Paul Collins - Earthborn The

Welkin felt Sarah's anger wash over him. Looking at the holocaust about him, he still couldn't comprehend how Sarah's group had found all the equipment they had.

"May-may-maybe they'll tra-ade it?" Budge suggested.

"Who with? The jabbers? Ferals?" Sarah scoffed. "Bruick'd think it was some kind of rocket launcher, he's that thick."

"Steady on, Sarah," Con said.

Sarah shook her head angrily. "Did anyone see him go?"

Budge looked at the ground. "He ca-came up be-hind me last night. . . act-act-acted kinda str-ange.

But I put it down to the fac-fact you'd had that argu-ment with him. He talk-talk-talked a bit, sound-ing me out, I guess, then sug-gested I go get some shut-shuteye. He said he was was-wasn't feeling tired.

That he'd take over from me ear-early, like." He looked up from his feet. "Look, Sarah, I-I-I'm real sorry

'bout this. I've been kick-kick-ing myself all morning."

"It's done now," Sarah said. "So . . . Ilija, Pedros, and Green. We can either go after them, or stick it out here until we find more gear."

Con kicked at the wall. "It's taken us this long to get the equipment we needed, Sarah. I for one don't want to hang around anymore. Not with the Colony people out there with scanners. We can't hide from them forever."

"Con-Con's right," Budge cut in. "They-they're not too worried 'bout us righ-t now; from what w-we know they got intern-al problems. But when they get them fixed, they'll be out to solve us."

"Well, we don't have too many options," Sarah said with resignation. "How much food did they take?"

Budge puckered his lips, then smiled. "We were lucky on that count. Guess they were weight-weighted down with every-thing else."

"Probably had a stash somewhere," Con said. "Remember thoseguys were always heading off together? It's no wonder Pedros was never around when he was supposed to be on duty. Sleeping, my foot! He was probably out with Ilija looting food."

"That's the way I see it, too," Sarah said. "Just as well they didn't know about all our safe havens."

She bit her lower lip. "My fault. I knew we had problems." She turned to Welkin. "It simply means that all our plans have just been wiped out. We can't leave Melbourne without a purpose. The Dandenongs may as well be on the moon for all the good they're going to do us. Without the right gear we're in big trouble."

Sarah went to a cupboard and lifted it from its mooring. She began spilling gear from a hidden cache.

Feeling she was best left alone, the others decided they had business elsewhere.

"C-come on ... We-We-Welkin," Budge said. "I-I'll give you the roy-roy-royal tour."

"Thanks. But maybe there's some equipment here that I'll recognize from the history vids." He made a wry face. "Well, it is old stuff."

"Su-sure thing," Budge said and closed the door behind him.

Welkin started sorting through the various pieces of equipment that Sarah was pulling from the wall crevasse.

"What's the matter with Budge?"

"It's called stuttering. Some people can't help it. I found Budge out there when he was a kid. He'd been dumped by his family." She shook her head ruefully. "He's stuttered all his life. I've tried to help him, but it's too ingrained." She dropped a motherboard. "You never heard someone stutter before?"

Welkin shook his head. "I don't think so."

Sarah's eyes widened. "And I bet you people never had dwarfs, or disabilities, or, say, people with one leg shorter than the other?"

Welkin hid his contempt. "Of course not. Everyone's got legs the same length. And everyone's the same size. Sort of." He thought of Lucida. "My sister's a bit shorter than me—"

"I'll be a monkey's uncle," Sarah cut in. "So you've never seen someone Budge's size, either?"

"He must eat a lot."

"Doesn't that just beat all," Sarah marveled. "Either you've got genetic tuning down to a fine art, or those sons of bitches on Colony cull the imperfects." She shook her head in disbelief. "To keep the lineage pure. Like people once did with pedigree dogs and cats. They killed the imperfect pups and kittens."

"That never happened on Colony," Welkin protested.

"The sooner we get out of here the better," Sarah said and busied herself emptying the cache.

It was midafternoon by the time the others returned. Welkin had lost track of how long he had been slumped in the corner watching the Earthborn making an inventory of their few possessions.

"At least they left us something," Sarah said contemplatively.

"An-d we know . . . know why," Budge said.

"Hmmm," Sarah agreed. "Hard to carry three times your own weight. We're lucky they didn't have

transport. Then again, there's no telling how long they've been stashing stuff, either."

Welkin got up and joined them. They seemed to have accepted him. Especially now that they knew he was useful. Saving Gillian from the troopers had clinched it. He was now one of them.

"Okay, listen up," Sarah called. "We can still make it to the Dandenongs. But there's little hope we'll have enough to rig a home transmitter, much less a TV mast." She shrugged helplessly. "There's just not enough gear for that." She looked thoughtfully at the youngest of their team, an eleven-year-old called Dario.

"And we have no chance if we stay in Melbourne," Dario said.

"You're right there," Sarah mused. "But I've been thinking." She turned to Welkin. "Colony won't exchange goods with us for our services, so what're the chances of our taking what we need—stuff your people wouldn't miss?" she added hastily.

"Get off the grass," Dario said. "We'd be dead within a mile of that craft. They've set up permanent scanners now!"

"You would never make the main cruise cabin," Welkin said slowly. "The mutineers tried that a couple of times. And they were better equipped than you."

Sarah shook her head. "Odds and ends," she said. "That's all we need. A hit and run. Preferably with no one being hurt. What do you say?" She glared at the others when they murmured dissent.

"Aft of the ship," Welkin began, "it's unstable . . . if you burrowed your way in—"

"Or used the laser lance and cut our way in?"

"Er," Welkin said. He shook his head slowly. "It won't be easy."

"Nothing ever is," Sarah said. "Didn't Gillian say they hadn't cleared aft of Colony?'

Welkin let the babble wash over him. He didn't think he could face Colony now. His thoughts were confused. Had the elders witnessed his defense of Gillian? Would they kill him as a contamination suspect? This was more likely. Or Harlan Gibbs might question him again. If he could prove himself to be a valuable asset, because of having lived among the Earthborn, they might hold him in some esteem. But that would mean betraying Sarah and the others.

He didn't realize that he was suffering from divided loyalties. The Earthborn were a ragged, motley lot, but they possessed a camaraderie that was addictive. These were real people, bowing to no one, individuals and rulers of their own lives. Not like his own people, who were so regimented. Those who disobeyed were dealt with as Harry had been, taken away and discarded to the lower decks or worse—

brainwiped!

Then he thought of Lucida. She probably believed he was dead. He needed desperately to let her know he was alive.

The discussion went on around him. His name came up in the conversation several times. He knew he would be an integral part of any plan Sarah was hatching and that cold terrible thought returned: Whatever it took . . .

"Thanks to Welkin and Gillian," Con was saying, "we have two more laserlites and two hand lasers.

There's not much else. We can recharge your laserlite now, though, Sarah—"

Welkin cut him off. "I'll do anything I can for you, but I want something in return."