"Orpheus Rising: The Almond Tree" - A.J. Matthews Happy lunchtime! We have another excellent story for you to enjoy, donated by A.J. Matthews. Get your fans ready, because like everything we've posted so far, this one is hot, hot, hot! Please enjoy: Orpheus Rising: The Almond Tree Chapter 1 "It's the only only way, it's the only trick to playyyy...!" Jan Hughes sang lustily in the privacy of the cockpit as the aerodyne barreled through the footless halls of air. Orpheus lay far below, the cloud-dappled expanse of the Annular Sea shining sapphire and emerald, each tiny wave peaked by glitter and salt under the equatorial sun. The </i>Amelia Earhart's</i> sensor array fed full imagery direct to her mind. She could feel the rush of wind on her skin, sense the powerful thrust of the turbines at her back, and look at her adopted world through all the colors of the spectrum and beyond. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful world, and a beautiful, responsive craft. And she was alone, on an ass-and-trash run, bound for the lair of Professor Sam Bennett, a reclusive scientist no-one had laid eyes upon for over a year. It was still a good excuse to fly. As she checked her course and heading, Jan thought back to the chaotic times that followed the Coming of Nataraja. That hoary old god out of Indian mythos had brought death and destruction to the colony world, and all kinds of people had been coming and going in the two years since. Had Bennett been on Orpheus back then? She'd never met him, for sure. When she'd mentioned the trip to Doc Maguire, the older woman had told her not to expect to meet him. 'That guy's so shy, he won't even use the camera on his phone link,' she'd said. A soft tone sounded in her mind, and Jan brought her thoughts back to the present. "Jade Island is hailing," </i>Amelia</i> said. "We're 100 kilometers out and cleared to approach." "Well, that's good!" Jan's graphics interface automatically brought up an approach vector for Jade Island and she steered onto the heading. The pressure to her butt and shoulders increased as Amelia swung under her touch. "No sense coming all the way out here if the guy doesn't want his bread, beer and cookies, so." "Do you wish to return control to me?" Jan smiled at the AI's motherly tone. "Nah, I'm enjoying myself too much. You go back to sleep until we're on final approach." "I can hardly do that!" the computer chided. "Okay, so tell me what the weather's like over there?" "We have one-tenths cloud-cover at ten thousand feet, wind south-westerly, gusting to ten knots." Jan pursed her lips. "That's fast, but not unbearable." "Doppler radar shows a storm front moving away from the island. The landing conditions may be wet." "Ah, we'll worry about that when we get there." Jan set the aerodyne on a long easy glide path, staying within the ringed cone of blue light in her virtual vision. At the point of that visual cone lay the island. "Wonder if the good Prof will come meet us at the gate?" * Soon Jade Island lay ahead, a glowing green gem in the expanse of ocean. Jan could see it was one of a small archipelago, perhaps ten to a dozen islands mostly of the same size. A scale bar showed Jade to be five kilometers across, and roughly circular, with a truncated volcanic peak toward the northern side. "Professor Bennett's place should be on the south slope of that peak," she told Amelia. "Can you get a visual?" "Affirmative." Part of the virtual display changed, zooming in on a cluster of white blocks, which became the frontage of a graceful hacienda-style building. "He's not doing badly, if he's built a place like that," Jan said, trying to keep the envy from her voice. "I believe he had a number of robots to help him," </i>Amelia</i> remarked. Jan detected just a hint of superiority in the aerodyne's tone and grinned. </i>Amelia</i> subscribed very firmly to the ideals of the poem </i>High Flight</i>. To her a robot was a menial thing, fit only for crawling on the ground, and was to be pitied. Making adjustments all the time, she guided the aerodyne down the glide path and onto final approach. The beacon had lined her up on a broad swathe of grass to one side of the hacienda complex. She could see a steep revetment to the north of the grass holding back a boulder field of white rocks beyond, and a gravel path leading to the house itself. A pair of small, dumpy cargo 'bots sat waiting for their arrival. "There's no sign of life," she said, swinging the tilt-fans around to horizontal mode. The airspeed bled off rapidly and the aerodyne began to sink toward the ground. "Given the gentleman's reclusive nature, did you expect him to be waiting for us?" "Not really." A vibration ran through the fuselage, followed by a reassuring solid </i>thunk</i> as the undercarriage locked. The air pressure increased under the vehicle as the downwash of air from the fans rebounded from the ground and struck the underside, flinging droplets of water in shimmering rainbows across the lawn. Jan decreased the turbines speed gently, letting the craft fall as softly as a feather, until the wheels touched the rain-soaked grass. The undercarriage creaked as the weight of the aerodyne came onto them, and she shut down the engines. The silence was deafening after hours of their muted roar. Jan pulled off her helmet and popped the hatch. "Okay, let's go," she said. The air-stair unfolded, and she clumped down it in her heavy flying boots, helmet dangling from its strap. With a whine of electric motors and squeak of treads the two robots moved forward, heading for the cargo hatch which </i>Amelia</i> obligingly opened for them. Jan stepped off to one side, and pressed her hands into the small of her back, and leaned backwards to work out the cramp induced by the flight. A rumble sounded, seemingly coming through both air and ground. Puzzled, she looked down and around. As she glanced over at the revetment it seemed to shiver – and then dissolved into a mass of mud. Boulders shook loose from the jumbled scree slope beyond and began to bounce down the slope like boisterous puppies let loose. "Shit!" Acting on instinct she dug her toes into the soft grass and ran for the cover of the hacienda, several meters away. Boulders the size of a bowling ball began to bounce past her, then larger, and larger rocks that rolled with frightening force over everything in their path. Earth and water and mud and debris swept along in a long, low wave, covering the grass with a tide of glutinous brown goop. Behind her she heard the thump as </i>Amelia</i> slammed the hatch shut. Something clanged with the sound of a cracked bell. Safety lay meters away - but a terrific impact slammed into her legs. Screaming, she fell to earth, her legs a mass of pain. A rock struck her shoulder, temporarily overwhelming the pain from her legs. The helmet was torn from her grasp and she was rolled several times before the energy of the landslide grew too weak to push her any more. Coming to rest on her back, she could feel the warm air and sun on her skin. Spitting and wiping her eyes, she sat up and swore long and hard as waves of pain rushed through her legs. One last rock rebounded off the debris and hit her in the head. The world spun away. * "Dear gods!" Sam Bennett watched the whole scenario unfold with horror forming a tight knot in his gut. His AI responded. "The robots have been damaged, Professor, but one is still mobile. I'll send it to help the woman." "No!" He rose from his couch, shook loose the medical patches and reached for his robe. "No, Tyree, I'll go out to her. She needs a human touch." "Are you sure, Professor?" "I just said so, didn't I? Ready the med bay again, she'll need it." It took him a couple of minutes to reach the outside door, and he stepped out into the bright equatorial sunlight. For a moment he felt giddy, and he leaned against the door, despising his weakness. "How long is it since I've been out here?" he demanded. "Five months, Professor." "That long?" He looked around, shading his dazzled eyes, savoring the striking azure of the sea, the feel of the cool breeze on his bare chest. "It takes time to recover from such an injury, Sam," the AI said softly. "You're not quite well yet." He looked at the spill of dark earth stretching across the former lawn, the prone figure of the pilot. "I'm well enough," he said, pushing away from the door and walking on legs that felt less than steady toward the woman. Her aerodyne had taken the brunt of the wave. It looked a sorry sight, resting up to its undercarriage doors in a mass of churned earth and mud. One huge boulder had smashed the port-forward turbofan. The rear fan had a boulder sitting in it like an egg in a cup. Strands of vegetation had lifted clear enough from the mass to drop into the turbine housings. The two cargo robots had been pushed several meters in spite of their caterpillar treads. One had been toppled over and was making spluttering noises; the other seemed to be groggy, the sensor dome on top moving from side to side in little spasms. An uprooted flower wobbled cheerfully from one bent antenna. "Professor, the aerodyne reports major damage, and enquires after its pilot's health." "Nice to see it has a sense of priorities!" he said, stepping gingerly onto the area of the landslide. "Did it give her name?" "Jan Hughes." Mud squelched under his bare feet, oozing between his toes in an oddly sensuous way as he made his way over to her. He knelt and clasped her wrist to feel for a pulse. It was firm and strong and he patted her cheek gently. "Jan?" There was no response to touch or word. Checking her mouth was clear he used his hand to wipe away the filth that coated her face. Her skin felt smooth to the touch, marred only by a swelling bump the size of an egg on one temple. Sculpted cheekbones lay beneath a fine, lightly-tanned skin sprinkled with freckles, giving her a boyish look. Short, mahogany brown hair with pale gold highlights spilled out from her pilot's snoopy hat. His fingers slowed of their own accord, and he was startled to realize he was caressing her. "Is she okay?" "She's beautiful!" "Professor, with respect, that's irrelevant just now. Her health is of main concern to us." "Gods, you're so damn prosaic!" He glanced back at the house. "It looks like her legs are broken and she took a knock to the head. I'm bringing her in." "The med bay is ready, Professor." For a moment he hesitated, fearing to cause more harm to her injuries. A low rumble from the scree slope as a few more rocks rolled and settled nearby made up his mind. Scooping her up into his arms, he lifted the woman clear of the mud. It was painful, using his muscles properly after so long – but it sure felt good too. At that moment the woman gave a little snort and her eyelids fluttered. "Can you hear me?" he asked anxiously. She made a sound something like urk, half-opened her eyes, blinked at him - then went limp again. Sliding back into unconsciousness, Jan carried with her the image of a blank white mask with two rich golden eyes. * Sam lay Jan on the bed in the medical bay and stepped back. The tentacles unfolded from the automed unit and probed toward her comatose form. It was a sight he'd seen from the point of view of patient and doctor over the course of years. Use did not make custom; he still felt the chill run up his spine at the impersonal way the robotic surgeon worked. The air filled with the smell of antiseptic as the unit went to work. Acting with delicate skill the unit clipped away the legs of the pilot's flight-suit whilst another set of small manipulator appendages bathed the dark bruising on her temple. Images flickered into being on the wall mounted display as various scanners took readings of her entire body and relayed them to him. "There is mild concussion, Professor, but no sub-cranial bleeding." Tyree adopted a dry, sexless, impersonal tone when reporting. "She has a compound fracture of the left tibia; hairline fracture of the right tibia; moderate abrasion of the skin at seven points along her left hand side." "Can you treat her?" "Affirmative, although the compound fracture will require time to heal." He traced a fingertip along the line of her jaw. "I think we can provide that," he said softly. * Jan woke to the sound of birdsong close by. A gentle breeze blew across her face, and she could feel a coverlet of some kind tucked around her. Opening her eyes, she stared up with blurred vision at the ceiling. It was a soft, indeterminate shade of yellow, lit from somewhere to her right. Turning her head toward it brought on a shocking amount of dizziness and nausea welled up in her throat. Panicking at the thought of choking she made to sit up, but a shaft of pain impaled her left leg and she screamed. Something touched the side of her neck and hissed. Instantly the nausea and pain went away, leaving behind a blessed cool numbness. Shocked and panting, she fought to get a grip on her thoughts. Gradually, her heartbeat took on a normal pace. Lying quite still, she moved her eyes only, trying to see what she could of the room. The ceiling was a pale lemon yellow, lit by tall French windows over which lacy curtains flowed in the breeze from the open doors. Something about the quality of light told her it was early morning, and she wondered just how long she'd been unconscious. She was lying in a bedroom; that much she could see. Cool creamy-white walls on three sides; a door beyond her duvet-covered form, with a glimpse of another room with dark furniture. Her own room seemed sparse by comparison, with a dresser, a set of sliding doors showing a walk-in closet full of clothing. Above and to her left stood a medical unit, gently pulsing lights showing on the display panel. A tentacle was placing its tip in a sterilizer pod and she knew it had administered the drug to her. "How are you feeling?" For a moment she thought the unit had spoken, but the voice had a deep, modulated quality which even the best AI's could seldom achieve. A footstep sounded from the doorway and she looked down – and jumped with surprise. A tall figure stood there, one hand casually on the door jambs to either side, leaning forward to peer in at her with his head cocked enquiringly to one side. It was a man; a broad dark chest with a mat of black hair showed through his open frilled shirt, which was unbuttoned to his navel. Dark satiny pants of a tight cut clothed his lower half, but all her attention was fixed on his head. He wore a mask; an expressionless kabuki mask. As she focused on the extraordinary apparition she saw it was white and shiny, of porcelain perhaps, although it seemed of no weight; it sat easily on his face. Two eyes of gold looked out through the mask at her, and as he turned his head, she saw he was shaved smooth. There was an air of feral attraction about his posture that made her feel tingly all over. "Oh my!" she said softly. "Pardon?" A lazy smile parted his lips, showing perfect white teeth. "I'm good – I think!" Taking great care she began to sit up, and the man all but sprang across the room to her side. Jan flinched as he reached down, not knowing what to expect, but his touch was tender as he helped her up. A sweet scent pervaded the air as he adjusted her pillow and the duvet, and she realized it came from the sprig of almond blossom he wore pinned to his shirt. The purity of the blossom even outshone the smooth Irish linen of his shirt, and suddenly she felt her throat grow tight. "Are you sure you're okay, Jan?" he asked, standing back. Closer-to, she saw his eyes were normal, just that strange gold color, the glow accentuated by the shadowy eyeholes of the mask. "I'm fine. The unit gave me a shot. You know my name. Who are you?" "I'm Sam Bennett." His lips moved behind the mask and she sensed his smile. "I think I owe you an apology. When the last storm blew through here, I should have checked the revetment to make sure it hadn't weakened. The boulder field above the lawn put a lot of weight on it." "Hey, at least I'm alive. What about Amelia?" "That's your aerodyne?" He scratched his chin and looked rueful. "Sorry, but she took a battering from the rock fall. One of her turbine housing's smashed, the other damaged." "Aw, shit!" She closed her eyes and lay back against the pillows. "I've put a couple of my work-bots to the task. They'll get her fixed and airworthy again within two weeks." "Two weeks? </i>Argh!</i>" In spite of the drug she winced as she sat upright. "Shit! Amelia's nearly new and I go and break her! And they need me back at Home! There aren't enough qualified pilots around to do all the work as it is." "Jan, you're in no fit state to fly for at least a month." He gestured to her legs. "You broke your thigh, you've a hairline crack in the other, you've got mild concussion, not to mention all the bruising up your left side." He laid his hand on her shoulder and pressed her gently but insistently back against the pillows. "Just relax, and let me take care of everything. I sent a message to Home. Doc Maguire knows you're out of action for a while. She said she'll divert a research ship if you really need to get back; the </i>North Star's</i> a couple of day's sail from here. I've got no aircraft of my own or I'd gladly take you." "I can't ask Doc to divert a ship. In the scheme of things around here my broken leg doesn't amount to a hill of beans." Sam's chuckle was as rich and warm as his eyes. "Some hill! Some beans!" She reached over and clasped his hand. "You're the friendliest recluse I've ever heard of." "Thanks – I think." "Why are you wearing that mask?" He released her hand and raised his own to touch the mask. "I have my reasons, Jan," he said softly and she could see the pain in his eyes. Then he turned away and headed for the door with a firm step. "I'll have a 'bot bring you some food and drink. Anything else you need, just ask Tyree. He's my house AI." "Wait!" she called, and stretched out her hand - but he was gone. Left alone, she settled back into the pillows and wondered at his strangeness. A sunbeam settled across her face as the sun rose higher, and she looked over to the French doors. Beyond she could see what appeared to be a courtyard, surrounded by a colonnade of butternut-colored stone columns. In the center stood an almond tree, its branches full of budding blossom. The scent of the sprig Sam Bennett wore lingered in the air. Jan lay quietly and watched the growing day, and felt strangely bereft.