Beowulf's Children Part 57

"Well, I don't think he . . . hah. He'd dumped me for Jessica, but he never stops s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g any woman. I was ticked. How I distracted you was the last thing he expected. After Tos.h.i.+ro died, he kind of hinted that I could kind of let you alone."

Edgar grinned. "Do you mean to say we've been cheating on Aaron?"

"Yeah. Pygmalion, huh?"

"Yeah. You shaped me, Trish. Then you kind of lost interest because I didn't need you quite so much-"

"-And you'll drop Ruth!" Trish wrapped her hand around his wrist as he was about to speak. "When you've really put her back together, you'll know it. You'll lose interest. Then come brag to me, Soft One. I may have sculpted some Scouts by then, but I'm always open to a brag."

Perhaps a dozen pairs of human feet had pa.s.sed this way before them: not enough to actually create a path, but enough for the broken twigs and turned earth to mark the way easily. Aaron or Little Chaka led, Cadmann in the middle or taking the rear.

Again, this was disorienting. How many times had he broken trail for these boys, while they tromped loyally behind? Too many to count.

He watched Chaka. The big shoulders, the broad hips worked steadily as they climbed the path. He felt perfectly comfortable with Little Chaka. He had seen Chaka angry, sad, happy . . . in the full spectrum of human emotion.

He watched Aaron more carefully. More carefully now than ever. Aaron was getting everything he had wanted.

True, it had cost Tos.h.i.+ro his life, and almost torn the colony apart, but Aaron had what he wanted. There was something vastly self-satisfied and relaxed about him, similar to the att.i.tude of a man who has just enjoyed really great s.e.x. And for Aaron, perhaps that a.n.a.logy wasn't wholly inappropriate.

Aaron whistled tunelessly as he led. There was something about him, something not quite . . . connected to the ground that he trod. Above it all. That was Aaron. Above it all.

And in that moment, for reasons that Cadmann couldn't be quite certain of, he knew that Aaron had indeed seen all sides of the Robor incident before it ever happened. Knew that Aaron realized that death was the probable outcome. There was no way to prove it, but Aaron had used them all, all of the stresses, all of the arguments, all of the efforts.

From the very beginning, it wouldn't have mattered how things turned out. No matter what happened, Aaron Tragon was going to win.

Eventually Aaron's will and most secret plans would control the colony. The foundation of Camelot was the group efforts of a hundred and seventy people, based on principles voted and designed before they ever left Earth. But here . . .

Like it or not, the entire colony would be the outgrowth of one man's personality. One increasingly disturbing man.

He watched Aaron. Step after step. As perfect as a machine. His body perfect. His mind as remote and inaccessible as the farthest misty peaks of Avalon.

By the time they stopped for lunch, Cadmann's mood-if that was what it was-had burned away with the early haze.

They sat on an overhang looking down on Shangri-La a thousand feet below and twenty kilometers distant. The domes and rectangles of the camp stretched out beneath him.

"Penny for your thoughts," Aaron said comfortably.

"I was thinking about the early days," Cadmann replied. "G.o.d, it seems so long ago now."

Off in the distance, a pterodon swooped down after a birdle. The birdles were known to invade pterodon territory. Birdles were herbivorous, and the pterodons carnivorous, but the birdles spoiled hunting, scared away prey. So mated pterodon pairs swooped and squawked, gained alt.i.tude and buzz-bombed the giant beetles, driving them away. The efforts were never effective beyond a day or so. Birdles were tenacious.

Aaron watched him, an indefinable sadness in his eyes. ."What happened, Cadmann?" he said at last. "I remember you, back in the old days. You were full of fire. You're not old. But you're starting to think you are."

Cadmann laughed. "Older than you think, boy." Aaron was right. There was something different about his att.i.tude. He was thinking of everything in the past. Looking back like . . . an old man. Christ. When had that happened?

"It was Robor, " he said finally. "It was getting there too late. It was killing Tos.h.i.+ro."

Chaka tried to interrupt, but Cadmann shushed him. "I'm not interested in technicalities, Chaka. It shouldn't have happened. And it's also the physical pain. I hurt myself up there. I still feel it. I'm just not the man I used to be."

Aaron gazed at him, and for a moment . . . just a moment, for the first time in Aaron's adult life, Cadmann had the very distinct feeling that something had really registered in there. Something had been touched emotionally. There was no joy, no triumph in Aaron's face.

"I'm sorry about that," Aaron said. "I never intended that to happen."

I may have intended to rip the colony apart. I may have intended to steal an invaluable piece of property. I may have not given a d.a.m.n if one of my friends died-or you died, Cadmann.

But I never intended to break you. That I would not have done.

It was utterly strange how clear that voice rang in Cadmann's head. Strange how certain he was that that message pa.s.sed from Aaron's mind to his. Strange. It was an apology of some kind. And odder still, he found that he accepted it.

They studied each other for almost a minute, and then, hesitantly, almost shyly, Aaron smiled. Then he stood, and held his hand out to Cadmann. "Come on," he said. "Let's keep moving."

"If I don't, I'll stiffen up." He dusted his pants off. "Don't ever get old, Aaron. It's no fun at all."

"I'll keep that in mind," Aaron said, and again, they both laughed.

The conversation ceased as they toiled up a mountain crest. Cadmann was beginning to enjoy himself. These kids were stronger and fitter, but he knew how to use what he had. Knew how to relax between steps, husband his resources.

They stood up at the crest for a few minutes, sipping water, and breathing hard, looking down as if they were t.i.tans bestriding the world. All of Avalon seemed stretched out beneath them. They might have been balanced between worlds. To the east, grendel country, and the forests and savannahs that would eventually be crisscrossed by the roads and cities of an expanding human empire. To the west, desert and terra incognita.

Who knew what existed out there? Sandworms on speed, maybe.

Directly below them now, a branching curl of river, a ribbon of blue down at the base of the mountains. "We're going to a little valley we've spotted from Geographic and mapped by skeeter," Chaka said. "n.o.body's done it on foot, and we need to look around. There's running water, but we won't get close to it."

"Grendels?"

"You bet. Lots of samlon. Last time through, it was fairly working with them. I think it's getting to be that time again."

"d.a.m.ned glad your b.l.o.o.d.y base camp isn't near running water."

Aaron chuckled. "No. You wouldn't have let us do that, Cadmann. The First would let us get away with anything at all, as long as we carry those great stinking stacks of Cadzie-blue blankets; but not that. And even when the weather changes, and the rivers swell, we're not likely to get grendels. Too far from the water."

"Of course, if it's raining hard, that will cool them just as well."

"This is true," Chaka admitted, "but we've got our defenses, and our shelters. And there are no guarantees."

"No there aren't. I'm not even sure I wish there were."

They descended the ridge, making their way down toward flatlands. A small valley was visible now, a verdant crease. Chaka guided the conversation as they walked.

He pointed to the eastern horizon. "Storm clouds?"

Chaka and Aaron studied the cloud patterns. The clouds were moving south, and unlikely to bring rain or grief to Shangri-La. But there had been small storms, little atmospheric disturbances almost constantly for the past month. What was coming was coming faster, that much was sure.

"The weather's never been like this," Cadmann said.

Aaron said, "I finally did get to Surf's Up. Absolutely scoured by waves. They had to move all of the kids back to colony. Most of the beach houses are gone. Mine too. There's nothing but foundations left."

They talked broadly and companionably of weather and atmosphere, climate and crop conditions, blue skies and hailstorms, for almost an hour as they descended to a glade. Chaka pointed to an ancient, overgrown mound. "I saw this from my skeeter."

Cadmann approached it cautiously. "Beehive?"

"Yes. I wasn't certain from the air, but it looked abandoned. Weathered. Maybe they migrate. Maybe they raid an area for everything it has, and then die out. I don't know."

Aaron nudged it with his toe, thoughtful. The mucilaged earth tower crumbled a little. He pushed against it some more and a chunk of it broke off. "It's brittle. Resistant to most weather, though."

"How long abandoned?" Cadmann asked.

"A year or two," Aaron said.

"Look! A cl.u.s.ter of Joey bones." Chaka was up in one of the trees, peering around.

Cadmann grunted and dropped his backpack, climbed three or four meters up the trunk, alarmed at how heavy and clumsy he felt.

A trio of little Joey skeletons greeted him. They were snugged between branch and bole, dead in their own nest.

"Definitely bee country," Cadmann said soberly.

They continued along, spotted several more abandoned bee nests and more caches of old skeletons. Often the bones lay as if carefully placed by some nitpicking archeologist. Bees didn't leave enough on the bones for it to be worth any scavenger's time to drag them away.

They reached a lower shelf, even thicker with trees and brush and gra.s.s. Then took another steep decline, and reached another shelf.

And more bones.

It was Cadmann who first mentioned that the animal sounds had died away.

"You noticed it too?" Chaka asked. I was wondering if that was just my own morbid imagination."

"No, it's not." Cadmann looked back at Aaron, trailing slightly to their left, a thoughtful expression on his face. Whatever he thought, he was keeping to himself.

The terrain was looking more and more . . . well, picked over. No pterodons. No birdles. No Joeys. Nothing. The back of Cadmann's neck itched.

"Look," Chaka said soberly.

Chaka pointed at a skeleton the size of a small deer, with short forelegs. It poked out of the ground. Chaka knelt and dug carefully with his knife, and unearthed the rest. Cadmann turned his head away.

This creature had died digging into the ground. Its head still remained, and its shoulders, a sort of monkey-looking thing with sharp paws. The attempt to claw its way into the ground had failed. The mummy was hollowed out, its mouth still open, clotted with dirt. Its eyes were open. Staring into its own grave.

Chaka made a blowing sound and stood, wiping his hands on his pants. He walked in a widening spiral, and found two more skeletons, of similar creatures that hadn't been as successful at burrowing. "This is wrong," Chaka said. He walked to the ridge. Below them was another flattened area, and then a cliff. Distantly, they heard rus.h.i.+ng water.

Cadmann said, "Lovecraftian, maybe. What are you thinking?"

"Wrong." Chaka ran down the slope, digging in his heels. He saw Aaron skid down after him. There was a tight, controlled expression on Aaron's face, one that Cadmann hadn't seen before. Some game was going on here, and he was one step behind the other players.

He scrambled down the next decline, using roots and rocks to steady and slow his descent. He watched, increasingly disturbed, as Chaka poked about. This was a lushly wooded area, girdled with bushes and trees and gra.s.s. There were signs that it had been lusher still, but some of the vegetation had been badly chewed.

Except for the distant mournful skaw of a pterodon, it was just too d.a.m.ned quiet.

They found bones. Bones of creatures mouse-sized, rabbit-sized, and one as big as a wolf.

Chaka pulled his belt knife and cut into the wolf-sized creature's rear leg bone. He poked around in the dark interior. "Until we've got a better word, we can call this stuff marrow. This is still moist. I think that all of this death happened within the last seventy-two hours."

Chaka pushed himself up and walked out to the edge of the cliff, looking out over the valley beneath. His face was deeply troubled.

"Weather's getting bad," he murmured, so low that Cadmann almost couldn't hear him.

Aaron had heard. "True enough."

"Ordinarily, the bees build nests, raze an area for maybe a decade, and then move on. robably sp.a.w.n a dozen queens each, or however they work it. But in times like this . . . "

"What?" Cadmann asked. He was afraid he wasn't going to like the answer.

Chaka looked back at Aaron, standing only a few feet behind him, and he shrugged. "The plains will flood. A lot of the nests will drown-no, they won't. The bees will have water traps built into them, for sure. And as soon as the first water recedes, the bees will migrate. Ma.s.sively. Some of them are starting to expand westward now. See? The animals up here never evolved to deal with bees this way. A few Joeys are one thing-we're talking about the eradication of square kilometers of wildlife. It's been two hours since we've seen a single living animal, gentlemen. Those rain clouds? Those are the beginning. And the bees want the high ground.

Probably this whole region belongs to them, every fifty years. Then the population pressure drives them back to the lowlands. But when the rains. .h.i.t . . . "

Aaron's voice was very flat. "What?"

"The bees are spreading everywhere, breeding whole hordes of queens and seeding them on the wind. These are species that never evolved to deal with bees, because bees were never here. The grendels-I've figured that out. There are so many other animals breeding their hearts out that the grendels aren't eating any of their samlon, so they're all turning into grendels. Edgar's been raving about the weird weather. We've seen it. Those bees are getting ready for the winds to scatter them everywhere!"

Cadmann nodded. "Sounds right."

Little Chaka spoke very carefully. "I have to tell Father. Do you realize that we're going to have to evacuate the mainland? And I mean right now-"

Cadmann caught a motion out of the corner of his eye, and it was a fatal half a second before he realized what was happening. Aaron, incredibly, was unshouldering his rifle. Chaka's rifle was in his hands. He was raising it, even as Cadmann felt his mouth form the word: "No!"

Chaka was closest to Aaron, and Aaron shot him first. The biologist had only begun to react when the bullet snapped his head back. Chaka's entire body straightened. He tumbled back over the cliff, the entire left half of his head a wet red ruin.

Cadmann had already leveled his grendel gun as the sound of the first explosion hit his ears. Chaka had not yet fallen. As Cadmann fired, Aaron dropped to one knee. The grendel charge went over Aaron's head. Cadmann corrected his aim and fired again.

He had aimed for the center of ma.s.s, and the center of ma.s.s for Aaron Tragon was covered by the rifle. Aaron flew back, hands splaying, hair flying out with the electrical shock. His mouth spread in a wide O as the dart released its charge. Aaron landed on his b.u.t.t, three feet away. He shook himself like a big, sick dog.

Cadmann thumbed another dart into the breech and realized that it would take five seconds for it to charge. Grendel guns were backup weapons, used as part of a team effort.

Five seconds would be too late.

Chaka's gun. Cadmann dove for it, but Aaron was closer. Aaron screamed, scrambled up, and dove, and both pairs of hands closed on it at the same time.

For a second they tugged at it, their faces only inches apart. Then Cadmann released it and swung his right fist, connecting with Aaron's jaw just below the ear. Aaron's head snapped back, and his grip on the gun loosened, but as he went back his right leg whipped around, and the foot connected with Cadmann's face. Cadmann lost control of the gun, and rolled back, screaming as his shoulder thumped against the ground. His bad shoulder. Shakily he got to his feet at the same time that Aaron did.

Aaron's hands were curled loosely, spread roughly shoulder distance apart. Ready to chop, or punch, or grasp. His right shoulder was leading, about thirty percent of his weight on the front foot.

Cadmann felt sad, and tired, and old. Christ. Of course. Aaron was one of Tos.h.i.+ro's karate students. Probably his prize student, excelling at hand-to-hand combat as he did at everything else. Aaron was probably stronger than him, faster than him, fresher than him. Aaron would be dead in about twenty seconds.

Cadmann reached to his belt sheath and drew the Gerber Australian Bowie knife. Nine and a half inches of steel. He had carried it since Africa, a present from one of the NCOs he had lost in Mozambique. It felt heavy in his hand.

"Come on, boy," Cadmann said. "Let's get it over with."

Aaron looked at the knife, looked at Cadmann's face, and back at the knife. He dropped his hands. "I . . . I can't fight you," he said.