Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [87]
“How do you know Scatter can help you?”
“I know he has told you how his people found a way to save themselves from the disease in his world.”
“Yes.”
“By putting their personalities into the machines.”
Hella nodded.
“Alice is wasting away, Hella. Dying a little bit each day. If Dr. Pardot is successful in his endeavors, we’ll be able to replicate the machine bodies in our labs. I can save my daughter.”
The possibility didn’t sound like salvation to Hella. It sounded too much like becoming a ’Chine. “You didn’t just dream up Scatter, though. You already knew his people existed.”
Colleen shook her head. “You’re asking too many questions. Dr. Pardot would be unhappy to learn that I’ve told you as much as I have.”
“I’m not going to tell him. And what you know could help Stampede and me”—Hella was going to say, save us, but changed her mind.—“help you save your daughter.”
For a time Colleen remained silent. Then she nodded. “We knew his people existed.”
“How?”
“One of them came through a ripple in our city. Dr. Pardot and I got to examine it—him—but never managed to speak with him.”
“Why?”
“There wasn’t time. It—he—expired too soon after we made the acquisition.”
“How?”
“Damage from coming through the ripple? From colliding with the ground? Or maybe he was damaged and dying before he appeared in our world. We don’t know.”
Hella thought about the entry Scatter had made into their world and figured it would be hard to destroy a fractoid. However, Dr. Pardot’s disruptor had taken Scatter out pretty quickly.
“You’ve been an amazing help to us, Hella. You and Stampede. Dr. Pardot is aware that we’re probably alive only because of the two of you and that we wouldn’t have been able to recover Scatter without you. Please don’t think any of us take that for granted.”
Hella didn’t, but she also didn’t doubt that Pardot would still rather follow his agenda than give in to any sympathetic feelings of gratitude. Guides were worth time and money only if they were taking people where they wanted to go and getting them there safely. Even that didn’t mean the client wouldn’t bushwhack a guide to keep from paying him or to maintain secrets. Stampede had taught her that early.
“If you already have Scatter, why are you searching for another fractoid?”
“Because we have to have two of them.”
“Why?”
“One of them doesn’t survive alone.”
“How do you know that?”
“Dr. Pardot’s investigation into the fractoid we found months ago revealed that, and the tests he’s conducted on Scatter bear that out.” Colleen leaned forward and caught Hella’s hands. Hella just barely kept from turning her hands into weapons. “Please, Hella. I know Dr. Pardot can be hard to get along with, impossible at times, really, but we need you and Stampede.”
Hella sat quietly, looking into the woman’s liquid gaze.
“Whether he’s told you or not, Scatter needs to do this too. Otherwise he’ll die just like the last fractoid did.”
CHAPTER 23
After Hella finished relating her conversation with Colleen Trammell to Stampede, he sat back and scratched his chin. His ears flicked in irritation. Then he fixed his gaze on her. “Do you believe her?”
Hella thought about that for a moment then nodded. “Colleen has too many reasons to tell us the truth. At least some of the truth.” She let out a disgusted breath. “The problem is trying to figure out what they’re not telling us. Before it gets us killed.”
“Remember the golden rule to scouting, Red.”
“Try to save one life a day, especially if it’s your own.”
“Yeah. That’s the one.” Stampede lay back inside their shared tent and crossed his arms behind his head. “Also, take one day at a time. We’ll follow this trail a little farther and see where it takes us. We’re not any more invested than we want to be.”
“I know.