18
The chirping of morning creatures pierced Molly’s tent, rescuing her from the return of bad dreams. One of the Glemot youth sat up beside her, rubbing his eyes.
“Edison?”
The pup turned to Molly, blinking. “You have me confused for my approximation.” He yawned, stretching his arms wide and flashing a dangerous mouth. “Pardon my reflexive inhalation. My designation is Orville.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted. Do you desire assisting in relocating the temporary structure?”
“We do what?” Molly shook her head. These guys were exhausting—especially first thing in the morning.
“Relocate the temporary structure. Our daily hibernation flattens grasses, occludes the sunlight from their photoreceptors. We relocate temporary structures every Glemot rotation to preserve the natural.”
“What’s natural about a tent?” Molly asked.
Orville frowned. “That statement reflects my approximation’s thoughts.” He rose, gathered his blanket, and stormed out without another word.
Molly sighed and adjusted her garment around her. It was a lovely way to dress if only it would stay put. Every movement shifted the fabric and threatened to bare her to the world. She wondered what Cole thought of her dressed up like this. He looked like a Roman statue in his, of course, but he treated the get-up like an annoying necessity, an “undercover prop,” as he would have put it.
Outside, Molly saw the tents being shifted in a carefully orchestrated pattern. She was the last sleeper out, which seemed to create a sense of relief from some of the adult Glemots. They hurried over and started carefully extracting stakes from the ground.
Molly tried to stay out of the way, peering around for some sign of Cole, but his tent was no longer where it had been the night before.
“Molly.” It was Watt, her doctor. He approached bearing a leaf slathered with his medicinal cream. Molly shrugged the sling off her head and presented her arm. He removed the splint first, carefully scrapped the old salve off, then reassembled his handiwork. Molly flexed her wrist a little, amazed at the reduction in pain. She wondered if perhaps she had just fractured the bone, and then remembered the odd angle it had been in before she passed out.
“Thank you very much.” She patted his arm as he tied up the sling.
“It is my function. I recommend minimal exertion for two rotations.” He smiled down at her and scratched her head with an uncanny gentleness. Molly smiled back and tried to picture Watt killing children in order to restore a sense of “balance.” Even with her brain bent into odd shapes, it still couldn’t wrap around the idea. She watched him lumber off and felt overwhelmed with how complex life was. If she and her friends got off Glemot alive, something new would be carried with her. She would never think on right and wrong, good and evil, beautiful and ugly the same way ever again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Cole’s voice leaking out of the woods behind the camp. She turned as he and the other Glemot youth emerged, the latter standing a good meter taller. Molly learned last night, as she noted who served the food, that a lot of the Glemots here were considered youths. Orville and Edison were mere babies as far as the adults were concerned. In thirty years, a short time for Glemots, Edison would be as big as the others. And then it would be time for a proper female to be selected for him, if he was designated a “procreator.”
Molly walked over to meet them. Cole nodded at her as she approached, as if to say, “all systems were go.”
“Greetings for the third occurrence, Molly.”
“Hello, Edison. You boys been busy this morning?”
“Delightfully disturbing the balance all evening,” Edison said, his voice sonorous and soothing.
Cole put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go for a walk,” he said.
Edison nodded to both Humans and bounded off to help move a tent.
Molly walked with Cole to the woods, then let him take the lead. She was worried about the dark circles under his eyes. His shoulders also sagged with fatigue. He looked a lot like he’d been acting lately. Glum.
But even beat down and exhausted, she couldn’t help but admire the shape of his body. His Portuguese ancestry had blessed him with a bronze complexion that required no sunlight for upkeep. His back was a broad ‘V’ tapering down to a thin waist. Wide shoulders, even stooped as they were, rounded down into well-defined arms. She watched them swing easily in the revealing robe as they walked along in silence. He possessed a rare combination of strength and litheness that comforted her when they were in danger—but made her worry for her sanity when they were alone together.
Cole slowed so she could catch up, prematurely ending her anatomical inventory and making her blush as if she had been caught thinking aloud.
“We’re going to see the Parsona, I just want you to be prepared.”
Molly bit her lip and nodded. “How’s Walter?” she asked.
“Edison and I broke him out just in time.” Cole smiled at her. “‘Even sssteven,’ he told me.”
Molly managed a chuckle at Cole’s impersonation. Another cultural awareness lesson was probably in order, but it comforted her to see his mood lifting.
“Our very own Campton tribe has sent out a search party to look for their missing prisoner.” Cole pointed through the woods off to their right. “The warrior village and training grounds are just through there. Edison left behind a patch of his fur, so the Leefs will be suspected for nabbing Walter.”
Molly nodded. Little could go wrong with the first parts of their plan. Many “ifs” were to follow, though.
“Have you found the EMP yet?”
“No, but Edison thinks his twin brother Orville knows where it is. Orville’s tutor for the Council is the head of the Technology Prevention Subcommittee.”
“I can’t believe there is such a thing,” Molly mused aloud.
“Are you kidding? There’re several of them on every planet. Earth included. They usually go by something else, of course. I just wish we could get Orville in on this, but I don’t think he’s quite as open to change as his brother.”
“Don’t be greedy. I’m shocked you found a Glemot who would turn on his own tribe. I feel guilty using him this way.”
“Who’s using whom? Did you know that when your America was being overrun by my European ancestors, the natives thought they were using these pale men in their schemes to wipe out neighboring tribes?”
Molly shook her head. “That’s not what I learned.”
“Trust me. This planet’s history is a detail of groups splintering apart. Hell, I’m not sure if I talked him into this plan, or if he talked me into it. The kid—gods, the guy is bigger than me, smarter than me, and older than me, and I refer to him as ‘the kid’—he’s been jockeying for something like this for a long time. I think he sees us as a sign or something.”
“Okay, I get it. Now I feel used instead of guilty.”
“Funny. Now listen, the timing on this will be intense. We’re about to meet with members of the Leef council, and we need to have our story straight.”
“I know my part,” Molly insisted. After a pause, “But let’s go over it one more time.”
They conferred as they walked. A few minutes later the couple ascended a rise, the trees thinned, and they could see Parsona below. Molly fell silent, save for a pained intake of air. Her good hand came up to her chin, resting her fingers there, trying to prevent her jaw from dropping any further.
The ship stood alone in the clearing below, its profile recognizable, but just barely. Molly and Cole could see straight through the once-mighty machine in many places. Parts, panels, equipment, gear—it was all spread out across the grass. A checkerboard of dirt scratches marked off a grid of some sort. Cole explained that every piece was set for repurposing in the Campton’s anti-tech cause or designated for complete destruction.
Behind the ship, Molly could see patches of grass charred black from the landing. The thrusters above the dark spots were in a state of mid-disassembly. She was sure the ship would never fly again. She had owned it for less than a week.
Cole put an arm across Molly’s shoulders, pulling her close and trying to console her. “Hey, keep in mind that a small group took this apart in just a day. They’ve been pulled off for the battle, but a large group of Glemots just as skilled can put her back together in no time.” Cole paused. “At least Edison seems to think so.”
“She’s dead.” It was all Molly could say.
Cole kept his arm around her, guiding her back through woods and on to their meeting spot. “She’s close to dead. You and I have been there. Look at us now.”
Molly did. She noted the light bruises on Cole’s face from his beating by the Palan guards. She glanced down at her shattered arm. She didn’t answer at first. Instead, she walked along, her head tilted into Cole’s chest as she sought a rhythm to match his—something to keep their wounds from smarting.
“Yeah,” she eventually said. “Look at us now.”
????
They walked in silence to their meeting spot with the Leefs. At one point they crouched down to sneak along quietly as the sounds of the Camptons drilling for war thundered nearby. Eventually, they reached the clearing where Cole said they’d handed a freed Walter over to the Leefs. They stepped into a pool of daylight and three Glemots left the concealment of the trees and greeted them.
“Your presence is recognized, humans,” the largest one said, his fur just starting to show the faintest signs of black. Molly was beginning to associate the coloring with age, or rank, but she still didn’t have a clue how old these people were.
“Detail the coordinates of the tactical fusion warhead—” blurted a smaller Glemot standing to one side. The middle figure held up his paw, cutting the words off.
Tension formed; Cole prodded it. “First, we’ll tell you where our ship is. When it’s fully repaired, you guys receive the nuke. It needs to be no later than tomorrow morning, before the battle.”
“Extreme confidence for a diminutive one,” the smaller Glemot joked. All three Leefs chuckled—it sounded like semi-flat tires rolling on pavement.
The larger Glemot spoke again. “Our accomplishments will be swift and precise while your limitations are apparent. The fusion device will be transferred prior to the local horizon’s occlusion of the nearest star by the rotation of Glemot.”
Molly and Cole looked to one another. “Before nightfall?” she suggested.
There were nods and grunts of assent from the aliens.
“Fine,” Cole said. “We’ll meet here with the nuke. Oh, and just so you know, there’s some Camptons drilling nearby—”
The large Glemot waved him off. “Previously known.” They turned to go.
“Wait,” Molly said. They stopped and turned. “How’s Walter?” she asked.
The darkest Glemot shifted uncomfortably. “The metal one is?.?.?.?adequately secured,” he said. With that, they thundered into the trees.
Molly and Cole were left in the clearing with their troubled thoughts. Molly felt awful for Walter but glad that he was alive. Her stomach knotted with worry. And guilt. She had betrayed the people who patched her arm, housed her, and fed her. She tried to focus on the millions of Glemots the Camptons had killed, but weighing impersonal facts—a million souls extinguished—against her own experiences produced sickening results. Shouldn’t the former outweigh the latter?
In silence they walked back to the camp, their thoughts out of character. Molly philosophized, dwelling on the nature of relative harms, while Cole focused on the practical and pressing matter: how were they going to find their “nuke” in time?
****
Something felt different as soon as they emerged on the Campton’s hill. Hundreds of Glemots milled about down by the stream, several of them arguing loudly, their voices rumbling. The entire hill shuddered from heavy feet stomping this way and that. Two Glemots rushed over to her and Cole.
“Detail recent coordinates!” one of them demanded with a growl.
Molly was unable to speak, her stomach crawling up her throat and attempting to flee.
“Uh, reporting back from the training camp,” Cole said.
The two Glemots bristled with anger, the fur along their shoulders waving in the windless air. One of them held a stick as thick as Molly’s thighs; even his casual gestures with it seemed life-threatening.
Another Glemot down the rise yelled, “Nikola! Leo!”
The duo turned and waved, then spun back to Cole and Molly. “Report to Doctor Watt,” one of them commanded before they bounded off.
Molly spotted Watt by one of the tents; he waved at them frantically. She and Cole rushed down, marveling at the level of activity on what yesterday had been such a quiet sylvan glade. Like the Navy’s satellite, Parsona had arrived and disrupted the order of things. Now they needed to do the impossible: piece her together and return to orbit. Molly felt overwhelmed by their plan as she hurried down to Watt.
The doctor checked Molly’s arm before surveying their faces. “Your acquaintance Walter, and Edison, my offspring, have simultaneously been apprehended by the Leefs.”
Molly had no problem feigning worry. Confusion looks similar enough. Why would Edison be missing? This wasn’t part of the plan.
Watt also informed them that some from the council saw the arrival of their ship into the Glemot system as a bit of a coincidence. So much had happened, and happened fast, since it was brought to the surface. There was talk of recalculating risk/reward formulas that involved Cole and Molly. So far, it was just a few Glemots, but the growling would spread.
“How do you know Edison’s missing?” Molly asked. She hoped the pup was off looking for the Campton’s EMP device, the one they were going to pass off to the Leefs as a nuke.
“Moderate fur samples matching Edison’s were discovered near Walter’s containment area,” said Watt. “Querying observers resulted in counter-claims. Several noted Edison in the vicinity of camp late morning, approximately. The antitheses is suggested by group two: the subject in question was in fact his litter mate Orville. No sample saw both simultaneously.”
Molly couldn’t believe it. The fur Edison and Cole had used to frame the Leefs was backfiring. There would still be a war, and a trap, but events were moving too quickly?.?.?.?emotions amplifying equations.
“Where’s Orville?” Cole asked.
“Whittling war sticks alongside the young.”
“Can we talk to him? See how he’s doing?”
This seemed to please Watt immensely. He pointed down to the woods beyond the stream.
Molly patted Watt on the arm before she hurried off. “Your boys will be okay,” she told him.
“Everything will,” Watt said, his thick jargon missing from the simple phrase.
????
Cole led Molly into the forest, following the sounds of young Glemot chatter. “Let me do the talking,” he told her.
“Glad to,” she replied.
As they approached, the circle of pups fell silent and turned to glare at them. Cole had a bad feeling this wasn’t going to go well. Orville shot up from the ground and strode toward them, a sharpened stick in hand.
“Follow,” he said as he rumbled past.
Cole grabbed Molly’s hand, and they followed the pup deeper into the woods, out of sight from the rest of the youth. He spun on both of them, his swiftness startling.
“Inciting hostilities? Brainwashing my litter mate? Enunciate!”
Cole held up both hands, palms out. If this came to blows, it would go badly for them. Somehow Orville had sniffed out his brother, so lying was probably not the best option. But neither was the whole truth.
“Whoa, pal. Your brother came to us. Said he had a plan to disrupt the balance or something. That he’d kill us if we didn’t go along.”
Orville’s face flashed as some part of this registered. “Disrupt the balance?” Orville repeated.
Cole seized on this. “He said he had a way of wiping out the Leefs. He wanted to use our friend, Walter, as bait. We agreed if it meant sparing his life.”
“This ruse I am previously cognizant of. My suspicions were great when he queried me on the electromagnetic pulse device.”
Cole wanted to groan out loud, but contained himself. Everything hinged on that device, and on Edison being able to deliver it.
“Where’s your brother?” Molly asked.
Orville shifted his gaze over to her. “Detained.” It was all they were going to get.
Cole squeezed her hand; he tried a different route. It didn’t look like they were going to be turned in or killed by Orville. And if they were from the same litter, perhaps their goals were different, but their basic needs were the same. “Did Edison also tell you how he was going to get onto the council?” he asked.
Orville bent his knees and lowered his face down to Cole’s level. The hair on his shoulders waved back and forth. “Talk,” he said.
Cole did. And he hoped it wouldn’t trouble Molly to see how good he was at stretching the truth.?.?.
????
“.?.?.and after the last Leef was killed in the trap, Edison would reveal to the adults that it had been his plan. He’d show the detailed calculations, the numbers of increased Campton procreation, how an overall balance could be restored while breaking the local one. Your brother thought the Council would honor him with a seat, that he’d be on a fast track to leading this tribe, long before his fur darkened.”
Molly tried to keep her composure as Cole wrapped up his fictionalized account of the past day. She could tell Orville was riveted—she had been as well. It fascinated her how Cole weaved truth with lie, understanding which emotions to trigger and reeling his prey right in. She wondered if his imagination for conspiracy theories tapped into this ability or if the skill was just finely-honed, thanks to his paranoia.
She chewed on this possibility while Orville seemed to be considering something else.
“Edison,” Orville finally said, shaking his head. “That deceptive brigand.” He looked down at Cole and waved his stick back and forth through the air between them. “Enormous wisdom to divulge completely, young human. My sibling attempted many untruths, a crazed speech of tactical warheads and double-crosses. Your account contains accuracy. Come. Together we confront the upstart and his plan transfers to me. Afterwards, my litter mate’s rumored demise becomes reality.”
Orville thumped the ground with his stick and slapped Cole on the shoulder. It nearly drove him off his feet. “Come,” he said cheerily, and bounded through the forest.
Molly and Cole looked at one another. The plan was falling apart, but they had no choice. They hurried off after Orville, struggling to keep up.