Chapter 16
Loss and Transference
Ed had a horrible nightmare. In it he was awake but couldn't move. He heard voices but couldn't understand what they were saying. There were screams and shouts and he sensed that there was pain and misery happening someplace. Mary called out to him but he couldn't respond.
Gradually he became aware that he was indeed awake and for real he couldn't move. He couldn't even open his eyes, and he felt dizzy.
"YOU ARE REGAINING CONSCIOUSNESS," said a familiar inner voice: Wheels.
"WHAT’S HAPPENING?" Ed asked.
"WE WERE ATTACKED AND OVERCOME AT DAWN," said Wheels. "I THEORIZE THAT SOME SORT OF HUMAN-DISABLING GAS WAS USED; PERHAPS NOT IN ITSELF USUALLY LETHAL, BUT IT PUT A STRAIN ON YOU AND ESPECIALLY ON MARY. THE GAS HAS DISSIPATED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE AND YOU ARE RECOVERING GRADUALLY."
“MARY! WHY DOESN’T SHE RESPOND TO ME?” Ed asked.
“SHE’S UNCONSCIOUS AND BARELY ALIVE FROM THE GAS,” said Wheels. “THE ATTACKERS HAVEN’T HARMED HER OTHERWISE, BUT THE GAS WAS TOO MUCH FOR HER IN HER WEAKENED STATE.”
Ed tried again to move but as desperate as he was to get to Mary he still couldn't as much as open his eyes. "HAVE YOU CALLED FOR HELP?" he asked Wheels.
"NEGATIVE; RADIO COMMUNICATIONS REMAIN COMPLETELY INOPERATIVE," the Stone-Coat replied. "I DETECT STRONG INTERFERENCE SIGNALS FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES, INCLUDING VERY NEARBY."
"WHAT ABOUT SNAKE AND DOLL?"
"UNKNOWN. BUT FAINT VOICES AND OTHER SOUNDS HAVE BEEN DETECTED OCCASIONALLY WHICH EMANATE FROM THE DIRECTION OF THEIR CAMP."
"WHAT TIME IS IT?" Ed asked.
"TEN-FIFTY-ONE AM LOCAL TIME."
That was bad. Snake and Doll had been bring breakfast every morning at eight AM. Snake and Doll surely must have also been attacked and overcome! But they also regularly checked in with the base camp. Why wasn't this place crawling with CHiPs by now? Had something also happened to the base camp?
"DO YOU DETECT INTRUDERS HERE NOW?" Ed asked.
"NOT CURRENTLY, BUT MY SENSORS ARE MOSTLY NULLIFIED. EARLIER SEVERAL HUMANS OF UNKNOWN IDENTITY WERE INSIDE THIS TENT AFTER YOU AND MARY LOST CONSCIOUSNESS," said Wheels. "THEY DID NOT RESPOND TO MY REPEATED VERBAL INQUIRIES AS TO THEIR IDENTITIES OR INTENSIONS. I HAVE ALSO HEARD DRONES."
"YOU COULDN'T IDENTIFY ANY OF THE INTRUDERS BY THEIR APPEARANCE OR VOICES?"
"THEY SPOKE THROUGH FACE-HIDING, VOICE DISTORTING GAS-MASKS, THEN THEY COVERED ME WITH METALLICALLY INFUSED BLANKETS, DRASTICALLY ATTENUATING MOST OF MY SENSING AND COMMUNICATION ABILITIES. THEY COULD STILL BE IN YOUR TENT AND I WOULD LIKELY NOT DETECT THEM."
"SWELL. HOW ARE WE COMMUNICATING NOW?" Ed asked.
"VIA NANOTUBING THAT I EXTENDED THROUGH YOUR LEFT NOSTRIL DIRECTLY TO YOUR IMPLANT."
Ed found that he could twitch his nose, but he didn't feel anything stuck up his left nostril. The nanotubing was likely almost invisible and too light to feel. He still couldn't move his limbs. However he did find that he could at last open his eyes. Kneeling above him in the tent doorway and looking very disheveled as he stared down at him eye-to-eye was Ken Hooper. Ed experienced a wave of relief!
"Ed! Can you hear me?" Ken whispered. "We were attacked but I got lucky and escaped! Most of the others are captured or killed!"
"Thank God you escaped!" Ed managed to whisper in return. "What about Mary?"
"She's in a bad way, Ed! She desperately needs medical help A-S-A-P!"
"Go get help!" Ed said.
"That's just what I'm going to do, Ed, I'll go find help for Mary just as soon as you tell me your secret message for Jerry Green from Ames."
"What? What message?"
"I'll pass it on to Mara and she will tell Jerry. She works for Jerry; I've known that for years. Mara will get the message to Jerry. Tell it to me now or all of this is for nothing!"
"There is no message!" Ed said.
"There has to be!" Ken insisted, his voice rising. "Now tell me the God-damned message or you will both die!"
"You're the traitor!" said Ed. "Who do you really work for?" Perhaps accelerated by the adrenalin of his anger, feeling was rapidly coming back to his entire body. He flexed his arms and legs. They felt weak, but now at least he was sure that he could move them.
"Well you messed that up good, didn't you?" said another voice aloud from behind Ken. It was a woman's voice! Ken wasn't alone!
"Not my fault," said Ken, as he stood up and turned towards the woman. "You said he'd still be unconscious for at least another hour, and then he'd be groggy and open to suggestion, and easy to interrogate. Instead he's folly conscious and saw right through me. Rumsfeld has freaky powers; you should have known that and compensated!"
"I'll see if he has powers!" said the woman, as she kneeled down over Ed.
Ed had met her only once before, but there was no mistaking Lorna Rippa! "YOU ARE GONG TO DIE, JANT CLAN LEADER, FOR SOMEHOW CAUSING MY LITTLE FRIENDS TO ABANDON ME!" she said using a powerful telepathic voice. The voice was strong but not nearly as strong as it had been in Silicon Valley. There her telepathic voice had been augmented by jants. The current voice was hers alone. "WHEN YOU'RE GONE, THEN THEY'LL TURN BACK TO ME. THROUGH SCAR AND ME THEY'LL SOON HAVE ALL OF CALIFORNIA. BUT I'LL ALSO TELL THEM WHAT YOU FOUND OUT AT AMES, RUMSFELD, AFTER YOU TELL ME. TELL ME NOW!"
Pain shot through Ed, more pain than he had ever felt before! It was centered in his brain, but it also extended all through every inch of his body, right to the tips of his fingers and toes. It seemed to go on forever, but somewhere deep in his mind Ed maintained an objective awareness that measured the duration of the pain attack to be almost exactly three and a half seconds. It was his implant, Ed realized, impervious to biological pain and steadily keeping in touch with Wheels. It was his lifeline to maintaining consciousness and sanity, and he used it as a starting point for recovery. He ached all over; he felt like he had been run over by a truck. But he realized that he was basically alright. "Ouch!" he said aloud.
"Ouch?" Rippa replied. "That's all that you have to say? That was far more pain than I ever gave Scar, and what I gave him had him whimpering and begging for mercy! If I had the time I would hit you with a dose of pleasure, as that's much more fun and works even better, especially with men. But at some point very soon the CHiPs will counter-attack and we need to be gone before that. So tell me now the message for Green from Ames and your death and that of your precious Mary will be mercifully quick."
"Mary! Keep your damn hands off Mary!" Ed managed to croak.
"Keep to the subject at hand, Rippa!" It was a second male commanding voice, not Ken but somehow familiar. "Ames, Ed!"
"We didn't really learn anything at Ames," said Ed. "No big secrets to trade to the jants for their favor certainly, if that's what you're after."
Rippa hit Ed with another painful telepathic attack, but this time it was even less effective.
"IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?" Ed asked her, with both voice and thought.
"You have failed, Lorna," said Ken. "And I hear Snake screaming again. You better get back to manage that fool boy-toy of yours or he'll kill Snake before we can use him to lore Brother Hacker out of his protective stronghold."
There were distant gunshots, lots of them, several miles away.
"Status report," barked the second man, probably into a radio. His voice sounded very familiar to Ed! Where had he heard it before? The volume of the voices of Ken and the other man diminished somewhat and became indistinct, as if they had taken a few steps away from the tent.
"SMASH THE LANTERN WHEN YOU ARE ABLE," said Wheels.
"WHAT?" asked Ed.
"IT EMITS DISRUPTIVE ELECTROMAGNETICS," said Wheels.
"IF I SIT UP TO DO THAT I'LL PULL OUT OUR NANOTUBE LINK," Ed noted.
"IF YOU SMASH THE LANTERN WE WON'T NEED THE NANOTUBE LINK," said Wheels, with Stone-Coat logic.
With a mighty effort, Ed sat up. The first thing he did was check on Mary. She lay face up, still as death, her face far too
pale. Too still; too white: too silent! He reached out a shaking hand to her. He felt a weak pulse, and slow steady breaths. Greatly relieved, he pulled the blanket-like coverings off of wheels and turned his attention to the camping lantern that sat near the tent entrance. It was battery powered and solar-rechargeable of course, not white-gasoline powered like in the old days. It looked innocent enough. He found the little camping hatchet attached to his backpack and whacked the lantern with it as hard as he could, which wasn't very hard at all. But the sharp hatchet cut deep into the lantern case. He hit it again for good measure and was gratified to 'hear' Wheels via his implant telling him that most of the radio interference was gone.
"Secure him!" shouted the second man. Ed's attack on the lantern had drawn attention to himself.
Two burly CHiPs that he had never seen before grabbed Ed's arms and hauled him roughly out of the tent and to his feet. His head was pounding and he surely would have fallen if he had not been supported by them. Dr. Clinton Farnsworth, British Envoy, faced him. He held a pistol that he pointed at Ed."
"Clinton?" said Ed. "I don't believe it!"
"Regrettably my friend, you have stuck your nose too deeply into things that you shouldn't have. We've given you several chances to save yourself but you have steadfastly refused. I've made a good living by subtly coaxing information out of you and others on the Reservation, but now I'm afraid that I'll have to be very direct. My men at the base camp seem to be under some sort of attack and we still need to make good our getaway. Tell me the message for Green now or you and Mary will both die immediately."
"The only thing we learned from the Ames folks is that they are doing something top secret that they wouldn't tell us about. That's the truth! Nothing to kill folks about! You people are crazy! Are the jants behind this?"
"They were but then they suddenly withdrew their support for attacks on your party. They claim neutrality for the moment. Rippa is weakened including her hold on Scar and her political followers in the North. We jant-allied humans have been left high and dry to merely fulfill the dictates of our own hate and greed. And I worry now for the entire grand plan. California is just a small piece of it, Ed, and you have put California in jeopardy. I'm guessing that the sudden change of heart of the jants is your doing?"
"I don't know. I tried, but they tend to think for themselves."
Clinton shook his head in disapproval. "Really Ed, you should have left politics to the professionals. Now you'll have to be disposed of along with Mary. You'll go out in style though, I'll see to that. Ken and I will concoct one hell of a story that will do you both proud, including how you tried to save people from being caught up in the nasty personal fight between Snake and Scar. I'll have to also say something nice about Scar and his freaky girlfriend Lorna though, about how they are bringing California together. But I promise to say something truly grand about you and Mary at your funerals back at the Reservation."
"Thanks, Clinton," said Ed. "I really appreciate that." With a sudden herculean effort he twisted out of the grip of the CHiPs, reached under his shirt for the camping hatchet secured by his belt, and with a flip of his wrist he tossed it awkwardly at Clinton Mohawk style.
Clinton stepped aside but it solidly struck Ken, who had been standing behind him. Fortunately for Ken the flat side of the hatchet head hit him instead of the sharp side. Ken jumped and cursed, but he didn't go down.
Meanwhile Ed was on the move. He was going to dash away and lead them all a merry chase through the forest and far away from Mary; that was his plan. Unfortunately he could barely walk, let along run. His legs refused to move as fast as he intended and he almost immediately lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground face-first. The CHiPs guys laughed briefly but then instead of grabbing him again, they looked up towards the redwood log and then ran away and out of sight!
Oddly, the ground seemed to be shaking. There were shouts and nearby gunshots, lots of them. Ed rolled over and looked up to see both Clinton and Ken still standing nearby, each holding a smoking pistol which they pointed not at him but up towards the top of the log. They appeared to be terrified.
Ed followed their frightened gaze higher where something huge was swiftly coming over the top of the nearby redwood log. There was more gunfire from Clinton and Ken but it didn't influence their attacker. By the time Ed realized exactly what was moving towards them it came crashing down to crush Clinton and Ken under hundreds of tons of glimmering diamonds and other minerals. A ten-foot long clawed foot with toes tipped with man-sized diamonds now rested atop the two traitors. Nearby a few CHiP- uniformed thugs fired machine guns at the towering figure but the bullets bounced off of it harmlessly as it stood astride the redwood log.
"VIOLENCE AGAINST STONE-COATS AND FUTURE STONE-COATS IS NOT TOLERATED," said a loud deep voice that also echoed deep in Ed's mind through his implant. The Stone-Coat giant stood motionless. "DROP YOUR WEAPONS OR DIE," it thundered. The CHiPs promptly dropped their useless weapons and ran away. "STATUS?" the towering giant demanded.
"ED, MARY, AND THIS UNIT WHEELS ARE UNHARMED THANKS TO YOUR ACTIONS," said Wheels.
"THANK YOU!" said Ed, sincerely. "WHAT ABOUT SNAKE AND DOLL, MY FRIENDS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LOG?"
"I LIBERATED THEM FROM THEIR ATTACKERS BUT THEIR LIFE STATUS IS UNKNOWN," said the giant. "THEY EXHIBIT SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE; THEY MAY BE DEAD. HOWEVER, THEY MAY BE ALIVE. WATER-BASED LIFEFORM LIFE STATUS DETECTION IS NOT WITHIN MY RANGE OF SKILLS."
Cupped in a huge clawed hand the giant lifted Ed over the log and sat him down almost at the feet of Snake and Doll. They were both bound with ropes to trees only a few feet apart, facing each other, probably so that the torture done to each of them could be witnessed by the other. They were both mostly naked and covered with cuts and burns; mutilated almost beyond recognition.
It was the worst thing Ed had ever seen. He threw up on the spot and nearly fainted.
At their feet lay the still bodies of Scar and Lorna Rippa, a melting two-foot length of ice still protruding from the back of each of them. Ed recognized this to be Stone-Coat handy-work; big Stone-Coats could literally spit icicles with great steam-driven force. Fighting nausea, Ed returned his attention to Snake and Doll.
"EACH HAS ONE MED-TICK NOW AND WE ARE GETTING MORE," said a tiny jant voice in Ed's head. "THE MAN BREATHES BUT THE WOMAN DOES NOT. WE HAVE REACTIVATED HER HEART BUT THE PHYSICAL RESUSCITATION NEEDED TO HELP ACTIVATE LUNG ACTIVITY IS BEYOND OUR ABILITY. HUMAN-SIZED ACTION IS REQUIRED."
Fighting his revulsion, Ed looked more closely at his hideously mutilated friends. He hadn't noticed at first due to all the blood and damage, but hundreds of big brown jants covered each of them. At each cut several jants had attached themselves. Also a huge revolting med-tick protruded from the back of both Snake and Doll. There was also jant-to-jant and jant-to-tick telepathic chatter too, lots of it. Ed had been too stressed and weakened to notice until now.
"WE USE WORKERS TO HOLD THEIR WOUNDS CLOSED TO REDUCE BLOOD LOSS," said the jants, "BUT THEY BOTH BADLY NEED TRANSFUSIONS OF BLOOD. NOW THAT YOU ARE HERE TO POSITION THEM PROPERLY WE WILL FINISH CUTTING THEM DOWN, AS A HORIZONTAL POSTURE WILL GREATLY HELP THEM SURVIVE. WE WILL CUT DOWN THE WOMAN FIRST AND YOU MUST QUICKLY ATTEMPT LUNG RESUSCITATION."
Almost as soon as Ed reached her, the jants finished chewing through the ropes that held her and Doll fell limply into his arms. As he lowered her gently to the bare ground while taking care to crush as few jants as possible, the usually vibrant young woman felt distressingly lifeless. He quickly verified that she had a faint heartbeat but she wasn't breathing. He repeatedly blew deeply into her mutilated mouth as he held shut her mutilated nose, and pressed down on her ribs to force exhales.
"STOP YOUR RESUSCITATION EFFORTS," said the jants, after a minute. "SHE BREATHES ON HER OWN NOW WITH OUR HELP. WE RECOMMEND THAT THE MAN ALSO BE IMMEDIATELY LOWERED. ALSO WHEN MEDICS COME THEY BOTH NEED BLOOD AND WE ALSO RECOMMEND OXYGEN."
Though Snake outweighed Ed by close to a hu
ndred pounds, once the jants had chewed through his ropes Ed lowered him to the ground as gently as he could.
"Not how I figured on getting acquainted with your jant buddies," Snake muttered weakly, with his half-open eyes focused on Ed.
"They're doing their best to keep you alive," said Ed.
"Doll?" the big man asked.
"Her too," Ed said. "You're both messed up bad but you're both still alive."
"The sick bastards went after her the most," Snake muttered. Tears streamed from his eyes and mixed with blood. "We both woke up tied to the damn trees. Scar and that witch Lorna went after her and I couldn't do a damn thing but scream at them. Lorna was the worst. I can see now that she played a big part in turning Scar against the Brothers."
"They're dead now, and so are the traitors Ken Hooper and Dr. Clinton Farnsworth," said Ed. "The Stone -Coat giant got them all." Ed glanced up. The giant was still standing astride the redwood log, watching over both campsites.
"That was good work from the giant!" said Snake. What was left of his mouth tried to form a smile. "I saw Scar and Rippa get their icicles. Damn good work. And Mary?"
"Mary? I don't even know!" Ed said. He franticly made inquiries of Wheels using his implant but got no answer!
"We'll take it from here," said a human carrying medical equipment. Paramedics had arrived, escorted by Fred Custer, who looked like he had very recently been in hand-to-hand combat.
"What about Mary?" he asked them.
"Other medics are tending to Mary," they reassured him.
Ed breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Don't disturb the jants and ticks on Snake and Doll," Ed told them. "Jants also told me that they both need blood and oxygen."
"Don't worry, Ed," said Custer as the big man gently but firmly led Ed away from the patients. "These medics frequently work with med-ticks and jants. Snake and Doll are in very good hands now. I'm damned glad to see you in such good shape. We were expecting some sort of attack, but they still caught us flat-footed by using several insiders and gas, not to mention a couple dozen thugs dressed like CHiPs. Then the big Stone-Coats responded faster than we did! Most of the bastards were wiped out by the time our human reinforcements showed up! I'm going to try to recruit some of those giants into my CHiP unit! Meanwhile though jants have been helping Snake and Doll, it looks like they're eating the bodies of the pair that were torturing them."
"Holly shit!" Ed exclaimed, when he and Custer looked closer at what was left of Scar and Rippa. The icicle through the biker leader's back was half melted away, but Scar's body was itself half eaten away. Rippa's body was even further gone; the jants had already eaten most of her down to the bone. Countless thousands of jants covered them both, and a line of the creatures carrying bits of flesh led away from the bodies and into the forest.
"Hungry little buggers aren't they?" said Custer. "I told the paramedics and the forensic team not to bother with Mr. Scar and his friend. The jants are welcome to them. I take it that he was the leader of the attack?"
"Yes it was likely him and his girl-friend Rippa here, in addition to Ken and Clinton," Ed replied.
"That second pile of bones is Rippa?" Custer said. "That ties in with some reports that a crazy woman helped lead the attack. The Governor will be happy. Rippa had quite a following of voting-eligible weirdoes. Her link with Scar also explains where the hell she has been disappearing to for days at a time. She was going the Confederacy to visit Scar. No wonder we couldn't track her here in the North!" His visicom buzzed and he put it to his ear and listened for a few moments. "Rodger that," he said, speaking into the unit before turning to Ed. "We can talk about the attackers later. Right now you need to help the medics get to Mary. They can't get to her. That Stone- Coat giant straddling the log won't let them get near her."
Custer led Ed around the log and through a throng of CHiPs and medics. Several were gathered near the front of the tent that contained Mary. A half dozen arm-sized icicles protruded from the ground in front of the tent.
"It told us to stay away from her and fired warning shots of ice that could have killed us," complained a paramedic.
"SHE UNDERGOES TRANSFERENCE AND CAN NOT BE DISTURBED," thundered the Stone-Coat giant using both voice and thought.
"I MUST SEE HER!" said Ed silently but forcefully. He tried to contact Wheels yet again but got no response!
"SHE MUST NOT BE DISTURBED," repeated the Stone-Coat silently. "TO DO SO WOULD THREATEN THE TRANSFERENCE."
"BUT IS SHE ALRIGHT?" asked Ed. "I MUST KNOW HER MEDICAL STATUS!"
There was a pause as the Stone-Coat exchanged information with other Stone-Coat units. "TRANSFERENCE IS FULLY ENGAGED, ED RUMSFELD," said the Stone-Coat via the implant. "RESOURCES ARE ADEQUATE AND PROGRESS IS WITHIN EXPECTED PARAMETERS. A POSITIVE OUTCOME IS EXPECTED."
"DOES THAT MEAN THAT SHE IS ALIVE?" asked Ed.
Again a pause. "NO. TRANSFERENCE WHILE THE SOURCE LIFE-FORM IS STILL OPERATIONAL WOULD BE BARBARIC. DESPITE MED-TICK AND IMPLANT AUGMENTATION THE BIOLOGICAL UNIT EXPIRED THIRTEEN MINUTES AGO. TRANSFERENCE WAS INITIATED IMMEDIATELY AS REQUIRED."
Ed would have collapsed had Custer not been there to hold him up. Mara was also suddenly there by his side. She looked shaken-up but unharmed. "Status?" she asked Custer.
"The Stone-Coat won't let the paramedics get to Mary," Custer reported. "Beyond that I don't know what the hell is happening with her. I suspect that Rumsfeld has been communicating with the giant privately. Ask him."
"Ed?" Mara asked. "Should we force the issue in order to get the paramedics to Mary?"
"No," said Ed, as tears streamed down his cheeks. "It's too late. She died over ten minutes ago. With all that was going on I didn't even notice! I didn't even say goodbye! She died alone." He sank to the ground and sat there listlessly.
Mara ordered the paramedics and CHiPs to stand down, than sat down next to Ed and put her arm around his shoulders. "Impossible," she reassured him. "She has never been alone. She always had your love and Wheels is apparently still with her. And the Stone-Coats are up to something they call transference. What's with that?"
"I honestly don't know," admitted Ed. "It has to do with making Mary a Stone-Coat. She tried to tell me about it but I didn't want to hear it. I just wanted her to get stronger again and live with me forever."
"So she told you that this transference into a Stone-Coat thing was going to happen with her?" asked Mara.
"Yes, and it's what she wanted. But I didn't want to hear about it! I'm such an idiot!"
"So ask the Stone-Coats about it," said Mara. "You're the Stone-Coat expert here."
Ed did ask questions of the Stone-Coat over the next hour, and got many helpful answers, but nothing that changed any of the fundamentals. "Would you let me observe the process that is happening? I won't disturb anything."
"Certainly, Ed Rumsfeld," said the giant.
From the entrance of the tent there wasn't that much for Ed to see. The little tent was almost completely full of wispy black coils of nanotubing. Below that Ed suspected that Mary was already totally gone physically and that nothing but Stone-Coat bits remained. Meanwhile chairs were fetched by CHiPs for Ed and Mara to sit in as they waited. There was nothing else to do now.
"THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP," Ed thought to tell the local jants. "WE HAVE HAD OUR DIFFERENCES BUT I STILL HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT HUMANS AND JANTS CAN HELP EACH OTHER LIVE TOGETHER." He could sense them linking their thoughts to dozens of other jant colonies, including even those in Giants' Rest Mountain.
"WE SHALL SEE, CLAN LEADER ED RUMSFELD," they replied. "THIS INCIDENT HAS SHOWN US THAT EVEN THROUGH MED-TICKS WE CAN NOT ADEQUATELY CONTROL STRONG-WILLED HUMANS."
"I PLEDGE THAT I WILL DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO AID THE WELL BEING OF JANTS AS WELL AS HUMANS AND STONE-COATS," said Ed, "AND MY WILL IS ALSO STRONG."
"WE'LL THINK ABOUT IT," they answered.
"FAIR ENOUGH," he replied, as they withdrew.
As time went on Mary's tent completely disappear
ed as it too was consumed by the growing pile of nanotubing, while dozens of crime scene technicians arrived, took pictures and samples of both campsite areas, and left. Finally only a handful of CHiPs remained to aid Mira if necessary.
"I NEED WATER," thundered the Stone-Coat giant at mid-afternoon, from where it still sat unmoving atop the redwood log.
"Of course," said Ed. Water heated to steam or cooled to ice was used to drive Stone-Coat hydraulic systems. This Stone-Coat giant had probably used all its water up earlier when it attacked using icicles. It hadn't moved at all for several hours because it couldn't move!
Ed spoke with Mara and her CHiPs, and water was soon being carried by the bucket-full from the small stream to the giant and dumped into its half-open mouth. A courageous CHiP climbed high atop the Stone-Coat's head to help complete the job.
"Wait a minute!" said Custer. "If it was completely out of water then it couldn't move or spit icicles! It bluffed us earlier when it kept us away from Mary!"
He and Ed looked up at the listening Stone-Coat giant that towered above them. A smile seemed to appear on its bear-like face for a moment, only to disappear when with a mighty heave the creature stood up and ponderously stepped back across the log and away from them. The remaining CHiPs dodged out of its way as it slowly walked to the nearby stream and stood in it for several minutes, sucking up more water into its huge stone body.
Meanwhile Ed peeked into the two-foot deep nearby footprint of the thing, expecting to see the gruesomely crushed bodies of Ken and Clinton. To his surprise there was nothing to be seen but crushed soil.
"I CONSUMED THEM SO THAT THEY COULD THEREBY SERVE A USEFUL PURPOSE," said the Stone-Coat giant, "MUCH AS THE JANTS CONSUMED TWO OTHERS." The giant returned to the great fallen redwood and with giant beaver-like diamond teeth, began nipping off ten-foot long lengths of heavy limbs from the crown. The reason for the physical form that mobile Stone-Coats had preferred for millions of years was soon demonstrated: bear-like strength and mobility, beaver-like teeth, and grasping diamond-clawed hands quickly disassembled what remained of the fallen tree. The giant gently laid down the tree remains atop the wispy pile of nanotubes that had once been Mary and Wheels. Ed and Mara moved back to make room as the log-pile grew to be twenty feet tall and twice as wide.
"That wood pile reminds me of a Mohawk funeral pyre, but in this case it's hopefully a rebirth pyre," said Ed.
The giant next walked towards the Creek and returned with arms full of boulders, many tons of them, which it lay atop the pile of logs. Then it stood next to the pile and rested one of its huge hands on it.
"What's happening?" Mara asked.
"CARBON AND OVER FORTY OTHER ELEMENTS ARE BEING ABSORBED FROM THE LOGS, BOULDERS, AND SOIL," explained the Stone-Coat giant using both voice and thought. "I PROVIDE ADDITIONAL ELECTRICAL POWER TO GREATLY SPEED THE PROCESS. THE NEW BODY AND MIND OF OUR FRIEND IS RAPIDLY FORMING. BY MORNING THE PROCESS WILL BE COMPLETE AND TOGETHER WE CAN ASSESS THE SUCCESS OR FAILURE OF THE RESULT."
"This should work though, right?" asked Ed. "You told me that transference to some degree occurs every time a new Stone-Coat is created, so it should work for Mary. Transference must have been done successfully by Stone-Coats millions of times." Ed and Mary were agnostics as far as believing in things like God and life after death went. This transference-into-a-Stone-Coat-thing seemed like a much better bet to him, though he had also been praying a great deal anyway, just in case.
"THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT A HUMAN-TO-STONE-COAT TRANSFERENCE IS BEING ATTEMPTED," stated the Giant. "THE PROCESS IS THOUGHT TO BE SCIENTIFICALLY SOUND BUT ITS ACTUAL EXECUTION IS UNPRECEDENTED. THE KEY IS THE MEASUREMENT AND EMULATION OF EACH HUMAN BRAIN SUB-STRUCTURE, SUCH AS NEURONS AND SYNAPSES."
First time? That didn't sound very good to Ed!
"Why have you chosen Mary to pioneer this process?" Mara asked.
"FIRST AND FOREMOST WE DID NOT WANT TO LOSE HER," said the Stone Coat. "WE CAN NOT SAY THAT WITH CONVICTION ABOUT MANY HUMANS. SHE EXHIBITED CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS THAT WE WANTED FOR OURSELVES. SECOND, THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP OF MARY WITH STONE-COATS HAS RESULTED IN A HUGE DATABASE OF INFORMATION ABOUT HER. WHEN SHE WAKES UP WE WILL STIMULATE AND EVALUATE HER TRANSFERENCE USING THAT INFORMATION."
"Surly there are other deserving humans!" said Mara. "What about humans that perform science or art?"
"THOSE HUMAN ABILITIES WE CAN ALREADY ADEQUATELY EMULATE WITHOUT TRANSFERENCE," replied the Stone-Coat. "THE MORE SUBTLE ATTRIBUTES WE SEEK TO PRESERVE FROM MARY AND PASS ON TO OURSELVES INCLUDE HER HONESTY, EMPATHY, AND WHAT YOU MIGHT CALL ZEST FOR LIFE. BY MORNING WE WILL ALL SEE IF THE TRANSFERENCE HAS SUCCEEDED."
In other words, thought Ed, the Stone-Coats prized and wanted Mary for some of the same reasons he wanted her in his life. Mary wasn't a super-intelligent scientist or a political leader or a warrior princess or anything else that human society deemed to be extraordinary, but she was the nicest, most considerate, most loving person he had ever known. Even the Stone-Coats noticed. They valued her for her humanity. They wanted the best human they could find to take to themselves and they picked a winner.
Mara had camping equipment brought for Ed and for a small squad of well trusted CHiPs that would camp nearby in case Ed needed them. Before she departed she gave Ed an update on the status of others. "Snake and Doll are both out of danger and doing well, but they'll both be laid up for months. Most of their wounds were not severe, though they looked horrible. Scar and Rippa were evidently trying to kill them very slowly and painfully and were stopped before serious irreversible bodily damage was done. Snake is already complaining about having three med-ticks attached to him and to Doll, but I have human doctors and trusted CHiPs watching their care to prevent any zombie funny business."
"What about the mutilation?" Ed had to ask.
"Our specialists both human and jant assure me that they'll both be as good as new without even a scar."
"That's great!" Ed said.
"By the way, speaking of scars, the man named Scar is completely gone, along with Rippa," said Mara. "Within an hour the jants evidently consumed even bones, hair, clothes, and shoes. Only a few metallic items such as Scar's belt buckle and switchblade knife remained. Remind me to try to stay on the good side of your jant buddies."
"Wow!" said Ed. "So in the election next week Flanders should win for sure?"
"He would have anyway, but without Rippa he faces no serious opposition."
"In the attack Mack was blown into hundreds of pieces that are putting themselves back together again," continued Mara. "When it became apparent that bits of him were crawling together in order to recover, one of the CHiPs put all the pieces he could find into one pile that since then has been slowly fusing itself together. Hacker has sent a man named Clancy here to keep an eye on the healing process of Snake, Doll, and Mack, and a young man named Sam who claims to be Doll's brother has also shown up. People from your Mohawk Reservation are also said to be on the way here."
"Sounds good," said Ed. "I can certainly vouch for Clancy and Sam."
"And they all asked about you, Ed," said Mara. "Before you head back to the Reservation they're all hoping to see you, especially Snake and Doll."
"For sure," said Ed. "I want to check up on the med-tick efforts to fix Snake and Doll. I also promised Doll that I'd tell her about some interesting visitors we had to the camp on the night before the attack. What about the attack itself? How was it done and who was behind it? Have all the bad guys been dealt with?"
"Mostly the attack was initiated through use of doctored up camping equipment snuck in by Ken. The equipment issued disabling gas and jammed radio communications. We of course suspect Senator Hagfeld and the jant controlled Falcones to ultimately be behind it all but so far we lack proof. We are interrogating fake CHiPs that we captured but so far they implicate only Farnsworth, Ken, Scar, and Rippa. Too bad none of them are around to interrogate anymore."
"But I suppose they all got what they deserved," s
aid Ed. "Sorry about Ken though. I know you were close."
"Actually I long suspected him some sort of shady dealings," Mara said, surprising Ed. "He always seemed to have too many material possessions. Officially he had only the salary of a State employee, plus whatever meager dollars he got from the Confederacy. I suspected him of some sort of minor corruption. I was shocked and disappointed to have my suspicions so spectacularly verified. I hadn't suspected the depth of his betrayal. "
"The jants originally supported the idea of the attack but claimed later to withdraw it," said Ed, "and they certainly saved Snake and Doll using med-ticks. Jants or not, Scar was out to get Snake, that's for sure. When the jants dropped out at the last minute everything was already in motion and the human conspirators apparently for their own reasons decided to go through with the attack, even after the jants called it quits."
"Maybe," said Mara. "With Clinton, Ken, Scar, and Rippa gone, I suspect that we'll never know everything."
After Mara left, in his new little tent Ed slept alone for the first time in over forty-five years. He kept waking up and saying something to Mary or reaching for her before realizing that that she had died and was gone. Each time that happened it was like finding out about her death for the first time all over again. Never had he felt so terribly alone and miserable.
At the same time he retained some faint hope that Mary was not yet truly gone. Several times during the night he went outside his new tent to shine a flashlight on the ever shrinking pile of wood and rock and the expanding form underneath it. Were those gigantic rock legs and arms that were beginning to stick out from under the pile?
Throughout the night the big Stone-Coat giant stood unmoving over the scene, one arm hanging down to touch the pile. Ed realized that the giant was still guarding what remained of Mary, and more important was continuously providing tremendous amounts of electrical energy to support the transference of Mary into a Stone-Coat.
****