Asimov's Science Fiction: April/May 2013 (15 page)

"Does Earth have jungles like this?" he asked Anna, as he watched Benedictus prowl the perimeter with his rifle at the ready.

"You don't know?" Her brow furrowed.

Hashi slumped down a short distance away. "Maybe he doesn't know anything. Just a dumb farmer. We're a long way from civilization, or even a decent cup of coffee."

Anna tutted. "Let's not play the arrogant Earthers. Big city folk." She turned to Tarn. "The heat makes Hashi irritable. In fact,
everything
makes him irritable." She glanced at Hashi, but he was watching Benedictus. "Most everywhere has jungles like this. Not identical, obviously. The seeds of life are ubiquitous, but evolution is imaginative. Still, some solutions are just the best. I've traveled to a lot of worlds and you'd be surprised how often it's more déjà vu than discovery. What did they teach you in school?"

"When to plant potatoes... and to hold your breath when underwater."

Anna laughed and punched his shoulder gently. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you."

"We did do Earth in school, but you would not want to know our perspective." Tarn swigged from his water bottle. "Did you study Niselle V?"

Anna lay back, head in hands, and gazed up at the blue sky. "Not till I found out about Julian."

"It must be so easy on Earth," said Tarn. "You're all rich and educated and you can have anything you want."

Anna rolled onto one elbow and glared at him.
"Nothing
is easy. I've had to fight for everything I've got. And I do mean fight... scratch, kick, and punch.
Nobody
gave me a free ride."

At a shuffling from the trees, she sat up and Benedictus crouched.

"What do you think?" Anna whispered to Tarn. "Something dangerous?"

"Like an imperial trooper?"

"A wild animal."

"They're all wild here."

"You're playing with me." She grabbed his arm. "Should I be worried?"

He shrugged. "Possibly. But we have the rifle."

Anna got to her feet. She gestured for Benedictus to move away from the trees and the sound. "Hashi, start filming."

The bushes parted and an adult prime, about Tarn's height, stepped cautiously into the clearing. It wore a faded black sash at its waist and carried a long sharp stick.

"Something like a Terran chimpanzee," said Anna, her voice bright with excitement. "But chimps don't carry spears. The posture is more erect, more human. And he's clearly male."

Tarn rose slowly, so as not to alarm the creature.

"What does he want?" said Anna.

"I don't know. I've never known what they want."

"Try asking him."

"They don't speak, and don't usually hang around long enough. I have tried before." He took a step toward the creature and then another. He held his hands out to show they were empty, not a threat. "We're trying to find the lake," he said. "The black, dark lake."

The prime cocked its head, revealing healthy white teeth.

"Water," said Tarn. He stooped and moved his flat hand smoothly from side to side as though touching the surface of water. He slapped his hand downward and said, "Splash!" then threw his hands up like a fountain.

The prime made a throaty sound that could have been a laugh. Its eyes were wide and brown. It mimicked Tarn's gesture of slapping down and made a hissing noise through its teeth.

Tarn nodded emphatically. "Yes. Water."

The prime pushed into the bushes, then looked back and splashed its flat hand again. It waited, gazing from one human to the other.

"I think he wants us to follow," said Anna. She grabbed her bag. "Let's go."

Hashi spoke from behind his camera. "Is that wise?"

"Maybe not," she admitted as she followed the prime into the undergrowth. "But it does make great footage."

They trailed behind the prime for over an hour, as the path took them down muddy gullies, up treacherous inclines, and around the occasional giant hagtree that cackled as it perceived their scent. Tarn could find no relief from the heat and humidity; even his scalp sweated. He took off the cap and wafted it before his face. Still, they did not stop.

Hashi appeared to suffer the most. He groaned and cursed and slapped at insects, and threatened terrible revenge on Julian for putting him through this ordeal.

When they finally reached a junction, the prime chose the left route without hesitation.

Anna grabbed Tarn's sleeve. "Are we going the right way?"

"I don't know."

She snatched the cap from his hand and slapped in on his head. "Try now."

He grunted and peered to front and rear. "Yes, I think so."

Within minutes his guess proved to be correct. The path opened out and they found themselves upon a narrow grass bank. Before them a circular lake stretched out possibly five hundred meters to a bank thick with twisted gem-fruit trees. Tarn was stunned. This was not the placid oasis he'd expected to find. The water was alive, fiercely brilliant with the afternoon sun and bubbling with the pungent breath of the rock beneath. Here and there fat denuded trunks punched through the agitated water like ancient columns. Flying insects formed dark drifting mists close to the surface.

Hashi took in the vista with his camera while Anna posed at the water's edge, hands on hips. Benedictus roamed with his rifle, alert for danger.

Tarn sniffed at a mirrored gem-fruit on a nearby branch. He knew better than to touch the sticky surface; the corpses of dragonflies and an unfortunate grayshank clung to the fruit high in the tree. Eventually those branches would bend to the centerline of the tree and drop the fruit, and their catch, into the maw. Of course, Tarn was too heavy for the tree, but he did not relish the tug-of-war, or spending the next few hours with a decaying fruit stuck to his hand.

This wilderness was filled with such things: monstrous vegetation that should have terrified him. Yet he found he was more anxious about Anna's two companions. He suspected that they were much more deadly than anything in this jungle.

Off to the side, the prime observed the humans.

Tarn knelt to peer into the water. The bed of the lake was black, covered with a tightly knit weed, but the water was clear. Tarn scooped some into his hand and found it almost too hot to hold. Was it safe to drink?

The prime screeched and waved its arm at Tarn. A warning? He tipped the water from his hand.

"Ask your friend to take us to Julian's hide," said Anna.

"I'll smile at him and look helpless," said Tarn. "That's the best you're going to get."

"Show him the buckle. It might work. One way or the other we're going to search around this lake. I reckon we've got five more hours of daylight."

Tarn held up the buckle for the prime to see. Immediately, the creature headed away along the bank.

"Well, he's taking us somewhere." Tarn followed.

Only a short distance along this path, they stepped around a long, low, grass-covered mound and came upon a man-sized opening in the bushes, roofed in woven leaves and with a dry grass bed.

"This could be it!" Anna climbed inside the construction. "Julian's hide. His home."

"Or a prime nest," Tarn suggested.

"Do they nest?"

"I've heard rumors."

"Don't you remember this? Isn't this where he brought you?"

Tarn scanned his surroundings. "They've moved the furniture."

Anna rooted around the grass bed. "Wait!" She rolled out and jumped to her feet. "Look at this... it was in the grass." Tarn steadied her hand and saw she was holding a turquoise oval button. Hashi moved in close to film the event. "This is military, I know it," she insisted.

Tarn could not deny a surge of excitement. Here was some real evidence.

A screech sliced the air. Tarn spun round to see their prime guide shaking his spear at Benedictus, who was standing upon the long grassy mound. The creature was unhappy about something.

"He wants you to move," Anna shouted. "And I think I know why."

Hashi turned his camera toward the confrontation.

"I think you're standing on a grave," Anna announced. Benedictus moved to step down, but she yelled, "No! Stay there. Let him scream. Hashi... are you getting this?"

The prime screeched again and pointed its spear like an accusation.

Tarn felt he should do something. "We need to calm him down."

It was too late. As the prime lunged and grasped at his shirt, Benedictus put a bullet in its thigh. The gunshot sent shy shadow-birds flapping for the sky. The prime dropped to the ground with blood pumping over matted hair. Its breathing was rapid; its eyes circles of bewilderment.

Tarn gaped at Anna. Ice had entered her golden eyes.

"So now what do we do?" Hashi growled. "Come on, Anna. You've got all the ideas."

"I don't know!" She squeezed her face in her hands. "I wouldn't need to know if not for your idiot companion."

Hashi grabbed Anna by the arm. "He's worth ten of you, girl. You're just a chancer... a get-rich-quick fake."

Tarn stepped forward. "What does he mean, fake?"

Anna tore Hashi's hand loose and turned her cold eyes upon her young guide. "I wish you hadn't heard that." She marched toward the injured prime. "We got attacked by a dangerous animal," said Anna. "It's all in the editing. But we need a shot of the corpse."

Benedictus lowered his rifle. "You want me to finish it off?"

"Do you see another corpse?"

He shrugged. "You're the one with the scheme." He put the rifle to his shoulder and took aim at the prime's head.

Tarn leapt in and forced the rifle away. "You're not killing it." Somehow he felt that he owed the primes, even though the debt was of his own invention. No prime had really stopped Julian's bayonet.

Tarn wrestled for the rifle, but Benedictus tore it free and pointed the barrel at the young man. "I don't see the advantage in taking you back with us."

Tarn prepared himself for another lunge when a terrible squeal made him spin around. Hashi had plunged a knife into the wounded creature's throat. The prime gurgled, made a low hissing sound, and went limp.

"One problem solved," said Anna.

Tarn charged over to her. "You cold bitch!"

"It's just an animal."

"And it did viciously attack this poor farm boy," said Hashi.

Alarm swept through Tarn. "It didn't...."

"But it will do. I'll have the evidence on film." He circled the corpse, filming. "This documentary will be massive."

Tarn examined Anna's eyes. They were unreadable. "Was this the plan from the start?" he asked. "To leave me here?"

"Not mine," she said. "But maybe the boys had it in mind. Is that right, Hashi?"

Hashi might have answered except for the spear that slammed with a thud into his back. The shirt on his chest spiked forward like a tent, blood spreading swiftly. He fell back upon the mound.

Another spear bounced off Benedictus's backpack. He ducked, firing off shots as primes rushed into view. They were upon him. He swung the butt and knocked aside the first. The second he punched to the ground. The third buried a spear deep into his side. For a moment, he struggled with the shaft, but his fingers were slick with blood, then he went down under a torrent of blows.

Tarn waited for the next spear to strike him, but none came.

From the trees and bushes, more primes emerged. Two of them gathered up the body of their companion and carried him away. Another dragged Hashi off the mound and tossed the body to the side. The crowd around Benedictus moved apart and Tarn had no doubt that he was dead.

One of the primes, a tall male whose dappling was streaked with gray, approached Tarn and gestured for him to move away from Anna, who had slunk in close to hide behind him. It pointed its spear at the young woman.

Tarn shook his head. "No. I can't let you do that." He noticed that the creature had knotted a grubby red cloth around its upper arm.

The prime bared its teeth and hissed. It shook the spear.

"It's not going to stop," Anna gasped. "It means to kill me." She clutched at Tarn's shirt, trembling.

"There's no need for more killing," Tarn told the creature. "You don't need to do it... Julian would not want you to do it."

Another, smaller prime appeared. Tarn recognized the black arrowhead patch on its forehead. This was the young creature that liked to watch him. It coughed at its kinsman; a long and complex communication.

After a frozen moment, the older prime lowered its spear and gestured for them all to follow. It crossed to the mound where primes were scooping water from the lake to wash blood from the grass.

"I think this may be Julian's grave," Tarn told Anna.

"That's a big guess on little evidence. Even if it is a grave, it could just be for one of these creatures."

Tarn addressed the older prime. "Is this Julian?" He pointed to the mound, but the creature did not respond. Tarn took out the buckle and held it up. "Julian?"

The prime's eyes widened and it snatched the buckle from his fingers

Anna was biting her lip. "Get ready to run," she told Tarn.

"What's the point? We wouldn't get far."

"Any other ideas?"

"I think you've already had enough."

The old prime made a sharp keening sound and the other creatures backed away. He placed the buckle carefully upon the mound. A chatter spread amongst the onlookers. The apparent leader then waved at the young prime with the arrowhead patch who immediately strode away to a gap in the bushes, turned and waited.

"He wants us to follow," said Tarn.

"That's not the way we came. He could be leading us anywhere."

"We're not being offered a choice."

The prime pushed into the jungle and Tarn hurried after. When he glanced behind to check on Anna, he saw she had collected Hashi's camera and was running to catch up, occasionally turning to film the mayhem they were leaving.

Tarn struggled to stay with the fast moving creature. Branches whipped at him and barbs tore at his shirt. With the cap clasped in his hands, he chewed through his supply of mint-nuts while his thoughts whirled over a cascade of bad decisions and a postponed gore-fueled nausea clamped at his stomach. Neither he nor Anna spoke for a long time.