Interference by Sue Burke

Author:Sue Burke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

* * *

“Wake up,” Arthur’s voice whispered inside my head. “I have something to show you.”

After a minute of drowsy confusion, I remembered. He had kept a radio. He knew how to use it. The Mu Rees were snoring. It was dark.

“Get up, get dressed. I’ll tell you where to find me.”

Stevland. He was going to show me Stevland. All my fishing for information must have gotten through to him.

“I’m coming.”

I pulled on my clothes as fast and as quietly as I could and added a Pax scarf with a rainbow design a woman had traded for some socks. I ducked under the door into the cold. The east held a hint of twilight. The sun would rise soon.

“You’re hungry. Get some food. We can have breakfast together.”

I tried to trace and identify the transmission. It came from nearby. We had an antenna in the city. But the transmission had no identity confirmation from the central transmitter. It seemed to be merely a smart instrument transmitting data in the system, like a refrigerator or portable weather station. Clever disguise.

I found my way in the dark more by memory than sight. But Arthur wasn’t at the dining hall. All I saw was a table holding trays of fresh bread and fruit, dimly lit by a cage of glowing insects. The bread smelled beautiful, of wheat, of plant life. I took a small loaf and grabbed a couple of pieces of bamboo fruit. I ate one as I left, sweet and energizing. Stevland’s fruit.

“Where are you?” I sent.

“Go out the west gate.”

I passed a few colonists on my way. They greeted me more or less politely and didn’t seem surprised to see an Earthling wandering around so early. I wasn’t sure of the way to the gate and got lost once. But Arthur wasn’t there, either. The sky had grown bright enough that I could see more easily.

“Keep going. Take the path straight ahead, then the branch on the right that leads up a little hill. There’s a grove of rainbow bamboo at the top.”

“I know where that is.” That was where I had taken my samples.

The path led through a field of what colonists called yams, where the plants were now young shoots. Spiny glowing caterpillars crawled among them, and a bat swooped low and called out to me. The bats spoke a language that the colonists understood.

I sent the sound to Arthur. “What did it say?”

“A greeting. It contains the offer to be of service. The bat must be hungry. They carry messages in exchange for food.”

It circled around me again, calling, then flew off. In the fields, lizards were chirping, noises that sounded like little chimes. A bird was barking near the path. I tried to spot it, knowing it would look so much like a clump of dried weeds that I probably wouldn’t identify it. But even the weeds had nerves. Even these yams. And that felt … right, like something I had always been searching for and was finally going to find.

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.