The Secret of Spring (20 page)

A guard stalked through the entrance at that moment, thrusting a small bundle into
Spring's
arms. It looked up at her and said "Goo." It was the diplomat.

19

Time and Again

Spring cradled the infant in her arms. The ants had provided some make-shift diapers and a baby bottle. She was not experienced with small children, but had figured out the basics well enough.

It was unnerving to realize that intellectually it was a grown man she was dandling on her knee. Perhaps he gave it no thought or simply accepted it as the way of his kind?

She looked into his pudgy little face, seeking some answer to their dilemma there.

"Were you able to speak with them at all?" she asked. The baby only
gooed
and smiled. Probably gas. Spring sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you understand me, but I can't speak baby talk." She tilted him onto her shoulder and patted. The diplomat burped.

Herb watched
Spring
with her small charge. It was a pretty enough picture, young mother and child. If she were his wife-but of course she wasn't, and never would be. If by some miracle they survived the fix they were in, Lily would become his life mate. Lily was a fine woman and would be a wonderful mother, he was positive.

Lily had grown up quite a bit from the silly hot house blossom he had known. The trials they had all gone through had changed them, making them somehow stronger. He saw Lily in a new light, and felt more confident about their union. He only hoped they would have that chance.

"He is regressing swiftly," Cling Ling commented. "Soon, he will disappear altogether if we do not get him to his planet."

"Shhh, Cling,"
Spring
chastised him. "Not in front of the B-A-B-Y," she spelled.

"
Spring
, he can spell, too," Herb said, amused.

"Oh. I keep forgetting he's not a real baby. But we have to do something. We can't just sit here and let him vanish. Oops. Sorry, Diplomat," she apologized.

Before they had time to worry further, an escort of Army ants entered, commanding their party to accompany them immediately. Spring hastily gathered her baby paraphernalia and trotted along beside Herb. Cling Ling rolled behind them, followed by more ants.

The strange group trekked down one long passage after another, around and through the deep labyrinth beneath the hill, stopping at last in a large cavernous room.

There was an odor in the air of cooking vegetables originating from a huge iron pot in one corner with hot coals beneath. The cook stood stirring the steaming soup with a long ladle. He looked up and smiled, which was hard to decipher with a sideways mouth, while the guards indicated a long bench where the group was to sit.

It had been some time since they had eaten, and Herb found his mouth beginning to water in spite of his fear. Perhaps it was a new type of torture.

Spring leaned close to Herb and whispered, "Now what?"

Cling Ling answered. "It appears to be the mess hall for this camp."

A guard addressed the cook in Universal so they all understood him. "Do you need anything else before you serve?"

"Not anymore," the cook replied, smiling. "All I needed was a nice green herb-"

"Oh no you don't,"
Herb shouted, rushing across the floor before the guards could stop him. "You won't put me in any pot."

He gave a kick and the huge kettle overturned. Hot soup and veggies flooded the hard dirt floor in every direction. Those nearest yelped in pain and jumped quickly away. Cling Ling had already gone into action, thrusting and twining his vines in a fine exhibition of Julep-so, clearing a path to the exit.

"Run," he yelled to the others, but they were already heading out the tunnel as the burned ants fell over each other in confusion.

"Halt! Halt!" one cried out as they raced for topside and freedom.

"Which way?" Spring panted at the junction of tunnels.

"Any," Herb yelled.

"That one has light at the end," Cling Ling said, pointing with a small branch.

They could hear the shouts and cries of ants as they got organized behind them. They ran faster until at last they spotted the opening to the outside. It was good to see daylight again.

"This way," Cling Ling called out, rolling ahead. "We must get to the safety of the ship."

Herb looked back and saw that several ants were close behind them, and more were crawling out of the tunnel. It was hard to run in the loose, sandy dirt, and
Spring
couldn't navigate too well holding the baby. Herb took the child from her and made her run ahead.

The ants were gaining fast. This was their element and they could revert to all six legs for speed. Cling Ling reached the ship first, stretching down his vines to pull
Spring
aboard. Herb slammed against the side and held up the baby for his friend to take, then climbed in after. He managed to slam the hatch closed just as the first ant crawled up the side of the ship behind him. They couldn't have cut it any closer.

Inside, they heard a steady pitty patting sound against the portholes.

"Rain?" Spring asked, frowning.

They descended the ladder into their compartment and looked out. The ants covered the sides of the ship and were tapping furiously against the windows with their feelers.

Cling Ling quickly lowered the covers so they couldn't look in. "I think we are safe for the moment" he said.

Spring let out a blood curdling scream. Everyone looked to see what the new crisis was. She had spotted their pilot in the corner, but now he was covered with a thick, squishy substance that seemed to be slowly hardening. Cling Ling poked at it with a leafy finger. A small bit came off like cold batter.

"It's only his cocoon," Cling Ling explained. "It is as it should be. I must locate the ship's flight manual if we are to escape." He climbed topside, and returned a short time later with an octagon shaped object. It had numbers and symbols engraved on all sides and looked like translucent plastic.

"It looks like a giant dice. Can you actually translate that thing?" asked
Spring
.

"It has diagrams. I need a minute to absorb it," he said, rolling to the side to study his find.

The steady rapping continued, and the baby awakened, adding his voice to the melee. He had slept all through the mad race out the tunnels, unbelievable as it seemed. He was so tiny now, he looked like a newborn.

"Oh. He's shrinking again," cried
Spring
. "Please hurry and get us out of here, Cling."

Abruptly, the rapping noise ceased, and the silence was deafening.

"I wonder what they're doing out there now?" whispered
Spring
.

Herb climbed to the upper hatch and listened, but there was no sound. "Maybe they're gone?" he said, climbing back down the ladder and lifting the cover from one of the portholes. "Uh-oh!"

"What?" Spring asked, pushing close to peep out. Her breasts jammed against Herb's side. He moved away so she could have the view to herself. Close proximity was too much to bear. It seemed even at a time like this he was susceptible to her feminine charm. He cursed his male weakness and deliberately forced thoughts of Lily to the fore. How she would despise him if she knew. How both of them would despise him!

"We're surrounded,"
Spring
wailed, as she observed the circle of ants, each holding one of the long, tubular weapons. Who knew what damage those things could do to the ship? At one side of the circle stood a large one, resembling
a cannon
. Primitive it might be, but surely effective at that range. It could probably rip a hole in the side wide enough to walk a
whalephant
through. "Cling," she called nervously.

"Yes, I am aware of developments, Mistress Moon." He had been watching from his porthole. "I think I can manage the ship now, but we can't achieve take-off before they could fire upon us. It is a dilemma." He returned topside with the flight manual.

"Now what are we going to do?" she cried, clutching the tiny baby to her breast.

"What else can we do," Herb said in disgust, "except surrender?"

"We can't do that either,"
Spring
said.

"No. Not all of us. But, if one went out and distracted them, perhaps drawing their fire away from the ship, the others might have a chance to escape," he said.

"But Herb, who?" she asked.

He pushed her aside and bounded up to the cockpit, unfastening the hatch.

"No," she screamed, realizing his intent, and quickly scrambled up the ladder to stop him.

"Get her out of here, Cling," Herb ordered, crawling outside and slamming the hatch shut beneath him.

Spring tried to follow, but Cling Ling quickly fastened the latch and gently pulled her away from the door. "It is best," he said, and began to man the controls, pulling levers and pushing buttons. The
Txnghc
ship jarred to life.

"But you can't leave him,"
Spring
said in disbelief. She raced back down to the compartment and tucked the baby into one of the sacks, then pressed her nose to the nearest porthole.

There was Herb, out in the dirt now, and walking purposefully to the Commander. He was saying something she couldn't hear,
then
two of the guards came forward and escorted him to one side of the circle. The ants began to form two lines behind each other, raising their weapons.

"Cling. It's a firing squad. No! Not Herb!" she sobbed.

A sudden lurch of the ship sent her reeling backward, falling to the floor just as the thunderous sound of the weapons exploded in her ears.

"No," she screamed. Hot tears burst forth to stream down her face. The rocking of the ship made standing up impossible. She crawled on hands and knees to the ladder to pull
herself
up, then began to climb up it.

She had to get off the ship and see about Herb. Another lurch dislodged her hold from the railing and she fell back to the second level, striking her head against one of the metal rungs. She was out before she hit the deck.

When she awoke, they were in deep space and she was tucked neatly into her sack. Slowly, memory returned, and with it, more tears.

Herb, brave, good, kind, innocent Herb. He deserved much better than that ending. Now
Spring
had two deaths on her conscience because of Zygote. Perhaps three if they couldn't reach Lily in time. Poor Lily. She would have to be told about Herb. So many victims in this trail of terror. She had to find a way to stop it.

A small hand wiped away the moisture from her cheek. She opened her eyes and saw the young diplomat. He wasn't an infant anymore. The timewarp must have worked. Cling Ling must have taken them backward again. That was good. The baby had almost shrunk into nothingness before she passed out. Spring put a hand to her forehead and felt a big goose egg. "Ouch."

"Excellent. You have returned to us," said the young diplomat. "How do you feel?"

"Miserable," she answered, remembering Herb. "But I'm relieved to see you are well. That was a close call for you, Diplomat."

"Thanks to your excellent care and our bush pilot, I have survived. Soon we will be warping forward and I will regress once more. I may need to impose one more time."

"I am glad to help. I know this has been hard for you," she said.

"Actually, it has been rather exhilarating. I think in my next cycle, I must consider becoming a space pilot," he said, smiling.

"Our pilot,"
Spring
said, looking around. The
Txnghc
was gone.

"Yes, he is functional now. It happened as surmised by your
Vinese
friend. Going back reversed his metamorphosis as well."

"And we will go forward to deliver you?"

"The pilot will go into his cycle, but now we have Cling Ling to take over, so it should be safe this time."

"Yes, it's all working out just wonderfully-" Her composure suddenly crumbled. Spring pulled herself from the sack and walked to the porthole, stopping to hold the ladder for support.

"Are you unwell?" asked the diplomat solicitously. "Your injury?"

"It's not that. It's just a bump. I just can't believe Herb is gone. I didn't even get to say goodbye to him." The tears began to flow again and she hid her face behind her hands. "Oh, Herb!" she cried.

"Yes?" he answered, coming down the ladder.

Shocked, she turned, hardly believing her eyes. She launched herself at him, kissing him and hugging tightly as if she would never let him go.

Herb returned her embrace and they stood entwined for a long, wonderful moment. Suddenly,
Spring
pulled away and punched him in the stomach with her fist.

"Ouch," Herb said. "What's that for?"

"For lying to me. I thought you were shot."

"I never told you I was dead," he protested.

"But, I don't understand," she said, walking to the porthole and gazing out into the darkness. "The last time I saw you, the ants were preparing an execution. I heard the gunfire."