| "But what if
they come back, Reeza?" the smallest one asked, face upturned,
eyes bright with water. "Hush, my le'mekano," Reeza said, leaning over to ruffle the boy's hair. "You know very well what will happen when they return." "You'll punch them!" Marzo yelled, jumping up from the circle and hitting the air with his hands. "And cut their throats!" cried Shevaza, slashing above her head with an imaginary knife. "And the hub will be ours forever!" the rest of them chimed in. Reeza laughed and pushed herself to her feet. "You are very right. I will do all those things and more." "But you won't let them hurt us, will you, Reeza?" It was the smallest one again. The one whose sister stared blankly at the wall, curled in on herself, day and night, unable or unwilling to speak or eat or even cry. "I will fight for you," Reeza answered, pounding her chest hard with her fist. "And I will die before I let them touch any of you again!" "Fighting, dying. Those are words better left alone at night. Don't you agree, Reeza?" The blond girl turned defiant eyes toward the gravely voice, but she would not argue and chance bringing him out of the shadows. The old man's grizzled, one-eyed visage would frighten the children. "Yes, Old One," she murmured, turning back to the circle and ushering the children onto their sleeping rags. "It is time for Reeza's little le'mekanos to close their eyes and dream a dream." She sang to them then, a long song about an unhappy man who gave up all the riches in the world to find true happiness as a wandering scavenger. She waited a bit longer before moving again, knowing even as she did that the Old One was still there in the shadows, waiting. She knew, too, what he would say, and spoke before he could. "We are staying." "The others have all gone scavenging." "You have not gone!" she hissed. "I am an old man and know my days are numbered." "Will you fight with us, then? Will you tell us how to keep them away?" She'd spent the past several days with the children, doing whatever she could to booby-trap the hub's hatches, knowing all the while that their attempts were futile. There were too many links and far too few scavengers to guard them. The pirates would be back and this time they would not leave until they took everything. "You must gather the children and go." "No!" She stalked away from the circle of children, unwilling to disturb their slumber with her outrage. The Old One followed, his long robes jerking behind him as he limped after her. "You are being foolish. Yes, you will fight. But the dirty jerviendo will have their way with them all the same. You have seen what they did to Cheena. They will--" "Stop!" Reeza cried, sinking down the wall to the floor. Her knees came up and she rested her head against them, sending her hair tumbling like a rivulets of bright molten metal. Suddenly, she sat up straight. "You could take them. Take the ship and get them away safely. I will stay here. I will fight. I--" "You will die! Stop this foolishness and flee! You are too stubborn, Reeza of the white light." Reeza flushed, embarrassed at the mention of the white aura that came whenever she was angry. It was glowing faintly even now. "I . . . I am sick of scavenging, sick of living on other people's waste. We are better than that, Sezare. Look at this!" She threw her arms wide. "Look at what we could have if only we would stand together, become a united people instead of fleeing at the slightest hint of trouble. Instead of wandering the stars, we could have a real place in the galaxy!" "Ahhhhh yes," Sezare said, nodding his head, his one eye gleaming thoughtfully. "I, too, was once so young and foolish. And the scavengers fighting on the world Yosa-- all of them are this foolish, as well. But someday they will realize, just as I realized and just as you will, that a scavenger is a scavenger. The life of the Mekano is in our blood, in our being. There is no other way." "But I am not Mekano," Reeza said. "You took me from the white ship yourself when I was an infant. I have a different destiny, Sezare." If the old man had an answer, Reeza did not wait for it. She sprang to her feet and sprinted down the long, curving corridor. Perhaps if she ran for a while she would be able to sleep. Or perhaps she would stay awake and watch for the pirates' return. |
