Channel's Destiny Part 20

Zeth had been hoping that Rimon's getting out of bed was a sign of returning strengtha"but the moment he came into the room he had the shock of seeing, for the first time in months, his father's hideously burned legs. The wounds, which had showed blackened muscle oozing blood when Zeth had first seen them, now dripped pus and were lined with a webbing of yellow infected tissue. Here and there he could see glistening bone. The skin stretched tightly over the rest of his badly swollen legs appeared dry, and hung loosely ready to fall off around the spreading area of the wounds. The room stank with putrefaction.

Del carefully laid Rimon down, and helped Marji arrange clean bedclothes so they would not irritate him. "Uel, you've got to do something!"

"What else can we do? We can't get transfer into hima""

"When he was just through changeover, n.o.body could get him to kill, either. Shen it, he's fixated on that memory of killing his cousin! Try some of the techniques his father used on him then."

"We can't make him kill someonea"" Uel began.

Hank put a hand on his arm. "Tell us, Del. Maybe we can rouse his intil so one of us can give him a good transfer."

Rimon's field started vibrating againa"Uel meshed and tried to stop the fluctuations, but it took Zeth's strength to bring them into line, leaving him dizzy, leaning on Owen. Del winced, saying, "That's an old symptom. Turnover used to bring it ona"before Kadi. Why don't you rouse one of Slina's Gens to panic? I know that's cruel, but if it brings Rimon to intil and you can intercepta""

Uel clenched his jaw muscles, the idea clearly abhorrent to him. "Zeth," he said finally, "he's your fathera""

"Try it," said Zeth. "He's dying, Uel. We have to try something!" He won't kill. He can't. And by next time I'll learn to give a completely satisfactory transfera"even if it means witnessing an actual kill!

Bekka was off duty, so the channels had to struggle with the schedule themselves until she showed up at dawn. Zeth stayed on duty, helping Marji while Owen napped. Night duty was normally lighta"most of the Gens were asleep then, and the Simes took the rest they required. At dawn Jord came to relieve Marji, Owen joined Zeth, and the day's routine began.

Bekka started on the day's slate. Uel, Zeth, and Jord were all to be free that afternoon to try to get transfer into Rimon. Del, who had been scheduled for late that evening, was so shaken by the events of the night that they decided to move up his transfer. As Jord was up for transfer himself just before Rimon, that meant taking Del off Jord's list and putting him on Zeth's.

Already people were filing into the chapel, which was carefully divided with heavy hangings. This morning Zeth, Uel, and Jord would take donations from Gens; the dispensing for Simes would begin just before noon. A long line of aGens waited for Zeth, shorter lines for Uel and Jord.

Everything proceeded normally. By the time the first edgy Simes were seated in the Sime waiting area outside the cubicle where Zeth was working, they were finis.h.i.+ng with the last donations. It looked as if they'd have all three channels free to work on Rimon.

To avoid having high-field Gens pa.s.sing by the waiting Simes, the Gen line came into Zeth's working area from the opposite side. Most of them went out toward the back door, pa.s.sing the Simes only when they were low-field. As Zeth worked, he became aware of a glare of impatience on the Sime side of the hangings. Not again! he thought as he recognized Jimmy Norton's nager. They did not yet have him on a normal four-week cycle. At first, with constant augmentation, he had driven himself into feeling need within a week of any transfera"except that it was turnover he perceived as hard need, and he reacted from that point on with the dangerous instincts of a Freehand Raider.

Since Bekka's disjunction, Jimmy had been trying very hard, and had gone from ten days last time up to fifteen nowa"but that was still only half a normal cycle. He had to do better, even if he never managed a full four weeks. He still insisted that he would take transfer from no one but Zetha" and Zeth couldn't help wondering if the lack of junct satisfaction was hindering Jimmy's progress.

One of the Gens left, and Jimmy took the opportunity when the hangings opened to slip in to Zeth. "I'm in need," he said agitatedly. "I've gone much longer this timea""

"Yes, you have," Zeth a.s.sured him, trying to be encouraging. "Half again as long as last time. But you're not really ina""

"I am!" Jimmy insisted.

"It's all right," Zeth soothed, as Owen's nager also went to work on Jimmy. "I'll give you transfer as soon as I finish with the donationsa"right after Del. You can wait that long, can't you? Of course you can, when you know you'll have transfer in saya"half an hour? Every hour, every minute you can add will make it that much easier next time."

The hangings cut selyn fields, but not sound. From the Gen side. Hapen Young came in, saying, "It's my fault, Zeth. I was scheduled to donate, and Jimmy came along. He was just fine before he came in here. Maybe I should stay high-field anda"''

"Oh, no you don't!" said Zeth. Hapen and Jimmy had become good friends, but after the nerve-burn Hapen had suffered in the raid, even though he now seemed steady and unafraid, the channels had decided he should donate for several more months before trying an actual transfer. So Jimmy was settled on the bench outside, and as soon as he had donated, Hapen sat down beside him, to keep him company until his promised transfer.

Zeth began dispensing with Del. He tried earnestly to give Owen's father a satisfying transfer, but as usual, he could not produce that pain/bliss even the semi-juncts craved. Del insisted he was perfectly comfortable, but it was due more to the way Owen soothed him than to anything Zeth had done.

Hank and Uel headed in to check up on Rimon before beginning their dispensing schedule. "I'll go with you," said Del. "My field won't irritate Rimon now."

,"It didn't this morning, either," said Uel. "I wish it had triggered his needa"we might have gotten transfer into him then."

Just then a high-field Gen approached, and Zeth turned, recognizing Eph Norton even through the hangings. As a deliberate encouragement to Jimmy, Zeth left the curtain open on the Sime side while he let Norton ina"so father and son could see one another. Jimmy managed to smile at Norton, proudly taking control of himself. Zeth was pleased to see it. Then he closed the curtains as Norton said, "I'm sorry I'm late. Sue was pretty upset at the way you left last night, Owen."

"It was an emergency."

"I knowa"I tried to explain that to her. But girls at that agea"" He shrugged. "I wish her mother were alive."

Norton's donation was quickly taken, but when Zeth opened the curtains to call Jimmy in, he found Jord approaching. "Zeth, I'ma"I'm really feeling bad," said the other channel. "If I don't get some rest before my transfera""

Zlinning the appalling ache of need in Jord's system, Zeth said, "Come on in and give me what you're carrying in your secondary system."

When the imbalance was relieved, Jord sat resting as Zeth opened the curtains once again. Eph Norton had stopped to talk to his son, who was trying to show his best side to his father. That motivation, and the inbred courtesy of someone raised to standards similar to those of Fort Freedom, suddenly plunged them all into trouble.

By now, the women in the chapel kitchen were getting ready to feed Slina's Gens. Sessly Bron walked out of the kitchen toward the back door, carrying a snow shovel. At once, Jimmy Norton got up, saying, "Let me help you, Miss Bron."

Eph Norton looked around, saying, "No, Jimmy, you're in need. I'll do it." He reached to push his son back down, as Jimmy raised his hand to ward off his father's touch. Their hands meta"and Jimmy went hyperconscious, his tentacles las.h.i.+ng about his father's hand. Norton stared at their united hands, not comprehending. Hapen Young tried to influence Jimmy, but his field was as low as Norton's.

"Owen!" Zeth said, but his Companion was already in motion. Zeth moved to s.h.i.+eld Jord, who had come up behind Zeth, his channel's sense of duty outweighing his physical condition.

Just as Owen reached the Nortons, Eph looked up from his son's grip to his face, and saw the raw need in his eyes. His field flared a combination of revulsion and sympathy, throwing Jimmy into killmode. He struggled to fight it, Owen's field helping, but the situation merely stabilized. Owen could not bring Jimmy down to duoconsciousness, and so he did exactly what a high-field, experienced Companion ought to doa"he placed his own hand over the joined hands of the partic.i.p.antsa"

The moment he touched them, Owen recognized killmodea" the sign of disjunction crisis. He looked to Zeth, no words necessarya"but Zeth realized, I can't seduce him away, anymore than Owen can! I can't produce pain and terror!

"Jord!" he said. "You'll have toa""

Jord pushed past him, his own discomfort forgottena"and at that moment Slina came in the back door, prodding before her the undrugged Gen they planned to use to provoke Rimon to take transfer. She zlinned the scene. Sessly was also watching, the shovel still clutched in her hands. As Jord approached the Nortons, Jimmy, sensing another Sime in need, turned with a snarl, gripping his father even tighter.

Zeth zlinned at once what was wronga"Jord's show-field couldn't mask his needa"his secondary system was empty! I've got to do it! I've got to! But he remained frozen. When Zeth didn't take action, Sessly did: she threw the shovel between the two faced-off Simes. It had no effecta"both Jimmy and Jord were hyperconscious; they didn't hear the noise, and the pa.s.sing of an inanimate object was no shock at all.

The clatter startled Slina's Gen. He flared fear, stumbled back and tangled himself in his lead chain, cutting his ankle and sending a shrieking pain through the nager. Jord, already swamped in Jimmy's killmode, flipped over. Zeth had never zlinned it beforea"genuine unrepentant killmode possessing both Simes at the same time the pen Gen flared irrational terror and Eph Norton woke to perfectly rational but no less enticing fear.

One or both Simes were going to kill. Instantly, Zeth saw the only choice: even if Jord killed the pen Gen, Jimmy could not be allowed to kill his father! He flung himself at Jimmy, letting his own field resonate to the pain and terror of the pen Gen. His show-field was infinitely stronger than Eph Norton's. Jimmy dropped his father and lunged at Zeth, who met him with the first killmode transfer he had ever given, riding on the ambience of the room.

Jord began stalking the pen Gen, who cowered back against Slina. She gave the Gen a vicious shove in Jord's direction, just as Zeth fell back to duoconsciousness with Jimmy gasping in his arms. Sessly cried, "No! You can't make him kill!" and leaped to intervene, grasping Jord's arms and forcing herself against him.

The door to Rimon's room flung open, and Uel came running, Hank behind hima"too late to do anything but witness Sessly pressing her lips to Jord's, shock and surprise at the pleasure of first-time transfer ringing through her field. No feara"determination turning to ecstasy.

It's all right! Incredulous relief swelled Zeth's heart. n.o.body killeda"and now I know how to save Dad's life!

But at that very instant, through the open door of Rimon's room came a flare of killmode that paralyzed every Sime in the chapel except the two who had just dropped hypoconscious after transfer. Zeth was the first to recover, as Del's voice rang, "Rimona"no!" and Owen started to run through the crowd.

Zeth leaped past Owen, over and around the other Simes and Gens frozen in tableau, zlinning the struggle in the sickroom, Del trying to hold Rimon down as his killmode was triggered by potent fields uncut by the curtains which had been flung aside by the curious.

Then Rimon was grasping Del, calling, "Zetha"help me! Zeth!"a"and Del's fear flared as he saw Rimon fixed on him. He struggled to free himself as Rimon, with the strength of desperation, dragged him into kill position, drawing and drawing as pain scorched through Del's nerves, burning with the voracious, unfulfilled needa"

In his desperate struggle to break the contact, Del thrust Rimon's arms away;a"and Zeth's nerves vibrated to the screech of shock as Del's fingers clenched over the delicate nerves. But it was a deathgrip. As Zeth flung himself into the room, Del was falling, limp, from Rimon's grip.

And Rimon was in agony. "Kadi!" he screamed, thras.h.i.+ng in pain, still in hard need, for Del's selyn could not begin to fill his capacity. Moreover, his injured laterals began to void selyna"the precious little in his system draining away as his son dashed to his side, shoving Del's body away to grasp Rimon in transfer grip. He forcefully entwined their laterals, for Rimon's were out of control, nerve-injured. Rimon continued to call out for Kadi in an agony of need, pain, and guilt.

Finally, Zeth secured his grip on Rimon, and found the fifth transfer point. Rimon drewa"the aching void of his need filling and fillinga"but never reaching fulfillment. It was not the absence of a satisfactory emotiona"Zeth was giving exactly what he had just learned, but there was no satisfying Rimon now. As fast as Zeth poured selyn into him, it leakeda". then poureda"away through his injured nerves.

On the periphery of his awareness, he noticed Owen come in, and fall to his knees in horror over Del's body. Del's body! Dad killed!

That agony hit Zeth just at the moment .when Rimon had drained his secondary system and was ripping away at the natural barrier, making Zeth flinch away in self-preservation as his father's life ebbed away beneath his tentacles.

Noa"I won't kill. Ever!

He willed his system to flip over into primary mode and let his father drain and drain him. But there came a point of searing crescendo when he could hold it no longer, even to save his father's life, and Fort Freedom's dream. His body convulsed, ripping loose the contact points just as pain ceased in blackness.

Chapter 12.

Zeth became slowly aware of Sime tentacles twining about his arms, pulling ... a ripe, insistent Gen nager throbbed expectantly before him, and suddenly the tentacles forced his laterals out and into contact with the Gena"Owen!

At first, selyn came through no volition of his own, trickling deep into his systems, dispelling the numbness of attrition and wakening him to a savage draw as he sought the shrieking delight of killbliss.

The speed slacked off short of pain, Owen's way of saying, No, I won't let you kill. Momentarily, he succ.u.mbed to his instinct to draw against that imposed discipline, and felt Owen's pain blossom. No! I won't kill! He surrendered control, and the flow came to an indrawn pause that relieved the screeching ache. When selyn came again, it was at his normal speed, flowing without effort. It ceased without his stopping, though he was relieved of every trace of need.

Hypoconscious, he stared up into Owen's worried blue eyes. Uel knelt behind Owen, holding Zeth's hands so his laterals could make contact at the back of Owen's neck. When he found Zeth conscious, he let goa"and Zeth's hands fell limply. Owen caught his left arm, but his right hit the floor, nerve-burn surging through him.

Uel said, "Someone get the fosebine."

It was Jord who brought it, by which time Zeth was beginning to remembera"and despair. He didn't have to ask about his father; if Uel and Jord were with him, Rimon was dead; they wouldn't leave a critical channel in Marji's care.

He's better off dead, Zeth thought. Maybe we all would be. Thank G.o.d Abel didn't live to see Rimon kill.

No one said anything to Zeth except "You're all right" and "Here, drink this." Maybe they thought he didn't know what had happened, and would be better off sleeping before he faced it. I've been making such judgments for other people for weeks now. What right did I have? The dream Fort Freedom had stood for was shattered. The numbness was wearing off the other people in the room. They must have worked-as a team to save his life without giving a thought to the implications of what Rimon had done . . . but now they had pulled Zeth through, and they were beginning to think.

Sorrow built like a slow tide. Hank let tears slide down his cheeksa"less painful than trying to hold them back. Owen held his field steady, braced, not allowing grief to penetrate as he worked on Zeth, but it was a duty, not his usual spontaneous outpouring of help.

As the fosebine drew him toward sleep, Zeth realized that things could never be the same between him and Owen, either. My father killed his father.

Zeth woke in the room he shared with Owen in the Veritt house. As he wasn't disoriented, they had moved him sleeping, not unconscious. What woke him was Sessly Bron replacing the covers he had tossed off. She smiled at him. "h.e.l.lo, Zeth. Feeling better?"

Jord Veritt, who had been sitting on Owen's neatly made bed, came over to zlin him, and Zeth automatically zlinned back.

lord's fields were in a healthy configuration for the first time in Zeth's experience. He looked years younger, too, his eyes beginning to emerge from their perpetual hollows, glowing with serenity. Zeth had completely forgotten Sessly's intercepting Jord. I'd never have allowed ita"never! And look what she's done for him.

Jord said, ,"Yes, you are better, Zeth. Another dose of fosebine should stave off that headache." As soon as the soothing effects of the medicine were flowing through Zeth's system he asked, "Do you want to talk, Zeth? Should I get Owen?"

"It doesn't matter," Zeth said flatly, and Jord frowned.

"Zeth . . . you do remember what happened?"

"Dad killed Del. There's no such thing as a Sime who won't kill, given enough provocation. Dad was never any different from you, Jorda"Mama kept him from killing."

Sessly said, "That's no reason to despair, Zeth. G.o.d has showed us the way. No one will be allowed to kill anymore. With Owen's help, you'll use your blessed gift of healing."

"I can't!" he protested.

"Zeth," Jord said firmly, "you could not have saved your father's life. You risked your own, trying, but that injury was fatal. Grieve, Zetha"but don't blame yourself."

lord understands, Zeth realized. Simes can't be blamed for being Sime. Tears of weakness slid down his face.

Uel arrived a while later, to spell Jorda"or rather to rest there while Jord went back to work. The pattern formed quicklya"Zeth really required only fosebine and sleep, but just in case, one of the channels remained with him.

Until Owen came. Then they were left alone. It was after midnight, and Owen was groggy, his eyes red with weeping, his field hollow with emotional exhaustion. He sat on the edge of Zeth's bed, saying, "I should have been here earlier, but I couldn't leave Jana to make all the arrangements . . . and I had to praya""

"Owen, I'm so sorry!" Zeth blurted "It's my fault everyone was in the chapel that way, anda""

"And it's my fault you almost died!" Owen said bitterly. "When I saw Pa lying there, and you trying to revive Rimona" Oh, G.o.d, Zeth, I had to try to help Pa, though I knew he was dead. Uel dragged me awaya"I would have let you die, Zeth!"

"If you had, it wouldn't matter much."

"Zeth!"

"Maddok Bron is right. Simes must be protected. Not from demonsa"just from the fact of being Sime. It's up to you, Owen. If my father could kill, I cana"unless you stop me."

"No! Zeth, I've never tried to control you, and I'm not going to start now. Your father was right. I'm not fit to be a Companion. Even if I'd had my wits together, I couldn't have helped you. With only one arm, I couldn't force your laterals to extend. I couldn't lift your arms into positiona"Uel had to do it. If we'd been alone, Zeth, you'd have died."

Zeth sighed. "That won't happen again. You can handle anything I'll ever need, Owen."

Margid brought soup for Zeth and a full meal for Owen. "Eat, and then I want you both asleep," she told them firmly. "There'll be plenty of time to talk in the morning." And because it was too painful for either of them to continue, they obeyed her.

The next day Zeth progressed on shaky legs as far as the main room. A stream of visitors began with Dan Whelan, who tried delicately to find out if Zeth had any special wishes for the memorial service for his father. Zeth didn't want to think about how Rimon had dieda"so he just said dully, "Whatever you think is appropriate."

Maddok Bron camea"and the sincere sympathy in the man's field was almost more than Zeth could bear. Bron said gently, "Your father was not responsible for his last act, Zeth. For all the good he did over many years, he is certainly now reunited with your mother in heaven. I'll pray for his soul, and for that of Del Erick. They were good men."

But despite his cautious words to Zeth, Bron apparently used Rimon's death as proof of, his demon theory, for Dan returned later that day to rea.s.sure Zeth that Bron would not conduct the service. Zeth nodded, not really caringa"what if a Sime's instincts were personified as demons? They were just as deadly either way.

A while later, Owen came in with his sister. Owen seemed angry, and Jana was trying to calm him down. "Go splash cold water on your face," she told him, "and then come back. You can't help Zeth if you're all upset."

Zeth didn't ask, but Jana pulled up a chair and started in just as if he had, "It's that Sue Norton. I knew no good would come of Owen getting involved with an out-Territory girl! If there's anything Owen shouldn't have to worry about, it's that woman trying to take him away from you!"

That pulled Zeth out of his lethargy. "What happened?" he asked, thinking, There's no other Gen who can handle my needa"without Owen I'd kill someone!

Owen came back in, answering his question. "It's over between us, that's all," he said. "Sue's never understood what it means to be a Companion. She thinks it's some sort of obligationa"she had the nerve to tell me I was being disrespectful to the m-memory of my father''a"he paused to brush angry tears awaya""if I k-kept on as your Companion, Zeth." Tears coursed down his cheeks.

Jana took her brother's hand, wrapping handling tentacles about it, her own tears flowing. The two, Zeth's best friends ever since he could remember, were cut off from him by one fact. My father killed their father. Neither of them made the accusation, but it hung in the air until Zeth felt compelled to say it aloud. "My father killed your father. I'd give my life to change thata"but I don't know how."

Startled, they both looked up at him. He felt the tensions release in thema"and then Jana reached for his hand. "Oh, G.o.d, Zetha"it's as awful for you to live with as it is for us! They were both like fathers to all of us. Maybe if we can think, they came here together . . . and they died togethera""

Jana's words were echoed by Dan Whelan two days later, at the service for Rimon Farris and Del Erick. He spoke of the loss not only of the first channel, but also of his closest frienda"and the support Del had given Fort Freedom over many years. Zeth only half listened. He didn't really want to be here, listening to Dan try to avoid the real meaning of Rimon's death. He had grieved with Owen and Jana over Del, but something seemed to stop him from grieving for his father, as if Rimon had betrayed him and he could not mourn.

As the choir began to sing, Dan lit the lamps surrounding the monument to the martyrs. Zeth hadn't realized lord had found time to carve a new name. There had been s.p.a.ce for only one more. Del's would be the last name on the original monument.