The Book of Koli (Rampart Trilogy #1) - M. R. Carey Page 0,172
some respite, but not much and not for long.
By and by, I got her to come out of the water onto the bank, and then up into the clearing where the tent was. The drudge clanked along behind her the whole way, its gun swinging and bobbing around so wherever she went it was pointing right at the middle of her. Ursala told it – real loud – to shoot her if she run away, or come too close to one of us, or drawed another weapon from somewhere, or picked up a stone. Every time she thought of something else Cup shouldn’t do, she give the drudge another order. She was in such a rage as I never seen before.
“That little monster took my eye out! And you bring her into my camp! I’m giving her a count of twenty and then I’m sending the drudge after her.”
“Ursala,” I says, “she can’t do no harm now. Let her sit a while at least. And give her the heater you got in the tent to warm herself so she don’t die of cold.”
“Koli, you’re an idiot. She’s dangerous.”
“It’s true, Koli-bou,” Monono broke in. “Her shit is too crazy for bats.”
“She could of killed me just now,” I said, “but she didn’t.”
“Wow. Is that where we’re setting the bar now?”
We went back and forth on it. Also around and about, for Ursala wasn’t happy with nothing I put to her. She said we couldn’t keep Cup by us in case she tried to do some harm. But we couldn’t let her go for fear that she would lead the shunned men to where we was – or else just run ahead and lay an ambush for us, or murder us in our sleep, or contrive some other mischief.
“Well, if you bar out everything else, that just leaves killing her,” I says.
“Yes. Let’s go with that one. Thank you.”
“I ain’t going to stand still for it, Ursala.”
“Then go for a walk.”
“I ain’t doing that neither. And you and Monono is going to feel bad about this, by and by, that you was so hard on a half-growed girl.” They both said they reckoned they wouldn’t.
“Well then how about this?” I said. “You go north like you said. I’ll bide here with Cup a while – a day, or maybe two days – and I’ll keep her close so she don’t go after you. Then I’ll untie them knots and take my chances.”
Ursala throwed up her hands, seeming to get more angry instead of less. “I’m not going north, Koli. Not after what your AI told us. I want to find out where that signal is coming from and see what else is there besides a beacon.”
This was great news, but I tried not to smile in case it fretted her more than she was fretted already. “What do you think could be there?” I asked.
Ursala didn’t answer. It seemed like she was going to, but instead she just looked at the drudge. The answer come to me then. “Is it the dagnostic?” I asked. “It is, isn’t it? You said it was broke somewhat. And you said you builded it out of pieces of other machines. So if there’s tech of the old times in London…?”
“Then I might find spare parts there. I might be able to find a gene-editing unit and install it. Yes, Koli, that’s what I’m hoping for.” Ursala said it flat and quick, like it didn’t hardly need to be said at all. “You’re talking about making a new gene pool. I’m talking about repairing the one we’ve got – one baby at a time. If I can get the drudge back up to full book spec, I’ll be able to guarantee live, healthy births every time instead of just calling the odds on bad pairings. That’s well worth a two-hundred-mile hike. But I can’t come with you if we’re leaving this feral brat alive behind us. It’s insane.”
“Nobody’s asking me,” Monono said, “but I agree.”
I looked round at Cup. She hadn’t said a word all this time, though she heard all that was being said. Well, I guess she heard it. Her face didn’t change though, even when Ursala talked about killing her. Even when Monono stopped using the induction field and spoke up loud. You would think a girl’s voice coming out of the empty air would strike her as somewhat curious, but Cup did not seem to care.