PEARL
Chapter Five
Egg Collector began to lead us back the way we had come but a well aged woman burst into the office from a door we hadn't seen and grabbed him by both hands, tears flooding her eyes. "Egglu," she sobbed, as I made a mental note to call him that at least once before we parted. "Franlu is dead!"
Egglu turned to us. "Please come!" He followed the woman out of the hitherto unseen door and we in turn followed them through rooms we hadn't seen either, and then to our surprise into a corridor, the first such we had encountered. The corridor was straight and bare and must have bypassed several blockhouses, as it was quite long. We proceeded rapidly, in silence but for the occasional sob from the woman to whom we had not been introduced. Her skin was moderately mauve, her hair iron gray, her height, as was Egglu's, unremarkable. Their distress was clear. I hoped I could help but was fairly sure I could not bring anyone back from the dead.
At last we arrived in a hydroponic garden, not unlike the others we had seen except that this one was planted with the "three sisters": tall ears of corn, wandering vines of squash and bean stalks climbing up the straight corn. I expected Franlu to be somewhere in the room but we went through without stopping, into another garden, then out a side door into a nursery. There we saw cribs, bassinets, comfortable-looking chairs, toys dominating the floor and amid them an infant, quite clearly dead. Nyssa dropped down and reached out to the child. I stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Don't touch," I said, softly. She sat back on her haunches and stared mournfully at the small corpse. Tegan stood behind me with her fingers folded together, just below her lips, her eyes huge with tears. "May I?" Egglu nodded. I knelt next to Nyssa and gently examined Franlu. There wasn't so much as a bruise on her. I looked up at the woman. "Is she… pardon me, we have not been introduced. I am the Doctor."
"Bean Tender."
"Bean Tender, is this your child?" She shook her head. "I mean your grandchild?" She shook her head again. "Yours, Egg Collector?" This was no time to be indulging my amusement at his nickname. Egglu shook his head as well. He was clearly shocked and upset at the infant's death, as who wouldn't be? "I assume you have physicians here." He nodded. "So many questions, in no particular order! To whom does this child belong?"
"All of us," said Bean Tender. "Her parents moved to another hub."
"Without their child?" Something in the pit of my stomach told me not to explore the half-memory that was stirring there. I pushed it away. "All right, she was a communal child. Understood. Have you any idea how she died?" I touched the child's face. It was clean, unmarked, at peace. "Wait… is this the first child to die? I mean recently, like this?"
Bean Tender and Egglu both slowly shook their heads.
"Right. Well, that doesn't mean you have a serial child-killer on your hands. There could be another explanation."
Suddenly Nyssa stood up. "Where are all the other babies?" I looked around. There were six cribs, all empty.
"Which one is Franlu's?" asked Tegan.
"Frangipani." Upon our quizzical looks Bean Tender added, "All babies get flower names which they keep until they earn their job names. There is a ceremony." She showed Tegan Franlu's crib. Then she addressed Nyssa. "The babies are on their scheduled walk. That is how Franlu was discovered, when Future Tender came to walk them."
"Future Tender," I repeated, "very good. Yes, very appropriate. Um, how many babies have you lost, then? Mysteriously, I mean."
"It is not mysterious," said Bean Tender, emphatically. "It is Honey Gatherer."
"If you know who the killer is, why not apprehend him? Why is he allowed to keep killing babies?"
Egg Collector explained: "Honey Gatherer has been dead for eight months. We have lost four children in the last three weeks."
The physician showed up then, and was introduced as Body Healer. She examined Franlu, then scooped her up and carried her out of the room without comment.
"Please explain," I said sharply. "Tell me you don't expect me to believe a ghost killed that little girl."
"How else?" asked Bean Tender.
"And you, Egg Collector; do you believe the children were killed by a ghost?"
"Not any ghost," said Egglu. "Honey Gatherer was also an apiarist. We have no apiary now. He had no apprentice, no successor. We desperately need bees. We have a few in the gardens but they are dying out. The gardens are doing poorly."
"How is this killing infants?"
"I don't know. But we have no other answers."
I had no answer to this so I turned to see how my friends were taking it. Tegan was silent. Nyssa, however, had a request to make.
"Will there be a postmortem?"
"Of course," said Egglu.
"I would like to observe, please." Nyssa's request was granted and Bean Tender led her off to join Body Healer, who would presumably deliver the perfect little corpse to Bodies Detective. Nyssa has a tender heart but despite her youth she is an intuitive and talented scientist. If there was anything to observe in the postmortem, she would observe it.
"Tegan," I said suddenly, "would you mind terribly if I joined Nyssa at the postmortem? Will you be okay for an hour or two without us?"
Egglu offered, "I would be happy to show Teganlu to a comfortable place where she could rest and wait for her companions." Tegan and I both smiled at the "lu," obviously a term of endearment, and I chuckled inwardly at being called her companion, although technically, I suppose I am, am I not?
Egglu led Tegan off and I stood for a moment looking at all the empty cribs. Then I stepped through the door through which I'd seen Nyssa and Bean Tender leave, and found myself in a bedroom. I chose a door at random and realized that I was utterly lost. It was odd not to meet other people no matter how many rooms I randomly entered and exited, and I passed through quite a few. Where was everyone, anyway? And where was I?
All right, I wasn't going to get to watch the autopsy. I wasn't going to find anyone to lead me out of the maze of interconnected rooms. Someone who knew the lay of the land would come looking for me by and by. Meanwhile, I wasn't about to stand about doing nothing, so I decided to enjoy a little random exploration. Instead of rushing through rooms looking for anything or anyone, I began to indulge my natural curiosity and pay attention to everything I saw.
A kitchen had only two uncracked cups out of 24. Only four cups were exact matches. Every cup was blue.
Two rooms, not connected to one another, had no clear purpose. One was messy and the other was empty. The empty room was dusty and I sneezed twice.
A small exercise room had two stationary bikes – well, not quite bikes but close enough. There was a mat on the floor and a selection of hand weights and one barbell. On a whim I lay on the mat and hefted the barbell a few times. I sat up and saw, in the corner, a machine whose purpose I could not determine, nor its operation. There was a seat and more handles than anyone here had hands, as well as pedals that outnumbered feet. I sat in the seat and chose a pair of pedals on which to rest my shoes. They vibrated slightly. Then I tried out the various grips. None of them actually moved anything, even though the machine looked as if it might have moving parts. Perhaps they had all been locked in place. I tried squeezing one of the handles. Suddenly the machine emitted a low hum and started slowly repositioning all of its parts. I quickly moved my right hand off its grip but my left was already squeezed between two moving plates and my legs were being twisted rather unnaturally.
I had one arm free but had no idea what to do with it. I couldn't stop any of the machine's parts from completing whatever circuits they'd begun, regardless of whether they crushed me along the way. At least the seat remained stationary; the back rest, however, was tilting back at an alarming angle. "Hello," I called out. "Is anyone about? I could use some assistance!" I flailed my right arm to no effect and then suddenly a handle veered within reach and I grabbed it, gripped it tightly, squeezing it and then pulling my hand back before it could become trapped as securely as my left. The machine ground to a halt. It didn't release me but at least it was no longer twisting me. I was still lying back at an impossible angle, blood rushing to my head, making it throb.
I couldn't see my left hand or the configuration that had it trapped, nor could I reach it with my right, but I was able to wiggle my fingers enough to determine in which direction to try to work it free. Knowing that and effecting its freedom were two different things. I slowly worked my hand in what I hoped was the right direction. After a long, frustrating struggle I was able to scrape it free, and it fell limply back onto my chest. I massaged it with my right hand, then just lay with my head hanging backwards and breathed as deeply as I could. It was time to try to sit up so I could see how badly the rest of me was twisted.
"One," I said aloud. "Two. Three!" I pushed upwards with my chest and managed something that didn't much resemble a crunch. I knew I was fit but being twisted from the hips down was defeating my efforts. I reached up to see what I could grasp without accidentally restarting the machine, but from my position I couldn't reach far. I reached out to the sides instead and this was more productive; I could hold onto what I found and pull myself partway up. By sliding my hands, one at a time, up the machine, I managed to sit, more or less. Had I let go I'd have fallen back again and likely hit my head, into the bargain. I hung on, but that meant I hadn't got the use of my hands to try to free my legs. At least I could see the situation a bit better from this position. My left leg was pinned under my right, which was in turn pinned by the machine, and my whole lower body was twisted to the left.
Maybe I could slide my left buttock back a little (my right buttock was being lifted by the twisting of my hip). I didn't get far but it helped. Now I had some wiggle-room on the right. I tried to draw my right leg out from under the machine. No go. All right, how about trying to draw my left leg out from under my right? The best I could do was to bend it at the knee but if I pulled it to the left it hit part of the machine. I used my arms to lift myself very slightly and pull myself to the right. Now my left leg had another inch. I twisted my whole body to the left and my left leg came almost completely free. That loosened the machine's grip on my right leg but I was afraid I would move so suddenly that my hands would be pulled off of the machine and I would fall backwards again. I had to risk it, though. I lifted myself up again and at the same time pulled my butt backwards. My hip straightened. I sat up. I slid painfully out of the machine, onto the floor, where I lay panting and wondering how much time had passed, and whether anyone was looking for me yet. When it became clear that no one was, or at least no one was on the verge of finding me, I put my hands behind my head and did a few sit-ups, just because I could. Then I stood up, stretched and moved on.
I found myself in a flower garden and what the bees therein lacked in numbers they made up for in size. They were the size of mice and their buzzing was accordingly augmented. The garden was noisy with them. They seemed not to mind me, and I have never minded bees, so, still a little breathless, I greeted them and opened another door.
As long as I wandered from room to room I knew I was in the same settlement, but that last door had taken me into another hallway. If I followed that hallway I would never be found. I turned back, said "Pardon me" to a bee, tried a new door and stood face to face with the ghost of Honey Gatherer.
I knew he was Honey Gatherer because he wore a bee veil, what looked suspiciously like a hazmat suit and big gardening gloves. He also had a big bee in one glove and two more on his left shoulder. He didn't look especially ghostly, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Hello," I said, as cheerfully as I could. "Honey Gatherer, I presume? Nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor."
In response he threw the bee in his glove at my face. I flinched and closed my eyes. The bee flew straight through me. I opened my eyes again and saw Honey Gatherer looming an inch before me, twice the size he had been a moment ago. It was disconcerting but illuminating, although the bee had already proven what I suspected.
"You're a hologram!" I was rather delighted. "… or the local equivalent," I added, for accuracy's sake. "Who is projecting you, and why?"
Honey Gatherer fizzled and vanished. I was left in the room, the nature of which I had not yet noticed, wondering how a hologram could harm anyone, child or otherwise. I looked around. It was a completely empty room, not the first I'd seen but I could have sworn there had been something other than Honey Gatherer in the room – a chair, a picture on the wall, a rug – but maybe whatever I had thought I'd seen had also been holographic. Before I had time to process this fully I heard distant voices and turned toward them.
"Doctor? Doctor!"
"I'm here!" I shouted.
"Doctor!"
"Here! Here!"
Tegan and Egglu found me at last, and I was glad to be found. I'd had enough of exploring for the moment. Then I looked from Tegan to Egglu and back again and saw them release each other's hands. None of my business of course but I couldn't help smiling. "Nyssa isn't back yet," said Tegan. "We wanted to find you first but we're on our way to the mortuary. You'll pardon me if I wait outside. I promise not to wander off," she added, pointedly.
"Before we wander off," I said, putting a hand out toward the two of them, "what room is this?"
Egglu said, "It used to be storage. Now it is not in use. Why do you ask?"
"I saw Honey Gatherer here."
"What?" Tegan was astonished. Egglu frowned.
"He's not a ghost, you know. He's a hologram. Who is doing that? Do you know? Who is controlling the hologram? And how are they getting the image from a dead man? And why?" Egglu turned and left the room. Tegan and I followed. He walked slowly, not running away from us. He led us to the mortuary, motioned me in but stayed in the connecting room (a sort of spa) with Tegan. Nyssa and Bodies Detective were just washing up. The child was nowhere to be seen. "How did it go?" Nyssa turned and saw me.
"Oh Doctor, it was so interesting and so sad! Poor little Frangipani! She was in perfect condition except for a bleed in the brain."
"A fall?" I hesitated. "A thorough shake?"
"Who would do that?" Nyssa was horrified.
"I don't know," I said, thoughtfully, "but definitely not a ghost or a hologram." Upon her quizzical look I briefly filled her and Bodies Detective in, leaving out my adventure with the exercise machine.
I finally thought to introduce myself to the medical examiner, who took my hand in her mauve one – was she related to Bean Tender? - and kissed it before letting it go. "She did that to me, too," smiled Nyssa; I guess I had blushed.
"Tegan is waiting for us," I remembered. We went back out the way I had entered and interrupted Tegan and Egglu in a kiss. Nyssa's hand sprang to her mouth to stifle a laugh and I turned away, amused but also a little embarrassed. Without looking, I said, "I have a question or two, Egglu, if that's all right." When I looked back Egglu and Tegan were two feet apart. Nyssa was still trying not to laugh.
"Yes?" said Egglu.
"Apart from everyone's natural sadness, what are the consequences of the death of a child on Pearl?"
"We wouldn't know about other settlements but in this one, Climdos, which has an alliance with ours, Climfa and one other ally, Climgrad, we are struggling to keep our populations thriving and every child lost is a setback to our survival."
"I see," I said. "Would any unallied settlements try to sabotage yours? Is there a lot of competition going on?"
Egglu shook his head. "The alliances are not for competition or conflict. They are for convenience. No one settlement has everything it needs. It usually takes three or four to do things properly. For example, Climdos, which was not established as a medical facility, just happens to have the right people and equipment to function as one, for all three of us. That being said, most of the eggs are kept in cold storage at Climgrad. We had a few in storage at Climfa but they were destroyed." He sighed. "By rights I should move to Climgrad but most of my friends and family are at Climfa."
It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about. I had just assumed that a community that had an egg collector raised some kind of livestock that produced eggs, for food. Come to think of it, I had seen produce but not livestock. "In vitro fertilization," I said." Egglu nodded. Then, with a start, I added, "Honey Gatherer!" Nyssa got it right away. Tegan looked puzzled and then she got it too, and it was her turn to blush. "But Honey Gatherer has no successor. You are in danger of extinction."
Tegan asked, "Don't you guys have babies the usual way, then? I mean, IVF is certainly helpful, but folks have been making babies the usual way a lot longer!"
"Oh," said Egglu, soberly, "we enjoy sex but we can't make babies the usual way. There is a missing enzyme. We add the enzyme during the fertilization process. We can produce it easily in a test tube but our bodies can't produce it. We have lost that ability over the generations."
"So all your babies are test-tube babies," said Tegan. "Okay. I understand now."
"There's nothing wrong with that," I told her, perhaps more harshly than I had intended. Maybe I was just imagining a judgmental tone in her voice, because she looked hurt at my tone, which I immediately softened. "But if babies are dying, these settlements are indeed in danger of extinction. Egglu, is there anyone who would benefit from your extinction?"
"We have no enemies," Egglu insisted. "Everyone is very much invested in everyone else's survival."
"Well," I reminded him, "from a survival standpoint alone, never mind the emotional aspect, four babies are a lot to lose in a short period of time in a community of two dozen."
"Yes," was all Egglu said.