Regeneration (Czerneda) (88 page)
Read Regeneration (Czerneda) Online
Authors: Julie E. Czerneda
He joined Emily at the rail. They watched as five larger-than-usual levs plunged down to fire their harpoons, cables playing out with a whine louder than the howling wind. The tips disappeared into the froth.
A froth suddenly stained with red.
Three of the cables snapped taut. The other lev crews released their failed harpoons and fired another round, this time hitting their target. All five began to strain upward. A dark shape gradually formed beneath the surface, huge and struggling. More harpoons, these without cables, launched into its midst.
“Messy,” Zimmerman commented. Another detail they’d discovered: each of the Ro was somehow rooted into its chamber; much of that structure biological as well. A vulnerability exploited by the Dhryn feeders, but the IU wanted more of the technology left intact for study.
Messy worked.
Messy worked.
The struggle was over almost as soon as begun. More levs approached, sending down nets and divers. The limp shape shifted, but it was only the wind and waves; the cables held firm; the Ro was dead.
“Well,” announced Emily. “That’s done.” She took the white bead in her fingers and pressed just so. Red flowed through it, until that bead matched its neighbors. “Eleven.”
“How can we know that’s all of them?” Zimmerman stared at the hideous shape being pulled from the sea.
“Here and now? I’m sure.” Another shrug. “Anywhere else? Don’t care. My job’s done. And very well done.” Emily slipped her arm around the big man’s waist. “Time to find the party.”
“There’s a party?”
“There’s always a party,” Emily said, her tone vastly content. “With dancing.” She laughed. “Don’t look so worried. I’ll behave. I promised Mac.”
Zimmerman had scrunched up his forehead. Not so much a frown, as an indication of deep thought. “And after that?”
“Oh, that’s when life gets interesting, Zimmie. What do you know about the Survivor Legend?”
Life coated rock, broke free to rise and float, struck an edge and stayed. It busied itself with sunlight and chemical reactions.
Bits failed. Bits survived. Of those, bits failed while others succeeded and grew and combined. Of those, some failed while others grew . . .
Without a caretaker’s watchful eyes, the seeds of That Which Had Been Myrokynay became something else, many things else.
All new.
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