Outward Borne (17 page)

It happened two weeks after the
dogs were killed. I decided to go out. We had heard nothing of late
from the other villages, no one traveled from one place to another
anymore, but it was quiet in Feldland and there was work to do. I
could not stay forever hiding in our gloomy hut. I called Loboc and
we headed toward the village to muck out the communal icehouse. The
old vault was in a low hill beyond the edge of town. It was far
from the ship, so I thought it would be safe to go there. I pulled
the heavy oak doors open and waited a bit to let the moldy smell
roll out. The cave, supported by ancient wooden beams and slats,
was mostly empty then, but soon fresh ice could be brought in and
the winter slaughtering completed.

It was mid-day
when they came.
I was taking an arm full
of wet straw outside when I sensed that something was wrong. No one
was running, or yelling, or working, but there were some unusual
grinding and buzzing noises coming from behind the hut across the
path. I went to look.
They were moving
around Feldland, both were nearly the same, as big as mother’s cows
and as heavy, it seems. They were self-moving wagons with
complicated tube shapes sitting across their flat tops. Large
flying things, very fast and aggressive, came and swarmed around
them like hornets about a hive.

I saw two bodies lying on the
ground near the center of town. I called Loboc, who had been
waiting for me to toss him some spoiled meat. He was running toward
me when his legs seem to melt and he slopped helplessly into the
dirt. Only his eyes were alive. He looked at me in confusion for a
moment, and then he looked away. Something was coming.

Before I could go to him, three
small, fast bug flyers came directly at me, I managed to stop one
by throwing my load of straw into the air and trapping it, but the
other two came through and stung me. I turned to run back into the
ice room when my legs turned weak and I fell forward onto my face.
I could not move anything, completely helpless. I did not fall
asleep, but I wish that I had. The silver-white carts came up the
path from the direction of town. They gathered around the fallen
bodies, probing them, pushing them around. The odd thing was, I lay
there wondering how they found their way around because they didn’t
have any head, or anything that looked like eyes, and how did they
moved by themselves? Still, they knew what they were doing. One
robot rolled past Loboc’s motionless body and came right toward me.
I tried to scream, but I could not make a sound. My arms and legs
were equally useless.

A hard-skinned arm poked my face
and then it rolled me over onto my back. I could see the white
clouds; it was a clear sunny day. The robot paused a moment as if
waiting for instructions before moving again. It reached under me
and put me face down into its bin and then it cut off most of my
clothes and through them aside. As it carried me away, another bot
moved toward Loboc, but I could not see what it did. I was taken
through the town as the robot moved from body to body. Everyone
that I could see had been put down. The machine chose another
person and put him mostly on top of me. I do not know who it was. I
was pressed extremely hard, but could not shift around or even move
my head. We bounced around through the trees. Birds were singing
and insects were dancing in the bright sunlight as if nothing had
happened. I remember this so well, because it was the last time I
was to hear birds sing or see them jump from branch to branch among
the green leaves.

I was afraid. No one had been
inside of the lander before. Strange flyers and rolling things were
going in and out of that body, which was not alive, but not dead
either. Who would want to be dragged into the mouth of such a
thing? I was moved beneath the ship, its silver surface blocked out
the sky, and was lifted into the body, far inside, as well as I
could tell. I remember being placed on a flat hard surface where I
was scrubbed, shaved, and then sprayed repeatedly. A tube put some
foul tasting syrup into my mouth that caused me to void every fluid
that remained in my body through every place fluids could come
from. It was becoming harder and harder to stay awake. Only a
bright light and the arms holding tubes that reached toward my face
remain in my memory.

There was no way to tell how much
time passed after I was taken into the ship. When I awoke from a
dream filled sleep, there was no sun, but no night either. The
space was very small, a white wall inches was from my face. I had
no clothes. Every vestige of Earth’s presence had been taken from
me, tubes had been attached everywhere; a soft thick light-blue
water was slowly filling the box I was in. I had a sense that there
were others nearby, but I could not see them. I think that I had
slept again for some time when the thumping and banging woke me.
The thick liquid was up to my chin now, it had stopped rising, but
held me tightly, there was little light and I was alone. A rumbling
began far away and the room seemed to vibrate, it then began
bouncing hard, moving with great power from side to side, suddenly
the vibrations stopped, but the roaring noise continued, and I
began to feel very heavy, on my feet, no longer floating. The
sounds increased and I became heavier and heavier. Still alone, I
could not avoid the feeling that I was moving farther and farther
away from everything. I was not dead.

Chapter 12 Acclimation

I hovered beneath the surface of a
warm pond. From time to time, when my mind cleared, I could see
light through my closed eyes. I was deep in an ever-warm pool, too
weak to move, without any need to breathe, hearing harsh sounds in
the distance, always suspended in a thick, viscous fluid where I
floated helplessly on and on.

Somewhere in her mind, I knew that
I should try to reach for the surface and rise from the sustaining
depth, but I could not. After a long while and without effort, it
came about on its own. The surface touched me, slowly my body rose
out of the warm liquid, and I could feel the chill air as the thick
slime slid from my skin. I could move now, a little, my arms and
legs responded weakly, but each motion hurt as if my body was
already exhausted. I was frightened when I felt things touching my
skin, Something hard and cold put me on my back and began poking
and pulling, suddenly there was a tearing pain in my throat as a
long rasping tube was dragged out through my mouth. I panicked, I
desperately had to breathe, but each breath was a hot tear in my
lungs, each swallow seared with pain. It kept me there as other
tubes were pulled out. I was unable to do anything to stop it and
was so afraid, but somehow I must have fallen asleep
again.

Air moved over my naked body, I
felt strange and so cold. Breathing still hurt, but not so badly. I
began to feel stronger. I should not say that, for I could hardly
move, but it seemed so to me. Fingers moved, I could make a fist
though my muscles screamed as I did so. I was determined to fight
through this. I had never liked being weak, if I could only get my
eyes open. I seemed to have forgotten how to do it. Nothing worked.
I tried to drag my arm to my face so that I could pry my eyes open.
My eyes seemed filled with paste, but they worked well enough, but
hurt to keep open. The bright light was not the sun, as I had long
thought, this light seemed to come from everywhere, from a place of
trees and sky, now there were only smooth white walls, white light.
I stared at the white trying to make out where I was, but it was
difficult to keep from drifting away.

Gradually, as the drugs wore off,
I suppose, I was able to move my head and look around. For some
reason, I was lying on the floor of a white room on a bright blue
mat, there was a table higher up, other mats lying about on the
floor, but no one else was there. Pipes and tubes hung from the
ceiling, shining, motionless, there was a constant hum, and
vibrations came and went, but no voices, no animals calling. Alone
in this strange place, I began to cry. It was all too much wasn’t
it?

I was dreaming of a snow-covered
lake in the cold white winter landscape, when I sensed some
movement and came awake. The peace and quiet of my dream slowly
gave way to the nightmare of my new reality. I began to cry again,
but I stopped suddenly frightened. There was a rustling sound close
by, very close, it was once so normal, but now it was startling and
caused me to jerk my head around. A thin shape covered by a white
cloak sat with its back to me. Its round head covered by a frizz of
straight brown hair, but it turned and spoke to me.

“
Oh my dear, you have joined us at
last.”

“
Mildryth can it be you? What
happened to your hair?”

“
Ho, after all that has become of
us, you ask me about my hair. Does it look so bad? Let me just say
that it is the same as yours.”

“
Oh, I remember, they shaved me
after I was taken to the lander, but leave that, I am so glad that
you are here. I thought that I was alone in this place. Where are
we anyway?”

“
Gwynyth, you have as many
questions as any and we have few answers. A number of us were taken
into that ship and brought to this place, not many perhaps, but
some you know. Enough for now, how do you feel, are you numb
anywhere, that would be bad, can you sit up? I am so happy that you
are here even though I wish that neither one of us was here at
all.”

“
I feel as if I have not eaten in
a month. Do you have something?”

“
That may actually be true, I
think. I have water and some curdled milk. You will not want to
have any solids for a while yet.”

While Gwynyth was trying to drink, Mildryth
told her about their situation. “When you are able to walk, we will
go to the great room and you can meet the others.”

“
You will not leave me alone will
you? I was so afraid when I was alone.”

“
No Gwynyth, I won’t, I remember
well, though when I awoke there were others in the room, but they
were in a panic, crying out. Some bodies were lying there as if
they were dead, naked, with tubes stuck in them. I was as
frightened as everyone else that day. You do not need to worry
about being alone, though I may go a get some things you may need,
like clothes perhaps. I will only go when you are asleep, so worry
not.”

One by one, the force suppression
chambers were taken from the lander and set in a series of recovery
rooms for processing. One by one the new species were processed,
the four-legged ones had been done first as they were in poor
condition and the two-legged ones. The ObLaDas monitored all of
them, two had died during the return, and they were anxious not
loose anymore. The automated treatment appliance did most of the
routine work, pulling the bodies free from the force suppression
tanks, washing them, retracting the catheters, and feeding tubes.
Five or six bodies had been laid out in each of the small recovery
rooms that were strung out along a single long hallway. It took
three days to treat them all and several more days would be needed
before they would be able to survive without assistance. The
ObLaDas only needed to intervene with a few who had obstructed
breathing. They tried some of their recovery drugs, none worked
very well in this new species, but they seemed to have a hardy
constitution and did well enough once they started to eat and drink
for themselves. They helped each other, not like some aliens. The
ObLaDas liked that. Perhaps they would do well. Already these
people were using the large plain room that would accommodate them
until the support facilities came into place. Only a few were left
in the treatment rooms now. The insertion phase was almost
complete.

Merwyn was the one who found me.
She was struggling to keep Oswald upright. She had his arm over her
shoulder and a good grip around his waist, but his legs were like
rubber, not much help at all. She should have left him more time to
recover, but she had gotten him started and was not going to give
up, no matter how tired she was. They were slowly making their way
down the narrow pipe filled corridor toward a large open space when
I saw them. I tried to call out, but could hardly make a sound.
Even so, Merwyn heard my whimpering, but she could not see me and
could not stop anyway, not with this bulk to move along. Kunigunde
saw Merwyn sagging against the wall and rushed to help her.
Together they got Oswald onto one of the blue mats that they had
dragged from the recovery rooms.

Merwyn went back through the
hallway looking into each of the empty recovery rooms. She did not
see anyone or hear any crying and was about to give up when she saw
my naked body lying curled up in the corner of the last room. I had
rolled off my mat and had not yet been given a blanket. Even in
sleep, I was shivering in the unaccustomed draft. In spite of my
discomfort, the room was not actually cold. Merwyn was pleased,
however. This body looked well and would likely survive. Seeing
that I was asleep, she set off to the big room to gather some
blankets and water, but she had recognized me and knew that I was
Mildryth’s friend.

“
Welcome to you,” Mildryth called
as she came into the room. I woke with a smile this time. “I have a
beautiful gown for you, never mind that it looks exactly like the
one I am wearing, that everyone is wearing. It is made of the
finest, softest fabric that you ever felt, although plain and
thin.”