one day, who knows how far into the future, it'll be
dinner time again."
Jenny pressed her fingers to her head as if
that might somehow make her brain sharper. "But you can beat the
blighters. The fixers, I mean. So why can't you beat them now?"
"Numbers. A fixer can beat a blighter
one-on-one with power to spare. A fixer might be able to beat ten,
or even more. It's never been tested, blighters being rather rare."
He shook his head. "That sounds so crazy now. We aren’t efficient
killers – it’s a real case of using a hammer to kill an ant, but it
hasn’t mattered before. Now if we have to zap one after another,
we’re soon drained -- and then they eat us.
“ If the fixers had concentrated to
begin with we might have stopped them, but by the time Hellbane U
realized the nature of the problem, there were too many, too widely
spread around the equator. It's been like trying to drain a swamp
by standing in it with a bucket. With the swamp eating the
bucket."
"How many have you zapped?"
"One, to graduate."
“ That’s all? No wonder it’s not going
well.”
“ The fixers near the equator
encountered more.”
She sipped her tea then pulled a face at the
bitter taste and put it aside. “What was it like? Your
blighter.”
"We don’t have words for it. ‘Blighter’ still
has that touch of a joke. Cheeky blighter, jammy blighter.
Hellbane’s too formal. Nothing captures the sense of the alien that
screeches against everything we know to be real, that tries to
latch on to dreadful parts of our brain that shouldn't be there.
But are."
Jenny shuddered in recognition.
"Then there's the awareness of ravening
hunger, of a blind need to consume. Us. That we are nothing more to
it than a food source. Like a cow, or a fish, or a loaf of bread."
She saw the shudder shake him. "And that's just a start. You have
to be there."
"No. I know what you mean."
His look was quick and sober. "Then I'm
sorry."
She pushed back the sick feeling. "There has
to be something we can do. What about wild magic? What can it
do?"
He reached out to the fire. She saw him
hesitate, but then he grabbed a glowing end of wood and held it,
flames licking through his fingers. She gasped, but then he dropped
it to blow on a burn. “Good job I’m a fixer.”
She wanted to laugh and cry. She wanted to
hug him and keep him safe. She wanted someone to hug her and
promise her that everything was going to be all right.
"Pathetic," he agreed, "but this is all we
have to fight with. It's at the heart of Gaia, and somehow we’ve
harnessed it in people like us to fight the blighters.”
She turned it around in her mind. "So the
blighters ash people and get the energy from them. You zap them
with wild magic, which is sort of like ashing them. Where does
their energy go?”
“ Into us. Into the fixer on the spot.
It’s a battle of energy, both sides trying to drain the other, but
the fixer always wins.”
Jenny looked at the statue. “And if the
victim’s not a fixer, it’s just a big slurp.”
“ That’s it.”
“ So why are the blighters winning now,
especially if the fixers zapping them are getting all their
energy?”
“ Because we get back less than we use.
Imagine I carry ten units of power. I need two to zap a blighter,
and then I get one back. With a bit of recovery time, I’m back up
to ten. But if I have to zap one after another after another I'm
soon down under two and a blighter ashes me."
"But you’d be so low on energy. Not much of a
meal."
He shook his head. “A juicy one. I’d have all
the usual energy of a body plus a bit of wild magic. It’s been
clear for ages that blighters find fixers particularly tasty. There
have been experiments. Usually a blighter goes for the biggest
animal. The most energy, we assume. Put a cow and a fixer in the
same area and the blighter will go for the fixer first. I’ve been
thinking that might have been our big mistake. We nurtured the
fixing ability and then concentrated powerful
dinner time again."
Jenny pressed her fingers to her head as if
that might somehow make her brain sharper. "But you can beat the
blighters. The fixers, I mean. So why can't you beat them now?"
"Numbers. A fixer can beat a blighter
one-on-one with power to spare. A fixer might be able to beat ten,
or even more. It's never been tested, blighters being rather rare."
He shook his head. "That sounds so crazy now. We aren’t efficient
killers – it’s a real case of using a hammer to kill an ant, but it
hasn’t mattered before. Now if we have to zap one after another,
we’re soon drained -- and then they eat us.
“ If the fixers had concentrated to
begin with we might have stopped them, but by the time Hellbane U
realized the nature of the problem, there were too many, too widely
spread around the equator. It's been like trying to drain a swamp
by standing in it with a bucket. With the swamp eating the
bucket."
"How many have you zapped?"
"One, to graduate."
“ That’s all? No wonder it’s not going
well.”
“ The fixers near the equator
encountered more.”
She sipped her tea then pulled a face at the
bitter taste and put it aside. “What was it like? Your
blighter.”
"We don’t have words for it. ‘Blighter’ still
has that touch of a joke. Cheeky blighter, jammy blighter.
Hellbane’s too formal. Nothing captures the sense of the alien that
screeches against everything we know to be real, that tries to
latch on to dreadful parts of our brain that shouldn't be there.
But are."
Jenny shuddered in recognition.
"Then there's the awareness of ravening
hunger, of a blind need to consume. Us. That we are nothing more to
it than a food source. Like a cow, or a fish, or a loaf of bread."
She saw the shudder shake him. "And that's just a start. You have
to be there."
"No. I know what you mean."
His look was quick and sober. "Then I'm
sorry."
She pushed back the sick feeling. "There has
to be something we can do. What about wild magic? What can it
do?"
He reached out to the fire. She saw him
hesitate, but then he grabbed a glowing end of wood and held it,
flames licking through his fingers. She gasped, but then he dropped
it to blow on a burn. “Good job I’m a fixer.”
She wanted to laugh and cry. She wanted to
hug him and keep him safe. She wanted someone to hug her and
promise her that everything was going to be all right.
"Pathetic," he agreed, "but this is all we
have to fight with. It's at the heart of Gaia, and somehow we’ve
harnessed it in people like us to fight the blighters.”
She turned it around in her mind. "So the
blighters ash people and get the energy from them. You zap them
with wild magic, which is sort of like ashing them. Where does
their energy go?”
“ Into us. Into the fixer on the spot.
It’s a battle of energy, both sides trying to drain the other, but
the fixer always wins.”
Jenny looked at the statue. “And if the
victim’s not a fixer, it’s just a big slurp.”
“ That’s it.”
“ So why are the blighters winning now,
especially if the fixers zapping them are getting all their
energy?”
“ Because we get back less than we use.
Imagine I carry ten units of power. I need two to zap a blighter,
and then I get one back. With a bit of recovery time, I’m back up
to ten. But if I have to zap one after another after another I'm
soon down under two and a blighter ashes me."
"But you’d be so low on energy. Not much of a
meal."
He shook his head. “A juicy one. I’d have all
the usual energy of a body plus a bit of wild magic. It’s been
clear for ages that blighters find fixers particularly tasty. There
have been experiments. Usually a blighter goes for the biggest
animal. The most energy, we assume. Put a cow and a fixer in the
same area and the blighter will go for the fixer first. I’ve been
thinking that might have been our big mistake. We nurtured the
fixing ability and then concentrated powerful
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