Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [85]
Alice is going to be all right. No matter what has to be done, Alice is going to be taken care of.
“Did you say something, Red?”
Startled, Hella glanced up at Stampede. “No.” She went to saddle Daisy, but she didn’t like the way the echoes of Colleen’s desperate thoughts rattled through her mind.
Hella took point, but Riley flanked her with two wings to double up on security as they followed the trade road. Other travelers and merchants walked the road as well, and most of them approached the expedition. Several had goods they wanted to barter. A few had funds they wanted to invest in buying goods from the expedition.
The way was hot, humid, and hard. Daisy flowed effortlessly along the trail, but Hella started to feel fatigued as she rolled in the saddle. She missed having Scatter behind her asking questions. Every now and again she caught sight of the fractoid walking with Pardot. The two chatted constantly, and Pardot appeared to be matching Scatter question for question.
When they took a noonday break, Hella was disappointed to see that Scatter continued his dialogue with Pardot without approaching her.
“What’s on your mind, Red?”
Hella glanced over at Stampede as he took a jar of peaches from the goods they’d purchased in Blossom Heat. “Scatter.” She nodded at the fractoid still talking to Pardot.
“I suppose they have a lot to talk about.” Stampede opened the jar of peaches and hooked out a slice with his fingers. He popped the peach into his mouth.
“I didn’t figure he would stay away from us.”
“We don’t have the answers he’s looking for.”
“Do you think they’ve told him he doesn’t have a way home again?”
“For all we know, Red, those people can get him there. But I’ve never heard about it.”
“Why do you think that?”
Stampede shrugged and slipped another peach into his mouth. “Dr. Trammell seems capable of finding fractoids.”
“Don’t you think that’s odd?”
“There’s a lot of odd things out in the Redblight. You’ve seen them.” Stampede cut his gaze to Daisy, who had her face happily inside a feedbag. “You ride one of the strangest anyone here has ever seen.”
“You and I know how to follow tracks and sign. Do you think Colleen’s precog is something like that?”
“Maybe.” Stampede looked at her. “You and I learned to track by following things. We know track and sign because we’ve seen them before.”
“Right. Colleen and Pardot have seen a fractoid before.”
“That’s what they said.”
“I don’t have any answers about it, though.”
“You’re right. But someone knows the answers.”
Stampede screwed the lid back on the peach jar. “Maybe one of us should talk to Colleen Trammell.”
“Sure.”
“But do it carefully.”
Although Pardot kept Colleen Trammell under his thumb most of the time, there were still occasions she was on her own. During the evening, after camp was made, Pardot took Scatter into the lab and performed tests by himself. Hella passed by without being seen. Through the tent flap, Scatter looked totally at ease as Pardot scanned him with instruments. Hella didn’t understand how Scatter could act so relaxed after getting blasted by the disruptor.
Two guards stood watch over Colleen’s tent. They stopped Hella at the doorway.
“I’d like to see Dr. Trammell.” Hella remained polite with effort. The schism between the security guards and her and Stampede seemed to have grown wider and wider all day. Whatever secrets Pardot guarded were splitting the expedition.
“Dr. Trammell isn’t seeing anyone.” Broad and beefy, the guard bordered on the edge of rudeness.
“I have a wound that I think may be getting septic.”
“Have your boss take a look at it.”
“I’d rather have a woman look. Stampede doesn’t embarrass easily, and I don’t either, but he’s not a medical doctor and he’s not female.”
“You could go see—”
Colleen stuck her head through the tent flaps and glared at the guards. “She can see me.”
The guards didn’t move.
“Now, if you please.” Her words carried an edge to them.
Reluctantly the