Gabe drew back, then took a deep breath. He let the rifle point toward the ground. ?So it is you.?
Almost shyly, Akin extended a hand. Human beings often shook one another?s hands. Several had refused to shake his.
Gabe took the hand and shook it, then seized Akin by both shoulders and hugged him. ?I don?t believe it,? he kept saying. ?I don?t fucking believe it.
?It?s okay,? he told the other men. ?It?s really him!?
The men watched for a moment longer, then began to drift away. Watching them without turning, Akin got the impression that they were disappointed?that they would have preferred to beat him, perhaps kill him.
Gabe took Akin into the house, where everything looked the same?cool and dark and clean.
Tate lay on a long bench against a wall. She turned her head to look at him, and he read pain in her face. Of course, she did not recognize him.
?She took a fall,? Gabe said. There was deep pain in his voice. ?Yori?s been taking care of her. You remember Yori??
?I remember,? Akin said. ?Yori once said she?d leave Phoenix if the people here made guns.?
Gabe gave him an odd look. ?Guns are necessary. Raids taught everyone that.?
?Who
?? Tate asked. And then, amazingly, ?Akin??
He went to her, knelt beside her, and took her hand. He did not like the slightly sour smell of her or the lines around her eyes. How much harm had been done to her?
How much help would she and Gabe tolerate?
?Akin,? he echoed. ?How did you fall? What happened??
?You?re the same,? she said, touching his face. ?I mean, you?re not grown up yet.?
?No. But I have kept my promise to you. I?ve found
I?ve found what may be the answer for your people. But tell me how you got hurt.?
He had forgotten nothing about her. Her quick mind, her tendency to treat him like a small adult, the feeling she projected of being not quite trustworthy?just unpredictable enough to make him uneasy. Yet he had accepted her, liked her from his first moments with her. It troubled him more than he could express that she seemed so changed now. She had lost weight, and her coloring, like her scent, had gone wrong. She was too pale. Almost gray. Her hair, too, seemed to be graying. It was much less yellow than it had been. And she was far too thin.
?I fell,? she said. Her eyes were the same. They examined his face, his body. She took one of his hands and looked at it. ?My god,? she whispered.
?We were exploring,? Gabe said. ?She lost her footing, fell down a hill. I carried her back to Salvage.? He paused. ?The old camp?s a town itself now. People live there permanently. But they don?t have their own doctor. Some of them helped me bring her down to Yori. That was
That was bad. But she?s getting better now.? She was not. He knew she was not.
She had closed her eyes. She knew it as well as he did. She was dying.
Akin touched her face so that she would open her eyes. Humans seemed almost not to be there when they closed their eyes. They could close off all visual awareness and shut themselves too completely within their own flesh. ?When did it happen?? he asked.
?God. Two, almost three months ago.?
She had suffered that long. Gabe had not found an ooloi to help her. Any ooloi would have done it at no cost to the Humans. Even some males and females could help. He believed he could. It was clear that she would die if nothing was done.
What was the etiquette of asking to save someone?s life in an unacceptable way? If Akin asked in the wrong way, Tate would die.
Best not to ask at all. Not yet. Perhaps not at all. ?I came back to tell you I?d kept my promise to you,? he said. ?I don?t know if you and the others can accept what I have to offer, but it would mean restored fertility and
a place of your own.?
Now her eyes were wide and intent on him. ?What place?? she whispered. Gabe had come to stand near them and stare down.
?Where!? he demanded.
?It can?t be here,? Akin said. ?You would have to build whole new towns in a new environment, learn new ways to, live. It would be hard. But I?ve found people?other constructs?to help me make it possible.?
?Akin, where?? she whispered.
?Mars,? he said simply. They stared at him, wordless. He did not know what they might know about Mars, so he began to reassure them. ?We can enable the planet to support Human life. We?ll start as soon as I?m mature. The work has been given to me. No one else felt the need to do it as strongly as I did.?
?Mars?? Gabe said. ?Leave Earth to the Oankali? All of Earth??
?Yes.? Akin turned his face toward Gabe again. The man must understand as quickly as possible that Akin was serious. He needed to have reason to trust Akin with Tate. And Tate needed a reason to continue to live. It had occurred to Akin that she might be weary of her long, pointless life. That, he realized, was something that would not occur to the Oankali. They would not understand even if they were told. Some would accept without understanding. Most would not.
