Finches of Mars by Brian W Aldiss

Author:Brian W Aldiss [Aldiss, Brian W]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2015-08-04T04:00:00+00:00

20

A Troubled Exwo

Aymee and Rooy were taking their traditional stroll over the eternal twilights close to the settlement. The silence pleased them. Only now and again did something occur to them as they walked. Aymee was remarking with a chuckle, ‘Think of all the industry and machinery it took to land us here. And you could say we’re back in a pastoral setting!’

He clasped her arm to halt her.

Their eyes had adjusted to the near-dark; they clearly saw the figure lying sprawled ahead of them. They were astonished. They hurried over to it.

The figure wore an air mask. As Aymee was about to take the man’s pulse, the figure rolled over and said weakly, ‘Dying … my Maker. Following our Saviour.’ He began to choke, his air supply failing.

Rooy pulled off his own mask, and alternated holding it to the other man’s face then his own, so that they could take turns having access to oxygen. The man groaned. Struggling, he managed the words, ‘Too late.’

‘Let’s get him on our shoulders and drag him home.’ As Rooy was speaking, he heaved the man more or less upright. Aymee flung one of his dangling arms over her shoulder, and together they got him into a more-or-less vertical position.

He was half-walking, knees knocking together, mainly being dragged. He began to sob. They heard him crying, gulping down his sobs. ‘I was following Jesus …’ he managed to say. ‘Jesus ahead. Me—me following …’

They got him to the West tower gate, rang for re-admittance. Rooy was panting.

Phipp opened up, to stare in surprise at the trio. He looked more closely at the figure Rooy was propping up.

‘He’s one of those Exwos,’ he said.

‘Just get through the test, will you?’ said Aymee. ‘We need a doctor. This man almost died.’

The three got themselves into the elevator. It carried them to the little emergency ward on the second floor. The man groaned when they stripped off most of his clothes and put him on a bed; an air mask was clamped over his head. Rooy was given an improvised armchair and a pipe of oxygen.

As soon as Aymee was satisfied that both men were being cared for, she nodded farewell to her partner and began to hurry to her suite on the second floor.

‘Hang on, I’m not dead yet,’ said Rooy, heaving himself up. He caught Aymee’s hand. She turned a relieved face to him. They kissed each other.

Later, Rooy took the elevator down into the depths, where he worked among the E&M (Electronics and Machines) which kept the tower functional.

His first task on this day was to incinerate a malformed baby corpse—and keep quiet about it.

On Aymee’s door was a small notice saying,

TELL ME YOUR TROUBLES AYMEE CLINIC

She was researching early files on the truck Vooky had discovered when there was a tap on her door.

A large man in overalls was waiting nervously to speak to her. Short hair stood stiffly on his head. He had an artificial pearl dangling from his left ear. Aymee led him into her tiny inner sanctum, where she offered him a cup of coffee.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.