Reconception: The Fall (7 page)

As Evie and Garret tried to imagine the kind of
society they were exploring, the noise of their van rounding the
hill attracted their attention. Driving the van was Cries at the
Moon, another man at his side, and riding on top were seven
children, more children than Evie or Garret had ever seen in one
place, at one time, in all their lives.

The children scrambled off the roof, and ran
laughing and shouting to get a closer look at the strangers, who,
taking advantage of the situation, also got a closer look. The
children were, like the others, covered from head to foot. In
addition, they each wore sunglasses as protection from the
ultraviolet radiation. Still, their clothes didn't hinder their
movements in any way, and they were as agile as only children can
be. They ranged in ages from three to nine. Standing out of reach
of the strangers, the children observed them solemnly.

"She's pretty," Holly announced, and the others
murmured their agreement. Holly was only four, but it was well
known that she was smart. Taking off her sunglasses to get a better
look, she was surprised when Evie did the same. The scientist was
startled by the girl's eyes, which were an uncanny shade of green.
The other children looked normal, each having two arms, two legs
and so forth. She wondered about those little ones that Teller had
lost, and why. These were obviously healthy. Holly reached out and
took her hand and began to lead her toward one of the glass doors.
Evie wanted to go in; she was so curious, but looking at Garret,
she saw that he wanted to go to the van. Gently disengaging
herself, she said, "We'll come later if that's all right."

Teller shooed the children away as Evie and Garret
made their excuses and retired to the privacy of their life support
systems. When the door of the van closed behind them and the soft
shush of the air recycling began, Garret sat down on his cot and
let out a sigh. "What a place! It`s too bad we can't stay to really
explore it."

Evie looked at him sharply, "What do you mean? Why
not?"

"Evie, we have to deliver this food and these
producers to Southeast!"

"Oh. I forgot. I just plain forgot. Of course we
have to do that first, but as soon as we're finished, we can come
back here, can't we?"

Garret shrugged and lay down.

Not getting any response, Evie lay down next to
Garret on his narrow cot, and looked into his face. His eyes were
shut. "We have to come back here, Garret. I want to come back here.
We have a million things to learn here."

Garret just grunted. "Please, Gar," she said, rubbing
her nose against his. "Please," she repeated, kissing his cheek and
ear. When he didn't respond, she sat up. "You know how important
this is to our work. Why are you acting like this?"

Garret opened his eyes and looked at her. "I know
it's important, and I don't know why I'm acting like this. I just
can't seem to help it. I feel ... so, I don't know, threatened, by
this whole thing, in every way. I mean, who are these people? How
is it that they can survive out here, and I can't? Why can't I? I
resent it. I'm angry, and at the same time, I know this is just
what we were hoping to find. And you, you like them. You trust them
just like that. I feel lonely ... confused. Evie, I don't know, I
just never felt like this before."

Perhaps the most wonderful thing about Garret, in
Evie's eyes, was his complete honesty. He never covered up his
feelings, or pretended to feel something he didn't. As always,
whatever exasperation she had been feeling at his behavior
dissolved when he spoke. "Oh Garret," she said, nuzzling against
him. "Don't worry. Just don't worry."

Their kisses became more ardent when an unexpected
knock came on the door of the van. Stifling a curse, Garret got up
and answered it. Eye of Eagle was a big man, and his presence in
the van seemed to dwarf it. What had been a comfortably warm space
was suddenly enormously crowded. "I wanted to know if you two were
hungry. We're getting dinner on now, and we thought you might like
to join us."

Evie smiled and accepted the invitation. As Eye of
Eagle was turning to go, Garret spoke up. "We can't stay, you know.
We have to continue on and bring the food and producers we spoke
about earlier to Southeast, as we set out to do."

"We can help you. You'll need our help actually,
because you'll never make it in this machine."

"Why not?"

Eye of Eagle sat down on the edge of one of the
cots. "After the Evildoers disappeared, that is, went underground,
what was already a hellish situation got worse. We were pretty much
okay, living here, isolated from most of society, but out there, in
the cities and suburbs where most of the people lived, it was a
catastrophe. Those who'd run away were the ones who'd previously
run things. Those who were left didn't know how to do that. Not
that they didn't try. Not that they weren't capable if they'd been
given time.

The world was already in bad shape, what with the
pollution, the global warming, well you know. When the leaders all
disappeared, chaos stepped in. All the power plants went down. No
more light, no more heat in winter. Crops rotted in the fields and
in the granaries, and people starved to death. Plagues and wars
followed over whatever food and water remained. The worst of it was
what men did to other men in their struggle to stay alive. Some
resorted to cannibalism. Only the strong survived.

These people, or their descendents anyway, are still
alive. They live near the cities, near the roads. They live like
animals; kill at the blink of an eye. They're complete barbarians.
And yes," he continued at the question in Evie's eyes, "some of
them are still cannibals. Some hunt the wild dogs, cats, raccoons,
lizards, snakes and other wildlife that remain, some raise animals
for food, but you can't be sure. You will never get past these
people without our help."

Evie had grown pale.

CHAPTER 6

East USA Habitat: 2128

Jersey Lipton had to sit down after Morgan left. He
was unaccustomed to the flood of feelings suddenly screaming to be
released, and didn't know how to handle them. Fear, anger,
gratitude, these were all alien to him. Jersey's life revolved
around machines, transistors, and computer chips. He felt a great
love for his work, for what would someday come of it, but that was
it. When Morgan had threatened that, Lipton had suddenly discovered
within himself the capacity for hate and for rage. When Morgan had
inexplicably saved him from the disaster Morgan himself was
threatening, he had felt gratitude.

Now he sat and tried to sort through the unfamiliar
emotions, to get them under control, so that he could get back to
his work, but he kept coming back to a question. Why had Morgan
taken his lab and then given it back? Was he just being nice
because he'd seen how distressed Jersey had been? While the
physicist was not very familiar with the personalities around him
or, for that matter, personalities in general, there was something
about that that just didn't sit right.

If space was available, and Morgan could set up his
lab elsewhere, then why take Jersey's space in the first place?
And, if space wasn't available and Morgan needed it, then why not
take Jersey's? Apparently the space was both available and
unavailable. Maybe Morgan was going to take someone else's lab. Was
that possible?

He mulled that over for a while and then went to the
computer. It wasn't difficult to discover that there were several
spaces available with lower priority than his. Ergo, Morgan did not
really need his space. He'd wanted it for some other reason.
Perhaps he'd not really wanted it at all.

Jersey sat down heavily as he realized that Morgan
had been manipulating him. Morgan wanted him afraid and at the same
time grateful. Why? Of course it was true that available space or
not, Morgan could probably succeed in taking over his space if he
really wanted it, but it wouldn't put Jersey out in the cold. He'd
just have to move; so why? What did the man want, what did he stand
to gain? He never had trusted him, anyway, not since that day,
nearly twenty years ago, when he’d come out of Evie Chandler’s
quarters covered in blood.

"He wants something from me," Jersey muttered aloud,
"something he doesn't think I'd do if he just came right out and
asked for it. Well, I won't put up with it. I'll just go and tell
him so."

When Jersey burst into Morgan's office, Morgan
realized instantly that his plan had not worked. For one thing,
Jersey was not acting the part of subordinate. He was acting quite
triumphant. Oh, this should be interesting, Morgan thought. This
will be very interesting.

"Morgan," Jersey said, "just what are you up to? You
had no intention of taking over my laboratories, did you? You were
just trying to manipulate me, and I demand to know why."

Morgan, stalling for a few moments to think, got up
and went to the drink dispenser. "Would you care for a drink,
Jersey?" The man was naïve; otherwise he'd have bided his time.

"No, I want an answer."

"Well," Morgan said, "you're absolutely right, of
course. I knew you'd figure it out, and I told the others so, but
they insisted that I try."

"What others? What are you talking about?"

"The fact is it's a secret. I just can't tell you at
this time, because it's a matter of security."

"Security! What rubbish! Who's going to threaten
us?"

Morgan looked worried. "I know it sounds unlikely,
but we are in danger, and you may be called upon to help. We
thought we could get your cooperation without telling you the
facts; we don't want to start a panic, you see, but I guess that's
not going to be the case. If you'll just give me a few days, I'll
discuss this with the ... others and see if they can give you
security clearance."

Jersey didn't know what to say. Security. Clearance.
These were a foreign language to him.

"Trust me," Morgan said, grabbing the advantage.
"Just trust me."

The physicist mumbled his agreement and left the
great manipulator behind. Morgan put his feet up and grinned from
ear to ear. Lipton was going to be fun. It was going to take some
real creativity to get the physicist to cooperate. The idea added
spice to Morgan's heady sense of personal power. It made him,
literally, high.

CHAPTER 7

Mountain People: 2128

The camels were unexpected. Everything that had
happened in the last twenty-four hours was unexpected, but the
camels went beyond the realm of the unforeseen, and into the
surreal. Garret could not believe such ungainly, smelly creatures
even existed. Oh, he'd seen them in books, but the picture did not
remotely compare with the reality.

Camels! Evie, on the other hand, took to the camels
as easily as she'd taken to the Mountain People. She petted them
and fed them grasses. She even climbed on and took a ride.
Laughing, she walked over to Garret and hung her arms around his
neck. "Oh Garret, isn't it wonderful?"

The plan was that several men from the mountain
people would take the food and the producers to Southeast via
caravan. They'd discussed it over dinner the night before, and Eye
of Eagle had insisted that it would be faster, and safer, and that
the food had a much better chance of getting there.

Cries at the Moon, Red Deer and Nightstalker were
looking over the maps while the camels were watered and fed. In a
few moments, they would load the packs containing the producers
onto the backs of eight animals and be off. Unsure and insecure,
Garret did not see that there was any choice. If what Eye of Eagle
had told them was true, then this was the only way. Evie, flushed
and excited, as he'd never seen her in all their life together
certainly believed that these people could be trusted. Why didn't
he?

Eye of Eagle came over and clapped him on the back.
"They're ready to go my friend."

"I want to go with them." No one was more startled
by these words than Garret himself. In fact, he was astonished.
He'd never seen himself as the adventurous type, although, he
supposed he was, else why all those trips to the outside with Evie;
else why was he even here? He wanted to go, that much he could see.
What other way was there to make sure that Southeast got the
producers? Anyway, he wanted to see the world for himself. What
other chance would he ever have? But was it possible? He looked at
Eye of Eagle, who was looking at him with puzzlement.

"You can't go!" Evie said at the same time. Garret
took her by the shoulders and ignored Eye of Eagle, who took the
hint and walked over to the group of other men.

"Evie, listen, how will we know if the producers get
there if I don't go? How will we know if any of what Eagle Eye told
us is true? I have to go. Don't you see?"

"You can't go, Garret. It's simple, it has nothing
to do with what I see or don't see. You can't go because it's too
dangerous. You don't know how to survive out here."

"Evie, what you're saying is true. But I've been out
for hours already with no ill effects. Any effects from the
atmosphere are probably long term." As he spoke, he strode toward
the small caravan preparing to leave.

"It's dangerous, Garret," Evie said, catching up.
"What if you have to fight? You don't know how to fight."

He looked at her but kept walking. "Evie, Evie ... I
have to go. How can I go back to the habitat without ever having
seen what's out there? Don't you understand? I'll never get another
chance like this."

"But if something happened to you ... .I need
you."

"Nothing will happen to me, I promise you."

"I wonder how many men in how many different
circumstances said those very words to their women? How many
millions of men believed those words before they went off to war or
something?" The tears in Evie's eyes flooded their boundaries and
rolled down her cheeks.