?Kill us,? Paz whispered.
Aaor stepped between them, one sensory arm around each. ?Jodahs, can we take them out, then come back for Jesusa and TomAs??
I stared down at the village, at the hundreds of green terraces. ?I?m afraid for them. The longer we?re separated, the more likely they are to give themselves away. If only they had told us
Paz, did people watch the canyon from up here before Jesusa and TomAs left home??
?No,? she said. ?We do this now because they left. The elders were afraid we would be invaded. We made more guns and ammunition, and we posted new guards. Many new guards.?
?This isn?t really a good place to watch from,? Javier said. ?We?re too high and the canyon is too heavily forested. People would have to almost make an effort to attract our attention. Light a fire or something.?
I nodded. We had made cold camps for days before we reached the village. Yet we had been spotted. New guards. More vigilance. ?You have to help us get you away from here,? I said. ?You know where the guards are. We don?t want to hurt them, but we have to get you away and I have to get Jesusa and TomAs out.?
?We can help you get away,? Paz said. ?But we can?t help you reach TomAs and Jesusa. You?ve seen that they?re guarded and in the middle of town.?
?If they?re where you say, I can get almost to them by climbing around the slope. It looks steep, but there?s good cover.?
?But you can?t get Jesusa and TomAs out that way.?
I looked at her, liking the way she stood close to Aaor, the way she had put one hand up to hold the sensory arm that encircled her throat. And, though she was a few years older, she was painfully like Jesusa.
I spoke in Oankali to Aaor. ?Take your mates tonight and get clear of this place. Wait at the cave down the canyon.?
?You didn?t desert me,? Aaor said obstinately in Spanish.
?I can reach them,? I said. ?Alone and focused, I can come up through the terraces and avoid the guards?or surprise them and sting them unconscious. And no door will keep me from Jesusa and TomAs. I can take them down the slope to the canyon. You?ve seen them climb. Especially Jesusa. I?ll carry TomAs on my back if I have to?whether he wants me to or not. So tonight, you take your mates to safety. And take Santos for me. I intend to keep my promise to him.?
After a while, Aaor nodded. ?I?ll come back for you if you don?t meet us.?
?It might be better for you if you didn?t,? I said.
?Don?t ask the impossible of me,? it said, and guided its mates back into the stone cabin.
9
We meant to leave late that night?Aaor with the Humans down their back-and-forth pathway, then down terraces and a neglected, steep, overgrown path to the canyon floor. I meant to go down the other side of the mountain and work my way around as close as possible to the place where Jesusa and TomAs were being held.
It would have worked. The mountain village would be free of us and able to continue in isolation until Nikanj sent a shuttle to gas it and collect the people.
But that afternoon a party of armed males came up the trail to the stone cabin.
We heard them, smelled their sweat and their gunpowder long before we saw them. There was no time for Aaor to change Javier and Paz, give them back the deformities it had taken from them.
?Were their faces distorted?? I asked Aaor.
It nodded. ?Small tumors. Very visible.?
And nowhere to hide. We could climb up to Santos?s cave, but what good would that do? If villagers found no one in the cabin, they would be bound to check the cave. If we began to climb down the other side of the mountain, we could be picked off. There was nothing to do but wait.
?Four of them?? I asked Aaor.
?I smell four.?
?We let them in and we sting them.?
?I?ve never stung anyone.?
I glanced toward its mates. ?Didn?t you make at least one of them unconscious last night??
Its sensory tentacles knotted against his body in embarrassment, and its mates looked at one another and smiled.
?You can sting,? I said. ?And I hope you can stand being shot now. You might be.?
?I feel as though I can stand it. I feel as though I could survive almost anything now.?
It was healthy, then. If we could keep its Humans alive, it would stay healthy.
?Is there a signal you should give?? I asked Javier.
?One of us should be outside, keeping watch,? he said. ?They won?t be surprised that we?re not, though. On this duty, I think only the elders watch as much as they should. I mean, Jesusa and TomAs left two years ago and there?s been no trouble. Until now.?
Laxity. Good.
