Visitors (Pathfinder 3)

“If you listen I’ll tell you all the whys. On my second visit to you I actually got to tell you what has changed about him, and you still behaved so badly that Loaf almost gave up then. I was the one who talked him into making another try. In fact, three more tries. Do you understand me, you thick-headed angry woman? Loaf married a woman with a temper but he thought you loved him more than you loved your own rage. Is he right or wrong?”

“Let me chop wood for a minute,” she said. “Can you stand there and wait? I have to . . . I have to get this out of me.”

Umbo nodded and stepped back. He did not disappear.

Leaky set up a short log, picked up the ax, and let fly. Shivers of wood flew in all directions. She set up another, pulverized it, then another, another.

“How many are you going to turn into splinters?” asked Umbo.

“Your turn to shut up! It hasn’t been a minute yet!”

It was probably five minutes, but finally she was exhausted and plopped down onto the ground and leaned her forearms on her knees and covered her face with her hands. “Talk to me,” she said, “while I’m not looking at that smart-mouth face of yours bossing me around.”

“If you listen and then talk to me quietly and reasonably, I won’t boss you around,” said Umbo. “I know Loaf will never be happy if he can’t come home to you, but I also know he won’t come back to you until he knows you’ll give him a chance.”

“Give him a chance to—” But this time Leaky stopped herself. “You tell it. I’ll listen. I swear I’ll listen.”

“The first wallfold we went to was an evil place. We didn’t understand how evil. All the human beings there were dead. The only person there was Vadeshex, and he isn’t human.”

“A person, and not human? Sorry. Sorry. I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

“Vadeshex looked just like Rigg’s father. He was just like him because they’re not human. They’re mechanical men designed to look like people. They’re called ‘expendables’ but they never die. There’s one in each wallfold. Rigg was raised by one.”

“But his father died,” said Leaky.

“His father pretended to die,” said Umbo. “They’re all liars, these expendables, because they think their job is to protect the human race from the human race. They know everything, but they understand nothing. No matter how angry you get at me, it’s nothing to how angry I am at Vadeshex. Because he tricked Loaf into—no, wait. It won’t make any sense unless I explain something first.”

“By Silbom’s right kneecap!” shouted Leaky.

“Loaf is alive. He’s sharper and healthier than ever. But something happened to him in Vadeshfold and that’s what I’m trying to tell you. But some things don’t make sense unless I explain other things first. Please, please be patient with me. I don’t want to fail Loaf again, the way I did the other four times.”

“I thought I was the one who failed!”

“You’re the one who didn’t listen,” said Umbo, “but it has to have been my fault because I went about it wrong. The first time I tried to tell everything gradually and make things seem better than they are. You saw that I was concealing things and so I think you were right to be angry. I thought you were going to kill me, which didn’t seem fair to me, but I did a bad job. I did a bad job all the other times, too, because I failed. But please help me, Leaky. I’m going to make mistakes so you have to help me make up for my stupidity by being patient with me. Please.”

Leaky was astonished to hear a sound like incipient weeping in his voice, as if he was trying not to cry. But she didn’t look at him. “Tell me in whatever order you think is best.”

“I’m just trying to be clear. So here it is. In Vadeshfold, there’s a creature that lives in the streams. It’s very tiny, but if you get it on you it burrows into your skin and grows, and it quickly crawls up your body to your face. It covers your mouth and nose and ears and eyes and reaches through them to grow into your brain. But it doesn’t kill you. It just . . . takes over.”

“And this is what happened to—”

“No! No, you have to listen and let me explain because Loaf is fine. Better than fine, just ugly. And way less ugly than he was when it first—look, this creature was the reason the people of Vadeshfold all died. Half of them got this parasite—we call them facemasks—and the other half didn’t, and they fought each other until they were all dead. But when we arrived, Vadeshex warned us not to get near the water and so we didn’t get taken by the wild facemasks.”

“But you had to explain about them, so—”

“Vadeshex had nothing to do after all his humans died. He was pretty much a failure as caretaker of the colony in his wallfold. But he thought these facemask parasites had potential. So he began to breed them and change them so that they wouldn’t make the people crazy. Because when a facemask takes over a larger animal, it enhances it. It replaces the eyes with better eyes. The reflexes speed up. It hears better. So Vadeshex spent thousands of years trying to develop a breed of facemasks that would enhance human beings without taking over completely. It takes over, but if you’re strong-willed enough, you can control it. You stay yourself.”

“I can’t pretend that I don’t guess that you’re only telling me this because Loaf got one of these facemasks.”

“I figured you would. When I first heard what happened I wanted to kill Rigg for letting it—”

“Rigg let this happen?”

“No! That’s what I thought, because they went without me into the . . . place. But Rigg couldn’t stop him.”

“You could have sent Rigg back in time to warn him! Like you’re doing now!”

“Loaf wouldn’t let him. You have to understand, Rigg was only just learning how to do this stuff on his own. He would have needed me, and he didn’t want me to see Loaf like that. Because it’s—it’s much better now. You won’t think so, but Leaky, it was horrible at first. This thing completely covered his face so it looked like he couldn’t breathe. And then it made new eyes for him and a new mouth only they weren’t in the right place and—I’m sorry! I’m wrecking everything! I’m doing a terrible job of telling this.”