Bitter Oath (New Atlantis) - By Nhys Glover Page 0,15

Journals. She selected the 1750 one and quickly skimmed through it until she came to the entry she was looking for. They had been traversing the western plains for a week by that time, and her grandfather had noted, as an aside, that Devereux’s eyes set against his dark skin, were the same colour as the sky above the dark earth they traversed.

That was all he said. The next entry gave the account of the discovery of the lush oasis they had come upon, and the giant earthworm the Frenchman had uncovered, when he started digging deep into the soil.

Could L’Angley’s ancestor have had her Rene’s eyes too? Family resemblance could be compelling, her sisters’ similarity in appearance was tribute to that. But each sibling in her family was different in some distinct fashion from the seven others of her kind. The older girls had hazel eyes, the younger girls – grey, like their mother’s. She and Augusta had brown eyes like their father. And although they were all fair haired, each was a slightly different shade, ranging from dark golden to almost ginger, in Portia’s case.

It would be an anomaly for a dark-skinned man to have blue eyes. It was unlikely such a phenomenon would be a family trait. Portia’s rational solution to the mystery was starting to appear less than perfect now.

Who are you Rene L’Angley, and who was the man who accompanied grandfather on his expedition, sixty years ago?

CHAPTER FIVE

Autumn 2334, New Atlantis GAIAN CONFEDERACY

‘My god, that’s amazing!’ Jane cried with more enthusiasm than Rene would have expected from the girl who had no interest in entomology.

She was staring at the ceiling to floor glassed in terrarium, which stretched the length of the large laboratory, and had been specifically designed to replicate their giant earthworm’s natural habitat. The room was darkened, except for the carefully regulated light that bombarded the surface of the habitat. This was designed to replicate the prairie sun. Inside the containment unit hundreds of pale, wriggling earthworms were burrowing down through the dry topsoil, some eight feet, to the water table below.

‘How many did you bring back with you?’

‘Five.’

‘And after only six months you have what… a hundred? There looks to be a hundred or more!’ Her stunned amazement lifted his heavy heart, and he gave her a sad smile.

‘The nearest we have been able to estimate, without disrupting the habitat, is eighty seven. We’ve reached optimal density, and will be moving a selection of the mature worms to a biosphere just outside the city for the next stage in the study.’ He knew his voice sounded flat and unenthused. This should be the happiest and most fulfilling stage in his life – the Nature Retrieval Program was streaking ahead, and his own experiments with the giant earthworms were producing spectacular results. It was all falling into place.

Jane turned to study him in the gloom. ‘Rene, you have to go see her.’

‘Who?’ He moved away, uncomfortable with her close scrutiny. Being around Jane was becoming harder and harder in the last months. Her silent concern only made his tumultuous emotions worse.

‘Your spinster. There is time now. Everything is going so well at this end. Go and visit her, as you planned.’

‘It isn’t necessary. I was able to connect with her grandfather without the assistance of the journals she has.’ He tried to keep his tone serious and unaffected, but the mere mention of Livianna Mulgrave sent his system into chaos. Already, he could feel his heart rate accelerating, and his breath becoming harder to find. In a few moments, his hands would start to shake. These symptoms had been his since he’d discovered the news about her early death. The only thing that had kept him sane was his work.

‘Not necessary to your work, but necessary to your emotional state. Rene, I’m worried about you. You’ve lost weight, you’re edgy as a cat on a hot tin roof, to quote a famous play, and you are utterly miserable. I know the signs…’ She had come to his side as she spoke, resting her hand on his bowed shoulder. Her warm touch amped up his symptoms, and he drew away.

‘You are mistaken Jane, there’s nothing wrong with me, other than overwork. Once the next stage in this experiment is complete, I plan to take some time off…’ The desperation in his voice was apparent, even to his own ears.

‘Rene, you are not all right. You’re suffering what all the Old Timers suffer when they