Ildico put her hands on Enid's shoulders. "And Randolph told you that you have to think of your own kids first, didn't he?" Enid nodded. "Let me see them."
Enid went to the wagon and lifted the baby out. The boy climbed over the side and followed them. "This is James," Enid said, gesturing at the boy, "James Boleyn. He's seven, he's a good boy, kind of quiet, but he'll work hard, he never gave us any trouble. And this is Paulette." She set the baby, clothed in a ragged blue top and gray pants, on the ground at Ildico's feet. "I know she's little now, too little to work, but she's strong and healthy. She never gets sick, not even colic."
Simon glanced toward the little girl. She gurgled and blinked, pulling at her black hair with a chubby, olive-skinned hand. "Did Randolph tell you to bring them here?" Ildico asked.
Enid shook her head. "He wanted to turn them out, make migrants out of them. I told him I'd try to find a home for them. I didn't tell him I was coming here. He doesn't like what you did with your tenant farmers, giving them land. Ours have been making trouble ever since they heard."
Ildico said, "I’ll take them."
Enid sighed loudly and took her hand. "Oh, thank you, Ildy, I don't know what to say. I wish I could make it up to you."
Ildico smiled. "You will. Come back when Randolph dies." The brown-haired woman seemed puzzled. "A lot of people'll think these kids have a claim on some of your land, and I might need some friends in your county. So don't forget, or I might have to go there, and a lot of people who don't like Randolph'll help me."
Enid's face sagged. She stepped back. "I see," she said softly.
Ildico squatted next to Paulette and peered up at Enid. "Don't worry, I'll be fair. I’ll leave your kids enough to farm, if they don't fight me."
Enid spun around on her heel and strode to the wagon. "Shouldn't you stay here for the night?" Ildico called after her. "You have a long way to go."
Enid climbed into the wagon. “I’ll stay in town," she shouted back. "I'll go home, and I'll tell people what you said."
"Better not," Ildico said in a loud, harsh voice. "Your tenants might think it's such a good idea that they won't wait, and then Randolph'll be really mad at you."
Enid picked up the reins and lashed at the horses. They turned and trotted back down the road. Ildico picked up the baby and stood.
James wandered over to Simon. He stood in front of him, looking up at his face. Ildico trailed after him. The boy said, "I seen you before." Ildico stiffened, still holding Paulette. "I seen you," the boy repeated.
"Where?" Ildico asked softly.
"I don't know."
Burris hurried to Ildico's side and she handed the baby to him. "Take the kids inside," she said. "Tell Big Gus to feed them something. The little girl probably needs milk."
James continued to look at Simon until Burris took his hand and led him inside. Ildico came over and sat down. "You know that boy," she said. "I saw it on your face. What happened?"
"I didn't know it was him, I wasn't sure until I heard the name. Aisha and I, we stopped at that farm the summer before last, when I was trying to go south. They took us for migrants."
She said, "The little girl looks like you." His head jerked up. "She has your eyes." She peered at him closely.
"A lot of people have eyes like mine."
"She has your coloring, too. You screwed the mother, didn't you?" He was silent. "You don't have to answer that. I can tell. You'd do it if you could get away with it. You tried that stuff on me."
"It didn't work on you."
"It wouldn't have even if I liked you," she said. "I can't stand having a man touch me that way, not after the way I lived in New York, take my word."
"That's too bad," he muttered. "It's too bad for you. You should have children, they'd inherit your strength, your abilities. Someday the whole world'll be made up of people like you. The rest of us are finished."
"If I ever want kids, I’ll go over to the university. They have a way there to do it."
"It's called artificial insemination," he said wearily.
"She's your daughter, isn't she? Paulette. She's yours."
"I don't know. You can't prove it one way or the other." He turned the idea over in his mind, wanting to believe it, wanting to accept it, but knowing he could never be sure.
"I know she is. I know it."
Simon said, "I have Mura's Syndrome."
Ildico said, "I know." She stood up, hiding her hands in her overall pockets. "I saw it, I saw it a long time ago, just like I saw it in Aisha. That's why I let you stay. I knew it wouldn't be long. It means Paulette's like me. I saw that, too. It's what Norita said. Kids of people like you are stronger."
His ears hummed. Ildico glowed; her blue eyes seemed to pierce him. Then she grew blurry. The gray veil covered his eyes. She put out her hand; the touch of her fingers burned him. He jumped to his feet and retreated from her, running across the dirt road, through the underbrush, and up the hill.
He threw himself down between the two graves, pressing his face to the ground. His shell had been stripped away; claws reached for him, tearing, scratching. He rolled over on his back, looking through oak limbs and leaves at the clear blue sky, and knew he was lying on his own grave.
Ildico was telling a story:
"Once, a long time ago, a bright star came out in the sky. It was brighter than the moon, so bright that you could see it in the daytime. And all the people on Earth said it was a sign, forgetting that the heavens are vast and the stars unknowing of Earth.
"And the earth shook, and gave birth to a spirit. And the spirit appeared before all the people with two gifts from her mother the earth. In one hand, she held a tree, a beautiful tree with shiny green leaves and golden peaches. In the other hand, she held a thorny bush, with sharp thorns like knives and branches like snakes. And she showed them to all the people of Earth, and asked them which one they wanted.
"The people cried out and said the star had sent them a spirit. They looked at the tree, and they looked at the bush, and they said the tree was pretty, but they wanted the bush because they could make tools from the thorns and use the tools to build things, and that would be more useful. And they bowed before the star and thanked it for the present.
"The spirit was very sad when she heard that. She said that the earth was her mother, not the star, but the people were bewitched by the bright star and didn't hear her. She planted the bush, and then she took pity on the people, and planted the tree next to the bush.
"The bush grew very large. Its roots went under the ground and its thorns grew bigger and bigger. It waved its branches and the wind blew, and the thorns flew out and stabbed deep inside the people, and the people forgot about making tools and stabbed one another with the thorns. And the bush wrapped itself around the tree and choked it, and finally the tree died, and its leaves turned black and its fruit rotted. And the bright star began to grow smaller, and the people cried out to it, saying it had given them the bush and must take it back. And the spirit wept.
"But without the tree, the bush got weaker. It had to bury itself deep under the earth to stay alive. The tree was dead, but there were seeds left from it all over the ground. The spirit took the seeds and planted them all around the world, deep inside people, and some of the seeds died, killed by the thorns that were there, but others grew strong. And someday, if they keep growing, all of them will be part of an even more beautiful tree.
"And the spirit returned to her mother and was part of the earth again.
"Someday, the thorny bush will grow back out of the earth and try to choke the tree again, so the tree will have to be strong. And the star will die, and the sky will be as it was, and the people will know the truth before they choose again."
Paulette's face glowed. She gurgled, not understanding a word. She crawled across the porch to Big Gus. He moved a lantern out of the way and picked her up. She grabbed at his thick moustache and he grinned. Ildico watched them and smiled.
James was pulling
at her arm. "That's the star," he said, pointing at the pinprick of light just above the black hills on the horizon. "Was it really so big you could see it in the day?"
"That's what everyone says."
"What're the people going to do when the bush comes back?"
"I don't know," she answered. "That's up to them. It's up to us."
She felt a cold wave wash over her; the hot summer air was suddenly damp and icy. She peered into the darkness beyond the porch. A shadowy figure stood there, outlined by a fading purple aura. She rose, picked up her lantern, and thrust it toward the shadow. She saw Simon's skull. It glowed under his skin, then faded. His eyes gleamed, reflecting the lantern's light. Coils of rope were draped around his neck.
He said, "I'm leaving."
"I know where you're going," she said.
"Then do something for me, Ildico. When it's over, cut the rope."
"I will. Take my word." She put down the lantern and went to Paulette, taking her from Gus. She went down the steps to Simon, holding the child out to him. Simon lifted a hand, then let it drop. Paulette started to cry, burying her face against Ildico's arm.
"Some day," Simon said, "she may be stronger than you. She may push you out of the way."
"You didn't hear my story."
"I heard your story."
"Then you didn't understand it."
"Goodbye, Ildico." He turned and began to walk toward the hill.
She held Paulette and looked up at the sky. Pale ghostly fingers stroked the black dome, obscuring stars. She lowered her eyes to the horizon. A mist shimmered above the hills, sending out a gauzy tendril which drifted up, then looped down again, trapped by the earth. Encircled by the mist, the sudden star winked out.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pamela Sargent sold her first published story during her senior year in college at the State University of New York/Binghamton University, where she earned a B.A. and M.A. in philosophy and also studied ancient history and Greek. She is the author of several highly praised novels, among them Cloned Lives (1976), The Sudden Star (1979), The Golden Space (1982), The Alien Upstairs (1983), and Alien Child (1988). Her novel Venus of Dreams (1986) was selected by The Easton Press for its “Masterpieces of Science Fiction” series; writer and physicist Gregory Benford described it as “a sensitive portrait of people caught up in a vast project. It tells us much about how people react to technology’s relentless hand, and does so deftly...One of the peaks of recent science fiction.” Venus of Shadows (1988), the sequel, was called “a masterly piece of world-building” by James Morrow and “alive with humanity, moving, and memorable” by Locus. The Shore of Women (1986), one of Sargent’s best-known books, was praised as “a compelling and emotionally involving novel” by Publishers Weekly; Gerald Jonas of the New York Times said about this novel: “I applaud Ms. Sargent’s ambition and admire the way she has unflinchingly pursued the logic of her vision.” The Washington Post Book World has called her “one of the genre's best writers.”
Sargent is also the author of Earthseed (1983), chosen as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and the short fiction collections Starshadows (1977) and The Best of Pamela Sargent (1987). Her novels Watchstar (1980), Eye of the Comet (1984), and Homesmind (1984) comprise a trilogy. She has won the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and has been a finalist for the Hugo Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Her work has been translated into French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Japanese, Polish, Chinese, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian.
Ruler of the Sky (1993), Sargent’s epic historical novel about Genghis Khan, tells the Mongol conqueror’s story largely from the points-of-view of women. Gary Jennings, bestselling author of the historical novels Aztec and The Journeyer, said about Ruler of the Sky: “This formidably researched and exquisitely written novel is surely destined to be known hereafter as the definitive history of the life and times and conquests of Genghis, mightiest of Khans.” Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, anthropologist and author of Reindeer Moon and The Animal Wife, commented: “Scholarly without ever seeming pedantic, the book is fascinating from cover to cover and does admirable justice to a man who might very well be called history’s single most important character.”
Sargent is also an editor and anthologist. In the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of science fiction by women; her other anthologies include Bio-Futures and, with British writer Ian Watson as co-editor, Afterlives. Two anthologies, Women of Wonder, The Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s and Women of Wonder, The Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, were published in 1995; Publishers Weekly called these two books “essential reading for any serious sf fan.” With artist Ron Miller, she collaborated on Firebrands: The Heroines of Science Fiction and Fantasy (1998).
Her novel Climb the Wind: A Novel of Another America was published in 1999 and was a finalist for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. Gahan Wilson, writing in Realms of Fantasy, calls this book “a most enjoyable and entertaining new alternate history adventure...which brings a new dimension to the form,” while Science Fiction Chronicle describes it as “a first class work from a first class writer.” Child of Venus, the third novel in Sargent’s Venus trilogy, was published in 2001, completing a trilogy Publishers Weekly has termed “masterful...as in previous books, Sargent brings her world to life with sympathetic characters and crisp, concise language.” Two collections, The Mountain Cage and Other Stories and Behind the Eyes of Dreamers and Other Short Novels were published in 2002, and a third collection of fantasy stories, Eye of Flame, came out at the end of 2003. Michael Moorcock has said about her writing: “If you have not read Pamela Sargent, then you should make it your business to do so at once. She is in many ways a pioneer, both as a novelist and as a short story writer...She is one of the best.”
Her more recent publications include 2004's Conqueror Fantastic, an anthology of original stories, and Thumbprints, a collection of Sargent’s short fiction with an introduction by James Morrow. In 2007, Tor Books reissued Earthseed, along with a new novel for younger readers, Farseed, which Voice of Youth Advocates, in a starred review, calls “extremely well-done. Sargent is a significant figure in modern science fiction…and this novel is a fine example of her work.” Farseed was also selected by the New York Public Library for their 2008 Books for the Teen Age list of best books for young adults. A third novel, Seed Seeker, was published by Tor in 2010; Publishers Weekly said about the book: “With prose as spare as the unadorned clothes and tools of her characters, Sargent digs down to the raw emotional roots below the contentment of a materially satisfied life.” Earthseed was recently optioned by Paramount Pictures.
Pamela Sargent lives in Albany, New York.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1979 by Pamela Sargent
ISBN 978-1-4804-9741-2
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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The Sudden Star Page 26