The Speaker for the Trees (9 page)

Hedge's mind
reeled. The flood of information pouring out of this weed was almost more than
his mind could hold all at once, and, like the pork chops, he feared his brain
might begin emptying other things out to make room for the new data.

The Plant of
Ultimate Knowing was a false deity. The Council was concerned not for the
welfare of the universe, but rather for its own survival. This weed...

"
You
are the Plant of Ultimate Knowing?"

The weed
snorted.

"I was,
though I wouldn't be so brash as to use such a title. I am the advisor the
Council replaced when the advice no longer satisfied them. Now that towering
abomination is my successor. Not that it knows anything at all. It's just a
sock puppet."

"That was
ages ago!"

"Was it?
Hard to determine. Time doesn't appear to move so much when nothing moves
around you. You scarcely even note its passing."

"You sound
lonely."

A human might
have shrugged, but the weed had no such option. It made a noise of
indifference.

"Lonely,
maybe. Mostly bored," it said. Then with more enthusiasm, "So! You've
come here to save humanity. You must be Hedge."

Hedge's eyes
flew open.

"You
are
prescient!"

"Horse
hockey. Delve into the future? Know the unknowable? See the invisible? Those
are silly canards invented to give weight to the spoutings of that insipid
behemoth. One can formulate a guess, note the emergence of familiar patterns,
but tell the future? Absurd. It's all about having information and knowing how
to use it."

I know all, I see all, I am all
called the giant sunflower drowsily from the center of the clearing.

"Blabbering
windbag," the smaller plant muttered.

"Then how
did you know who I was? Why I was here?"

"I just
told you. Information. Knowledge is power. I still have friends and
sympathizers in the Council. Surely you can guess who they are."

Hedge thought
back to his experience in the Council chamber and a sense of tininess and
insignificance took him. All the stern, authoritative voices and powerful
minds. None seemed to be in his favor. All of them seemed to want humanity
exterminated, with exception to the daisies. Strange how those daises, in the
face of the entire Council, had swayed them to alter their decision. The
daisies. Could it be them? What was it they had told him?

We have
given you as much opportunity as we were able. An intelligent agent will make
the best of this new opportunity.

"And these
acolytes, friends who have kept me hidden, were kind enough to guide you to me.
Even they were roused by your arguments, though a bit puzzled by your
expressions of enthusiasm."

The acolyte
beside him made no outward movement of acknowledgment.

"You heard
that?"

"You want
humanity to do well, do you?" asked the weed. "There's an idealistic
statement if I ever heard one. Blind and foolish. Much like many of their
philosophies. But... not without merit."

"The
Council thinks humans might have infiltrated our system of spies." Hedge
shook his head in wonder at the revelations to which he'd been subjected.
"They think I might be one of them!"

"The
consequence of a policy of deception is that the deceivers will invariably come
to suspect they too are being deceived. By those they are deceiving and
everyone else around them. Certainly an intelligent and observant agent such as
yourself realizes that they are indeed becoming more human. But that isn't what
really worries them."

"Then
what?"

"Humanity
has already reached this stage of development plants are now exhibiting. They
suspect everyone. But that means, since they are further along through this
baptismal stage, humans will soon transcend it. Our society has been in place
for eons and only now does it show similar signs."

"So?"

"So, maybe
it isn't the prospect of human interlopers that troubles them so much as the
fear that there is a species that is progressing exponentially faster than
them. And they know that some day, unless they act, they will be rendered
obsolete and all their power will vanish."

"But isn't
humanity inherently dangerous? Isn't it possible that long before they overtake
the universe they could destroy themselves?"

"Bah! More
garbage fed to you by the Council. Such blatant hypocrisy. Of course humans
fight with one another for dominion. All species do in their early epochs. Even
those plants who are so quick to preach about their utopian society. All
empires are founded on conquest. Plants who stretched over others to choke out
the light of rivals; strangled the roots of other plants with their own;
cluttered entire planets with themselves, spreading to every nook and cranny.
How is this any different from humanity? Yes, humanity is in great, great
danger. But, unlike plants during their evolution, not just from
themselves."

"So, how
do we help them?" asked Hedge, then added an afterthought. "Should we
help them?"

"Perhaps.
They’re the reason I'm here, you know. Isolated. Replaced by a didactic clod. I
suggested we watch them. Because their potential was so great, but often their
compassion appeared lacking. They learn so quickly, and at the same time so
slowly. We have been around for so long, and yet they are gaining on us in a
comparatively short amount of time. They are a marvel whose advancement accelerates
and compassion swells, while we, I fear, do the opposite. It is perhaps because
we are frightened by them. We become more like they were in an effort to be
what they are not, giving us the option to point back at them and say 'They are
different, and their difference is their undoing.'"

"They want
me to lead the expedition to store them."

"Yes, I
know," said the Plant. "It's perfect. The daisies are very clever.
I've always thought daisies were the smartest of plants. Always thinking. It's
because they grow so fast. They get accustomed to doing things at a faster
pace. So much quicker in mind than those old trees, so slow to change, so
rooted in the old ways. No pun intended." The Plant mumbled in distracted
amusement.

"Perfect?
They're doomed to eternal imprisonment."

"No no no.
Not if
you
are the one abducting them."

"Oh! I
hadn't thought of that."

Now he
understood. As head of the project Hedge would be responsible for keeping track
of all the humans that were stored and where they were kept. It would be very
easy to misplace a few here and there.

"But how
many should I take?" asked Hedge. "Five? Ten? And which ones? How do
I choose who is most important?"

"Ah. You
don't."

"I don't
understand. You don’t know how many?"

"How many?
Ha! All of them!"

"All of
them?"

"Yes. Not
just the great and brilliant, but the fools and criminals as well. To segregate
them now would create lopsided chaos. They must find their own equilibrium.
Once you have them all, take them away to a new place where we have yet to
expand. Refashion their world."

"Find an
undiscovered planet, then refashion the whole world as it was? That could take
millennia!"

"Certainly.
Any job worth doing is worth the time. In exchange for this knowledge I have
one demand."

Hedge braced
himself.

"You must
take me as well."

"But...
you're the Plant of Ultimate Knowing. Someone is sure to notice. To come
looking."

"Oh, I
doubt that. I'm sure they'll be glad to be rid of me. Besides. This place is so
dull."

The nearest
acolyte moved, its long tentacles twisting, and lowered an appendage toward
Hedge. Wrapped in the green tentacle was an orange, ceramic pot, which it set
in the dirt beside the Weed of Ultimate Knowing. Hedge stared for a second,
then realized what he was supposed to do.

"Thanks,"
he said.

The acolyte
bent fractionally at the top in acknowledgment.

Despite its
claims to the contrary, the Weed had proven its genius. It had expected this
meeting but foreseen the outcome.

Hedge dug
carefully around the weed with his hand, then down a few inches into the
ground, and hauled up a ball of dirt with the weed and set it all in the pot.
He took a few handfuls of the dark sod and tamped it into the gaps until it was
firm but not hard. Plants found it terribly uncomfortable to have their roots
packed into hard dirt, just as Hedge found it uncomfortable walking around in
pants that were too tight.

It was warm and
sleepy in the garden now, the pleasant afternoon light causing all it touched
within the dome to fall into a drowsy swoon.

..
.
hrm... never work...
the giant sunflower mumbled in its sleep.
find you... catch you...

"Shut up,
you mindless drone!" called the weed, then turned its attention back to
Hedge. "We'll have to be relatively quick. The Council controls this
Plant, so it will know you are up to something and will likely send an agent to
investigate."

A sense of
foreboding fell over Hedge and he was assaulted by a flurry of thoughts. Take
all of them? This would be a long task. How would he keep track of them? How
would he know where they all went when he put them back? Where was he going to
put them in the first place?

Hedge picked up
the Weed of Ultimate Knowing and cradled it under one arm, the toaster under
the other. This was quite an intimidating mission. He was nervous and worried.
None of the acolytes seemed to pay him any attention. What if something went
wrong and they were caught? What if he botched the abduction and all humanity
was lost? What about Anna and Scud and all the others? Hedge was almost shaking
with all the worry wound up inside him.

"Great!"
said the Weed of Ultimate Knowing as they left the dome. Defiant and
treasonous. They were a weed and a very frightened plant-man, armed with
nothing but a toaster and a scarcely formulated plan assaulted on all sides by
the possibility of calamity and disaster. "How exciting!"

On a worn
yellow couch patterned with flowers a round woman in a nightgown sat staring at
the television, arms wrapped around drawn-in knees. It was just after noon and
her face was flushed and wet, the lower lip caught behind her teeth to keep it
from shaking. Hair normally pulled into a tight bun hung down in random medusan
straggles, her eyes were puffed and tired. All the curtains were drawn, but the
day had not brightened beyond a muted gray and the air was heavy with gloom.
Two days had passed since Hedge left to visit his brother in New Jersey. She
had heard nothing since.

There was no
brother in New Jersey. Anna knew that. Which could only mean one thing: another
woman.

The news
program prattled on as she drifted from one miserable thought to another.

... detected
the objects four hours ago, hovering just beyond the upper atmosphere...
President has yet to make a statement... Doctor Charles Rogerford, an
astronomer and observer operating the powerful radio telescope in Puerto Rico
for SETI, will attempt to shed some light on the nature of this phenomenon...

Doctor
Rogerford was a middle-aged man with a silver-streaked beard and sharp eyes
that exuded precision and intelligence. The eyes reminded her of Hedge, whom
she often found staring at her as though he were taking her apart and putting
her back together in his head. It was what intelligent people did. Figured out
how things worked, why they worked, and so understood and appreciated them
better. Rogerford stood outside a small building at the steel feet of a giant
antenna, smiling with gentle enthusiasm. Below his head was an informational
graphic which included his name, title and the acronym SETI, which expanded
into Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

This is a
very exciting time for us, for all humanity
, said Rogerford.
Throughout
our existence...

His voice
trailed off as Anna's vision glazed.

It seemed as
though something very important was happening, but she couldn't concentrate
well enough to figure out what. If Hedge were here he would take the time to
explain it to her very slowly even though he knew she wouldn't understand. It
didn't matter. He enjoyed explaining and she loved listening. But the point was
moot because Hedge was gone.

Why did men
grow tired of the women who loved them so tirelessly? How did they forget what
made them so beautiful, reducing them to just another rose in the flowerbed?

Anna's mind
meandered in search of answers to her own questions. Because she was older now;
because the pork chops were poor; because he needed something new and vibrant
to hold his interest. This fear had always lurked at the rear of her mind, the
fear that he would someday realize he was too good for her, but she had hoped
and loved and quietly thanked, choosing to ignore the silent alarms in her head
because there was nothing she could do to prevent him from going if he ever
stopped loving her.

Hedge had
always been distant, it was his nature, what made him so mysterious and
alluring, and what made the bits of love he gave her so wonderful, so she never
suspected he would leave until he was already gone. Without him there was no
one. She had a vague recollection of family, of parents, but trying to remember
brought feelings of discomfort and a strange burning in her mind as though
something forbidden was coming unzipped.

Most days Anna
felt energetic, rolling pleasantly from one chore to the next until the end of
the day when she would lie beside Hedge and hold her book. She rarely read any
of it, but it felt comfortable and familiar in her hands, and Hedge would sit
next to her and stare. It was her favorite part of the day, when she had his
whole attention, and all else was just a prelude.