Paul Collins - Earthborn The

Then Sarah said in a sober voice, "Never seen anyone moon so long over a lost romance."

"You mean Budge and Zedda?"

"Hmmm. Wonder how the Skyborn got on back there? So tempting to take a peek and see—but much too risky. I'd prefer it if the jabbers think we're dead."

"You have been getting morbid lately," Lucida observed. She wrapped her arm around Sarah's waist.

"So do tell—what is that?"

They were looking at a coffin-length wooden structure on four legs with a slanting bark roof.

"It's more comfortable than you'd imagine," Sarah said, climbing inside and demonstrating the comfort by lying down and resting her head on a straw and burlap pillow. "It's a transportable hut. We can make a few and take them with us wherever we go." She peered at the skyline above the thick canopy of branches. "We're not always going to be safe from Colony, Lucida."

"Elab and Harry and—"

"They don't have a hope in hell of taking on Colony" Sarah interrupted her.

"So you say," Lucida said.

Moments later Welkin was running into the clearing.

"Sarah! Sarah!" he called urgently.

"Whoa! I'm in here," she said. "Take deep breaths from the diaphragm. It helps."

Welkin bent over at the waist, then pulled himself upright and dragged in a lungful of air. "It's Elab and Harry. They're back!"

"Back!" Lucida repeated wonderingly. "All of them?"

Welkin shook his head between wheezing gasps.

Sarah grabbed him by the hand. "Come on. Tell us on the way. Where are they?"

"Down by the river," Welkin panted. "They made a raft and paddled up here. They're pretty tired."

"And hungry, I bet," Sarah said. "Must've taken them weeks." She did a mental calculation. "And they'd have to carry the raft over land part of the way. Doesn't make sense."

By the time they had reached the riverbank, the entire family had congregated. Elab spotted Sarah, and a sudden hush descended.

"You city folk should eat more," Sarah joked, but her stomach contracted in concern for them. Four out of fourteen: Elab, Harry, Zedda, and En. All suffering from malnutrition and maybe hypothermia.

Elab hugged her. "We've come for dinner, now that you mention it," he said.

Sarah looked up and Budge caught her eye. "We-we've al-ready arr-arranged it," he said.

"Well come on, everyone," Sarah said. "Let's get away from here. The mozzies—sorry, mosquitoes—are fierce this time of the afternoon. Con? Could you and Budge haul that raft out of there?

Hide it under some branches."

"No one followed us," Harry said. He looked to the others for confirmation.

"I'm sure they didn't." Sarah smiled quickly. "I'd prefer it hidden, that's all." She went over to Zedda and Efi. "I'm glad you're both safe."

The girls returned her smile. But Sarah sensed that beneath their warmth there lurked traumas that would take a while to expunge.

The crackling fires cast eerie shadows across those who squatted close to them. Sarah looked over to where her makeshift house stood in the flickering light. Zedda and Efi had curled up inside it and had slept all afternoon and into the night. She was glad Elab and Harry had wakened earlier. She needed to know what had happened. How safewere they here? It was too easy to become complacent. There's rarely a second chance, she caught herself thinking.

Sarah waited while Elab licked his fingers. "Wild turkey. I'd love to breed them."

"Then why don't you?" Harry said. He'd commented earlier about the lack of progress. Sarah's family still lacked permanent quarters.

"Because for a while we're going to be nomads, Harry," Sarah said slowly. She knew how the others felt about this. A recurring nightmare was that one day someone would come up with a democratic policy and suggest they vote on the subject.

"Colony's not going to come up here looking for you," Harry said.

Help came from an unexpected quarter. "I wouldn't be so sure," Elab said cautiously. "They have a

'cleansing' regimen." He shrugged and looked directly at Sarah. "When we got back there, the first thing we noticed was that it was so quiet. Welkin had told us about the scavengers—the gimps. Well, they were gone. No sign of them or anyone else."

"They couldn't have gotten rid of everyone overnight," Sarah said. "There were just too many factions.

What about the jabbers, the ferals?"

"They did get rid of everyone," Harry said bluntly. "They left bodies strewn all over the place.

Probably to carry disease. The place stank of death."

"Lighten up," Elab said quickly as the others gasped. "It wasn't as bad as that."

"So what about Bruick's jabbers?" Sarah turned to Lucida, then cut her off before she could say anything. "I know you say you saw him die, Lucida. But that man has the uncanny knack of springing back up from the grave as though he were Satan himself." She caught herself then, realizing her voice had risen several decibels. She took a deep breath and clenched her mouth shut.

"We didn't see Earthborn—sorry, people," Elab corrected sheepishly, "fitting Bruick's description. No one had rings and pieces of metal stuck in him."

"Did Colony get the others, then?" Sarah asked anxiously.

Elab looked to Harry, who nodded. "Well," Elab began, "Marjelcame down with something. Then Kaaron did, too. We buried them just outside . . . that place."

"Melbourne," said Sarah. She thought back to the girls. They'd been inseparable. Survivors of the lower decks who hadn't spoken a word to anyone. She'd figured they'd been so traumatized they were incapable of speaking, finding solace instead in their own closeness.

"Came down with something?" Lucida asked, staring meaningfully at Sarah.

Elab almost said something but paused as though he expected Sarah to interrupt. He looked back at Lucida, sensing he'd missed something. "Con said it was probably a fever. Maybe the insects carry it."

He shrugged helplessly. "They just lost all energy. We rested for two days, but they didn't get better. On the third day ..."

Harry took over. "After that, we got ambushed on the way in." He shrugged fatalistically. "I guess we weren't prepared for it. We thought it was safe until we hit the city proper."

"How far away from the Dandenongs were you?" Sarah prompted.

"It was nowhere near here," Harry said.

Sarah was silent. They just couldn't comprehend that they were still in danger out here. More so than ever now that Colony had really taken over Melbourne.

"There were only two of them," Harry said hurriedly. "We thought they might just be renegades.

Freebooters out to get anything they could."

"Did you see them?" Welkin asked. "Was one of them tall, olive complexion? The other short and stocky with red hair?"

"That's them," Elab said. "How'd you know that?"

"Pedros and Green," Sarah supplied. "You got them, didn't you?"

Harry looked over to Sarah's hut. "They did. Efi and Zedda. Pure chance, really. Elab had only just suggested we really needed flankers, and Zedda and Efi volunteered—almost as a joke. They said it was their turn with the laserlites."

"Remind me to thank them," Sarah said, casting a look over at the portable hut.

"We lost Garth and Gemma," Elab said somberly. "You mightn't remember them, because you were sick at the time, but—"

"I remember all fourteen of you," Sarah said. "If it hadn't been for your help none of us would have made it out of Melbourne alive. I'll always remember you." She smacked her forehead. "I can almost blame myself for this loss. Pedros and Green were my mistakes. I should've gone after them the moment they deserted."

"Th-th-they wan-ted th-th-that," Budge said, forcing out the words.

"It's no one's fault they were there," Elab said. "We were careless and paid the price. If not for them, we might've all been killed by the Colony cruisers."