03. Gods at the Well of Souls (27 page)

The society was, as expected, totally communal, so there was no money or other  favors exchanged for services, but outsiders were in fact valued and expected to  pay, the fees going to whatever local jurisdiction for the purpose of buying  imports. Some of these were specialized or customized farm tools and implements  or finely machined parts for irrigation systems, and some were as simple as  candy and other delicacies. 

The largest import, however, was chemical fertilizer, and that made Mixtim and  its railroad less than ideal for visitors. The Mixtimites, it seemed, either had  no sense of smell or liked the smell of it. The stench of fertilizer was  everywhere. 

"This is totally gross," said Audlay, one of the two former roommates with  Campos back in Buckgrud, as they sat on a layer of wheat or some kind of grass  on the floor of a boxcar heading into the hex. 

"Look at it this way. At least we won't have to worry about gaining weight  here," Kuzi, the other roommate, responded in a tone just short of  I-think-I-have-to-throw-up. "Quit complaining!" Campos snapped at them. "I don't  like the smell any more than you do, but what do you want me to do about it? You  knew it would be rough when you decided to come along. You also knew when you  came that there was no going back. Not for a long while. Now, make the best of  it!" 

"Yes, Juana," Audlay responded, sounding almost like a small child. Campos had dominated the other two since she'd moved in six months earlier. They  were of an all too familiar type, very much the kind of people the old Juan  Campos thought most women were. They seemed to live in fear of almost  everything, and in spite of their protests, they liked being dominated. What  power and confidence they had they drew from another, and that other was the one  whose power they feared. They were both afraid of Campos, but it wasn't just out  of fear that they'd agreed to come along. They both felt that this was the only  way out of an existence they didn't like and one which had no real future. Audlay almost defined the word "bimbo." If there were two thoughts in that head  of hers, they were jumbled from being blown around by the air passing between  her ears, Campos thought. Still, she had just enough pride and sense to realize  when she was being humiliated, even if she didn't understand the joke. The men  had her do silly, ridiculous things and played all sorts of pranks on her when  they weren't insulting her or slapping her around. She had found herself oddly  attracted to Campos from the first, though. There was something inside the  strange woman that radiated the power, the authority, and occasionally the  attitude of the men she'd known, yet Campos wasn't a man. The newcomer had often  defended Audlay against some of the more oafish lieutenants. A woman capable of  standing up to the men and protecting others had been an unbelievably attractive  individual, and Campos had shown her all sorts of new and different positions  and turn-ons she had never dreamed of before. She would do just about anything  Juana said, but not without whining and complaining about it all the time. Kuzi was different. Older and tougher, she was very much the product of a rough  and morally ambivalent life and had taken everything she could get. She, in  fact, had only one fear, and it wasn't Campos; she was getting older, and while  she was still attractive, every time she had looked at herself in the mirror for  the past year or two, she'd seen more and more bloom coming off the rose. Her  man was coming by less and less, and fewer others were interested in coming  around when they had other, younger women to fool around with. She'd seen the  handwriting on the wall and hadn't liked it one bit. The guys also weren't  exactly young chicks anymore, either, and where did they get off dumping her?  She didn't like Campos all that much, but she saw a lot more there than the men  had. The strange newcomer had hated the life almost from the start, and it was  clear that she'd been biding her time until she could do something about it.  Well, now that the time had come, it was time for old Kuzi to fish or cut bait. Campos regarded Kuzi not much more than she did Audlay, but she did recognize  the armor plate that was there. A gun might be as dangerous to them as to  anybody else in Audlay's hands, but there was no question in Campos's mind that  Kuzi could and would blow away anybody she had to. 

Still, Campos wished that she had a couple of better and stronger allies than  this pair. There just hadn't been enough time to build the kind of alliances she  really knew were necessary before it had fallen apart, and these two were the  only ones she could depend on upon such short notice. Still, sitting in a boxcar  that smelled like warmed-over shit going through a landscape that was kind of  like the Argentine pampas overrun with human-sized grasshoppers and cockroaches,  she was under no illusion that she was biding time until something came up that  would give her more of a plan. 

"What are they all so scared of that damned birdie for, anyway?" Kuzi asked  after a while. "And why load ourselves down with that pair?" 

"The horse will be handy. He carries things, remember," Campos responded.  "Besides, there is no other animal of that type who can understand a complicated  order. As for the birdie, that's the prize, and I did not really realize it.  They are all afraid that my precious little birdie can walk inside this world  and play God. Would you believe that?" 

'''That thing?" Audlay commented, her upper beak rippling in disbelief. "She was not always 'that thing,' as you say it. Inside is still the brain, the  mind, of the person it used to be." 

"So you gonna take her up north, let her go inside, and fix things for us?" Kuzi  asked her. 

Mavra, still in the box but well within earshot, could not help but note that  she was being talked about. "Don't believe it? Take me up there and I'll show  you how it's done," she offered, knowing the response. 

"She says she can do it," Campos told the other two, to whom Mavra's words were  just unpleasant squawking. "The trouble is, what would she do to as if we let  her, eh? That is the problem. That is everybody's problem with her." "So where are we goin' and what're we gonna do?" Audlay asked her. "We are going to change trains a few times just for insurance's sake, and then  we are heading for another border. This is a nice place for a getaway, but it is  hardly the kind of place where I think any of us want to spend more time than we  have to. Have either of you ever been this way before?" 

"I went down to the place in Agon a few times and once or twice to the islands,  but that's about it," Kuzi told her. "I don't think Audlay's been out of  Buckgrud since she ran away from the farm. Right?"  

Audlay nodded. 

"That makes us all strangers, but I have more experience being a stranger in a  new land than either of you," Campos told them. "Still, I admit I have never  been in this strange a place before. We need some information. We need to know  what is in the hexes that are around this place." 

In a way, Clopta hadn't been nearly as alien as she would have expected if she'd  just heard of it. The buildings were odd, some of the customs were very strange,  the people looked different and had in some cases different needs and comforts,  but overall, it really hadn't been that different from Earth. That was what had  made it easy for her to fit into it. Deep down, they were the same sorts as  those she'd known back home. Agon hadn't been all that different, either, no  matter how different the look of the people or what they ate or what their  houses looked like, and some of the other races she'd met at the complex hadn't  been alien enough where it counted to really worry her. This, though, was  unexpected. There were places, nearby places, on this world where things were so  alien, she could not fit in. It had added a layer of difficulty almost from the  beginning that she hadn't counted on at all. 

"Find one with power, a real bathroom, and running water," Kuzi said, half in  jest. 

"It will get harder than this, I think!" Campos warned them. "We cannot use the  modern hexes. Modern hexes have computers and electronic identity checks and  efficient policemen and probably corrupt officials with ties to those we left  behind. No matter where we go, we stick out. We are a different breed. Best for  the time being to stick to places where it is difficult to find people who do  not want to be found, where news travels very slowly, and where the government  is a three-day ride. We need food, and shelter, and privacy. We must move until  we find it." 

"What then?" Kuzi asked her. "We just sit and hope they bust Taluud and his  whole rotten lousy crew?" 

"For a start," Campos told her. "Still, I feel that there is something else,  something valuable that I am missing here that will be the answer to all our  problems." 

"Yeah, well, so long as you have something they want, they'll keep looking for  us," Kuzi noted. 

Campos's head snapped up, and her long lashes almost hit her forehead. "What was  that? What did you say?" 

"I just said that so long as we have the birdie and they want it, they'll keep  coming." 

"Yes! That's if!" 

"Huh?" the other two both said at once. "I wonder what price, what guarantees we  might get at the highest levels for her. I have been an idiot! We have a  treasure this whole world wants, no matter what the reason! It is simply a  matter of making sure we can safely cash it in!" 

"Yeah? How are you gonna do that?" Kuzi asked her. "You know Gen and his mob.  Would you trust them on any deal once they had what they wanted and didn't need  us no more?" 

"Not a bit," Campos admitted. "But if it were from the government, in writing,  and public, then perhaps it would be honored, no? A full amnesty, a full pardon  for anything we might be charged with first and foremost. Some money-reward  money-for returning what was lost. Quite a lot of money. Enough to buy all the  finer things. A villa, perhaps, or a ranch, and some strong-necked, simpleminded  men to carry out our orders and see to our needs. It has possibilities, does it  not?" 

"You think you can get 'em to buy that?" 

"Over time. It will have to be well thought out and carefully done, but yes, I  think we can get at least that. But first we must have that place I spoke of." "You mean the ranch with the cute dumb guys?" Audlay asked. 

Campos ignored her. "We need to hide out for a bit. Make them uncomfortable,  even desperate for a solution. Then we can make any sort of deal with  confidence." 

She needed more than ever to find out about the hexes farther on. Somewhere on  this crazy world, where every country seemed no larger than Ecuador, there was  the kind of place she sought. 

"Yes, three Cloptans, a horse, and a lot of baggage," the colonel said. "We know  they came at least this far." 

"Oh, yes," the stationmaster responded, standing on her hind legs and looking  very much like a parody of a human. "I remember 'em. They did change here. Kind  of odd, two groups of foreigners coming through. We don't get much of that here,  you know." 

The colonel and Taluud were counting on that. It had been frustrating to stop at  every transfer point and make the queries, particularly with the train crews so  insistent on keeping the schedule so perfectly, but it had paid off. "They took another train from here?" the colonel pressed impatiently. "Oh, yes." 

"Which train? Going where and in which direction?" 

"You know, we've been hoping to replace the roof on the main silo over there  before the rains come," the stationmaster commented. 

"Just let me have a few minutes with the little bug, boss," one of the gunmen  whispered to Taluud. "I'll find out what we need." 

Taluud slapped the man hard in the face with the back of his hand. "Idiot!" he  commented. He could estimate the number of bugs within shouting distance, and he  didn't like the mental image of what would happen to them if they roughed up the  key official in town. 

"So you need a new silo roof?" the colonel responded. "And how much will it take  to get one made for you, say, in Clopta?" 

"Oh, not a lot, but more'n we got," the stationmaster responded. "Maybe six  hundred units." 

Lunderman could hear Taluud choking slightly in back of him, but he knew how  much cash the man had in those suitcases. "You'll have your new roof, sir. Now,  as to the others?" 

"Train 1544," the stationmaster responded. "Eastbound." 

"When is the next train due in that direction, if I may ask?" 

"Oh, there'll be one by in an hour and forty-one minutes," the station master  responded, looking at the enigmatic station clock. 

"Then we'd also like passage on it when it arrives. How much will that be?" "Can't say," the Mixtimite told him. "I don't know how far you want to go." "How far did they buy passage to?" 

"End of the line. That'd be the Hawyr border." 

Gen Taluud saw a long string of such transactions ahead and groaned. "Don't worry so much," the colonel told him. "After all, they don't have nearly  the cash with them that you do. They can't keep this up for long." "Long enough," Gen Taluud growled, turning to one of the gunmen. "Pay the man.  And add six hundred for his damned roof." 

For a society without money, they all sure seemed to have a good knowledge of  the finer points of the system, he 

thought ruefully. 

"These documents from your own government railway commission tell you to give us  full cooperation as well as free passage," Julian argued. 

"I see it," the stationmaster told her. 'Trouble is, we haven't been on the  friendliest of terms here with the Mother Nest. Been hard to get materials." "He's sayin' that the government's all well and good, but his three hundred  babies all need shoes," Gus commented. He turned to the stationmaster, who had  reacted as everybody always did to Gus's sudden and fierce appearance. "Tryin' to scare me poppin' in and out like that?" the stationmaster asked  nervously.