Traveler in the Dark

35

"What should we do with him?" asked Leroux as Issk'ath placed Spixworth on the ground beside the Wolfinger's ladder. The exterior lights were hard and cruel on the black streaks of blood that had dried on his face.

"We should put him with Dorothy," said Rebecca.

"No, I'm sorry Emery, but we aren't delaying the launch any longer," said Al Jahi. "We've lost three people here. We need to inform their families and get a larger crew. Security and officers and a permanent camp. We'll have to bring him with us."

"We don't have a lifecycler. We can't take him with us. Even Stratton is a risk," said Alice.

"It's only a forty-eight-hour flight."

"His body may have picked up microbes from the nest. Many would have died with him, but probably not all. With these lacerations, there's no way the decontamination procedure would kill everything. We can't just leave him exposed in the ship."

"You could give him to the Eaters," said Issk'ath.

"Eaters?" asked Al Jahi.

"They are like your dermestids. It is what my people did with their terminated loved ones. They consume organic material and created new earth for the nests."

"Do they still exist? I thought your people have been gone for years."

"The People were not the only ones who brought their dead to the Eaters."

Al Jahi shook her head. "We don't have time for some lengthy trip or we would bury him beside Dorothy."

"You do not need to take him anywhere. The Eaters are everywhere under the open sky. You would need only to remove any artificial casings from his body and expose him to the air. Traditionally, the People would return in several days to take the offering of soil left in the body's place, but no one will disturb it if you wish to return later for it."

"Food for other life. Be part of something bigger than just the agri deck. Nick would have liked that," murmured Blick.

"It really could be Spixworth's Steppe," said Rebecca with a sad smile.

"Ok," said Al Jahi. "Yes. We'll leave him for the Eaters. I think— I think he would have appreciated some privacy. Would you get him ready Blick? Titov?" They nodded. "We saved the others' filaments for their families. Maybe we should take his for his dad." Al Jahi's voice broke. Rebecca's eyes stung. She turned away.

"We'll have to incinerate the suit," said Alice, "to be certain we aren't bringing anything back."

"I understand," said Blick.

Leroux began climbing the ladder. Rebecca took a last look at the strange, open world around her. She couldn't picture her father or sister out here. The nights were so dark without the artificial lights of the Keseburg and filled with sounds that made her spine ache with terror. The daylight made strange, uncomfortable hues over everything and the touch of long grasses had given her chills in the beginning, even through her suit. And though those were small fears, things that could be defeated gradually, real dangers remained. A swift powerful river, a giant, crumbling sinkhole, thousands of uncategorized plants and animals. Not to mention the multiple microbes Alice had already found in the soil and water. None of them appeared dangerous at first testing, but where there was one, there were more.

"I never thought we'd really find it in our lifetime. I never thought we'd be the ones," said Blick softly as they waited for Al Jahi to reach the top of the ladder.

"It's not right to do this to them. It's not right to force them out of everything they've known and make them scrape a hard, unhappy life out of a strange rock," answered Rebecca, a sudden, tired tear escaping her.