Voyage to Arcturus

by David Lindsay

  "So the slow development of men and women is due to the feebleness of the life germ in their case?"

  "Exactly. It can't attain all its desires at once. And now you can see how immeasurably superior are the phaens, who spring spontaneously from the more electric and vigorous sparks."

  "But where does the matter come from that imprisons these sparks?"

  "When life dies, it becomes matter. Matter itself dies, but its place is constantly taken by new matter."

  "But if life comes from Faceny, how can it die at all?"

  "Life is the thoughts of Faceny, and once these thoughts have left his brain they are nothing - mere dying embers."

  "This is a cheerless philosophy," said Maskull. "But who is Faceny himself, then, and why does he think at all?"

  Leehallfae gave another wrinkled smile. "That I'll explain too. Faceny is of this nature. He faces Nothingness in all directions. He has no back and no sides, but is all face; and this face is his shape. It must necessarily be so, for nothing else can exist between him and Nothingness. His face is all eyes, for he eternally contemplates Nothingness. He draws his inspirations from it; in no other way could he feel himself. For the same reason, phaens and even men love to be in empty places and vast solitudes, for each one is a little Faceny."

  "That rings true," said Maskull.

  "Thoughts flow perpetually from Faceny's face backward. Since his face is on all sides, however, they flow into his interior. A draught of thought thus continuously flows from Nothingness to the inside of Faceny, which is the world. The thoughts become shapes, and people the world. This outer world, therefore, which is lying all around us, is not outside at all, as it happens, but inside. The visible universe is like a gigantic stomach, and the real outside of the world we shall never see."

  Maskull pondered deeply for a while.

  "Leehallfae, I fail to see what you personally have to hope for, since you are nothing more than a discarded, dying thought."

  "Have you never loved a woman?" asked the phaen, regarding him fixedly.

  "Perhaps I have."

  "When you loved, did you have no high moments?"

  "That's asking the same question in other words."

  "In those moments you were approaching Faceny. If you could have drawn nearer still, would you not have done so?"

  "I would, regardless of the consequences."

  "Even if you personally had nothing to hope for?"

  "But I would have that to hope for."

  Leehallfae walked on in silence.

  "A man is the half of Life," ae broke out suddenly. "A woman is the other half of life, but a phaen is the whole of life. Moreover, when life becomes split into halves, something else has dropped out of it - something that belongs only to the whole. Between your love and mine there is no comparison. If even your sluggish blood is drawn to Faceny, without stopping to ask what will come of it, how do you suppose it is with me?"

  "I don't question the genuineness of your passion," replied Maskull, "but it's a pity you can't see your way to carry it forward into the next world."

  Leehallfae gave a distorted grin, expressing heaven knows what emotion. "Men think what they like, but phaens are so made that they can see the world only as it really is."

  That ended the conversation.

  The sun was high in the sky, and they appeared to be approaching the head of the ravine. Its walls had still further closed in and, except at those moments when Branchspell was directly behind them, they strode along all the time in deep shade; but still it was disagreeably hot and relaxing. All life had ceased. A beautiful, fantastic spectacle was presented by the cliff faces, the rocky ground, and the boulders that choked the entire width of the gorge. They were a snow-white crystalline limestone, heavily scored by veins of bright, gleaming blue. The rivulet was no longer green, but a clear, transparent crystal. Its noise was musical, and altogether it looked most romantic and charming, but Leehallfae seemed to find something else in it - aer features grew more and more set and tortured.

  About half an hour after all the other life forms had vanished, another plant-animal was precipitated out of space, in front of their eyes. It was as tall as Maskull himself, and had a brilliant and vigorous appearance, as befitted a creature just out of Nature's mint. It started to walk about; but hardly had it done so when it burst silently asunder. Nothing remained of it - the whole body disappeared instantaneously into the same invisible mist from which it had sprung.

  "That bears out what you said," commented Maskull, turning rather pale.

  "Yes," answered Leehallfae, "we have now come to the region of terrible life."

  "Then, since you're right in this, I must believe all that you've been telling me."

  As he uttered the words, they were just turning a bend of the ravine. There now loomed up straight ahead a perpendicular cliff about three hundred feet in height, composed of white, marbled rock. It was the head of the valley, and beyond it they could not proceed.

  "In return for my wisdom," said the phaen, "you will now lend me your luck."

  They walked up to the base of the cliff, and Maskull looked at it reflectively. It was possible to climb it, but the ascent would be difficult. The now tiny brook issued from a hole in the rock only a few feet up. Apart from its musical running, not a sound was to be beard. The floor of the gorge was in shadow, but about halfway up the precipice the sun was shining.

  "What do you want me to do?" demanded Maskull. "Everything is now in your hands, and I have no suggestions to make. Now it's your luck that must help us."

  Maskull continued gazing up a little while longer. "We had better wait till the afternoon, Leehallfae. I'll probably have to climb to the top, but it's too hot at present - and besides, I'm tired. I'll snatch a few hours' sleep. After that, we'll see."

  Leehallfae seemed annoyed, but raised no opposition.

  Chapter 17

  CORPANG

  Maskull did not awaken till long after Blodsombre. Leehallfae was standing by his side, looking down at him. It was doubtful whether ae had slept at all.

  "What time is it?" Maskull asked, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

  "The day is passing," was the vague reply.

  Maskull got on to his feet, and gazed up at the cliff. "Now I'm going to climb that. No need for both of us to risk our necks, so you wait here, and if I find anything on top I'll call you."

  Ale phaen glanced at him strangely. "There's nothing up there except a bare hillside. I've been there often. Have you anything special in mind?"

  "Heights often bring me inspiration. Sit down, and wait."

  Refreshed by his sleep, Maskull immediately attacked the face of the cliff, and took the first twenty feet at a single rush. Then it grew precipitous, and the ascent demanded greater circumspection and intelligence. There were few hand-or footholds: he had to reflect before every step. On the other hand, it was sound rock, and he was no novice at the sport. Branchspell glared full on the wall, so that it half blinded him with its glittering whiteness.

  After many doubts and pauses he drew near the top. He was hot, sweating copiously, and rather dizzy. To reach a ledge he caught hold of two projecting rocks, one with each hand, at the same time scrambling upward, his legs between the rocks. The left-hand rock, which was the larger of the two, became dislodged by his weight, and, flying like a huge, dark shadow past his head, crashed down with a terrifying sound to the foot of the precipice, followed by an avalanche of smaller stones. Maskull steadied himself as well as he could, but it was some moments before he dared to look down behind him.

  At first he could not distinguish Leehallfae. Then he caught sight of legs and hindquarters a few feet up the cliff from the bottom. He perceived that the phaen had aer head in a cavity and was scrutinising something, and waited for aer to reappear.

  Ae emerged, looked up to Maskull, and called out in aer hornlike voice, "The entrance is here!"

  "I'm coming down!" roared Maskull. "Wait for me!"

  He de
scended swiftly - without taking too much care, for he thought he recognised his "luck" in this discovery - and within twenty minutes was standing beside the phaen.

  "What happened?"

  "The rock you dislodged struck this other rock just above the spring. It tore it out of its bed. See - now there's room for us to get in!"

  "Don't get excited!" said Maskull. "It's a remarkable accident, but we have plenty of time. Let me look."

  He peered into the hole, which was large enough to admit a big man without stooping. Contrasted with the daylight outside it was dark, yet a peculiar glow pervaded the place, and he could see well enough. A rock tunnel went straight forward into the bowels of the hill, out of sight. The valley brook did not flow along the floor of this tunnel, as he had expected, but came up as a spring just inside the entrance.

  "Well Leehallfae, not much need to deliberate, eh? Still, observe that your stream parts company with us here."

  As he turned around for an answer he noticed that his companion was trembling from head to foot.

  "Why, what's the matter?"

  Leehallfae pressed a hand to aer heart. "The stream leaves us, but what makes the stream what it is continues with us. Faceny is there."

  "But surely you don't expect to see him in person? Why are you shaking?"

  "Perhaps it will be too much for me after all."

  "Why? How is it affecting you?"

  The phaen took him by the shoulder and held him at arm's length, endeavouring to study him with aer unsteady eyes. "Faceny's thoughts are obscure. I am his lover, you are a lover of women, yet he grants to you what he denies to me."

  "What does he grant to me?"

  "To see him, and go on living. I shall die. But it's immaterial. Tomorrow both of us will be dead."

  Maskull impatiently shook himself free. "Your sensations may be reliable in your own case, but how do you know I shall die?"

  "Life is flaming up inside you," replied Leehallfae, shaking aer head. "But after it has reached its climax - perhaps tonight - it will sink rapidly and you'll die tomorrow. As for me, if I enter Threal I shan't come out again. A smell of death is being wafted to me out of this hole."

  "You talk like a frightened man. I smell nothing."

  "I am not frightened," said Leehallfae quietly - ae had been gradually recovering aer tranquillity - "but when one has lived as long as I have, it is a serious matter to die. Every year one puts out new roots."

  "Decide what you're going to do," said Maskull with a touch of contempt, "for I'm going in at once."

  The phaen gave an odd, meditative stare down the ravine, and after that walked into the cavern without another word. Maskull, scratching his head, followed close at aer heels.

  The moment they stepped across the bubbling spring, the atmosphere altered. Without becoming stale or unpleasant, it grew cold, clear and refined, and somehow suggested austere and tomblike thoughts. The daylight disappeared at the first bend in the tunnel. After that, Maskull could not say where the light came from. The air itself must have been luminous, for though it was as light as full moon on Earth, neither he nor Leehallfae cast a shadow. Another peculiarity of the light was that both the walls of the tunnel and their own bodies appeared colourless. Everything was black and white, like a lunar landscape. This intensified the solemn, funereal feelings created by the atmosphere.

  After they had proceeded for about ten minutes, the tunnel began to widen out. The roof was high above their heads, and six men could have walked side by side. Leehallfae was visibly weakening. Ae dragged aerself along slowly and painfully, with sunken head.

  Maskull caught hold of aer. "You can't go on like that. Better let me take you back."

  The phaen smiled, and staggered. "I'm dying."

  "Don't talk like that. It's only a passing indisposition. Let me take you back to the daylight."

  "No, help me forward. I wish to see Faceny."

  "The sick must have their way," said Maskull. Lifting aer bodily in his arms, he walked quickly along for another hundred yards or so. They then emerged from the tunnel and faced a world the parallel of which he had never set eyes upon before.

  "Set me down!" directed Leehallfae feebly. "Here I'll die."

  Maskull obeyed, and laid aer down at full length on the rocky ground. The phaen raised aerself with difficulty on one arm, and stared with fast-glazing eyes at the mystic landscape.

  Maskull looked too, and what he saw was a vast, undulating plain, lighted as if by the moon - but there was of course no moon, and there were no shadows. He made out running streams in the distance. Beside them were trees of a peculiar kind; they were rooted in the ground, but the branches also were aerial roots, and there were no leaves. No other plants could be seen. The soil was soft, porous rock, resembling pumice. Beyond a mile or two in any direction the light merged into obscurity. At their back a great rocky wall extended on either hand; but it was not square like a wall, but full of bays and promontories like an indented line of sea cliffs. The roof of this huge underworld was out of sight. Here and there a mighty shaft of naked rock, fantastically weathered, towered aloft into the gloom, doubtless serving to support the roof. There were no colours - every detail of the landscape was black, white, or grey. The scene appeared so still, so solemn and religious, that all his feelings quieted down to absolute tranquillity.

  Leehallfae fell back suddenly. Maskull dropped on his knees, and helplessly watched the last flickerings of aer spirit, going out like a candle in foul air. Death came… He closed the eyes. The awful grin of Crystalman immediately fastened upon the phaen's dead features.

  While Maskull was still kneeling, he became conscious of someone standing beside him. He looked up quickly and saw a man, but did not at once rise.

  "Another phaen dead," said the newcomer in a grave, toneless, and intellectual voice.

  Maskull got up.

  The man was short and thickset but emaciated. His forehead was not disfigured by any organs. He was middle-aged. The features were energetic and rather coarse - yet it seemed to Maskull as though a pure, hard life had done something toward refining them. His sanguine eyes carried a twisted, puzzled look; some unanswerable problem was apparently in the forefront of his brain. His face was hairless; the hair of his head was short and manly; his brow was wide. He was clothed in a black, sleeveless robe, and bore a long staff in his hand. There was an air of cleanness and austerity about the whole man that was attractive.

  He went on speaking dispassionately to Maskull, and, while doing so, kept passing his hand reflectively over his cheeks and chin. "They all find their way here to die. They come from Matterplay. There they live to an incredible age. Partly on that account, and partly because of their spontaneous origin, they regard themselves as the favoured children of Faceny. But when they come here to find him, they die at once."

  "I think this one is the last of the race. But whom do I speak to?"

  "I am Corpang. Who are you, where do you come from, and what are you doing here?"

  "My name is Maskull. My home is on the other side of the universe. As for what I am doing here - I accompanied Leehallfae, that phaen, from Matterplay."

  "But a man doesn't accompany a phaen out of friendship. What do you want in Threal?"

  "Then this is Threal?"

  "Yes."

  Maskull remained silent.

  Corpang studied his face with rough, curious eyes. "Are you ignorant, or merely reticent, Maskull?"

  "I came here to ask questions, and not to answer them."

  The stillness of the place was almost oppressive. Not a breeze stirred, and not a sound came through the air. Their voices had been lowered, as though they were in a cathedral.

  "Then do you want my society, or not?" asked Corpang.

  "Yes, if you can fit in with my mood, which is - not to talk about myself."

  "But you must at least tell me where you want to go to."

  "I want to see what is to be seen here, and then go on to Lichstorm."

&
nbsp; "I can guide you through, if that's all you want. Come, let us start."

  "First let's do our duty and bury the dead, if possible."

  "Turn around," directed Corpang.

  Maskull looked around quickly. Leehallfae's body had disappeared.

  "What does this mean - what has happened?"

  "The body has returned to whence it came. There was nowhere here for it to be, so it has vanished. No burial will be required."

  "Was the phaen an illusion, then?"

  "In no sense."

  "Well, explain quickly, then, what has taken place. I seem to be going mad."

  "There's nothing unintelligible in it, if you'll only listen calmly. The phaen belonged, body and soul, to the outside, visible world - to Faceny. This underworld is not Faceny's world, but Thire's, and Faceny's creatures cannot breathe its atmosphere. As this applies not only to whole bodies, but even to the last particles of bodies, the phaen has dissolved into Nothingness."