Lost Past (30 page)

             
Saxant
was on his transmi
tter, listening to something.
Ms. Saunders and
Saxant
Bud were on computers. They only glanced up enough to identify
Jorxt
and the two men, but went back to paying attention to whatever they were doing.
             

             
Saxant
Bud gestured to
Saxant
and the woman, asking for attention. They both came and looked at a screen. The Bud had to write down instructions and scan them in, of course. Hand printing was slow.

             
Whatever they found interesting,
Jorxt
wasn’t going to watch. He wasn’t invited, and he wouldn’t let them have the satisfaction of asking what was going on. IX gestured a question and
Jorxt
gestured the affirmative. IX started forward, but
Saxant
saved
Jorxt
the humiliation by saying, “There’s startling news about Bud conspiracies.”

             
Jorxt
didn’t want
to walk over there, but
Saxant
mouthed some words to the computer, saying afterwards to
Jorxt
, “I’ve sent you the link.”

             
The news site that
Jorxt
visited wasn’t as polished as it was before, not having the logo on it, just a name. The headline screamed, “Six conspiracies found of Buds imprisoning  mouthed
Plict
and forcing them to bud.” It gave horrible details of illiterate
Plict
kept in poor conditions and budding too frequently or else being tortured. In one case, the Buds were used as labor in a mine and in a second case they were used to dig ditches.

             
The search was on for three more conspiracies, because famed Earth scientist Arthur Saunders predicted nine conspiracies. A brief comment was made saying that he was found alive by some
Plict
in
Aipot
and was unavailable for comment.

             
Ms. Saunders would be happy to hear that her father was alive. He couldn’t let her be happy for another minute.

             
“
Jorxt
,” said Hernandez urgently.
Jorxt
ran to the entrance to the thorn-surrounded landing site above. Wilson came down the stairs, his clothing ripped to shreds. There were bloody scratches on him, but the clothing took the brunt of it.

             
Hernandez pulled out his weapon and aimed.
Jorxt
saw he was going to take his time, making Wilson aware he was going to die. Ms. Saunders came in and was going to see it. Instead of tackling Hernandez, she swung her purse, hitting his head. Hernandez fell to the ground, stunned. How could the purse be heavy enough to knock him down? Hernandez tried to get up and she swung again, hitting his head
again
with the full force of the length of her arms and the purse strap. She then tossed the purse toward Wilson. Why? Was she trying to hit him? Had
Jorxt
misjudged the situation?

             
The other clone pulled out his weapon to fire at Wilson, but Wilson’s hand was in Linda’s purse and a gunshot rang out, blowing a hole in the purse, killing the clone. Where were the other two clones?

             
Franz brought Cara in. He released her and pulled out his weapon. Finally someone would shoot Wilson. When the weapon fired, it wasn’t Wilson who fell, but a bloody
Goran
, who fell from the
stairs
, covered in scratches which tore away most of his skin. He landed on Wilson who was pinned under him.

             
It wasn’t another clone, it was John Graham with Cara. John Graham was like the clones, but even
Jorxt
could tell the difference.
Jorxt
pulled a weapon and aimed it at Wilson, confident that John was no threat.

***

             
Linda saw John shoot
Jorxt
through the head to save Wilson. John dropped his weapon in shock. Linda felt a wave of thoughts coming from John. What have I done? How could I? This is wrong! But the thoughts calmed down to a more reasonable trend: This was justified, I did the right thing,
I
can live with this.

             
Jorxt
Bud IX picked up John’s weapon, aiming it at John. Linda and Cara threw themselves at the Bud. The weapon clattered to the floor. Linda felt a kind of determination from John, he started toward the weapon, but revulsion at killing
Jorxt
stopped him.

             
The
Jorxt
Bud IX threw Cara aside and put his hands around Linda’s neck. The channel with John closed, since Linda was too desperate for air to think of anything else. Linda was losing consciousness while her attempts to fight the Bud were increasingly feeble. Since she didn’t have the strength to push his hands away, she tried to claw his face. She felt water pour over her, and then the Bud was hit repeatedly with John’s fists. The Bud’s hands let go of her, letting her get a short gasp of breath. Other
Plict
hands grabbed
Jorxt
Bud IX and pulled him off. Finally, Linda was freed and lay on the floor gasping for breath.

             
“The Bud should wash off immediately, or the pine might kill him,” John said. “It closes blowholes.”

             
Saxant
and his Bud left the room. Linda looked around and saw Cara on the other side of the room, holding a chair with one hand, trying to stand. She moved stiffly, as if injured.

             
Linda looked at
Jorxt
Bud, who
had
tried to strangle her. John was staring at him, but made no move to either help him or confine him. The Bud struggled to get up, but the struggling slowed down. The Bud stopped moving. John went over to the Bud and licked his finger and put it next to the Bud’s blowhole. After almost a minute he said, “He’s not breathing.”

             
Wilson disentangled himself from the body of the bloody clone and came toward
Linda, first picking up
weapons as well as her purse, which left a trail of M&M’s.

             
“You came for me,” she said, looking up at his face. His right eyebrow would probably always show the track a thorn made in it.

             
Wilson ignored her words and kissed her briefly, although he held on to the weapons he collected. Linda noted this, and was glad he cared for her, but was pleased he was careful with the weapons.

             
Cara interrupted them by saying, “Hernandez is getting up.”

             
Hernandez appeared to be searching for a weapon. Wilson said, “Hands up,” and Hernandez complied, looking around the room at the carnage created in the last few minutes.

             
Saxant
returned, putting handcuffs on Hernandez, then gesturing to John to follow him. They left the room.

             
Before closing the door,
Saxant
said to Linda, “Don’t worry. We’ll be out shortly.”
             
             

             
Cara said to Linda, “John told me your father is here.”

             
“I know,” said Linda, forgetting that Cara didn’t know how she knew.

             
“And your mother and sister.”

             
“What? My mother’s dead, and I don’t have a sister.”

             
“John said they found them. They’ve a ship and they’re waiting for us.”

             
Mom is here! What has she gone through all these years away from Earth? I hated her for leaving me. Can she forgive me for that? A sister. I always wanted a sister, but she’s going to be a stranger to me. I wonder what she’s like.

             
Linda decided to deal with the present first; she walked over to Cara, while Wilson searched to see if he found all the weapons. “How are you?” Linda asked.

             
“Broken arm and cracked ribs, I think,” she responded.

             
Linda helped her to a chair.
Saxant
Bud came out and showed both of them a slate with the words, “I can help. Follow me.”

             
While Wilson stood guard over Hernandez, Linda briefly watched
Saxant
Bud care for Cara and decided to see what was going on with John. She found the room he was in by the process of opening every door she found until she saw him.

             
Saxant
didn’t even turn around when he heard the door, but said, “A little privacy, please. I’m reversing his vasectomy.” Linda was glad
Saxant
was between her and what would have embarrassed her to see.  “Call it my gift to Earth, since his genes are desirable. I’ll even make that an order. John, be fruitful and multiply. We tried to make you think of us as gods, and I’m giving you a godlike order. Fortunately, you’ve demonstrated you don’t think of us that way, and will be able to disobey if you choose. I certainly wouldn’t want you to run through the thorns like that poor clone you shot. Wilson was much more sensible. He crawled through carefully, even to rescue his lady love.” Linda turned and left the room far enough to be out of sight, but not too far to hear. She blushed at being called Wilson’s
lady-love
, but was pleased.

             
“There. You’re done,”
Saxant
said. “What’s the fuel situation on that ship you stole?”

             
When John told him,
Saxant
said, “That’s not enough. There’s a refueling tank here, and I’ll give you enough fuel for a one-way trip. I really don’t want you coming back.”

             
Saxant
Bud escorted John down to the ship and they brought it up to the thorn-surrounded landing site.
Saxant
removed the translation disks from Linda, Wilson, and
Cara, saying it wasn’t good to have them indefinitely and he didn’t know if they could remove them safely on Earth. “Besides, you have enough of our technology to play with on the ship.” His English was accented but understandable, making Linda wonder if he learned it the hard way, or had some kind of translation disk.

             
When Linda climbed into the ship, she saw her mother. “Mom?” she said tentatively. Mom had more gray in her hair and more lines on her sun-browned face. Linda spent years resenting Mom’s absence, but she could hardly complain about her mother leaving her, since Linda knew from personal experience that being kidnapped by Hernandez and his clones didn’t allow one much choice. At least Mom managed to break a lamp, which suggested she fought. The tentative threads of telepathy opened, and Linda received a fleeting thought, “She’s beautiful.” Only to Mom, she thought. Only my mother would find me beautiful. Linda looked at the child near her and was pleased to see the child was more attractive than Linda remembered herself to be at that age. Maybe her sister wouldn’t go through the agonies of unpopularity as an adolescent.

             
“You are both beautiful,” Mom said. From now on, Linda realized, she would be on the other side of telepathy. It was fair, and maybe she could use that knowledge to help Wilson deal with her.

Her father hugged her, saying, “I was worried about you and unhappy I couldn’t help you, but you saved me. I’m so proud of you, and I love you.” Linda smiled at her father, who said, “Meet your sister, Patience. I just met her a few hours ago and look forward to learning to know her better.”

“So do I,” Linda said, smiling at her sister. She turned to her mother and said, “I guess I’ll have to get to know both of you better.”

“And I you,” her mother replied. “Arthur told me what a wonderful daughter you are. I thought I would never see you again and worried what your life would be without me, but you’ve grown up to be a sensational adult. I couldn’t be happier.” Her mother had tears in her eyes, as did Linda. Patience gave a shy smile to Linda, who smiled back. It will take time, Linda thought. I will learn to love her, but it will take time. 
             

             
When the ship was refueled,
Saxant
said, “You’ll need a pilot, since the beacons are down. My Bud will take you.” Linda trusted
Saxant
enough to believe this would be a good idea.
Saxant
and his Bud brought up several boxes, which they loaded on the ship. “Supplies to keep him alive. This won’t last a year, so someone will have to synthesize more. Instructions are in there. I’m not giving you enough fuel to come back, because I think it is safer for both our worlds that you don’t do so, and I don’t think you’ll be able to refuel the ship with your technology.”