Night of Light

by Philip José Farmer

  "The Terrestrial, Lieftin, escaped over an hour ago," he said. "Apparently, he used some sort of thermite to melt the bars over the windows and lowered himself by a rope he must have had in his luggage. We have an all-points out for him, but he is in a costume. He had it delivered by a bellhop."

  "Check on the Terrestrial, Raphael Abdu, for me, will you?" Carmody said. "Do you know where Gilson is?"

  "Gilson left shortly after Lieftin escaped. Wait. We'll check on Abdu for the Father."

  Carmody's watch indicated five minutes passed before the officer's face appeared again. He said, "The Terrestrial Abdu is in his room, Father."

  His face disappeared, but his voice said, "Just a moment."

  Apparently, he was talking to somebody else. "All right," the policeman muttered. His face came back. "Gilson just sent in a message for you. You're to call him at this number."

  Carmody spoke the number given him into the receiver. Gilson's face came into view. Loud voices and laughter came through the receiver.

  "I'm in a tavern on Wiilgrar and Tuwdon Streets," Gilson said. "Just a minute while I put my mask back on. I took it off so you'd be sure it was me."

  "What's up?" Carmody said. "By the way, I know about Lieftin's escape."

  "You do? Well, I tailed him. He's in the tavern here, talking with another fellow. A Kareenan, I'm sure. I got a good look at his fingernails and the back of his neck. Lieftin is dressed in a brown costume that's supposed to represent some sort of animal. The Kareenan equivalent of a deer, I guess. His mask is an animal face with antlers. His buddy is dressed in a catlike outfit."

  Probably Ardour and Eeshquur, Carmody thought. He knew enough about the prominent figures of Kareenan mythology and fairy tale to identify them. But he did not take time to acquaint Gilson with his knowledge.

  "Can you stick around there until I get a taxi? I'll tell you what happened to me later."

  He cut Gilson off and phoned for a taxi. It was ten minutes before one showed up. However, stimulated by the large sum of money Carmody offered, the driver broke every traffic law as the opportunity offered itself. Carmody could not complain that the trip took longer than it should.

  Tiiwit's Tavern was well off the main street of the city of Rak, but it was crowded tonight. The festive mobs had spilled out this way after the parade had broken up. Gilson, costumed in the trogur dress similar to the priest's, was waiting outside. Carmody talked with him for a minute, then followed him in.

  Lieftin and the Kareenan were sitting at a table in the shadowy rear. The Kareenan was gesticulating in a manner that reminded Carmody of someone he had met recently. When the Kareenan got up and went to the washroom, his walk identified him.

  "It's Abog," Carmody said to Gilson, "Rilg's secretary. Now, what in hell is he doing here talking with Lieftin?"

  Abog would not be doing this on his own, just for pleasure. Was his boss, Rilg, a member of the Algulist underground? He could have heard of the assassin sent by the Earth fanatics and decided to use him for his own purposes.

  "Listen, Gilson," Carmody said, "we'd better be careful from now on when we're dealing with the police. Some of them may be working for Rilg. You get out of here and go back to the hotel. If I'm picked up, I stand a better chance of careful treatment. I'll stick close to Lieftin."

  Gilson said, "I hate to let you do it."

  "I know this world better than you. Besides, unless you're planning to Night, you won't be here much longer."

  The operative left, wishing Carmody good luck. The priest stood by the bar for a while, sipping Kareenan beer. When a couple rose from a table near Lieftin's and staggered out, Carmody seated himself. So noisy was the tavern, he could not hear what Lieftin and Abog were saying. It was unfortunate that he had not taken a tapper with him. With it, he could have beamed in on the two and eavesdropped.

  Abruptly, the two rose and walked swiftly toward the door. Carmody waited a moment before following. Evidently they were on the alert, for Abog kept glancing behind him. The two went out the door when Carmody was halfway across the room.

  A moment later, three policemen appeared in the doorway, blocking it. Carmody stopped and looked back. More policemen were coming through the back door.

  Could Abog and Lieftin have spotted him or Gilson? Carmody did not believe it. More likely, they were just taking precautions -- making sure that anyone trying to follow them would be held up by the police.

  Carmody angled off, staggering, toward the washroom. He went through the door just as whistles shrilled and the alarmed patrons began to shout. Unobserved, he went through the open window of the washroom.

  As he dropped like a cat onto the paved alley, a voice said, "Hold it! Hands above the head!"

  Lifting his hands, Carmody turned. He saw a policeman standing there with a gun pointed at him.

  "Turn back around! Hands on the wall! Quick!"

  "I ain't doing nothing, officer!" Carmody whined in lower-class Kareenan. He started to obey, then lifted his mask, flipped it at the policeman's face and continued his turn, violently. The policeman said, "Ugh!" The gun fired, and the bullet exploded against the stone wall. Flying stone chips struck Carmody. He rolled into the officer's legs, knocked him over forward. Before the officer could get up, he found Carmody astride his back. Then he went limp as the priest pressed with his thumbs on the areas just behind the ears.

  Carmody picked up the gun and mask. As he ran toward the far end of the alley, he put the mask on and stuck the gun in his belt. There were whistles behind him, then shouts. As Carmody threw himself forward on the ground, bullets shattered chips off the wall ahead of him. He kept on rolling around the corner, was up on his feet and running again. Within a minute, he was back in the street and mingling with the crowd. A police car drove slowly through the mob, its siren hooting. Carmody stood by and watched it go.

  There was not much for him to do now; he had lost Abog and Lieftin. He might as well go back to the hotel.

  From the hotel lobby, he phoned Gilson's room. There was no reply. He called Tand and was told by a servant that Tand was not expected back until early in the morning. Carmody went up to his floor with two policemen, unlocked the door, and asked them to search his suite. They reported that it was empty of intruders and seemed to contain no suspicious devices. He thanked them and bolted the door after them.

  After drinking a cup of wine, Carmody made up his bed to look as if someone were sleeping under the covers. He spread a blanket under a table and, concealed by the heavy tablecloth, curled up and went to sleep.

  He awoke with the phone ringing on the table above him. Instead of rolling out and springing up to the phone, he peered from beneath the tablecloth. The morning light was filtering through the iron bars and the double glass of the windows. All looked safe, so he crawled out from under the table. His muscles were stiff and sore from the exertions of the night before and his cramped position.

  Tand was calling. He looked as if he had slept even less well than Carmody. His face was drawn, and there were harsh lines raying out from the corners of his nostrils down to the edges of his lips. Nevertheless, he smiled.

  "Did you enjoy your first night's stay at our hotel?"

  "It wasn't boring," Carmody replied. He looked at the clock on the wall. "Almost lunch time. I slept through breakfast."

  "I have good news," Tand said. "Yess will see you tonight. At the hour of the thrugu."

  "Very good. Now, tell me, do you think there's a chance our line is being tapped?"

  "Who knows? It could be. Why?"

  "I'd like to talk to you. Right now. It's very important."

  "I haven't slept all night," Tand said. "But then who does at this time? All right. Why don't you come to my place? Or would you prefer another place?"

  "Your house could be bugged."

  Tand lost his smile. "It's that bad? Very well. I'll drive myself, pick you up in front of the hotel. I'll be there in half an hour."

  While waiting in his room, Carmody wal
ked back and forth, his arms swinging violently up and down as if he were striding across fields on a hike. The name Fratt beat like a gavel. Fratt! Fratt! Who was Fratt? Where? When? Why?

  He had an excellent memory, undimmed and unblocked. He remembered well the hideous crimes he had committed. There had been a time when he had thought the only way he would be able to stop remembering them would be to kill himself. That was long ago. Now, he could visualize all he had done, but it was as if he were looking at someone else.

  But why could he not summon the man Fratt from the past?

  He ran through the names of all the victims he could recollect. There were many. Then he tried to visualize the anonymous faces, of which there were also many.

  By the time he had to leave his room, he had given up. He also had a slight headache, something he had not suffered for many years. Was it caused by his conscience? Was there still something lurking in his unconscious, when he thought he had cleansed himself of guilt and remorse?

  He walked out of the hotel door just as Tand drove up in a long sleek black car. Its right door opened before Carmody got to it, and it closed after Carmody settled himself beside Tand in the front seat.

  "This is a Ghruzha," Tand said with some pride. "It is modeled after the Earth GM Stego, you'll notice."

  Tand left the main street and drove to a residential district. He stopped the car by a children's playground. "Don't worry about tappers beaming in on us," he said. "I have a scrambler working."

  Carmody told his friend of the previous night's happenings.

  Tand said, "I've suspected something of the sort. But there's nothing we can do. We don't have any concrete evidence on which to act. Now, we could confront Abog with your accusations, but what could we do with them? In the first place, you don't really know whether or not the man in the Eeshquur costume was Abog. You may be sure, but you can't, in the legal sense, positively identify him. Moreover, say you could. So he was talking to an Earthman in a tavern. Is that anything unusual during the pre-Night festival? And he could claim he didn't even know that Lieftin was an Earthman."

  "No, he couldn't," Carmody said. "I doubt that Lieftin can speak Kareenan like a native."

  "You can't prove anything," Tand said in English. "However, as you Terrestrials say, forewarned is four-armed."

  Carmody laughed, for he appreciated the pun. Tand had made the sign that Kareenan children and superstitious rurals used to ward off the evil spirit Duublow, who is supposed to have four arms with which he catches unwary travelers at crossroads before devouring them.

  Tand continued, "Rilg may not be an Algulist at all. He may think of himself as a very devout Yessite. But he is chief of our government, and his first concern will be the survival of the state and the welfare of Kareen. I don't envy his position. He'll be torn between his religious inclination to accept whatever his god says and his desire to preserve the status quo. Plus his doubts about his own ability to survive the Night. The last element is, I would say, the strongest in him, as it will be in most people.

  "However, what he can't see, as the majority can't see, is that a purge has to be faced up to at some time. So why not now, no matter how painful? Believe me, the very resistance that so many have expressed illustrates how shallow the faith of most is. It's easy to follow the most popular religion, to worship the victorious god. But when you're called on to make the supreme test, that's different."

  "Yess is separating the men from the boys?"

  "That's a good way to put it."

  "But the children!"

  Tand grimaced. "I don't relish the idea. But the whole idea would be defeated if they were not subjected to the Night."

  "That's not logical," the priest said. "Suppose the Night does leave none but the good to breed? What about their children? You can't say that goodness -- whatever that is by your definition -- is a genetic trait."

  " No, but children tend, generally, to be what their parents are. In any case, it won't matter. Because, once Yess decrees a general Waking, there will be no more Sleeping. All will go through every Night."

  "All right. I can see there's no use arguing about this particular point. So, what are you going to do about Rilg and Abog?"

  "Enforce the precautions taken to guard Yess. And to guard you. I've already had your belongings moved to a room on the fourteenth floor. The men who were guarding you will be replaced by men I know I can trust. You won't take a step outside your room without adequate protection."

  Carmody said, "That seems reasonable, if restricting. Oh, by the way, could you make provision for the widow and orphans of the poor taxi driver? I'm not really responsible for his death, but, if it hadn't been for me, he'd still be alive."

  "I've already done that," Tand replied. He smiled grimly. "However, the money may not do them much good. It depends on how they get through the Night. And whether or not money is worth anything afterward."

  Tand started the car and drove back toward the hotel. Carmody was silent for a long time. His cardinal had given him instructions to try to persuade Yess from forcing a universal Waking. But it looked as if that might be just the thing to desire, from the Church viewpoint. If Kareenan civilization collapsed, the Kareenans would not be doing any extensive missionary work for a long time.

  From the humane point of view, however, the cardinal was correct. But Carmody doubted that the cardinal and his superior had even considered this. To them, removed a million and a half light-years from an alien culture, the results of Yess' decision would not be apparent. They would be thinking only of what a thoroughly Yessed and doubtless zealous people would be. They were visualizing swarms of fanatics descending upon Earth and the colonial planets.

  What should he urge upon Yess? That, contrary to the cardinal's instructions, he should encourage the decision for all to pass through the Night? Or should he follow his orders and act contrary to the interests of the Church, even if the Church did not know it?

  There was no doubt in Carmody's mind. Prevent the slaughter and the pain and misery. He could not be a Christian and do otherwise. His superiors would have to understand that only a man on the spot was capable of knowing the situation well. And that such a man, if he were a man, would disobey. Should his superiors not sympathize, then they would have to punish him as they thought fit. He was ready.

  He had only one doubt. What if things were not going to be as bad as Tand and so many others thought? Yess, a being superior to ordinary mortals, might know much more than they.

  Tand let him off at the hotel entrance. Three Kareenans in civilian clothes hastened to the car to escort Carmody. Tand said,"I'll send a car around to pick you up tonight. I'll meet you outside Yess' quarters in the Temple and brief you before you have your audience."

  Carmody thanked him and returned to his room, now on the fourteenth floor. Tand's men stationed themselves in the hallway. He phoned Gilson's room but got no reply. He called the desk clerk and asked if Gilson had left any message for him. The clerk replied that Mr. Gilson had not checked in since he left last night.

  Carmody was worried. After making several calls and being unable to get into touch with Tand, he asked to speak to the largh, the lieutenant, in charge of the police who had previously guarded him. These had been ordered to other duties. But a largh had been detailed to continue the investigation.

  Largh Piinal was in the lobby. He came up immediately, however, to talk to Carmody in his room. Piinal was a young Kareenan, very tall, thin, and solemn.

  "You suspect foul play?" he said.

  "There's a chance of it," Carmody said. He had not told Piinal all about the previous night's incident. His story was that Gilson had located Lieftin at Tiiwit's tavern. Carmody had come after being phoned and had watched Lieftin for a while. He did not mention his suspicions about Abog. Gilson had then followed Lieftin from the tavern, but Carmody had been unable to go with him. He had been due at the hotel to answer a call from Tand. He did not mention the incident with the policeman in the alley, eit
her.

  "I can try to put some men on the case," Piinal said. "But you must understand that the festival strains our capacities. Also, that the streets are filled with masked people the clock around. People dance and drink and make love until they drop, then sleep a few hours and continue. So, it will be very difficult to identify anybody, even an Earthman."

  "I understand," the priest replied. "I think I should make the search myself. I might recognize Gilson's walk and gestures even when he has a mask on."

  "I have orders to secure your safety," the largh said. "I can't do that if you're out in the crowd. I'm sorry, Father, but that's the way it has to be."

  "The Father Tand has given me three men to watch over me," Carmody said.

  "I apologize, Father, but you can't go out now. Father Tand's men can guard you, but I have authority over them."

  The phone rang, Piinal, closer to it, answered. A policeman's face appeared. He said, "Windru reporting, sir. It's about the Earthman, Gilson. He's been found; he's dead. In an alley near the Thrudhu Block. About ten minutes ago. Stabbed twice in the back and his throat cut."

  Carmody groaned, and he said,"Windru, has positive identification been made?"

  Windru looked at his superior, and the largh said, "It's all right. Speak."

  "Yes, Father. His papers were in his beltbag. His prints and photo checked."

  Piinal excused himself, saying that he had to make arrangements to deliver the body. Apparently, the ETS had an agreement with the Kareenan authorities to ship any of their dead agents back to Earth for burial. Carmody thought that Piinal was eager to use this as an excuse to keep from talking to him.

  Angry, he put in another call to Tand, only to be told that he could not be reached. He began pacing back and forth across the room. It was very frustrating to have to remain closeted up; he wanted to do something.

  He was certain that Lieftin was connected with Gilson's death. Probably Abog was also guilty. But he could do nothing about it, nothing. And where was Lieftin? Wherever he was, he was working toward the accomplishment of his task: the murder of Yess.