The Best From Fantasy & Science Fiction Part 10

But at dusk, when he returned to the bungalow, Mama Dolores greeted him at the door with a troubled face.

"What is it?" Nolan said. "Something wrong with Robbie?"

Mama shook her head. "He sleeps like an angel," she murmured "But the senora-"

In their room, Darlene lay shivering on the bed, eyes closed. Her head moved ceaselessly on the pillows even when Nolan pressed his palm against her brow.

"Fever." Nolan gestured to Mama Dolores, and the old woman held Darlene still while he forced the thermometer between her lips.

The red column inched upwards. "One hundred and four." Nolan straightened quickly. "Go fetch Moises. Tell him I want the launch ready, p.r.o.nto. We'll have to get her to the doctor at Manaos."

Darlene's eyes fluttered open; she'd heard.

"No, you can't! The baby-"

"Do not trouble yourself. I will look after the little one." Mama's voice was soothing. "Now you must rest"

"No, please-"

Darlene's voice trailed off into an incoherent babbling, and she sank back. Nolan kept his hand onher forehead; the heat was like an oven. "Now just relax, darling. It's all right. I'm going with you."

And he did.

If the first trip had been an ordeal, this one was an agony: a frantic thrust through the sultry night on the steaming river, Moises sweating over the throttle as Nolan held Darlene's shuddering shoulders against the straw mattress in the stern of the vibrating launch. They made Manaos by dawn and roused Dr. Robales from slumber at his house near the plaza.

Then came the examination, the removal to the hospital, the tests and the verdict A simple matter, Dr. Rebates said, and no need for alarm. With proper treatment and rest she would recover. A week here in the hospital- "A week?" Nolan's voice rose. "I've got to get back for the loading. I can't stay here that long!"

"There is no need for you to stay, senor. She shall have my personal attention, I a.s.sure you."

It was small comfort, but Nolan had no choice. And he was too tired to protest, too tired to worry.

Once aboard the launch and heading back, he stretched out on the straw mattress in a sleep that was like death itself.

Nolan awakened to the sound of drums. He jerked upright with a startled cry, then realized that night had come and they were once again at anchor beside the dock. Moises grinned at him in weary triumph.

"Almost we do not make it," he said. "The motor is bad. No matter, it is good to be home again."

Nolan nodded, flexing his cramped limbs. He stepped out onto the dock, then hurried up the path across the clearing. The darkness boomed.

Home? This corner of h.e.l.l, where the drums dinned and the shadows leaped and capered before flickering fires?

All but one, that is. For as Nolan moved forward, another shadow glided out from the deeper darkness beside the bungalow.

It was Nina.

Nolan blinked as he recognized her standing there and staring up at him. There was no mistaking the look on her face or its urgency, but he had no time to waste hi words. Brushing past her, he hastened to the doorway and she melted back into the night.

Mama Dolores was waiting for nun inside, nodding her greeting,.

"Robbie-is he all right?"

"Si, senor. I take good care. Par favor, I sleep in his room."

"Good." Nolan turned and started for the hall, then hesitated as Mama Dolores frowned. "What is it?" he said.

The old woman hesitated. "You will not be offended if I speak?"

"Of course not"

Mama's voice sank to a murmur. "It concerns the one outside."

"Nina?"

"That is not her name, but no matter." Mama shook her head.

"For two days she has waited there. I see you with her now when you return. And I see you with her before-"

"That's none of your business!" Nolan reddened. "Besides, it's all over now."

"Does she believe that?" Mama's gaze was grave. "You must tell her to go."

"I've tried. But the girl comes from the mountains; she doesn't speak English-"

"I know." Mama nodded. "She is one of the snake-people."

Nolan stared at her. "They worship snakes up there?"

"No, not worship."

Then what do you mean?"

These people-they are snakes."

Nolan scowled. "What is this?"

The truth, senor. This one you call Nina-this girl-is not a girl. She is of the ancient race from the high peaks, where the great serpents dwell. Your workers here, even Moises, know only the jungle, but I come from the great valley beneath the mountains, and as a child I learned to fear those who lurk above.We do not go there, but sometimes the snake-people come to us. In the spring when they awaken, they shed their skins, and for a time they are fresh and clean before the scales grow again. It is then that they come, to mate with men."

She went on like that, whispering about creatures half-serpent and half-human, with bodies cold to the touch, limbs that could writhe in boneless contortion to squeeze the breath from a man and crush him like the coils of a giant constrictor. She spoke of forked tongues, of voices hissing forth from mouths yawning incredibly wide on movable jawbones. And she might have gone on, but Nolan stopped her now; his head was throbbing with weariness.

"That's enough," he said. "I thank you for your concern."

"But you do not believe me."

"I didn't say that" Tired as he was, Nolan still remembered the basic rule-never contradict these people or make fun of their superst.i.tions. And be couldn't afford to alienate Mama now. "I shall take precautions," he told her, gravely. "Right now I've got to rest And I want to see Robbie."

Mama Dolores put her hand to her mouth. "I forget-the little one, he is alone-"

She turned and padded hastily down the hallway, Nolan behind her. Together they entered the nursery.

"Ah!" Mama exhaled a sigh of relief. "The pobrecito steeps."

Robbie lay in his crib, a shaft of moonlight from the window bathing his tiny face. From his rosebud mouth issued a gentle snore.

Nolan smiled at the sound, then nodded at Mama. "I'm going to turn in now. You take good care of him."

"I will not leave." Mama settled herself in a rocker beside the crib. As Nolan turned to go, she called after him softly. "Remember what I have told you, senor. If she comes again-"

Nolan moved down the hall to his bedroom at the far end. He hadn't trusted himself to answer her.

After all, she meant well; it was just that he was too d.a.m.ned tired to put up with any more nonsense from the old woman.

In his bedroom something rustled.

Nolan flinched, then halted as the shadow-shape glided forth from the darkened corner beside the open window.

Nina stood before him and she was stark naked. Stark naked, her arms opening in invitation.

He retreated a step. "No," he said.

She came forward, smiling.

"Go away-get out of here."

He gestured her back. Nina's smile faded and she made a sound in her throat, a little gasp of entreaty. Her hands reached out- "d.a.m.n it, leave me alone!"

Nolan struck her on the cheek. It wasn't more than a slap, and she couldn't have been hurt But suddenly Nina's face contorted as she launched herself at him, her fingers splayed and aiming at his eyes.

This time he hit her hard-hard enough to send her reeling back.

"Out!" he said. He forced her to the open window, raising his hand threateningly as she spewed and spit her rage, then s.n.a.t.c.hed her garment and clambered over the sill into the darkness beyond.

Nolan stood by the window watching as Nina moved away across the clearing. For a moment she turned hi a path of moonlight and looked back at him-only a moment, but long enough for Nolan to see the livid fury blazing in her eyes.

Then she was gone, gliding off into the night where the drums thudded in distant darkness.

She was gone, but the hate remained. Nolan felt its force as he stretched out upon the bed. Ought to undress, but he was too tired. The throbbing in his head was worse, pulsing to the beat of the drums.

And the hate was in his head, too. G.o.d, that ugly face! Like the thing in mythology-what was it?-the Medusa. One look turned men to stone. Her locks of hair were live serpents.

But that was legend, like Mama Dolores' stories about the snake-people. Strange-did every race have its belief in such creatures? Could there be some grotesque, distorted element of truth behind allthese old wives' tales?

He didn't want to think about it now; he didn't want to think of anything. Not Nina, not Darlene, not even Robbie. Darlene would be all right, Robbie was fine, and Nina was gone. That left him, alone here with the drums. d.a.m.ned pounding. Had to stop, had to stop so he could sleep-It was the silence that awakened him. He sat up with a start, realizing he must have slept for hours, because the shadows outside the window were dappled with the grayish pink of dawn.

Nolan rose, stretching, then stepped out into the hall. The shadows were darker here and everything was still.

He went down the hallway to the other bedroom. The door was ajar and he moved past it, calling softly. "Mama Dolores-"

Nolan's tongue froze to the roof of his mouth. Time itself was frozen as he stared down at the crushed and pulpy thing sprawled shapelessly beside the rocker, its sightless eyes bulging from the swollen purple face.

No use calling her name again; she'd never hear it And Robbie- Nolan turned hi the frozen silence, his eyes searching the shadows at the far side of the room.

The crib was empty.

Then he found his voice and cried out; cried out again as he saw the open window and the gray vacancy of the clearing beyond.

Suddenly he was at the window, climbing out and dropping to the matted sward below. He ran across the clearing, through the trees and into the open s.p.a.ce before the riverbank.

Moises was in the launch, working on the engine. He looked up as Nolan ran towards him, shouting.

"What are you doing here?"

"There is the problem of the motor. It requires attention. I come early, before the heat of the day-"

"Did you see her?"

"Who, senor?"

"The girl-Nina-"

"Ah, yes. The India." Moises nodded. "She is gone, in her catamaran, up the river. Two, maybe three hours ago, just as I arrive."

"Why didn't you stop her?"

"For what reason?"

Nolan gestured quickly. "Get that engine started-we're going after her."

Moises frowned. "As I told you, there is the matter of the repairs. Perhaps this afternoon-"

"We'll never catch her then!" Nolan gripped Moises' shoulder. "Don't you understand? She's taken Robbie!"

"Calm yourself, senor. With my own eyes I saw her go to the boat and she was alone, I swear it. She does not have the little one."

Nolan thought of the hatred in Nina's eyes, and he shuddered. "Then what did she do with him?"

Moises shook his head. "This I do not know. But I am sure she has no need of another infant."

"What are you talking about?"

"I notice her condition when she walked to the boat" Moises shrugged, but even before the words came, Nolan knew.

"Why do you look at me like that, senor? Is it not natural for a woman to bulge when she carries a baby in her belly?"

Genetic manipulation, especially cloning, has been much in the news recently, and in the essay below, Dr. Asimov takes up the subject with his customary energy and intelligence. Imagine, if you will, one hundred Isaac Asimov clones!

Science: Clone, Clone of My Own