2 - A Practical Joker

Terry walked across the bridge from the city on the butte to the rim of the canyon. After the aerial bombardment most of the encapsulated city had been able to unfold again, though the bees were busy repairing the locking mechanism on the second bridge. He turned to look back at the city, ignoring the dual hammers of sun and wind.

Lainz, the city, was a strange combination of target and defense. Now with the winter dry just beginning, it was still astonishingly green. All those Earth plants had been locked behind stone, when the city had folded shut in the hope of surviving the attack from Prime. All the loggias out on the soaring, spiraling bridges had simply turned and formed a single swirling cone on top of the butte above the water basin. Now it looked like a collection of water lilies floating, roots trailing, around the central spiral, vines everywhere providing shade besides feeding the city, poised on the edge of the deep, narrow canyon.

The bees glittered everywhere. On the rock they were rebuilding, on the Earth flowers, on some of the people. Millions of different sizes and colours of bees, that made all of this city possible. He looked down at a green and gold worker, with a pink flower petal in its jaws, that had just landed on his hand. It was covered in golden and maroon pollen dust. It waved its antenna at him, and took off.

The east face of the canyon shone white and then black as the shadow cut across it. Ribbons of stone painting red and greenish and white and cream stripes disappearing into the hazy distance south and north. From where he stood he couldn't the green stripes of terraces built into the west wall of the canyon where the bulk of the food crops were grown in sheltered slots in the rock where the water and light could be exactly controlled.

The crowds of people hurried past him, every one of them veiled. Terry had to struggle against the urge to tip his hat to every woman passing by, as was polite. They were already giggling at his top hat. Even in all the strange clothing, the full filter veil instead of a cravat raised when the grit got too thick, he clung to his hat as the last part of his life from before, even if it made no sense here in this wind and sand scoured desert.

From the canyon bottom a thousand feet below came an undulating spark, the sparkling clouds of bees parting to let it through. Firedrake One took his time flying up from the river, coiling in the air as he wings and scales burned blue/white. When he crossed into the sunlight, from the shadow, he looked more like a bushdragon, even though his colours were all wrong for it.

*Hello Terence* he said, hovering by the side of the bridge, as Terry grabbed for his hat and clutched at the post next to him, to keep from being blown away in the hot wind that One generated. *Are you going to visit Mom?*

“Yes, One. Are you heading there too?” Terry answered him out loud, rather than in code.

*Yes. Let us both go. *

It wasn't physically necessary for One to visit Mom to speak to her but both machines were very careful to follow some of the human protocols for politeness that had been programmed into them when they'd first been switched on.

“Lovely, One. I'll be glad of your company.”

*Ride.* One said. His manners were a trifle more brusk than Mom's.

“Thank you, One.” Terry stepped up onto the railing, though someone yelled at him. He trusted One not to let him fall, even if he slipped. One's head slid up next to him and he stepped out into the hollow space that the folding scales had made for him on top of One's head. Thankfully none of the scales on the top of his body were firing now, or his ride would have been a great deal warmer. Sweat broke out on his back and in his armpits, regardless, as he stepped out of the shady spot on the bridge. *Secure?*

“Yes, Oooooooonnnnne!” The Firedrake straightened, locking into 'faster' mode, the scales on his belly roaring louder. “You joker!”

*Smile.*

On One it was only a moment or two over to the West Rim Reservoir, where Mom had established herself as a hospital after Prime's attacks had been stopped.

As they settled down toward the doors in the rock, Terry didn't bother looking for Mom. She would be in full camouflage mode as she had been since they'd arrived. She was still expanded to her maximum capacity, though most of the injured she'd already helped.

One settled to the sand near what looked like an enormous sandstone boulder, and Terry climbed down his neck. “You are a complete practical joker! I lost my hat, in that--”

One held out the hat in his tri-part mouth, ends that Terry could see curling upwards. “Joker,” he said again and brushed the dust off the top of it with his sleeve before setting it firmly back on his head.

*Not as bad as Eight.*