In fact, he couldn’t immediately see why the slaves hadn’t already thrown the aliens back into space. Did the FareLords here possess a remarkably able security chief?
Nomun was still absorbed in his analysis when a red light flared and something exploded against the back of his head, throwing him forward onto the table.
Nomun pulled a thinbeam from his boot as he rolled across the table, then fired at his assailant as he dropped off the other side. The beam punched through Wumorin’s chest, hissing.
When Nomun peered cautiously over the edge of the table, he saw Wumorin slumped against the far wall. The cauterized wound was as yet bloodless. A heavy mining laser lay just beyond Wumorin’s twitching hand.
For the moment, the young man still lived.
Nomun kept the thinbeam pointed at the adjutant, while he explored the back of his head with cautious fingers. The hair was burned away, but he was otherwise unharmed. «Are you wondering why you’re dead and I’m not? Dermal energy shunt,» he said. «The latest tech, expensive as hell. Good thing it worked as advertised, eh? Good thing for me, anyway.» Nomun glowed with the euphoria that always accompanied a near-miss. «I thought you were my ally, Wumorin.»
Wumorin shrugged, a feeble movement. Then he reached up and clicked off the privacy mask.
The white face was instantly familiar, even with the blood that trickled from the mouth. Nomun had seen it in a thousand mirrors.
He stepped around the table, kicked away the laser. His good humor was gone. «So. Where did they get you?»
The clone twitched and coughed convulsively. The blood that flowed down his chin turned a brighter red. «I don’t know. I came here in an embryo bottle.» Wumorin grinned, an ugly sight «You cannot imagine the joy I felt when I discovered that I was a child of the great Nomun’s flesh. I’m sure you can’t No.»
«Was it that bad?»
Wumorin’s head dropped forward. «This is Hell, after all,» he mumbled. Then he went on, in a slightly stronger voice. «Don’t blame the slaves. They were hoping for a cheap messiah when they bought me. I might have been the one they hoped for. But then I learned who I was. And who you were. Nomun. Admired on a thousand worlds. Great Nomun. So that day I decided to not be the one, to wait until they must send for you.»
A puzzle solved, Nomun thought darkly. Here is the reason why the FareLoi'ds are still on Hell. «How many died while you were waiting to take my place?»
«What does it matter? I would have been Nomun. Of course, poor Wumorin would have had to disappear....» Wumorin drew a deep bubbling breath.
«You’d never have gotten into my ship,» Nomun said after a while, but the clone was dead.
Nomun stumbled through the jungle, spitting out the taste of the memory. It was better when I was empty, he thought A hand reached out and took him by the shoulder, pulled him to a stop. Nomun struck the hand away, whirled, teeth bared. Young Nomun dodged away, his finger to his lips. «Shhh....»
Young Nomun crouched, gesturing for Nomun to follow. They moved downhill, until they could see the black mirror of the sea through the jungle. «He tried to go too close to the beach,» Young Nomun said. On the beach, False Nomun battled a pack of predators. The sand was alive with the fluid shapes; they swirled about False Nomun’s feet like surf, rising and falling. With a manic energy, False Nomun swung a long shard of crystal, smashing at the creatures. But there were hundreds.
«You may stay and watch,» Young Nomun whispered. «I intend to pass while they’re busy with him.» He crept away.
False Nomun’s blows were slowing. One creature ripped at False Nomun’s belly, and a loop of intestine spilled out, to tangle around False Nomun’s feet Arms flailing for balance, False Nomun fell silently, and was covered.
Nomun closed his eyes for an instant. Then he slipped off. When he was over the crest of the node, he began to run, as fast as he could, occasionally bouncing painfully from a low-hanging crystal.
He reached the beach, almost blind with fear. He fell to the sand, gasping for breath. Why now, he wondered. Why did it take so long for me to be afraid?
The other two were already in the shelter, as far apart as possible, wearing identical looks of watchful hatred. Neither spoke when Nomun came in, and he was taken aback by the sudden similarity between Jade Nomun and Young Nomun.
The day passed with exquisite slowness. Nomun was exhausted, but felt no urge to sleep. Nor did the others, apparently; they sat staring at nothing. In late afternoon, Nomun ate. After a while, he went outside into the sunlight.
Dead Nomun stood motionless at the jungle’s edge. Seven plastic bags hung against its chestplate. False Nomun’s head was a red tatter, not recognizably human.
«A bad night for head hunting, eh?» Nomun called out impulsively. He expected no reply, and he was shocked when the killmech responded.
«Yes. My master will be sad. He likes to preserve their memory in some way.»
Nomun shook his head. «What is your master’s purpose in tormenting us?»
Dead Nomun looked at him. «Purpose?»
Nomun was suddenly furious. «Yes, purpose! Why were we captured, why were we brought here, why do you drive us along the memwort? Why do you kill us? Why?»
The killmech took a step forward, then another. «I do not have that information.» Its arms twitched, as if it were disturbed, and Nomun retreated into the shelter, heart pounding, his anger cooling abruptly into fear. I shmddn’t have asked it such questions. It might have answered. He couldn’t imagine why this notion frightened him so badly.
Inside, Jade Nomun mumbled to himself and took no notice, but Young Nomun looked up inquiringly. «The mech is friendly?» Nomun lay down without answering.
Night finally came, and they went out into the stillness of the beach. Jade Nomun’s face was no longer human; he had the look of a cornered animal. His eyes flickered constantly from the killmech to Nomun. He sidled away, moving toward the jungle.
Dead Nomun spoke. «This is the last node. Survivors will be taken off the apex beach, tomorrow at sunrise.»
Jade Nomun stopped, listened, his head cocked at a feral angle. «Survivors?» A hideous smile corrupted his face. Then he ran into the jungle on light, quick feet Young Nomun stood for a moment, as if waiting for the killmech to speak again, before he trudged away. At the edge of the sand, he paused to look back at Nomun. Nomun thought How terrible to look into my own face and see a stranger.
A high mist obscured the Blood Moon. Nomun moved carefully. Jade Nomun’s mad, gleeful face floated before his mind’s eye. The light in the jungle remained cold, and the shadows were impenetrable. At intervals, Nomun stopped and listened, but he could hear nothing beyond the ragged sound of his own breathing, and the thump of his heart He passed the crest of the node without incident. The node fell away steeply to the south, so that Nomun could look out over the jungle canopy. The apex beach formed a wide crescent.; within its arms rode a half-dozen breathboats, sails furled, lit only by small green anchor lights. The jungle glowed pale blue, until it ended on the sand. There a narrow zone of hot light flickered. The last banier, Nomun thought Fresh memory?
He moved warily down the slope, but nothing attacked him. He wondered how Young Nomun was doing. Had he already fallen to Jade Nomun’s cunning? Nomun felt a sharp twinge of regret... he remembered how Young Nomun had saved him from Scar Nomun. It seemed so long ago.