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"What's going on?"
"Not much," Jerry said. "Beautiful day up here, but you can see that.
Geographic's trying to get us some information, but so far nothing you wouldn't expect. IR doesn't go through fog—uh—"
"I understand. They can't tell what's happening below that." She pointed to the mushroom lid that sat above the Colony site.
"I know this much. They're not coming out of it," Jerry said. He found an empty cup on the console table and stooped to rinse it in the stream that cut across the veranda. Then he filled it with coffee from a thermos and thrust it at her. He refilled his own. "Cadma
"Where is he?" The coffee was bitterly strong, and hot. She treasured each sip.
Jerry shrugged. "Moving fast. Looking for new things to worry about.
What'd you expect?"
"I expect we'd all be dead without him."
"Me too," Jerry said cheerfully. "He's making the rounds."
The ground fell away sharply below the veranda. Below the veranda were two more levels, bedrooms and storage. Then the ground sloped away again. "We put the house on the military crest," Cadma
The minefield began a hundred meters below. Off to her left ran the little ridge that separated the Amazon from the smaller branch that flowed through the house. Halfway down that ridge, between the house and the uphill edge of the minefield, was a tall boulder. Snail Head. Terry's Rock. Something colorful fluttered atop that rock.
She walked downhill. The sound of the stream pulled her, called to her, and she followed it. She slipped off her shoes and walked barefoot through the shallows.
Terry's silhouette still showed atop the glacier rock. She didn't see his chair. He must have left it at the base; Hendrick and Terry's own strong arms would have lifted him onto the peak.
She called. "Terry!"
"Hi. Sunrise was beautiful. I hope to God you slept through it."
"Oh, yeah. Anything?"
"Hendrick brought me breakfast. Biggest event of the day so far.
Cadma
Nowhere did she see Cadma
Something lay beside the stream, about where the minefield ended. Wasn't that clothing? She strained to see. A body? She ran up to the veranda, sloshing coffee, and found Jerry. "Is someone out there?"
He laughed softly. "Laundry. The stuff Ricky and Phyllis wore when they chopped up the gland sacs, and Cadma
That was why. She clapped her hands happily. "You don't have to worry." She closed her eyes and forced herself to remember. "The speed stuff. They've already made everything up?"
Jerry pointed up past the veranda, where Stu now lounged near the makeshift Skeeter pad. "We have two tanks of stuff that will drive any red-blooded grendel into hysterics. Bank on it."
She lost Jerry's next words as Cadma
She came to him. He put an arm around her, gave her a formal peck of a kiss and said, "Come with me?"
They walked down and around the perimeter again.
"They won't come here," she said. "Why would they?"
"I don't know. But that's just it. We don't know much about grendels."
"The big ones are dead. How many did you kill down there?"
"Hundreds. A thousand? Maybe more. Certainly not all of them."
"They grow so fast. They'd have to eat a lot."
He nodded agreement. "But there's a lot to eat. Each other, of course.
All our crops. Anything that moves. We'll be on rationing for a long time."
The way led back down, across the front of the house, then up to where the Snail Head ridge parted the Amazon. Cadma
Terry gri
"Joha
Terry stretched. "I like it here, you know? Good view. I can see right down the Amazon."
"Terry," Cadma
Terry's eyes darted from Mary A
"Just how serious—"
"Then again, I could hide in the basement with the rest of the cripples and think about Justin and Sylvia and wonder what's going on outside. Cadma
Cadma
Terry seemed infinitely relieved. "Right. Thanks."
Cadma
"Yeah?"
"I just wanted you to know. You're a good man, Weyland. We couldn't have done any better." Terry's mouth thi
The cattle pens had been built in haste. Fifty head were crowded into them. They lowed and milled restlessly. Cadma
She didn't know what he meant until he led her to the Joe cages. Missy and her children and relatives stared at Mary A
"I thought that you should have the honors," he said.
Mary A
"Do we have to?"
Cadma
"Oh." She set Missy on the ground. Missy sniffed the air, then ran south, up into the mountain. One at a time, the other Joes followed.
"And now what?" she asked.
"We wait. Walk around and inspect the guard, I guess. Or look into the crossbow making. Or—"
"We can just walk for a while." You feel useful, and I have you to myself.
They walked the zigzag through the minefield, up to the low perimeter wall. The plain was still thinly veiled with mist, but the northern mountains were visible as dark jagged peaks.
A pterodon swooped down from above them, its gauzy wings stretched as it arced through the sky. Cadma
He helped her down the rocks. She felt the tightness of his muscles, could smell the fatigue on his breath. He must have spent much of his life like this. This must be what most of war was like: preparations and fear. When Cadma
"Chief," Joe's voice said, "Jerry says we have some movement down on the plain. "
"It's started. Are you sure?"
"No, not really. Just—something's moving around the stream. Could have come down from the glacier, for all I know. What have you seen swimming through your living room?"
Cadma
Jerry met Cadma