"Nonsense! I'm sure you can make a boat, Haldeed. You can do anything you set your mind to," Taleed insisted.
Haldeed signed more franticly,
We don't know how to sail a boat, Taleed, or navigate a river
.
I don't think this is a very good plan
.
"It's a great plan, my best ever. How hard could it be to travel the river on a boat? You get in, the river flows, it carries you along; it's really quite simple."
But you don't know how to swim
, Haldeed signed even more franticly.
Taleed laughed. "You worry too much, brother. If I fall in, then I shall have to learn to swim, won't I? Isn't that what they always say is the best way to learn? Just jump in! We'd better get some sleep. I for one am dead tried."
By the time they woke up it was getting dark. Well rested, a slightly more confident Haldeed started to make the boat. Taleed helped him as much as possible by holding things down with his feet. He found that his stumps, which he had always deemed useless, were actually of more use than he had thought. He hadn't realized how much he used them until he covered them up and made them truly useless. He would have pulled his fake hands off except they had brought no glue to reattach them and besides he sort of liked the way they looked. By daybreak on the fourth day the boat was finished. They ate in silence, both totally exhausted. Neither wanted to admit that it was because they weren't used to hard physical labor or sleeping on anything but the very best fur filled mattresses. They lay down for sleep in the small cramped tent with the reeds they had stomped down to make their camp poking at them through their bedrolls.
Taleed rolled trying to get comfortable and finally said to Haldeed, "I'm very uncomfortable and very tired."
Haldeed tapped him- his in-the-dark sign for
me, too
.
"I'd still rather be here than in the palace."
Haldeed hit him again.
Finally too tired to worry about the reeds poking them they went to sleep.
When evening fell the next day they ate quickly, packed their gear, loaded it in their boat and set off down the river. With six moons there was always some light to shine on
Balancer
, but they were still less likely to be seen during the night.
The river was slow here, and Haldeed helped them along with the paddle he had woven around a stick. The boat and the oar looked just like the ones the local fishermen used.
"You did a very good job, Haldeed," Taleed said when they had been on the river about an hour and still hadn't taken on any water. They sat facing each other in the boat.
Haldeed put down the oar temporarily and signed,
Don't say anything till we get where we are going, wherever that is
. He picked the oar up and started rowing again.
"No one has found us yet. We will travel as far on the river as we can and then we will go inland. We will find some remote village. One that has no temple, where no one knows us, and we will live out our years as teachers. . . or beggars. I don't care what we do as long as I never have to go back to the palace. As long as I never have to see another priest."
RJ stood in front of the viewing port in the room she had taken, rolling the object in her hand back and forth across her fingers. She looked out at the vast emptiness of hyperspace and realized she was still seeing the ruins of Alsterase. Her lips curled into a snarl. Topaz and Mickey had been right. She couldn't leave it behind because it was right here with her. Standing here looking at space was the same as standing on the wall looking at the bare land where the city had once stood. Her demons were following her.
Levits was right, too, although she was far more reluctant to admit it. She didn't let go of the past because then she would have to live in the present. She may actually be happy again, and when you were happy, you had everything to lose and losing hurt. It was way too easy to fall into the pattern. In order to be happy you had to care about people and they about you. Eventually they died, one way or another, and when they did it hurt.
They'll all die, David, Levits, Mickey. Well at least I won't be there to see Mickey die, but I miss him. Damn Topaz! Why does he always have to be right? Crazier than a bug in a box and yet he knows more than anyone I've ever known
.
She didn't want to think about it, any of it. She put the eye back into her pocket and pulled a coin out. She put it around a link of the chain and smashed it closed.
That's it, RJ, concentrate on the victories. Think about the battle. Be happy with the war. After all it's a sure bet that war will always be there. Don't think about the battles lost. Don't think about Alsterase in flames. Don't think about the guy who used to run the Golden Arches or the Fat Bastard who was always so worried we were going to let a corpse rot in his fucking hotel. Don't think about Sandy or how just talking to her could make you feel better. And whatever you do don't think about Whitey Baldor. God, please don't let me think about him, because when I do I cry, and I just don't think I have any tears left
.
She was wrong. A tear spilled out of her eye and ran down her check. She dried it quickly away.
Damn it I'm talking to myself again. I'm really fucking losing it at least I'm not talking out loud.
"What?" David asked from the doorway.
"Damn!" RJ cursed under her breath. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy being morbidly depressed?" She turned to face him and forced a smile. He smiled back.
"The girl's awake now," David said as he walked in the open door. Since the attack on Alsterase, RJ had developed a phobia about sleeping in a room with the door closed and now couldn't sleep unless the door was open. Although it was pretty obvious from the looks of the bed that RJ hadn't done any sleeping. It was just as obvious from the look on her face that she had only been about half kidding about her mood. "You all right, RJ?"
"PMS," RJ explained as she walked across the room, pushed around him and started down the hall towards the bridge. "Get the girl and meet me on the bridge."
"All right." David hurried to catch up with her. He didn't say anything. He just raced along beside her till he reached the girl's door. David knocked before walking in. The girl was sitting on the bed. She gave him a curious look. "RJ wants to talk to you now."
"Is she your leader?" Janad asked standing up.
"Yes," David said without hesitation.
"She's very strong. What is she?" Janad asked.
David laughed. "That's a good question. I'm not sure how to explain what RJ is. For one thing she's a GSH. Do you know what that is?"
"No," Janad answered as she followed him down the hall towards the bridge.
"It's a genetically superior humanoid
. . .
" It was obvious by the look on her face that she still didn't have a clue. They turned a corner and walked onto the bridge.
"David
. . .
this girl broke your nose. The jury's still out on whether she's a hostile or not," RJ said, then added abruptly, "she doesn't need to know what I am. I just need to know what she is."
Janad looked around the room. There was another man with them this time, a tall thin black-haired man with dark brown eyes and a scruff of beard. He wore black pants and a short-sleeved black shirt. There was a weapon hanging at his hip in a holster the end of which was tied to his leg. In his eyes she saw pain and anger, much the same as in the eyes of the one they called RJ. He stood behind the chair RJ sat in, and the strange stiff man stood at her right side. Janad almost smiled. The woman looked every bit like royalty surrounded by her court.
Janad didn't think she had ever seen five stranger people in her life.
"You'll get more flies with honey than you will with shit, RJ," Topaz said in a near whisper.
"Who said I wanted any flies?" RJ frowned deeply, and Janad got the impression that the only time she smiled was when she was beating someone senseless or killing them.
David stood behind Janad as if to block her exit, which did nothing to put her at ease. However she didn't fear him. He seemed to her like a man who had been broken and was devoid of spirit. He moved like a child who had broken the rules and been spanked, with his shoulders pointed down and forward, his head low, hardly ever making eye contact. He was someone who needed protection, not someone you needed protection from.
Topaz was leaning against the wall looking out at the stars. He seemed to be the only one of them who was normal.
"So, let's start this with a simple question," RJ said. "What are you doing on this ship?"
Janad saw no reason to lie. On the contrary she had the feeling that they were more likely to help her in her quest if they knew just what was going on.
"The Reliance is buying my people from our greedy King to use as shock troops to fight something they call the Rebellion on a planet called Earth."
"That's what I thought," RJ said looking troubled and triumphant at the same time if that was possible or made any sense at all.
"One of the guards mentioned you by name," Janad said.
RJ seemed to ignore this information. "So how come you didn't get off loaded?"
"I didn't want to go. I caused trouble so they chained me to the wall. I got them to let me go to use the bathroom and then I got away. I hid mostly up there." She pointed at the ceiling. "I hoped to get back to my planet to try to tell my people what the Reliance is doing. Not that it will help. My people do whatever the priests tell them to do."
RJ rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"Do we call Mickey now?" the tall man standing behind RJ asked.
"Wait a minute," RJ said impatiently. She looked back at Janad. "Do you know how many of your people have been sent to Earth?"
"Most of the warriors in our village except the old and the young. Many villages have been completely emptied in the same way. Thousands of my people have already been moved to your planet."
"Can they all fight like you?" RJ asked.
"I told you they took all the warriors."
"Just because a man is a soldier doesn't mean he can fight. Have they seen action?"
"Action?" Janad knew the word but didn't know what RJ was asking.
"Have they fought?" Topaz asked.
Janad nodded excitedly. "Yes, because of the wars," Janad answered.
"The wars? Wars with who?" RJ asked.
"The other villages. The Priests say that the gods want us to fight because blood cleanses the land. So one village fights another, and at the end of thirty days whoever has the most people wins and they get new clothes," Janad explained.
RJ sighed and rubbed her hands down her face.
"What?" Topaz asked of the look on RJ's face.
"Don't you see, Topaz? It's nothing more than a fancy way to do a cleaning assignment. Obviously they have a population problem. The priests find the areas that have the worst problem – a drought in a certain area causes a crop failure, bugs eat the crop, not enough vegetation causes a lack of animals to hunt – etcetera. 'The gods' call a war, many people are killed so there is no famine, and the people think that the gods have saved them because they fought. It's the same damn thing the Reliance does, only unfortunately for us, this little cleansing exercise helps survival of the fittest. Whoever is stronger and smarter in battle lives to reproduce, and everyone else dies. So what they have just shipped to our planet to be trained to fight us are a people who are genetically superior and experienced in battle."
"So do I call Mickey now?" the one they called Levits asked again.
"Yes, and tell him I'll tell him what to do when I know more," RJ said.
Levits turned and started punching buttons on the console.
RJ turned to Janad. "So, Janad, tell me – what do your gods look like?"
By the end of the first day the boat was taking on water. Haldeed rowed it over to the shore and they unpacked feeling wet, tired and more than a little sun burned.
Haldeed pulled the boat into the reeds with them and worked on fixing it while Taleed stomped down a big enough area to set up camp. "We should have brought hats."
Haldeed nodded in agreement as he wove new reeds into the leaks.
"And more food," Taleed said. Again Haldeed nodded. "On the up side we've been gone six times as long as ever before."
Haldeed signed,
It is hard to get excited when your belly is empty and the sun has baked your skin into blisters.
Taleed sighed. "I suppose you're right. I'm kind of useless, aren't I? You do all the work – all the rowing. I'm no good for anything."
Haldeed signed,
You're good at thinking, why don't you think of something?
"You're right, I will." Taleed started to pace back and forth. After a few minutes he jumped up and down startling Haldeed. "Sorry
. . .
But I've got it, Haldeed! You can weave us hats like you did the paddle, only leave a hole in the middle for our heads to go through then our faces will be blocked from the sun."