“There are round bumps on all four faces,” Beyon-mak said. “That’s all. I’m guessing a long and complex sequence of presses—but who knows what they are? Austin?”
“I don’t know!”
“Of course he doesn’t know,” Tony said. “Probably nobody knows, or maybe the Mother of Mothers does—it doesn’t matter. We don’t want the ship. But that goddamn Ranger does, and he can have it. We’re taking this thing out to him.”
We. But there would be no we. One person, Lamont had said.
Tony said to Austin, “If you and Graylock found this thing and didn’t know what it was, how does Lamont know it even exists? Who did you tell about Haven?”
“I… Noah followed me here! But he said he already knew, Tony! He knew you were here!”
“Of course he did,” Beyon-mak said, straightening. He had sand on the knees of his pants. “But he didn’t know about this device. Who did you tell about it?”
“Nobody!” But he had a sickening memory of talking to Leo. What had he said to Leo, he couldn’t remember…
“It was you,” Tony said. “It had to be you. Nate, Graylock, take everybody into the backup cave.”
Claire said, “Backup cave?”
Tony actually grinned. “Separate airshaft, separate third entrance, tight closing door. Don’t underestimate our planning, Doctor.”
She said, “I’m taking the device out to Lamont.”
“You are not. We need you.”
“Oh for God’s sake, Schrupp, think. He’s not going to shoot the messenger or bomb the airshaft. What he wants is to go back to Terra and take his Rangers and protectees with him. I’m a protectee. If he has me, Branch Carter will computer-generate all possible sequences for that device and press those bumps in every single sequence until he gets that ship here. Or maybe the Council of Mothers knows the sequence. Either way, we’ll lift off and leave you to your postapocalyptic world-building on Kindred. But if it’s not me who takes that thing out there, Lamont will keep at you until he gets all his protectees. I’ve watched the man for months and you have not. He’s obsessive-compulsive with paranoid tendencies and the stress of this environment has pushed him over the edge.”
“I don’t care if he’s hallucinating green elephants and talking to his dead grandfather. You’re a Terran doctor and we need you more than Terra does. Sorry, Dr. Patel. We’ll treat you with every respect and courtesy, but you’re not leaving World. Austin, you created this mess—you take the device out to Lamont.”
Kayla, who’d been standing at the edge of the circle, screamed, darted forward and clutched Austin. Tony peeled her off him and handed her to Graa^lok, who could barely hold her. Exasperated, Beyon-mak helped him. Kayla went on screaming. “No, no, not Austin, no—”
“Get them to the backup cave!” Tony said. “All of them!”
Graa^lok looked at Austin. Graa^lok’s face twisted in anguish and indecision. Austin hated him; Graa^lok always got the best choice, the safe deal. But then Austin nodded and said, “Take care of my mother,” and Graa^lok nodded back. For a moment Austin felt good; he was doing the right thing. The feeling didn’t last.
When they had all gone through a locked door that Austin had always assumed was another supply area, Austin faced Tony. “Will you let me back in? After I give the device to the lieutenant?”
Tony hesitated. “That bastard shot out all the cameras. And there aren’t any monitors in the backup cave… Tell you what. You stay outside until the Rangers lift off in that second ship. Then come ring the bell and I’ll let you back in, through the airlock in the backup cave.”
Austin looked at him. It might be a long time before Branch figured out the code that Beyon-mak spoke about. It might not be figured out before the spore cloud hit. With the cameras shot out, Tony couldn’t see anything outside to tell him if the cloud had hit or not, which was only an approximate date. Even if there was an airlock, and there probably was, Tony would not risk spore contamination of Haven. He needed Graa^lok’s sisters and cousins to stay healthy and have babies who would inherit Terran immunity. He needed to keep his “protectees” safe from the riots and food shortages and roving bands of the collapse of civilization.
Austin would not be allowed back into Haven.
He could scream like Kayla. He could hang on to a table and refuse to go. He could act like a little kid, but Tony would get him out by sheer force if he had to, or if Tony didn’t, then Lamont would bomb Haven if he didn’t get the device. If that happened, Austin’s mother and Claire and everybody would die, anyway. Including Austin.
He wasn’t a little kid anymore. He was a man. His mother was his lahk, and maybe even Claire was, too. Bu^ka^tel.
He straightened his back and looked Tony in the eyes. “Do you think Lamont will shoot me?”
“I don’t see why he would. He’s getting what he wants, isn’t he? You heard Dr. Patel. He wants to go back to Terra.”
“Okay.” And then—without a quaver, sounding strong, and he was proud of that—he said, “Give me the device.”
“Well, there it is.”
Of course it was. But Austin refused to feel stupid about what he’d said. He picked up the call-back and headed for the tunnel to outside.
Owen waited for someone to emerge from the mountain, and Leo waited for Owen.
He could wait in the same position, barely breathing, for as long as he had to. The rising sun was behind him; the wind was too light to interfere with anything; the brush and rocks on the upland meadow below him were only waist-high. Leo sweated inside his armor and helmet; he ignored it. The orange light, though nothing like a sunny day on Terra, was enough to see by. Only his own memories hampered him.
Delirious and cursing, his body a mass of sores, his head about to explode from fever. Owen carrying him down the mountain on his back, murmuring over his shoulder: “Easy, buddy, we’ll get you to the medics, not your fault it’s just fucking poison ivy….” Owen visiting him in the infirmary, trying to convince him to recycle through Ranger training. Owen and Leo in a bar somewhere with two girls, Owen laughing but even then, even with a rhinestone blonde on his lap, Owen had been reserved somehow, holding back, in control… Owen getting Leo here to Kindred, counting on him to stick no matter what, using him…
The last thought wouldn’t stay. It was still Owen carrying him down the mountain, saving Leo’s life. Always Owen carrying him down the mountain.
In the meadow, Owen shifted position.
A figure crawled from the bushes at the base of the mountain, stooped, picked up something pyramidal and started across the meadow. Austin.
Leo was too far away to hear any conversation. But he already knew what Owen would say: Leave it there. “There” would be halfway between Owen and the mountain, where Owen could retrieve it without letting an enemy, even a thirteen-year-old enemy, get too close. Almost Leo could hear the words in his mind.
Except there was another sound, behind him. “Throw away the rifle, Leo. Without turning around.”
Zoe.
Time slowed down. He had days, years, eons to assess the situation. Even if her feet were free, her hands were still cuffed behind her back. She had her sidearm, but did she have a way to use it or was she bluffing? Or had she worked her body through the cuffs to get her hands in front? It was possible but only if you were very thin, unusually flexible, and willing to dislocate your shoulder. Zoe was thin; he had no idea if she was unusually flexible; she would dislocate anything on herself if she thought it was her duty.