He shouts, 'Hoi! Eetoo!'
'Aren't you supposed to be studying?' I say.
'Hah! I'm of age already! I can do whatever I want!'
'Of age! You're not thirteen yet!'
'Of course I am!' he snaps back.
'I'm thirteen,' I emphasise to get it into his thick head. 'I've just had my manhood ceremony two months ago. You're at least a year younger than me!'
'Count the cycles around the sun! I'm thirteen!'
'Yeah! Thirteen cycles around this star!'
'What other stars do you expect to go around!' He says it as though I were the stupid one!
'Didn't they teach you or what? Our fathers came from a different place: different star, different planet!'
'Hah! I think we've always been on this one!'
He's so obstinate! 'And you expect to be the next Keeper of the Writings?' I ask. 'You haven't even read them!'
'It sure won't be you! You're just an orphan boy!'
'At least I'm keeping up my family reputation of being a sheep owning family. What are you doing?'
'My Paw's got the biggest flock, and he has the respect of the whole village.'
He's got a point. I'd better not say anything stupid. 'Well, Ni Gwah should have been it. He was better than both you or your Paw!'
'Hah! The gods obviously didn't think so!'
He's off in the other direction, muttering something extremely disrespectful about Ni Gwah.
That's another thing. The writings, which he thinks he's going to keep say we must worship only one god. He still talks about the other gods like the shaman of Tu-tu-ah does.
A lot of people have got fires going. Mo Paw, the traditional wrestling instructor is still at work making clay bricks. I think he's going to build an extension to his house. I hope he leaves enough room for his wrestling gym. Ni Gwah used to be good at that too -- always beat me in wrestling.
There's Wee Ta, still working away on her weaving loom.
I'll need a new tunic soon. I hope this one won't start showing my nakedness before shearing season. Now that I'm a man, no one gives me any slack. I have to come up with raw wool before anyone will make me a tunic. I might have to start going naked on days I'm far enough from the village, so my tunic won't wear out so fast.
Cousin Zhue is so shameless, he does that even when he's near the village, in plain sight of everyone. He also eats most of the food at home so there'll probably not be enough for a decent meal for me. Uncle Zhue Paw never restrains him like he does me.
Venerable Too Dha's all right though. He treats me like a family member, even better than Uncle Zhue Paw. I think I'll go straight to his house.
There's Doo Bweh, the baker. He sees me coming. I know exactly what he'll say:
'Remember! You owe me wool!' -- yep.
'I'll remember,' I say on cue.
'Good. Then come by in the morning for another dozen.' He's got the routine down. I don't even have to put in an order.
I pass by a few more houses and there's Venerable Too Dha, sitting on a bench outside his door.
'Good day, Eetoo,' he says.
'Good day to you, Venerable Too Dha.'
'Come, sit down and rest. How are the sheep?'
'They are well. I left them in the canyon behind the old market.'
'You won't leave them there many days, I hope.'
'No. I just came back for more bread.'
'You still have credit with Doo Bweh, the baker, I trust.'
'Yes. I'll owe him three bags of wool, come shearing season.'
'You have grown to be a responsible young man, Eetoo. Your father would be proud of you.'
'You flatter me, Venerable Too Dha.'
We sit quietly for a while. He seems to be thinking about something.
I think too, but about things Nyu just said.
'Nyu seems to think he's going to be chosen to be the keeper of the writings when you die.'
'Yes,' he says, 'That seems to be the will of the village. But I'm afraid I won't live long enough to teach him at the rate he's learning.'
'He only knows the pictographs, and even then he says them in Fa-tzi-zhi instead of the holy language.'
'Hah! I remember you and Ni Gwah; I caught you two spelling out Fa-tzi-zhi words using the Nephteshi phonetic letters.'
'Yeah! You almost gave us a hiding!'
'At least it showed you had mastered the language.' Has he got softer in his old age? 'Ni Gwah was very good at it.'
'Yeah,' I agree. 'Ni Gwah should have been the next keeper of the writings. At least he worshipped only the creator god. Nyu still talks about the lesser gods.'
'Yes. It's a losing battle. Many of them, including Nyu Paw and Doo Bweh Paw, went off to attend the spirit celebrations in Tu-tu-ah a few days ago. At least they haven't tried to install a shaman here as well.'
He looks sad. After a pause, he says, 'I tried to persuade the council at the last meeting, to make you the keeper -- that you were ready even now -- but Nyu Paw seems to wield influence, and he wants his son to be. Perhaps, unless I live to be very old, you can teach him what he needs.'
'He's such a brat, he'll never listen to me.'
'Perhaps he'll grow wiser with age...' He's back to thinking again. '...and, maybe it's better this way.'
'Why?'
'I've been thinking a lot about that dream you had. I've had dreams of my own.'
What does that have to do with it?
'You have a more important job,' he says. 'I've been wanting to tell you, I haven't known how, and I fear time may be short.'
'What, Venerable?' He looks healthy enough.
'Do you remember what is written in the fifth tablet?'
'About the seven laws?' I return.
'About how Venerable Noka passed on his legacy to his three sons.'
'Yes. He gave his eldest son the golden tablets, but to his second son, he wrote it down on tablets of stone, and to his youngest, he wrote it on animal hide. What we have are copies of the tablets of stone. The original stone tablets were neglected by the Nephteshi guardians, so Imhotep, the prophet-ruler, obtained them and added them to the great library at Memphis.'
'Do you remember what else?' he prods.
'Yes. Someday, one from among the descendants of the second son must go to read the golden tablets belonging to the eldest son so that our knowledge of the Way will be complete.'
'I believe the time is near when the descendant of the second son must make his journey. That descendent is you. I am very sure of that.'
I can hardly talk. I whisper, 'Me?'
'Make your heart strong, Eetoo. I would not say it if I didn't believe it were so. I've thought so for a long time now.'
'But --'
'At first, I dismissed it as an idle thought,' he explains. 'I tried to forget it, but with time, it only began coming back stronger and stronger. I discussed it with Venerables Zti Paw of Sho-ta-le and Meh Zha of Nyu Pee River Village. They all feel the time is near, and believe that my instincts are right. So, now, I must tell you.'
I can't think of what to say.
'Rest here tonight. Read the fifth tablet one more time. You must tune your mind to the truth. I feel as though your journey may begin soon. Perhaps even tomorrow when you leave here.'
'But, where must I go to find the golden tablets?' I ask.
'That, I don't know. There is much that I don't understand. That is why I have delayed telling you, but tell you, I must. I've been troubled about it in my sleep for a year now -- visions in the night. All I know is, the tablets are not on this planet. They are near the birthplace of humanity. Our people haven't travelled in the ships for hundreds of years. They haven't been seen since before you were born.'
'I saw a ship last night -- or it was a light in the sky. I know it wasn't a shooting star. And then I had the dream again.'
'There you are, then,' he sounds more sure than ever. 'The hand of the most high is already at work. You are the one. And don't worry about your debt to Doo Bweh. If I don'
t see you again, I will repay it.'
We have a meal of bread with a stew that Ae Maw brought by.
I read the tablet.
* * *
Heptosh had observed as much as he could from his perch in the cliffs surrounding the city. He had use his magnifiers to get a closer look. He saw no signs of life apart from a few herds of cattle. Perhaps some wrecked vehicles, and -- bones? He didn't dare speculate. He still couldn't bring himself to descend to ground level, at least not within sight of the space port built into the mountains opposite.
Perhaps with the information he had gleaned so far, the sector council would see fit to send a larger investigation team.
He used the linear propulsion motor to bring his ship into orbit before engaging the logical relocator. The one had to be completely shut down before it was safe to use the other.
The first step was to simulate linear motion. That involved the reverse beam transmitter sending a series of commands at very high speed, each inducing relocation by half a hydrogen atom's width, thus, pushing other matter out of the way instead of trying to occupy the same location. Two atoms occupying the same space at the same time can lead to atomic fusion, at worst.
It also insured that the relocator was working properly. Not everyone bothered to do that, but Heptosh believed in playing it safe. Only one person he knew of had relocated himself to a totally unknown part of the universe. By a miracle, he had managed to find his way back with a faulty relocator and a good geographical knowledge of space.
Heptosh set the relocator to simulated forward motion, and engaged.
Nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine times out of a thousand it worked just fine. But this was that one time out of a thousand that it didn't. The planet below him, instead of growing steadily smaller, was jumping from one size to another.
He flicked the relocator off. Using linear propulsion, he began moving back to Kalodzu-Famta.
What to do?
If he travelled back to Tok using linear propulsion, it would take a couple of centuries to get there. To him it would only seem like a couple of months travelling close to the speed of light, but it would be far too late to make use of the data he had gathered on the Kalodzu.
The non-human species had other means of travelling beyond the speed of light, but the only technology known to humans was logical relocation, using the hyperspace coordinates to re-plot the location of each atom within a given range.
So, Heptosh's logical relocator wasn't working properly. He'd have to land and try to get it fixed.
Was it something he could fix himself? Where would he get help? Half of the planet was primitive. The other half -- what? Heptosh still didn't know. Did he dare land there and find out?
He was moving at a linear speed that would get him there in half a day. He had time to think.
4
So, they say I'm the one who's supposed to find the golden tablets. Venerable Too Dha talks like I have to go right away! How does he think I'm going to do that? It's not on this planet, and I can't even go everywhere here, much less anywhere else!
I'm hungry. I'll have a piece of bread with some goat's milk cheese. Tomorrow I'll take the sheep to the grass field near where I've planted some gourds. There, I can pick some cucumbers and squash to eat with my bread.
I should start a small herd of goats so I can make my own cheese. I wonder if I'll have enough wool left after shearing season to buy one or two?
Hold on! What's bothering the sheep?
They see something, but whatever it is is behind those huts. I'll go check.
I leave my food on the stone table and walk about the huts near the fence.
Oh holy! It's a man -- dressed all funny! And I've never seen anyone with hair like that -- it's grey, but it's in really tiny ringlets, and his skin is real dark -- almost black! Did the Kalodzus look like that?
He sees me. I'm sure glad I didn't take off my tunic!
He walks up to me and he's saying something.
'Shelta pakh khalti'
Huh?
He's saying it again, more slowly.
'Shel-ta pakh khal-ti'
Part of that sounds -- but no! The Kalodzu didn't speak Nephteshi. That's a holy language!
'Shel-ta pakh khal-ti -- khati Heptosh'
Khati Heptosh -- That is Nephteshi! It means 'my name is Heptosh'. Oh the gods! How can he be speaking Nepteshi?
He's saying it all again, this time using his hands to point and all that sort of thing.
Ni Gwah and I used to say things in Nepteshi when we didn't want other people to know what we were talking about.
'Kha ti Eetoo,' I say.
I think I know what else he was saying: 'Can you help me?'
It doesn't sound exactly like Nephteshi, but close enough.
'Nosh ta, Eetoo,' he says. That means, 'Hello, Eetoo.'
I ask him if he is a Kalodzu.
He says, 'No, I'm a Nefzedi, living on Tok.' He says it slowly, so I can understand him. I have no idea what those places are, though.
He talks faster than me, but he's got his sounds all wrong. That's why I didn't understand him at first.
'I need help with my ship,' he says. 'Does anyone near here know how to fix a ship?'
'No ships come here,' I say. 'I never see a ship.'
I don't know if I have my tenses right or not. He understands me, though.
'Come,' he says.
I follow him. We walk past the edge of the canyon, around the protrusion and into the smaller canyon next to it.
That must be a ship. It's a big round thing, like a covered dish, but with legs. If he didn't say it was a ship, I would have thought it was a giant's dish for cooking people in.
How does he get the lid off?
I stand there looking at it.
* * *
Heptosh looked again at the shepherd boy standing with his mouth open. Obviously he'd never seen a ship before. He looked as primitive as they come -- the homespun tunic that he could almost see through, no shoes, straight rusty brown hair that might have been cut some months ago by placing a bowl on his head, his question if he were a Kalodzu, probably never met anyone outside his tribe. Did Heptosh really expect any help from him?
But the boy spoke Nephteshi! That was truly amazing.
Heptosh probably would never have discovered that had he not been so desperate. Maybe there was hope.
'Have you never seen a ship like this?' he asked.
'Have not,' said the boy.
'Do you know who has seen one?'
The boy only shook his head.
Heptosh hadn't expected him to say yes, but he didn't know anything else he could ask. But maybe...
'Do you know the way to the land of the Kalodzu?'
'Yes.' The boy pointed back towards the abandoned village.
'Can you take me there?'
The boy stared at him for a moment with his greenish eyes, and then said, 'Come.'
Heptosh followed him back to the village, and then towards the rail fence.
'Many years ago, the Kalodzu come here, they buy, they sell. Fa-tzi-zhi come to trade. They stop. Now, nothing.'
'What happened to the Kalodzu?' asked Heptosh.
'They stop coming.'
'Why?'
The boy shrugged, 'They stop.'
The boy, Eetoo, lifted the rail that served as a gate. The sheep stood at a safe distance, obviously wary of Heptosh.
A winding stream flowed from inside the canyon, out past the village where a stone bridge crossed it. The path Eetoo took crossed one of the bends. He simply began wading in.
'Wait,' called Heptosh.
Eetoo stopped while Heptosh took off his shoes. The water came up to the boy's knees.
Carrying his shoes, Heptosh followed. Perhaps he'd try to follow as best he could barefoot.
Some of the sheep followed at a distance, though on the other side of the stream.
The boy's feet were obviously well calloused from years of trampling the country
side unshod. After they crossed another stream, Heptosh had to put his shoes back on. The ground was becoming more uneven, and the stream was now bubbling over the jagged rocks.
Soon they could see the end of the canyon and the waterfall that fed the stream.
The boy pointed to a road built against the cliff. Now, Heptosh could see it went all the way along the cliff to the village, probably leading to the stone bridge.
All this stumbling over rocks and wading the streams when a road went all the way!
Heptosh looked in disbelief, but the boy looked oblivious to the irony.
They climbed a few rocks up the face of the cliff until they met the road. It took so much climbing it would have almost been worthwhile going back to the stone bridge.
The path continued to climb until it brought them behind the waterfall. There, they found a cave.
It was dark inside. They'd need a light. It was also getting late in the day.
'How far is it to the other end?'
The boy shrugged. 'Three furlongs.'
Not far, but Heptosh preferred to make a fresh start in the morning.
'I'll come back tomorrow. Let's go back. Can we take this road all the way to the village?'
Eetoo saw no problem.
They went back that way.
5
What will the stranger want next?
I still didn't eat my lunch, and it's evening already. My bag is still on the stone bench.
The stranger's gone back to his ship thing. He's probably got food there.
I should have offered him some of mine. He is a stranger, and we should show hospitality.
But he's gone now. I finish my food.
I wonder if that's the same ship I've been seeing?
It's still light. I walk over to where the ship is. I don't see the man. I sit on a rock and look at it.
I've never seen anything like it. Where did the man go? He must be inside, but I don't see any way to get in.
Is this the kind of ship that goes to the stars? Maybe our ancestors came on them.
It's getting dark. I get up and walk back to the market. I put my stuff into one of the huts and roll out my rug. I hang up my tunic to air out, take my blanket and settle down.
I can't sleep. There's so much happening.
Eetoo Page 2