peered inside, noting stains on the boards and the distinctive smell of putrefactor. Taking up his rucksack, he followed Erlin across the jetty. The path from there was easy enough to follow: there was only the one and it led straight up into the mountains.
As Ansel now led the way up the first slope he said, ‘Okay, tell me.’
‘A hundred and eighty years ago THC bought the mineral rights here,’ she explained.
‘Oh really,’ said Ansel.
Erlin ignored his comment and continued. ‘The life here is incompatible with human life, highly toxic in fact. When THC established a mining colony they miscalculated. Removing the toxins from the soil so food could be grown in it turned out to be unfeasible and they were soon incurring huge costs from shipping food in. Company biologists got round that one by adapting a Fores life form into a symbiont for the miners. It lived in their stomachs just as it now lives in yours, and in the stomachs of the miners’ descendants - it’s passed on in the womb. It breaks down Fores’s proteins, sugars and carbohydrates into forms the human gut can digest.’
‘Look, I know all this. I’ve got one. You mentioned a deposition earlier. What was that all about?’ asked Ansel.
‘The symbiont is an adapted putrefactor,’ Erlin told him.
Ansel halted and turned to her. The Company medic had neglected to mention this. The knowledge made him feel slightly sick.
Watching him steadily, Erlin went on, ‘Unfortunately, after a period of approximately thirty-seven years, it was found that the symbiont changed and began to digest its host.’
‘What?’ said Ansel. What she’d just told him did not seem to gel. He was sixty years old, and with antiagathics had an expected lifespan that had not yet been measured. Now this madwoman was telling him he would be digested in thirty-seven years. It made no sense. He had only been sent here for a brief search-and-destroy mission. The symbiont was merely a convenience to help him digest the local food.
‘That makes no sense - the Company would have known.’
‘Yes, of course they would have.’
And then it did make sense to him. He was suddenly angry as he gazed past her to the river below. After a moment he realized what he was seeing down there. Just coming into sight was a rowing boat being rowed along so fast it was leaving a foaming wake. He pointed.
‘Oh hell,’ said Erlin.
‘Let’s move it,’ said Ansel, and they set out at a faster pace.
‘Can you stop it?’ Erlin gasped as they climbed.
‘Yeah, funny,’ said Ansel. Thirty-seven years. What did that matter when he was likely to be killed within the next few hours? He now understood that first conversation he had overheard between Erlin and Hendricks, and he knew the Golem was here for him as much as for them. The Company had done something nasty here, and they had done it again to him, but why had they done it? He glanced upslope, then back again. The Golem had reached the pool. He picked up the pace and shortly they reached a stairway cut into the rock.
‘Look!’ Erlin shouted.
Ansel glanced at her, then to where she was pointing. A shuttle was limping through the sky above them.
‘It’s Hendricks. He’s alive. He’s going for Kelly!’
‘Climb,’ said Ansel. The Golem was on the jetty now and it was gazing up at them. There was a chance now. If they could get to the shuttle ... He noted that Erlin was flagging. She was an Earther and her legs could not match his. He considered leaving her behind, but decided not to. Fuck the Company. He halted.
‘You keep going,’ he said. ‘I’ll slow it.’
She watched him unshoulder his pack and open it.
‘Go!’ he shouted.
Erlin went.
Ansel ran through his mind all he knew about Golem Nineteens. They possessed a ceramal chassis wrapped round their more delicate components, so with the munitions he carried he could not hope to destroy it. Raking through his rucksack he pulled out a
As Ansel now led the way up the first slope he said, ‘Okay, tell me.’
‘A hundred and eighty years ago THC bought the mineral rights here,’ she explained.
‘Oh really,’ said Ansel.
Erlin ignored his comment and continued. ‘The life here is incompatible with human life, highly toxic in fact. When THC established a mining colony they miscalculated. Removing the toxins from the soil so food could be grown in it turned out to be unfeasible and they were soon incurring huge costs from shipping food in. Company biologists got round that one by adapting a Fores life form into a symbiont for the miners. It lived in their stomachs just as it now lives in yours, and in the stomachs of the miners’ descendants - it’s passed on in the womb. It breaks down Fores’s proteins, sugars and carbohydrates into forms the human gut can digest.’
‘Look, I know all this. I’ve got one. You mentioned a deposition earlier. What was that all about?’ asked Ansel.
‘The symbiont is an adapted putrefactor,’ Erlin told him.
Ansel halted and turned to her. The Company medic had neglected to mention this. The knowledge made him feel slightly sick.
Watching him steadily, Erlin went on, ‘Unfortunately, after a period of approximately thirty-seven years, it was found that the symbiont changed and began to digest its host.’
‘What?’ said Ansel. What she’d just told him did not seem to gel. He was sixty years old, and with antiagathics had an expected lifespan that had not yet been measured. Now this madwoman was telling him he would be digested in thirty-seven years. It made no sense. He had only been sent here for a brief search-and-destroy mission. The symbiont was merely a convenience to help him digest the local food.
‘That makes no sense - the Company would have known.’
‘Yes, of course they would have.’
And then it did make sense to him. He was suddenly angry as he gazed past her to the river below. After a moment he realized what he was seeing down there. Just coming into sight was a rowing boat being rowed along so fast it was leaving a foaming wake. He pointed.
‘Oh hell,’ said Erlin.
‘Let’s move it,’ said Ansel, and they set out at a faster pace.
‘Can you stop it?’ Erlin gasped as they climbed.
‘Yeah, funny,’ said Ansel. Thirty-seven years. What did that matter when he was likely to be killed within the next few hours? He now understood that first conversation he had overheard between Erlin and Hendricks, and he knew the Golem was here for him as much as for them. The Company had done something nasty here, and they had done it again to him, but why had they done it? He glanced upslope, then back again. The Golem had reached the pool. He picked up the pace and shortly they reached a stairway cut into the rock.
‘Look!’ Erlin shouted.
Ansel glanced at her, then to where she was pointing. A shuttle was limping through the sky above them.
‘It’s Hendricks. He’s alive. He’s going for Kelly!’
‘Climb,’ said Ansel. The Golem was on the jetty now and it was gazing up at them. There was a chance now. If they could get to the shuttle ... He noted that Erlin was flagging. She was an Earther and her legs could not match his. He considered leaving her behind, but decided not to. Fuck the Company. He halted.
‘You keep going,’ he said. ‘I’ll slow it.’
She watched him unshoulder his pack and open it.
‘Go!’ he shouted.
Erlin went.
Ansel ran through his mind all he knew about Golem Nineteens. They possessed a ceramal chassis wrapped round their more delicate components, so with the munitions he carried he could not hope to destroy it. Raking through his rucksack he pulled out a
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