Page 77 of Blightfall

We took turns paddling as we passed the city, wanting to increase our speed beyond that of the natural current. I thought about curling up and taking a nap, but I wasn’t going to do that. Tired as I was—it had been about twelve hours since we’d left the ships this morning, though it felt longer—it suddenly occurred to me that I was starving. “Are you hungry?” I asked Dayan as I reached into my pack. There was a large mushroom sitting right on top, though I was pretty sure that hadn’t been there when I’d lost the pack to Dayan. Nope, Twist, and Squeeze were still riding with Arturo, Gilaf, and Alanik, which made it all the easier to dig out the vacuum-sealed ration packs we’d brought with us.

Dayan eyed the food over their shoulder as I unwrapped it. “What is that?” they asked. “Seaweed?”

“Close,” I said. “Algae strips. If you hate them, I also have some dried fruit from Alanik’s people. They’re safe for humans as well.”

Dayan eyed my algae strips skeptically, but they seemed even more skeptical of the alien fruit, so they reached out and took the strip I offered them.

“That isn’t terrible,” they said.

Alanik looked back at us. As we’d left Epiphany behind, she’d pinned on her translator and turned on its speaker so Dayan could understand her. Hoid kept up her illusion, though, so she wouldn’t appear obviously alien to anyone we might pass in a boat or on the riverbank.

As the city disappeared from view behind us, the forest closed in, armlike branches reaching over us to shelter us from the sky.

“Hey, Dayan,” I said, “how many of these trees are scions?”

Dayan looked around. “None of them,” they said. “If they were, we’d want to paddle faster.”

Good point. We should probably paddle faster anyway—Arturo’s canoe was a good fifty meters ahead of us. But for once, Alanik didn’t seem eager to speed up.

“How common are scions?” I asked. “And what do they eat?”

“They eat light, I think,” Dayan said.

“Interesting!” Suki’s translator spoke as she chattered from Alanik’s bag. “They photosynthesize?”

“Weren’t you working on a report?” Alanik asked.

“I am,” Suki said. “But I can pause to take notes.”

“What kind of scientist were you again?” Dayan asked.

“A xenoanthropologist,” Suki said. “My research is on humans, but I’m interested in all kinds of alien life. So please tell us more about the scions. Do they reproduce from seeds? Do they defecate?”

“Oooh, yes!” I said. “Let’s talk about tree poop!”

“Please, let us not,” Alanik said.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Dayan said, “but I don’t actually know the answers to either of those questions.”

“This seems like an oversight in your education,” Suki said.

The inner workings of scions probably hadn’t been relevant to Dayan’s life. So I moved on to something they were more likely to know. “Does anyone in Epiphany ever protest the treatment of the scions?” I asked. “The fighting looks like it hurts them.”

“Sure, some people,” Dayan said. “But it’s pretty accepted that we need to practice on something to support the war effort, and it’s much better than killing each other.” That was a good point, and sounded like the type of reasoning we’d hear from the leaders of the DDF when the war was going on.

“You do not have to answer her questions,” Alanik said to Dayan, “if you find them to be offensive.”

“Why would I find them offensive?” Dayan asked.

“Yeah, Alanik,” I said. “Why would they find my questions offensive?”

“If one is offended by questions,” Suki said, “one might be revealing the weakness in one’s own rhetorical position.”

Alanik squinted down at Suki like she wasn’t sure if she was being insulted.

“If you’re not offended,” I said, “can I ask about your gender? It seems like it’s normal on Blightfall not to use ‘he’ or ‘she.’ ”

“That question is definitely offensive,” Alanik said.