Cloud Walker, All Fools' Day, Far Sunset

by Cooper, Edmund

  The darkness dissolved; and once more there was feeling – pain and exhaustion and extreme cold.

  Paul opened his eyes. He was still standing at the base of one of the metal shoes of the star ship. Had he ever moved from it? He did not know. Perhaps he would never know. He stared about him, dazed, trance-like, trying to accept the realities of a real world once more.

  The ache in his limbs helped to focus his mind on practicalities. His limbs were stiff and painful – as if they had been rigid a very long time, or as if he had just come out of suspended animation.

  Shielding his eyes, he gazed up at the polished hull of the great star ship and then down at its supporting shoes embedded in eternal ice. That at least was real. He stood contemplating it for some moments.

  Then he said softly: ‘Yes, you are truly beautiful.’

  He had told Shon Hu and the others not to wait for him after mid-day. The sun was already quite high in the sky. He felt weak and shattered; but there was no time to waste if he were to recross the glacier before they attempted to make their own way back to Baya Nor.

  Then, suddenly, there was a curious rippling in his limbs – a glow, a warmth, as if liquid energy were being pumped into his veins. He felt stronger than he had ever felt. He could hardly keep still.

  Impulsively, and for no apparent reason, he held out his arm – a strange half-gesture of gratitude and farewell – to the high, sun-bright column of metal that was the Aru Re.

  Then he turned and set off on the journey back across the glacier.

  Zu Shan saw him coming in the distance.

  Shon Hu, partly snow blind, could hardly see anything.

  Nemo did not need to see. His face wore an expression in which wonder mingled with something very near to ecstasy.

  ‘Lord,’ he said in Bayani when Paul was only a few paces away, ‘I have been trying to ride your thoughts. There has never been such a strange ride. I fell off, and fell off, and fell off.’

  ‘I, too, fell off,’ said Paul, ‘perhaps even more than you did.’

  ‘You are all right, Paul?’ asked Zu Shan anxiously in English.

  ‘I don’t think I have felt better for a long time,’ answered Paul honestly.

  ‘Lord,’ said Shon Hu, ‘I cannot see your face, but I can hear your voice, and that shows me the expression on your face … I am happy that you have found what you have found … The little one told us many strange things, lord, which are much beyond the thinking of such men as I … It is true, then, that you have spoken with Oruri?’

  ‘Yes, Shon Hu. I have spoken with Oruri. Now let us return from the land of gods to the land of men.’

  THIRTY-FOUR

  There were now only two experienced pole-men to control the barge. But by this time Paul himself had acquired some of the tricks and the rhythm of poling, and he was able to relieve Shon Hu and Zu Shan for reasonably long spells; while Nemo continued to nurse his still aching bones in the stern of the small craft. Fortunately, navigation was not too difficult for they were now passing downstream. The poling was necessary as much to guide the barge as to add to its speed.

  The journey back from the Temple of the White Darkness to the bank of the river had been easier than Paul had expected. Perhaps it was psychologically easier because they were relieved because the mountain had been reached without any further disasters, and they were now going home. Or perhaps it was because they were already familiar with the hazards of the route and also because Shon Hu’s uncanny sense of direction had enabled them to reach the Watering of Oruri less than a kilometre from where they had sunk the barge.

  Shon Hu had completely recovered from his snow blindness by the time they had reached the savannah. As soon as they were on the lower ground, they made camp and rested for a day and a night before going back into the forest. They did not hear the voice of the Aru Re again – though, out of curiosity, Paul exercised what mental concentration he possessed in an attempt to contact it telepathically. It seemed as if the star ship had now dismissed them altogether from its lofty contemplations.

  Though they had found the barge without too much difficulty, it took the three of them the best part of an afternoon to clear it of stones and sediment and refloat it. By that time they were tired out; and though there was still enough light left to pass the Lokhali village before darkness fell, Shon Hu judged it safer to wait until the following morning. By then the barge would have dried out and, with a full day’s poling, they could be far from the Lokhali before they had to make a night camp once more.

  So it was that shortly after dawn the barge drifted round a slight bend in the Watering of Oruri, and the Lokhali village came in sight. There were few people about this time – probably many of the Lokhali were still at their morning meal – but three or four men were sitting in a little group, desultorily fashioning what looked like spear shafts out of straight, slender pieces of wood. There were also some women bathing or washing. And one who stood apart from the rest and seemed neither to be bathing or washing, but watching.

  Paul handed his pole back to Zu Shan and took up his sweeper rifle. At a distance of perhaps a hundred metres, he saw that there was something odd about the solitary woman. She was virtually naked as the rest were; and at that distance her skin seemed quite as dark as that of the others – but she had white hair. Everyone else had black hair. But this one, the solitary one, had white hair.

  Paul cast his mind back desperately to the occupants of the Gloria Mundi. None of them had white hair. With the exception of the Swedish woman who had been – inevitably – blonde, all of them had been rather dark. And Ann – Ann’s hair had been quite black.

  But there was something about the solitary woman on the bank, now only sixty or seventy metres away …

  Paul had long ago decided on a plan of action if there were any Gloria Mundi survivors, able to move freely, in the Lokhali village. It was an extremely simple plan, but his resources were such that it was impossible to risk anything elaborate like a direct assault. For the atomic charge in the sweeper rifle was now ominously low.

  However, there were still three factors in his favour: he had some element of surprise, he had a strange and powerful weapon, and he knew that the Lokhali didn’t like travelling on water.

  Shon Hu and Zu Shan had already been warned to keep the barge steady on command. Now, if only …

  The Lokhali had seen the barge; but though the women had come out of the water and the men had picked up their spears, no one seemed inclined to try to do anything about it. They just stood and stared – sullenly and intently. The woman with the white hair seemed to be concentrating her attention on Paul, and on the weapon he held.

  With little more than forty metres separating the barge from the bank, Paul judged that now, if at all, he must make the attempt. Probably there were no Europeans left. And even if there were, the chances of being able to contact them, quite apart from rescuing them, would be pretty remote.

  And yet … And yet … And yet, the woman with the white hair seemed to be meeting his gaze. That slight movement of the arm – could it be a discreet signal?

  ‘Gloria Mundi!’ he shouted. ‘Gloria Mundi!’ He raised the rifle and waved it. ‘Into the water – quick! Venez ici! Kommen sie hier! I’ll give covering fire!’

  Suddenly, the woman with the white hair ran into the water, splashing and wading out to swimming depth. To Paul it seemed as if she were moving in horribly slow motion. But the miraculous thing was nobody looked like stopping her. Then a woman cried out and the spell was broken. A tall Lokhali swung his spear arm back, so did another. Then a third began to run after the woman with white hair. The water was not yet up to her waist, and she still did not have free swimming room.

  ‘Hurry, damn you!’ he shouted. ‘Hurry!’

  He sighted the rifle carefully over her head, fixing on the patch of water between her and the bank. He pressed the trigger.

  The rifle whined feebly, faintly; and the water began to hiss and steam. The Lokhali
who had tried to follow stopped dead. The two with spears ran towards him. The woman was already able to swim, and the bubbling water behind her had now turned into a water spout – effectively deterring pursuit and partly screening her from the men on the bank.

  Then the sweeper rifle died. Its atomic charge had finally reached equilibrium.

  The water spout subsided. All that was left to deter the Lokhali was a patch of very warm water – rapidly being carried downstream by the current – and a condensing cloud of steam.

  One of the Lokhali hurled a spear. It fell almost exactly between the woman and the barge. By that time, she was less than twenty metres away from it, but she was making very slow progress and seemed curiously tired.

  If Paul had stopped to think then, the tragedy might possibly have been averted. It did not occur to him until later that the spear might have been hurled not at the woman but at the barge.

  But, without thinking, he flung the useless rifle down and dived into the water, hoping at least to create a diversion. It was not the diversion he had hoped for. Before he hit the water, the Lokhali on the bank had found their voices. By the time he had surfaced, they were being reinforced by other warriors from the village.

  Another spear plunged into the river quite near to him, and then another. A few powerful strokes brought him to the woman. There was no time to try to discover who she was.

  ‘Turn on your back!’ he yelled. ‘I’ll tow you!’

  Obediently, she turned over. He grasped her under the armpits and with rapid, nervous kicks propelled them both back to the barge. Suddenly, he felt a blow, and the woman shuddered, letting out a great sigh. He paid no attention to it, being intent only on getting them both to the comparative safety of the barge.

  Somehow, he got her there.

  As Shon Hu hauled her aboard, he saw the short spear that was sticking in her stomach and the dark rivulet of blood that pulsed over her brown flesh.

  Then he hauled himself aboard and knelt there, panting with exertion, gazing at the contorted but still recognizable features of Ann.

  ‘Get it out!’ she hissed. ‘For God’s sake get it out!’

  Then she fainted.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  It was Shon Hu who took the spear out. Paul was trembling and crying and useless. And it was Zu Shan and Nemo who, between them, somehow managed to keep the barge on a steady course and pole it safely out of range of the Lokhali spears and away from the village.

  Paul managed to pull himself together before she opened her eyes.

  ‘You were right, after all,’ she murmured. ‘It was an appointment in Samara, wasn’t it?’

  For a moment, he didn’t know what she meant. Then it all came back to him. The Gloria Mundi. Champagne on the navigation deck after they had plugged the meteor holes. Philosophizing and speculating about Altair. Then Ann had told him about Finagle’s Second Law. And he had told her the legend of an appointment in Samara.

  ‘Ann, my dear … My dear.’ He looked at her helplessly. ’You’re going to be all right.’

  With an effort, she raised herself up from the little pillow of skins that Shon Hu had managed to slip under her head. Paul supported her while she studied the wound in her stomach with professional interest.

  ‘It doesn’t hurt much, now,’ she said calmly. ‘That’s not a good sign. Some venous blood, but no arterial blood … That’s a bit of help … But I’m afraid I’m going to die … It may take time … You’ll have to help me, Paul. I may get terribly thirsty … Normally, I wouldn’t prescribe much liquid, but in this case it doesn’t matter … Of course, if you can plug it without hurting me too much, you’ll slow down the loss of blood.’

  She leaned against him, exhausted. Gently, he lowered her to the pillow.

  ‘Any old plug will do,’ gasped Ann. ‘A piece of cloth, a piece of leather – anything.’

  He tore a strip of musa loul, made it into a wad and tried to press it into the gaping wound.

  Ann screamed.

  Shon Hu made a sign to Zu Shan and drew his pole back into the barge.

  He came and squatted by Ann, regarding her objectively. Then he turned to Paul. ‘Lord, what does the woman need?’

  ‘I have to press this into her wound,’ explained Paul. ‘But – but it hurts too much.’

  ‘Lord, this can be accomplished. Do what must be done when I give the sign.’

  Expertly, Shon Hu placed his hands on each of Ann’s temples and pressed gently but firmly. For a moment or two, she struggled pitifully, not knowing what was happening. Then suddenly her eyes closed and her body became slack.

  Shon Hu nodded and took his hands away. Paul pressed the wad firmly into the wound. Presently Ann opened her eyes.

  ‘I thought you must have gone back home, back to Earth,’ she murmured faintly. ‘It was the one satisfaction I had … Every night, I’d say to myself: Well, at least Paul hasn’t come unstuck. He’s on his way back home … What happened to the Gloria Mundi?’

  ‘It blew itself up, according to the destruction programme, after the three of us left it to go and look for you and the others.’

  Ann coughed painfully and held Paul’s hand tightly, pressing it to her breast. When the spasm was over, she said: ‘So the voyage has ended in complete disaster … What a waste it’s all been – what a terrible waste.’

  ‘No, it hasn’t,’ said Paul, then he looked down at her pain-twisted face and realized the stupidity of his remark. He began to stroke her white hair tenderly. ‘Forgive me. I’m a fool. But, Ann, I’ve discovered something so incredibly wonderful that – that it would seem to make any tragedy worthwhile … That’s a damnfool thing to say – but it’s true.’

  She tried to smile. ‘You must tell me about your wonderful discovery … I would like very much to think that it’s all been worthwhile.’

  ‘You should rest. Try to sleep … You mustn’t talk.’

  ‘I’ll be able to sleep quite soon enough,’ she said grimly. ‘And you can do most of the talking … Now tell me about it.’

  As briefly as he could, he told her about his capture by the Bayani and of the friendship that had developed between himself and Enka Ne, otherwise Shah Shan. He told her about Oruri, the ultimate god of the Bayani. Then, passing quickly over much that had happened since the death of Shah Shan, he told her of Nemo’s dreams, the legend of the coming, and how he finally made the journey to the Temple of the White Darkness. And, finally, he told her of his discovery of and encounter with the Aru Re.

  Sometimes, while he was talking, Ann closed her eyes and seemed to drift off into unconsciousness. He was not quite sure how much she heard of his story – or, indeed, whether she could make much sense of it. But he went on talking desperately, because if she were not unconscious but only dozing, she might miss the sound of his voice.

  As he talked, everything began to seem utterly unreal to him. He had never found the Aru Re. He was not even here on a barge, drifting on a dark river through a primeval forest, talking to a dying woman. He was dreaming. Probably, he was still in suspended animation aboard the Gloria Mundi – and his spirit was rebelling, by creating its own world of fantasy, against that unnatural state that had nothing to do with either living or dying. And presently, he would be defrozen. And then he would become fully alive.

  Suddenly, he realized that he had stopped talking and that Ann had opened her eyes and was looking at him.

  ‘Yes, I think you’re right,’ she said faintly, ‘It’s been worthwhile … I – I’m not sure I’ve got it all clearly in my head – my mind isn’t working too well. But if the part about the Aru Re means what I think, you’ve made the most wonderful discovery in all the ages … Oh, Paul … I’m so – so …’ her voice trailed away.

  There were tears running down his face. ‘But I’ve got no one to tell it to,’ he burst out desperately, ‘no one, but—’ He stopped.

  ‘But a dying woman?’ Ann smiled. ‘Stay alive, Paul. Just stay alive … I’m afraid you’ve got the
harder job.’

  He bent and kissed her forehead. Great beads of sweat were forming on it. But the flesh was sadly cold.

  ‘I wish – oh, God, I wish I knew what happened to the others!’

  If Ann had survived – at least until his stupid Galahad act – why could not some of the others have survived? If he could find them, no matter what happened afterwards, at least he would have human company. No! That was a bloody silly thing to think. He already had Zu Shan, Nemo, Shon Hu. All good, very good, human company. But still alien. Human but alien. Strangers on the farther shore …

  ‘You have accounted for three,’ said Ann in a weak voice. ‘I’m … so – so sorry, Paul. But I can account for the rest … It was on that very first night after we left the Gloria Mundi?’ She laughed faintly, but the laughter degenerated into a fit of coughing that hurt her badly; and it was some time before she could continue. ‘You remember we went to look for the Swedish, French and Dutch pairs … It was a long time before I found what happened to them, but I’ll tell you about that in a minute … Oh, God, Paul! We were so sure of ourselves – so clever! We were scientists. We had weapons. We had intelligence. The only thing we didn’t have was the thing we really needed – forest lore … We were so confident – such easy game … The three of us walked straight into a hunting party of these forest people – they call themselves the Lokh. We didn’t even fire a shot. They had us stripped of everything – all that lovely equipment just tossed away by savages – and trussed like turkeys in a matter of seconds … The Italian girl wouldn’t stop screaming, so they killed her … They weren’t being brutal. It was just their idea of self-preservation. They didn’t want to attract our friends, if any, or dangerous animals … Lisa – you remember Lisa? – she was very calm. But for her, I’d have probably gone the same way as Franca. But she made me keep still and quiet – no matter what they did to us … They weren’t cruel, just inquisitive … We must have really baffled them … Anyway, they took us back to the village. They kept us prisoners for a while. Then we began to pick up some of the language. We tried to explain to them how we had come to Altair Five. But it was no use. They just refused to believe it … After a time, they let us have our freedom – more or less. After all, there was nowhere to go. We just didn’t have enough strength or knowledge … Poor Lisa. She poisoned herself … She just went round eating every damn fruit, flower or root she could find until she got something that did the trick. The Lokh didn’t know what she was up to. They thought it was very funny. She was the joke of the village … As for me, it seems ridiculous now, but I still found life very dear. So I just tried to make myself useful about the place … I began playing doctor – treating wounds, setting bones, that sort of thing … I think they got to like me … And that’s how it was until you came. The days just ran into one another. And there wasn’t any past, and there wasn’t any future. At one time, I thought I was going mad … But I wasn’t … And that’s all … And now it’s ending like this.’ She smiled. ‘Finagle’s Second Law – remember?’