Mirabile (32 page)

Reassured, he whistled at me very quietly.

The door slammed. A minute later Orlando thrust Lalique into the middle of the crowd. “Okay, Annie,” he said. “

Now tell us the story.”

I can resist anything except temptation. “Once upon a time,” I began. There was a shout of laughter from Leo; Mabob caught the spirit of the thing and whistled cheerfully. “Settle down,” I told them, “or you don’t get your milk and cookies.”

Nikolai swelled to about twice his size and looked about to explode with anticipation, so I went on. “Once upon a paleozoic time—or whatever the Mirabilan equivalent would be—there were fly-catching canes all over Mirabile. There were so many of them in fact that the fuzzwillies always lived in canebrakes—it was good protection from some of their predators. They had to do a little adapting for the occasion, and you can still see the adaptation in the thickness of a fuzzwilly eggshell.”

I gave the floor to Leo and let him explain about the fuzzwillies to everybody who hadn’t heard that part of the story.

Then I took up again. “At that same paleozoic time, Mabob’s cousins flocked all over Mirabile.

They had a taste for cane seeds and ate ’em by the stomach-full.

Now, remember, this is how seeds get dispersed. Mabob’s cousin likes the flavor of the fruit and swallows it seed and all. The fruit is digested and the seed comes out the other end, ready to sprout where it falls.”

“Alimentary, my dear Annie,” said somebody from the crowd, drawing an impressive series of groans and hisses. Mabob looked at me with alarm.

I rubbed his head. “Dunno if I can explain that to you, kiddo, but it’s nothing to worry about.

Okay?”

He whistled me a few notes and relaxed.

“Now,” I said, regaining the floor, “what happened to Mabob’s cousins, I can’t tell you. Maybe the bad puns killed ’em all off. At any rate, they vanished. Problem was, just as the fuzzwillies had adapted to life in the canes, the canes had adapted to Mabob’s cousins—and in much the same way.”

I held out the cut cane seed I’d picked up from the table. “The cane seed’s so thick the sprout can’t make it through the outer shell without help.”

Savitri took the seed from my hand to peer at it, nod, and pass it around for the rest to see.

“What kind of help, Annie?” she said.

“Well, there was no problem if the seed fell in the canebrake because the canes would etch through it, the way they do the fuzzwillies’ eggs. But to spread the seeds the canes needed Mabob’s cousins. My guess is they had the right kind of stomach acid to soften the outer shells without digesting them all the way.”

Nikolai said, “But when Mabob’s cousins died out, the canes could no longer spread!”

“And the fuzzwillies had to learn a new way to hatch their eggs,” said Lalique.

“Oh, my aching hand!”

“Exactly,” I said. “Mabob eats the fruit but spits out the seeds, so he’s no help.

Eventually there wouldn’t have been any canes anywhere—they’d have gone the way of Mabob’s cousins.”

I waited, fully expecting a eureka. When I didn’t get one, I said, “What—nobody’s got it yet?” I looked at Savitri and said, “How about if I tell you your mom was right: the cows are responsible for the canes.”

That got me the eureka.

Savitri’s eyes popped. “The cows are eating the fruit, seeds and all! And their stomach acid is strong enough to help the seeds sprout!”

I handed her one of the seeds Leo and I’d fished from the slurry. “Found this in a cow pie,” I told her. “Give it a squeeze and see what happens.”

It took her more than a squeeze—I’d misjudged the strength in her small hands—but once she put it between the heels of her hands and pressed hard, she got a very satisfying pop

!

“The cows,” said Nikolai, and his face wrinkled up all over with a smile that matched Leo’s to the last laugh line. “The cows are filling an ecological niche that’s been empty since Mabob’s cousins died off.”

Not having a medal, I pinned a finger on his chest instead. “You got it.

Now

I’m going to call Sabah and tell him why we need a jason who can’t do a gene-read on his specimens.”

Nikolai gave me a puzzled look.

“You don’t want to be a full-time paleontologist?”

He jerked back. “Sure I do, Annie! But there’s still something I don’t understand.

It’s a hell of a long time between the last of Mabob’s cousins and the first of the cows. So where did the first cane plant come from?”

“Oh, that. Seeds can germinate after hundreds of years; check ships’ files and you’ll find instances of seeds found in archaeological digs that sprouted. I imagine the first cane seed was here on Haffenhaff all along. Eventually, the seed simply eroded enough to sprout.”

“So the occasional cane seed would have sprouted all along,” Nikolai said. “Not enough to flourish but enough to keep the species from total extinction.”

“If you’ve got a better theory, I want to hear it,” I said.

He grinned and shook his head.

“Well, work on it,” I told him. “I’m looking forward to hearing all about Mabob’s cousins. I suspect they’re not just Mirabile’s idea of a Guernsey.” Mabob, hearing his name, whistled agreement.

“Wait, Annie,” said Lalique. “That means wherever there are cows there’ll be canes.”

“Yup. And wherever there are canes, the fuzzwillies won’t drop eggs on your head. You decide
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if you want to root ’em out.”

We left her looking at a crooked finger. Didn’t have to ask again—I knew which way she’d decide.

Leo, as always, was as good as his word. Once we got back to the lab, he even shared the dandelion gene-reads. Didn’t let Mike off the hook either. While Mabob strutted around town whistling his adventures to anybody he met, the rest of us grubbed our way through some four hundred more dandelions.

“Enough is enough,” I said at last. Pushed back my chair, stood. It took me a full minute to stretch the kinks out of my back. “What have you got, Mike?”

He leaned back and glowered at the screen. “Lettuce, endive, chicory, sunflowers, artichokes—”

“Any bugs?”

“No bugs in this batch. That doesn’t mean the next batch won’t seed bugs, Annie.”

“Leo?”

“No bugs. I’ve got the showy stuff over here—asters, dahlias, marigolds, chrysanthemums.” He grinned. “A whole flower garden full!”

Had to smile at that. “Mine too. So I say we’re done for the year—at least, as far as the dandelions are concerned.”

Mike frowned at me. Should’ve known, for all his bitching, that he’d be the one to hang on longest. The younger ones will always risk burnout.

But it was a different kind of burnout that worried him. “Annie, the folks in town are likely to torch them all if we don’t certify them safe.”

“I’m ahead of you on that one.” I turned to the computer and called up the file I’d been holding in reserve since the dandelions had first popped up. “Have a look at that.”

He and Leo both did. “Dandelion wine? You can make wine out of dandelions?”

“So it says in ships’ files. I found a dozen different recipes, all of which say the primary ingredient is dandelion flowers

. So the ones we’ve checked, they leave strictly alone. The rest are free for the picking—and the fermenting.”

Mike considered the screen. “I think it’ll work, Annie. I think you’re right.”

“Then I leave the arrangements to you, Mike.” I took Leo’s hand. “Come on, Leo—you and I are gonna go out and join Mabob. I could do with a good gronk.”

Surprised the hell out of Mabob, but the rest of the folks in town scarcely noticed. By then, they were too busy harvesting dandelions to pay us any mind.

“Gonna be one helluva year for dandelion red,” I told Mabob.

“GRONK!” he agreed.

The baby’s wail brought me awake and on my feet faster than any bellow from the Loch Moose Monster ever could’ve. “You can get the next one,” I told Leo, and watched him drop back to sleep almost instantly.

Elly and Mabob had gotten there first, of course, but Elly let me take over the cooing while she went for the bottle. Mabob cooed too—a soft whistle.

“Annie?” Nikolai stood in the doorway. He was rumpled all over and he had the damndest look on his face.

Took me a minute to realize he was scared—and a minute more to realize why. “It’s okay,” I told him. “Just a hungry cry, that’s all. Right, kiddo? Ye-es, just a hungry cry.” I made goo-goo faces until I got a big toothless grin out of the kid, and an even bigger one out of Nikolai, most which was relief.

“I’m not used to this,” Nikolai said.

“That’s why you’re here,” Elly told him. Making an award of it, she presented him with the
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bottle. I presented him with the kid to go with. Between the two of us, we got the two of them settled comfortably.

“Tell you what, kiddo,” I said. “We’ll let Elly get back to bed and I’ll hang around and tell you a story. How’s that?”

Nikolai smiled. “Which kiddo are you asking?”

“Let’s let elder brother pick. I think it’s his turn.”

“Okay,” Nikolai said. “Tell the scary one, the one that gives Jen nightmares.”

“You were in on one end of it.…”

“Then I’ll know how much is true.”

“Surely you don’t think I’m making this stuff up, do you?”

Frankenswine

« ^ »

The message board lit red, something it doesn’t often do these days. “Susan,” I yelled, “pack your gear!” Her turn to handle the emergency—good use for all that excess seventeen-year-old energy. I punched accept and the screen lit up with the even fiercer energy of the younger Ilanith.

“Mama Jason,” Ilanith said, and there was enough relief on her face that I knew this one was bad.

“Elly says come quick—a Dragon’s Tooth tried to chew up Jen.”

I know what my face did, because Ilanith added hastily, “She’s okay! And Noisy’s out there with a gun now, but you should see, Mama Jason. It’s nasty! Jen was out—”

She meant to tell me the whole story, but I cut her off. “I’m on my way. You can tell me about it when I get there.” Much as I hate to disappoint a kid with a story to tell, I wanted to be there, even if Leo was after it with a gun. I snatched up my pack, my persuader and was grabbing an extra box of shells for it, all the time bellowing for Mike to hold the fort while I was gone.

Susan, pack in hand and face set stubborn, said, “You’re not going without me.”

“You’re right there,” I said. “You drive.” Want to get somewhere fast, let Susan drive—and close your eyes for the sake of your nerves. “Mike!” I bellowed again, but he was right behind me. “Dragon’s Tooth at Loch Moose,” I said. “Hurt Jen.”

“And you want me to stay here? Annie, you damn well better call me the minute you know anything or I’ll—” Luckily Mike’s not truly inventive when it comes to revenge, but I got the general idea.

Remembering how I’d cut off Ilanith, I said, “Call Ilanith, tell her we’re on our way and get the story from her. Then get it from Jen.” Jen deserved a chance at the telling too—her story, after all. That wasn’t enough for Mike, from the scowl. “You take me for a damn fool?” I said. “Hear them out—if you decide we’ll need the rest of the team, bring ’em. Just make sure there’s somebody here in case something else comes up.”

There was a time when something else always came up. He knew that as well as I did. That simmered him down long enough for us to make a dash for the hover and get the hell on our way.

I waited till we hit the river—smooth hovering even at the speed Susan was pushing—and got to business. Dumped the rock salt out of my persuader and reloaded for bear. Elly Raiser Roget is not easily ruffled, and when she says, “Come quick,” then the trouble is real and big and likely not the sort that’s settled by a load of rock salt in its ass.

Susan slowed the hover—well, let up on it just long enough to pass me her shotgun safely—then gunned it again twice as hard. The trees on either side of the river fused into one long green
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smear. Susan kept her stare straight ahead.

Can’t think when I’ve ever seen that kid’s face grim but it was now. No surprise—anything messes with the kids growing up at Loch Moose Lodge, she takes it as personally as I do.

“Leo’s there,” I said. Which was the only reason I wasn’t twitching.

“Yeah,” said Susan. “But you never know what’s gonna happen with Dragon’s Teeth.”

“The way you’re driving, we’ll find out soon enough,” I said.

She snarled, “Want me to slow down?”

“Nope,” I said.

I shouldn’t have been surprised at the snarl—I do it often enough myself I set a rotten example—but I was, because it wasn’t at me. Something in the snarl told me Susan was blaming herself, which made no sense at all.

Didn’t get the chance to pry an explanation out of her, though. I’d barely finished reloading her gun when she swung left, up over the riverbank, to a tricky shortcut straight across country. No way I was gonna distract her when she held my life in her hands like that.

The times like these my grudge against that gaggle of geneticists back on Earth gets large and hairy and begins to resemble the worst of the Dragon’s Teeth.

My grudge was probably shedding all over Susan—she was still snarling as she pulled the hover altogether too close to Loch Moose Lodge and dropped it to the ground with enough thump to crumple its skirt. I got out, both persuaders in hand, and headed straight for the front porch of the lodge.

Susan caught up with me at the bottom step and grabbed for her shotgun. I’ve picked up enough mother’s radar from Elly that I didn’t let go. “First, we get the story from Elly,” I said.

“But, Mama Jason, suppose Noisy needs help?”

“Noisy can hold his own until we find out what we’re dealing with.” That didn’t satisfy her, judging from the twist she was giving the persuader to wrench it away from me, so I said, “Since when did you take charge of this team? Leo’s doing his part, you do yours—and the first order of business is information. I need some and you’re holding up the show.”

The twist untwisted on the spot. I let her have the gun and the two of us went into the lodge. The lobby was milling with people, kids and adults as well. I pushed into the likeliest-looking knot and found Jen, Elly and Doc Agbabian dead center. Jen had a bandaged leg but didn’t otherwise look too much the worse for wear. She brightened all over when she saw me. “Mama Jason!