palms with their bird traps. The blossoms glowed through the water like thousands of drowned lanterns.
"How long has the freighter been here?" An older civilian, a government scientist holding a pair of binoculars, peered at the riddled hull of the Prospero. Below the beach house two sailors were loading the last of Christine's stores into the inflatable. "It looks as if it's been stranded there for years."
"Six months," Christine told him. She sat beside Johnson, smiling at him encouragingly. "When Captain Johnson realized what was going on he asked me to call you."
"Only six? That must be roughly the life cycle of these new species. Their cellular clocks seem to have stopped instead of reproducing, they force-fed their own tissues, like those giant fruit that contain no seeds. The life of the individual becomes the entire life of the species." He gestured toward the impassive Johnson. "That probably explains our friend's altered time sense great blocks of memory were coalescing in his mind, so that a ball thrown into the air would never appear to land …… A tide of dead fish floated past the cutter's bow, the gleaming bodies like discarded costume jewelry.
"You weren't contaminated in any way?" the lieutenant asked Christine. "I'm thinking of the baby."
"No, I didn't eat any of the fruit," Christine said firmly. "I've been here only twice, for a few hours."
"Good. Of course, the medical people will do all the tests."
"And the island?"
"We've been ordered to torch the whole place. The demolition charges are timed to go off in just under two hours, but we'll be well out of range. It's a pity, in a way."
"The birds are still here," Christine said, aware of Johnson staring at the trees.
"Luckily, you've trapped them all." The scientist offered her the binoculars. "Those organic wastes are hazardous. God knows what might happen if human beings were exposed to long-term contact. All sorts of sinister alterations to the nervous system-people might be happy to stare at a stone all day."
Johnson listened to them talking, glad to feel Christine's hand in his own. She was watching him with a quiet smile, aware that they shared the conspiracy. She would try to save the child, the last fragment of the experiment, and he knew that if it survived it would face a fierce challenge from those who feared it might replace them.
But the birds endured. His head had cleared, and he remembered the visions that had given him a brief glimpse of another, more advanced world. High above the collapsed canopy of the forest he could see the traps he had set, and the great crimson birds sitting on their wings. At least they could carry the dream forward.
Ten minutes later, when the inflatable had been winched onto the deck, the cutter set off through the inlet. As it passed the western headland the lieutenant helped Christine toward the cabin. Johnson followed them, then pushed aside the government scientist and leapt from the rail, diving cleanly into the water. He struck out for the shore a hundred feet away, knowing that he was strong enough to climb the trees and release the birds, with luck a mating pair who would take him with them in their escape from time.