Bloom

Chapter 4: Lawrence

It was a cloudy autumn afternoon when they set out.

Lawrence was still brooding after his capture by the slavers. How had they managed to bring him down? He knew they had suppressed his Shaping somehow, but how?

And why didn't it work on the boy?

It was a close call, he knew that much.

He didn't want to, but now he had to study the strain again, as soon as possible. He would find his answers when he travelled back to his hideout. The collar he had taken from the slavers could suppress Shaping, and he would dismantle it piece by piece.

But then again, for how long would an immortal procrastinate?

He'd discovered that the reason he was effectively immortal was that the nanobots used his genetic base as a template. They were extremely adapted to his physiology. The reason ninety percent of the populace died horrid deaths all those centuries ago was because they didn't share some of his genetic alleles.

The rest were just lucky.

He wasn't immortal in every way. His body just didn't deteriorate. He could still be killed in battle; or at least he thought so.

He was lucky in this instance, because the slavers thought him a valuable commodity. He would have to be more careful.

He glanced at Jasiri as he remembered what happened to the slavers. The boy had potential. He'd never seen anyone Shape so naturally or with such force.

They were currently riding their horses at a sedate pace through the plains on their way to the ambush site. It seemed the calm was eating at the boy.

Jasiri noticed his look and took it for a sign he was ready to talk.

"So, you said we shared a bond. What kind of bond is it?" the boy asked.

Lawrence let out a deep sigh. How was he to explain the intricacies of nano-science to a tribal boy who probably couldn't read?

"Hey! I can read, you know. Just not that weird alphabet you keep throwing around in your thoughts." the boy sneered.

"See? That's the kind of bond I was talking about. If one of us thinks about something hard enough, it will spill into the other's mind." Lawrence said.

"I have to say I was surprised when I heard that thought, it was like your voice speaking in my head." Jasiri said.

"From what I heard, that's pretty much how it works." Lawrence responded.

"So, it doesn't work with anyone else?" the boy asked.

"No. Not that I'm aware of. Our minds are now tuned to each other, but that's it. You can't go around poking into the heads of pretty girls." Lawrence responded.

"A shame. So, how come I can Shape now."

Lawrence sighed again.

"Because I can. I was the first Shaper. Ever."

The boy looked dumbfounded.

"Look, it's a long story; but I'm the reason Shaping even exists. Although I'm not sure how you took to Shaping so readily."

Jasiri looked at him with wide eyes.

"So you know of the times before, you know... before The Cataclysm?"

Lawrence was reluctant to talk about it.

"Maybe, but those are stories for another day."

"Please... Will you tell me?" the boy asked pleadingly.

"Those were different times. We had technology. We had cars and planes and rockets. We had science." Lawrence explained in a pained tone.

The boy's eyes widened in wonder. Somehow Lawrence knew that by mentioning these things, he was triggering echoes in the boy's mind.

"I... I can understand those concepts now. I couldn't before..."

"I guess that's another aspect of our bond. You're recalling my memories of those things as I recall them."

Please don't think about that incident with the...

he tried to force an idea way.

Jasiri doubled over laughing and almost fell from his horse's back.

"I can see this is going to be interesting." Lawrence said with a frown.

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun... Don't worry, I won't tell." Jasiri said good-heartedly.

~*~

"But that means that you're ancient!"

"On general principle, all humans live much longer than they used to. But I'm... different."

"Different how? Why did you not go through your Weathering?"

Lawrence thought hard on how to answer this. The boy picked on his thoughts.

"You are... asiyekufa...

immortal

?" He said with difficulty. "You live... forever?"

"I suspect so. I've been alive for all this time, and I can't see myself dying of natural causes any time soon. I'm always in perfect health, just like you. But I don't age at all, I don't 'weather'."

The Weathering, as the kid's tribe called it, was the very long process of natural ageing and eventual death. He knew most people didn't care to go through all that and euthanised themselves early in some sort of ritual for their passing.

He'd tried that too, but couldn't.

"That's amazing! I wish I could live forever!" the boy said in wonder.

"Careful what you wish for." Lawrence said with a heartbroken look.

"What's wrong?" Jasiri asked.

"It has been a long and tiring life. I've seen... things. Too many things. Sometimes terrible things. I wish I could end it somehow... but every time I try, I can't bring myself to do it. It's like something is compelling me to stop. Like something is forcing my hand away. It feels... wrong."

"The world-mother is immortal too. She must be the one stopping you."

Lawrence paused to think.

"I've come across that reference too many times in your thoughts. Just what

is

the world-mother?" he asked the boy.

"I... It's... everything around us. It's in the air, the ground, the animals, us. It's... life." the boy answered with difficulty.

You know what else is in the air and the ground and us? Freaking nanobots!

Lawrence thought.

Well, that was a novel idea.

"No, I do not know if the world-mother is the

nano-bots

you speak of, whatever they are." Jasiri said, "Although, I don't know... The world-mother protects us, provides for us, and our shaman listens to her, and we all honour her." he continued, "Do the

nano-bots

you think of do all of that?"

"I suppose so. In a sense, yes." Lawrence said slowly.

His mind was on fire. He'd never thought about it this way. Would it be possible that, through their communications, the nanobots had formed a single, colossal, collective mind?

Just like neurons in the brain. Individually, they did nothing but consume energy. In a group, however, they would form a coherent whole: a brain. A mind that can think and feel and act on external stimuli.

If that was the case, was the world-mother forcing him to live just because of whom he was? Was he, ironically, the world-father?

The kid gave him a troubled look, like he was trying hard not to strike him down for blasphemy. He looked angry and confused at the thought.

"Keep an open mind. It's a long story, and I promise I'll tell you sometime."

"It is not within my rights to judge your thoughts, Lawrence Godwin; but I expect the same from you." the kid said in a surprising display of wisdom.

"Deal."

~*~

Lawrence was still wracking his brain over the possibility that the shamans could communicate with the nanobots when they arrived at the foot of the mountain.

If it was possible at all, he thought; why didn't the nanobots communicate with him already? What were they waiting for? Were they waiting for him to reach out first?

Jasiri gave him a look and a shrug but said nothing.

He'd figure it out later.

They left their horses with a warrior, Mlima Giza, and instructed him to wait for them there and guard the mounts. The rest of the group was to try and track the slavers, and in the case they didn't return by sunset, he was to go back and report the news to the tribe's shaman.

They also sent two other members of their party to scour the plains for the missing horses. The slavers had found some, but not all of them.

With six remaining in their party, they set out on foot. Jasiri explained that now that the need for stealth was gone, it was going to take less than a half's half -- a quarter as Lawrence informed him -- of a day to reach the ambush site. They began climbing as soon as they gave Mlima his instructions. Lawrence tried to fight his mild fear of heights.

"So, what is that strange weapon you use?" Jasiri asked him to distract him as they climbed to the top of a less rocky decline.

"It's called a

crossbow

. I suspect you don't have a word for it in your language." Lawrence informed him.

"What does it do?" Jasiri asked.

"See those bolts in my quiver? It launches them like spears at lethal speeds. Each of them can pierce a target and kill it swiftly."

"I've never imagined anything like it."

"It's old technology, even by my standards, and I Shaped it myself. You'll be crafting much more than that if I decide to teach you." Lawrence said with a smirk.

"You can teach me how to make that? What else can you teach me?" the kid asked excitedly.

"You'll have to wait and see." Lawrence said with a smile.

~*~

At the ambush site, the men gathered the dead bodies and began to lay down stones and collect the wood for the pyres.

Jasiri felt relieved they weren't able to identify the body of this father -- or that of elder Nyoka -- in the first survey. Lawrence could tell the complexity of his feelings through their bond.

The kid was both relieved and sickened at the terrible fate that had befallen his uncle and his father's comrades, and he appeared to be reliving the horrible memories of the event that occurred to him here once more.

~*~

They stood in silence as they watched the fires consume the wood. The bodies wouldn't burn beyond the skin, but they would pile more stones on top to cover them after the fires had died, on their way back.

The nanobots would then disperse slowly, and the process would take months.

He strived to keep the scientific trivia out of his thoughts. The kid was crying on his shoulder. Lawrence tried to comfort him the best he could.

The slavers would pay, that's for sure. They had it coming.

At this thought, the kid lifted his head and wiped the tears from his cheeks.

The look in his eyes said it all.

~*~

Tracking the slavers would be difficult here. Not only was the area heavily forested; but by using Shaping, the slavers also hid their tracks well, and the mayhem that occurred left behind a jumble of traces.

The kid had a different idea.

He scampered along to find the tallest tree, and began climbing with gusto.

Once at the top, he started looking around the area, looked disappointed, and started climbing back down.

That was when his foot slipped.

Lawrence let out a cry in alarm as he saw the kid fall from such a height. He then felt the kid close his eyes and concentrate hard through their shared bond. He instinctively did the same.

When he heard no scream, he opened his eyes again and stared in wonder.

The kid was levitating. There was a gust of silver was coalescing out of thin air beneath him and lashing against his body.

"How are you doing this?" Lawrence shouted.

"I saw it in my dreams, but I just figured it out now! Come on, old man!" Jasiri shouted back before he started to float higher and further away from them. The four other tribesman were shocked. They soon started swearing obscenities at the kid, ordering him to come down.

Lawrence would have joined him just then, had he not been afraid of heights.

He knew he'd survive a fall. He just could never fight that clenching feeling in his gut that intensified with elevation. In fact, just climbing this mountain almost gave him a stroke.

The kid's cry of victory saved him from the sickness he felt growing in his stomach; as Jasiri descended back to the ground.

"I found their camp!" Jasiri said excitedly as he began to descend.

Lawrence was astonished. Jasiri took to Shaping like a fish took to swimming in water. He didn't know why that was, and it was driving him crazy.

Maybe something to do with his ancestry?

He surmised.

He was determined to find out, one day.