Free Reconception: The Fall by Deborah Greenspan

you're
all right? Do you need to stop?"
    "I'm all right. How much farther does Red Deer think
we will go today?"
    "We'll stop to eat in a while, and to rest the
animals. Then we'll ride until sundown. It's hard going for the
camels, up one slope and down the next, but if we can keep up this
pace we'll be able to get to your peoples' habitat in about two
weeks."
    They rode together in companionable silence for a
while, and then Nightstalker spoke. "We're very curious about you.
How do you stand to live underground, to never see the sun? It's
almost like being buried alive."
    Garret smiled wryly. "Actually, Evie and I have been
going outside since we were eight when we discovered an unsealed
exit. As for the others, I don't know how they stand it. We've
tried to suggest opening the doors to a few of them, but no one's
interested. I guess what it comes down to is that people can adapt
to just about anything. How about you? How is your life?"
    Nightstalker smiled. "Oh, we have a good life.
Except for the sickness and the ... trouble ... with intruders ...
."
    "Intruders?"
    "Sometimes people from the cities discover our farm,
and then we have a problem. We are a peaceful people, you see; we
don't want to fight. We would be glad to share with the less
fortunate, but they are wild and brutal, and won't share with us.
They only want to take. When they come, we have to fight."
    "Is that often?"
    "Oh no. We're well concealed. Only three times in a
hundred and twenty years have we had to deal with intruders. Not
counting you and Evie."
    "Evie and I? We're not intruders. You invited us. I
mean Eye of Eagle did."
    "I said not counting you. You are different. For one
thing, you're not savages. You're not suffering from mutations or
brain damage as many of them are, and it's unlikely that you'll
want to take over our farm ... .The first time the intruders came,
they ended up setting fire to the farm. They destroyed our solar
collectors. By the time they were finished, only the Garden of the
Goddess and our concealed stores were left. But that was enough.
We've learned not to be so friendly."
    "Well, I'm glad you were friendly to us," Garret
said.
    "By tomorrow, we'll be out of the valley, and it
will be harder going, more mountainous. We'll have to pick our path
with care. After that, we'll have to watch for people. Have you
received any training in fighting? Do you know how to defend
yourself?"
    Garret wondered why they hadn't asked that question
before leaving the settlement. He looked into Nightstalker's dark
eyes. The man was not very tall, but stocky with powerful shoulders
and arms. Garret wouldn't want to tangle with him. He had a knife
tucked in the belt of his robes, and a rifle slung across his back.
A belt of ammunition hung over the neck of his camel. "Well my
physical training included fencing and karate. I've shot a gun in
simulators, so I guess I could handle one. The fact is a New
Scientist has to learn everything, develop a well-balanced outlook,
and that includes physical strength and development. So I guess I
could fight if I had to. There wasn't anyone my age to match me
against, you see, except Evie."
    Nightstalker reappraised the man riding next to him.
He would try him out later to see if he would need protection, or
if he would be of help if they met with trouble. "What's a new
scientist?" he asked.
    As Garret explained the philosophy to his new friend,
he studied the environment they were moving through. The
mountainous and nearly barren land seemed to go on forever. Except
for the abandoned towns, the empty ruins of houses and rusted
vehicles they passed, it would seem that man had never even been
there.
    In the distance, he could see the peaks of the
Appalachians. The sun overhead was very hot, and he was grateful
for the desert gear they'd made him wear. It wasn't technically a
desert since it did rain from time to time, and grasses and scruffy
little bushes covered the land. The soil was so poor and stony