Henry looked into Stone's eyes, and Stone peered back. Henry had prided himself in his ability to stare into people's eyes to get them to talk. It was a mind game really. Most people were not at peace with themselves, and the silent stare would be sufficient to cause a mental dissonance, inducing them to talk. He had never been on the receiving end of it before. Stone's eyes were not simply peering into Henry's soul, Henry felt like the whole of his life was on display for Stone, and Stone did not approve. Henry opened his mouth to try to explain.
"SIR are you ok?" asked Sarah. Henry blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the white room. The sudden transition from golem to his real body is always disorienting.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I fear" said Henry. "That I may have lost the war just to win a fight"
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The paralytic worked perfectly on the two orderlies, causing them to drop Keylin on the ground. Not just that, the orderlies suddenly crumbled into dirt. Keylin still hadn't woken up. Silence, true silence set in for the first time. Tresille shook the bars but they held firm, she had seen how easily Stone could bend them, and her suit provided a substantial power assist, but she could not move the bars even a little. Her mind began to play tricks on her, trying to believe that Stone would come and get her out. She had no reason to believe such, from his prospective she was just as foreign and dangerous as the dirt people. He had no reason to trust her, if it were her, she would have left and not thought twice about the two strange girls.
Tresille knelt down, and began to cry, her suit immediately storing and filtering the water, A small hand reached through the bars and rested on Tresille's head.
"Hey" said Keylin "It will be ok" Then the room exploded.
This time Keylin listened to Trestle and didn't activate the paralytic. She couldn't see a thing through her helmet as all the sensors were covered in dirt. Being carried around like a ragdoll was difficult to accept, but Tresille kept insisting that this was worth suffering. Was she back in the arms of that manimal?
The motions and bumps were so disorienting that it took her a few moments to realize that they had stopped and she was now above the ground. Keylin took her helmet off and was blinded by the sun. Tresille sat calmly on the ground, and the Manimal was unsuccessfully climbing a tree. Every time he put pressure on a branch, it broke off. He muttered something about weak trees and the mountain before trying a different tree. In any other setting, allowing this manimal desecrate sacred trees would be an offense tantamount to exile. At home they would put a new chip in your head and shuttle you off to the mine the old habitats. But right now, seeing him snap centuries of research and development like crackers, was the funniest thing she had ever seen.
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"How are these trees still up?! They would not survive a single storm." Said a dumbfounded Stone.
"Those trees were not designed to face a storm like yours, they do not need to be so strong." Said Tresille.
"But when the strong winds come, these will fall" He said.
Tresille couldn't fault Stone for his logic, there had been a number of debates concerning what traits to prioritize for the fifth series of flora. The first series was a very hearty moss, whose job was to absorb radiation and make small changes to the atmosphere. Second and third generations were varieties of shrubs and deep rooting plants, again focused on radiation cleanup and atmospherics. These particular trees were the greatest achievement in her lifetime. After twenty years of growth, a single tree would provide one family all the proteins, sugars and carbohydrates they could need for a standard lifetime. At ten years growth, it could provide shelter and water for the family. At thirty years the tree will be sufficiently developed to have an artificial intelligence activated. This grove was at most five years old, and would likely not be scheduled for habitation for another 25 years. With the tree's Al activated, it would ensure the family received proper immunizations and nutrition. Connected to the whole grove, the combined AI of the forest would give an advanced weather and intruder warning system with full spread communications and data storage. The best part was its adaptability, the trees could be modified and adjusted as needed, giving room for the unknown. Even at five years old these trees were plenty strong for even the heaviest of Lunarians. It would take the whole thirty-year growth cycle to measure up to Stone's standards. Fortunately he gave up after only a few broken branches.
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"I would hardly think a big storm would come here, there hasn't been a significant breeze here in two hundred years" Said Keylin.
‘KEYLIN DON'T SAY ANYTHlNG MORE’ demanded Trestle through the mental link.
"Why not?" Keylin replied, her tone said more: he wouldn't understand.
‘Maybe’ Sent Tresille. Yes they both had been witness to the brute strength of the man, but she had time to review the conversation between Stone and Henry, the conversation she ignored but her suit recorded. Her assumptions about large man could be completely wrong.
Stone looked up at the sky. "There will be a storm tonight, it will wreck these trees."
"That's impossible!" Keylin said. Stone gave her a cold stare, then looked at the sky.
"We have maybe four hours, you will fulfill our deal and I will go back home" Said Stone.
"Deal? What deal?" Asked Keylin.
"I promised him that if we answered some of his questions, he would not take us all the way up the mountain, where you would have died of hypoxia"
"We would have seen his village? Oh that would have been fascinating" Keylin replied, her background in anthropology was kicking in. "My helmet is almost done being fixed, I might have been fine" Tresille simply sighed, and then looked at Stone.
"What are your questions?" She asked.
"Why did you try to kill me?" He asked without a hit of malice. Well of course he would ask THAT question. She and Keylin were so excited to see a living example of protohuman that they had to take the sample. It was like discovering a living dinosaur. Then there were the plans to research his village and see how long it had existed and such. Up until the cockpit went red all Tresille could see were promotions and research grants. How to explain that to Stone?
"We did not want to kill you" Said Tresile. "We wanted to take you with us, to show you to the rest of our people, much like you tried to take us to your people"
"I am not a criminal, I did nothing wrong" Said Stone.
‘Wait is he implying that we are criminals?’ Thought Tresille. Keylin gave her ‘maybe’ shoulder shrug
"What would you have done with us, had we made it to the top of the mountain?" asked Keylin.
"I would have given you to the Elders, they worried more of you would come." He said.
‘An astute assumption’ thought Trestle and Keylin ‘JlNX!’
"Who are the EIders?" asked Keylin.
"They are the oldest of my village, their bodies have weakened but their minds are strong, so they live in Hall beneath the village, where it is warmer. Now I have answered enough of your questions. Tell me why you would take me to your people."
"Because we didn't know you existed" said Keylin "And you are interesting, you didn't take things to show your Elders?" Stone only nodded.
"Will more of you come to my village? Will you attack them like you did me?"
‘We will come in droves with bigger ships and weapons’. Thought Tresille. ‘And there is nothing you can do about it’.
"We will leave you alone if you want" Said Keylin.
"I want that" Said Stone. "I and my village want to be left alone"
"Sure thing" How did Keylin say that without batting an eye?
"You trust her so easily?" Said Henry "My leaders wouldn't let me tell you everything, yet these women aren't even trying to be honest" As he spoke, Henry emerged out of the ground. He was the same height, and the general features were the same, but his face and hands were less detailed. He looked simpler than before.
"More lies?" Said Stone.
"Yes" said Henry "These women do not have the authority to promise you or your village protection" Stone looked at Keylin in the eyes, she shuddered.
"Do you tell the truth?" Stone asked. Keylin remained silent and looked away. Stone then looked at Tresille, she too looked away. Stone spent a moment examining the clouds, sighed, and walked away into the grove. Tresille, Keylin, and Henry watched Stone leave as the sky darkened and the wind picked up.
"THIS SHOULDN’T BE HAPPENlNGl" Keylin yelled. The howling wind drowned out most of her words. Tresille wanted to punch Henry in the face, he was smiling and didn't seem at all effected by the torrential rain and wind. When the rain hit so hard it stung, Henry gave them both a playful salute, and sank into the ground.
Tresille put her helmet back on, grateful for the relief, Keylin did the same. Their suits did a great job protecting them from moderate weather and wind. It wicked moisture off of their skin when the temperature control couldn't keep up. When the atmosphere dropped to zero the suit could last a solid half hour before oxygen ran out. Afterward subsystems would allow the body to freeze and activate preservation protocol. Revival would be painful, they all had to experience it in flight training. The suits were not designed to be fully submerged, it delaminated the fabric after an hour. In this torrential rain, Tresille discovered that her suit delaminated exactly two minutes before the real storm hit.
A crack of lightning broke up the sky exposing brilliant light and terrifying shadow. Tresille and Keylin huddled together in a failed attempt to keep warm. It became impossible to distinguish between the crack of lightning and the crack of trees that could not withstand the wind and rain. A large dark shadow encompassed the girls, had the girls any terror left to give, it would have come out as a scream. All that came out was a subtle whimper. The massive shadow kept the rain and wind away while retaining the heat. A large smelly piece of cloth was dropped on top of Tresille's face. Keylin's startlement indicated she received the same.
"You two are like little birds fallen from the nest" Said Stone. "Dry off, or the wet will kill you"