Beowulf's Children Part 10

Several older children shushed him.

"Big grendels eat grendels. I've been over there," Joe Sikes said with belligerent pride. "That's your ecology, Chaka. Big grendels, little grendels, grendels that live in snow, water grendels, grendels that build dams, grendels that are dams. Grendels eat grendels, and they deserve each other. There aren't any grendels here, and by G.o.d we'll keep it that way, so why do we care how our stupid eel interacts with grendels?"

"That's not fair," Jessica said.

Chaka cleared his throat. He sounded more positive now. "We do have to know, Joe. What you don't know can kill you. If you hadn't known grendels need to cool off . . . ?"

There were murmurs of approval from the tables where the Surf's Up crowd sat. Linda nodded and pulled Joe Sikes back into his seat; and Joe didn't resist. You wouldn't have dumped burning kerosene into the Amazon Creek, Chaka hadn't needed to say, to sear the grendels raging through humanity's last refuge.

"We have to know," Chaka repeated, "and it should be clear there's only one way to find out. We need a full expedition to the mainland. A permanent base there. Not just trips to the highlands, mine inspections. We need a full biological team in place to study the mainland, study it now, before the winds carry Earth species from Camelot to the mainland, because once that happens we'll never know!"

"Now just a minute!" Zack Moskowitz half rose. "If it comes to that, we don't have to know-"

More murmurs. Cadmann frowned in thought.

"Wrong way to talk to the youngsters," Carlos said.

"We do have to know," Chaka said. Jessica nodded vigorous approval as Little Chaka stood to his full height and let his voice rise. "We must study what is there now, we must understand the natural ecosystem, or we will be caught unprepared. For the past twenty years you have ignored this truth, the truth that it is impossible to live on this planet and hide from it at the same time. I say that this is our world, and we don't know enough about it. It's time we learned."

There was loud applause from the Star Born, mostly silence from the First Generation.

"And we'll need all the resources, here and the mainland," Coleen McAndrews said. Her voice was as serious as a fifteen-year-old's can be. "To go back to the stars!"

The audience buzzed like an angry hive. There was no organized back-to-the-stars group, and no real leader, but the issue cut across the generations. No leader yet, Cadmann thought. But when that girl grows up and all that enthusiasm matures we'll have another political fight. Lord, lord, why did we think we left all that behind when we came here?

Zack Moskowitz rose. He took his place at the second podium, across the stage from Chaka. "I think," Zack said, "that an issue as important as this one should be considered as formally as possible. I propose a debate a week from today-"

"No!" Jessica stood, flushing.

"The chair hasn't recognized you, young lady."

"The chair didn't recognize you either, Zack!"

"You know that I am the chairman-"

"Of formal discussions, yes. But this isn't a regular meeting, it's an after-dinner discussion. You can't just run roughshod over it like you do over everything else, Zack. This is too important. Are you declaring an emergency meeting?"

"No-"

"Then wait for Chaka to recognize you."

Zack looked to Cadmann for support. The king appeals to the warrior, but the warrior was ignoring him. Zack stifled his protest. "Very well. I will turn the floor back to Chaka. Chaka? May I be recognized?"

Little Chaka's white teeth gleamed. "Jessica first," he said, "and then you."

Zack smiled sourly.

Jessica took the podium. "The time to decide this is now. We're already taking the Grendel Scouts over, and we've got to send a repair crew as well. It's the right time. Make this the beginning of a permanent base."

"For what?" Zack said.

"For what? To learn about our world," Jessica said. "We need toxological tests, soil tests, we need to know about parasites. The highlands would be perfect for an initial base. That's safe, at least."

She looked as if she had more to say, but had changed her mind about saying it. "Chaka, can we alter this format?"

"Into what form?"

"Informal debate. Allow Zack to take the opposing view, at your podium. We can then field questions and see if we can come to a consensus this evening."

Chaka yielded the floor, and Zack took his place, giving Jessica a grudging nod. "May I?" he asked. She inclined her head.

"May I ask what is the great hurry?" Zack began. "You will shortly visit the mine site. Others will carry out the Grendel Scout rituals. When you've returned we can decide what needs to be done next. Perhaps by then we will know what has gone wrong at the mines. It's probably something natural but surprising. In any event nothing need be done in haste."

"There you go, being reasonable again," someone shouted.

Zack shrugged. "I try to be."

"You wanted to kill the eel," Jessica protested. "That wasn't reasonable!"

Zack nodded. "Yes it was. The eel was unfamiliar, and we have standing rules formulated by our best experts after discussion. The rules aren't perfect, but they're the best judgments we can make."

"And that one is wrong," Jessica insisted.

"Perhaps. This time it appears to have been wrong. But that doesn't mean all the rules, or even that one, are wrong as a general case. We can't foresee everything."

"We don't have to foresee everything," Jessica said.

"You're talking past each other." Aaron Tragon stood. "I beg your pardon for speaking out of turn, but don't you see it? Governor Moskowitz is concerned that when an unexpected danger appears, we won't be able to decide what to do in time, and while it is unlikely that the delay will destroy the colony, it might. Isn't that it, sir?"

"Yes, exactly."

"But here there is no possible danger to the entire colony," Aaron said. "The people who go to the mainland may be in danger if they are careless, but the colony won't be . . . Actually, to be callous for a moment, if there's something so dangerous on the mainland that the only way to find out about it is to have the entire expedition killed, that knowledge alone is worth the price! It will make the colony safer, not less safe. Wouldn't you agree?"

Aaron waited a moment, and when Zack didn't answer, nodded politely and took his seat.

"Arrogant little snot," Mary Ann said.

"I thought he was quite reasonable," Cadmann said.

"You would."

"Not that there is that much danger," Jessica was saying. "We've been to the mainland dozens of times now. We even take the children to the highlands. And in all that time, the only dangers have been grendels, and we know how to deal with those."

"I'm still worried," Zack said.

"Name the danger."

Zack shook his head. "You know I can't. Call it Avalon Surprise. We couldn't have named grendels, but they were real."

"But you learned how to fight grendels," Jessica said, "and you taught us. By the way, thank you. From all of us Second-"

There was a murmur of approval. "Well said," Aaron shouted.

"But Zack, you knew it would be dangerous before you left Earth," Jessica said. "But you came. You couldn't ask if we wanted to come-"

"We did think about that, you know," Zack said.

"Yes, sir, we learned all that in school," Jessica said. "And we're not sorry you brought us. But it's our world too, and we want to know more about it. Don't we?"

Another chorus of young voices in enthusiastic approval.

"Except I want a shopping mall!" someone shouted. Everyone laughed.

"And we're learning," Jessica went on. "The eel is important because it's a reminder that we won't always have an artificially simple ecology here. We still don't know when grendels came to this island. We don't even know if these were normal grendels! Maybe they were-"

"Supergrendels?" Chaka said. He grinned.

"Or stunted, stupid weak grendels," Jessica said.

"My G.o.d," Rachael Moscowitz said. "That's a horrible thought!"

"So we go find out," Jessica said. "And now's as good a time as any. A highland base with expeditions into the lowlands. Now. This year."

A swell of applause, and not only from the Second.

"Count me out." That too came from where the Second were seated, to be answered by catcalls. "Aww, poor baby-"

"Who staffs that base?" Zack had lost and knew it. "Who plans this expedition?"

"We can work that out," Jessica said. She looked meaningfully at Cadmann. "We're not fools, Governor. We want your advice."

"But not our leadership," Zack said quietly. "That's plain enough."

"We want that too, unless your leadership means doing nothing without your orders."

"We just want you to be safe-"

"If you wanted to keep us safe, you could have stayed on Earth!"

Mary Ann stood. Cadmann looked at her in surprise. Mary Ann almost never spoke at meetings.

She didn't wait to be recognized, but no one said anything. Certainly Jessica wasn't going to interrupt her. "Why do you think it was safe on Earth?" Mary Ann demanded. "It wasn't safe. Not even in the best neighborhoods. You must know that. We brought recordings."

"Mom-"

"It wasn't," Mary Ann said. "You think of Earth as some kind of paradise lost? An Eden? It was a horrible place, where all the education in the world wouldn't save you from losing your job, and there was nowhere you could go without graffiti, and s.m.u.tty drawings, and criminals, and people demanding handouts and accusing you of being a criminal if you didn't give them something. Where . . . Jessica, it's safe here, really safe, but it wasn't safe on Earth. That's why we came here!"

There were murmurs of agreement from the First.

"Well, Mom, you make Earth sound more dangerous than the mainland."

"It was," Cadmann muttered. "We forgot that."

"It's still the end of the debate, amigo," Carlos said. "Jessica still wins."

"Yeah," Cadmann said. "And we'll have to plan it."

"What you mean 'we,' paleface?"

"We've got some time, though," Cadmann said. "First they go look at the mines, initiate the Grendel Scouts. Time enough for serious planning when they get back."

Jessica thanked the audience and made her way back to her father. She quietly touched his shoulder. "Thanks, Dad. Mom."

Cadmann put his arms around Mary Ann and Sylvia, drawing them in close. Mary Ann chuckled. "If I know your father, you might be taking that thanks back in a few days. He's going to put you through the wringer."

"I wouldn't want it any other way."

"Jessica-can you and Justin come up for dinner?" Mary Ann brushed a strand of blond hair out of her eyes. "It would be nice to have a family dinner. We've been gone, and you'll be going over to the mainland . . ."

"Not tonight," Jessica said apologetically. "This is going to be big news at Surf's Up. I think that I need to be out there tonight."

Sylvia looked up at Cadmann. "How long do you think it will take to set up a lowland expedition?"

"Skeeter-based? Scouting out a location? A little preliminary work." He closed his eyes, musing. "Built it around the Robor vehicle. A fairly quick in-and-out. I would say no more than twelve hours, preparing for a much more thorough expedition in maybe a . . . month?"

Jessica nodded happily. "You're reading my mind, Dad."

"Plans will be on Ca.s.s by tomorrow morning. Okay?"

"Finest kind."

The meeting was breaking up. Jessica and her brother headed toward each other, hugged fiercely, and collected in a cl.u.s.ter with some of the other Second. They headed out the door together.

A hand smacked Cadmann's shoulder, and he turned around to face Aaron Tragon.

As usual, the sheer size of the young man hit Cadmann, hard. Reminded him of a friend . . . long ago.

Ernst. First casualty of the Grendels.

As such he should have felt a touch of nostalgia, of loss. Ernst had died because Cadmann thought he could handle it. Could handle everything.

And for a moment it felt as if Cadmann were moving in slow motion, Tragon's glittering, wide smile so intense and intimate that it seemed that the other shapes in the room faded to nothing.

The full force of Tragon's personality was so strong that Cadmann had to consciously remind himself where he was. Not in the past, but here, in the present, as if he had awakened from a micronap.