Nancy Kress - Crossfire 02 by Crucible

Author:Crucible
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-05-23T11:45:01+00:00

20

THE AVERY MOUNTAINS

Karim blinked at his first view of the inflatable.

From the outside it had appeared to be standard research-camp living quarters as he remembered them from fifty years ago: dull green, quick to erect, durable. Inside it was unrecognizable. The plastic walls and floor had all but disappeared under pelts and woven blankets. A small drum lay on its side, ornamented with feathers, Baskets held handmade tools and various dried foods: Somewhere outside someone was grilling meat; the smell made Karim’s empty stomach growl.

Two braves sat in a corner, smoking. They rose quickly when the captives were brought in.

“We found them in the upland meadow,” a captor said.

“An odd place for love,” the oldest brave said. “And you didn’t let them put on their clothes?”

“They weren’t doing sex. They had no clothes.”

The elder frowned. He had bright red hair and, under his suntan and wrinkles, the trace of freckles. Most of the Cheyenne in the First Landing, Karim remembered Jake telling him, had not actually come from that ethnic group at all. They were people rich enough to afford space passage who nonetheless wanted to live like primitives. Their blood had been American, Irish, German, English, Italian, all the defunct countries of the UAF. A few had even been Chinese.

None of this had made any sense to Karim. Without your place in the family, in the generations of the medina, how could you really know who you were?

“Who are you?” the elder asked.

“I am Karim Mahjoub and this is Lucy Lasky. Have you ever heard of us?”

“No.”

“We’re from the First Landing. We’ve been out in space,” Karim said desperately.

Carefully the brave studied Karim, then Lucy. Finally he said, “They’re crazy. Put them with the others.”

Their captors motioned them out. Lucy stopped defiantly and plucked a pelt from a basket by the door. “I need this to cover myself, all right?”

The elder nodded and she took two pelts, handing one to Karim.

They were marched toward a smaller inflatable, probably originally supply storage. Inside on a bed of pelts sat two men and a woman, all bound. They stared at Lucy and Karim.

“You’re not Cheyenne,” one man said. He was small, blond, and intense. The other man was both younger and larger, obviously unshaven for at least a week. The woman was Chinese.

“No,” Karim said as he and Lucy were pushed down to sit with the others. A brave bound their hands and feet and then the Cheyenne left. Five prisoners crowded the available space. Every one jostled to find enough room.

“I’m Jon McBain, an energy researcher for Mira Corp,” the blond man said. “This was my research station until we were taken over by those archaic lunatics out there.”

Karim said, without hope, “I’m Karim Mahjoub and this is Lucy Lasky. Have you ever heard of—”

“Oh my God,” McBain said. “Is it really you? Are you back?”

Karim lay bound in the darkness, unable to sleep. They had been fed, fish and game and some sort of fat mixed with dried fruit that had actually tasted pretty good.

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