Hal Clement - The Nitrogen Fix

Before either parent could move he had taken two long strides to the small boy, and seized the tubes running from cartridges to bellows. “Shall I pull?”

“No!” the mother almost shrieked.

For a moment, the watching Kahvi didn’t know whether to be more indignant at the junky’s threat orat the mother’s lack of firmness. Then she imagined Danna in the boy’s place and understood. Decision was a little more difficult than usual, but having decided, Kahvi’s action was of course unhesitating.

“It won’t do you any good!” she called, rising to her knees on the wall. “There’ll be plenty of others along tomorrow. You junkies may as well let them all out, and enjoy what you can of your oxygen. If it takes the others long enough to get here, maybe you’ll be able to see which of your plants got fixed. But leave that boy alone, or we’ll come in there now and make you sorry. Bones! Danna! Come over here and cover this air lock!”

The people in the jail looked up in astonishment at Kahvi’s figure, clearly visible in the moonlight. The addicts, startled, did nothing else; the parents seized their son and plunged into the lock pool.

They emerged outside just as Bones arrived with Danna, and at the sight of the Observer and its burden they froze almost as completely as the two still within. Kahvi’s voice restored them.

“All right, don’t worry about Bones. She’s working with me, and I trust her with my daughter. Leave your boy outside, and come back in with Bones and me. There’s work to do.” She shifted to sign language, letting Bones know her plans, and the native set Danna down beside the other child.

Kahvi descended, a little awkwardly, from the wall and led the way to the lock. Bones followed immediately, the other pair farther back and more hesitant. By the time they were inside, most of the action had finished.

Bones, at a gesture from the woman, had seized the two men, holding their arms at their sides with ropy tentacles. Kahvi was busy scooping up masks and cartridges. She gestured at the other to do the same, as they wiped mask windows.

“We’ll leave a few cartridges, of course, but be sure to get all the masks — no, we’ll leave one,” the Nomad said briskly. “If something happens to the roof they can stay alive by sharing it, but won’t be able to get into mischief. You two — ” she addressed the prisoners “ — can play around with the cultures all you want, but I’d suggest you be very disciplined. If you spoil any more oxygen, you might just have to get to the next jail holding your breaths by turns. As I remember, it’s about five hundred meters a little south of west, over two hills. Use your judgment, if overloading yourselves with oxygen has left you any.”

One of the addicts answered. “Very nice, Nomad. We know how pure and righteous you all are, and of course you have every right to force other people to go along with your morals. You must feel really virtuous, going around with an Invader. I suppose you’ll help it destroy the cities the way they did the rest of the world — you won’t be bothered, will you?”

“No time for mythology just now,” Kahvi replied briefly. “If you feel the need for straight oxy, at least you could build your own gas-houses.

These buildings were made to save lives, and I haven’t any time to waste on free-loaders. Got everything, you two? All right, Bones — ” she shifted her burden to one arm and gestured with the other — ”hold them until we’re outside with the children. Then do anything you can think of to keep them from interfering with you, and come along. We’ll head for the raft; we have plenty of air.” She started down the air lock steps, then turned back. “One more thing, now that I think of it. These other folks are barefoot, I notice. I’ll take your sandals. I don’t like those nasty bits of glass you oxy-lovers have invented.”

The verb stung the prisoners, not yet entirely free of their upbringing. “We didn’t invent them. They showed up in a pseudolife mutation that used to make fiberglass for insulation, so we used them. Anyone would have.”

Kahvi, adding the sandals to her burden, sniffed audibly through her mask. “Anyone not burdened by ethics or conscience might. Knowing that I’ve picked several dozen of the things out of my child, though, you’ll excuse me for excluding such people from the human species, I’m sure. Free breathing.”

She disappeared into the pool. Bones gave her about five seconds than, tossed the prisoners against the far wall and lunged through before they recovered their footing.

Outside, Kahvi had introduced herself and Danna to the others, and learned their names. The woman was Viah Renuchi, her husband Jonathan Demang, and their son Ray Vellik. They had never met Nomads before, nor had they seen one of Bones’ kind, but of course had heard of both. They had the usual city tendency to regard Kahvi as a rather low variety of human being, but the fact that she couldconverse with Bones forced them to modify their views about both. They were a little awed by the Observer.

“I have to get back to our raft with Danna and learn what Earrin’s doing,” Kahvi explained when introductions were complete. “He must have been in the city. You said that a Nomad brought the word about oxygen in the jails, and we’re the only ones I know of around here. You didn’t see him?”

“I guess we did,” replied Jonathan. “He was with the people who did the briefing, and they referred to him a lot, but never by name. He was about your height, a little lighter in build, blue eyes, rather narrow face, and had a much smaller one of these creatures with him.”

“That’s Earrin. There was another native in the city and Bones here did meet her or him or it, but neither had met Earrin at that time. The two escaped together from some of your oxy-wasters; Bones was recaptured but brought outside, where I found her a little while ago. The other one must have found Earrin, or been found by him. If they were with your people, they must have gone back to the raft, or at least be on the way. I must get back too, and get into step with him and the other native. Do you want to come too, or go back to the city? There’s plenty of air at the raft, and you’ll find out more about what these young people of yours are doing. It looks as though more of you ought to find out; or would you rather get Ray back indoors before you do anything else.

“He’s all right as long as he’s with us Viah replied. “We never have done much outdoors, but he needs the training, and would probably get it better with you around. Besides, we’re book copiers, and maybe you could help us find better writing tissue or ink. We’ve heard that Nomads sell things like that.”

“Maybe,” agreed Kahvi. “All right, come along. It’s about three kilometers on the map, so I suppose between four and five walking. We can travel all right by moonlight. I hope we don’t need the sandals; if we run into glass we’ll have to carry the kids, and I don’t know what we’ll do with Bones. You wear sandals, and I’ll go ahead barefoot so the young ones won’t be first to run into it.”

The others knew nothing of the glass caltrops, and were suitably horrified by Kahvi’s account. They had barely heard of the Hemenway delinquents, and couldn’t guess what was going on — the news industry was one of the casualties of the change. They were still, however, willing to go the shore. Kahvi, hoping fervently that she was right in believing that the glass had been sown only in special areas for special purposes, led the way…

The message was no real surprise to Earrin, but it did not make him at all happy. He was not yet very worried about his family, but it would be nice to know whether Kahvi had gone somewhere on her own initiative or had been persuaded as he himself had been some twenty-four hours before.