The Book of Dema

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR + Spies in the Land

Carrying around another man's life in his head weighed heavily on Carter. Clancy still survived, lying in a coma in the medical tent, but no one knew what to do with the injured man except wait and pray. The medic had performed basic surgery on his hip, inserting metal screws in the hope that while Clancy's brain slumbered his stabilized bones would stitch themselves back together.

Meanwhile, the questions ran laps around Carter's head, triggering memory after memory. He practiced separating them the way Debbie had taught him, but the energy it took to do so wore him down to the point where he did almost nothing when he was in the camp except sleep and sit by Clancy's bedside.

For hours on end, Carter held Clancy's hand, talking to him about life in Dema as though they were brothers. He read to the unconscious man from a weathered book of Tabulon poetry. Carter spoke to him about his walks with Keons; his afternoons of kicking a ball around the Sector Meadow with old friends; the camaraderie of the Initiates program. The memories flowed from Carter's head as though he had been there himself.

On several occasions, the medical staff found Carter in his chair sitting in a stupor, eyes fixed on a far-off corner. His lips moved as though engaged in lively conversations, but he uttered no sound. They began to worry he might need to spend some time alongside Clancy under sedation in the medical tent. Miriam, the chief medic, still did not believe Debbie's dismissive assurances that the memory transfer had been perfectly safe.

In her medical opinion, Carter was struggling. It was also evident to everyone on the medical staff. He was disassociated from his home by whatever magic had brought him here, and the Numan had made matters worse by filling his head with Clancy. Miriam hated to take people out of the field, but what she was seeing sent her diagnostic brain spinning, and after five days of this behavior, she finally went to see the Vulture.

"He can't go on like this. He's losing his grip on reality. This is the beginning of a psychotic break. If we don't get him some relief, who knows what will happen. I'm telling you, if you go into that tent right now and call out Clancy's name, Carter will answer."

The Vulture stared down at her from his platform in the command tent. It was raised five feet above the rest of the room. With his books, maps, and piles of reports, it had come to resemble a nest. It was mystique, he would say. They weren't living in a story book, but symbolism was important. From here, he could observe the work at all of the surrounding stations. From here, his old friend Miriam looked like the little girl from his teenage years. From here he could hide from the rest of the Banditos all of the burdens he was carrying.

"There's something I need in Dema," he said flatly. "It's more important than whether the young man is losing his mind or not. The Numan said not to worry."

Miriam had anticipated this response. The two of them had lived and fought alongside each other for years. She was one of the few who remembered him before he started wearing the vulture get-up. "As far as we know, Vulture, she has never performed the transfer rite on someone who has come through the doors. He's not from here, and now he barely knows who he is. Besides, what do you need in Dema? Another book? Why do you keep collecting these relics? And why do you need him to do it? We cannot keep this up. I tell you, he's going to have a mental breakdown."

At this point, the conversation had captured the attention of the entire room. Those assigned to workstations were straining to look as though their monitors held the secrets of the universe. But every one of them wanted even more badly to hear what the Vulture was after in the City.

He looked around, observing these Banditos, wishing he had enough information to let them in on his quest. He could not say it in front of them. There were spies everywhere. The wrong word dropped in front of the wrong person could kill the opportunity Carter and Clancy had presented them.