Shig stood with his thumbs thrust into his belt as he considered the sleek delta-shaped shuttle. It rested on the far edge of the landing field against a backdrop of shipping containers. Graceful and otherworldly, it looked totally out of place. An angel fallen from its realm.
It amazed him that Aguila thought she had driven a hard bargain.
But in the end, what were any of them going to do? Perched atop her high ridge where the Corporate Mine was situated, she barely had space for the one shuttle, the aircars, haulers, mucking machines, and other equipment. Down at the farm and smelter she could park a shuttle short term, but the march of the trees onto cleared land remained relentless.
The shuttle landing field at Port Authority was the perfect place for the new arrival from Freelander.
“How does it feel to see that beauty sitting there?” Trish asked as she stepped up beside Shig and rested the butt of her rifle on the ground.
“Like we have a fighting chance again,” Shig told her. “Oh, not that we wouldn’t have made it otherwise, but with heavy-lift capability, life will be easier. And this way we have access to the entire planet.”
“Heard she had a whole string of demands, but that most of her terms involved food.”
Shig nodded. “I think Talina’s cooking convinced her. You’ve had Talina’s breakfast?”
“Trust me, the only thing the woman knows how to cook is corn, beans, chilies, annatto seeds, and tomatoes. She has Ruben Miranda growing a special plot out on his farm. Keeps it just for her.”
“She saved his life once, years ago, didn’t she?” Shig mused.
“Ruben and the two kids.” Trish stared thoughtfully at the shuttle. “I heard that you and Yvette said yes to everything Aguila asked.”
“We did.” Shig tilted his head back to enjoy the warm rays of the sun. “Medical, research, the whole ball of wax, as the ancient saying goes. We got everything we wanted.”
“I thought it was her terms or nothing?”
Shig shot a sidelong glance at the young woman. “With the addition of the Turalon deserters and those additional transportees who didn’t have critical skills, we’re expanding our farms. Reclaiming land that we didn’t have enough people to work. We’re creating a surplus, so what better place to send it than to Corporate Mine?”
“But she gets access to all of our research? We have to treat all of her people in our hospital? Use our drugs? Take up our beds? And she can conscript our key people like Cheng at a moment’s notice?”
“Hire. For a wage. That’s different. The irony is that Kalico might have intellectually understood that our people are free to hire themselves out to anyone they like. But she still can’t get past the deep-seated belief that Yvette and I had to give permission. So she walked away satisfied that she’d scored a victory, when she could have hired anyone she wanted, whenever she wanted.”
Trish fumed. “I don’t like. I don’t trust that woman. Come on, why’d you really agree? Especially when it comes to medical, research, and the rest?”
“Because the Supervisor’s interests are our interests. You are blinded by the moment: We are all feeling rather flush and optimistic. New expansion, piles of equipment.” He gestured. “A shuttle. And of course, an influx of new people.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Look beyond the moment. Put our circumstances in perspective. Think of the processual history of human activity on Donovan. Chances are that Corporate Mine will fail,” Shig said softly. “And when it does, what then? Aguila’s people will retreat here. But by then our own attrition will be evident. Equipment will be wearing out, power packs failing. We depend upon our technology for survival here, but technology is finite.”
“So we’re just prolonging the inevitable?”
“I said chances are. There are ways to increase the probability for success. One way is to do anything in our power to see that Corporate Mine succeeds. Especially that smelter.”
“And you trust Aguila?”
“Aguila isn’t the concern. Oh, she’s still clinging to her self-identity as a high and lordly Corporate Supervisor. Such illusions of status and prestige are hard to shed, after all. Now that she’s face-to-face with bitter reality down at Corporate Mine, she’s showing remarkable progress in her evolution as a human being.”
Shig pointed. “But that shuttle sitting there? The fact that she asked all of the right things as compensation, means that she’s learning who the real opponent is, and how dangerous an adversary it will be in the end.”
“What opponent?” Trish shot him a wary green-eyed look from the corner of her eyes.
“Oh, come. What opponent is there? Donovan, of course.”
“Hey, we’re still here. We’ve got a whole new shot with all of this equipment. With that shuttle sitting out there.”
Shig arched a brow. “Talina has a quetzal inside her. Since discovering that surprising fact, Raya’s been rerunning some of the blood samples from the Wild Ones. She’s finding different amounts of TriNA in most of them. But what’s particularly significant about the findings? Ah, it’s the successful ones, like Chaco and Madison Briggs. The Philos. The Shu Wans. The Wild Ones who are best adapting to the bush. The most successful are all infected.”
Trish scowled out in the direction of the distant trees. “I’ve been playing cop, Shig. Haven’t had time to keep up on the latest research. Want to tell me why you’re so worried about this?”
“Because Raya thinks TriNA is more than an analog to our DNA. DNA carries information vertically, down through time and generations, replicating, recombining through successive offspring. For the most part—barring viruses, some bacteria, and RNAs—DNA is pretty much confined to the individual organism. By that, I mean that I can’t incorporate your DNA into my body. If Raya is right, TriNA not only carries information down through time, passing down from generation to generation, but it also moves laterally, carrying information from organism to organism, and perhaps even across species boundaries.”
“Which means?”
“I think it means that Donovan has been as busy investigating us as we have been investigating it. We are alien and new and, for the most part, not that much of a threat. But look at the history, Trish. See the patterns. Of the eighteen original outposts and research bases we established, only three are left: Jade, Three Falls, and Ytterbium. From a maximum of thirty-five hundred people at Port Authority alone, we’re down to four hundred and some. Counting Aguila’s people, there might be just over twelve hundred humans on the planet.”
“Our pregnancy rate is up.”
“Yes,” Shig nodded, his eyes on the shuttle. “But it’s still not keeping pace with attrition. The thing that really frightens me is that Donovan will strike back one of these days. When it does, it will be at the Corporate Mine. That’s the most threatening intrusion. Deep in the forest, where Aguila is waging a war on the trees.”
Trish took a deep breath. “And if we lose the smelter, we lose the future.” A pause. “I don’t know. Donovanian life communicating, acting in concert? That’s pretty wild, Shig.”
“Tell that to Talina.”
“You think Donovan’s going to hit back?”
Shig nodded. “It’s just a matter of time.”