Pliocene Exile - The Adversary Part 49

"Lord Aronn will complete the second team," Basil said.

"Under ideal conditions, both teams will reach the aircraft and we will have three pilots, not just one, available to fly s.h.i.+ps back here to Camp Bettaforca. Our ATV specialist, Mr. Collins, a.s.sures me that the fourplex vehicles can be disa.s.sembled into their original smaller modules for loading onto the aircraft. We hope to evacuate the entire camp and transport it in toto to the North Face. Even if-uh-Fata obstant and we have only a single s.h.i.+p available for shuttle work, it will still be able to airlift all personnel to safety in a single trip. Once the aircraft have power, they are capable of concentrating an enriched atmosphere. Sensitive individuals will reside on board while a sufficient number of s.h.i.+ps are prepared for the first trip to Goriah. Subsequently, only the technical personnel and their Tanu supervisors will have to remain on the mountain to salvage the remaining machines ... The task we face is difficult. Some of us may lose our lives in the attempt to retrieve these aircraft.

But we know, nevertheless, that they may be crucial not only in the reopening of the time-gate but also in the defence of the Many-Coloured Land against powerful enemies. At the risk of belabouring a point, I will end by quoting a peculiarly apposite verse from Kipling: Something hidden. Go and find it.

Go and look behind the RangesSomething lost behind the Ranges.

Lost and waiting for you. Go!

If there are any questions I will now answer them."

"When do you plan for us Sherpas to start slogging?" Stan asked.

Basil said, "Tomorrow Nirupam, Ookpik, and I will lay out a route over the Gresson Glacier to the icefall. Support teams will begin carrying supplies to a dump at the icefall foot on Wednesday the twenty-fourth."

"And how long," enquired a worried-looking elite gold, "before the birdies get home to the roost in Goriah?"

"We've got nineteen days," said Veikko distinctly, "whether you realize it or not." And he told them about Kyllikki's estimated time of arrival with the X-zappers, and when the uproar over that had died down, he got around to mentioning the really bad news about Marc.

CHAPTER FOUR.

Mary-Dedra dried her little son's inflamed skin, then dusted him with velvety spores by squeezing a dry puffball over his body.

He emerged for a moment from the terrible stupor and his mind smiled.

Like, he said.

The mother crooned to him through her golden torc: Soon you will feel better much better soon Brendan. She said aloud to Elizabeth: "Brother Anatoly suggested this subst.i.tute for baby powder. He said it was an old Siberian remedy. The fungus does seem to soothe the blisters better than salves."

The baby's eyes with their enlarged pupils fixed on Elizabeth.

The feeble glow of pleasure was snuffed out by apprehension.

Hurt me? Hurt again?

Elizabeth said: Yes Brendan. Hurt to make all hurt go away.

(And you must fear me, poor baby, not love the hurter, lest the mind-circuits become confused and you mistake the pain for joy.) Dedra kept up her own flow of telepathic rea.s.surance as she wrapped the child in a light blanket. But when she handed him to Elizabeth he broke into hopeless wails, and Dedra cried out, overcome with guilt and reproach.

"We're very close," Elizabeth told the mother. "It could be tonight."

"But he doesn't seem to be any better ... You say the treatment is going well, but I haven't seen any improvement.

Except in his communication with me, telling me how it hurts."

"I know. I'm sorry, but it's inevitable. If we keep him below the pain threshold during the redaction, he won't be able to a.s.sist us. But he is better, Dedra. Believe me. Unfortunately, the modifications to the brain haven't yet manifested themselves in the rest of his body. When they do, improvement will be dramatic and abrupt. We're well into the multimodal thalamic nuclei-a primary integrative area. The job is nearly done."

"Will you work all night again?"

"Yes." Elizabeth held the sobbing baby against her shoulder, then triggered a ma.s.sive release of endorphins so that Dedra would at least see him smile before she left ... in case this sight of him was the one that would live in memory. "Dedra, there's still a danger. As always."

The mother kissed her baby's head, feverish beneath gossamer-fine curls.

Love Brendan love.

Brendan loves Mother.

"I know how hard you've worked," Dedra said to Elizabeth.

"You and-that man. I'm grateful, whatever happens. Believe me."

Elizabeth placed the quiet child into his basket. "You can send Marc in now. Tell Brother Anatoly to wait outside with you tonight. We can call him if we need him." For the Blessing of Departure.

"Very well."

Dedra went out of the nursery and Elizabeth turned away from the basket, going to the window to take a few breaths of cool air. A harvest moon rode above the silvery undulations of the Montagne Noire. The aether was apparently tranquil all over Europe.

It seems, she thought, that the only dread and unease in the world are here on my sad crag, and I am very much afraid. Not of personal failure. Not even of facing Dedra's grief. I'm afraid of him, and the energies he will channel through me into the mind of this dying child. He has come here faithfully for the past ten days. He has been a superlative a.s.sistant, never making the slightest attempt to seize control or even question my direction. Even his socializing has been formal. And still I am threatened ...

"Good evening, Elizabeth."

She turned from the window and he was there, standing beside the child's basket, as usual wearing the crimson silk robe that Brother Anatoly had gladly relinquished.

"We'll attempt the finalization tonight," she said. "Since it will be hard on all three of us, we'll go at it in brief stages and give the child ample time for synaptic recuperation as we impose the new circuitry. Are you ready?"

"In a moment." He held out a closed fist toward her, turned it over and let the fingers open. In the palm of his hand was a small white star. "I went exploring today and brought you a souvenir."

In spite of herself, she reached out. It was a flower with a central cl.u.s.ter of golden b.u.t.tons, surrounded by fleshy bracts clothed in fine white wool. She studied it in some perplexity.

He said, "Edelweiss. Shall we begin?"

Hold.

Quickly halt that surge!

Done.

YesOgood see the holonet react burn it HARD yes enough.

Now brainstem input.

(SleepBrendansleepbabysleepnow.) Disengage easy ... comeout Marc and rest.

They sat in their chairs on either side of the cot, heads bowed as they caught their breath. As always, he recovered first and went to the nearby tabouret for the carafe of fruit juice and gla.s.ses. After he had poured, he bent down and picked up something from the floor.

"You lost your flower," he said, smiling.