Context (17/20)
by Deb Walsh
Julia left Alonzo still sleeping in their tent, and made her way quickly across camp to what served as the group's mess tent. The morning mist had given way to a light rain, pattering softly on the tents, splashing in tiny puddles forming in the rutted ground. She paused for a moment to feel the cool wetness on her face, enjoying the sensation of drops falling on her skin.
On Earth, rain poisoned by generations of toxins had been a source of fear, a guarantee of death if you were caught exposed and too far from shelter. Here, it was a natural part of the lifecycle of the planet, a source of water to drink, to wash, and to satisfy the thirst of the plant and animal life. As she stood there, Julia could feel the rain soaking into her clothes, and realized that she was growing colder, uncomfortably so.
Although spring had begun weeks earlier, a raw cold permeated the moist air, and Julia ran the last few steps toward the mess tent, shivering.
Inside the tent it was dry and warm, with inviting smells rising up to greet her. Several of the group had already settled in for breakfast. Danziger and Yale were seated together, conversing quietly over cups of coffee, while Bess tutored Mary in food preparation; Morgan had retired to the Martin's tent to nap after his guard shift. Julia had to smile at the sight of the two women; Mary looked extremely doubtful over operating the group's cooking equipment. As Julia helped herself to a cup of coffee, she asked, "What did you eat when you lived with the Terrians, Mary?"
Mary looked up quickly, gratitude in her large eyes.
"I ate plants that grew near the caves, a ... I don't know what it is called - a growth that flourished in the inner caves. Fruit in the spring and summer, when the trees had them. Nuts. I have learned to eat new things since I left the Terrians. I have watched you, to know what was safe."
"Meat?" Bess inquired, scooping porridge into a bowl for Julia.
Mary shook her head violently at that. "Never. No flesh. Not until I was ... exiled. I saw you kill the small, dreamless things. I tried that, too. And only when I was very, very hungry. I am not proud of that," she added softly.
Spoon halfway to her mouth, Julia winced at the pain in the young woman's voice. While she and the others who'd searched for Pod #9 had been forced to butcher a dead Grendler to survive, causing them nightmares and severe moral trauma, they'd thought little about killing smaller animals for their meat. To Mary, all life fell in the same category: all of it was sacred, bound together by the planet.
"You did what you had to do, Mary," Bess told her gently. "You did what you had to do to survive." Mary still looked away, trapped in her own private pain, and Bess took her by the shoulders and turned her around to face her. "It's part of what makes us human, Mary - the will to survive. It's why we came here - to survive. There is no shame in that."
"It is not why _I_ am here. I am here because my parents were here. What is my excuse?" Mary asked desolately.
"Humans require protein, Mary, to survive, in addition to vegetable matter," Julia explained patiently. "When we lived on the stations, that protein was provided to us in ... chemically-designed foodstuffs. But when humans lived on Earth, they raised animals for their meat. Humans are naturally meat-eaters, Mary."
"Why did I never need meat when I live your diet then that took its place"
Suddenly, Julia felt her heart quicken - it couldn't be that simple, could it? "This 'growth' you used to eat - is there any of it around here? In the caves where we found you?"
Mary nodded, stirring her own porridge listlessly.
"Could you take me to it? I'd like to take a look at it." Mary nodded again. "Good. Well, we'll do that later today, okay?" She touched the girl's arm sympathetically, smiled at her, then went over to join Yale and Danziger.
Yale and John looked up at her approach, and Yale shifted somewhat guiltily. She put her bowl and coffee down, then dropped onto the bench beside Danziger.
"How are you feeling this morning, John?"
"Tired."
"It should be over soon, John. At least, Alonzo thinks so."
"That's good. I'll be glad to get back to normal dreaming. Or better yet, just sleeping."
They fell into silence for a few minutes while Julia ate her porridge. Some of the others drifted in, exchanged greetings, got their porridge and morning coffee and sat down to eat. Conversations started up fitfully as caffeine was consumed. When Julia was done, she pushed the bowl away and looked at Yale and Danziger expectantly. "Well?"
Yale rubbed the back of his neck worriedly. "Julia, what do you know about Dr. Vasquez?" he asked suddenly.
"Dr. Vasquez?" Julia repeated, frowning. "Yale, was Dr. Vasquez in your dream last night?"
"Yes. Very different from what I remember him being.
Hostile. Obsessed."
"With what?"
"Destroying the Terrians."
Julia nodded thoughtfully. "That fits what I dreamt, too. He's a brilliant doctor, though - I find it hard to believe he's so xenophobic, he's so good with the Syndrome children. But then again, he's never encountered alien life. None of us expected to find it here."
"What are you saying, Yale? That the colony ship's head doctor could be a problem?" Danziger inquired.
"I'm not sure," Yale admitted. "I've attempted to access his profile, but I keep coming up against a security block when I get too deep. I can read the surface information, what I know of him from before we left the stations. But I'd never accessed the data on him that I'd downloaded before we left the stations until now ... there's a block that I'd never encountered through my station input. A block that appears to have a Council signature on it."
"A Council signature?" Julia shuddered. "No. The Council refused to even recognize the Syndrome. And Dr. Vasquez was the leading specialist, practically the only doctor who would attempt to work with it. There's no way Vasquez could be connected with the Council."
"It could be because he was part of Eden Advance - we saw what the Council had planned for us. There could be a tag on each of us. Have you checked any of the profiles on the rest of us? On Julia, for example?" Danziger suggested.
"John -" Julia protested.
"We know you were connected with the Council." He raised his hands to calm her. "We all know that's over, Julia. But it would be natural for your station profile to have a Council tag on it. If it doesn't, I for one would be suspicious. Yale, just how much data _do_ you have on file?" Danziger pressed.
"Well, John, not quite the sum total of human knowledge, but close, I believe. I performed a data download just prior to boarding the advance ship, so my station data should be fairly up-to-date."
"Up to 22 years ago," Julia commented.
"Yes. But it should be current as of when we'd need it," Yale countered.
"So, you think the sunstones can help you break the blocks?"
Julia and Yale exchanged glances, but it was Yale who nodded. "I think there's a good chance, yes.
Considering the stones helped me recover actual memory without damage, and Morgan was able to use it to decode the Geolock, I think it's the safest and most promising approach. And as the colony ship gets closer to G889, the mores today?"
Julia nodded. "We'll take Alonzo and Morgan with us, too. And Mary. There's something else up there I want to check out. Something I think Mary can help us with."
"Oh?"
She shrugged. "Too early, John. Just an idea. Let me play with it a little first, okay?"
"Okay. Just stay dry, okay - we can't afford for our only doctor to get sick, especially not now, all right?"
***
By the time both Morgan and Alonzo were up and about, the sun was at zenith and the rain had started to come down in earnest. The gentle rhythm of raindrops on the tents had turned to a steady pounding, and freshening winds buffeted the fragile domes. The weather was too unpredictable for any work to be planned outdoors, leaving nearly everyone, with the exception of Baines who was on perimeter watch, cooped up inside their tents while the storm continued.
Bess remained in the mess-tent with Magus, Cameron, Denner and Mazatl, experimenting with possible preservation techniques and new recipes. Danziger sat in his tent with Uly, True and Mary, spinning stories and answering an increasing number of questions from the young Terrian-raised woman. Walman napped before he had to relieve Baines on patrol.
Julia was in the med-tent with Alonzo and Yale when Morgan came in, shaking off the wetness with an expression of disgust. "Boy, there are days I really miss the weather-control on the stations!"
"Well, at least it forces everyone to rest," Julia responded. "That's something we all need, even without the Terrian dreams."
"Yeah, but -" Morgan paused, glancing around him.
"Aren't we going up to the caves?"
"In this weather?" Alonzo scoffed.
"Why not? We've got weather gear - and it won't be raining in the caves."
"He has a point," Yale conceded with a shrug. "This is most unlike you, Morgan -"
"I know," Morgan admitted freely. "I know it is. But what we did yesterday - do you realize what we accomplished? We not only broke the hold of the Council over us, we achieved the first technological collaboration between G889 and humans. We've created a new form of science!" he added, practically trembling with excitement.
"It's not the first time we've used the sunstones in conjunction with our own technology, Morgan. You should be the first one to realize that -" Julia reminded.
"No, it's not," Morgan agreed. "But the first time - we just broke a code. Yesterday, we created something new, something that wouldn't have existed if we hadn't worked with the sunstones."
"Morgan, if I didn't know better, I'd say you're starting to like it here," Julia commented with a small chuckle.
Shrugging, Morgan didn't reply. But the excitement in his eyes answered her nonetheless.
"There is no real reason we couldn't proceed with the sunstones, in spite of the weather. I for one would like to break the security codes in my data banks - we know that the Council kept a great deal of valuable information from us before we arrived. There may be more stored in my memory store," Yale suggested.
"Information that could help us, right?" Morgan asked.
"Granted, it's not as creative as building a new program, but it's still valuable. Well?"
Julia exchanged glanced with Alonzo, then Yale, and smiled. "Why not? Look, I want to take Mary with us - apparently there are some edible plants that grow in the caves. I'd like to have her identify them and then I want to bring some back for analysis."
For once, Morgan wasn't interested in food. Again he shrugged, saying, "Sure, if you want. How soon do you want to get underway?"
"We need to get some of the weather gear out of storage, and I need to collect Mary. Half an hour?" Julia suggested.
"I'll get the clothing," Yale volunteered.
"I'll help. We'll meet here in half an hour," Alonzo concluded.
***
Mary followed Julia reluctantly, leaving behind the comfort of the warm, dry tent and the wonder of Danziger's ser they raced out into the rain toward the med-tent. Julia felt a pang of regret at taking Mary away from something she so obviously enjoyed, but she also recognized that Mary might be able to lead them to something that might make their adaptation to G889 more secure. She smiled art the younger woman as they stood just inside the med-tent flap, while Alonzo brought the Rail around. Julia, Yale, Morgan and Mary all clambered in, and Alonzo pulled out of the camp.
It had been raining heavily for several hours now, and the track was slick. But Alonzo was a good driver, and they made good time up the slope. He carefully piloted the Rail through the driving rain, miraculously avoiding ruts and rocks. Soon, they were near the cave entrance, and Alonzo threw a cover over the vehicle while the others ran inside. He joined them a few minutes later, a waterfall of rain sluicing off his poncho. Julia helped him out of it, hanging it on an small rock outcrop alongside the other ponchos.
"Okay. You three go to the sunstone chamber," Julia ordered. "Mary, will you take me to the plants you eat?"
The young woman nodded solemnly, and set off in silence through the corridors. The men drew up the rear, but after a few moments, Mary veered off down another branch, and Julia looked over her shoulder at Alonzo.
He grinned reassuringly at her, then ducked under the low-slung rock to follow Yale and Morgan.
Julia continued shadowing Mary as the young woman worked her way deeper and deeper into the cave system.
The glow of the sunstones fell off as the veins dwindled, and soon Julia was forced to unclip a lumalight from her belt, turning it on for illumination. Finally, Mary stopped in a dark cavern, standing in the center, waiting for Julia.
As Julia stepped into the vaulted chamber, she shined the lumalight around her. The contour of the cave seem to be misshapen and fuzzy; it took her a moment to realize that growths clung to almost every surface, the walls, the ceiling, even areas on the floor where dirt hadn't covered the rock. Clusters of cream-colored, spongy tubular objects growing out of a darker mass nearly surrounded them.
"They cannot grow in the light of the sunstones," Mary explained simply.
As Julia knelt to look at a thick cluster of the growths, she noted a slight shrinking away from the light. "They're sensitive to the lumalight, too." She touched one of the rough cylinders, approximately six inches in length, tentatively, feeling it give beneath her fingers. "What part of it do you eat?"
Mary dropped into a Terrian stance beside Julia and reached out, snapping off one of the tubular growths from the darker growth. "This. Never remove this," she added, spreading her fingers against the base of the growth, "or the plant will die. There will be no more."
"Like fruit from a tree," Julia commented, and Mary nodded. Peering more closely, Julia noted a network of fibers reaching from the darker root into the rock wall beyond. She traced the root to the fibers to the rock, and brought her hand away, sheathed in a light layer of dust. "The roots are slowly breaking up the rock wall."
"Perhaps there are more sunstones behind the wall."
"Perhaps." Julia set about taking a few more samples, about ten in all, and stowed them in her specimen bag.
"How do you eat them?"
Mary removed another of the growths and simply started to take bites out of it. "You just eat it."
"How did you find them, Mary? The Terrians don't eat these, do they?"
Mary shook her head. "The Terrians do not eat. They are sustained by the mother, the earth. They showed these to me when I was young, told me I could eat them.
Sometimes they are too few, and so I ate other things.
But mostly I ate these."
"Like the Terrians showed Danziger how to get moisture from the cactus," Julia said thoughtfou?"
Mary nodded, then broke off more of the growths, stowing them in her pockets. "For later."
***
In the sunstone chamber, Alonzo paced impatiently while Yale and Morgan worked with the sunstones. They'd linked into the sunstone vein, and had already discovered that the security blocks were keyed to Station-Level passwords. Morgan had provided the Level One through Four passwords, effectively eliminating the security blocks on data guarded by those blocks. They were working on decrypting the Level Five password right now, and every few seconds, Yale flinched as inhibitor shocks answered yet another failed attempt to break the block.
"Maybe we'd be better off copying the block into VR," Morgan suggested as Yale's breath hissed through his teeth at another shock.
"No," Yale disagreed. "We won't be able to tell if we've unlocked the entire code in VR. Keep going, Morgan - I am all right."
And so they continued for a couple of hours, both men hardly registering the return of Julia and Mary as they sought to break through the Council's security codes.
Julia kept a close watch on the vitals of both men, calling a halt for a break when Yale's strength seemed to flag below acceptable parameters. By now, they'd managed to work out the first several components of the security code, and neither was willing to give up until they'd broken the entire code. While they were resting, Julia bullied them into agreeing to give up once they'd cracked the Level Five code, leaving the remainder for the days to come. As Yale massaged aching temples, he agreed readily; one code was sufficient for the day.
A couple of times, Julia went out to the edge of the cave system to report back to camp. They weren't far, but while they were inside the cave system, the gear didn't transmit beyond the entrance. After all the times they'd all jumped on Danziger for not keeping in gear contact, no one wanted to get the same treatment from the tired and disgruntled mechanic.
By the time Morgan and Yale had finally breached the Level Five security, it was full dark outside. As they made their weary way back to the Rail, Julia checked her samples; they still looked fresh. The rain had slowed a bit, which was good, since they'd be going down the slope into the valley illuminated only by the Rail's headlights.
Their trip campward was mercifully without incident, and they were all grateful to return to camp and a warm meal. Julia stowed her samples in the med-tent while Alonzo parked the Rail, and then they all rejoined the members of Eden Advance in a somewhat crowded mess tent.
Chapter End Notes:
Sections 1 through 18 of "Context" are available by ftp from ftp://members.aol.com/debfic. Each section is saved as a file (i.e., cont1.txt, etc.). If you find you're missing any sections, please feel free to retrieve them from the ftp site, rather than ask me to send them to you - that got to be pretty expensive for me when I was posting sections regularly.
I would love to hear comments!
I would love to hear comments!