Page 58 - Tales Apocalyptic and Dystopian

High Tex and the Orbies

there. In space. On the space station. The mythical modern ark no
man on earth in his right mind would seriously consider to exist and
every serious lunatic considered the abode of superhuman deities.
“Ottley D. Nye,” replied High Tex, in a more respectful voice than
Ottley had yet heard. “He found the boy and brought him here fast,
before any damage could occur. I sent my agents as high into the
mountains as they could go, just as you asked.”
“And how did he know what to look for?”
“Mr. Nye is a man of some considerable medical and scientific
knowledge. He was on his way to becoming a doctor when the
Ecospasm hit.”
The man made a dismissive gesture with his free hand. “Bring in
the boy.”
High Tex banged on the wall.
Ottley studied the Orbie, testing his perceptions against the
received ignorance a few paranoid terrestrial survivors held as dogma:
America’s elite, having its hands on both the levers of astronautic
construction and industrial contamination, saw the impending
cataclysm, did nothing to halt it but created a plan to preserve
themselves or their offspring high above the horrendous
consequences of their reckless technology. If there were such a
conspiracy, if its perpetrators had succeeded in evacuating the planet
in time, and if they could remain alive in orbit all these decades, then,
reasoned Ottley, this man could be one of them. The grown child of
privilege, himself a victim of a different dogma—one, perhaps, in
which the escapees were favored by divine will and entrusted with a
mission to recolonize earth after the last sinner below had been
expunged by a blight well-deserved.
Daniel entered the room, as unhesitatingly greeting the Orbie as he
had the peregrinating peddler. And, as Tex had predicted, Ottley was
soon forgotten. Under questioning, the boy repeated the same story
of his origins, exile and arrival at the Provisioner’s place of business.
While he was talking, the Orbie gave him a physical examination
employing medical tools Ottley had not seen in years: stethoscope,
sphygmomanometer, otoscope and speculum. These instruments
came out of the Orbie’s backpack. Then he drew a few drops of
blood from Daniel’s thumb. The lad did not resist. Ottley wondered
how much High Tex knew about the Orbies and to what extent he

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