Around
us, a bit of a gardening problem. And the light of a conversation by
satellite phone.
Rani,
this is Guy. Got your letter.
Yay.
Verdict?
Two
yes, one nay. Prof is mad at you
And
I’m mad at them.
Have they measured my DNA yet?
Hang
on I’ll check.
Ok
so they said something about
How your telomeres are a lot
more
Frayed than normal?
Ah,
shit. So much for a long lifespan.
So much for YOU having a
long lifespan.
Well, gotta go fast then.
Ruth and I are
good at that these days.
Uh…
What.
Prof
wants you to go back to
The valley where you dropped stuff
Yeah?
Because
Let’s
just say
There
wasn’t any kudzu there
BEFORE
you dropped the gear
Uh,
yeah. We fucking noticed.
We’re there right now
Trying to
clean up Prof’s mess and
Failing
It’s
just kudzu, right? You can clear it
If you put in a lot of work
NO
IT’S NOT “JUST” KUDZU
IT
BITES
THIS
IS WHAT I GET FOR
THROWING IN WITH A
MAD SCIENTIST
Oh
jeez.
Uh, can Rook do that thing again?
They’ve
been trying
No luck.
I tell you, if I was more of a whiz
kid
Than an uncreative technician, I’d
Be going back to
the Morrow lab
And taking over that place. Kudzu?
Really
Fucking KUDZU?
Kudzu
is crossing a line.
Chompy
Kudzu is crossing a line twice.
Well
it is kinda messed-up
But also kinda funny
Okay
you Mad Genius, tell you what
You want this stuff gone?
Tell
Prof to come here and
fix their own damn problem.
They’re
busy trying to solve the DNA issue.
Then
YOU come here and solve it.
I’m
helping the Professor.
Well
it’s not like Ruth and
I can do anything!
Fuck it, send Ayaan!
She needs the
experience!
You
want me to send her against that stuff.
Alone.
Have
her recruit some minions. IDK.
All I know is, Ruth and I can’t
help here.
Sure,
maybe Ayaan can honk it to death.
What,
she turned into a goose?
Trumpeter
swan. I envy her.
I look like a pigeon these days.
Well
both of those are suitable, eh?
Trumpeter swans are good
singers,
They’re big, and they’re really
protective
Meanwhile YOU are also relatively big,
Strong,
clever, and nervous
These
suits of ours are suitable.
Very well-tailored.
Is
that it? Is that the key?
I
just don’t know.
Prof
and I have been looking at that
At the DNA – there’s
something going on
With it. It’s…sparkly.
What,
is it made of glitter?
Ruth’s
calling me. GTG. Good luck.
I
put the phone in my pocket, and backed away from a big green
mouth-pod that was moving towards me. The circle Rook had cleared
with the last of their lightning breath was big enough that the
feeder stalks couldn’t extend all the way toward us, but I wasn’t
going to chance it. And the circle was getting smaller all the time
as the mass of green vines visibly grew toward us, inch by inch.
“Rani,”
said
Ruth, “I’ve
looked all over this clearing, but the gear isn’t here.”
“Damn,”
I
said, and scuffed the ground with my toes. “How
are we going to navigate without the GPS?”
“I
don’t know, how did we manage to remember the approximate location
of the gear when this entire end of the valley is filled with giant
green vines?”
“That’s
not – Look out!”
I
dove towards Ruth and tackled her out of the way as a huge mouth-pod
snapped down where she had been standing.
In
the next moment, the mouth-pod was on the ground, snapped off by
Rook’s beak. But it still gnashed its teeth and was already growing
new tendrils by the time Rook stomped it flat. “We
have to get out of here, said
Rook. “But
I am very tired from doing this. I am not sure how well I can fly
carrying two of you. Or even one of you.”
I
spread my wings to their full extent. “You
carry Ruth, I can take care of myself. Go.” I
flapped into the air, hoping that Rook was close behind.
But
when I stopped and circled, I saw that Rook was still down there,
still waiting to take off. And Ruth…was not actually visible,
within the giant circle of dust she kicked up as she ran around the
edge of the clearing. What was she doing? Giving Rook time to rest,
or something? If She even made one mistake right then she was going
to be prey to dozens of mouth-pods.
Just
as I was about to dive down there and try to fight off more stalks,
Rook spread their wings and – slowly rose into the air from the
force of the wind that was spinning around them. They flapped
upwards, higher and higher, getting close to my position.
And
still Ruth ran.
“What
the heck is she doing!”
I
screeched.
“Trying
something,”
said
Rook. “She
said she would…fly in her own way.”
“What
does that even mean!”
The
answer came in the next second. There was a new dust cloud in a line
straight across the circle, and in the air above the kudzu, there was
a giant roadrunner, its wings spread wide, gliding at great speed
toward the mountain.
But
slowing, now, and drifting downward, towards the teeth of the
mouth-pods.
“You
find a mountaintop,”
I
said,
“I’ll
handle Ruth.”
I
tucked my wings in for a dive and sped forward, hoping that Ruth
would be able to stay aloft for long enough. She was pretty far from
me and she hadn’t managed to get that much air, and as much as she
flapped her wings, they weren’t going to help her as much as mine
did. So by the time I managed to reach her I would be getting way too
close to those mouth-pods. This might hurt.
Or
it might not. The mouth-pods only got a few of my leg feathers when I
swooped under Ruth, and then I was beating my wings furiously to lift
her away from writhing green doom.
“Aren’t
you gallant,”
said
Ruth.
“And
aren’t you clever,”
I
said, “though
you’ll need to work on your technique with that trick. Especially
since Artemis is going to be extremely angry and we might, shall we
say, need to keep a move on.”
With
some effort, I carried Ruth up to the treeline, far beyond the
current boundary of the Killer Kudzu. We alighted and stood there in
the moonlight for a while, catching our breath and looking down upon
the ecological disaster far below. From one side of the valley to the
other, and halfway to the horizon, there was nothing but kudzu – if
we could call it that, given its rather energetic nature. There was
something as much animal as plant about this stuff.
“Pretty
sure I saw something like this in a cartoon once,” said
Ruth.
“But
it isn’t funny now,”
I
said. “It’s
got me wondering why Artemis or Zeus haven’t gone after us yet.”
At
that moment, I heard a low, distant rumble, and saw a little flash of
light from dark clouds on the southern horizon.
“Time
to head out,”
said
Ruth. “Can
you go find –”
But
her words were interrupted by a great blast of wind, as Rook flapped their wings to touch down nearly on top of us. “Mama,
Rani, time to get going.”
“You
were very tired before,”
said
Ruth.
“And
now I am very scared. But I will get us up high and then glide and it
will be fine.”
“High?”
I
said. “Rook,
we’re going to run into radar that way. They’re going to think
you’re an enemy bomber or something.”
“I
am very scared,”
said
Rook. “I
want to move as fast as I can. I think humans are too busy with
things happening out on the plains to care about me. But if they do,
then you two will have to go on without me, because you can both go
much faster.”
Ruth
hugged Rook’s leg. “My
sweet child! To say that you would sacrifice yourself for your
parent! What an awful thing. We will have to come up with something
else.”
“Something
on the way,”
I
said. “Rook
is right. We must move.”
And
so we took off into the night, high up into the starry sky, desperate
to keep ahead of the storm.
As
we rose, I looked back at the mountain, and saw a tall woman standing
there, clad in furs, holding an unstrung bow. Her eyes were fixed
upon the valley below – yet when she spotted us, her bow was strung
in an instant, and in the next instant, there was a streak of silver
light and something whizzing over my head.
Ruth
screeched in fury, and would have leapt right off Rook if I hadn't
grabbed her. Then in a thunder of mighty wings, we were high in the
sky, faster than Rook had ever risen before.
…