ax, which now lay on the ground several feet from him. He had leaned it against a tree when he came to get Akin. His machete, though, had still been at his belt. Now it was gone. Akin could not see where it had gone.
The raiders all had long wood-and-metal sticks, which they now pointed at Tino. The man holding Tino also had such a stick, strapped across his back. These were weapons, Akin realized. Clubs?or perhaps guns? And these men knew Tino. One of them knew Tino. And Tino did not like that one. Tino was afraid. Akin had never seen him more afraid.
The man who held Akin had put his neck within easy reach of Akin?s tongue. Akin could sting him, kill him. But then what would happen? There were four other men.
Akin did nothing. He watched Tino, hoping the man would know what was best.
?There were no guns in Phoenix when I left,? Tino was saying. So the sticks were guns.
?No, and you didn?t want there to be any, did you?? the same man asked. He made a point of jabbing Tino with his gun.
Tino began to be a little less afraid and more angry. ?If you think you can use those to kill the Oankali, you?re as stupid as I thought you were.?
The man swung his gun up so that its end almost touched Tino?s nose.
?Is it Humans you mean to kill?? Tino asked very softly. ?Are there so many Humans left? Are our numbers increasing so fast??
?You?ve joined the traitors!? the man said.
?To have a family,? Tino said softly. ?To have children.? He looked at Akin. ?To have at least part of myself continue.?
The man holding Akin spoke up. ?This kid is as human as any I?ve seen since the war. I can?t find anything wrong with him.?
?No tentacles?? one of the four asked.
?Not a one.?
?What?s he got between his legs??
?Same thing you?ve got. Little smaller, maybe.?
There was a moment of silence, and Akin saw that three of the men were amused and one was not.
Akin was afraid to speak, afraid to show the raiders his un-Human characteristics: his tongue, his ability to speak, his intelligence. Would these things make them let him alone or make them kill him? In spite of his months with Tino, he did not know. He kept quiet and began trying to hear or smell any Lo villager who might be passing nearby.
?So we take the kid,? one of the men said. ?What do we do with him?? He gestured sharply toward Tino.
Before anyone could answer, Tino said, ?No! You can?t take him. He still nurses. If you take him, he?ll starve!?
The men looked at one another uncertainly. The man holding Akin suddenly turned Akin toward him and squeezed the sides of Akin?s face with his fingers. He was trying to get Akin?s mouth open. Why?
It did not matter why. He would get Akin?s mouth open, then be startled. He was Human and a stranger and dangerous. Who knew what irrational reaction he might have. He must be given something familiar to go with the unfamiliar. Akin began to twist in the man?s arm and to whimper. He had not cried so far. That had been a mistake. Humans always marveled at how little construct babies cried. Clearly a Human baby would have cried more.
Akin opened his mouth and wailed.
?Shit!? muttered the man holding him. He looked around quickly as though fearing someone might be attracted by the noise. Akin, who had not thought of this, cried louder. Oankali had hearing more sensitive than most Humans realized.
?Shut up!? the man shouted, shaking him. ?Good god, it?s got the ugliest goddamn gray tongue you ever saw! Shut up, you!?
?He?s just a baby,? Tino said. ?You can?t get a baby to shut up by scaring him. Give him to me.? He had begun to step toward Akin, holding his arms out to take him.
Akin reached toward him, thinking that the resisters would be less likely to hurt the two of them together. Perhaps he could shield Tino to some degree. In Tino?s arms he would be quiet and cooperative. They would see that Tino was useful.
The man who had first recognized Tino now stepped behind him and smashed the wooden end of his gun into the back of Tino?s head.
Tino dropped to the ground without a cry, and his attacker hit him again, driving the wood of the gun down into Tino?s head like a man killing a poisonous snake.
Akin screamed in terror and anguish. He knew Human anatomy well enough to know that if Tino were not dead, he would die soon unless an Oankali helped him.
And there was no Oankali nearby.
The resisters left Tino where he lay and strode away into the forest, carrying Akin who still screamed and struggled.
1
Dichaan slipped from the deepest part of the broad lake, shifted from breathing in water to breathing in air, and began to wade to shore.
Humans called this an oxbow lake?one that had originally been part of the river. Dichaan had kept the Lo entity from engulfing it so far because the entity would have killed the plant life in it and that would have eventually killed
