‘That’s rather evident,’ Sloosh said.
He did not understand yet that human beings often spoke the obvious just to hear their own voices and also to inspire comment.
Unable to ask anybody to do something that he did not think he had strength to do, Deyv climbed the foremast. It took the last of his energy to shin up it, or so he thought. But when he saw a thin dark line just a little higher than the horizon, he started to shout and wave an arm. The others looked up at him, wondered what had caused the brief frenzy. He clung panting to the mast, refusing to answer their queries. The black thickness might just be clouds. That was all they needed now. False hopes followed by a storm.
Too weak to stay, up long, he slid back down the mast. He told Sloosh what he’d seen, then said, ‘Can you stand watch? We’ll have to keep an eye on the beast. The moment it veers off, we’ll get in the boat. We’ll just have to hope that that is land.’
The plant-man buzzed that he would try to stay awake. Deyv said that he knew that Sloosh could do it. He tied himself to a rope, one end of which was attached to the tiny bowsprit, and he hurtled into sleep. It seemed to him that he had just closed his eyes when the Archkerri’s huge red hand was shaking him. It was no use trying to ignore it, though he pretended that he could not be awakened for a short time.
Sloosh pulled him up by his hand.
‘We’re heading back towards the island.’
The peak had long since sunk out of sight, but Deyv could see that they were going downwind. Ahead, big silvery fish leaped out of the ocean. They seemed to be going too fast for the beast to catch them, but that was not stopping it from chasing them.
‘We’ll have to get on the boat,’ Sloosh said. ‘If it’s land you saw, not clouds, we might make it.’ He hesitated, then pointed outward. ‘Unless that adult beast decides to eat us.’
Deyv turned round. While he had slept, a full-grown sailing ship-creature had appeared. It was scudding along, all sails unfurled, heading towards them from the direction of the island. Shortly thereafter, their beast turned away from it and in the direction they wanted to go.
Time passed. The adult slowly gained on the young. Sloosh said that this was because its sail area was much larger while its body, or hull, was perhaps only twenty feet longer. ‘I would say, though,’ Sloosh continued, ‘that the one we’re on is not very young. It’s probably an adolescent.’
They ate and slept, gaining strength, while the chase went on. They did not know why their beast was running away from the other, but it obviously was. Otherwise it would be pursuing fish to satisfy its hunger, which must be great by now.
The clouds, or land, on the horizon came into sight of those on the deck. They, or it, grew larger, though it was still impossible to determine its nature. Finally, the adult was only about six hundred feet behind and a hundred feet to one side. Then the young one changed course and presently was running down-wind. Its passengers thought that they would now have to abandon it. They did not like the idea, since the adult might come after them. While they were arguing about whether or not it was wise to get into their boat, the young beast turned towards their goal.
A long time passed after this. Steadily, the large creature closed the gap. And then it was running alongside its quarry at a distance of fifty feet.
‘Why is it doing this?’ Vana said. ‘Do the adults eat the young?’
‘I don’t see how they could,’ Sloosh said, ‘unless their jaws can tear through the hard bone of the hull. But I’ve an idea. However, since the question is so close to being answered, I won’t voice my conclusion. Well, perhaps, I should. You could then see how close my speculation is to the reality. But if I do, I might cause a panic. On the other hand, knowing what to expect might avert or diminish the panic. What should I do?’
He closed his eyes. Immediately thereafter, they opened -and widely. The big beast had slanted in, and the side of its bow crashed against the middle of the young one’s hull. Everybody standing was hurled to the deck. Seven times the collision was repeated, each time the attacker striking a place nearer the young one’s bow. Then it came alongside until its front was ahead of its quarry and its stern was behind it.
Three openings appeared in the deck of the young beast. The male slave Shlip had to scramble to prevent himself from falling in as the leathery skin beneath him started to separate along a hitherto invisible seam.
‘What’s going on?’ Deyv cried.
‘Just as I thought,’ Sloosh said.
Three round openings had also appeared on the deck of the chaser. Out of each rose a cylinder of the same colour and appeared of the same material as the hull. The cylinders were vertical and twice as long as Deyv and had a diameter about equal to that of his torso. Their bases were surrounded by some grey gristly stuff, the organs or muscles that had lifted them from below-deck.
Now the three cylinders moved downward, stopping at a 45-degree angle to the deck and revealing that the other ends were open. For a short while, nothing happened. And then, simultaneously, they erupted with a loud bang. Out of each shot something dark and blurred which arced over the gap between the two beasts.
Deyv, along with the others, yelled, and he fell to the deck. Only Sloosh, who had stationed himself at the stern, remained standing. Lying on his back, Deyv could not see the flying objects closest to him. But the one coming down near the stern looked cone-shaped. All three struck near the openings, burst and splattered out a sticky green fluid.
Sloosh buzzed loudly, ‘I would have thought you’d have followed my example after my warning.’
‘What warning?’ Deyv screamed, but he got up and raced towards the plant-man. Vana followed him a moment later. The Yawtl was too far away to hear Sloosh, but, seeing the two take off, he also ran for the stern. Jum and Aejip came bounding in to Deyv a moment later.
The recoil of the explosions had rocked the adult a little. When it had regained its former attitude and the cylinders were again steady, or as steady as they could be in the swelling sea, and as the nose of the beast started to subside and it began to roll upward, the cylinders banged. Again, three cones soared out. Feersh was dragged stumbling by Jowanarr towards the stern. The others had reacted even more slowly; they seemed bewildered and uncertain which way to run. The slave named Shlip dashed towards the stern as the second salvo exploded, but he slipped in the green fluid from the first and skidded shrieking into the ocean.
Kiyt, dashing by the rearmost opening, was engulfed in a burst of blood and fluid as the impact of the cone knocked him sideways into the gash. Deyv glimpsed a foot going down into the hole, the rest of him was a red and green mess.
A female slave, Tishdom, was cut on her back and her legs by flying fragments of the shell of the cone and spattered with the sticky stuff. But she was not seriously hurt. Screaming, she reached the stern just as a third broadside exploded.
This time, all three cones hit the target, and a geyser of green rose from each opening and fell back. Slowly, the openings closed, the leathery sections sliding back across. Once again, the deck seemed unbroken. Though the cones that had struck the deck had heavily dented it, the dents began to fill in.
The adult veered away, its flower-eyes turning to watch the young one.
Deyv was surprised to see Jowanarr weeping. He had not known that she cared the least bit for her brother. Perhaps, until then, she had not known it either.
Deyv smelled a strong almost overwhelming fishy odour. It reminded him, however, of another smell. Suddenly, he knew why the big beast had chased the smaller one and why it had shot its cones from the cylinders. He said, ‘Sloosh, we were caught in the mating of the sail-beasts.’
‘Yes. My speculations were valid. Even though I did not know how the mating would be done, I was nearly certain that the large beast was pursuing ours for that purpose. Actually, she is not so young. She’s adolescent but nubile.’
‘How do the males propel those cones so far? They look so big and heavy.’
; ‘I presume by compressed air.’
‘But why would the female run so hard? It looked as if she did not want to be caught.’
‘I suspect that the females will mate only with the fastest and most skilful of the males. That weeds out the inferior males. Ah! She’s turning outward now. She sees a school of large fish, and she has to satisfy another hunger. I suggest we get into our boat now.’
They untied the ropes, coiled them, and then stumbled or fell into the dug-out. Sloosh took over the rudder; Deyv and Vana managed the sail. Like it or not, they were once again at the mercy of the elements, sail-beasts and giant fish. Deyv summoned energy to try to cheer them up.
‘That must be land we see.’
‘And if it isn’t?’ Jeydee whined.
Deyv shrugged. At that moment, he did not want to die, but he did not care much if he did. He was even indifferent to the prospect of wandering as a ghost for ever if he sank without his beloved soul egg.
The tail of The Beast was slipping over the horizon behind them. The sky shone bright and white above. Around them the long green waves rose and fell. A flock of whinnying winged mammals passed over them on the way to the island. Every once in a while an adult or young female sailing ship-beast would appear, scudding towards or away from the boat. A few came close, the many eyes fixed coldly on them, but none attacked. And they saw some of the giant fish, though not many. What could have been low-lying clouds definitely became the peaks of mountains. Another sleep-time. Their spirits rose as far as their wretchedness and tiredness would permit.
In the middle of the next sleep-time, they beached upon soft white sand. After thanking their various deities, they plucked fruit and nuts, ate, expanded the ancient vessel and slept in it for a long time.
Deyv had a dream. His grandmother came to him, which meant that she was dead. Live people never appeared in dreams. She said, ‘There is something you’ve been thinking, child. But the thought has been lying around in the darkness, gathering dust, and it may not see light until it is too late. So I have come to bring it out of the dark and show it to you.’
Though she was a ghost, he did not feel frightened. His grandmother would never hurt him.
‘What is that thought?’ he asked. He tried to reach for her, but she backed away from him.
28
Deyv said, ‘Vana, my grandmother told me that we’re lost. We don’t have the slightest idea how to get to the cave that holds our soul eggs. We’ll never find them.’
Vana took his story as seriously as he did. Her tribe also talked to the dead in its dreams, though usually it was the grandfather who delivered the messages for the gods.
‘Never?’
‘Never. But she said that we could make our own eggs with The Shemibob’s help.’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I’m not saying that some demon took your grandmother’s semblance and gave you a false message. But I would like to confer with my great-grandfather, since my grandfather is still alive. He has sometimes come to me.’
Deyv said angrily, ‘And how will you know that the demon wasn’t taking the semblance of your great-grandfather?’
‘Oh, no. My demons are not yours. Yours could not appear to me. Besides, when my great-grandfather comes, he makes a secret sign. I know by that that he is indeed what he appears to be.’
‘Sure!’ Deyv said. ‘But what if he’d been a demon when he first came to you, and it was then that he arranged the secret sign with you. That would mean that the demon has always been the one who talked to you. And if your great-grandfather does come, he won’t know the sign. And you’ll think he’s the demon!’
Sloosh had to pull Vana from Deyv, whom she’d knocked to the ground. He held her up in the air while she kicked and writhed and screamed insults. Deyv got up, holding his throat.
‘She’s crazy! I was only being logical!’
The plant-man said, ‘I’ve observed that when a human is dealing with another, he’s usually logical only if he’s advancing his self-interests or has a desire to hurt or put down the other. Is this one of those situations?’
‘Of course not!’ Deyv cried. ‘I was just trying to point out something to her! Why did she go mad?’
‘Both of you have mixed feelings towards the other,’ the Archkerri said. ‘I really don’t have enough data about humans to analyse what motivates them. Rather, I should say, I don’t know enough about you two, since individuals vary so much, to explain what your relationship is. I can tell you what it should be, but neither of you would want to listen. I mean, you’d listen, but your ears would be tuned to different vibrations from those I’d be emitting. Perhaps I should start again. What I mean -’
‘I was just trying to get at the truth,’ Deyv said. ‘I had no desire to hurt her.’
‘Not that you are aware of. But I’ve observed that humans often don’t know how their own psyches operate. Indeed, there seems to be more energy used in not knowing than in knowing. Why this is, after an unimaginable number of -’
Deyv walked away. When he was some distance from the two, he saw Sloosh put Vana down. She ran into the jungle and did not come back for a long time. It was not until after the next sleep-time that she would address him, and she did so only in matters that concerned maintenance of the camp.
Deyv was polite but stiff. So was Vana, though he could not figure out why she should be so, since the offence was wholly hers. But after some reflection, he saw that perhaps he had spoken too frankly. And he had to admit that if he had been she, he’d have been offended. Still, his observations had been logically based. When dealing with demons, you could not be too careful.
He shrugged. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately, and he thought, If she wants to go back on that hopeless search, let her do it. Alone. She might want to take Aejip with her for protection and companionship, but I won’t allow it. The cat is mine. I’ve just loaned her to Vana.
After the next sleep-time, Vana went hunting with Aejip. She returned with a young pig, a tusker, and a bagful of delicious beetle eggs. She gave these to the two slaves to prepare, then walked up to Deyv.
‘I tried to summon my great-grandfather before I went to sleep,’ she said. ‘But he didn’t come. So, while hunting, I did some thinking. I sat for a time under a puh tree and breathed in the perfume of its fruit. As you know, it helps one to think true thoughts. You didn’t know? Well, different tribes have different wisdoms.
‘Anyway, it came to me that my great-grandfather didn’t visit me because he didn’t think it was necessary. I could solve my problem by myself. Which I did. I decided that what you said, what your grandmother told you, was the right path. So … I’m going on with you.’
Deyv surprised both of them by embracing her tightly. But he stepped back quickly.
She stared at him for a moment, then said, ‘You’re happy! You would’ve missed me!’
‘We’ve been together a long time, and you are a good companion, even if you’re grouchy sometimes. Too touchy, I mean. But then I’d miss -’
‘The dog? The cat?’
Deyv gestured. ‘Oh, you know.’
‘No. I don’t.’
Her shoulders stiff, she turned and walked off. Not before he’d seen the tears, though.
He felt a tightening in his chest, and he had to swallow. He had not meant to hurt her again. But she was, after all, a woman without an egg. She had not felt like one when he had squeezed her; her flesh was no different from that of a woman with a soul. And, he reminded himself, he, too, was eggless. In this situation, logic had no force.
Needing to do something, anything at all to keep from thinking about her, he went to Sloosh. The plant-man and the Yawtl were examining the Emerald of Anticipation. Deyv interrupted their discussion.
‘Vana and I are going on with you.’
The Yawtl burst into barking laughter. Sloosh buzzed his equivalent of mirth.
‘Hoozisst was showing me how the stone operates, though so far he can use it only for sim
ple situations. It takes a long time to get complete mastery of it. However, by coincidence, we were just asking it what the decision of you two would be. And here you come along and confirm what it showed.’
The Emerald’s interior was glowing with writhing designs of many colours. They looked like visual gibberish to Deyv, though apparently they did make sense. He thought it was an amusing toy but that was about all. Certainly, it had not helped Feersh much.
‘According to the witch, there are a thousand times a thousand such emeralds growing in The Shining House of Countless Chambers,’ the Yawtl said. ‘And there are a thousand times that many different types of stones, each type of which has its own powers. If I could chip off one of each, I’d be the most powerful witch in the world.’
‘You’d need a chisel made of the metal of the ancients,’ Sloosh said. ‘Feersh stole one before she fled, which is why she was able to cut one stone off. But she was too fearful of The Shemibob to take the time to remove more.’
‘All that’s fine,’ Deyv said. ‘Only… I thought that maybe you’d be pleased that we’re going with you.’
‘What do you expect?’ Hoozisst said. ‘That we’d jump with joy?’
‘I am pleased,’ the plant-man said. ‘I derive a certain amount of emotional satisfaction from your company and have found you most energetic and agreeably aggressive in the dangerous situations we’ve encountered.’
‘ “Emotional satisfaction”?’ Deyv said sarcastically. ‘I thought you Archkerri were all intellect, unhampered, as you might say, by emotion.’
‘Nonsense. Any creature with a nervous system experiences emotions. These may be only fear or anger at the lowest level. As the systems become more complex, the number of emotions increases and so does the complexity, the interrelationships, the subtlety.
‘No, it would be impossible, as far as I know, for a sapient to evolve without emotion. Sentiency involves more than just a logical brain. Besides, there are different kinds of logic. Just as there are different kinds of emotions. We Archkerri share some of your emotions but have some you lack. That’s all. Except that we are able to use our intellect somewhat better than you humans do. If you weren’t doomed to perish with this universe, and you may not be, you might evolve into a higher creature. By “higher”, I mean a people who would be neither self-destructive nor other-destructive.
The Lovers * Dark Is the Sun * Riders of the Purple Wage Page 41