It was almost like coming home to a big, welcoming family. The Gammans clustered around Brad, happy to see him, glad to have him back among them. Brad felt the warmth of comradeship for the first time since he’d been a teenager.
Then Lnng asked, “What do we have to do to prepare for the winter?”
The warm glow dimmed considerably. You get straight to the point, don’t you? Brad asked silently.
“We’ll start preparing in a few days,” he temporized. “How did the farm get through the storms?”
Mnnx said, “Not much damage. The new Folk are resting in the ground properly.”
“May I see them?”
The Gammans went silent. They all turned to Mnnx.
Mnnx said to Brad proudly, “I’m the village Rememberer now. Everyone agreed that I should take Drrm’s place.”
“That’s fine,” said Brad.
Looking into the faces of his fellow Gammans, Mnnx said, “I think it would be good for Brrd to see the new Folk.”
“Yes,” Lnng agreed. “And then we can start to prepare for building a new village for them.”
Brad thought, Mnnx might be the new Rememberer, but Lnng is going to be pushing him every step of the way. Then he realized, with a pang of disquiet, how similar that was to his relationship with Kosoff.
They all trooped out to the farm fields. Brad saw the neat rows of crops, sprouting nicely despite the storms. Some of the shoots were bent, a few torn away entirely, but by and large the farm appeared to be in reasonably good shape.
Mnnx led Brad—and the others—off to a far corner of the farm where there was a different planting: little mounds spaced roughly five meters apart. Atop each mound a single leafy green stalk rose, sticking up like an antenna on a spacecraft.
As the Gammans stood respectfully to one side, Mnnx gestured to the mounds and said, “The new Folk.”
“They’re growing in the ground?” Brad asked.
“Yes, of course.” Dropping to his knees, Mnnx said, “Listen to them.” And he bent his head to press it lightly against the earthen mound.
Somewhat more awkwardly, Brad sank to his knees and pressed the side of his helmet against the dirt. Nothing. No, wait … the faintest whooshing sound, in and out, like a distant tide surging against a sandy shore. In and out … in and out …
It’s breathing! Brad realized.
And he heard the tiny lub-dub of a heartbeat.
Straightening up, Brad stared at the mound of grayish brown soil. There’s a body in there! A Gamman is growing beneath the ground. Felicia and the rest of the biologists will go crazy over this.
He realized now why the mounds were five meters apart. Room for the kids to grow to full size.
Climbing up to his feet, Brad asked, “When will they come out of the ground? How long before they are fully grown?”
“After the winter,” Mnnx said. “They will sleep in the ground while the world freezes. Then, when the ice melts, the new Folk will rise from the ground.”
“And the Rememberer will teach them what they must know,” said Brad.
“If the Rememberer survives the winter.”
“We can help you there.”
Lnng caught Brad’s word. “We? There are more of you? You are not alone?”
Brad looked into their expressionless faces as they clustered around him. The computer’s translation of their words could not convey their emotions, but Brad guessed that they were at least inquisitive, at most fearful.
They’ve got to find out, sooner or later. As gently as he could—even though he knew that his tone would not get through the computer’s translation—Brad said, “Yes, there are more of my kind coming here. They live in the sky—”
“Do you live in the sky, Brrd?” asked one of the Gammans.
Without hesitation, Brad replied, “Once I did. Now I live here, among you.”