When We Were Mutants & Other Stories

When We Were

Mutants

& Other Stories

© 2011 Edward W. Robertson

Smashwords Edition

Table of Contents

Steve Kendrick's Disease

The Werewolf of Narashtovik

10%

Every Song Is a Love Song

The Long Hunt

All Man's Children

Under a Harsh and Silent Sky

When We Were Mutants

About the Author

Steve Kendrick's Disease

We went to Greenvale for the same reason anyone goes anywhere: to steal all the good stuff while everyone was offplanet. When Petey objected on the grounds a place everyone was being evacuated from was the last place we should be going, Captain Briggs reminded him the ship wasn't just a clever name, and that shut Petey up and the rest of us too. Besides, the captain said, if we waited around for the official explanation why before we headed in, other crews would pick the settlement clean long before we got there. We were too close to pass up the chance to be there first.

So Smalley punched up our course and ten days later the Help Wanted hit Greenvale atmo. Clouds webbed it up pretty good, but I could still see a lot of ice around the poles; on the trip I'd read everything I could find about Greenvale, knew they'd spent a century tweaking the atmosphere to warm it up enough to live on but it had a ways to go. So far it had just the one settlement, a town of a couple thousand people called Brighton, and according to the captain and his sources, they'd all been carted off by the feds a few weeks back, reasons unknown. Smalley dipped us into the clouds and for a long time I just saw water streaming against the glass. Like that we dropped out of it and the land opened up into long hills coated in shaggy green forests.

What do you think? the captain said once we were circling Brighton close enough to pick out the houses and the streets from the surrounding woods.

Cars aren't moving, Janssen said, crouching over the glass in the floor of the observation deck like it didn't scare her at all. She pointed to a hole through the forest canopy a few miles out from the town. Crash site down there.

Huh. The captain looked up at me. Laurey?

Well, I guess it wasn't nuked, I said. Janssen shook her head at the glass.

He's right, the captain said, smiling at me before he looked back down. Looks intact. Eminently lootable.

Janssen grunted. We're bringing guns, right?

Oh, you know it.

I went to wake up Steve and he swore at me for letting him miss the descent and then apologized for swearing.

It was just a lot of clouds, I said, looking away. You can see it on the way back up.

Guess I can, Steve said. He rolled out of his bunkhole and blinked dully, doing a little dance on the cold metal floor. Any transmissions?

Nothing.

Well, I hope they're not all dead. I heard this place was supposed to be beautiful.

They're gone, not dead. Captain wants the gear together before we touch down.

Janssen pitched in when it was clear we were lagging. She wore tight pants and a sleeveless shirt and as she carried boxes down to the bay her muscles somehow looked hard and soft at once. Her face just looked hard.

Smalley, Petey, you two are onboard while we head out, the captain said once we were set. They both nodded. Looks empty out there, but I want these doors spacetight until we get back.

Should we vacuum or something? Smalley said. I'd just hate to feel useless.

Yet you do it anyway, Janssen said, shrugging her rifle up her shoulder.

He smiled at her. Oh, I'll do lots of things I hate.

We'll bring the first load in a couple hours, the captain said. Let me know if you see or hear anything that isn't us.

Petey drifted back into the guts of the ship while Smalley watched us roll the cart down the ramp and into the ragged grass of the landing field. A handful of birds chirped from the thick-clustered canopy. Both trees and birds were introduced species, I'd read; Greenvale had been too cold to put together any natives more complex than algae and lichens and bacteria. The cart whirred and our gear rattled and clanked: Janssen's ammo belts, my kit bag, Steve's hammers and prybars, the captain's radio and translator and metal detector. The birds made the ride from strip to town seem all the quieter.

We turned a bend and Brighton sprawled in front of us. About half the houses were blocky module units, the other half built of wood hacked out of the forest. Few stood taller than two stories. The roads were wide and badly paved. Captain killed the cart and watched the stillness.

Yeah, he said, quiet. We'll take the first couple houses together, then if we still haven't seen anyone, we split up.

Janssen nodded. Want me on the door?

Yeah. You two, make two piles of whatever you find: one of what you know is worth its weight and one of what we might take if we have the room.

I think I know how to rob people, I said.

Shout out first sign of anything. He wheeled us up to the side of the nearest house. Steve got out his lockbusting stuff, but when Janssen tried the door it swung right open. She crept into the dim house, lit by the overcast sunlight. We checked closets and bathrooms and the garage. No one was home.

Their stuff was. I found no real treasures, but Greenvale was a backwoods moon in a backwoods system. I found small items that would make the captain smile: bits of jewelry, earrings and silver rings and firestones. I found a couple palm drives and a GameStation and a fist-sized set of decent speakers. We piled it all up near the front door, where Janssen stared through the curtains, rifle in the crook of her elbow.

Think this place is tapped, the captain said, watching us haul the first pile outside.

Something up? Steve said, panting. Though my watch said it was 42 degrees, he was sweating.

Wouldn't think they'd leave the jewelry behind, the captain said.

Even freighters got weight limits, don't they?

Even so. He shook his head and led us to the next house. Sprinklers chugged in the yard, throwing water over knee-high grass. I caught that dewy scent that reminded me of the hour before sunrise when the whole world slept but me. Inside, I hit a dry spell, didn't find much but a few storage chips and a bunch of paper books until I swiped off a whole shelf and found a box of hard cash behind it. I took it up front, grinning. Even Janssen raised her eyebrows when I showed her. The captain emerged from the back rooms, his brown face misted with sweat.

What are you so happy about? he said, and I opened my mouth and from upstairs Steve screamed so loud I dropped the box against the floor. Plastic cards skidded over the hardwood.

You find a rat? the captain called up to him. For a long moment we heard nothing. Captain stared up the staircase, then glanced at Janssen. Huh.

Janssen took the lead, gun ready, me and the captain on her heels. We found Steve sitting in a bedroom with his back against the wall and his shirt over his mouth, eyes locked on the bed. A weird smell hit my nose, bad but too faint to place.

The captain cocked his head. What the hell?

I touched it, Steve said.

Touched what?

Steve nodded at the bed. The captain gave him another look, then sidled up to it, crouching down and lifting the bedspread where it touched the floor. He jerked back, gagging.

Good God. He turned to Steve, face hard. You touched it?

Steve nodded again. Goosebumps burst over my thighs and the backs of my arms. The captain swung his head at me, mouth open. I pressed my hand over my mouth and pulled back the bedspread.

Three bodies lay in the darkness under the bed, skin tight over their bones, spotty and black. Weeks old. What was left of their flesh was dimpled with big round sores, purple and gray-green in the faint light. The smell hit me then, a blunt fist of dead stink.

Uh, I said. Oh man.

Well? the captain said, a blankness on his face I'd never seen before.

I strongly suggest we blast the Christ off, I said. Steve moaned, twitching one hand. His fingers gleamed a dull brown. I fumbled in my kit bag for my disinfectant, poured a stiff dose onto a rag, and tossed it in his lap. He just stared.

The captain took a step back. Tell me that's not contagious.

Okay, I said.

Without lying.

Everyone here's dead or something, right? I threw the rag aside and stood, knees popping. Which means it's probably got an airborne vector.

Oh God, Steve said.

Get your ass up, Janssen said, but she didn't offer him a hand. Let's get out of here.

Steve got to his feet and we headed for the cart. Birds chirped in the overcast morning. The streets were silent.

Place had what, two thousand people? I said. My voice sounded way too loud. Three? There should be survivors. No disease kills everyone.

Don't even think about it, the captain said, just staring at me. He raised his radio to his mouth. Smalley?

How's the haul? Smalley's voice came back.

Steve found bodies. Whole city's a graveyard. Plague or something, wasn't any evacuation. We're on our way back.

Okay, Smalley said, stretching out the word. A plague?

We'll be back in twenty. Captain had me throw all the loot off the cart, then scrub it down. Once it was cleaned we climbed up and the captain peeled out, jouncing us over the weather-worn pavement. From the weeds by the road, I saw a pale hand curled in the dirt. Nobody said a word on our way through the tunnel of trees back to the landing strip. We broke free into the open field. The doors to the Help Wanted were closed.

The captain killed the cart and walked up to the ship. He raised the radio. We're here.

Okay, Smalley said back. A breeze ruffled the grass. Janssen shrugged her rifle up her shoulder. Steve shivered. I caught myself staring at his hand. The captain swore, punched his code into the pad beside the door. The door didn't budge. He banged his fist against the ship.

What's the hold up?

Well. Me and Petey were talking.

Put the tea party on hold and open the doors. I don't want to spend another second on this rock.

Okay, Smalley said. He cleared his throat. Yeah, well what if you've got it?

Janssen's chin swung toward the captain. The captain closed his eyes. Smalley. I'm going to skin you and run you out as the flag.

Hello, Briggs, Petey's voice cut in. I want you to take a deep breath and think about this for a second.

I'm thinking about how I'm going to keelhaul you when the ship doesn't have a keel.

If you're infected and you come on board, then we're dead too. If you're quarantined a few days and it turns out you're fine, then the worst that happens is you fire us. That's your decision. It's a chance Smalley and I are willing to take.

The captain pulled his lips back from his teeth. They've been dead for weeks. Laurey doesn't think they're infectious.

Laurey failed med school.

I dropped out, I said.

I can't let you onboard, captain, Petey said. Not until we're sure you won't kill us.

I'm going to do that either way. How long you intend to keep us out here? A week? A month?

I don't know that yet, captain.

Symptoms should manifest within a week, I said, turning away from Steve and toward the trees surrounding the field. Something this virulent, probably less.

Wordlessly, Janssen punched me in the stomach. I fell to a knee, wheezing, tears blurring my eyes.

Janssen, the captain said, soft. He raised the radio. Petey, we're going to freeze out here. We're going to starve. You think you're saving yourselves? You're going to kill us.

There's an emergency pack in the cart, Petey said.

Open the door right now.

There's nothing more to say, captain. No symptoms and I'll open the door in three days. Don't bother asking for more than that.

Hey, Petey, at least tell me you're sorry. Tell me you're sorry it has to be this way, Petey. The captain blinked up at the ship's windows. Petey? Smalley?

Am I going to die? Steve said, hands clasped in front of him.

Everyone out there's long dead, I said, rubbing my eyes. The ones that kill you before you have a chance to spread them just kind of flame out. They're dumb. That's why they get replaced by stuff that doesn't kill you as bad.

Really? Steve smiled a moment. Is that true, captain?

But no one touched him the rest of the day, and when darkness fell and we sheltered up under the ship's wings, no one slept beside each other. I shivered under my covers; there had been two blankets in the emergency duffel, and Janssen had given one to the captain, one to Steve, then emptied the duffel and given it to me. I pressed a hand to my forehead, but I felt fine. A mile through the woods, Brighton lay under the same clouds we did, an empty city on an empty moon.

* * *

All right, Laurey, lay it out for me, the captain said, a whisper I could barely hear.

They look like hives. Could be allergies. I glanced through the woods to the field where Steve and Janssen still lay under the ship's wings. This is all just guesswork.

Cut the humble BS. I need to know what you think so I'll know what we can do about it.

I wiped my nose with my sleeve. Janssen's got them, too. She didn't touch Steve or get near the bodies.

What about us?

Considering all the stuff we touched? We were breathing the same air they were.

Christ.

I glanced between his eyes. How do you feel?

Stiff. Sore. He frowned, drew back. "How do you feel?"

Fine. For now.

All right. Then for now, we don't go near them. He pressed his fists against his eyes, suddenly old. How did this happen, Laurey? Are we bad people?

Uh, I said. Janssen might be.

All I wanted was to make enough cash we didn't have to scrounge so hard for a while. He stared at the ship, then shook his head. Come on. Let's go let them know they're going to die.

I frowned. Maybe you should let me tell them.

It didn't help. Steve sat with his head between his knees, shoulders shaking. Janssen stared off at the