Read Reconception: The Fall for Free Online Page A

through the glass viewing port
of their land vehicle.
    "No!" Evie cried as Garret hurled himself forward to
prevent the action that might mean their death.
    The man stopped, the rock poised to strike, and
turned his head toward the sound of Evie's voice. Garret, trying to
prevent the destruction of their vehicle, almost had his head
crushed by that same rock as he lunged into the man. But the man
took the body blow as Garret slammed into him, stepped back, and
dropped the rock to the side. Garret fell forward and landed on his
knees.
    For a moment there was complete silence. Then
everyone started yelling. A sound akin to a roar from the lion man
brought the commotion to a halt. When all eyes were upon him, he
spoke. "Who are you?"
    His words were English, but with an odd inflection.
Looking at him more closely, Evie saw that the man's 'mane' was
actually his clothes, which were made of twisted rope, shiny beads,
and long lengths of homespun, woven together so that the ends of
the cloth and the rope trailed down his back like coarse hair.
"We're scientists from East USA. We're on a rescue mission to the
Southeast habitat," she said, while Garret got to his feet and
brushed the sand off himself. "My name is Evelyn Chandler and this
is Garret Walker."
    The three men were silent, waiting for more. Garret,
surprised, noted that the small, dark one was not a man, but a
woman. He stood straighter, and continued where Evie had left off.
"This is our vehicle. We need it to survive out here."
    The woman, brushing black hair from her face, moved
closer and fingered the material of Evie's jumpsuit. "Plastic," she
spat, and brushed her hand against her side as if it had touched
something dirty.
    It wasn't technically plastic, Evie thought, but a
complex organic molecule engineered from petroleum, that was
similar to rayon but longer wearing. All their clothes were made
from it. She was about to say this when she realized that, as a
generic term, 'plastic' was as good as any.
    The lion man observed this interplay and made no
comment. Studying the two strange ones and listening to them, he
felt oddly moved. He felt no evil from them, yet their clothes and
their vehicle indicated that they were involved with great
wickedness. Intrigued and mystified, he motioned for them all to
sit down.
    "I am Eye of Eagle of the Mountain people and this,"
he said, pointing to the woman, "is Teller. The man is Cries at the
Moon. You are not ... of the Earth?"
    Teller looked up sharply. What a question. Did he
think they were from another planet? She knew who they were.
Obviously, they were survivors of the Evildoers, those who had
disappeared when the works of their hands had caused the Great
Disasters of the last century and their own present misery.
    Garret tried to make sense of the question. "Not of
the Earth? What do you mean?"
    "I mean," answered Eye of Eagle, "are you of Earth
or are you other? Your clothes and vehicle indicate 'other,' yet I
feel no harm in you."
    "We are of the Earth," Evie said. "We are scientists
and our work ... "
    Teller interrupted, "Scientists are pawns of the
Evildoers."
    "But we are New Scientists," Garret said, thinking
quickly, "Our purpose is to restore the Earth and repair the damage
done by the Evildoers."
    Eye of Eagle mulled this over as he chewed on a
blade of grass. "You are descendants of these people." It was not a
question.
    Neither Evie nor Garret knew what to say. Cries at
the Moon, dull though he was in appearance, suddenly uttered a
sound of such intensity and dimension that it momentarily darkened
the sky (at least that was Evie's impression). "Why do you need
that wheeled thing?" he asked when the last echoes of his cry had
rebounded off the rocks.
    The man has an incredible voice, Garret thought—like
warm faux-chocolate sauce. "We can't survive out here. We carry
food, water, and clean air. We'd never get back home without
it.
    Teller laughed bitterly, "What's wrong with this
air?"
    Evelyn looked her in