The Radiant War

Chapter 6b

     Morris Tyrell waited in silence. He could tell that the true human, as he styled himself, had more to say, so he waited for him to say it. Sure enough, a moment later, Shanks continued. “Then there was the problem of children,” he said.

     “You somehow produce people who are already human,” said the intelligence officer. “Small humans, who grow until they reach full size.”

     Shanks nodded. “A couple who want to have a child have to leave their town. They have to live in isolation, far out in the wilderness, until the child is large enough to pass for one of you. Fifteen years, longer. Any passing glob human is a threat until then, because a child can’t understand why the very sight of him would be disaster for the whole family. The parents have to keep watch over him or her every minute of every day, ready to bundle him away out of sight if anyone comes passing. A hunter out looking for game. An outlaw trying to escape from the law. A lawman out looking for the outlaw. Then the other parent, the one not with his hand over the child's mouth in the basement, has to use the cover story they've arranged to explain why he or she is out there, all alone. If a couple has more than one child, they just have to trust that they've taught the elder children enough self discipline to be silent on their own. It’s always a great relief when the children are old enough that the family can return to a large community of your people, but before long the children will be wanting children of their own and so the process repeats.”

     “I assume it takes two of you to make a child,” said Morris Tyrell. “One of each gender.” Shanks nodded. “So you need to keep in touch with other true humans, as you call yourselves, so that when your male child feels the need for a female true human to procreate with, he’ll know where to find one.”

     “Yes. We have a system of signs that we leave for each other. Do not ask me for these signs. I will die before I reveal them.”

     “I won't ask. I'm guessing that you also have gathering places. Places where you can go to find other true humans. You don't have to answer that. I am not your enemy, Mister Shanks. I'm not here to betray you to the Radiants. It's true that they don't want us extinct, but I'm very fond of the civilisation we've created and I don't intend to let the Radiants destroy it. The Radiants are our common enemy, and I think we have a much better chance of defeating them if we join forces.”

     “I don't think there's much we can do to help you.”

     “You may have more to offer than you think. Back at Adams Valley, the Radiant cursed the soldiers that were attacking it. You and Andrea McCrea were both close enough to be affected. She escaped because she was unconscious, but you weren't. You avoided being cursed back to your animal form because you never had an animal form. The most terrifying weapon they possess has no effect on you.”

     “There are too few of us to be your cannon fodder.”

     “I would never ask you to do that, but there may be other ways you can help us. You are descended from the Hetin folk, who had science and technology far beyond anything we possess. Do you possess any Hetin devices that we can use against the Radiants?”

     “Not any more. We did once, long ago, at least according to the stories we pass down from generation to generation. Once, the stories say, not long after the fall of our civilisation, we had huge storehouse of their devices, most of which no longer worked but which we preserved anyway in the hope that we might be able to copy them one day. We also had books. Whole libraries full of books. We hid them in natural caves, or in underground chambers we built for the purpose. Far away from where our cities had been, where we thought they'd be safe.”

     “But they weren't?”

     “The Radiants discovered them, one after the other, and destroyed their contents. Back then, my ancestors weren't as desperate as we are today. They remembered the power of their mighty civilisation and they were confident that they'd find a way to defeat the Radiants, and the glob humans that were rapidly swarming across the land. They would defeat them and reclaim the world. Rebuild their civilisation. It might take a generation or two, but it was inevitable. It was simply inconceivable that they wouldn’t be victorious, eventually. So true humans captured by the Radiants would betray their fellows, or betray their stockpiles of books and relics, in return for the sparing of their lives, confident that it wouldn't affect their eventual victory. Other stockpiles were inundated by the oceans as sea levels rose. Most of the cities of our ancestors were near the coast, and so were our stockpiles. When the waves came close to them they would try to relocate them, but that ran the risk of discovery. Many stockpiles were lost in that way.