Night of Light

by Philip José Farmer

  Carmody did not tell Lieftin that this approach had been tried more than once. Sometimes, it worked. But often it had just the opposite effect. It aroused curiosity, even desire.

  Carmody lit a cigarette. Lieftin sniffed. Carmody said, "You used to chain-smoke. Was it hard for you to give up the habit?"

  "No, praise the Lord. I never felt a moment's temptation from the instant I saw the light. Never! I gave up the evils of tobacco, alcohol, and fornication. And I thank the Lord that He has shielded me from all temptation since."

  "Tobacco and alcohol can be evil if their use is abused," Carmody said. "But moderation is a virtue, too. Usually, anyway."

  "Don't you believe it, Carmody. When fighting evil, it's all or none."

  He hesitated, then said, "By the way, maybe I should not bring up the old days. But whatever happened to the Staronif? I remember we all had to take off that night. I just barely escaped the guards and their wego. I heard later that Raspold almost caught you, but you tricked him. I never did hear what happened to the Staronif. You get away with it?"

  "I escaped from Raspold because he was treed by a lugar," Carmody said, referring to a huge felinoid carnivore of the planet of Tulgey. "I almost made it back to our ship, but then I got treed, too. The lugar was coming up after me; don't believe those stories about their being too big to climb trees. I had only one weapon because I'd emptied all my ammo clips during the running battle with the guards. That weapon was the Staronif.

  "I shoved it down the lugar's throat, and it swallowed the Staronif. The last I saw of the lugar, it was running through the forest, screaming as if it had the grandfather of all bellyaches."

  "God!" Leiftin said. Then, "Sorry, I didn't mean to use the Lord's name in vain. But the Staronif! Ten million giffords lost in a cat's stomach. What a fortune you could have made! And all those months of planning and all that money you spent getting things set up!"

  Carmody chuckled and said, "It didn't seem funny then. Now, I laugh about it. Somewhere in that big dark forest, the most valuable jewel in the Galaxy lies inside the skeleton of a lugar."

  Lieftin wiped his forehead with a handkerchief he took from his sleeve. Carmody looked at it, for he wondered if the handkerchief still had a little steel ball sewed in one corner. Lieftin had been famous once for snapping it in a man's eye during a fight and often removing the eye. Now, there was no sign of it.

  The stewardess announced takeoff. Ten minutes later, ship's time, the White Mule was in the atmosphere of Kareen. In another ten minutes, it had landed in the light of the late afternoon sun.

  Again Carmody went through inspection. He lost sight of Lieftin until he was on the way to the exit from the spaceport. As he passed the door to the washroom (designed for male bipeds of non-Kareenan origin), the door swung open. And he saw Lieftin stubbing out a cigarette in an ashtray.

  Lieftin looked up at the same time. He started, then charged out and seized Carmody's arm.

  "Forgive me, Carmody, I lied to you. I do feel temptation now and then. But I usually fight it off with the Lord's help. Only, this time, I fell. Maybe because this trip is making me very nervous. You know, coming to a place so besotted with evil."

  "This place is no more evil than any other place," Carmody said. "Don't worry. I don't judge you. I won't laugh at you or tell anybody about this. Forget about it. Excuse me. I think the official delegates are about to greet me."

  He had seen his old friend Tand enter the main room. Tand did not look much older than when he had last seen him. There were a few gray streaks in the feathery hair of his head, and he looked a little heavier than Carmody remembered him. But he was the same happy-looking fellow, his blue-tinged teeth showing in a grin. Nor had his present important position changed his manner of dress. He still wore inexpensive and conservative clothes.

  Tand strode toward him, his arms out and called, "John Carmody! Welcome!"

  They embraced. Tand said, in English,"How are you, Father?" He grinned, and Carmody knew that Tand was using the title in a double sense.

  "I'm fine," Carmody replied in Kareenan. "And you, Father Tand?"

  He used the word pwelch, which was reserved for a Father of Yess.

  Tand stepped back and said, "I'm as happy as can be under the present conditions. Oh. . ." He turned to the other Kareenans, behind him. "Allow me to introduce. . ."

  Carmody greeted each with the formal combination of handshake and dipping of both knees. The four were members of the government: a secret-police official, a priest, an enthnologist, and a secretary of the head of the world state.

  All seemed interested in what had brought Carmody back to their planet. Abog, the secretary of Rilg, the state head, was a young man, very personable, but he had something in his bearing -- or was it his voice? -- that Carmody mistrusted.

  Abog said, "We were hoping that you had come to announce your conversion to Boontism."

  "I have come to talk to Yess," Carmody said.

  Tand took charge. "Would you like to go now to your hotel room? Inasmuch as you are one of the Seven, the government has reserved one of the best suites. At state expense, of course."

  Tand suggested to the others that they must be very busy. They took the hint and said good-bye. But Abog, before leaving, insisted that Carmody give him an appointment, that very evening, if possible. The priest replied that he would be happy to talk to him.

  After the officials had left, Tand conducted Carmody to his car. The vehicle was a low-graviton unit, as were most of those on the street.

  "Change," Tand said. "It's everywhere in the universe, even on our off-the-beaten-path planet. Population has quadrupled. New industries, founded on Federation technology and sometimes on Federation loans, have sprung up by the thousands."

  Tand drove; Carmody looked out the window. The massive stone structures with the carved grinning or snarling faces were as before.

  There were more people in the streets, and they wore clothes of a style definitely influenced by Federation garments.

  "The city you know," Tand said, "is about the same. But around it, covering what used to be farmlands or woods, is a great new city. It's not made of stone, not made to last. Too many people too soon. We can no longer afford to take our time in building."

  "It's like that everywhere," Carmody replied. "Tell me, are you still connected with the police?"

  "No more. But I have influence. Any Father has. Why?"

  "A man named Al Lieftin came in on the White Mule with me. Years ago, he was a hired killer. He's traveling under his own name now, so I presume he was mogrified at Hopkins or a similar institution. He claims now to be a diaconus of the Rockbottom Church of God. His story may be true. If we had time, we could check on him. But we don't. And there's a possibility he may be the assassin sent by Earth fanatics to kill Yess. You know of that, don't you?"

  "I've heard. I'll put the police on Lieftin's trail. But they'll have a hard time keeping an eye on him, unless they place him under house arrest. Once he's out in the pre-Night festival crowds, he can easily give them the slip. Or disappear without trying."

  "What're the chances of house arrest?"

  "None at all. He could kick up too much of a fuss. The authorities don't want to offend a Federation citizen unless they have a very good reason."

  Carmody was silent for a while. Then he said, "There is another man whom I would like watched. But I hesitate to say anything about him. This is such a personal thing, big for me but little in comparison with the plot against Yess."

  He told his friend about the threats from the man who called himself Fratt. Tand was thoughtful. Finally, he said, "You think the Earthman Abdu could be Fratt?"

  "Possibly but not very probably. The time element is against it. How would he have learned of my sudden decision to come here?"

  "The explanation might be very easy if you knew what he did. I'll have someone shadow him. The police will be too busy with the crowds to spare anybody. But I'll get a private operative."


  Tand stopped the car in front of their destination. The Kareenan equivalent of a bellhop loaded Carmody's baggage on a graviton sled, and the two proceeded straight to Carmody's suite. Since Tand had made arrangements, there was no registration to go through. But a group of reporters tried to interview Carmody. Tand waved them away. Even though they were as aggressive as their Terrestrial counterparts, they obeyed Tand, a Father of Yess.

  Where once the two would have had to walk up great curving flights of stairs, they now shot up in a graviton cage. So wide were the stairwells, it had not been necessary to cut into the stairs to make space for elevator shafts.

  "This building has always been a hotel," Tand said."It may be the oldest hotel in the universe. It was built more than five thousand years ago."

  He spoke with pride. "It has been occupied so long that it is said a man with a keen nose may detect the odor of flesh, absorbed by the stones during the ages of habitation."

  The cage stopped at the seventh floor, a lucky number and also chosen to honor Carmody as one of the Seven Fathers. His room was nearly two hectometers down the broad stone-walled corridor. The doors to the rooms were of iron, almost bank vault thick. Like many Kareenan doors, they were not hinged on one side but pivoted on pins in the middle. So secure were the rooms behind the doors, the occupants stayed inside during their Sleep instead of going into the mass vaults provided by the government.

  Carmody investigated his three-room suite. The beds were carved out from the wall blocks, and the tables were fashioned from granite projections of the floor blocks.

  "They don't build like this any more," Tand said with a shade of sadness. He poured out some thick dark-red wine into two multi-faceted cups of white-and-red veined wood. The wine descended slowly as if it were molten granite itself. "To your health, John."

  "To yours. And to good men and women everywhere, whatever their form, and to the redemption of the lost, and God bless the children."

  He drank and found the liquor was not sweet, as he had expected. It was very close to being bitter. Somehow, it did not become so. Instead, the tang became very pleasurable, and a glow spread through him and then, seemingly, out from him. The duskiness of the room became golden.

  Tand offered him another cup. Carmody refused with thanks. "I want to see Yess. How soon before I can?"

  Tand smiled. "You haven't changed your impetuousness. Yess is just as eager to see you as you are to see him. But he has many duties; being a god doesn't exempt him from the labors of a mortal. I'll go see him -- his secretary, rather -- and make an appointment."

  "Whenever he wants," Carmody said. He chuckled. "Although it doesn't show much filial piety for a son to keep his long-absent Father waiting."

  "You are thrice welcome, John. However, your presence is a little embarrassing -- or could be. You see the populace knows of you but not much about you. Very few have heard about your not being a worshiper of Boonta. When this becomes general knowledge, it could create much doubt and confusion in the simple-minded. Even in the more sophisticated. How could a Father not be one of Boonta's faithful?"

  "My own Church has asked me that. And I do not know. I've seen dozens of so-called miracles here, enough to stagger sextillions of infidels. Surely enough to convince the hardest-headed materialist. But I had no desire to convert.

  "As a matter of fact, though I was not an atheist when I left Kareen for Earth, I had no inclination for any particular religion. While I was in Hopkins, I had a very strange -- and essentially inexplicable -- experience. It was this that led me into the Church. But I forgot. I wrote you about that."

  Tand rose from his chair and said, "I'm off to see Yess. I'll phone you later."

  He kissed the priest and left.

  Carmody unpacked and then bathed in a tub the interior of which had been worn deep by friction from five millenia of running water and sliding flesh. He had no sooner dressed than the huge iron knocker on the door clanged. He freed the bolt and began to open the door, pushing on one side to let it swing outward. Though massive, the door was perfectly balanced and revolved as lightly as a ballerina on tiptoes.

  Carmody stepped back and raised his hand to stop the inward-swinging half. At the same time, the Kareenan male in the hallway dipped his hand into his open beltbag. Carmody did not wait. Old reflexes took over. He jumped forward, hurled himself against the side of the door moving out into the hall. The Kareenan, drawing the automatic from the bag, had started to enter on the inward-swinging side. Apparently, he had intended to run in and shoot Carmody. He must have hoped to be concealed long enough by the door to confuse his victim.

  Instead, the other side of the door was impelled by Carmody's shoulder driving against it. The entire assembly swung around much more swiftly than the assassin had planned. And the right-hand side came around and caught him as he recovered and turned. The weight sent him staggering backward. Carmody saw his look of surprise before the door, making a complete rotation, lost its momentum and closed the entrance again.

  Then, the door swung out again as the Kareenan inside the room lunged at it, probably in a fury or panic to get to his man before he ran down the hallway. Carmody knew he could not run fast enough to reach the distant corner before the Kareenan got out. The hall was deserted, and there were no other doors open for him to take refuge behind.

  He leaped in after the in-swinging section of the door. He heard a yelp of surprise and rage. Swiftly, Carmody stopped the door and shot the bolt. He was safe, for the moment, anyway. He ran to the phone and called the desk clerk. Within a minute, the hotel police were outside his door. The assassin, of course, was gone.

  Carmody answered questions of the police, and, a little later, of the city police. No, he did not know the Kareenan. Yes, he had been threatened by a man named Fratt. Carmody described the letter from him and said that Tand had already promised to take care of the matter.

  The police left, but two guards were posted outside the door. It was unthinkable that a Father should be exposed to attack, now it was known his life was in danger. Carmody did not care for the guards because they would hamper his movements. However, he did not think he would have much trouble in losing them.

  While he calmed his nerves with another cup of wine, he puzzled. Had the Kareenan been hired by Fratt? It did not seem very likely. Fratt would want a personal revenge; his own hand would have to inflict whatever torture of death he was planning.

  He wondered about Lieftin. If the man was not what he seemed to be, if his diaconus speech and appearance were a disguise, if he were the assassin hired by the Earth fanatics, he might want to kidnap Carmody. He might hope to get some information from Carmody about Yess.

  Carmody finished the wine and began pacing back and forth. He was not able to leave his room because he did not want to miss a call from Tand, but it made him nervous to wait.

  His phone rang. He passed his hand over the screen, and it came alive. Abog, secretary to the world government head, looked out at him.

  "I'm a little early, Father. But I'm very eager to talk to you. May I come up?"

  Carmody consented. A few minutes later, the knocker clanged. Carmody opened the door a trifle and peeked out. The guards must have been impressed by Abog's splendid clothes and his credentials, for they were rigid with attention.

  The secretary entered, and, immediately thereafter, the phone rang again. This time, an Earthman's face was on the screen.

  "Job Gilson," he said in English. "ETS. I was told you wanted to see me."

  Gilson was a man of middle age. He had a fair, lightly freckled complexion and brown hair. His features were so regular they made no impression. It was an easily forgotten face -- valuable for an agent of Extra-Terrestrial Security.

  "Can you wait? I have a visitor."

  "I'm used to waiting," Gilson said. He smiled. "Just a glorified flatfoot."

  Carmody passed his hand over the screen, and it went brown. He offered Abog a drink; the Kareenan accepted.

  "Normally,
I wouldn't rush into this," Abog said. "Unfortunately, time does not permit the usual diplomatic delays. So, I won't offend the Father if I come to the point?"

  "On the contrary. You'd offend me if you slithered around like a snake on oil, that is to say, like a politician. I like directness."

  "Very well. However, you should know something first about the extent of the authority vested in me. Also, something about our governmental structure, and about the man at its head. I think. . ."

  "I think your good intentions about going straight to the heart of the matter are being betrayed by your training. Never mind all the extraneous stuff."

  Abog looked upset, but he rallied with a quick show of bluish teeth. "All right. The only thing is, I wanted you to realize that my government would never pry into your personal life or your beliefs -- not at any other time, that is. Now, we must ask. . ."

  "Ask."

  Abog sucked in a deep breath, then said, "Have you or have you not come to announce your conversion to Boontism?"

  "Is that all? No, I am not converting. I am firm in my faith."

  "Oh."

  Abog seemed disappointed. After a silence and a long stare past Carmody, he said, "Perhaps, you could use your influence as a Father to, uh, well, dissuade Yess."

  "I don't know that I have any influence. Dissuade him from what?"

  "Frankly, my chief, Rilg, is worried. If Yess makes the decision that all stay Awake, the effect will be catastrophic. Those who survive may be 'good', 'purified', but how many will live through the Night? The statisticians predict that over three-fourths of the population will die. Think of that, Father. Three-fourths! Kareenan civilization will be wiped out."

  "Does Yess know this?"

  "He has been told. He agrees that the statisticians may be correct. But he doesn't think they have to be. He maintains that there is a good reason why Yess usually triumphs over Algul during the Night. The majority of the Sleepers are, quote, good, unquote. Their dreaming state reflects their true desires. And these desires somehow affect those who stay Awake. Therefore, Yess wins.