She gave his shoulder an avuncular pat with a hand whose fingers had been replaced by three big claws, and marched off.
That’s an excess of fatalism,
Choma remarked.
What a strange psychology.
She is content,
Sinon answered.
I wish her well in that.
______
A large quantity of love had been invested in constructing the farmhouse. Even the Kulu aristocracy with their expensive showy
buildings employed modern materials in their fabric. And Mortonridge was a designated rapid growth area, with government subsidies
to help develop the farms. A resolutely middle-class province. Their buildings were substantial, but cheap: assembled from
combinations of carbon concrete, uniform-strength pulpwood planks, bricks made from grains of clay cemented by geneered bacteria,
spongesteel structural girders, bonded silicon glass. For all their standardisation, such basic components afforded a wealth
of diversity to architects.
But this was unmistakable and original. Beautifully crude. A house of stone, quarried with an industrial fission blade from
a local outcrop; large cubes making the walls thick enough to repel the equatorial heat and keep the rooms cool without air
conditioning. The floor and roof beams were harandrid timbers, sturdy lengths dovetailed and pegged together as only a master
carpenter could manage. Inside, they’d been left uncovered, the gaps between filled with reed and plaster, then whitewashed.
It was as historic as any of the illusions favoured by the possessed, not that anyone could mistake something so solid for
an ephemeral aspiration.
There was a barn attached at the end, also stone, forming one side of the farmyard. Its big wooden doors were swinging open
in the breeze the day the Karmic Crusader pulled up outside. Stephanie Ash had been tired and fed up by the time they pulled
off the main road and drove along the unmarked dirt track. Investigating it had been Moyo’s idea.
“The road must lead somewhere,” he insisted. “This land was settled recently. Nothing’s had time to fall into disuse yet.”
She hadn’t bothered to argue with him. They’d driven a long way down the M6 after handing the children over, a journey which
meant having to pass back through Annette Ekelund’s army. This time they’d been pointedly ignored by the troops billeted in
Chainbridge. After that they’d zigzagged from coast to coast looking for a refuge, somewhere self-sufficient where they could
rest up and wait for the grand events beyond Mortonridge to play themselves out. But the towns in the northern section of
the peninsula were still occupied, though there was a steady drift out to farms. They were unwelcome there; the possessed
were learning to guard their food stocks. Every unoccupied farm they’d visited had been ransacked for food and livestock.
It was a monotonous trend, and finding a functional power supply to recharge the Karmic Crusader was becoming more difficult.
After the joy and accomplishment of evacuating the children, the comedown to excluded refugee status was hard. Stephanie hadn’t
exactly lost faith, but the narrow road was no different to any of the dozens they’d driven down the last few days. Hope rebutted
unfailingly each time.
The road took the bus through a small forest of aboriginal trees, then dipped into a shallow, lightly-wooded valley which
meandered extravagantly. A stream bubbled along the lush grassy floor, its speed revealing they were actually travelling up
at quite an angle. After four kilometres, the valley ended by opening out into a nearly circular basin. It was so regular,
Stephanie suspected it was an ancient impact crater. A lacework of silver brooks threaded their way down the sides, feeding
a lake at the centre, which was the origin of the valley’s stream. The farmhouse stood above the shore, separated from the
rippling water by a neatly trimmed lawn. Behind it, someone had converted the north-facing walls of the basin into stepped
terraces, making a perfect sun-trap. The levels were cultivated with dozens of terrestrial fruit and vegetable plants; from
citrus tree groves to lettuce, avocados to rhubarb. Almost all the aboriginal vegetation had been removed; even the south
side looked as if it was covered in terrestrial grass. Goats and sheep were wandering around grazing peacefully.
They all piled out of the Karmic Crusader, smiling like entranced children.
“There’s nobody here,” Rana said. “Can you sense it? This whole place is empty.”
“Oh goodness,” Tina exclaimed nervously. She took the last step off the bus’s stairs, her scarlet stilettos sinking awkwardly
into the road’s loose-packed gravel surface. “Do you really think so? This is simply paradise. It’s just what we all deserve
after everything we’ve done for others. I couldn’t bear us being thrown out by someone else claiming they were here first.
It would be excruciating.”
“There are no vehicles left,” McPhee grunted. “The owners probably received the Kingdom’s warning and cleared out before Ekelund’s
people arrived in these parts.”
“Lucky for them,” Rana said.
“More so for us,” Moyo said. “It’s absolutely bloody perfect.”
“I think the irrigation system is screwed,” McPhee said. He was shielding his eyes with a hand as he squinted up at the terraces.
“There, see? There must be channels to divert the brooks so that each level receives a decent supply. But it’s spilling over
like a waterfall. The plants will drown.”
“No they won’t,” Franklin Quigly said. “It’s not broken. The power’s off, and there’s no one here to manage it. That’s all.
We could get it fixed inside of a day. That’s if we’re staying.” They all turned to look at Stephanie. She was amused rather
than gratified by the compliment. “Oh I think so.” She smiled at her ragged little band. “We’re not going to find anywhere
better.”
They spent the rest of the day wandering round the farmhouse and the terraces. The basin was an intensive-cultivation market
garden; there were no cereal crops on any of the terraces. There were signs of a hurried departure all through the building,
drawers pulled out, clothes spilled on the shiny floorboards, a tap left running, two old suitcases abandoned half-packed
in one of the bedrooms. But there was a lot of basic foodstuffs left in the pantry, flour, jams, jellied fruit, eggs, whole
cheeses; a big freezer was filled with fish and joints of meat. Whoever the farm belonged to, they didn’t believe in modern
sachets and readymade meals.
Tina took one look inside the kitchen with its simple array of shining copper pots and pans, and sniffed with emphatic disapproval.
“You can take the worship of all things rustic too far, you know.”
“It’s appropriate to what we are now,” Stephanie told her. “The consumer convenience society cannot exist in our universe.”
“Well just don’t expect me to give up silk stockings, darling.”
Moyo, Rana, and McPhee scrambled up to the top of the basin to a small building they assumed was a pumphouse for the irrigation
system. Stephanie and the rest started clearing out the farmhouse. By the third day, they’d got the terrace irrigation equipment
working again. Not perfectly, their presence still glitched some of the management processors; but there was a manual back-up
control panel in the pumphouse. Even the clouds’ gloomy claret illumination had grudgingly brightened as they established
themselves and began exterting their influence. It wasn’t the pure sunlight which shone upon towns and larger groups of possessed,
but the plants gleefully absorbed the increased rain of photons, and perked up accordingly.
A week later Stephanie had every right to be content as she walked out into the relatively cool air of early morning. The
right, but not the reality. She opened the iron-framed French doors which led out to the lawn, and stepped barefoot onto the
dewy grass.
As usual the red clouds tossed through the sky above, their massive braids strumming the air until it groaned in protest.
This time, though, a subtler resonance was carried by the rancorous vapour. It couldn’t be heard, it merely preyed on the
mind like a troublesome dream.
She walked down to the shore of the lake, her head turning slowly from side to side as she scanned the sky, questing for some
kind of hint. Anything. The nettling sensation had been building for many days now. Whatever the origin, it was too far away
for her senses to distinguish, skulking below the horizon like a malevolent moon.
“So you like feel the cosmic blues sounding out, too?” Cochrane said ruefully.
Stephanie jumped, she hadn’t noticed him approach. The bells on the ancient hippy’s velvet flares were silent as he trod lightly
over the grass. An exceptionally large reefer hung from the corner of his mouth. It smelt different than usual, not nearly
as sweet.
He caught her puzzlement, and his beard parted to show a smug grin. Fingers with many rings plucked the brown tube from his
mouth, and held it vertically. “Guess what I found growing on some forgotten terrace? This Mr Taxpay-ing Johnny Appleseed
we’ve taken over from here wasn’t quite as straight as his fellow Rotarians believed. Know what this is? Only like genuine
nicotiana. And as illegal as hell around these parts. Man but it feels good, first real drag I’ve had in centuries.”
Stephanie smiled indulgently as he stuck it back in his mouth. Indulgent was all you could be with Cochrane. Moyo was coming
out of the farmhouse, his mind darkened with concern.
“You know it’s here, too, don’t you?” she asked sadly. “This must be what Ekelund meant when she told me the Saldana Princess
was preparing.”
“And Lieutenant Anver,” Moyo muttered.
“The earth can feel war’s coming, that blood’s going to be spilt. How very… biblical; bad vibes in the aether. I’d so hoped
Ekelund was wrong, that she was just trying to justify maintaining her army by claiming phantom enemies were waiting on the
other side of the hill.”
“No way,” Cochrane said. “The bad dude cavalry’s like mounting up. They’ll charge us soon, guns blazing.”
“Why us?” Stephanie asked. “Why this planet? We said we wouldn’t threaten them. We promised, and we kept it.”
Moyo put his arm round her. “Being here is a threat to them.”
“But it’s so stupid. I just want to be left alone, I want time to come to terms with what’s happened. That’s all. We’ve got
this beautiful farm, and we’re making it work without hurting anybody. It’s good here. We can support ourselves, and have
enough time left over to think. That doesn’t make us a threat or a danger to the Confederation. If we were allowed to carry
on we might be able to make some progress towards an answer for this mess.”
“I wish we could be left alone,” Moyo told her sadly. “I wish they’d listen to us. But they won’t. I know what it’ll be like
out there now. Common sense and reason won’t matter. Forcing us out of Mortonridge is a political goal. Once the Saldanas
and other Confederation leaders have declared it, they won’t be able to pull back. We’re in the path of a proverbial irresistible
force.”
“Perhaps if I went back up to the firebreak and spoke to them. They know me. They might listen.”
Alarm at what she was saying made Moyo tighten his grip around her. “No. I don’t want you doing anything crazy like that.
Besides, they wouldn’t listen. Not them. They’d smile politely for a while, then shove you into zero-tau. I couldn’t stand
that, I’ve only just found you.”
She rested her head against him, quietly thankful for his devotion. He’d been there for her since the very first day. More
than a lover, a constant source of strength.
“You can’t go,” Cochrane said. “Not you. These cats would like fall apart without you to guide them. We need you here, man.
You’re our den mother.”
“But we won’t last long if we stay here, and the Princess sends her army to find us.”
“A little more time is better than the big zippo. And who knows what our karma’s got mapped out for us before the jackboots
kick our door down.”
“You’re not normally the optimist,” Stephanie teased.
“Face it babe, I’m not normally alive. That kinda warps your outlook, dig? You gotta have faith these days, man. Some cool
happening will come along to like blow our minds away.”
“Groovy,” Moyo deadpanned.
“All right, you win,” Stephanie assured them. “No noble sacrifices on my part. I’ll stay here.”
“Maybe they’ll never come,” Moyo said. “Maybe Ekelund will defeat them.”
“Not a chance,” Stephanie said. “She’s good, and she’s mean, which is everything it takes. But she’s not that good. Just stop
and feel the weight of them building up out there. Ekelund will cause them a whole load of grief when the invasion starts,
but she won’t stop them.”
“What will you do then, when they reach the farm? Will you fight?”
“I don’t think so. I might lash out, that’s human nature. But fight? No. What about you? You said you would, once.”
“That was back when I thought it might do some good. I suppose I’ve grown up since then.”
“But it’s still not fair,” she complained bitterly. “I adore this taste of life. I think going back to the beyond will be
worse now. Next time, we’ll know that it doesn’t have to be permanent, even though it probably will be. It would have been
far better if we’d been spared knowing. Why is the universe persecuting us like this?”
“It’s karma, man,” Cochrane said. “Bad karma.”
“I thought karma was paying for your actions. I never hurt anyone badly enough for this.”
“Original sin,” Moyo said. “Nasty concept.”
“You’re wrong,” she said. “Both of you. If I know anything now, it’s that our religions are lies. Horrid, dirty lies. I don’t
believe in God, or destiny, not any more. There has to be a natural explanation for all this, a cosmological reason.” She
sank into Moyo’s embrace, too tired even for anger. “But I’m not smart enough to work it out. I don’t think any of us are.
We’re just going to have to wait until someone clever finds it for us. Damn, I hate that. Why can’t I be good at the big things?”
Moyo kissed her brow. “There are forty kids on the other side of the firebreak who are mighty glad you achieved what you did.
I wouldn’t call that a small thing.”