I cleared my throat. “Good afternoon, Captain Grone.”
The gun wavered. “Who told you my name?”
“How many other settlers are hiding in the Venturas?”
“There could be more. How did you know my name?”
“The heli service told us about you.” Not exactly a lie.
They’d mentioned him in passing.
He waved the laser, sounding glum. “I can’t let you go knowing where to find me.”
Time to gamble. “Did you bring a recharger for that pistol, when you fled Centraltown?”
He glared, then dropped his eyes and lowered the gun.
“It’s been out for months,” he admitted. “Damn the thing.”
“It’s all right, Derek,” I said. “Put your hands down.”
Sheepishly, the middy let his hands fall. I stepped forward.
“Nick Seafort of U.N.S. Hibernia.” Ioffered my hand.
After a moment the ex-Captain took it. “May I present Miss Frowel, and Midshipman Derek Carr. Midshipman, you salute a Captain!” Derek snapped his fanciest salute, which after a moment the fugitive sailor in his ragged shorts and torn shirt returned.
“Honey, come out!” he called over his shoulder. In a moment a lithe, well-tanned young woman emerged. Amanda quietly looked her over, with a glance my way; I pretended not to notice.
“This is my wife Jana. Jana, this is Mr. Seafort and his friends Derek and Amanda.”
“Hi, everyone!” Jana Grone seemed pleased at our company. “Come join us for coffee.” As if it were an everyday occurrence, she turned and led us into the woods. We came to a simple hut, hidden under the leafy canopy. A precarious mud-bricked chimney rose from one side. She took a kettle from an iron grate and poured coffee into several glass jars.
Ceremoniously, she handed them around.
“To our first guests,” she said.
“And our last.” Her husband was morose. “He’ll report us and they’ll come for me.”
“As far as I’m concerned,” I blurted, surprising myself, “you’re a deranged joe who thinks he’s the missing Captain Grone. Until I see proof, I’ve got nothing to tell Admiralty.”
Hope flashed in his eyes. “You’d really do that?”
I thought briefly of impressing Grone back into the service to sail Hibernia,and decided the ship was safer even with me. “You’re a local problem. I have nothing to do with it.”
“You mean that?” He probed my expression. “Then we have another chance! Still, I suppose we’ll have to move inland. You’re the second group to camp within sight of the falls.”
“We can move next spring,” Jana told him. “Plant a new field farther away.” She added wistfully, “We could still hike to the pool sometimes.”
Amanda inspected her glass. “Two questions. Where do you get coffee?”
“We plant a little of everything,” Grone said, as if proud to show off his accomplishments. “We, uh, borrowed a couple of coffee plants from Hopewell, along with the other vegetables. They grow quite well here. See? They’re in the seventh row over.” I peered. It all looked the same to me.
“And your other question?” Jana.
“What are you people doing here?”
The two exchanged glances. Jana said, “Tell her.”
He glanced about with caution and dropped his voice.’ The meteors.”
“What meteors?” Derek and Amanda, as one.
Grone spoke in a whisper. “It was night. I was piloting the ten-seater shuttle, helping out a friend. I was almost through the ionosphere when they came. Dozens of them.”
“Meteorites,” I said. He needed hormone rebalancing. A case for the psych wards.
“Yeah, meteorites. Some real ones, but others too. The ones that sprayed.”
“What in hell are you talking about?” My shoulder blades twitched with the same eerie feeling as when I’d confronted Darla’s glitch.
“My trajectory almost matched the meteorites. I rode with them a long while. I saw them spray something.”
“Oh, come on!” For a moment I’d actually considered putting him on Hibernia’sbridge. I shuddered.
“No, they did! Long trails of vapor. You know what it reminded me of? Insecticide.”
“So you jumped ship and came here?” My tone was wondering.
“! got out as fast as I could. After I landed I got Jana and we took a heli and a whole bunch of supplies and stopped at Hopewell and got some plants and we took off.” His words tumbled. “I smashed the transponder so they couldn’t track us.”“But why?”
“If you’d seen the spray you’d know!”
He was starting to bore me. “Know what?”
“They were spraying us, I told you. And you know what happened right after? The epidemic. Some bug nobody’s ever seen, that breaks down cell walls and kills whoever it hits.
We listened on our radio before it went.”
“Who sprayed you?” Amanda was tense now.
“They were,” he said darkly.
“Water vapor.” My voice was reassuring. “Ice in the meteorites boiled into steam and vaporized. That’s all.” She studied my face, relaxed a trifle.
Vehemently, Grone shook his head. “Don’t give me that goofjuice; you think I’m some groundsider doesn’t know the difference? I’ve been around! I went interstellar three times and ran interplanetary for five years before. How old are you, sixteen? You joeykids think you know everything!”
He subsided, grumbling to himself. His wife gave him an encouraging pat. After a moment he smiled at her.
“We’re safer out here,” Grone said softly, his voice calmer. He looked up to the sky as if for more meteorites.
“If they think they’ve got everybody, they’ll stop spraying.”
I shook my head. “You’ve gone around the bend.”
“Think so?” He looked cunning. “Then there’s no point in reporting us, is there?”
Jana clasped his arm. “Peter took the time to save me before he ran for safety. That’s how much he loves me.” She squeezed his biceps and he rewarded her with an approving smile.
“The epidemic is over,” I said. “Didn’t you hear? We have a vaccine.”
“They miscalculated this time. Next time will be worse.”
I realized logic couldn’t reach him, and changed the topic.
How did they manage to survive in the wilderness? That set them both off. With pride, they took turns describing their inventions and accommodations. After a while I thought it safe to suggest leaving.
“I promise I won’t mention you,” I told him. “Good luck.
I hope you make it through the winters.” On the Western Continent, winter brought frigid winds and heavy snows.
“Oh, we have to,” Jana said. “We have a baby coming.”
On that forlorn note we parted.
Climbing back to our campsite took most of our breath.
When we finally dropped our backpacks near the firepit it was almost dark. Derek and Amanda consulted on a farewell dinner and broke out a bottle of wine they’d saved. We dined on steak and potatoes, hot bread, coffee and wine. A lovely
meal.
In our tent, knowing it was our final night together, Amanda and I were tender and solicitous, but our passion was muted. A bittersweet moment, but I cherished it nonetheless.
In the morning we packed our tents and equipment into the heli, carefully doused the remains of our fire, and lifted off for the long flight home. Once again I was the only pilot.
From time to time I let Derek handle the controls and he was as pleased as a child.
Near home our conversation turned to Captain Grone and his pathetic state of mind. Amanda said, “Imagine the two of them trying to nurse a baby through a mountain winter.”
“They’ll be all right.” I shrugged. “They’ve already been through it once.”
“You seem pretty callous about it.”
“Am I? Maybe it comes from being in the Navy. People make their own beds, then have to lie in them.” I recalled saying the same to Pilot Haynes, and quickly changed the subject. “It’s what can happen to a Captain under too much stress. Sitting alone in his cabin brooding, imagining everyone is out to get him... “ Derek shot me a thoughtful glance, and I hurried on. “Having no one to talk to is the worst of it. That’s probably why Grone snapped.”