Child of Earth

CHAPTER FIVE

The captain was dying. He had been dying all during their recent voyage growing skeletal thin, coughing clots of stained mucus and gobbets of ravaged tissue from decaying lungs. Spending the last of his strength to land safely then to slump in the big chair in the control cabin to stare with glassy eyes at the screens, dials, glowing signals from the assembled panels. Standing beside him Dumarest heard the liquid rasping, the soft rustle of clothing against plastic, saw the twist of the lips, the movements of the hands and eyes, the ghastly sagging of a face now more than old.

“Steady,” he soothed. “Just rest easy.”

“Rest?” Bazan Deralta heaved in his chair. Coughing he fought the phlegm which clogged his throat. “Earl!”

He positioned the bowl, waited as the captain hawked and spat, clearing his throat, breathing with a harsh, ragged sound. He lifted a protesting hand as Dumarest wiped his lips as he slumped back into his chair.

“No, Earl! That’s enough!”

Ignoring him he dipped the cloth into scented water and laved the captain’s forehead, throat and cheeks. The flesh burned as if with inner fire.

“How is he?” Entering the control room the navigator stared at the slumped figure. “Bad as ever. The poor devil. He hasn’t a hope of making it.”

“We could take him to the infirmary.”

“Sure,” agreed Raistar. He was a tall, aging man with a harassed expression and a curt, blunt manner. “They could take him and check his insides and take samples so as to grow new tissue. When ready they could slice him open and replace his diseased organs and dump him into an amniotic tank. Slowtime would speed the healing. They could fix him up as good as new. It could all be done in a few weeks.” Bitterly he added, “All it takes is money.”

“He has money. He has the ship.”

“And when that’s gone, what then?” The navigator shook his head. “And you’re wrong, Earl. The captain doesn’t own the ship. We all have a share. So we sell it and pay for the treatment. If it works the captain will be alive-but there will be no ship. At his age he hasn’t a chance of getting another command. Not even a berth. He’d be stranded.”

“But alive.”

“Or he doesn’t make it.” Raistar ignored the comment. “And we still have no ship.”

“He’s the captain! You just can’t let him die!”

“We can’t ruin ourselves to give him a chance.” Anger tinged the navigator’s voice. “You think we don’t give a damn? You think we don’t care? But the facts are what they are. Either way we’d be stranded. Can you even begin to imagine what that would be like? No berth, no cash, no future. No escape from this hell-hole of a world. It’s a gamble we can’t win. One we aren’t going to take.”

“But-”

“He’s right, Earl.” Zander had joined them in the control room. “We’ll do the best we can but we can’t take the captain to the infirmary. The authorities will be notified in case of contamination. The ship will be impounded and there will be heavy fees mounting day by day.”

“We can work to pay them.”

“It isn’t as simple as that” said the engineer. “We can’t afford to linger. As soon as Jesso has got us a cargo we’re off.”

“Without a captain?”

“Raistar can handle the ship. He can take care of the formalities. No one will know about the captain. Once in space we’ll do the best we can.”

A best that needn’t be good enough. None of the drugs they had carried had helped and Dumarest felt a chill of foreboding as he again bathed the burning flesh of the emaciated face. One he had come to know and like too well. A face of a man he had come to think of as a father, someone who had helped, who seemed to understand, to be concerned. One who was going to die.

“We all have to go, Earl.” The engineer, watching, had sensed his thoughts, guessed his emotions. His voice was unusually gentle. “Today, tomorrow, someday-it all has to end. Bazan has done more than most. Seen more than most. Now, maybe, it’s time for him to move on.”

“But there must be something we can do.”

“There is and we will. Dorph is arranging it.” Zander turned to lead the way from the control room, the big chair, the wasted figure it contained. “You’re to go with him to collect some medications. Hurry, Earl. He’s waiting for you outside.”

Figona was a harsh world, one of clouded sunlight, tainted air and winds carrying the acrid stench of chemicals. From where he stood at the head of the ramp Dumarest could see ugly glows on the horizon from the smelters turning ore into ingots. Wisps of vapor streamed over the field, catching at his lungs, stinging his eyes. The reason why the port had slammed close behind him. Such an atmosphere had no place within the vessel. Especially when the captain was lying ill and coughing blood.

“Coming?”

Dorph, at the foot of the ramp, was impatient.

Dumarest ignored him, years of association had lessened his importance. Now the steward was just another person in a tiny world. As the engineer was another, the handler a third. Both now busy on their own tasks.

“Earl! Damn it, boy, do you have to stand like some star-struck idiot? You’ve seen ships and landing fields before. They’re all the same. Let’s get on with it.”

Reluctantly he obeyed. It was true he had seen ships and fields before but, always, they held a special magic. The attraction of the unknown. The hint of exotic adventure and unexpected possibilities. The ships scattered around him had roamed the void and touched the planets of stars far distant.

The crews that manned them had trodden on worlds he had yet to see. Many of which he would never have the time to see.

Three years of travel had barely allowed him to touch the fringe of the universe.

“Hurry!” Dorph looked from side to side as Dumarest descended the ramp. A nervous gesture with no apparent cause.

“We haven’t much time,” he said as he led the way to the gate. “The captain needs a special drug. Only a few sell it. The man we need won’t entertain visitors after dark.”

Too many words and, like the furtive looks, foreign to his nature. Dorph never volunteered explanations. He liked to remain enigmatic and, in his mind, mysterious. Now he wore a peaked cap fitted with an eye-screen that masked his face. He had insisted that Dumarest wore one like it. An odd request but there was no point in arguing about it.

“Keep moving!” Dorph grunted as a guard blocked their passage. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Just take it easy.”

The guard was a big man, armed and irritable. “Just give it a minute. Someone special wants some room.”

Dumarest looked to where the guard was facing. The crowd of men was parting, yielding to clear a passage down which came a tall, thin figure. One seeming to glide over the tamped dirt, resplendent in a robe of vivid scarlet, the breast adorned with a gleaming sigil. Beneath the raised cowl he caught a glimpse of a taut, skull-like visage, the glow of sunken eyes.

“Who-”

“Quiet, boy!” snapped Dorph. “Don’t be curious!” The guard wasn’t so reticent.

“You’ve never seen one before?” His eyes roved over Dumarest. “Well, maybe not, you’re young and there aren’t many in this area. You’re looking at a cyber. An associate of the Cyclan. Closer to the Centre they can be found on every thriving world.” He spat on the dirt. “Scum, the lot of them! They should be burned!”

“Why?”

“Forget it, Earl!”

Like Dumarest the guard ignored the steward.

“You want to know why? I’ll tell you why. I was born on Helgar, a warm and easy world a long way from here. My family shared and farmed a valley for five generations. We all lived well. Then the new Magnate wanted to increase his revenue. He hired the Cyclan to advise him how best to do it. Their advice turned the valley into a reservoir. We lost our home, land, everything. For compensation we were given a tract of desert. My father cut his throat. My mother starved, my sisters and other brothers-” He broke off, quivering with rage. “All thanks to the Cyclan. Damn the red swine!”

Dumarest looked at the tall figure with fresh interest. He had passed deeper into the field but now it was obvious he was not alone. Two others accompanied him; acolytes wearing simple robes. The ship to which they headed stood in isolation at the far edge of the field.

“What are they doing here?”

“Who knows? Who cares?” As the guard lowered his arm Dorph headed towards the gate. “Hurry! Let’s get moving!”

Through the gate, past the guards, the cluster of loungers, the curious, the hopeful, the desperate.

“Mister!” One grabbed at the steward. “You from a ship? I need passage. I can work, do anything, I just have to get away.”

Dorph was curt. “Forget it.”

“I don’t want much. Just a passage.”

“You willing to ride Low?”

“Anything, mister. Anything!”

“Got cash?”

“Some. Look.”

“Not enough.” Dorph waved aside the handful of coins. “It’s no deal.”

“Mister! I’m begging you!”

As they left him behind Dumarest said, “Shouldn’t Jesso have made the decision?”

“Why waste his time? You know the rules-no cash no ride. Anyway, he would never have made it.”

“Jesso-”

“Damn it, Earl, forget Jesso. He would have done the same. Now let’s get on with what we came to do.”

The apothecary was housed in a building adorned with the depiction of great flasks of varied colors. Lamps hung between them, now lit against the growing darkness, casting swathes of cerise, orange, lavender, ruby, golden yellow, lambent emerald. The man himself was small with darting eyes in a creased and puckered face. Around him reared shelves bearing an assortment of containers. Dumarest stared with interest at glowing heaps of crystalline dusts, mounds of elaborately convoluted seeds, phials of enigmatic fluids, the mummified corpses of insects and fish, worms, things like spiders and tadpoles, others like the substance of nightmares.

“Ears,” said the apothecary. “Culled from those executed at dawn, steeped in bile and blood and dried in the heat of a noonday sun. And these-” his finger rapped against another container-“eyes. Plucked from the living sockets of those condemned to end their days in torment. Basted in the effluvium of seared and living fat, chilled, left to shrink in the glow of a gibbous moon. Are you interested, young sir? Have you a problem? Here, within these walls, all can be solved. A subtle poison. A strong aphrodisiac. A rival disposed of and a woman eager to fall into your arms. Could paradise offer more?”

“Forget it,” snapped Dorph. “He may be young but he isn’t stupid.”

“Young, yes, but the future comes closer with each second and each second we age. A year, two, who can tell?” The apothecary’s shrug was as old as time. “Yet, perhaps, the aphrodisiac will not be necessary. Many maidens would be eager to make a gift of their charms. But the poison is another matter. A defence carried against a time of need. A ring, hollowed, shedding a lethal drop into a goblet of wine, feeding the tip of a needle so that a touch would be sufficient. I can supply such a device capable of both means of execution.”

“You’re wasting your time,” said the steward. “He can’t afford it. Anyway, what would he want with poison? He’s just a boy.”

“No,” said the apothecary softly. “In that you are mistaken. Your companion is not a boy. He is a young man. One, I would wager, who has seen more than most. Done more than most. Would you swear I am wrong?” Again he shrugged at the lack of an answer. “Well, if I have nothing he can use, how can I serve you?” He squinted at the paper Dorph slapped down before him. “It seems, my friend, you are in trouble.”

“Never mind that. Can you supply what I need?”

“Be patient.” Again the apothecary studied the list.

“The one coughing blood-how long has the condition lasted?”

“Did I say someone was coughing blood?”

“You ask for a drug designed to combat just such a condition. Naturally, it could have many causes, some relatively harmless. Others could be of far greater concern.”

The apothecary tapped a finger on the list. “Now this item. Slowtime, expensive but-”

“I didn’t come for a lecture,” snapped Dorph. “Can you give me what’s listed? If not I’ll go somewhere else.”

“To the field infirmary, perhaps?” The apothecary’s smile held nothing of humor. “To a registered physician? An officially authorized pharmacy? If so do not let me detain you.” He waited then, “No? Then let us get down to business. You have money? These items are not cheap.”

But the price would include more than the product; silence gained and anonymity provided. Dumarest wondered at the need. Before he could ask the steward snarled his impatience.

“Look at that rubbish.” He gestured at the assembled containers. “Did you believe what he told you?”

“About the eyes and ears?”

“They are fungi and galls. The rest a collection of seeds, pods, roots, fruits, twigs-hell, you name it. Stuff the ignorant believe will bring health and cure their ills.”

“Like those leeches?” Dumarest pointed to a jar in which slender shapes drifted in a murky fluid. “Those maggots?”

Both, he had learned, of worth in the treatment of wounds and a variety of ailments. Despite appearances the apothecary had a knowledge of medicine. Dorph must have known that. But why had he chosen to deal with such a man?

A question unanswered as he returned bearing a parcel.

Dorph checked the contents. Money changed hands. Bolts grated as the door slammed shut behind them.

“Here.” Dorph handed Dumarest the package. “Let’s get back to the ship.”

Night had fallen, clouds shielding the stars, the sky a pattern of reflected light from the distant smelters. On all sides patches of brilliance illuminated the shuttered buildings, lanterns set behind panes of glass glowing in a broad spectrum of color. Shapes moved across them, the figures of pedestrians, cloaked, hooded, some masked against the acrid wind. Coughs merged with the rasp of boots, the tapping of canes.

“Be careful.” Dorph slowed as they neared the glow of illumination from the field, head moving as his eyes quested the dimness. “There could be thieves. We don’t want to be robbed. Killed, even.”

“So close to the field?”

“What’s to stop them?”

“The guards-”

“Are tough when in the company of their own kind. Alone they watch their skin, but you never see them alone.” The steward halted. “This is close enough. You can make your own way from here. Go down that street, turn right at the end, left at the next turn and the field will lie directly ahead. Get to the ship and hand over the parcel. If the others aren’t there Raistar will manage.”

“What about you?”

“That’s my business.”

“You’re the steward,” said Dumarest. “You should conduct any medication. It isn’t Raistar’s job.”

Dorph said, thickly, “Listen, boy! I’ve had enough of your mouth. Just remember who you are and do as you’re told.”

He added, as Dumarest drew in his breath, “If you want to keep riding with us just do as I say. Deliver the parcel. I’ve other things to do.”

He vanished into the writhing mist and Dumarest resisted the urge to follow him. The man had never been a friend and now he’d shown his true colors. Later he would decide what to do about it. Now he had the drugs to deliver and a life to save.

A shadow loomed before him as he neared the gate. A thick arm clamped his chest and a hand rose to cover his mouth.

“Don’t move! Don’t make a noise!”

Zander. Dumarest froze in obedience. A hand tore the cap from his head.

“Earl? Where’s Dorph?” The engineer snarled as Dumarest told him. “Walked away? Threatened you? Took off while he was safe. The bastard! He won’t be safe for long!”

“What’s happening? Zander! Tell me!”

“Something you won’t like hearing.” The engineer loosened his grasp and Dumarest turned to face him. The man’s face was drawn, marred by an ugly bruise on the left cheek. A trail of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

“What’s happened? You’ve been in a fight.”

“Did you see the cyber?”

“Yes. On the way out.”

“With Dorph.” Zander’s voice thickened. “The bastard! It all adds up. He was in a hurry, right? Eager to go about his own business?”

“Yes.”

“He would be. Damn him! He-” The engineer snarled his impatience as a pair of guards sauntered towards them. “This is no place to talk. Let’s find somewhere private.”

A tavern with a low roof and thick, acrid, smoke-filled air. A rough place with furniture to match. One catering to field-workers, transients, those with too much time and too little money. A slattern bought wine and stained beakers. She waited to be paid, studying them both before moving away to serve others.

“Here!” Zander poured wine and pushed a beaker towards Dumarest. “Pick it up. Pretend to drink. That slut is still watching.” As Dumarest obeyed, the engineer continued, “Things have turned bad. The captain’s dead, Raistar too. I left them both, after you’d gone and tried to find Jesso. I heard talk and-”

“The captain is dead?”

“As I told you.” Zander gulped some of his wine. “Bazan, Raistar and from what I heard you can add Jesso to the list. They caught up with us. Someone helped them to do it.”

Dumarest thought of the captain and felt an aching sense of loss.

“How?” he said. “Why?”

“Listen,” said Zander, “and try to understand. When you found us we were somewhere we shouldn’t have been. We’d taken a gamble on making a quick profit and lost. It was a mistake. Now we are paying for it.”

Dumarest said, “You stole the ship?”

“You could call it that.” Zander drank more wine. “We decided to operate as a free-trader and managed to scrape a living by carrying cheap cargos for low profit. We were living on borrowed time.” Again he gulped at the wine. “Taste the stuff,” he urged. “That bitch is still watching. I don’t want her to get too curious.”

The wine was rough, raw, thick with floating particles. Dumarest spat the little he had taken back into the beaker.

“Now the owners have caught up?”

“Someone has. After I’d heard about Jesso I returned to the ship. A stranger was waiting. He tried to kill me.” Zander touched his cheek, coughed, looked at the blood staining his hand. “He had taken care of the captain and Raistar, maybe Jesso too. The entire crew gone aside from me and Dorph.”

“And me?”

“No, Earl, not you. You were never crew Never listed as such. Stay clear and you’ll be safe.”

“Dorph knows.”

“Too much. I think he betrayed us. That’s why he insisted you wear a cap matching his own. You dress alike and are much the same size. It would be easy to take you for him. Kill you instead of him.” He coughed again and fought for breath. “Did you get the drugs you were after?”

“You’re hurt, Zander. Let me get help.”

“Forget it. Just give me what you collected from the apothecary.” The engineer studied the items. “Antibiotics, sedatives, salves, inhalants, pain-killers, slowtime-” He lifted the small containers and shook a half-dozen painkillers into his palm. Swallowing them he said, “This should hold me. I’ll keep the slowtime. Take the rest. They might be worth something.” Abruptly he added, “Goodbye, Earl.”

“Goodbye?”

“We’re parting company. I’ve something to do and I don’t want you involved. Don’t return to the field. Don’t even ask about the ship. Just go and keep going. Here.” Zander put coins on the table. “It isn’t much but it’s all I have. Now go and keep moving.”

Dumarest said, “Don’t talk rubbish! If you’re hurt I want to help.”

“You can’t.” The engineer’s face twisted in pain. “I’m bleeding inside. Dying. You’re on your own. Now get the hell away from me.” Zander rose and staggered and clutched at the table for support. A moment which betrayed his weakness, then he straightened and raised the phial of slowtime to his lips.

“Take care, Earl. Now I’m going to fix Dorph and then take care of the captain. Move, boy! Move!”

The night had turned savage with sharp winds carrying the bite of stinging vapor and noxious gasses. Things ignored as he moved down the streets away from the field, obeying Zander’s instructions because he could think of no better alternative. Overwhelmed by the sudden realisation that the comfort and security he had enjoyed was over, that those he had known as family and friends had gone, vanished as the engineer had vanished when he had taken the slowtime. But Zander hadn’t died. He had simply jerked into an accelerated state of existence in which, for him, time had slowed so that minutes became hours and he could walk safe and unseen through lurking dangers. To find the man who had betrayed them. To kill him. To close his mouth before he could do more damage and then to destroy the ship and the dead it contained.

To create a pyre in which he also would perish.

It blossomed as he reached an intersection; wide avenues crossing to create an open circular area ringed with the glow of accumulated lanterns casting an assortment of vibrant hues embracing the entire spectrum of the universe.

Glows which faded in the sudden burst of searing brilliance from the field to become smears set against drab stone and stained concrete, moldering bricks and cracked flags. In the brilliance scattered figures stood out in sharp relief and clumps of vegetation dotting the central area took on the visage of carved ebony in intricate array.

As the searing brilliance died the gusting wind carried more than the rustle of stirring leaves.

“There! I saw him! There facing Eastlane! Let’s get him!”

The voice of a predator scenting an easy prey. One accompanied by the thud of racing boots and, hearing them, Dumarest ran across the intersection, aiming for a patch of scrub that marred the smooth contours of the area. Reaching it he halted, crouching so as to hide in its shadow. Listening he heard only the sough of the wind.

He had seen guards in the glare of the pyre but to call for their aid would be to invite attention and, if they chose to ignore him, he would have betrayed his position. If he froze, waiting, those after him might tire of the hunt. Or, knowing the area better than he, they might even now be creeping forward to take him unawares.

He reached out, hands flat, fingers and palms searching for stones. He found nothing but grit and loam. He gathered a handful of each and crouched, staring at the hues now again staining the buildings, watching for a silhouette to break their pattern.

Too late he heard the crunch of dirt beneath a boot.

“Well, now, what have we here?” The voice held the purr of a sadistic beast. “A smart little runner-but not smart enough. On your feet, scum! Stand so we can see you!”

The impact of a boot emphasized the command. It slammed into his side with brutal force, turning him to sprawl on his back, arms spread, legs bent at the knees. Above him a figure stood with shadowed menace.

“Up, I said! On your feet! Move!”

Again the boot, the flare of agony from his side, the sick feeling of helplessness, the mounting terror. He was a victim, the prey of a sadistic psychopath. A bully who took pleasure in tormenting the helpless.

Dumarest moved, rolling, shifting his legs so as to gain mobility, his hands emptying, pressing against the ground as he used the muscles of back and shoulders to lift his weight. Pain made it hard and he guessed at broken ribs.

He cried out as the boot lifted and swung towards him.

“No! Don’t!”

“So you’ve got a voice. That’s nice. Let us hear more of it.” The boot again this time slamming into his side. “Talk, scum! Talk!”

Talk and be kicked to death for a joke, a momentary thrill, or stay silent and receive the same treatment. Either way he couldn’t win. Yet if he didn’t win he would die.

“I’ve got stuff,” he panted. “Drugs. Kick and you’ll break the containers. You want them you can have them.”

“Drugs?”

“That’s right. Enough for you both.” Dumarest looked to see if his assailant was alone. He’d given the impression that he had company but, like the threats and intimidation, that could have been a part of the ritual. “Here!” He swung back to rest on his heels as he delved into his tunic.

“Not so fast! What you got in there? A gun? A knife?”

“Nothing. Just these-” He broke off as the boot swung towards his face, catching it at toe and heel, twisting it outwards from the body, rising as the man cursed then, thrown off-balance, fell backwards.

And screamed as Dumarest slammed his own boot into his groin. Screamed again at a second kick then fell silent as his larynx pulped beneath a third blow.

“Hold it!” A harsh voice rapped the command from beyond the vegetation. “Halt or I shoot!”

“Save your breath.” His companion hawked and spat. “We’ll get him another time. Let’s see what he was up to.”

Dumarest dropped before the two men came into sight. Guards from their equipment and uniforms. Flashlights illuminated the scene focusing on Dumarest as he groaned.

“What the hell’s been going on here?” One stooped over the limp figure of the predator lying to one side. “Dead. Throat-blow by the look of it. Did you do it?” He glared at Dumarest. “Come on, talk, was it you?”

“No.” Dumarest blinked in the glow of the flashlight. “I’m not too sure what happened. I was with him,” he pointed at the sprawled figure. “We were talking. Then a man came along and hit me. I think he ran away.”

“The one we heard,” said the other guard. “He must have been lurking in the bushes waiting for someone to pass by. This one couldn’t have done it. Hell, he’s only a kid. So the man who ran was on the prowl or knew the dead man. He knocked hell out of the kid then when the dead man tried to protect him he went berserk.”

“Maybe.” His companion wasn’t as certain. “What were you doing here, anyway?” he said to Dumarest. “Where were you going?”

“I was looking. Someone told me there was a place where I could get something to eat and stay the night.”

“And this guy offered to take you there? Is that it?” The guard grunted as Dumarest nodded. “I’d say you’ve been lucky. You hurt bad?”

“Bruises. I can manage.”

“You got a home? Family? No?” The guard turned away the beam of his flashlight. His companion was examining the dead man. “Anything?”

“Maybe. What are we going to do about the kid?”

“We should take him in, make out a report, get him checked for injuries.”

“He says he’s only bruised.” Leaving the sprawled corpse the guard leaned towards Dumarest. “That’s right, isn’t it boy? Just a few bruises?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So you don’t need medical attention and a lot of questions. We can all do without trouble, right? If you need shelter and food there’s a place down that street over there.” He pointed. “They’re monks. They belong to a church.”

“How far is it?”

“Not far. You should make it in fifteen minutes.”

It took over an hour.