The memories came back to Harding in vivid detail. A flood of regret came raging back along with them.
Why had he felt so strongly, both hate and otherwise, for someone who might as well have been, chromosomally speaking, a different species altogether? Was it simply a part of human nature to become fixated on anything and everything?
We get Karina to tell us the cure in order to save the Rounds. But if we accept that they’ll die regardless, we can end this right now by killing Karina and Wolfren. Then I can write up the report and go back to Mars.
The dispersed agent has yet to affect anyone other than the Rounds. None of the doctors treating them have been infected either. If this agent works only against the Round physiology like Dr. Tei says, then as long as we’re prepared to turn our back on the Rounds, there isn’t much else we can do.
Cut loose the special district. Give up on the Rounds. The children and Veritas.
Harding bit his lip.
The only reason I go along with Shirosaki’s plans is because every time he mentions the special district, Veritas is on my mind. I could very easily forget about em, seeing as I’m never going to see em again, but I can’t. That was why Shirosaki can push my buttons.
Of course, Shirosaki knows nothing about Veritas and me. He was simply acting out of an unwavering sense of humanitarianism and sober integrity. Or maybe he instinctually knew what to say to keep me from killing Karina.
Harding felt a shiver run down his spine. He hated the idea of Shirosaki taking advantage of him in that way, no matter how sensible that decision was.
Shirosaki’s methods were indeed fair. But for that reason, there was also something fragile about them. Harding couldn’t quite put his finger on it. There was always the possibility that jealousy was clouding his judgment. Even so, his years of experience commanding the antiterror unit was trying to tell him something—that this would not end quietly. That they were better off killing Karina while they still had the chance. Against Karina Majella, there was no telling what would happen.
As he continued to look for a quiet place to rest, Harding came upon a Round sitting at the base of a bush. Cradling eir knees in both arms, the Round was slumped underneath the leafy cover of the bush. Ey made no effort to move, even as Harding approached.
“What’s the matter with you? Are you feeling sick?”
The Round raised eir head languidly. Eir face appeared flushed compared to Veritas, perhaps from fever, and worn down by fatigue. Ey saw the man, whose face was half-concealed behind the hood of the protective suit, and assumed he was part of the station staff.
“Can you stand up?” Harding asked. “Can I get you to a doctor?”
“No, I’ve been getting my injections,” said the Round, shaking eir head.
“You should be home resting. You don’t look so good.”
“I can’t. When I think about the children, I can’t sleep.”
Harding looked back at the path from which he had come and understood instantly. No doubt this Round had been in the assembly hall looking after the children and had wandered here for a moment’s reprieve. No wonder. Unless you were a doctor, anyone would be hard pressed to stay for hours on end in such grim surroundings.
“I am an education supervisor in the special district, charged with teaching and disciplining the children,” said the Round. “The children dying in the assembly hall are my students.” With a pained look on eir face, ey continued, “Several days ago, I caught some of the children playing rough in the zero-G area and scolded them harshly. Even asked the top supervisor to reprimand them for causing injury to an adult. I threatened the children with punishment if they refused to listen. The children nodded, of course, but deep down they didn’t understand. And who can blame them? They’re two—they don’t want to listen to anything grown-ups have to say. They were back to bouncing around the relaxation room the very next day. Now, those children have been infected by whatever the terrorists have dispersed, suffering from a fever that has no cure. When I rushed to their bedside, they asked if they were being punished. If God were mad at them for not listening to me. I asked them where they had heard such a thing, and the children answered from the second generation.
“Some of the adult Rounds had told them that Monaurals believe in a god that watches over the conduct of all living beings. And that this god judges people and punishes unrepentant sinners with unbearable suffering in order to reform them. I took the children in my arms and told them not to believe any of it. That there is no such god. That all they had to worry about was living, and think and act in any way they pleased and be willing to bear the responsibility of those choices. They need not be tied down by the outdated religions and belief systems of the Monaurals. We are a new type of human. The universe we believe in has no need for a god.” The Round let out a deep sigh and glanced furtively at Harding. “Probably not what you wanted to hear.”
“It’s all right.”
“It’s a denial of your faith.”
“Forget it,” Harding said. “That debate’s been raging on Earth for centuries. Sorry we let you down.”
“It isn’t your fault. I’m told we had a traitor.”
“Word travels fast.”
“As an education supervisor, I have some advantage of receiving information relatively quickly. Tenebrae and I are from the same generation. As a kid, ey wasn’t like the way ey is now. When Tenebrae entered adolescence, eir thinking gradually began to change. I don’t know why. Tenebrae didn’t seem to know emself. In an effort to stay true to those feelings welling up from within, ey said ey had no choice but to leave the special district. And become just a man.”
“There are misfits in every seemingly ideal society.”
“I tried to get Tenebrae to stay but was powerless to do anything. That failure has brought so much misfortune upon the special district.”
“You’re an educator. Now is not the time to be thinking about Tenebrae. You should be near the kids, trying to cheer them. You should pull yourself together and go back to them. Your presence has to be more effective than any medicine the kids are getting right now,” said Harding.
“I wonder.”
“All I can do is eliminate the terrorists. The rest is in your hands.” Harding stood up and said, “We’ll do everything humanly possible. I hope you’ll do the same.”
“My name is Mare. What’s yours?”
“The name’s not important—I’m part of the security staff.”
Harding left Mare and the bioengineered forest, feeling a greater burden than when he came.
3
FORTIA AWAKENED FROM
a long slumber and was instantly assaulted by the aches and pains in eir joints and back.
Ey scanned the interior and recognized that ey was in eir own residence.
The skylight had been shattered and the floors were black with grime and dust.
It was obvious much had gone on during eir short absence.
Album, who’d been sitting by eir bedside operating eir wearable, leaned forward and asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Thirsty.”
“You’re being hydrated intravenously, so try not drink.”
“Please, I’m parched.”
“Just a little, all right?”
Album stood up to get Fortia some water. “Wait!” Fortia said hastily, seeing the leg brace covering Album’s right leg. “Forget it. Stay here.”
“Why?”
“I’m sorry—I’d forgotten you’d been shot.”
“It’s okay,” Album said. “The brace electronically facilitates ambulatory function, so I can walk without any pain.”
“Never mind.”
“Really, it’s no bother.”
Album returned from the kitchen with a water bottle and inserted a straw in Fortia’s mouth. Fortia sipped the water a little at a time, and when ey had had enough, asked Album to set the bottle next to the bed. “So what’s happened?”
“The security forces captured Karina.”
“That much I remember.”
“I have some sad news. Five of the third-generation children have died.”
“What?” Fortia said.
“Because of the agent Karina dispersed. The medical team did what they could without the usual equipment on hand, but the immunologically weaker infants were the first to succumb to the disease.”
“Isn’t there a way to treat it?”
“Maybe if we can identify what this thing is. But Karina refuses to talk. It’s hard to tell whether she’s withholding the information as a bargaining chip or she really doesn’t know.”
Fortia recalled the hours ey’d passed inside the maintenance shafts with Karina. The very thought sent a chill up eir spine. Karina’s bony fingers inside em. Her lukewarm tongue sliding across Fortia’s lips. The pain of her nails digging into eir penis. Fortia nearly screamed, reliving every one of those sensations. Karina had fondled Fortia’s body with gentle malice. Fortia had tried desperately to keep from crying, knowing that would only excite Karina, but in the end, Fortia could not stop the tears from coming.
Fortia recognized the reason for Karina’s actions. To Karina, the leader of the special district represented all of the Rounds, a sacrificial lamb to be hacked to pieces at the hands of the Monaurals. Fortia had been victim of a hideous examination inside the dark shaft to be made an offering to the Monaurals living on the planets.
“Karina’s hatred for the Rounds is real,” muttered Fortia. “She’ll never reveal the information, even if she knew.”
“At this point all the Rounds are at risk. You and I may be contaminated already.”
“What can be done?”
“Commander Shirosaki asked if you remember talking about anything while you were alone with her. He wanted you to tell him anything, no matter how small. It may give them something to go on.”
“We argued about a lot of things, I remember that.”
“Anything about the agent she dispersed?”
“Something about needing time for it to take full effect. And oh—she said she couldn’t escape until she confirmed the full manifestation of the symptoms. That was the agreement.”
“So does that mean she’s bound by some sort of prior arrangement?” Album asked. “Something that’s keeping her from leaving right away even if she wanted to?”
“I think so.”
“All right. I’ll pass it on to Commander Shirosaki. Maybe it’ll be useful.”
Album’s wearable bleeped. The face of Tigris appeared on the tiny portable screen.
“We have a situation. Calendula and some others are trying to break out of the special district.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Album.
“They’re looking to lash out for the children’s deaths. They’re prepared to kill Karina themselves.”
Fortia gestured for Album to angle the display in eir direction.
Tigris could not hide eir shock. “Fortia, all you all right?”
“I’m not in any shape to move, but my mind is clear enough to assume charge.”
“I’m so glad.”
“Tigris, you have to stop Calendula. I’m giving you full authority to find them and talk them out of this lunacy.”
“I’m just an ordinary Round. None of them will listen to what I have to say.”
“The duty usually falls to the subleader to take over when the leader is indisposed, but Album here is also injured. Ey won’t be much good against an angry mob. You are Calendula’s partner, Tigris. You’ll have to convince em.”
“My relationship with em may only serve to inflame the situation.”
“You don’t have to go alone. Find some others who can back you. I’ll put out an announcement myself. I’m giving you a direct order, Tigris. You have no choice.”
Despite looking like ey might break down in tears, Tigris nodded eir assent and ended the transmission.
Falling back exhausted in bed, Fortia instructed Album to relay this development to Shirosaki.
As Tigris went around to the less-affected Rounds, some of them began to fall in line behind em. Thanks to the announcement Fortia transmitted over their wearables, Tigris was able to gather a sizeable party without much trouble.
The group stood in front of the access door and waited for Calendula to arrive.
Calendula soon appeared leading a party that easily outnumbered Tigris’s. Ey took one look at Tigris and the rest standing shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the access door and snickered.
After announcing that ey had come on Fortia’s behalf, Tigris repeated what ey’d already told Calendula many times before:
“You can’t leave the special district, you know that. That goes for all of you. I understand you’re angry, but I suggest you all go home and think about what you’re trying to do here.”
“We’re going to fight the enemy,” said Calendula.
“The security teams are handling it.”
“They beat us because we let them. They play us for fools because we rely on others to protect us. If we show them we can fight back with weapons, the Monaurals will think twice about sending terrorists here.”
“We’re already a threat to the Monaurals as it is. Do it and you could be dragging us into war. Is that what you want?”
“Tell me, Tigris. Are we so horrible that we don’t deserve to exist in this world? So objectionable to warrant death?” Calendula asked. “Is it so wrong for one human to be biologically male and female at the same time, to be psychologically bigender?”
“Of course not. But that has nothing to do with this.”
“But it does, Tigris. It’s exactly the reason we’re going to kill Karina Majella—to send the Monaurals a message that we have the might and will to fight back.”
Suddenly the door slid open and in came a doctor wearing protective gear.
Calendula and eir group rushed forward at once. Tigris and the others held their ground and pushed back. Caught in the middle of what quickly escalated into a generalized melee, the doctor was pulled into the fray. The doctor, slowed down by his cumbersome environmental suit, cried out as he was knocked around between the two opposing groups.
The security guards standing outside the door burst in, yelling and waving their batons to quell the clash. Assuming all of the Rounds were threatening to break out of the special district, however, the guards pushed back against Tigris’s supporters, only exacerbating the chaos.