James Gardner: Ascending

I needed a means to fight the nanites directly. I needed nanites of my own.

"Nimbus," I said aloud.

Leaping to my feet, I rushed to the webby blobs that held our companions. With so much honey splashing around, the blobs had been struck with spatters… and wherever the honey had touched, the webby surface had dissolved into jelly. Praise to the Hallowed Ones! I thought: the blobs must be made of living matter, susceptible to Blood Honey. Now all I needed was a tool…

Festina’s stun-pistol lay on the floor a short distance behind me — she had dropped it when she saw it did not work on the Shaddill. I grabbed it and poked the metal muzzle into one of the purple patches on Nimbus’s cocoon. With a twist of the wrist, I flicked the jelly off the gooey surface; the result was a small hole where the jelly had been. Even better, the gun’s metal barrel did not seem affected by contact with honey… which meant I could use it to dig into the blob that held Nimbus prisoner.

For Festina’s sake, I hoped I could do it quickly.

Wrapping my jacket around my hands and arms to avoid getting stuck on the blob’s gluey surface, I pushed the cocoon holding Nimbus to the edge of the fountain. Once I had the cocoon in position, I dipped the pistol’s mouth into the basin, got it wet with red liquid, then prodded it into the blob’s exterior. The sheen of honey on the gun’s barrel ate into goopy webbing, turning it to a gel which could then be flicked away. This was not a speedy process — the honey did not corrode the goo nearly as fast as I wished — but little by little I deepened a hole into the blob, telling myself all the while I would soon free Nimbus.

A part of me realized this might not be true. If Nimbus’s little misty bits were all trapped separately, like millions of bubbles in a solid block of ice, I could never carve them loose in time to save Festina. But if there was one big chamber in the middle, a single holding area like an egg, and all I had to do was pierce the shell to let the cloud man out…

A great gust of mist shot out from the hole, straight into my face. It felt cool and kindly, a fog of salvation. "Nimbus!" I cried. "There are nanites down Festina’s throat! You must clear them out and start her breathing again."

I expected the cloud man’s mist to swoop immediately toward Festina; but it only wisped around and around, swirling close to me, then shying away again. "Clear them out?" Nimbus whispered. "How? I’m not designed for fighting other nanites. I couldn’t begin to take on warrior nano…"

"These nanites are not warriors, you foolish cloud, they are just translator things. But they will kill Festina unless you take action."

"It’s not that easy, Oar!" Mist was all around me, wreathing my head, brushing my cheek. "My only way to stop the nanites is smashing my particles against them. High-speed collisions that will hurt me just as much as the nano."

"Are you such a coward that you fear a little pain?"

"I’m not talking about pain; I’m talking about mutual destruction."

"And I am talking about the death of my friend!" I swept my hands at him viciously, trying to push himaway from me. "You are a healer, are you not? Festina needs healing. That is all you have to think about."

"No, Oar. I also have to think about my daughter. And…" His mist shuddered. "…and my owner. My owner’s wishes."

"Your owner? Uclod would wish you to help Festina!"

"I told you, Uclod isn’t my owner — he’s just renting me. I’m the property of… of someone who doesn’t know or care about your friend Festina, and who wouldn’t want me to risk myself on her behalf." The mist-man shuddered again. "I’m a valuable investment," he said bitterly. "I have strict orders not to endanger myself on ‘unprofitable moral whims.’ "

"And you listen to such orders?"

"Oar," he said. "I told you when I met you, obedience is hard-wired into my genes. I despise it, but I don’t have a choice. It’s how I was built."

I stared at him a moment, then closed my eyes. "I will tell you a thing, Nimbus. We are all built in ways we would change if we could — we are flawed or damaged or broken by forces beyond our control. In the end, we are limited creatures who cannot exceed our boundaries." I opened my eyes again, seeing only mist. "But here is the other half of the truth: our boundaries are never where we think they are. Sometimes we think we are the most wonderful person in the world, then find we are nothing special; sometimes we think we are too weak to do a great deed, then find we are stronger than we believe." I took a deep breath. "Please save Festina, Nimbus. You do not have to be so hard-wired and obedient. Please save her, and prove you are more than you think."

For a moment, he did not answer. His mist shimmered… as if it were glistening in some light beyond the dimness of that dusky room. Then his voice murmured in my ear, "All right. I’ll do what I can."

He swept around me one last time, brushing tenderly against my neck. "My daughter is still inside the web. Get her out and keep her safe."

"I will," I promised.

He swirled away, streaming across the room as fast as an eagle, not slowing down as he flew straight into Festina’s face. The cloud man disappeared up Festina’s nose as he had once before… only this time I was not scandalized by his effrontery, but overjoyed he was going to save her. He would fly down her throat to fight the gold nanites…

And who would win the battle? Who would survive?

I did not know.

Carefully, because I had nothing else to do, I widened the hole into the cocoon that had held Nimbus prisoner. The hole was only three fingers across, the breadth of the pistol’s barrel. Smearing more and more honey into the gap, I increased the breach in the goo-ball until I could stick my arm through safely, with no risk of touching the damp jelly sides.

All that time, I forced myself not to look in Festina’s direction. Nimbus would succeed; of course he would. There was no other way to save my friend, so the universe was compelled to let Nimbus triumph.I merely had to get Starbiter out of the blob; the moment I managed that, Nimbus would emerge from my friend’s mouth and say, "Oar, everything is all right now."

Even before I reached into the blob, I had caught sight of Starbiter. She lay amongst the webbing so tranquilly, I wondered if perhaps she thought she had returned to her mother’s womb. But she did not protest as I wrapped my fingers gently around her and drew her out into the world. I had long since discarded my jacket, for fear of the patches where honey had turned the cloth to gel… so I cradled the little Zarett tight to my chest, right where she could hear my heart beating.

"Now, Nimbus," I said. "Now you will come out."

For many long seconds, nothing happened. Then a vicious spasm shook Festina’s body, and she gave a gagging cough. It was the sound of a human about to vomit; I sped across the room and rolled Festina onto her side just as she gagged again. A spew of yellow phlegm erupted from deep within her, spattering onto the ground. It poured out in streams, puddling on top of the soil. I put an arm around her to hold her steady… and I knelt there, supporting Festina with one hand and baby Starbiter with the other.

"Come out now, Nimbus," I whispered as Festina took a ragged breath. "Your job is done. You have vanquished the enemy. Come out."

But he did not come out. He did not appear and he did not appear and he did not appear… until I realized he had already come out and I just did not recognize him. The spew on the ground was comprised half of golden nanites and half of Nimbus.

Both halves were dead.

I stared at the puddle as it slowly seeped into the dirt. Then I lowered my face to my friend’s shoulder and wept.