
Sure. Why not.
I carried her into the tower and laid out her body again, axe by her side. Maybe the light could bring her back, even from this; but I didn't wait to see.
Jelca I left in the street.
Barren
The central square was empty, except for the eagle-plane off to one side. I shouted, "Phylar!" several times, but the only answers I got were echoes. He must have made it to the ship in time.
The city was silent. Barren. I couldn't face it. Suddenly I found myself in the eagle, shouting, "Take off, now, up!"…a fierce panic to get out. The plane rose in a whine of engines, through roof doors that were still open from the whale's launch. With no one in the city to close them, the doors might stay open forever.
The sky outside brooded in gray melancholy, but the open air was not as oppressive as the abandoned city below. My panic ebbed; and I realized it was foolish to leave so hastily. There was still a wealth of Explorer equipment down in the city — things I would need if I was going to live on this planet the rest of my life. And I was.
But I didn't need to go back down right away. I could stay outside… watch the birds… see if I could find any eggs to start a new collection…
I told the eagle to land beside the remains of the lark; it seemed like appropriate symbolism. For a while after touching down, I just sat inside the plane, listening to the engines cool and watching the overcast clouds wisp around the distant peaks. Getting out of the cockpit required more energy than I possessed. Eventually though, I forced myself to move: down to the ground where I took off Tobit's helmet and breathed the still air.
Behind me, a bootstep scraped across stone.
I turned slowly, too burnt out to bother with defensive reflexes. If there was someone here, it could only be another Explorer… perhaps one of the old ones, stranded on Melaquin for decades and turned coward at the last moment, too fearful to return to an outside world that had surely changed.
The newcomer was a woman, wearing the gray uniform of an admiral. "Festina Ramos?" she blurted in surprise.
I saluted. "Admiral Seele," I said. "Welcome back to Melaquin."
Chee's Partner
Seele didn't answer. For a moment, I thought she was staring at my cheek; then I wondered if she was seeing anything at all, even though her gaze was on my face.
"You left me your egg collection," she said at last.
"Yes."
"It was my first hint you'd been sent to Melaquin."
"And that's why you're here?"
"I suppose so," she nodded. "I got to thinking…" Her voice trailed off.
"You remembered you were once an Explorer," I said. "That you once looked like me and were marooned here too. So you came to rescue me?"
"I don't know what I came to do," she answered. "I came… I came to see. The city. I didn't know anyone was here. Our sensors picked up the starship launch; I thought everyone would be gone," She paused. "The High Council would have a collective attack of apoplexy if they knew I was here."
"And you wouldn't dare risk their displeasure," I said, "or they'd send you back here. Like they sent Chee. Did you know about that?"
"I heard what happened to Chee after the fact. Exiling you here with Chee… possibly the council thought that would send me a message."
"That's all we were? A message for you?"
She shook her head. "Chee was always a thorn in their side. That spy network of his — rubbing their nose in the incompetence of the bureaucracy. The smart councillors knew they needed him, but the ones who just liked wielding power… Some people hate interference, even when it saves their asses. Eventually, they caught Chee with his guard down, and away he went."
"Away he went," I repeated. "I watched him die."
Admiral Seele bowed her head.
Understanding
After a while, Seele murmured, "We should get out of here."
"Don't hurry," I told her.
"Festina," she said, "ever since Chee and I escaped, the High Council has stationed two picket ships in this system, to make sure no one leaves again. Do you think this is the first time I've tried to land on Melaquin? I'm an admiral; I have a ship at my disposal. Every now and then, I try to come, but the pickets always turn me away. When I received your egg collection, I came once more, wondering if this would be the time I'd defy the pickets. I lurked in this system's Oort cloud for more than a day, trying to make up my mind. Then, suddenly, you Explorers launched a ship; a ship with Sperm capability." She smiled. "That sure as hell caught the pickets napping. The two of them bolted after the Explorer ship and must be in deep space by now."
Seele grabbed me by the arm. "I saw my chance and I took it, Festina. The first time in forty years I've been able to land on Melaquin. I came to see my old city. I came to see some glass friends…" She shook her head. "Never mind. I've found you instead. Our sensors picked you up while your plane was flying. And now you have a chance to escape! The others won't succeed — the pickets will snare them with tractor beams and drag them back to this planet. But while the pickets are gone, you and I can get clear. Let's go, Festina. This chance may never come again."
"So I should save myself and leave the others in the lurch? That's what you and Chee did all those years ago."