Paul Collins - Earthborn The

"Anything we have that they don't," Lucida said. We can plant vegetable gardens, harvest fruit, and hunt wild pigs. We have to become farmers."

Con wiped his glasses. "I need a new prescription. You lot are starting to look attractive!"

Sarah cuffed him. "I'll put an order in with the first optometrist we meet."

"I guess there's no telling what the other families have," Con said.

"Warm clothing, I hope," Welkin said. Everyone knew the Sky-born weren't yet acclimatized to Earth's conditions. If they suffered from the cold down in Melbourne, they'd probably perish from the biting climate in the hills.

It was a laborious job, but they all knew it had been worth the hardship when they saw the first of the families arrive at their agreed meeting place.

They came like wraiths through the fern gullies and the tablelands of densely tufted prairie grass and vine thickets; they came along the broken asphalt roads as though totally unaware of Colony's sinister presence.

Sarah had designated six rendezvous points. At each site she left a scout who was to reroute the travelers. This was to ensure that Colony didn't lie in ambush and net the entire united family. At worst Sarah knew she could lose several of their number, but that was an unavoidable risk.

The six meeting points spread out like a wheel, encompassing what was formerly a town called Kallista. It had long since fallen into disrepair, its heavily timbered houses having succumbed to white ants and wood rot.

Three months after Sarah's family had left the city for the Dan-denong Ranges, a couple in their teens, who introduced themselvesas the O'Shannesseys, arrived at the base camp, having been sent on from one of the meeting places.

Sarah spent a day and a night with them, sharing information. She sent them back with a wheelbarrow full of fresh produce, as well as some medical supplies and spare radio parts.

It took some time for the O'Shannesseys to realize that Sarah didn't want anything in exchange, and when they finally departed for home, they did so puzzled but grateful.

A week later, Sarah, Welkin, and Lucida sat around a small log fire.

"Dry wood," Welkin said, dumping a stack of twigs and branches beside the crackling fire.

"Because green wood makes smoke," Lucida added.

Sarah's face flickered orange and red as the flames danced in the wind. "You're both doing well.

Everyone here has you guys to thank for the success we're having contacting people."

"Because we're exotics. From space," Lucida said, making a spooky sound. Welkin laughed.

"A bit of that," Sarah admitted.

"They get a bit disappointed when they first see us," Welkin said. "Remember that first family—?"

"The O'Shannesseys? They came hurrying up to us and asked where the Skyborn were!" Lucida burst

out laughing.

Sarah snorted. "And you idiots told them that the Skyborn had just beamed back up to the mother craft for a quick snack and—"

"—that they'd be back down shortly!" Lucida bubbled with laughter.

"Dear me," Sarah said, holding her face and shaking it. "The look on their faces. Anyway, on a more serious note, the transmitter wouldn't have been possible without you. Let's just say we owe you."

Welkin rubbed his hands in front of the fire. He'd seen that done so many times on Colony's vids and had always wanted to do it. Even now, though, he couldn't for the life of him figure out why people rubbed their hands in the warmth of a fire.

"It's just amazing how many people have met on the trail anddiscovered other settlements that thought they were the only survivors!" Lucida said.

"Homing pigeons," Sarah mused. She threw another log onto the fire. "Of course, the larger settlements are merely sending representatives—they're still much too wary to commit themselves."

"We'll have an army soon," Welkin predicted.

"Welkin loved war vids," explained Lucida.

"I did not!"

"You did."

Sarah held up her hands. "We have forty-five seniors and at least eighty-five younger kids." She smiled as children's voices babbled incoherently in the background. "Little horrors never stand still long enough to count them!"

"But it's wonderful to see them having fun," Lucida said pensively. "Everything on Colony was work, work, work! Even sim games were designed to sharpen reflexes and brains."

"It's not all fun for these kids," Sarah reminded her. "They get to know their parents for only a few years. Even after all this time, most of them can't understand why their parents die so young. They somehow know it's wrong, but it's so hard to explain it to them." She sighed.

The three stared into the fire. Every now and then gum exploded and embers spat into the air like misguided rockets.

"You know," Sarah said, "before all these people came here, I'd forgotten about smithing, weaving, pottery, a lot about herbal lore." She frowned. "So many trades that other settlements had a smattering of. Now they're all here, sharing their knowledge."

"Let's just hope that some of the more cosmetic fads don't catch on," Lucida said.

"Like those people who dye their cheeks and lips with elderberry juice," Welkin put in.

"Or the bleached blonds," Lucida added, making a face. "Why do they do that?"

"And how?" Welkin wondered.

Sarah cleared her throat. "Celts used stale urine."

Welkin and Lucida looked at Sarah with their mouths open.

"As for why they do it," Sarah went on, "that's anyone's guess. You might ask them."

"Not me," Lucida said slowly. She fingered her own natural blond hair.

Welkin nudged her. "One of them asked me how you got your blond hair so evenly dyed."

Lucida looked at him coldly.

"I told them you swim in the creek a lot."

"They didn't believe you," Lucida said. "They still stink."

"Okay, you two," Sarah said, getting up, "it's time for sleep. Colony?, more than a little peeved at our existence. One of the teams said they spotted Colony cruisers in the foothills yesterday. It means they'll be up here shortly. The real fun is about to begin."

Two days later, Gillian, Welkin, Harry, and Elab were hunting pheasant.

"Make more noise—really hit the scrub," Gillian called to the beaters. She turned to Welkin and shrugged. "Unless they make a lot of noise, the pheasants aren't going to take wing, are they?" she queried.

"They're making enough noise to bring Colony down on us," Welkin grinned. "There goes one!"

Four arrows sped through the air. One hit its mark and the bird fell to the ground with a thump.

"I got it!" Gillian screamed excitedly.

"If it's a yellow-feathered arrow, it's mine!" Elab called as they rushed to where the bird had fallen.

They never reached it.

A Colony cruiser skimmed across the grass, flattening it. It launched a missile that ploughed a hole across their path.

"Down!" Elab screamed.

The explosion sprayed rocks and dirt into the air, sent a shock wave rippling through the ground.

Weaponless, the beaters fled into the surrounding forest. That's when the jabbers caught them in crossfire.

"Ohmigod!" Gillian cried.

Welkin tackled her to the ground just as the cruiser brushed her head.

The high, whining propulsion units of other cruisers rose and fell all around them, flattening the grass.

Four to a team. One or two teams. Could be eight of them, Welkin calculated.

"Go for the jabbers!" Elab cried urgently.

"What's he saying?" Gillian shouted above the whining cruisers.

She loosed an arrow and cursed when it snapped on the cruiser's fairing.

"Come on!" Welkin steeled himself to charge the jabbers who were now lobbing arrows at them from a thicket eighty yards away.