PART II

GRENDELS

Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell; 
And in the lowest deep a lower deep 
Still threatening to devour me opens wide, 
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven.
-JOHN MILTON, Paradise Lost


Beowulf's Children
Chapter 19

VICTORY

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
-ABRAHAM LINCOLN

    The whole colony was assembled in the meeting hall. In a few places entire families, First and Second, sat at one table, but most of the Second sat together and away from the First. By accident or design they had chosen tables on the highest tiers on the speaker's left.
    There was no entertainment tonight. The circles of conversation went abruptly quiet when Zack Moskowitz came in from the adjacent council room. He was followed by six others: five of the First and Katya Martinez. Zack went to the podium. Katya came down from the stage, looked up at the other members of the Second, and went to sit at the table with Cadmann and her father.
    Justin barely saw her. Carlos smiled at her, then looked up at the Second. "Montagnards," he said. 
    Sylvia looked the question at him.
    "From the French Revolution," Carlos said. "The Jacobins sat in the highest seats in the meeting hall. They called that the 'Mountain.' Katya, are your friends contemplating bloody rebellion? Guillotine the ancient regime?" 
    "Not that they told me," Katya sat between Carlos and Justin, across from Cadmann. Cadmann was flanked by Sylvia on one side, Mary Ann with the baby on the other. Cadzie was wrapped in a dark blue blanket.
    Cadzie blue, they were calling that color. The blanket was an exact copy of the one wrapped around Cadzie at Deadwood Pass. There were hundreds already, and more being claimed as fast as they could be manufactured. Mary Anne had wanted to keep the original, but that was being analyzed as no bit of synthetic wool had ever been analyzed in human history, and she had to settle for a duplicate.
    Invisible death had stripped every living thing at the minehead, Avalon crawling and flying crabs, Avalon Joeys, the scrubby bushes, Earthly mammals, Linda's straw hat, leather belts and cotton cloth; everything but one baby. Was it the blanket? The color, the scent, the texture, the inorganic origin? The cocoon geometry of a blanket encircling a baby?
    Dark blue flashed here and there in the meeting hall. Nearly every nursing mother had an Orion blanket in Cadzie blue.
    Katya took Justin's hand for a moment, and looked up toward Jessica. Jessica conspicuously was not with her family, but with the Second, at Aaron's table on the Mountain. It was a large table, with room for Edgar, Trish, and Chaka, and, surprisingly, Ruth Moskowitz. Katya thought it over. She could ask Justin later.
    "What did you decide?" her father asked her.
    Katya shook her head. "Zack wants to make the announcement." She looked from Carlos to Cadmann, then at Justin. "It's all right."
    Zack Moskowitz was at the podium. "This is an official meeting of the members of the Avalon Colony to hear the decision of the special commission investigating the death of Toshiro Tanaka, a member of this colony," he said. "I call this meeting to order." 
    There was a hushed and expectant silence.
    "The commission has unanimously reached the verdict of death by misadventure," Zack said. "For those without a legal background, this means that it was an accident. A majority of the commission has also determined that no further action is required, and the case is therefore closed." 
    There was another moment of silence. Then Carolyn McAndrews stood up "Missster Chairman! This wasn't a misadventure! The boy was killed as a consequence of his own criminal actions! He had accomplices. They should be punished! All of them!"
    There were a few scattered murmurs of approval, and a couple of shouts of "Sit down, Carolyn!" One of the Second said, loudly enough to be heard all over the room, "Ice on her mind."
    "The commission considered that, Carolyn," Zack said evenly. "The suggestion was rejected."
    She looked around for support and found none. Her children were looking at her strangely. Sharon McAndrews had been at a second-tier table with other Grendel Scouts. Now she came down to Carolyn's table and put her arm around her mother.
    "You'll be sorry," Carolyn announced, and sat down with infinite weariness. Sharon hesitated for a second, then sat next to her.
    There was a stirring at the tables of the Second. Trish was standing. Posing, Katya thought. "There should be a trial, all right," she shouted. "But not of us! Mr. Chairman, I charge Cadmann Weyland with murder! You Firsts have been telling us what to do, treating us like children or slaves all our lives! Now you've killed Toshiro Tanaka, and you think you're being generous when you don't charge the rest of us with murder?" 
    "You're out of order," Zack said.
    "Is she?" Carey Lou Davidson demanded. The others at his table, all recently graduated Grendel Scouts, applauded. "I know we won't win a vote, but we would if there was any justice!"
    Trish had been sitting next to Jessica. Jessica Weyland's head was bent, face half-hidden. Trying to make herself invisible, Katya thought. What kind of grief was that girl buying? Justin looked as embarrassed as Jessica did. Katya massaged his neck one-handed, but he didn't look up.
    Twice now, Jessica had entered her father's home to commit sabotage or theft. Now she sat with her father's accusers. She hadn't yet alienated all of her family, Katya thought, but she seemed to be working on it--
    Katya saw Aaron reach around Jessica to take Trish Chance by the wrist. He whispered in her ear. Trish nodded and settled back in her chair.
    "Vote!" Carey Lou shouted.
    Aaron Tragon stood. "Mr. Chairman, may I be recognized?"
    Zack hesitated, then nodded. "The chair recognizes Aaron Tragon."
    "Mr. Chairman, with your permission--" He turned to Carey Lou. "Sit down, please." 
    "I still say--"
    "No, you don't say," Aaron said. "Sit." There was ice in his voice. Carey Lou sat.
    "Thank you. Mr. Chairman--Uncle Zack--everyone here regrets what happened, and it is utterly pointless to portion out blame. Yes, we tried to mount an expedition to the mainland. We made a lot of mistakes, but we didn't kill anyone--" 
    "You just shut up!" Mary Ann shouted.
    Cadmann shook his head. "Let him finish," he said softly.
    "But--"
    Cadmann took her hand. "He can't hurt us. Let him talk."
    "We didn't kill anyone, but Toshiro wouldn't have died if we hadn't acted as we did," Aaron was saying. "I think the commission has acted very wisely. 'Death by misadventure,' they said, and death by misadventure it was. The important thing is there shouldn't be any more misadventures!
    "We still have to go back to the mainland. It's more important than ever," Aaron said. "You all know that Tau Ceti's flaring up. Another Avalon Surprise, and already we've seen changes. Eels. Weather. Edgar says there'll be more--" He glanced down the table, waited for Edgar's nod. "You've got more on that, Edgar? Good." 
    "Mr. Chairman," Julia Hortha said. 
    "Please," Aaron said. "I'd like to finish." 
    "You have the floor," Zack said.
    "It's doubly important to understand what happened to Joe and Linda now," Aaron said. "We need the supplies from the mines, and it will take years to find and develop new mine sites as good as the ones we had." He had been speaking directly to Zack, but now he turned to include everyone in the room. "We're all concerned because there aren't enough raw materials. If we don't get a new supply we'll be making hard choices soon enough! And in case anyone doesn't know, there are no suitable mine sites on Camelot Island, and the only mainland sites anywhere near as good as Deadwood Pass are far in the interior or down at levels where grendels live. Deadwood has both organics and metals. It will take years to bring a new site up to the production we had from Deadwood Pass." 
    "But Deadwood's a wreck!"
    Aaron didn't look to see who had spoken. "Yes, but not a hopeless wreck. There's a lot of machinery there. We could have it back up to production in a few months." 
    "How do you know that?" Hendrick Sills asked.
    "Edgar Sikes helped me direct Cassandra to do a study," Aaron said. "Edgar?"
    Edgar Sikes stood, "The minebit mommy isn't that badly damaged. It's not at the tunnel nexus, it's backed off into a side corridor. The programming might have got shook up, but Cassie's got a duplicate on file, and that's unharmed. I looked. Ask for Operation Restore Deadwood. It's all there, at least in preliminary--"
    "I've looked at much of it," Zack said from the podium. "I think he's right about that. I'm not sure I share his conclusions, but even if we picked another mining site, we'd have to move that entire minebit factory--"
    Katya leaned close to Justin. "He's got it all worked out, hasn't he?" 
    "Pretty much," Justin said.
    "Which makes it more important than ever to understand what happened at Deadwood Pass," Aaron said. "But we will never understand that in isolation. Whatever killed Joe and Linda doesn't live up there. We won't know what it is until we understand far more of Avalon's ecology than we know." He turned to face Big Chaka, who sat with his son down among the First. "Sir, don't you agree?" 
    Big Chaka stood. Standing, his eyes were at a level with Little Chaka's. "I do agree." He and Little Chaka nodded in unison.
    "Everyone in this room regrets what happened to Toshiro," Aaron said. "Death by misadventure. The misadventure was this senseless distrust between First and Second, Earth Born and Star Born. If Toshiro's death has any meaning at all, it's to serve as the end of that! Mr. Chairman, I move that volunteers go back to the mainland, to reclaim the mines and more, to claim what is our own. Let us honor Toshiro's memory by completing the work we should all be doing together. I so move."
    There was a moment of silence; then Big Chaka said, carefully and distinctly, "Second."

    Trish relaxed, stretching unobtrusively, merely listening. Toshiro had taught her more about relaxation than she would ever have learned on her own. She was going to miss him terribly.
    The vote was going Aaron's way. They'd be returning to the mainland with the blessings of the First . . . with obvious exceptions. Aaron himself looked relaxed, almost sleepy. What in hell did he have in mind? It was only for her own amusement that Trish had accused the First of murder. Then Aaron had reached behind Jessica's bent head and taken her by the wrist and, irresistibly, pulled her close enough to speak directly into her ear.
    "Trish dear, I've got everything I want here. If you throw it away for me I'll kill you." And he smiled reassuringly and let go, let her settle back in her seat.
    He means that. What does he think he has? Trish watched Edgar watching Aaron. They'd known each other since childhood, raised for some years by Joe Sikes, while Trish was bouncing from family to family . . . What was going through Edgar's head? Trish kicked a shoe off and reached under the table with agile toes. Edgar jumped, then grinned at her.
    " . . . Weather," Zack said. "Aaron--Edgar--maybe you haven't seen what happened at Surf's Up? It looked like your movie hurricane turned real. Edgar, for twenty years Camelot got weather like California without the goddamned quakes and the rioters." Zack was pleading. "What's going on? I looked through your Fimbulchaos file--" 
    Aaron nodded at Edgar. Edgar stood up. He'd started to do that anyway, Trish noted, but the illusion would be that Edgar obeyed Aaron.
    And Edgar let that notion stand. "Cassandra, give us Fimbulchaos." He didn't wait for the computer's response. "Citizens, for over a billion years, life on Earth has been studying the sun. Astronomers have six thousand years of records if you allow the Egyptians. Three hundred years ago, the sun had only been around for a few million years, because God hadn't invented fusion yet . . . " 
    Cassandra had two suns floating beneath the communal hall's high ceiling. As Edgar talked, the two shrank to stars; more stars blinked alongside.
    "Two hundred and fifty years ago they found resonant shock-wave patterns in the sun. Sol is ringing like a great bell. About the same time, astrophysicists first detected a supernova by the neutrinos blasting from its core, so all the telescopes on Earth were pointed at the Large Magellanic Cloud before the light even reached Earth. It's two hundred and forty years since we sent our first probes over the poles of rotation of a star. The thing is, almost all of that study was of Sol. Sol! We had twenty, thirty years of close observation of other suns before Geographic left Sol. What we know about Tau Ceti is pitiful."
    One bright star expanded to fill the dome. A wedge of the fiery globe disappeared, and a dissected star rotated for Edgar's audience.
    There were little pockets of conversation all through the hall; Cassandra was amplifying Edgar's voice above background noise. "Tau Ceti runs a fifty-year sunspot cycle, maybe. We've only seen about twenty years of that, so it's really just a guess. We can detect shock waves in Tau Ceti's interior. They're a lot like Sol's, but the cells are bigger, and the surface storms where the shock waves meet--Cassandra, my Fimbulchaos Sunspot Four--they're more violent than Sol's." Flame arced out from Tau Ceti, hundreds of thousands of miles before the stream bent back to kiss the surface. "They're getting more energetic as we near the peak of the sunspot cycle, but they don't reach as far out as Sol's would. Tau Ceti's got more powerful magnetic fields.
    "What's happening to Avalon's weather is this. The sun is hotter, and the corona is way hotter, and it's reaching farther into space. It's heating Avalon's outer atmosphere. The atmosphere expands. That sets up jet streams going west, and turbulence pockets too. The Avalon ecology is trying to cope with the hurricanes, increased ultraviolet and some higher-energy radiation. Not everything has evolved to survive that. Some of what the Chakas have been finding just breed like mad and then die--"
    He caught Trish's eye on him, pretended he hadn't, but she could see his belly flatten as he stretched to play with the cursor. Edgar was looking good. She grinned, waited . . . he glanced her way, and she casually crushed her plastic cup, flexing her arm muscles. He stuttered, just for a moment.

    She tried to catch him as he made his way out of the meeting hall. He was surrounded. Everyone wanted to talk to Edgar Sikes.
    This was a drag. Even if Edgar was loving it. Trish thought it over, then went to Little Chaka and borrowed his code and key.

    When Edgar got back to the Sikes house, Trish was in the bedroom, cross-legged on the waterbed. She turned off Disney's Aladdin as he came in.
    He smiled, showing no surprise. "Are we granting wishes tonight?"
    "There's always a catch, remember?" Trish stood as if levitating. She looked around and smiled. "You've been working."
    He said, "Maybe a little," but it was pretty clear he had been doing a lot of work on the room that had once belonged to Joe and Linda. The big ornate bed Carlos had given them was gone, replaced by a classic waterbed. Linda's pictures were gone from the walls as her clothes were gone from the closet. The adjoining room had been Cadzie's nursery. Now it was filled with computers and workbenches. The open door to the bathroom showed that it too had undergone a transformation. The small living room was nearly empty, with some weights and rolled mats stowed along one wall.
    The surprise was that except for the computer room everything was neat and clean. Was that for me? "I like it," Trish said. "You're looking pretty good yourself, Soft One. Drop your shoes. Let's do some sun salutations." 
    He followed her into the living room and took the Tree position, "attention" in military parlance.
    In five minutes he was gasping. She made him slow down, stop to breathe when he needed to. He studied her stance and tried to correct her.
    "Hold that pushup pose. Your ass comes up more, your spine exactly level. Now go down with your elbows back along your ribs." 
    "You can't do that." 
    "Hell no. But I can stand on my head," he said. 
    "Without a wall?"
    His teaching amused her at first. Then she began to understand that he actually knew more than she did. Edgar was a fast learner.
    He'd learned some self-control. When she'd first started coming here, he'd have leaped at her within seconds of getting her into a room with a bed. Now--He was antsy at first, but then, she hadn't been around for a week. She felt curiosity and anticipation. Edgar remained eager to please, and it was flattering to think she was probably the only human in the universe who could get Edgar's undivided attention even for a few minutes. 
    He was smirking at her upside down.
    Edgar had a father. Trish could nearly imagine bonding to one human being, or two; never needing to guess the thoughts of a townful of people, each of them in control of a child's life. One human being, all-knowing at first, later his teacher, later nearly his equal. Now his father was dead, stripped to the bone, murderer unknown.
    Had he loved Linda too? More likely worshipped her.
    The First knew of his betrayal, and many would not forgive; and Edgar lived and worked among the First in Camelot.
    Trish had wondered if he would survive at all.
    Edgar's breath became uneven. He came out of the headstand slowly, one leg horizontal; toes touched the floor; he knelt.
    Trish rolled out of her headstand. "That must have been two minutes. Soft One, I'm impressed."
    "Don't come down so fast. One leg straight out, then the other, then touch down. We done? Want some coffee?" Edgar asked.
    "You've got coffee?" 
    He smiled.
    "Later." She rolled to her feet and had her shoulder in his midsection before he could quite decide to evade. She stood up with Edgar over her shoulder. He was laughing. She rolled him, still laughing, onto the bed. "Now I'll show you why it's a good idea to warm up first. Get your heart pumping, your blood flowing. Soft One, do you really want to get on top?" She rolled them both. "Just one wish. Just one at a time."

    Later she followed him into the electronics room and watched as he ground fresh coffee beans. "Smells different," she said.
    "Darker roast," Edgar said. "Different beans, too, these are from higher up the mountain."
    "Interesting. Who got them for you?" Under the omni-oven was a small terminal. The screen caught the corner of her eye.
    Edgar's grin faded as he said, "Couple of Carolyn's kids. You know, the First were treating me like dog meat for a while. But Cassandra isn't nearly as, as agile without me plugged in, and they're starting to realize it. It wasn't me that whacked Carolyn--"
    "It was me." RUTHFIX, said the top of the screen. Trish couldn't read the smaller print below, but there wasn't much.
    "Ah? Anyway, with Dad gone they've got some interest in keeping me happy. Even if they don't trust me." Edgar poured boiling water into a glass cylinder, pushed a metallic filter grill steadily down from the top to strain out the grounds, and poured two cups of coffee.
    She smiled faintly as, both naked, they sat down at the breakfast table. His cleaning project hadn't got this far. There wasn't a square centimeter of horizontal surface showing. Trish perched her cup on a stack of printout. "They'll have to trust you now, what with this expedition. For that matter so will we." 
    "We?" 
    "The expedition. Aaron." 
    "Oh. Of course you'll be going. Aayeee!" 
    "I'll be back once in a while. Or you could come with us--"
    "No, that doesn't work," Edgar said. "Even with getting in better shape I wouldn't be much use camping out. Better I stay here and watch out for you."
    "We'll have a base. Let us get set up, then come over." She grinned. Aaron will hate that. He doesn't like me having so much control over our wizard. But it's more than that, there's some real bad blood between those two. He just plain doesn't want Edgar happy. She let her grin spread into something else, a sultry smile copied from an old movie she'd seen. It had turned Robert Redford on, and it was having the same effect on Edgar. 
    "Who all's going?"
    She kept her eyes fixed on his as she shook her head. "Not entirely sure. Aaron, of course. He'll be in charge. Me." 
    "Why you?" 
    "It's where the action will be," Trish said. 
    "Action. You mean power games." 
    She shrugged.
    "War specs," Edgar said suddenly. "You won't have anything to hide from the First this trip--right?" 
    "I'd say so," Trish said cautiously. "Aaron might have something. So?"
    "So you can give up binoculars and go back to using war specs. Get me over there and I'll maintain the links with Cassandra."
    "There you go." Trish said. She stretched elaborately, as she did before she made love, and made sure Edgar saw her doing it. Now she was sure she had his full attention. She moved closer to him. "What's your interest in Ruth Moskowitz?"
    Blindsided, it took him a moment to remember the terminal. He said, "Something Linda . . . no, never mind that. Have you noticed what Aaron's doing to Ruth?" 
    "Somewhat. He thinks we need her--"
    "Nah. He wants her involved. Implicated. Because she's Zack Senior's daughter. He's going to hurt her. I wondered if there was a way to fix it." 
    "Why?"
    "Linda once told me I . . . never get to know anyone. I guess I'm getting to know you, Trish, but you, you're bulletproof. It's hard to see you needing help. If Ruth keeps rubbing up against Aaron Tragon, she's damn well going to need something."
    That was crazy. Edgar could barely help himself . . . Trish dismissed it. "You know Aaron better than I do, I bet. What was he like when he was a kid?"