Prime laughed. 'Not quite. Your friends seem prone to worrying about people's health, including yours.' Prime turned to me. 'By the way, your concern about me was very commendable. Thank you.'
'You're welcome,' I said. 'You had me fooled pretty good, though. Tell me something. Are you human?'
'In part, yes.'
After waiting for elaboration that didn't come, I repeated, 'In part,' not knowing what else to say.
He was willing to go a bit further, but no more. 'A small part, but I assure you, a very active one.' He clapped his hands again. 'So! I shall bid you good day.' He made a motion to turn, then halted. 'Incidentally, young man…'
Carl was getting to his feet. 'Carl Chapin.'
Prime took a step forward, his expression hardening just the slightest. 'Mr. Chapin. I have recommended that no restraints be put upon you and that you be allowed to move about as you wish. The concern here is not that you may cause me harm. You can't. But an unruly attitude might get in the way of what we want to accomplish. Do I have your personal assurance that you will hereafter conduct yourself in a manner that is not disruptive?'
Carl looked around uncomfortably. 'Um… yeah, I guess.' He added quickly, 'I mean, yeah. Sure.'
Prime's expression brightened again. 'Very good. I shall look forward to seeing you-all of you-at my residence. Good day.'
We watched him walk to his sleek black roadster, climb aboard, and close the clear bubble canopy. The engine whined to life. The vehicle wheeled around and swung onto the black surface of the Skyway. The pitch of the engine increased slightly and the thing whooshed down the road in the direction from which it had come, black shiny wings starred with hot sun-points. Just before reaching the bend it rose from the roadway and soared into air. It climbed almost straight up, rising to about three hundred meters before leveling off. It shot across the valley, a black triangle against the violet sky. It made a half turn around the fortress, then disappeared.
John stared into the distance. 'I wonder what he wants to accomplish?'
2
We all piled into the truck and had a palaver.
'Frankly, I don't see that we have a choice,' John said after he had taken a swig from the canteen.
We had had to ration water the whole trip. Nine humans and four aliens had put a strain on the recycler.
'Prime gave us one,' I countered. 'He didn't insist that we join him.'
'What are our options, then? Should we fumble about on a totally alien and very bizarre world? In hopes of doing what, exactly?'
'Finding food, for one thing,' Sean put in. 'The cupboard is bare.'
'We've been invited to lunch,' John reminded him.
'We could be walking into a trap,' I said. 'Can we be sure Prime will let us leave?'
'We've seen his power. He may be able to do anything he wants with us.'
'That may very well be true,' I said, nodding. 'But we don't know for sure.'
'He seems friendly enough,' Susan said. 'Absolutely charming, in fact.'
Zoya said, 'I doubt very much that he is what he seems to be. I don't for a moment believe he is human.'
'And I don't believe he's God,' Liam said. 'I'm not what you'd call the religious sort, but gadding about in a shiny new roadster isn't my idea of how a Supreme Being should be conducting himself.' He scratched his effusive light-brown beard. 'Of course, I'm not so sure exactly how a Supreme Being should be conducting himself, but-'
'I know what you mean,' John said. 'I think we should dispense with that notion straight off. Prime is obviously an advanced form of life. Perhaps he's even immortal. But eternal? Hardly.'
'Okay,' I said, 'we're in agreement on that score. I'd also add that, though he might be very powerful, he probably isn't omnipotent. Or omniscient, or all-loving and good, either. He says he has something to accomplish- what, we don't know, but his plans seem to include us. We have to decide whether we want to cooperate. We might not like what he wants to do.'
Darla said, 'Maybe he'll give us the choice of not cooperating.'
'There's that possibility,' I answered, turning in the driver's seat to face her. She was squatting behind the seat, forearm resting on the back. She looked as pretty as ever. Her hair had grown out quite a bit, softening the effect of the severe cut she'd worn when we first met. The hardships of our journey had left their mark. She looked tired most of the time, which could have been due to her pregnancy, though she was only a little shy of three months into it. She'd been gaining weight too. Her features were slightly more fleshed out. A little, not much.
'Darla,' I said, 'what's your gut feeling? Do you trust Prime?'
She pursed her lips and thought about it for a long time. Then she said, 'We have no reason to trust him. Absolutely none. Ask me on a bad day and I'd say no, let's not go near him.' She ran a hand through her smooth, dark-brown hair. Tired or not, Darla always looked as if she'd just stepped out of a beauty parlor hair in place, makeup perfect. 'And though I wouldn't exactly call this a good day, I get this feeling that we simply must deal with him. We'll have to, if we want to get back.' She sighed. 'Do I trust him? No farther than I could throw Sean. What's my gut feeling?' She shrugged helplessly. 'Let's go to lunch.'
'I dunno, Darla, m'girl,' Sean said with a grin, 'after the way you handled those two beefy loggers back on Talltree, I wouldn't give odds on how far you could throw me.'
Darla smiled, a little abashedly.
'Oh, no, you should be proud, Darla.' Sean's grin broadened and he swelled with satisfaction. 'Ah, I'll never forget the sight of Tommy Baker, gorked out across the bed with his arse hanging out. He had it coming, and it was a fine thing to see him get it.'
'I caught him at a delicate moment,' Darla said. 'Anybody else want to express his or her opinion?' I asked around. 'Susan?'
'Oh, I trust him. Darla's right, no good reason. But isn't everybody interested in finding out what this guy's all about? And where the heck are we, anyway? What is this place? Only Prime can tell us that.'
'Lori? How about you?'
'Well…' She gave Carl a sidelong admonitory glare. 'If certain people can behave themselves… I say we go to the Emerald City.'
'I won't punch the guy again. But I'm not promising any more than that.'
'You'll behave or I'll give you a fat lip.'
'Don't worry, I'll be Goody Two-Shoes.'
'Whoever that is.'
I said, 'John?'
'Oh, yes, by all means. We should accept his invitation.' I looked at Yuri and Zoya.
'I agree with the consensus,' Yuri said. 'We certainly need some answers.'
Zoya looked out the port moodily. 'It might serve us to be cautious. Perhaps we should make some attempt to communicate with him, talk to him further. Find out exactly what he wants of us.'
'Do you really think we can remain safe from him,' Yuri asked skeptically, 'simply by staying away from that fortress of his?'
'No. But…' She focused her gaze far away. 'I don't think I want to go there.'
'What's all the discussion?' Roland broke in impatiently. 'You saw what he did to Carl. If he wants, we all drop over dead, like that. So what choice do we have?'
'Good point,' John said.
'I just wanted to take time and think things over,' I said to Roland. 'And I wanted everyone to have a say in what we should do.'
'Sorry, Jake. I just don't see the point in haggling over this.'
'Maybe there is none, but we've been running in a panic for a long time now. For once I want the luxury of ruminating over our next move.'
Roland laughed and sat back in the shotgun seat. 'Take all the time you want. We have most of
