“Everything will,” Watt said, his thick jargon missing from the simple phrase.
Cole led Molly into the forest, following the sounds of young Glemot chatter. “Let me do the talking,” he told her.
“Glad to,” she replied.
As they approached, the circle of pups fell silent and turned to glare at them. Cole had a bad feeling this wasn’t going to go well. Orville shot up from the ground and strode toward them, a sharpened stick in hand.
“Follow,” he said as he rumbled past.
Cole grabbed Molly’s hand, and they followed the pup deeper into the woods, out of sight from the rest of the youth. He spun on both of them, his swiftness startling.
“Inciting hostilities? Brainwashing my litter mate? Enunciate!”
Cole held up both hands, palms out. If this came to blows, it would go badly for them. Somehow Orville had sniffed out his brother, so lying was probably not the best option. But neither was the whole truth.
“Whoa, pal. Your brother came to us. Said he had a plan to disrupt the balance or something. That he’d kill us if we didn’t go along.”
Orville’s face flashed as some part of this registered. “Disrupt the balance?” Orville repeated.
Cole seized on this. “He said he had a way of wiping out the Leefs. He wanted to use our friend, Walter, as bait. We agreed if it meant sparing his life.”
“This ruse I am previously cognizant of. My suspicions were great when he queried me on the electromagnetic pulse device.”
Cole wanted to groan out loud, but contained himself. Everything hinged on that device, and on Edison being able to deliver it.
“Where’s your brother?” Molly asked.
Orville shifted his gaze over to her. “Detained.” It was all they were going to get.
Cole squeezed her hand; he tried a different route. It didn’t look like they were going to be turned in or killed by Orville. And if they were from the same litter, perhaps their goals were different, but their basic needs were the same. “Did Edison also tell you how he was going to get onto the council?” he asked.
Orville bent his knees and lowered his face down to Cole’s level. The hair on his shoulders waved back and forth. “Talk,” he said.
Cole did. And he hoped it wouldn’t trouble Molly to see how good he was at stretching the truth…
“…and after the last Leef was killed in the trap, Edison would reveal to the adults that it had been his plan. He’d show the detailed calculations, the numbers of increased Campton procreation, how an overall balance could be restored while breaking the local one. Your brother thought the Council would honor him with a seat, that he’d be on a fast track to leading this tribe, long before his fur darkened.”
Molly tried to keep her composure as Cole wrapped up his fictionalized account of the past day. She could tell Orville was riveted—she had been as well. It fascinated her how Cole weaved truth with lie, understanding which emotions to trigger and reeling his prey right in. She wondered if his imagination for conspiracy theories tapped into this ability or if the skill was just finely-honed, thanks to his paranoia.
She chewed on this possibility while Orville seemed to be considering something else.
“Edison,” Orville finally said, shaking his head. “That deceptive brigand.” He looked down at Cole and waved his stick back and forth through the air between them. “Enormous wisdom to divulge completely, young human. My sibling attempted many untruths, a crazed speech of tactical warheads and double-crosses. Your account contains accuracy. Come. Together we confront the upstart and his plan transfers to me. Afterwards, my litter mate’s rumored demise becomes reality.”
Orville thumped the ground with his stick and slapped Cole on the shoulder. It nearly drove him off his feet. “Come,” he said cheerily, and bounded through the forest.
Molly and Cole looked at one another. The plan was falling apart, but they had no choice. They hurried off after Orville, struggling to keep up.
19
The brutal pace quickly exhausted them both, their lungs burning while Orville loped along with an effortless gait. He weaved through the trees, sensitive to accidentally creating a path, while his long youthful fur whisked up and down like miniature whips as he bounded along. Molly lost herself in the sight of them as she fought to steady her breath. Her broken arm jounced in its sling, thrumming with pain.
Orville came to a sudden stop in a section of the forest no different from the rest. He looked around himself in every direction while Molly and Cole bent over, huffing. He reaching down into the leaves and pulled up a patch of the forest floor, hinging it away neatly. A dim light floated up from the square hole; Orville waved them down first.
It was a simple ladder, but the descent felt as dangerous for Molly as the one that had broken her arm. The rungs were spaced over a meter apart, their diameter too big for her to properly grasp. With one arm strapped and useless, she was forced to employ her chin, pressing a knee against the side rail as she adjusted her grip. Cole tried to descend beside her, steadying her back with one hand and giving her encouragement as Orville shouted at them to increase the pace. It seemed to take forever to get to the metal floor below.
Metal. It was jarring to see something modern on Glemot. The ladder, the lights, the floor—they didn’t prepare her for what awaited as she turned around.
They were inside a long rectangular chamber carved out of the dirt and lined with metal panels. Along one entire wall stood a massive row of consoles with readouts that reminded Molly of SADAR units, and stations that resembled cockpit controls. A large tactical table dominated the center of the room, and a solitary male Glemot hunched over one of the stations. He turned to appraise this intrusion, pulling a wire from one of his ears.
When he saw Orville step off the ladder behind them, he nodded, replaced the wire, and turned back to his work. Molly glanced at Orville and saw fury in his eyes; she followed his gaze across the room. Edison huddled in the far corner, bound and gagged. The poor pup’s eyes were wild with fear, his fur bunched around the restraints.
“Your nefarious plan is uncovered, brother.” Orville marched toward him and twirled his sharp stick. Primal fear surged through Molly, the weight of the jungle floor pressing down from above. They were a couple of puny humans in a lair full of monsters. Could the plan work with Orville rather than Edison? Would she even want it to? She couldn’t imagine allowing Edison to be harmed just so they could get off this planet.
She turned to Cole, who practically vibrated with nervous energy. The only thing going for them was the adult’s distraction. The important activity on the screen ahead seemed to require more attention than the squabbling of cubs behind.
Orville was halfway across the room, walking by the tactical table. He spoke to the screen operator. “The plot is far simpler than we thought, Mentor, but the cunning exponentially greater than my brother’s falsehoods. A mere maneuvering for stature, nothing beyond.”
Oh, gods, thought Molly, this was Orville’s mentor, the anti-tech council member! The only way out of this room was going to be with Edison dead and their plan ruined. It would be a mad dash deep into the woods as their promises to both tribes met on tomorrow’s battlefield and were destroyed.
Orville’s mentor turned away from his screen for a moment to look back at his protégé. “End him.” He stated it like the solution to some playful riddle.