S. Swann - Prophets

“You think I—”

“I’m not stupid, Nickolai. I know you don’t want to kill me, otherwise I’d be several flavors of dead right now. That does not mean I trust you.”

“Then what do you want us to do?”

She sighed, and thought a moment. “If we’re lucky, another lifeboat put down in line of sight.” She glanced up at the trees. “Think you can get to the high ground with that arm?”

As large as the trees were, they were easy enough to climb. The bark was rock-hard and scaled in a semiregular pattern of hexagons that spiraled up the trunk. The six-sided plates were the size of Nickolai’s fist, and the gaps between them were more than wide and deep enough for him to insert his claws. Almost a ladder.

He pulled himself up the side, climbing up over a hundred meters until he got a good, mostly unobstructed, view of their surroundings. It helped that they landed on the side of a small mountain. He might not have climbed the highest tree, but the tree’s placement on the slope meant that he was hanging on above the tree line for most of the forest.

From his perch he had a good view to about 120 degrees’ worth of horizon before the mountain range behind him started interfering with his view.

Below him, Kugara shouted up, “What do you see?”

“Forest goes south all the way to the horizon. There’s a large body of water to the southeast, about sixty kilometers away at its closest, I’d guess. Down the shoreline I see some sort of settlement. It’s too far away to see details, but there are a few very large buildings.”

“How far?”

“Possibly a hundred and fifty klicks—it’s just at the horizon.” Of course, the estimate could be way off, considering he had no idea how big the planet was, and barely had a feel for how high above the forest he actually was.

“Anything closer?”

He shouted down an inventory for her. He could see a couple of spots of color which could be drag chutes caught in the forest canopy at fifty and sixty klicks. He saw a couple of large cleared areas that might have been signs of logging activity. Those were farther away, close to the settlement.

Southwest of them, Nickolai saw a closer scar in the woods. It almost seemed to be a scar from some oblique impact. But he could see some sort of structures dotting the clearing.

“How far is that?”

“Fifteen kilometers, twenty at most.”

“Okay, get a good bearing on that site. That’s where we’re going.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Mixed Blessings

Sometimes victory is simply deciding to act.

—The Cynic’s Book of Wisdom

One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests.

—John STUART Mill (1806-1873)

Date: 2526.6.4 (Standard) Salmagundi-HD 101534

Mallory had already made four kilometers toward lifeboat number five by the time dawn broke. He kept trying to radio the others, and the yellow point of the sun had begun poking through the canopy at him before he finally got a response.

“Father Mallory?” came Dr. Dörner’s voice.

“Yes, what’s your situation?”

“Dr. Brody is still unconscious, but Dr. Pak and I are both all right.”

Mallory thanked God that they had made it through reentry in one piece. “Good, that’s good. Have you heard anything from the Eclipse or Kugara?”

“No. But it took a while to get to the comm unit. We have a little problem.”

Mallory’s breath caught. “What?”

“We seem to be stuck in a tree.”

Mallory picked up his pace through the woods as he got the details from Dr. Dörner. Their lifeboat had made a softer landing than anyone had a right to expect. The unfortunate side of this was that, unlike Mallory’s lifeboat, lifeboat number five didn’t hit with quite enough force to break the trees it landed on. Dr. Dörner had managed to open the door and discovered that they were at least fifty meters up. There was rope in the emergency kit somewhere, but their perch was precarious enough that Dr. Dörner didn’t want to risk the movement that would be required to find it in the jumble of debris that filled the lifeboat. Even if they had the rope at hand, they had no way to safely get Brody to the ground.

“Can you see how the lifeboat is supported?”

“N-no.” Her voice was thick with fear.

“We need to get all of you out of that lifeboat,” Mallory said.

“I don’t know how we can.”

Mallory heard creaking wood over the open link. They had to get out of there before the support gave way. “Look, don’t worry about getting down. The immediate problem is getting Brody to a stable location. Look out the door. You must see other branches big enough to support you.”

He heard her suck in a breath, then the comm followed with rustling movement and more creaking. “I’m here.” Now her voice was cut with the sound of wind. More creaking, followed by a snap, and she gasped.

“Are you all right?”

“The lifeboat shifted,” she whispered.

“Do you see anything within reach?”

“I’m looking . . . There’s a branch below the door. It’s about a meter in diameter.”

“Perfect, can one of you get to it?”

“I don’t know if I—” Her voice was cut off by more rustling and creaking, and Mallory heard muffled voices he couldn’t make out.

“Dr. Dörner?”

“Leon said he can try.”

“Okay,” Mallory sucked in a breath. “What kind of shape is Dr. Brody in? Is he conscious?”

“No. We’ve tried waking him.”

Mallory sucked in a breath. None of the options were particularly good, but they couldn’t stay in the lifeboat. “Can you move him yourself?”

“I-I don’t think so.”

“Then you and Dr. Pak need to move him to the doorway. Then Dr. Pak can go outside and help you pass Dr. Brody through the doorway.”

“You make it sound simple.”

“I know it isn’t,” Mallory said. “Slow and careful. You can’t stay in that lifeboat.”

“Father Mallory?”

“Yes?”

“Why did you pretend to be someone else? Isn’t that a sin?”

Mallory paused and then said, “I’ve only done what the Church asked of me. We’re all sinners looking for God’s forgiveness. Now, please, get yourself and Dr. Brody out of there.”

“I’ll need two hands,” she said. He heard her set down the comm unit. He started walking again, hearing only the protesting tree, grunts, and soft, inarticulate speech. Every passing minute, the groaning wood seemed to get louder, and occasionally something would pop.

He felt his chest tighten when he heard static blare over the comm followed by a horribly loud crashing sound.

“Dr. Dörner!” he shouted into the unit, breaking into a run even though he was still at least nine kilometers away from them. “Dr. Dörner!”

After nearly thirty seconds of panic, the comm came alive again. “We’re fine. The comm fell from my belt while we were moving Dr. Brody.”

Mallory stopped running, the relief almost a physical blow. “Is everyone out?”

“Not me, not yet.”

“Can you make it?”

“Yes. But can I ask you something, Father Mallory?”

“What?”

“Do you know what happened to Xi Virginis?”

“No, Dr. Dörner. But I think God led me here to find out.”

“God or Mosasa?”

“God is free to choose any instrument to work His will.”

She hesitated before asking, “Did you sabotage our communications?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I’m going out the door now.” She added, almost in a whisper, “Pray for me.”

Mallory did as she asked.

Alexander had never seen the Grand Triad gripped by such chaos. Progress of the Salmagundi government was always slow and deliberative, filled as it was by minds self-selected for their caution and traditional nature. It was always annoying, but now it had verged on the dangerous.