He gave up again, in apparent disgust. I was beginning to be heartily sick of his nagging. It was worse than being married. He hadn’t been too hard to get along with at one time, when he first settled in. But ever since those few bleak moments in the Drift when he’d assumed command of my faculties, he’d been demanding complete emancipation. He made my head ache. He also made me even more determined that I wasn’t going to give an inch. For a good many years I’d been getting myself out of trouble. I wasn’t so old and feeble that I needed a nursemaid yet.
I sat down in the centre of the grotto, to wait. There didn’t seem to be much else to do but wait. Ezra came in to take some water from the pool, and I assumed that he intended to use it for making some soup. That, at least, was a moderately pleasant thought. Bayon didn’t seem to have had the time to let us all eat while we were busy playing at being bandits and making impossible demands of Jad Gimli.
A few moments later, Angelina came into the cave. The restrictions must be relaxing. Probably, the outcasts were inclined to be tolerant towards Angelina because she had never made an effort to participate in the invisibility game.
She looked tired, but interested in what was going on.
‘How did you get on with Gimli?’ she asked.
‘Not well. We took the toughest possible line. You’d be in a better position than I would be to guess how he might react.’
She stretched herself, painfully. A stone floor is a bad place to sleep unless you get a certain amount of practice. She had obviously inherited the usual quota of aches. But she didn’t seem to resent the fact that she was being held captive.
‘Gimli will get rid of the problem,’ she said.
‘Mavra seemed to think that kidnapping Krist might sway the council to his point of view.’
‘Mavra’s tongue runs away with him,’ she said. ‘Half of what he says is only froth. If he’d ever learned to be careful what he said, we’d never have been expelled to Attalus.’
‘What did you do?’ I asked, following the digression gladly.
‘Heresy, of course,’ she replied. ‘Nothing serious. Just talk. But when they decide to have an accusation of heresy around here they try to bundle as many people into it as they can. That way, they reckon that it won’t happen so often. The people here are naturally unfriendly and they mostly keep their ideas—heretical and otherwise—to themselves. But Mavra is a compulsive communicator. He talks to whoever will listen. Capra and Coria and the others were just unfortunate. They probably did no more than nod their heads in the wrong places. It was a very boring trial. They weren’t at all keen to kick us out—they worry a lot about the declining population, and they couldn’t really spare three young females. Two young females and Mavra’s wife, to be exact. They were fairly pleased to see us back again. We could probably have hopped any ship that was passing this way during the last year, but we weren’t to know what sort of a welcome we’d get.’
‘You talk a lot yourself,’ I commented.
‘I’m a real heretic,’ she boasted.
‘You picked up some ideas on Attalus, then?’
‘I had ideas,’ she said levelly.
‘What do you think Gimli will do?’ I asked her.
‘I told you. He’ll get rid of the problem.’
‘Sell the grotto to the highest bidder and leave it to them to collect?’
‘Yes.’
‘What about Akim Krist? And the rest of you, come to that.’
‘It won’t be his problem any more, will it?’
‘Will the council sit still while he deals fast and loose with the Hierarch’s life?’ I asked.
‘They’re experts at looking the other way. Once it’s not their grotto, it’s not their problem, and it’s not their responsibility.’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘if you’re right, they’d sure as hell better sell it to Charlot and not to Sampson. His solution is apt to be a great deal less direct. I only hope that they don’t hold it against Charlot that his favourite slave is down here sitting on the pot of gold. If I get in his way, he’s going to be extremely angry with me.’
‘Can you blame him?’ she commented. She sounded very much like my whispering companion.
‘It’s not my fault,’ I protested, and then tried to change the subject. ‘Whose side are you on? What do you want to see this treasure trove turned into?’
‘I’m on everybody’s side,’ she said. ‘This grotto doesn’t belong to Gimli, or Krist, or to the council—and certainly not to you and Alpart. It belongs to the miners and the machine operators, and the refiners and the clerks.’
‘That’s a fine social conscience you have,’ I said drily. ‘But as of now the guns control the grotto, and will probably continue to do so. Unless, of course, the miners use their guns to assure a socialist redistribution of wealth.’
‘They can’t,’ she said. ‘They’ve spent all their lives here, in these caves, with this faith. They were born in the dark; they scuttle around in the dark. The faith won’t permit them to bring the light they need down here. Light is a concession to weakness, and you need strength to win the Exclusive Reward. Light is always faint, because the voice of the Almighty, as reproduced by Akim Krist and his council, commands that the people should live in blackness, should work in blackness, should love and cherish blackness.
‘The miners can’t use their eyes any more. They’re ashamed to lend any credence to their own senses. All that matters is the faith which they’ve been taught. Only the outcasts are thrown back on to their senses, because they’ve already lost the Exclusive Reward. Only the outcasts can see, and even they court darkness for their stealing and their skulking.’
‘They live in a lighted cave,’ I interposed.
‘Do they? I’m glad for that, at least. But how bright is the light?’
‘Dim,’ I admitted.
‘Exactly. Everyone here is four-fifths blind.’
‘So you want to expel the darkness from Rhapsody?’ I mused. ‘That’s almost as wild as Akim Krist’s idea. Do you really think that you can re-educate the people? Do you imagine that replacing weak lights with strong ones will revitalise your whole society?’
‘Life down here doesn’t have to be the life of a worm,’ she said. ‘We don’t want to come out into the sun. We don’t want our air saturated with fog like the air of Attalus. But we don’t have to make this world a pit of limitless darkness.’
‘Maybe you do,’ I said, ‘if you want to receive your Exclusive Reward. Or have you given up believing in that?’
‘I think this is our Exclusive Reward,’ she said. ‘If we choose it, then we certainly deserve it as our reward. And it’s absolutely exclusive. There are no other worlds like this one, are there?’
‘Not quite,’ I conceded. ‘This one is rather unique. But where did you get all these revolutionary thoughts from, if this culture is so very careful about the training of its children?’
‘I used my senses,’ she said.
‘All by yourself?’
‘Yes.’
‘You didn’t ever see the sun? You didn’t read forbidden books? Nobody told you about the light?’
‘No.’
‘Well then,’ I said. ‘If it happened to you, it could have happened to a hundred others. The days of Rhapsody’s darkness could be numbered.’
‘Not while Akim Krist and Jad Gimli rule the council.’
‘They won’t rule for ever. All you need is one Rion Mavra, who talks too much because he thinks too much. And one Titus Charlot, to provide a link with New Alexandria. You could bring your light to Rhapsody, then.’
Bayon came into the grotto. The beamer was cradled in his arms like a baby. ‘We eat,’ he said. ‘Outside.’
‘How about you?’ I asked him. ‘Wouldn’t you settle for an invasion of light to make this world move? Or are you only interested in your personal grudges?’
But he didn’t know what I was talking about. He might even have thought I was being hypocritical. After al
l, the only reason I’d involved myself in the first place was in the hope of extracting a profit.
At that time, however, I didn’t know what I wanted, and I could only wait and see how things were going to turn out.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
It didn’t take as long as I had feared. Not very many hours passed before Harl came to tell me that there was someone at the barricade who had expressed a desire to see me. I didn’t bother guessing who it might be. I just went quickly down the tunnel to the barrier.
The conference had already started. Bayon was talking to Titus Charlot—on our side of the barricade—and he didn’t look too happy. I hoped that Charlot hadn’t annoyed Bayon too much. Gimli would hardly have given him a full account of how things stood down here, and Titus could easily make a mistake in handling Bayon which could result in the situation getting worse instead of better.
There were four of Bayon’s men looking on with intense interest, including Tob. Harl came back just behind me, and I presumed that the others would be along as soon as they realised that things were moving again.
‘Hello, Grainger,’ said Charlot. He didn’t seem to be bubbling over with goodwill towards me. I could tell that he resented whatever part I’d tried to play in the affair.
‘Hello, Titus,’ I replied. ‘Have a nice stay in jail?’
‘Uncomfortable,’ he said. ‘I’m sure that you’ve been having a much more exciting time of it.’
‘Things have moved down here much faster than they would have up top,’ I told him. ‘But I wouldn’t describe it as exciting, exactly.’
‘And what do you think you’re doing, exactly?’ he said.
‘Exploring the situation,’ I said blandly.
‘How did you get yourself involved with this bunch of cut-throats?’
That seemed a little undiplomatic to me, and I got the uncomfortable feeling that Gimli had given Charlot the impression that I was in command down here.
‘The only casualty,’ I pointed out, ‘was on our side. If you could call it our side, that is. Bayon and I have our differences, and Bayon has the guns.’
‘You’re not trying to tell me that they took you prisoner along with Rion Mavra and the others?’
‘Not quite,’ I admitted, ‘but a certain amount of tension has crept into our relationship.’
‘So you’re not in a position to demand your twenty thousand after all?’
‘Would you have given it to me if I was?’
‘No.’
‘In that case, the matter is somewhat academic. I shall have to rely on Bayon’s generosity, then. I take it that you’ve already told him what the council has decided.’
‘Gimli was scared to come back,’ interrupted Bayon. ‘They sent this one instead.’
Charlot ignored him. ‘The council did not send me. The council reached agreement some few hours ago that they would deal with New Alexandria over this matter of the grotto. The contents of the cave belong to me. The council has promised me full co-operation in any action which I care to take in order to seize my property.’
‘Up to and including a pitched battle?’ I asked.
‘Up to and including the forcible recovery of the grotto.’
‘It must be nice for Akim Krist to have so many loyal friends,’ I said drily. ‘And Mavra too—he was your friend, remember?’
‘I came down here alone,’ said Charlot patiently. ‘I hope that there will be no need for violence of any kind. I am prepared to wait, if necessary. If there is any violence, it will be you who starts it.’
‘Not me,’ I reminded him. ‘Bayon. He does exist, you know.’
‘There should be no reason for the situation to degenerate to that extent,’ said Charlot smoothly. ‘I am prepared to be reasonable. What do you want?’ The last sentence was addressed to Bayon.
‘The price,’ said Bayon.
‘I’ll pay any reasonable price,’ Charlot assured him. ‘What do you want?’
‘I want the price that you paid to the council.’
‘The arrangement which we came to is very complicated. In monetary terms, it would be difficult to calculate a matching figure.’
‘I don’t want an equal price,’ said Bayon. ‘I want that price’
Charlot returned his attention to me. ‘What does he think he’s playing at?’ he asked.
‘It’s very simple,’ I said. ‘He has a grievance against the Church. He doesn’t want the Church to benefit from the grotto affair. He wants to be paid their price, and he wants to withhold it from them. I’m afraid he has a somewhat nasty mind.’
‘It must be the company he keeps,’ said Charlot. ‘It’s out of the question, and you both know it’
‘I know it,’ I said, ‘but...’
‘The council isn’t going to get away with shifting its troubles onto somebody else,’ said Bayon doggedly. ‘This business is between the council and me.’ I saw the end of his gun twitch ominously. It looked rather as though Titus were about to join the party. But what could that possibly solve?
‘Now wait a minute, Bayon,’ I said. ‘You can’t go on just repeating your ultimatum. Can’t you see that what happens here after you’re gone just isn’t that important? Charlot will pay you. The Hooded Swan will carry you all out of here. You heard him say that he isn’t just going to pay the council a million or two and leave it at that. What New Alexandria has to offer is knowledge, not cash. Knowledge to help Rhapsody improve its own situation, to make things better here for everyone.’
‘They don’t want to make things better,’ said Bayon. ‘They want to keep things the same. But I’m not going to let them do that. I’m going to crack their system. I want them to know that I exist.’
‘You can’t, Bayon. We just don’t have that kind of leverage. Akim Krist isn’t enough. The grotto itself isn’t enough. There’s no way, Bayon. You’ll only get us all killed. What will it prove?’
‘We can’t die, remember,’ he said. ‘We don’t exist.’
‘That’s their story,’ I reminded him. ‘If you wanted that way out, you could have killed yourself any time. You’re behaving like a suicide, not like a survivor. This compulsive insistence on making them kill you is a concession to their way of thinking. You’re trying to make them prove that you don’t exist, by literally wiping yourselves out of existence. This is their game you’re playing, not yours.’
The gun muzzle came up.
‘Get back to the workface,’ he said flatly. ‘Both of you. We’ll send Capra back with another message.’
‘Do you want Sampson down here?’ I protested. ‘Sampson and his guns?’
‘Sampson will pay my price. He won’t risk his own life to kill us. He’ll side with me, because I hold the grotto. He’ll do things my way.’
‘He won’t.’
‘Get back to the face.’
‘Tob!’ I appealed. ‘It’s your life as well. And all the rest of you. He’s playing with your lives. Can’t you make him see reason?’
‘Shut up, outworlder!’ said Bayon. Which just about said it all. No, they couldn’t make him see reason. He was their leader. I was a suntanned, dark-haired starman. Charlot’s hair was white, but there was no mistaking on which side of the fence he stood.
We were escorted back to the grotto. Harl made as though to push us onto the face with the rest of the prisoners, but Charlot stepped into the cave instead. Harl hesitated, so I followed Charlot. Harl apparently decided that it didn’t matter much. Bayon was following and, to judge by the sound of his voice, he didn’t much care either. I could hear him directing his instructions to Cyolus Capra. I wondered vaguely whether Capra had decided to hear him or not. If not, I didn’t suppose he would hold out for long. Akim Krist might die rather than speak a single word, but Capra would compromise without much of a fight.
‘Well,’ I said to Titus. ‘This is it.’
‘You should have let me talk to him,’ said Charlot.
‘You didn’t even know how things stood,’ I p
ointed out. ‘I’ll bet Jad Gimli didn’t even tell you his name, did he? He sent you down here blind to make what you could of the mess, didn’t he?’
‘There was no reason for you to lose your temper,’ insisted Charlot.
‘I didn’t lose my temper. You’ve got nothing to complain about. You’d have got not an inch further for all your oil and slickness. You just can’t talk to the man. He’s decided on his pound of flesh and he’ll take no substitutes. If every ducat were ten thousand ducats, he’d have his bond. That’s the way it is.’
‘He’s mad.’
‘He’s not mad. Just single-minded. He’s been condemned to hell by these people and he wants them to let him out again and say they’re sorry. He doesn’t just want to run away. That’s all it is.’
‘You approve?’
‘Hardly. It’s likely to cost me my life. I’ll do anything I can to change his mind. But I understand how he feels. I only hope he’ll compromise when Sampson lets him down.’
‘If Sampson lets him down.’
‘You don’t think he’d agree? Take on a whole planet?’
‘I think he’ll be very tempted to cheat. You saw him—don’t you think he’s an unsuitable vessel to fill with trust?’
‘He’s a hothead. But he’s not stupid. He wouldn’t dare side with fifteen men against a world.’
‘That’s not what I’m afraid of,’ said Charlot quietly. ‘When I said “cheat” I meant both ways. He’ll promise everybody anything, and take it all himself. He’ll have us killed and blame it on Bayon. He’ll scuttle Bayon just as soon as he’s off-planet with the goods.’
‘He couldn’t.’
‘Let Well Alone,’ Charlot reminded me. ‘It’s not even against the Law.’
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