Zenn Scarlett Part 10

When Zenn was sure each goat had eaten a sufficient amount of the medicated grain mixture, she and Hamish stepped out of dark barn into the bright afternoon. The process had taken longer than she'd expected. Most of the young kids were less interested in a snack than in playing with each other and scampering sideways through the barn until they bounced off a wall or another goat. Irritated to find the sun was already directly overhead, she started off at a trot toward the farmhouse, Hamish scuttling along behind. Liam was just coming out of the front door, followed by Graad Dokes.

"Scarlett," Liam said, coming down the steps. He raised a hand in greeting, but he wasn't wearing his usual confident smile. "Vic said you were here. Working on the goats?"

"Worming," she said, nodding back at the barn. "All done. Vic said someone would drive me back to the cloister."

"You an' your bug-freak goin' back to tend your off-wa monsters, are ya?" Graad said, ignoring the fact that Hamish was standing right there, listening. Graad pulled a rag from his pocket and blew his nose in it. "Well, better her than us, huh, kid?" He slapped at Liam's shoulder, pus.h.i.+ng him off balance.

"We don't think they're monsters," Zenn said, tired of continually making this particular correction to those like Graad. She also had to make an effort not to add "you moron". "They're just different, that's all."

"Different. I'll say," Graad chortled. "Different enough to take your head off if you're not careful. Not to mention all the acres they squander. A waste of good grazing land, shameful waste."

"It's not wasted, Graad." Zenn said, knowing he was just provoking her, but unable to keep quiet.

"Sure it is." Graad grinned maliciously at her. "Tell her, kid." He shoved Liam again, but Liam just shrugged and looked away. Graad's eyes darted from Liam to Zenn, then back to Liam.

"Oh. I forgot. Mr Tucker here is growin' a soft spot for monsters and freaks, aren't ya kid? Liam's spendin' so much time out at the freak-church I'm thinkin' of callin' him Friar Tuck. Gonna be a certified expert in freakology soon, eh, Friar? But just keep this in mind," Graad leaned close to Liam. "Before the Ciscans touched down, the LeClercs owned all the land in this valley, far as you can see." He thrust one of his thick hands up in a sweeping arc. On the distant horizon, part of the cloister's chapel ruins could be glimpsed at the far end of the valley, jutting up like giant, black rib bones picked clean. "Before her kind moved in," he hooked a thumb at Zenn. "Before they started bringing their off-wa c.o.c.kroaches and talkin' rats and devil knows what all to Mars. This dried-up rock of a planet was foul enough without their monsters with their plagues and who-knows-what. But at least when the LeClercs had the land, they put it to use for people. Human people. Not alien freaks." Graad's hand came to rest on Liam's shoulder, and it looked to Zenn as if he was squeezing, hard. Liam pretended not to notice. "You will remember that, won't ya, Friar Tuck?"

Liam seemed about to say something back at him, then turned to her instead, pulling away from the foreman's grip.

"You know, Scarlett, why don't I give you two a ride home? Now." Without waiting for an answer, he walked past her toward the shed where Vic garaged her vehicles. She motioned to Hamish and they followed.

"Yeah, don't let me keep ya," Graad called after them. "You and the Friar here will be wantin' to get back to pet your monsters. Don't worry 'bout us humans. We'll just eat the d.a.m.n red dirt. Plenty of that on this G.o.dforsaken rock. You be sure and leave some for us, won't ya?"

"Ignore him," Liam said as they walked away.

"I intend to. You too, Hamish."

"I will attempt to do this," Hamish said. "This person Graad Dokes seems like a very angry human man, if I may say."

"He justa likes to bl.u.s.ter, you know?" Liam said as they came to the garage. "Shoots his mouth off. He doesn't really want to be here anyway. On Mars. He takes it out on anybody within earshot." They entered the garage, where Vic had three trucks and an old tractor parked.

"What's he got against Mars?" Zenn asked.

"He was in the last batch of colonists from Earth. Bartered five years' labor for a berth on one of the final flights. Being indentured, they call it. I think he had a pretty bad time working for the guy who'd bought his pa.s.sage. Anyway, that kinda poisoned him on the whole idea of Mars. When he gets drunk, only thing he talks about it how he's stuck here and can't get home again cause of the Rift."

They stopped next to the six-wheeler and Liam reached out with one hand and banged several times on the side of the truck. Zenn gave him a puzzled look.

"Barn cats," he said. "They sleep under there. Don't have the sense to get outta the way."

An orange-red cat the size of a small dog emerged from under the truck, stretched languidly and walked over to rub his head against Liam's legs. He bent to scratch it behind the ears, provoking the loudest purr Zenn had ever heard.

"And who's this?" she asked.

"He's Zeus. King of the ranch. He keeps an eye on things for me around here. Don't ya, big guy?"

Zenn bent to give him a pat.

"Looks like he's had to fight for his crown," she said, noting the battle scars on the cat's head and the missing chunk from one ear.

"Yeah, but the challengers get the idea after the first time," Liam said. "And after that it's peace and quiet cause everybody knows not to mess with him. Alright, buddy," Liam shooed him away with the wave of his hand. "Look out now, we're gonna drive outta here."

Zeus ran to the garage door and out into the yard.

Liam pulled open the driver's door and Zenn went around to climb in on the other side. Hamish took up his position in the truck bed.

"You know," Zenn said. "Graad is really annoying, whatever the reason. Why does your aunt put up with him?"

"Sometimes I wonder," Liam scowled, stepped on the starter, and the engine coughed to life.

"You and Graad don't really get along, huh?"

"Get along? I hate the b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Liam said, jamming the truck into gear.

The vehemence of Liam's response startled Zenn.

"Why's that?" she asked.

"Because, alright?" He gave her a look, and then stared out at the road.

Oopsa touchy subject.

"So," she said, breaking the silence after they'd driven out onto the road. "The skirni back there? Vic said he was here on business?"

"Yeah, I don't really know much about it. Something to do with swapping tanned goat leather for a s.h.i.+pment of drip-irrigator equipment. If I know skirnis, the irrigation stuff is stolen and Vic's gonna be sorry she got involved. But hey, it's her ranch."

"Well, that's a new twist," Zenn said, "Vic LeClerc making deals with an off-worlder."

"Business is business, far as Vic's concerned. He's kind of a funny little guy, though. Asks lots of questions. Wants to know all about the ranch, about Arsia, about the cloister and the whole valley. I just never thought of off-worlders like that. Being so curious and all."

"Well, it's probably good for you to meet him. Broaden your horizons."

"Yeah, maybea but I'd rather not talk about my aunt and her off-wa buddy," he said, his c.o.c.ky smile returning. "So instead, why don't you tell me what poor, helpless animal's gonna be your next victim?"

"You mean which patient will be fortunate enough to have me looking after them?"

"Right. Sure. That's what I meant to say."

"When we get back I'll check on the Kiran's whalehound. See how his infected tear duct is doing."

"Yeah, the hound," Liam said, giving her a look of what seemed to be genuine concern. "Ia uma. heard about what happened. Close call, huh?"

"It was. But we got him back safe, no one hurt."

The subject drew Zenn's thoughts back to the deeply unsettling sensation she'd shared with the hound just before his escape. And then with Gil's sandhog. The whole situation had been nagging at her for days; it was starting to interfere with her studies, becoming a real distraction. Otha hadn't understood. Hadn't been willing to try.

"Liam." She turned in the seat to face him. He glanced toward her, then back to the road.

"Yeah?"

Should she tell him? What would he think? Would it break the Rule? Would opening up about this mean she was "being friendly"? And was that the same as trying to make friends? No, she decided. She just needed to talk about something that was bothering her. Rule not broken.

"Lately, it's just that I've been having thesea feelings around some of our animals."

"Feelings?" Liam gave her a mystified look.

"Yes. It's kind of hard to explaina"

After she'd laid out the situation as well as she could, Liam was quiet. They drove on. He still said nothing, brow furrowed.

Great. I've just lived up to every story the towner kids make up about the Ciscan weirdoes out at the cloister. Well done, Zenn.

"Well, Nine h.e.l.ls, Scarlett," he said at last. "That'sa reallya"

Here it comes. She sank down in her seat.

"a amazing. You actually feel what the animal is feeling? How's that possible?"

She had to look closely at his face to make sure he wasn't mocking her. But no, he was serious. He believed her. She sat up straight again.

"That's just it," she said. "I don't do it. I don't do anything at all. It just happens by itself. One minute everything is normal, just me and one of the patients. The next minute, everything isa different. It's like there's a bridge, a mental bridge between us, a link or something."

"Well, it's sounds kind of great. To see into a monsa an animal's thoughts, ya know?"

"Actually, it's not so great. It's more like really confusing and it sort of makes me sick. But yeah, I have to admit it'sa like nothing else I've ever felt."

"Sounds that way." He gave her a quick glance. "Saya youa uma don't ever do that with people, do you? You know. Get in their heads."

She had to grin at his obvious discomfort.

"No, Liam," she said, having mercy on him. "At least, not so far."

"Oh. Good. Let'sa keep it that way."

FIFTEEN.

"I thank you for a.s.sisting me in this task, novice Zenn. I know you're occupied with your studies," Hamish said as they entered the tool shed Otha had converted to house Griselda's tank. "Your a.s.sistance is very much appreciated."

"It's alright," she said, but she could hear the shortness in her voice. She told herself to be civil. It wasn't Hamish's fault she was feeling overwhelmed and distracted. After spending longer than she'd wanted worming the goats, she was behind schedule for the day, and still fuming about Graad. Not to mention everything else that seemed to be happening all at once lately. The only bright spot was her conversation with Liam in the truck. He had no insights to offer, of course; she didn't expect that. It had just felt good to say out loud what she'd been going through. At least he didn't think she was insane. And that was encouraging.

Griselda sensed them coming into the shed, and rose up into the water from the bottom of her aquarium, a clear ballisti-plast structure that reached from floor to ceiling against the back wall. Katie ran past Zenn, bounding up to the tank and staring, fascinated, following the creature's every move as it undulated before her. About the size of a large sofa, the seepdemon could alter the form of her gelatinous, amoeba-like body at will, allowing her to flatten out like a carpet, roll up into a ball or stretch herself out thin as wire to fit through the tiniest openings. The seepdemon's body was currently more or less the shape of a large, transparent pillow packed with various multi-colored organs, connective tissue and vacuoles floating in cytoplasm. She had no eyes, as such, but instead had tiny, photosensitive cells scattered across the surface of her see-through skin.

"Hi, Zelda," Zenn said, tapping the wall of the tank, "We're just here to change your tank filters."

"She doesn't comprehend you, does she?"

"No. But you never know what they pick up on. A tone of voice. Body language. Never hurts to be friendly."

"A sensible policy."

"So, you shut off the oxygenation pump here." Zenn threw a switch on the wall, and the hum-and-bubbling of the pump died away. "Then, you unlock this door down here, pull the filter out and replace it with a clean one." She stooped and pulled the dirty filter out, threw it in the bin in the corner, took a clean filter from the shelf and inserted it into the receptacle.

"Alright," she said standing up. "That's the basic Griselda routine. Any questions?"

Hamish thought for moment, antennae quivering.

"No. I believe I understand how to proceed. Thank you again." Zenn turned to leave. "Novice Scarlett?" Hamish pointed to the filter door on the aquarium. "Should we close that opening before we go?"

Zenn turned. She'd left the door to the filter compartment open, and Griselda had already noticed. A long, spaghetti-thin filament of seepdemon pseudopod was rising up out of the open door, where Katie sat, batting playfully at the thread of tissue waving in the air. A minute more and Griselda would have pushed her entire body out onto the floor.

"Katie. Get away from there," Zenn scolded, running to the filter door. "What is the matter with me?" She nudged Katie aside and pushed the filament back in, then shut the door and locked it. She shouldn't have allowed Katie to come. This time, it had just been easier to let her follow than to make her stay. And while Griselda wasn't really dangerous, Zenn still felt angry with herself for letting her guard down. Crouched on the floor next to the tank, she closed her eyes. To her great surprise, she felt like crying. She drew a ragged breath.

"Novice Zenn? Is something the matter?"

"Noa I don't know." She stood, staring at Griselda fluttering in her tank. "Something weird is going on, Hamish."

"I do not know of this weirdness. Do you wish to speak about it?"

You know what? I do.

"First the whalehound got out, right?" Zenn crossed her arms, looked at the ground, frowned. Yes, it was time to lay this out. Maybe that would help her organize her jumbled thoughts. "I did not leave that fence off. I'm sure. Almost."

Hamish's head turned to look down at the door Zenn had just forgotten to lock.

"I know, I know." she said defensively. "But I'm sure I activated that fence."

"Are you saying the energy-fence malfunctioned?"

"No, I checked that. The switch was off when we got back."

"So, someone must have turned it off in some physical manner. Who, would you say?"

Zenn looked up at Hamish.

"That's the question, isn't it? And then Gil's sandhog dug through his pen floor, after the wires in the fuse box were chewed. Or cut and made to look chewed."

"You are proposing a deliberate act by someone in both events? Based on what reasoning?"

"There's a vote coming up in the town council, Hamish." Zenn said, thinking out loud. "People in town don't like our animals. They think they're dangerous, right? If our lease gets cancelled, they'd get rid of us and our animals."

"Some of the animals are. Dangerous. Are they not?"

"Yes, obviously," Zenn said, thinking that wasn't the point. "But not if we do our job and keep everything locked down and secure." The thought hit Zenn with an almost physical force. Maybe that was precisely the point. "Not if we don't do our job." She raised her hands to Hamish, as if to show him something. "What if that's it? What if someone is trying to make us look bad. Like the cloister can't control its animals. If the animals were a threat, then the council would have a reason to shut us down!"