The Wild Lands: Legend of the Wild Man (38 page)

After the
vultus
Baucis
implemented what he had deemed the next step in his evolutionary
symphony. He had managed to capture a pregnant
panthera
, no easy task. The animals
weighed nearly as much as the 2 ton
biselk
. They were bigger than
horses, stealthy, powerful and intelligent. The Council had argued
that the beasts were dangerous and unnecessary. Granted, the Garden
occasionally lost a
biselk
to wild predators, but that hardly seemed to
justify bringing one up into Spire City for research. Baucis
agreed, and had
howluchin
s fashion a cage on the
surface. An idea Tennay was embarrassed that he hadn't thought of
nor been able to argue against. Baucis fed the pregnant mother meat
exclusively from the Garden, something never before attempted. The
chemical therapy had killed her, but the baby managed to survive. A
steady diet of
biselk
meat and generous helpings of the their bones made the cat
into something previously nonexistent.

Tennay paid little heed to
Ntelo's Naturalist religion, but he, like almost every other person
in the Spire, viewed the twins and the Evanimals they piloted as
living, breathing miracles. Ntelo's title of Nature’s Angels seemed
apt. They controlled their Evanimals with grace and fluidity. Many
could control
biselk
with a VRC, fewer could handle the
howluchins,
but no one save Skup and
Urea could do anything with either the
vultus
flock or the
panthera
.

Tennay loved to watch Urea
synchronize with her
panthera
. There was almost no change
in the Evanimal’s movements, none of the clunky hiccups caused by
hesitation. She
became
the animal. The beast behaved like it always did, it just
accomplished goals set by the Spire. But Tennay had always been
more impressed with her brother. Skup controlled an entire flock
singlehandedly. Somehow the young Pilot had learned an entire
language of animal behavior, and could coerce his flock into doing
all that he wished. Thank Nature for that. If the enhanced flock
went wild, there was little hope for the garden. The birds would
decimate the elk population, and there’d be nothing to stop them.
The twins proved that Nature had not forsaken mankind. They and
their Evanimals proved there was a place for mankind on the earth,
and now Baucis had imprisoned them.

Before the
Wild
Man, Tennay
sometimes found himself doubting the Naturalist religion. It was
based on miracles, no doubt, the twins proved that. And Ntelo knew
how to stir up passion for amazing events, but the religion was
simplistic and leaned too much on ignorance. Naturalists touted the
forces of Nature. They loved the spectacle of the hunt, despite the
Evanimals being anything but wild. Naturalists either didn't
realize or didn't care. They paid handsomely for the cornucopia of
plants that came from the Garden. Tennay doubted they'd work at all
if they didn't have the proverbial carrot as incentive. So Tennay
had forgiven Ntelo, and said nothing as she carried on with her
show. The High Priestess never analyzed the Scourge's role in the
symphony below them. It was a demon, a boogieman, never given
credit for the increased strength and malleability of mind it
afforded the Evanimals. Yes, the Scourge cursed humanity, but
without it the Garden would have been lost to the forces of Nature
long ago. Tennay had held his tongue on a lie so complicated. Could
they have done differently? They were trapped up here, humanity's
impact on the earth reduced to a single caldera.
Beliefs do not matter so long as the Spire is
content
, Tennay had thought, wrongly, he
now realized.

The religion was based on lies. Because of
Ntelo's weekly tirades and public obsession with the Evanimals,
people didn’t care to know about the workings of their home. No one
bothered to ask about the mechanics of the Spire, despite the fact
that its field powered every device in the city. People were too
interested in the antics of their superstitious deities to work for
their own survival. People had jobs, yes. They worked for credits
to pay entrance to their Naturalist services, be it for
entertainment or salvation, but their jobs did little to help
humanity: waiters, maids, artists, chefs. Where were the engineers,
the inventors, the mechanics?

Ntelo and Baucis had become
blind with their lust for power. Tennay could see what the Scourge
was doing to the people in the Spire. Those that ate from the
Garden were slowly dying. Their bodies were no more used to the
Scourge than the slew of
vultus
corpses that littered the mountains. People were
losing their hair and muscle mass, their veins were taking on an
unhealthy dark pallor. No one save Tennay had lived past eighty. He
credited his dedication to his reclamation machines. Why hadn't
Aurelius let him bring this to the public? Despite such horror hope
still bloomed, like the tomatos a thousand meters below. The youth
weren't affected by the Scourge so terribly. Instead they were
adapting, growing hair black as the Scourge. There was even one
girl, Phoebe, whose hair glittered like an Evanimal's! The Scourge
wasn't death to the youth of the Spire, but a new way of
life.

But the Council refused to
share Tennay's knowledge, and he had obeyed, like a mindless
biselk,
he had forfeited
his mind. No longer. The Spire had endured the sick trinity for far
too long. Ntelo with her gospel, Baucis with his miracles, and
pompous Aurelius who broadcast the whole spectacle in the name of
giving the people what they wanted.

Then the three had the audacity to imprison
the only people Tennay or anyone had ever believed in. Tennay
didn't know everything that had happened between Baucis and Urea,
but he knew he would never get the truth from Baucis. So onward he
trudged, facing what would prove to be his last duty to the
Spire.

On this dark day the animals turn against us. Our
Prince and Princess sit idle, no more than caged sheep that bow to
the Wild Man's fury. Who will save us? Who among us is worthy to be
saved? Even the Council must stay true if they seek
salvation...

The twins sat in their cell a long time. It
is a depressingly ironic place of capture. They were simply put
into an Amplification chamber, the force field door turned on, and
left there. The electromagnetic field that powered the VRCs is
deactivated, the room is dead. They can't even get a signal to
chime and find out what is happening. So they wonder and hope and
try not to fall into listlessness.

Skup dreams of escape, of taking back his
honor and claiming his rightful place as a leader. Urea dreams of
her
panthera
. Would she ever see her again? Would Baucis
ever allow her to see through her eyes, to feel her gentle plodding
gate and silent footsteps. Both fear none of the pilots will come
for them. They are too busy, overwhelmed with an apocalypse of
their own devising.

Most citizens of the Spire avoided the two,
seeing them as people from a higher station than themselves. No one
wonders where they are. No one comes for them because of the dull
thuds that dim the force field that locks their door.

“I'm scared Skup,” a huge confession from a
girl brave enough to step into the mind of a
panthera.

“We'll be alright, we'll escape when the
field goes down.”

“What will that do to the Spire?”

Skup has no answer. He is terrified as well,
and knows his sister senses it. Everyone thought the Spire
indestructible. Yet now a few animals, less than a dozen last time
he saw, shake its very core, testing it. He does not know if the
ancient technological testament was up to the challenge.

The twins try to see past the blue force
field. Useless. If they get too close their VRCs burn in the back
of their heads. Their senses muddle, they experience tunnel vision,
smell acrid smoke, hear a ringing in their bones. Whether it is in
their mind or their nostrils is irrelevant. The force field keeps
them imprisoned. Urea cannot imagine the pain Kao must have felt
when he beat himself against the wall. He has no VRC, nothing to
interfere with his mind. Just those antlers, spikes that rain
sparks and crackle with electricity. They must have hurt beyond
comprehension, yet no pain flickered in Kao's eyes. He made no
indication that his ears buzzed or smoke stung his nostrils. Urea
thinks he has a drive they do not. She wishes to learn from him,
but knows he owes her nothing. Tonight is the full moon, and she
cannot free him.

“If we escape, we free Kao?” She asks.

“You're crazy,” her brother says. He is
closer to the door. He looks tense, “someone's coming. Let's see
who it is first.”

Was that an answer? It was definitely not
no.

Her heart drops when Tennay rounds the
corner. The old Councilor understood the fields and systems of
Spire City better than anyone. They will not escape him unless he
allows it. But he scurries close, and closes his eyes. They flick
beneath closed lids, moving numbers and code with his mind. The
field vanishes.

Skup rushes the old man. His approach is
silent, then with a shriek he shoves the Councilor to the floor and
is upon him.

“Urea, leave” he snarls.

She starts to go, hoping Kao's where she last
saw him. She pulls up a map on her VRC, no longer dead in the
chamber. No luck, his cell no longer has the intense power drain it
had before.

“We need your help!” the old man screams. A
ploy she will not fall for. Baucis is not the only conniving
Councilor. It is the job description. Then another thud, stronger
than before. The lights in the hall dim. She hesitates. The
brownouts are growing long. That one nearly half a second. “Spire
City's in trouble, the
biselk
...” the old man bursts into
tears. Low pathetic moans. Skup takes his knees off Tennay's chest
but the man doesn't move.

“Drop the
biselk,
what about the
Spire” Skup asks.

“They're draining its power. Every time they
strike, the Spire discharges.”

Urea freezes in her tracks. She saw Kao ram
the spire with his own horned helmet. He taught them this.

“Snake eyes they are. They'll be knocked
unconscious long before they drain the energy from the core of the
Earth. Go Urea. Leave this one with me.”

She starts to leave but Tennay blurts “No,
wait! They're getting stronger. They're bones are working like
batteries. They're charging with the Spire's energy!”

“So the Shepherds can't override their VRCs
and make them stop?” Urea asks.

“Precisely,” Tennay nods his head
desperately, “The signal's too shaky and they're carrying too much
power. We can't override them with our systems.” Another thud and
the lights flicker. Tennay looked around wildly like he thinks the
hall will cave in. “Please. We need you... Prince, Princess.”

“Even if they knock out our power, so what?
The Spire's made of carbon composites. They'll just keep ramming it
until their antlers snap. Then the power will come back”

“If they damage the Spire at all there will
be a power build up. This whole thing might explode. That'd be
enough power to level this continent.”

“Serves us right, aye Urea? Maybe that'd
finally get rid of the Scourge.”

Urea slowly plods back towards Tennay,
careful not to get too close. She keeps her distance, like she
would as her
panthera
. He is not to be trusted, but if what
he said was true... Kao was here because of her and Skup. The
biselk
were ramming the Spire because of Kao. This is her
fault. She was willing to sacrifice herself, even her
panthera
for the rest of the Evanimal's freedom, but she
never expected this.

“The entire Garden would be destroyed?” she
asks cautiously.

“This entire caldera will be like a meteorite
impact, the explosion will compress the earth below us, then send a
plume of ash into the air that will bury everything within a
thousand kilometers, and if it makes it to the atmosphere, well...
let's just say
no one
will ever worry about the Scourge
again.”

“What can we do? You said yourself the
signal's too weak,” Skup asks.

“Your Evanimals aren't charged like the
biselk
. It might be tenuous, but I think you can still sync.
Besides, you two are... gifts,” Tennay's eyes sparkle as tears run
down his cheeks “You can do things the rest of us dream of. If
anyone can save us, Prince, and Princess... ”

“And what of Kao? What happens to him if we
decide to help you?” Skup asks. Urea shot him a glance. He smiles
faintly at her. She loves her brother.

Tennay looks desperately from Skup to his
sister. “Baucis was going to implant him with a VRC, but he
escaped.”

We'll help save the Spire. But you'll help us
get Kao back to earth, and his sister.”

“His sister...?” Tennay starts, and thinks of
all the girl could do for humanity, all Baucis and Ntelo promised
she'd be, all that he imagined: the mother of humanity's future. A
sister? If Urea knew then surely Baucis did, and he had made his
intentions with the pair quite clear. Tennay looks to Urea, her
shock of short black hair and mournful purple eyes. He looks to
Skup, his features no less brave in face of true danger. The choice
is easy. He should have made it years ago.

“I'll do as my Prince and Princess command,”
he breathes out, and feels a weight lifted.