Collected Tales (Jerry eBooks)

by Leslie F Stone

  In fact the variety of fruits, vegetables and other edibles seemed endless on Kal, and each day the explorers came back with different species to try out. There were a vast number of different species of flowers too. Nature seemed to have devoted herself to producing plant life on the globe instead of other manifestations, and Elsie, who loved flowers as another loves jewels, would come carrying bouquets of the monster blossoms. But one day she made an error. They ran afoul some strange plants with exotic flowers that resembled earthly orchids and which were scarcely any larger, being a parasitic growth, deriving nourishment from the more industrious plants. The flowers, whose tints included all the colors of the rainbow, were alluring, so much so that Ubca and Ezra joined Elsie in gathering armfuls. They were far away from the Yodverl, and as they walked back to the glade they commenced to feel uncomfortable. Ezra was the first to toss his burden away, but before they reached their clearing, the others had done the same thing, so that they could devote their hands to massaging their arms which had begun to itch alarmingly. Elsie suffered more than the others, for she had thrust her face a number of times into the midst of her bouquet to breathe more deeply of their cloying sweetness, and her face, as well as arms and hands, tingled with soreness. For two days thereafter they suffered a good dose of poisoning, for on reaching the Yodverl they found themselves breaking out with reddish hives wherever the velvety petals of the flowers had touched their skin. In a few hours the hives had broken into boils. The salves that they had did a great deal to alleviate the pain and the swellings, but Elsie stayed in her chamber rather than face the others with her sorry looking face. When they were cured, they were more than careful not to be deluded by too beautiful a flower.

  But the simplicity of their routine was soon to be broken, for one day Moura came seeking Elsie, Ubca and Urto.

  Ezra was enjoying his afternoon nap, and Elsie was helping Nancy shell some beans for the next meal, while Ubca and Urto were walking back and forth beside the lake. Looking up, Elsie saw Moura framed in the doorway and she saw how tired and weary he looked, but a smile was wreathing his silvery face. “He comes now, anyaka. He is following the river that empties into the lake and should arrive in a few hours. You will tell Ubca, Tor and Urto? It is best that all of us are within doors when he comes, for we do not want him frightened away, and the Yodverl will be strange enough to him. I am fatigued now and feel the need of rest. Will you see to it that the mitu are in their stable when the time draws near for him to arrive?

  “Aro[*] will see him here, I am certain.”

  Elsie called the two men from their stroll, and their faces brightened at the news that the waiting for action was over. They brought the cattle indoors and then spent the next two hours and a half anxiously waiting. For a while the three sat in the doorway talking in half whispers, as though the arriving creature might hear them already. They could only speculate as to what type of life their visitor was to represent. Was he man, animal or insect? They were prepared to find him different from themselves, and it was a relief to feel that the long trial of waiting was at end. But from their talk it could be seen that they all hoped that the creature should turn out to be a man, improbable though it was that it should be such.

  Slowly the time passed, and they all went indoors and made sure that they had left nothing in the clearing to disturb a creature of timidity, except the great shape of the Yodverl, that took up one large corner of the glade. Ezra had awakened and was consequently more excited than the adults. Moura came from his rest fresh and ready for his visitor. Then they all took their places in the pilot room where they could see without being seen.

  Hardly thirty minutes passed before he appeared in the clearing, hesitant and fearful, but the Solarites could not miss the power of his being, the defiance in his purposeful stride. He had come this far believing that a divine power had brought him, forcing him half across his world. Yet he was a priest and was not prepared to capitulate with the “Godthing,” unless he found it propitious to his own materialistic designs!

  CHAPTER XI

  Atun Wei

  AND what a creature he was! What part of his queer body was exposed was green, a vivid grass green, but that was the least of his strangeness. They had been wondering what sort of life he would be, and they had their answer in his beautiful, wide variegated wings, his slender upright body with its six arms and legs, his large multi-faceted eyes, and the antenna sticking up from his forehead like horns out of a mass of short stubby green fuzz. He was indubitably of the genus Lepidoptera or butterfly so common on Earth, only he had learned to walk upright and convert two pairs of his six legs into arms.

  He differed from the Earth breeds only in that his proboscis was short, no more than a few inches in length and resembled somewhat the nose of man, but his face had the flat vacant look of the butterfly and the wide large eyes with their thousands of facets spreading on right and left of the head gave him a terrifying appearance. His body was the body of the butterfly with the division of thorax and abdomen, the arms and legs rising from the jointed segments of his boneless body. The creature’s limbs were comparatively thin, and covered with a light fuzz; the hands forming little curved talons and the feet, long and thin with only the two pointed toes touching the ground, attested to the fact that he was not very much of a walker.

  In the matter of dress he wore what seemed an apron of leathery cloth held by a girdle about that part of his body that might be called his waist, with a collar of the same material, red in color, about the neck just under the strange ugly head. From a cord in the center of the collar dangled a large, round smooth stone that had been highly polished but appeared to the Solarites to have no intrinsic value—a piece of common granite. On the collar was written in dark paint, strange hieroglyphics.

  It was the wings that held the attention, however, for they were great powerful wings, rising a foot above the creature’s head, and he stood all of seven feet high. The color in them was splashed on in rough design in circles and dots, red, yellow, blue and violet on a background of pale green. There were two sections to each wing, the lower portion extending six inches beyond the other when widespread. A closer examination showed that one wing was drooping lower than the other, and since the creature bore a long stick in lieu of a cane in one hand, it was evident that the wing had been injured in the flight he had made.

  Now he was standing quietly on the edge of the glade beside the lake, hesitant, puzzled, the horns of his antenna waving before his face, while his wings quiveringly opened and shut. For half a dozen minutes he stood there studying the long cylindrical shape of the Yodverl trying to learn its meaning, knowing that this was the end of his strange quest.

  And for their part, those in the ship eyed him, too, not knowing what to think or do. It was Moura who broke the silence by signifying that he was going out to meet his guest, cautioning the others to stay indoors for fear that, if more than one of them appear, the butterfly creature might turn and run. Elsie had already classified him for what he was, but now she grew fearful for Moura, remembering her presentiments of evil of a week ago, but Moura waved aside her fears. He pointed to the fact that the creature carried no weapon other than his stick, and he knew for certain that he was intelligent. He would seek to learn who the silver man was, before daring to attack him. So the door was opened and Moura stepped into the sunlight.

  They saw the mammoth butterfly start in surprise at Moura’s sudden appearance, but he did not retreat. Instead he held his place waiting, then after a moment moved slowly toward the man, using his walking stick to support him as he teetered on his delicate feet. Elsie thought he reminded her of a Chinese woman she had seen once, as he swayed forward, taking short mincing steps. As he advanced toward the silver man, the others saw him in profile and were astonished to see that his body did not end below the hips of his legs as they had supposed, but that the abdomen extended between them and below.

  In the center of the clearing, the two came together, and now Mour
a attempted to explain through his telepathic powers something of why he had brought Atun Wei thither. The strange immovable eyes of the Dadan (for such he was) showed nothing of his emotions, but several times he was seen to nod and his antenna waved above his head. In height he was about six inches taller than Moura, and as if realizing the fact, the others saw him raise himself still higher on his toes so that he appeared to tower high above the Abruian and to be deriving pleasure from that fact.

  MOURA was inviting him into the Yodverl with a wave of his hand. With his lively antenna active, Atun Wei followed him. Nothing he saw seemed to surprise or shock him, but his queer eyes were seen to flick and flash with an inner light as they took in all he saw, without the need of turning the head. Nor did he make any motion at all when Moura introduced him to those gathered in the pilot room.

  Elsie immediately found herself hating the creature and wishing that Moura had never found him in the Venerian telescope. Her intuition told her that here was an ambitious, scheming personality that coldly accepted from others all that would aid him in his own selfish motives. This creature knew not the meaning of fellowship or friendship, and would betray either to gain his own ends. There was nothing of the kindlier emotions such as love or pity in his make up and he was one who would gayly profit by these qualities in others.

  Nor did Ezra or Nancy like him. Ezra stayed close to his mother whenever the butterfly was about, while Nancy was seen to make several cabalistic motions when she had reason to come near him, believing him some demon out of a voodooish hell, no doubt.

  Moura spoke: “Our friend, Atun Wei, has come a long way and he is weary. He also injured a wing on the way. If Urto will bring food, I will in the meantime inspect his wound, then he can be allowed to rest and overcome his fatigue.”

  Urto hurried away to seek food while Moura got out salve for the treatment of the wing. Atun Wei stood quietly on his stilt-like legs while he was administered to, and ate the food brought him quickly though daintily, sucking it up through his proboscis with a sibilant sound without leaving a single crumb on the plate, then waited for what was to come next. It was hard for the human beings to accustom themselves to his unchanging expression and never knowing where his eyes were turned. He could take in everything about him without moving his head.

  When his needs had been fulfilled, Moura led Atun Wei to one of the sleeping chambers and saw that he was comfortably settled there on the couch before he left him. In lying on the couch, the Dadan merely climbed upon it, doubled his arms and legs beneath him with his wings stretching to the ceiling stiffly upright, and immediately began to nod, while his eyes still stared uncannily. It was hard for Elsie to realize that this creature was anything more than a gigantic butterfly at rest.

  Joining the others, Moura set about to tell them something of what he had learned from Atun Wei, for although Ubca, Urto and even Ezra had been able to follow parts of the conversation that had gone on between Moura and the butterfly, they had only grasped a little of it.

  Atun Wei, as the creature named himself, had accepted the fact that this expedition had come from another planet in all complacency, and like the Yadans, was glad to leave it at that, without further questioning for the present. But he had wanted to know why Moura had called him hither; why of all his people he had sought him out! Moura, adverse to divulge his true purpose as yet, merely explained that since they feared that his race would have resented, if it had not been frightened by the coming of the Solarites, he, Moura, had sought out a brain equal to accept them for what they were, and to aid them in becoming acquainted with this world.

  It was evident to Moura that Atun Wei was impressed strongly by this statement, and consequently took upon himself another increase in stature. This proved to make him feel more warmly toward Moura than he had heretofore felt, and during the few days that he stayed aboard the Yodverl he showed a preference for Moura, who had so wisely touched his ego, for he was always willing to show as much diffidence and consideration as his own cold nature would allow.

  When several hours later the butterfly-“man” awoke from his rest, he came forth seeking his hosts. The sleep seemed to have improved his manners, and he showed more curiosity in his surroundings, trying in several ways to make up for his previous coolness. At Moura’s request he told something of the history of Kal, but Moura was quick to discover that Atun Wei was himself vague in regard to the entire record, and what he told of the early history coincided with that of the Yadans, that once the world had been filled with myriad insects of possibly several hundreds of different species, of which at present there were scarcely more than a dozen left, and these in turn were all subjugated to the Dadan, or Butterfly Race, whose members in turn were the most intelligent and powerful.

  The butterflies, who called their race Dada, had slowly gone about exterminating one after another of the various insects, preserving only those who proved to be beneficial to their own being. The bees, or Yadans, they left almost entirely alone, in return for the yearly tribute of Royal Jelly which they themselves discovered to be a fine preservative against age, lengthening their life span of about twenty-eight years to three and sometimes four times its natural duration.

  As for himself, Atun Wei explained that he held a position of trust in his nation, being nothing less than High Priest of the Temple of Dada, virtually the ruler of the nation itself! It was from his brain that Moura discovered more than the creature desired to divulge, and which confirmed his deepest suspicions, based on what he had learned on Venus of this butterfly man, who had within him all the ambitions that he himself had once entertained upon Abrui. Atun Wei would not be content until he had all the world of Kal in his grasp! Nor would he hesitate in behalf of his fellow man in obtaining the place he desired, any more than he had hesitated in obtaining his present position. The individual was to him nothing more than a pawn that he moved on the chessboard of his own devising. And Moura-weit intended to change all that!

  When Moura explained all this to Elsie, she more than once wanted to ask what difference it made to him what this creature did. What right had he to intervene between Atun Wei and his people? Were these not after all nothing more than insects, comparable to the insects of her own world, a menace that would well be done away with? But she was aware after all that, insects though they were, Nature or God had seen fit to give them intelligence, hearts and souls, no doubt; and because of this knowledge she did not voice her opinions to her husband, knowing instead that he would become disgusted with her earthly outlook. It was only because Moura was more engrossed with the problems of this world, that he did not sense what was passing through Elsie’s mind. Though it is doubtful if he would have acted any differently anyway. In all probability there was nothing that could have saved them all from the great trials that were to come to them.

  At his worst, Moura had been at least a man, a human being with potential emotions of remorse, and the power to realize his own failings once he had been shown the error of his ways. But was this butterfly creature endowed with these man-like attributes? Was he not after all cold-blooded and remorseless without the milk of human kindness in his being? True, he had a mind, a reasoning intelligence, but beyond that, what? Did not the ants, did not the bees of Earth also have intelligence of a sort, even though that intelligence encompassed only the ability to protect the home, to build a strong fortress against the future, to keep life a pulsing, everlasting thing? Could they feel pity, love, hate, desire? Was it that their intelligence was bound only in the home, to protect and respect above all else?

  There again was the question. This Atun Wei had ambition, and Elsie was sure that ants or bees had no ambition except for the common lot of all, they were unable to consider self. If, then, Atun Wei could consider self, was he not of a higher order than the insects of earth, was he not a creature to be reckoned with, reasoned with? Elsie had to admit all this to herself, as she had to admit that perchance Atun Wei had the potentials of remorse and passion within him, and th
erefore was a fair subject for her husband’s kindly intent. She doubted if Atun Wei would willingly see the light when Moura let his intentions be known, and she shivered as she thought of what might happen when that time was to come. Atun Wei would not be one easily coerced from his self-appointed road, any more than Moura could have been led away from his ambitions, had not his nation suffered at the hands of Richard Dorr. Were they to be involved in a war on this distant world?

  CHAPTER XII

  The City of Tel

  IT was a week that Atun Wei spent in the Yodverl, for though he had invited the Solarites to the city of Tel, the capital of the nation, Moura was adverse to going there until all his preparations were complete. These preparations consisted of constructing a new device whereby the people of the Yodverl could learn to understand the language of their hosts. When with the Yadans Moura had understood that their spoken language was of such a high pitch as to be wholly inaudible to the ears of the Solarites, just as their own deeper tones could not be heard by the insects, and he had found that the same thing was true of Atun Wei.

  And, on discovering that the butterfly creature had no evident vocal chords, he had quickly come to the conclusion that Atun Wei’s antenna served a double purpose, if not a third. One purpose was for the means of hearing, the second for speaking, the third for smelling out the odors about him. It was undoubtedly a very high frequency wave that the insect used to “broadcast” with and to “receive” upon, and after many hours of experiment with him, Moura discovered its wave-length. It was an unusually short wave, and Moura made some other discoveries, for Atun Wei did not hear anything unless it was in his particular wave or frequency. A loud noise right at his antenna did not register at all. unless it reached the pitch that he was accustomed to!