Rebel's Quest by F M Busby

Author:F M Busby [Busby, F M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780553247275
Google: NbPYxg4X05QC
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 1985-01-15T09:34:49+00:00

The locals, gathering to meet the groundside party, didn't impress Tregare much. Unkempt, wearing makeshift clothing, they spoke a dialect that had drifted quite a way from standard speech; Bran found it hard to understand. Finally four of the younger men came carrying a sort of rickety palanquin, roofed but open-sided; inside sat a very old person of indeterminate sex, wearing a filthy robe that still bore traces of gold embroidery. When the conveyance was set down, supported by flimsy-looking legs unfolded from its lower frame, the person beckoned and said, "You've come at last. Who speaks for you?"

None of this crowd looked dangerous, so Tregare walked past them to the oldster's seat. "I do. Bran Tregare, captain of Inconnu. What's the name of this place? And your own?" And what the hell happened here? Well, that would take some asking.

"New Earth, we used to call it, at first when we still thought the ship could lift again. Fell down fifty years ago, it did. But the Nielson was bad, anyway. The Cast Out Ones still live alongside it, radiation and all. Worship it. Grabbed Chira, my great-granddaughter, the other day, for sacrifice. " A sniffle, and the person wiped it off with the back of a hand. "I'm Hugh Charlton, last one born aboard the Conquistador in space. Or am I? Last one alive, anyway. " The old man coughed. "Lots more ships coming out, supposed to be; that's what my daddy said. But none of 'em came here. Not any. Not until you. You going to take us home, are you?"

Tregare looked around him. Not hardly! But he said, "We're supposed to conduct an inspection, is all. And make a report. Now could you tell me how the colony is progressing?"

Old Charlton's ramblings took a time, but Bran could put the picture together. After the bad landing, that left the Conquistador standing aslant and none too stable, at first the officers had used the colonists for forced labor, trying to get the ship repaired while also growing food crops. After a number of years—Charlton wasn't sure how many—there had been a bloody revolt. At its end, no technical personnel survived. Hugh emerged as the prophet of a new religion, devoted to simplified living and individual freedom. After half the survivors died of famine because nobody had to work if he or she chose not to, changes arose, but Hugh Charlton somehow managed to hang onto his—well, high priesthood seemed as good a word as any.

"What about the Cast Out Ones?" Well, living near the ship with its malfunctioning, radiating Nielson Cube, the colonists began having malformed offspring. Hugh vaguely remembered enough to realize that radiation caused the birth defects, so he moved the colony to its present location and cast out the defectives, who chose to stay near the Conquistador, even after it toppled over.

"We still get a bad birth here, sometimes. Soon as it's weaned, it goes to them. To raise or eat, whichever they choose. "

Tregare

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