Charon (18 page)

 
I rose a bit and watched, fascinated. Two minds, Kor-man had said. Two minds, one central nervous system. Abruptly, the struggle stopped, and, without a word, her body seemed to relax, but her face seemed vacant, expressionless. Wordlessly she stood up, walked over to the basin, and poured out the contents of the vial. Then, after putting the vial on the commode, she turned, returned to her bed, and lay down.

 
"Zala?
Are you all right?" I asked gently, finally getting up when I had no response and going over to her. She was asleep, breathing regularly and rhythmically.

 
I stood there a few moments, just staring. Finally I said, aloud, "Well I'll be damned," snuffed out the light, and got into my own bed. I found it hard to sleep. It had started raining again, but the regular sound of the drops hitting the roof hardly bothered me at all.

 
What the hell had I just witnessed?

CHAPTER SIX - The High Road to Bourget

In the morning, Zala had no memory of the internal struggle I had witnessed, and she seemed surprised to see the goop still in the basin, practically accusing me of doing the deed.

 
"You did it—I watched you," I assured her. "It's for the best anyway."

 
She stared at me in disbelief. "/ did? You're not just kidding me?"

 
"No, no kidding. Honest."

 
She shook her head for a moment, as it trying to remember. Finally she just sighed and shrugged. "Well, let's get on with it"

 
"At least packing's easy," I noted. "I hope they have more clothing at Bourget."

 
We went down to breakfast, a fairly ample one as usual, but Garal, our host for this, our last morning, cautioned a few of us, Zala and
I
among them, to eat lightly. "You're gonna have a long trip and traveling isn't very smooth around here."

 
Both of us took his advice. I was never much of a breakfast eater anyway, but I put away several cups of cafe, a very good hot caffeine drink, and a sweet roll.

 
When we were finished, Garal stood at the head of the table. "We will be going out individually or in small groups as transportation is available," he announced. "The rain has stopped, which means that some of you will be flying, which is a good thing.
Overland
to some of your villages might take days."

 
"Flying?" I couldn't resist" voicing the surprise that everyone felt "I thought there were few machines here."

 
"Well, we use the shuttle, for extremely long hauls—like intercontinental ones—but we have other means here as well," Garal responded enigmatically. "Just hold on. You'll find out soon enough."

 
He reached down and checked his clipboard. "All right —take nothing with you except the clothes on your back. You'll get everything you need when you get where you're going." He looked around at all of us and smiled a little evilly. "So far you've had it soft and easy. Now you're going out into the real world there, and
it's
gonna be a shock, I promise you. Keep your noses clean, take the advice of any locals, and take it real easy until you get the lay of the land, I warn you. That sounds like the usual advice, but it goes double here. Just remember that scrawny kid you knock down might be an apt who'll get a little irritated and wrench your guts around or at the very least cast a spell on you. And don't stare at the changelings! Just remember that anybody who happens to look funny or different got that way for a reason and the same thing could happen to you."

 
This last meant little to us at the time.

 
As the morning wore on, official-looking men and women came by and called out a name, sometimes two, and out they'd go. We were not the last to be called, but in the bottom half, which made me start to regret how lightly I'd eaten.

 
Our initial transport was a small enclosed buggy pulled by a single toothy uhar. It wasn't nearly as comfortable as the coach—very basic board and putty insulation—and we could feel every little bump in the very bumpy road. The uhar carts, no matter how fancy or plain, would take some getting used to; the big lizard's gait tilted you first to one side, then to the other, rather quickly, while seeming to draw you forward in tiny and continuous fits and starts.

 
We quickly cleared the town,
then
took a branch road to the north. Zala and I said very little during the journey, for there was very little to say except to voice the anxiety we both felt. With her ego it was really bad; at least I not only had a full reservoir of self-confidence, but knew in what direction the future was leading. Never had two more dissimilar people started out on an epic journey together, I reflected.

 
We had broken through the rain forest to a vast clearing when Zala looked out her window and gasped. Frowning, I leaned over and looked out at what she was seeing—and did a little gasping myself.

 
I saw a great, sleek, jet-black body topped by a head that looked like an enormous black triangle, with an enormous hornlike bony plate going back from the top of that weird head to almost halfway down the body. The head itself seemed to consist of an enormous beak and a pair of huge, round eyes that appeared to be lidless. But the real stunning part of the creature was its wings, which were barely folded and ran almost the length of the body. The wings were supported, somehow, by an apparatus and guy-wires. The thing appeared to be eating something enormous and bloody, gulping it down easily. As our buggy pulled to a stop and two people ran to get the door for us, I heard an enormous belch.

 
We both jumped out of the buggy and stood there, transfixed by the sight. A young woman dressed in tight, leathery black clothes and boots approached, joined us, then turned and looked back at the beast. "Magnificent, isn't she?" the newcomer enthused.

 
"That's one word for it," I responded. "What the hell
is
it
? "

 
"They have a long scientific name, but we generally call 'em soarers around Charon. They're very rarely found on the ground, because it's so hard to get them aloft again. They live up above the clouds around most of the planet, just floating there above the clouds and using surprisingly little energy."

 
"Is the beast down here for the reason I think it's down here?" Zala managed nervously.

 
The woman laughed. "Oh, yes. We use the soarers for transportation. They're very useful, although only certain areas have enough clearing, wind, and elevation to get them aloft again. They're quite friendly and intelligent, if they're raised from eggs."

 
"I'll bet," I replied. "And it can get back in the air from here?!'

 
"Oh, sure.
Silla's an old vet to this kind of thing. Still, they're not practical for mass transportation, and we use 'em mostly for the high-ups. You two're gonna get a real treat Most folks never get to ride on one and the sight of one of 'em dropping through the clouds scares most folks silly."

 
"The thought of riding on one doesn't do wonders for me," I said uneasily, no longer regretting the light breakfast a bit.
^/

 
"What do we do—climb on her back?" Zala wanted to know.

 
The woman laughed.
"Oh, no.
See? The crew's putting the passenger compartment on now. It's strapped on tight and fits between bony plates just forward of the wings— see?"

 
We
did
see—a fairly substantial-looking compartment, like a small cabin, was being hoisted into position with a manual which. Two members of the ground crew, looking like tiny insects on that great body, positioned the contraption into place and then dropped straps to the ground, where others crawled under the beast and tied or buckled the straps together. A few sample pushes to make sure it was seated right and the people on top seemed satisfied and started down ladders on either side. The operation shifted forward, where a smaller compartment was being similarly mounted just in back of the thick neck.

 
"What do they
eat
"
Zala asked, still incredulous at the sight.

 
The woman shrugged.
"Practically anything.
They're omnivores, like us. Actually, they need very little. They're hollow-boned and amazingly light; once they catch the currents and get some altitude, they use very little energy. A ton of mixed stuff every two days or so is the usual— mostly the tops of trees, stuff like that
_r
along with what-ever's in 'em—but we give Silla extra, a couple of uhars or some other big animal, because of the energy take-off requires. They're quite effective in controlling the wild animal population, thinning forests, you name it, and they fly in heavy rain as easily as in sunshine. The wild ones just about never land, but they do come in close. Don't worry about 'em, though—they know better than to nab people, who generally don't have enough meat on "em to be worth paying attention to, anyway."

 
I was very happy to hear that. "How's it flown—guided, I mean?" I asked her.

 
"The pilot—that's me—sits up there in that control cabin. I've got basic navigation instruments there, and the floor on both sides opens up. The early pioneers tried bridles, but they don't work and the soarers are smart anyway. A well-trained one like Silla knows what to do just from how I press my feet on which side of the neck, when to do it, and when to stop." She paused a moment, then added, "Well, it's a little more complicated than that—but I'll be in complete control."

 
Looking at her—she was no larger than I was and probably weighed less—and then at the soarer over there I was not reassured, but this wasn't my party, not yet

 
A crewman came running up to her. "Word is it'll start pouring again in less than twenty minutes," he told her. "Better get everybody aboard and away."

 
She nodded.

 
"I thought you said it was fine in the rain," I said.

 
"She is," the pilot replied, "but taking off in those winds can turn us upside down at the very least. Better get on board." She ran for the pilot's cabin.

 
I looked at Zala, who looked nervously back at me. 'Think you can take it?" I asked her.

 
"I'll—try. If
she
can fly one, I can sure ride one."

 
We walked quickly over to the creature, following the crewman. The ladder to the passenger compartment was still in place, and he steadied it as first Zala and then I climbed up and went through an open door.

 
The interior was actually quite nice—heavily padded, manufactured seats much like those on the
shuttle,
complete with seat belts; the whole thing was lined and carpeted with what looked like fur of some kind. Aft a small compartment was clearly marked as a rest room. Although it lacked lights, some sort of self-luminous chemical tubing ran all around giving off a sufficient glow to see by and we felt pretty comfortable.

 
We were not the only ones in the cabin. Although I hadn't noticed earlier, an elderly woman and a tough-looking young man had climbed aboard. They were dressed in very fancy raingear, obviously of offworld design. Following them were three ground crew people, two men and a woman, including the man who had taken us "aboard," as it
were.
He pulled up the ladder, made a last check, then closed the door and spun a wheel locking it securely in place. The other crewman stood facing us, while the woman checked in back.

 
"Please fasten both lap and shoulder belts," the man told us. "While the flight's basically a smooth one, you never know what you're going to run into. Keep them fastened at all times. If you have to walk back to the lavatory, hold onto the rail and strap yourself in even in there. The cabin is not pressurized, so be prepared for a pressure differential in the ears. We have gum and mints if that troubles you. Occasionally we have to fly very high to get by some bad weather, and in that case I'll tell you to remove the oxygen masks under your seats and put them on. They are fed by manual pressurized tanks. Keep 'em on until I say
it's
okay."

 
A sudden violent lurch really shook us up; it was followed by the most chilling screech I've ever heard in my whole life. Both Zala and I jumped nervously; the crew and the two passengers took no real notice.

 
"Take-off positions!" the crewman yelled, and the three all strapped themselves into their seats very quickly. "Hold on, everybody! Here we go!"

 
At that moment I felt a sudden, violent lurch, and we were abruptly pushed against the back of our seats and simultaneously jarred up and down so hard it almost hurt. I suddenly realized that the damned thing was
running.
I glanced over at Zala, but she was all tightened up, eyes closed. Then I looked out the tiny round window to my left. It was possible to see the ground just ahead of that incredible wing, going up and down with that terrible bouncing, and then, all at once, the damned thing jumped off a cliff I hadn't known was there—and sank like a stone, throwing us forward in our seats.