Life Seed, page 11
Tristan’s scowl did not waver, but he shook his head in silent negative.
“Way too much,” Elias continued, answering his own question. “I know. I’ve seen my aunt and her colleagues at work. Why do you think we have less and less food to go around every year? Why do you think we get rations now, instead of everybody eating whatever they want?”
“That’s the way it’s always been,” Tristan replied. “It’s better if we have control over what people eat.”
“That’s the stupidest thing you have ever said. Do you honestly believe that lie? Remember back when we were little, when we used to spend all day together? I would go to your house, and your mother would make us sandwiches and lemonade, and there were cookies we weren’t supposed to have but we stole anyway. We would sometimes go to my house, just the two of us, and gather candy and whatever else was around for our secret camping trips.”
At the mention of the last part, Tristan blinked. “Huh. The camping trips. I’d forgotten about them.”
“Well, I haven’t,” Elias told him, and it was a severe understatement. He had loved to go out into the woods with Tristan when they were boys, exploring the unknown at the edges of the old perimeter fence. It didn’t even matter whether they actually found something interesting or dug a hole in the ground to see how deep they could go or wandered around trying to find strange bugs. Those days were golden in Elias’s memory.
“How long ago was that?”
“I don’t know. Ten years? Remember, Tristan. Just… remember. There used to be way more food. It wasn’t like now, not by far. We are slowly starving to death in that place, and everyone keeps denying it.”
“Things are hard now, but we can turn them around. We just need everyone to do their part for the colony. We can’t afford to be selfish like you.”
“You know what? I’m sick of people calling me selfish,” Elias said, placing the Life Seed on the ground and standing up. “I’m done with that. Everything I’ve done these past three years has been to help. To do my bit. Sure, I could have taken up an apprenticeship with my aunt, and then what? If all those brilliant geneticists haven’t figured out how to keep us from starving in the decades they’ve worked on the problem, do you think by joining them I could have made a difference?”
“So that’s your excuse for doing nothing?”
“Tristan, I swear I’m going to kick you in your broken arm if you keep on saying bullshit. I’m trying to look for a solution. Something nobody is doing, apparently. Everyone’s happy to pretend everything is just dandy when it really isn’t. I have a little brother, in case you don’t remember. And I hate seeing him grow up like this. He doesn’t know any better. He has never even had a birthday cake, for goodness’ sake! And it breaks my heart to see how my father gives us a portion of his food every night, claiming he’s not hungry when I can see he’s nothing but skin and bones.
“I want a better future for us, Tristan. And if the answer is not in what we’re doing, then we need to do something different. When I found Dr. Wright’s laboratory, I was only curious. The more I investigated, though, the more I realized that the information there is very valuable. Why didn’t we learn about him in history class? Why isn’t he honored like the rest of the pioneers, particularly since it was he who found the Life Seed in the first place? I’ll tell you why. He was the one to discover that although using the Life Seed for genetic material was beneficial in the short-term, it would mean the end of us all in the long run. I read every bit of his journal. He tried to tell people, and they wouldn’t listen, like now nobody’s listening to me. After all, why give up the one thing that’s keeping the colony going, right? Without the Seed’s genetic material our crops wouldn’t grow on this world. But by keeping it with us, we are dooming the entire planet along with ourselves!”
Tristan looked up at him, remaining sitting. His deep, intelligent eyes glittered with unreadable emotion. His lower jaw was set in defiant stubbornness, and stubble shaded his cheeks. In spite of everything, Elias couldn’t suppress the thought that Tristan was… handsome.
“So what do you propose?” Tristan asked, his quiet voice a sharp contrast to Elias’s earlier shouts. “If what you say is true, then what happens? You return the Life Seed, you save the planet. But what about us?”
“What about us? We find a solution,” Elias answered. “We’ve been cooped up in that colony for too long. There’s got to be native crops we can grow, ways we can hybridize Terran strains with the life here. Similar stuff’s been done before on many of the planets of the Core Systems. We can do it here too. It’s going to take a lot of work, though. And our lives aren’t going to be easy while we do that. There’s not even a guarantee we will succeed, not when Dr. Wright and the others couldn’t. But you know something? I’d rather do that than watch how everyone slowly starves to death in that empty tomb we call our home. It’s been more than one hundred years since planetfall. There should be cities rising on New Skye. Instead, there’s fewer of us all the time.”
“Return the Life Seed to Portree, Elias. Think of everyone back home.”
“That’s just what I’m—forget it. We’re going to the Aberdeen Mountains, and that’s that.”
“You can’t make me come with you. I won’t be an accomplice.”
“You’re right, I can’t make you,” Elias said. Then he nodded at the wurl, who were basking in the sunlight not far from where the two young men sat. “They will.”
Elias got Tristan to share a quick snack of the remaining purpleberries he had in his pockets, despite Tristan’s initial reluctance. Tristan confessed he was carrying some emergency rations, but he insisted that they keep them for later in case they did not find any more food, and Elias had to agree. Tristan did share his water with Elias, though. The back plate of his uniform concealed a wide and flat plastic container that was full of water. They drank only a little out of it, since the landscape around them showed no obvious sources to replenish it. After that was done, Elias helped Tristan get up, and they continued on their way.
Elias tried to start up a conversation once or twice, but Tristan maintained a steadfast, sullen silence, and eventually Elias simply gave up. The sun descended in the sky, off to the left, and the two of them kept walking.
The mountain peaks were obviously closer, but it was hard for Elias to gauge exact distances without any reference points. He would look at a slope ahead and judge it to be gentle and manageable, only to get to it and discover that it was too sharp to climb. The terrain they traversed demanded attention and care as well. They were crossing through an area of the highlands that appeared to have been scarred by some gigantic cataclysm in the past. The more they advanced, the deeper the yawning chasms in the earth were. Most of them were narrow enough to jump across, but a few were huge, jagged canyons that forced Elias to find another way. With the added distraction of the relentless wind blowing across the exposed desolation, he was miserable, exhausted, and shivering by the time the sun set in the sky.
“We can’t go any farther,” Tristan said, breaking the silence for the first time in hours. “Not unless you want us to fall into one of those holes. It’s going to be too dark to navigate, even with the moons rising.”
“I know,” Elias replied. “Help me find a good spot to set up camp.”
“I think we can have some shelter over there.”
“I don’t see anything,” Elias answered, looking at the place where Tristan was pointing. It looked like yet another jagged chasm.
“Just come with me,” Tristan said impatiently. Elias followed, and he realized that the gap Tristan had pointed out was only a couple meters deep. If not for the irregular outlines around the edges, the hole could have almost been an open grave.
“In here?” Elias asked, uncertain.
“Unless you have a better idea.”
Elias scanned the barren landscape in the dim twilight. Aside from the three hulking wurl who had grouped up some distance away, appearing to rest but still watching him with their clusters of luminescing eyes, there was no other place.
“Fine,” Elias conceded. “I’m going to take a leak first, though.”
When full night settled over the highlands, Elias and Tristan had managed to find somewhat comfortable positions in the narrow hole. The dirt surrounding them was surprisingly warm from the sunlight, although the very bottom of their shelter was somewhat moist. The rich, earthy aroma of wet soil filled the space, and although Elias had been forced to sit facing Tristan, with the two of them entwining their legs awkwardly around the other in the confined space, he was thankful.
“At least there’s no more wind,” he said, not really expecting an answer.
“Yeah,” Tristan said quietly. “That’s something they taught me in the patrol. In winter, it’s best to keep out of the wind if you can.”
Elias shifted position a little, trying not to kick Tristan or disturb his broken arm. He placed the Life Seed between them. Maybe it was his desperate longing for warmth, but with the two of them, it seemed to Elias as if the Seed was hotter than it usually was.
“Why is it doing that?” Tristan asked, nodding at the Seed.
“You mean how it’s hot?”
“Yeah.”
“I have no idea. I’m not complaining, though. It’s like having a little radiator. If not for the Seed, I think I would have—” A sudden attack of hacking coughing forced Elias to stop. It was a while before he recovered. “I think I would have frozen to death here already.”
“You didn’t even prepare well,” Tristan told him. The faint moonlight was barely enough for Elias to make out his face, even though they weren’t more than a meter apart. “You headed into the wilderness, in wintertime, without a tent or a knife or warm clothing or even a water bottle.”
“Well, excuse me, but it wasn’t exactly like I had a lot of time to plan. Besides, I kind of expected to be at the mountains already. They’re very far away.”
“They are. It’s strange, isn’t it?”
“What’s strange?”
Tristan sighed in the dark. “I’ve never been so far from home. It’s odd. Kind of scary and kind of cool, if that makes any sense.”
Elias nodded. “I know exactly what you mean. I never knew New Skye could be so beautiful, or so dangerous.”
“They probably think I’m dead, back at the colony. The commander specifically said to report back if we found something. She didn’t want us going after you alone, but when I found your trail… I should have gone for backup. That was my mistake.”
“Why, you thought I was no big threat?”
“I did,” Tristan admitted.
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Come on, Elias. You’re not exactly athletic. I’ve had weapons training, martial arts, and I’ve killed wurl.”
His statement triggered a memory, and Elias recalled how Tristan had saved him, just a couple of days ago. “That’s right. I never even thanked you.”
“For what?”
Elias shrugged in the dark. “For saving my ass, okay? That night outside the abandoned laboratory. If you hadn’t been there….”
“If I had known what you were going to do, I would have left you to that wurl.”
“Right. Well, thanks anyways. I have to admit you were pretty badass that time.”
Tristan did not answer, and after a while Elias heard his breathing coming deeper and slower. Tiredness soon tugged at his consciousness as well, and Elias gave up to sleep, the heat of the Life Seed lulling him into strange dreams.
Chapter 11—Freezing and Warm
INTERMITTENT COUGHING spells prevented Elias from truly resting. They woke him up every few minutes, it seemed, and his sleep was fitful at best. When the sky above finally lightened with coming morning, Elias crawled out of the hole tiredly, dragging the Life Seed along and rubbing his eyes.
He stretched, feeling all the little aches in his body as he did so.
“Definitely need to exercise more,” he grumbled to himself. “This feels awful.”
At least his arms weren’t shaking anymore, and the dull ache in his knees had subsided somewhat. The light wind that blew through the desolate landscape was chilly, but Elias wasn’t shivering anymore. He realized that he hadn’t been that cold all night, in fact. He supposed it was because of the combined warmth coming from the Life Seed and Tristan in the small, enclosed space. That was one thing to be thankful for.
He turned his eyes to the north, scanning the terrain. The Aberdeen Mountains were clearly visible now, an imposing row of jagged peaks all capped in pristine white snow. They looked close enough to touch, but Elias knew better by now. Yesterday they had appeared impossibly far away in the haze, and it was only because today the air seemed to be particularly clear that they looked so near.
Movement to the right caught his attention. The wurl had woken up and were approaching as if curious. They came all the way up to where Elias was standing, stopping just a couple of paces away. They were close enough that Elias could smell them and feel the heat coming from their breath whenever they exhaled.
“Morning, guys,” Elias said to them. Three heads turned up in response to the sound, tilting to the right in a gesture that reminded Elias of videos of Terran dogs. “Up for another long walk today?”
The wurl didn’t answer, obviously, but Elias realized they were paying attention to him now, rather than to the Life Seed. Unbidden, a memory of something he had read in the doctor’s journal came to his mind. He had called the wurl gentle giants, curious creatures that would inspect campsites after the humans were gone. Elias had grown up fearing the large reptiles, but now that he was able to see them up close like this, he got the distinct impression they weren’t murderous killing machines all the time.
“Why do you keep attacking Portree?” Elias asked them. “Is it because we have this?”
He lifted the Seed, and the wurl followed the motion. When he held it out to them, they sniffed it eagerly but made no attempt to come any closer.
“Back off!” Tristan shouted suddenly. The wurl growled and slithered away. Elias looked back and saw Tristan approaching at a run, scowling as usual. “Are you insane?”
“Good morning, Tristan.”
“Don’t ever do it again, you hear me? Ever! Those animals are dangerous!”
Elias noticed that all the wurl had deployed their spines fully upright in a threatening display.
“I had it under control,” he told Tristan, irritated. “Those creatures are intelligent. I was trying to communicate.”
“You were trying to…? Right. They’re killers, Elias.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Of course you don’t,” Tristan spat. His usually carefully combed hair was a mess, and the stubble of his growing beard made him look wild. “You haven’t had to fight them. You never found the mangled corpse of one of our own after those things were done. Do you want to know how the last victim died? It was Hikari Matsuo, Kenji’s wife. She had been torn apart. I found one of her legs in the forest. The rest of her was in a clearing, riddled with spines.”
Elias shuddered. “That’s horrible.”
“You think?” Tristan asked, the sarcasm evident in his tone. “They are dangerous. I don’t know why the hell they haven’t torn us to pieces already and taken the Seed they obviously want so badly, but I wouldn’t count on my luck. Stop doing stupid things like that.”
“I thought you didn’t care what happened to me.”
“Yeah. I mean…. Shut up. Let’s eat. We shouldn’t waste any daylight.”
Elias nodded, sitting down on a rock. Tristan sat nearby, and he shared some of his rations. Then they each drank a large gulp out of the water package.
“Why the change in attitude?” Elias asked after they were done eating. “I thought you didn’t want to help me.”
“I have no choice, do I? Besides, the sooner we get to the mountains, the sooner you’ll see that what you’re doing is stupid. Then we can return with the Seed to the colony and you can stand trial for what you’ve done.”
“Who says I’m going back to Portree after I do this?”
Tristan looked at him as if he was speaking another language. “What?”
“What would I even go back for?”
“You have to go back. There’s nowhere else.”
“Says you,” Elias told him. “I could go explore the world or something.”
“You would die. And quick. Without the Seed, any wurl you encounter can kill you with a flick of its tail.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
Tristan stood up, brushing dry grass from the back of his pants. The plates in his uniform were scuffed and dirty, but at least the splint that held his arm motionless was clean. “We have to get going.”
“Fine,” Elias conceded.
Elias was wary all through the morning, however. He didn’t trust Tristan’s change of attitude, and he kept himself on guard just in case. The two of them followed along the pathless expanse of the rolling landscape, climbing all the time, as was all too evident by the temperature decreasing and the air thinning. A few hours later, the wind finally stopped as they crested an irregular hill and found themselves facing another wide plateau.
“What the hell?” Tristan asked.
Elias could understand his surprise. The plateau was covered with water. It spread out as far as the eye could see, and its surface was a perfect mirror of the sky overhead and the mountains beyond. It was as if a gigantic lake had spread out over the highlands, serene, with barely a ripple in its immensity.
Tall trunks of trees with gnarled branches rose up from the water, white and tan, devoid of leaves. They looked like preserved skeletons of dead plants covered in marble, and a few birds flitted here and there among the branches, the only living thing Elias could see. He imagined that if the trees ever regained their leaves, he would be standing at the edge of a massive alien mangrove biome, but it looked as though the trees had long since drowned, leaving only wood as a testament to what they had once been.
