Vonda McIntyre - Fireflood

His eyes were too close together. That was something the virus-forming would not have been able to cure.

"I see," she said. "You can't help us, because we might succeed."

"Don't hate us," he said.

She turned away, her armor scraping on rock. "What do you care, if a creature as repellent as I hates you?"

"I care," Jay said very quietly.

Dark knew she was being unfair, to him if not to his kind, but she had no sympathy left. She wanted to hide herself somewhere and cry.

"When are the humans coming for me?"

"They come when they please," he said. "But I made the others promise one thing. They won't ask you to leave till morning. And if we can't find you, then-- there's time for you to get away, if you hurry."

Dark spun around, more quickly than she thought herself able to. Her armor struck sparks, but they glowed only briefly and died.

"Where should I go? Somewhere no one at all will ever see me? Underground, all alone, forever?" She thought of the mountain and its perils, but it meant nothing now. "No," she said. "I'll wait for them."

"But you don't know what they might do! I told you what they've done to us-- "

"I hardly think they'll shoot me out of the sky."

"Don't joke about it! They'll destroy anything, the things they love and the things they fear..."

"I don't care anymore," Dark said. "Go away, flyer. Go away to your games, and to your illusions of beauty."

He glared at her, turned, and sprang into the air. She did not watch him go, but pulled herself completely inside the shadows of her armor to wait.

Sometime during the night she drifted off to sleep. She dreamed of the fireflood: she could feel its heat and hear its roar.

When she awoke, the rising sun blazed directly into her eyes, and the steel blades of a helicopter cut the dawn. She tried and failed to blot out the sound of the humans' machine. She began to shiver, with uncertainty or with fear.

Dark crept slowly down the side of the mountain, toward the border where the humans would land. The flyers would not have to tell her to leave. She wondered if she were protecting herself, or them, from humiliation.

Something touched her and she started, drawing herself tightly into her armor.

"Dark, it's only me."

She peered out. Jay stood over her with his wings curved around them both.

"You can't hide me," she said.

"I know. We should have, but it's too late." He looked gaunt and exhausted. "I tried, Dark, I did try."

On the humans' side of the lava flow, the machine landed and sent up a fine spray of dust and rock particles. People climbed out, carrying weapons and nets. Dark did not hesitate.

"I have to go." She raised her armor up off the ground and started away.

"You're stronger than we are," Jay said. "The humans can't come and get you and we can't force you to leave."

"I know." The invisible boundary was almost at her feet; she moved reluctantly but steadily toward it.

"Why are you doing this?" Jay cried.

Dark did not answer.

She felt Jay's wingtip brush the edge of her armor as he walked alongside her. She stopped and glanced up at him.

"I'm coming with you," he said. "Till you get home. Till you're safe."

"It's no more safe for you. You can't leave your preserve."

"Nor could you."

"Jay, go back."

"I'll not lose another friend to the humans."

Dark touched the boundary. As if they were afraid she would still try to escape them, the humans rushed toward her and flung the net over her, pulling in its edges so it caught beneath her armor. They jostled the flyer away from her side.

"This isn't necessary," she said. "I'll come with you."

"Sorry," one finally said, in a grudging tone. "It's necessary."

"Her word's good," Jay said. "Otherwise she never would have come out to you at all."

"What happened to the others?" Dark asked.

One human shrugged.

"Captured," another said.

"And then?"

"Returned to the sanctuary."

Dark had no reason not to believe them, simply because they had no reason to spare her feelings if any of her friends were dead.

"You see, Jay, there's no need for you to come."

"You can't trust them! They'll lie to you for your cooperation and then kill you when I've left you with no witness."

That could be true; still, she lumbered toward the helicopter, more hindered than helped by the humans' tugging on the steel cables. The blades circled rhythmically over her.

Jay followed, but the humans barred his way.

"I'm going with her," he said.

She glanced back. Somehow, strangely, he looked even more delicate and frail among the normal humans than he had when she compared him to her own massive self.

"Don't come any farther, flyer."

He pushed past them. One took his wrist and he pulled away. Two of the humans grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him over the border as he struggled. His wings opened out above the turmoil, flailing, as Jay fought to keep his balance. A blue feather fluttered free and spiraled to the ground.

Dragging her own captors with her, pulling them by the net-lines as they struggled and failed to keep her on their side, Dark scuttled toward Jay and broke through the group of humans. The flyer lay crumpled on the ground, one wing caught awkwardly beneath him, the other curved over and around him in defense. The humans sprang away from him, and from Dark.

"Jay," she said. "Jay..."

When he rose, Dark feared his wing was crushed. He winced when he lifted it, and his plumage was in disarray, but, glaring at the humans, he extended and flexed it and she saw to her great relief that he was all right. He glanced down at her and his gaze softened. Dark reached up toward him, and their clawed

hands touched.

One of the humans snickered. Embarrassed, Dark jerked her hand away.

"There's nothing you can do," she said. "Stay here."

The net jerked tighter around her, but she resisted it. "We can't waste any more time," the leader of her captors said. "Come on, now, it's time to go."

They succeeded in dragging her halfway around, and a few steps toward the helicopter, only because she permitted it.

"If you won't let me come with her, I'll follow," Jay said. "That machine can't outpace me."

"We can't control anyone outside your preserve." Strangely, the human sounded concerned. "You know the kind of thing that can happen. Flyer, stay inside your boundaries."

"You pay no heed to boundaries!" Jay cried, as they pulled and pushed Dark the last few paces back into their own territory. She moved slowly, at her own speed, ignoring them.

"Stay here, Jay," she said. "Stay here, or you'll leave me with guilt as well as failure."

Dark did not hear him, if he answered. She reached the 'copter, and steeled herself against the discomfort of its noise and unshielded electrical fields. She managed to clamber up into the cargo hold before they could subject her to the humiliation of being hoisted and shoved.

She looked out through the open door. It was as if the rest of the world were silent, for she could hear and sense nothing but the clamor immediately around her. On the lava ridge, Jay stood still, his shoulders slumped. Suddenly his wings flared out, rose, descended, and he soared into the air. Awestruck once more, Dark watched through the mesh of the net. Jay sailed in a huge circle and glided into the warm updraft of the volcano.

The rotors moved faster, blurring and nearly disappearing. The machine rose with a slight forward lurch, laboring under the weight of the hunting party and Dark as well. At the same time, Jay spiraled upward through the glowing steam. Dark tried to turn away, but she could not. He was too beautiful.

The distance between them grew greater, until all Dark could see was a spark of bright blue appearing, then vanishing, among the columns of steam.