Yuen-Mong's Revenge (10 page)

 
     
"That was different. I loved him very much, but he was separate from
me. Tell me about your parents?"

 
     
"I never knew my father. My mother was artificially impregnated. All
I know is that sperm donors are highly intelligent people and have no
physical or psychological flaws. I remember little of my mother because
I was sent to one of the prestige schools on Palo at the age of six and only
saw her once each year for a few days. I never really knew her and I’ve
not seen her these past five years. Shortly before I went on the mission
to Aros, I received a message that she got married a fourth time."

 
     
"Would you have liked to know her better?"

 
     
"I don’t know… I guess it would have been nice."

 
     
"So who is the person in your life that you are … or were closest to?"

 
     
"I don’t really know… Probably Damien. We were together through
all our school years. I even spent part of my school vacations with his
family."

 
     
"Where is he now?"

 
     
"After finishing at the Academy of Science —"

 
     
"— that’s where my father taught for a while."

 
     
"Really? But that must have been before my time. Anyway, Damien
joined one of the big firms on Andromatis."

 
     
"That is where my mother comes from."

 
     
"I guessed that from your accent."

 
     
"You did?"

 
     
He returned her smile. Both remained quiet. Yuen-mong’s thoughts
returned to what he had revealed about himself. She had often asked
herself how her life would have been, growing up in her mother’s home
world. She had always imagined that she would have intimate contact
with lots of people, not only within her extended family, but also with
many friends, and now she had just learned that this man had grown up
without a father, never really knew his mother and only had one single
friend. He was even unsure about how close he had been to him. Was he
an exception or did people living side-by-side with millions of others end
up being more alone that she had been? In fact, while her parents had
been alive, she had never felt alone. Even now, the memory of her
parents was vivid and warm inside her, an important aspect of her life.

     
After a while she sensed an increased restlessness in him, a restlessness that periodically seemed to grab him.
Has the talk upset him?
Maybe
in this state he might be receptive to her father’s idea of how to fly a
shuttle without AI systems. "Am I right that your mind is often absorbed
with getting off this world?"

 
     
"Is it that obvious?" He looked at her embarrassed.

     
"No, you show few visible signs, but I sense that it is often in the back
of your mind."

 
     
He only nodded.

     
"Do you think that your mother ship is still waiting for your return?"

 
     
"No, if no communications are received for three standard days, the
shuttle is presumed lost. They may search for it for another three days."

 
     
"It is now ten Aros days since you crashed. That is more than eight
standard days. Do you think they have left or do they have another shuttle
on board?"

 
     
"No, mine was the only one and without it they can’t really do much
exploration. They expected me to extract various rock samples from the
ring, and they can’t do this with the mother ship. I guess, they’ve left."
He looked dejectedly at his hands.

     
"So even if you could get your shuttle working again, you would be
stuck here."

 
     
"Yes. But how could I get it working without a functioning AI unit?"

 
     
"There are mechanical ways to control a shuttle."

 
     
"How?"

 
     
"My father told me that when they discovered flight on Old Earth in
the 20
^th
century, the machines they used — I think they called them aeroplanes — these machines were all controlled mechanically by the pilot."

 
     
"Yes, but these machines have blades to propel them and they need
air to fly. There are still some in use on Palo for sports and amusements."

 
     
"He also told me that they later developed jet propulsion similar to
your shuttle and the first ones were also mechanically controlled. He
thought that it should be possible to get a shuttle into orbit by controlling
the propulsion and steering thrusters mechanically."

 
     
Atun seemed to ponder this and then shook his head. "I doubt it. It
would be the surest way to get killed."

 
     
"True, but then little on Aros is without risks." Survival depended on
being able to cope with risks, in fact, being willing to take risks. She
decided to drop the subject. She had planted the seed. All she could do
right now was to hope that it would germinate.

     
"Let me have a look at your shoulder," she said.

He removed his top and she carefully inspected the scab formed by the
root gum. The cut had closed completely. It was safe to peel it off. She
lifted one end. It only revealed an angry pink scar. Slowly, she peeled it
off, coming from both end. "Be careful you do not bump it for a few days."

* * *

Early one morning while there was still only a hint of dawn, they set off
for the mountains to find rods suitable for making a bow for Atun. Although Yuen-mong could have made it there and back again by nightfall,
Atun had not yet achieved the stamina to run for extended periods, therefore the need to allow for two days. He had in fact asked whether it was
a two-day trip at her or his pace. Staying overnight meant taking extra
gear along since they would have to climb sufficiently high to get above
the habitat range of the night scavengers, and it cooled down quite a bit
at those elevations. The other aspect that worried her was that they would
have to cross through the territory claimed by one of the clans of savages.
Any confrontation could delay them or force them to make a detour.

     
She was actually looking forward to getting into the mountains. It was
a completely different world there, with different plant life and more
variety, but also different birds and insects, and she loved the views over
the forests with the blue sea at the horizon.

     
They made good progress. Her ability to sense the presence of other
living beings allowed them to avoid any encounters with savages. Most
of the time, they walked or ran in silence to conserve their strength.
Twice they had to cross open craw hunting areas. The first time, she
sensed a craw pair that was sailing silently above. She put her index on
her mouth to tell Atun to be absolutely still. When she felt that they had
passed overhead, she whispered: "They have extremely keen hearing.
They are flying away now. Come see how majestic they are."

 
     
They carefully stepped outside the forest edge, still partially under its
canopy and saw the two predators, wings completely stretched, float
away a hundred meters above the ground.

     
"Impressive," he whispered. "What do we do now?"

 
     
"We run." And she was off, dashing into the opening. She felt Atun
close behind her. When they were about halfway across, she heard the
birds shrill screams. "Quick," she cried, briefly glancing over her
shoulder, relieved to see Atun right behind her. By the time the birds had
turned and were zeroing in on them, they were safely under cover again.
The creatures vented their frustration with angry screams.

     
The second time, she chased a wader into the open, and the craw went
after that prey, allowing them to get across at a trot.

     
By late afternoon they got above the tree line and the habitat of the
night scavengers. Here the bushes grew that provided strong springy
rods, suitable for bows. She selected half a dozen to make sure to get at
least two good new bows. They also filled a woven container, the size of
a hat, with the tart white berries of the bushes for a dessert that evening.
Then they climbed higher into the rugged mountain chain to a point
where they had a view in both directions. While their side was lush and
green, the other side was completely barren, sloping away, broken up,
chaotic, mostly in variations of greys from almost white to almost black,
with the occasional startling discoloration in rusty reds, steely blues, and
dirty yellows, at one place dabbed into an oval like a painter’s palette. At
the far horizon, deserts gleamed in the late afternoon sun.

     
"Aros is so beautiful," she exclaimed, joyously stretching her arms
into the sky. "I love it."

 
     
"It’s very unusual," he replied.

     
"You will learn to love it too, if you stay long enough." She showered
him with one of her rare, warm smiles and sensed that his heart started
beating faster.

     
"It seems to me that I’ll stay here for the rest of my life."

 
     
"We will see," she answered enigmatically.

     
They found a place below an overhanging rock that offered shelter
from the early morning rain, as well as protection from the wind. The
ground was covered by fine grasses, where they could stretch out.

     
She cherished the stillness, with Atun’s emotions the only intrusion,
and she felt that even those had become more subdued, steadier, calmer.

* * *

Yuen-mong woke him at dawn and they went back up to the ridge to
watch the sun rise out of the barren eastern landscape. She shouted a high
C, dropping down to an A, and the rock wall below them returned the
call. She repeated it several times, laughing like a young girl. Then she
called out "Atun’, singing the same notes, and said smiling "somebody
is calling you," when the echo returned.

     
Her girlish behavior took him by surprise, but he answered, shouting
"who’s there’, using the same notes.

     
"Yuen-mong," she replied, using the chord in reverse. She waited for
the echo and then again smiled at him. "You think I am being silly."

 
     
"No, I don’t." He felt caught that she had read him so easily.

     
"Yes, you do." She briefly touched his arm, still smiling. "Atun, it is
no use lying to me. I will always know… And it is OK to think that I am
silly. I don’t mind. There are so few occasions when I can afford to be
silly that when I do it I enjoy it fully. At the coast there are no rock walls
that answer back. The forest swallows the sound. So I always do it when
I am here. For seven years before you came, nobody ever answered back
to me."

 
     
He felt that there was a hidden hint in what she just had said, nor did
he know how to react to her admission and was glad when she turned
back to the rock wall, singing ever more intricate chords and laughing
when the answer returned. It was contagious and he joined in. He had
never seen her so playful. He was just thinking how her eyes sparkled,
how beautiful she was when all at once she turned serious and said: "We
better go. It is a long way home."

 
     
Once they reached the low hills extending inland from the coast,
Yuen-mong turned silent. He had the clear impression that something
was bothering her and would have liked her to tell him. By noon they
came to a small river, where she stood still for a few second, eyes closed,
the pose he now recognized as her listening to other minds.

     
"Let’s take a break here where we’ve water," he suggested. He felt
very thirsty.

     
"No, we cannot. You may take a quick drink, but no stopping."

 
     
She went to the water’s edge and scooped up a handful and drank it
in small swallows. He did the same and then spotted several shiny
pebbles in the water.
Gold nuggets?
He bent down to grab one.