"Let's get to hell out!" boomed Bjornson.
That still wasn't all. Inside the cabin, another kind of mayhem was going on. Pike was on top of Jerry in the aisle and was smashing blindly at him with his fists.
"You yellow son of a bitch, you did it again!" he yelled through his teeth. "You froze, with a 2K-66 in your hands! Charlie Holberg's dead!"
Danny moved straight at him and whacked him across the side of his face with his gun barrel. Pike rolled over with murder gleaming through the blood of the wound, while many hands sought to hold him down. Men were yelling. The gyros were in action. The ship was lifting off with the hatch still open. Kenny Makart, the third security man, was also a flight mechanic. He had managed to work the controls.
Pike made a lunge for him, but was held back by Bjornson, Kane, and Odell. In the same moment, he glared up at a rifle muzzle that wasn't Danny's. Alonso was there, frowning down at him while the scout ship veered northeast over the jungle. There was a firmness in the Duke's aristocratic face that Danny had never seen before.
"Mode-one crisis," he announced coldly. "Come to your senses, Major. I can have you executed!" There was a gap of staring silence except for the jets and the moans of the wounded. The gun barrel lifted. "Or shall we leave this one 'off-the-cuff?' But I warn you, private feuds of any nature endanger us all. They will not be tolerated!"
He nudged Jerry up and into a bucket seat. "As for repeated violation of rules and orders, we've had a very sorry example of the results of that. You, sir, are under arrest for immediate trial. Guard!"
Bill Vinet took Jerry into custody. This apparently mollified Pike to some extent, although his black eyes glared hate at Danny as he shouldered roughly past him.
Danny was only dimly aware of the men's reaction to the psychic powers of the titan monsters. Although the few remaining cyclopes below were seen retreating under a rallying native attack, their menace remained undiminished in everyone's minds.
"They're too dangerous to be alive!" muttered Bjornson.
"We should exterminate them!" rasped Stockton in a tone of revulsion.
Danny's main attention was drawn to the rear of the cabin, across wounded men, and past staring, sweating faces. He hadn't realized that Ravano and his sister had been taken on board. The chieftain met Danny's wondering gaze firmly and searchingly. Apparently a tragedy had occurred today which had deeper meaning for his people than the earthmen could comprehend. Evidently, Ravano didn't know if he were a prisoner or a guest, but it didn't seem to matter to him. Not even the miracle of flight seemed to concern him. Obviously, what mattered now was to find someone who could understand the true nature of his crisis.
Akala sat on the floor at the rear of the cabin, braced against the bulkhead with her long hair swept back over her shoulders. She sat rigidly in some kind of trance while her brown-nippled breasts rose and fell in cadence with controlled breathing. There was too much noise to hear her, but her lips were moving. Apparently she was chanting some kind of prayer or mantra, probably calling upon her own deity.
Certainly those who had come here to play the god game had failed.
CHAPTER X
"Don't lock me up!" Jerry had pleaded piteously. "I'll die in a cage!"
"You are in violation of charter regulations," Alonso had said as chief of council. "Your gross negligence and insubordination have impeded research and resulted in the loss of life."
"Independent action will be controlled!" Lyshenko had thundered adamantly.
The storm of excitement in camp almost obscured Jerry's quick trial and sentencing. He was sent to the brig for three months, subject to requisitioning for technical services or consultation. His pleas were drowned in a tumult of comments on much more absorbing events. For the time being, Danny and his friends had their hands full.
A full squad of heavily armed men had returned to the canyon village in the scout ship and made an air search for the cyclopes. After a long hunt with infrared scanners and night scopes they had only flushed out three of the monsters and shot them down. A second objective of the "mercy mission" had been to assess the mood of the natives, which was notably warlike now. Apparently their idyllic peace had been shattered chiefly by the disappearance of Ravano and Akala.
This was also a noisy issue at Terra Nova. Were these first two humans of another world to be held captive or treated as honored guests? The Council quickly ruled that the ethics of the matter were subordinate to the imperatives of survival. Lalille Sardou was the chief linguist; it was her task to break through the language barrier as quickly as possible. Such native leaders as Ravano and his sister could supply them with information that might save months of time, if not lives. Meanwhile, the royal pair were honored guests, except that they were restricted to the premises and kept under constant guard. A joint announcement by Council and Flight Command concluded that their eventual fate would be determined by their cooperation or lack of it. The interests of the colony took priority.
"You will find," said Lyshenko in one of his peremptory speeches, "that any maudlin sentimentalities in this regard are a luxury we can't afford. The obvious dangers of our environment call for only one consideration: self-preservation!"
Frederica hated him for it as much as she hated Pike. Lalille, however, was far too absorbed in her fascinating task to think of anything else. Moreover, Ravano and Akala appeared to be equally anxious to communicate. So the Lily was their constant companion except when she was recording her language tapes into the computer for analysis.
* * * *
Meanwhile, the camp work schedules tripled. Maps were quickly drafted and marked for mineral prospecting. Data returning from the daily air surveys indicated rich potential sources of coal, oil, iron, and other minerals, including possibly good deposits of uranium and thorium. Also, the matter of food sources and future agricultural planning was another item for the survey teams. The land rovers could not be used extensively until the jungle-cutting machinery arrived. This kept the big space shuttle busy bringing back equipment from giant cargo pods on the main frame of the Sirius III, which was still parked in a synchronous orbit.
Local hunting and general foraging had begun to provide new challenges to the galley crew if not to their "victims." Foxy had become quotable by devising a scrambled anachronism: "Brides' biscuits went out with brontops steak!"
In view of the apparent belligerence of the natives, there was increasing talk of consolidating the main camp within the massive temple, which was far more defensible. This concept gathered momentum when other humans were discovered along the coastline and in the extensive delta areas. From Lalille's language department, native names were coming into usage. The coastal tribes, according to Ravano, were the Golaks. He referred to his own people as the Talavat nation. The Golaks were purely savages, barbarians who were primitively armed but dangerously numerous and aggressive.
The self-preservation imperatives of a temple move were sharply emphasized by two events. One month after the abduction of Ravano and Akala, Terra Nova was attacked by a determined force of several hundred Talavat warriors. They were no match for the militia and the roborgs, but their stubborn bravery made a deep impression on more than one faction in camp. The casualties among the Talavats had been catastrophic. The survivors were allowed to remove their dead and wounded, but this exhibition of chivalry made little impression on them. They went away with many scars they would not soon forget, nor would Ravano. After this incident, the powerful chieftain's attitude changed from reasoned cooperation to one of sullen and calculated urgency, but he was at least more determined than ever to communicate.
* * * *
Two nights later a lone cyclops raided the camp in a bellowing frenzy of destructiveness. Again the giant demonstrated that his species was not to be stopped by nerve gas or flames. Before he was nearly sliced in two by lasers and bullets, he flattened a field hut, killed two men, and attacked a roborg. The cyborg brain of the ponderous machine was shattered when it crashed to th
e stone pavement.
Consequently, the move to the temple received top priority. The spacious chambers and Galleries offered ample room for about half of the colony members, whereas the remaining crewmen under Flight Command were still quartered on board the star ship's life pod. Once equipped with a ventilating system and lights, the interior of the towering temple began to be converted into fairly suitable living quarters. In the atmosphere created by statues and carved murals, the place took on the appearance of a great feudal castle. This impression was soon enhanced by the heavier ordnance that was installed in niches overlooking the terraces.
Rocket batteries and automatic rifles were what the Duke called a "metachronism." There beyond the Barrier Wall an unrhymed confusion of times and cultures was a penalty exacted by Nature.
For Danny, the increasing developments and mounting workload had made the days race by in a flurry of consuming industry. As a result of the first Colonial Assembly conference, the schedule of tasks had created a heavy backlog of assignments. Yet the old adage about idle hands worked in reverse for him. The more he had to do, the more he had to think about.
This was largely due to the history-making conference, which had lasted for days. Two areas of discussion had led to divided opinions. One of these involved the subject of an eventual attempt to return to Earth. There were two alternatives, each of which would require a long period of years in which to process the necessary nuclear fuel and reestablish the technology necessary for fabricating cores and blocks to go into the main propulsion reactor. One plan included all of the colonists but it would require the fabrication of another S-link, which was a doubtful undertaking. The other plan involved the hiber method, but in that case most of the survivors would be stranded on Terra Nova, possibly forever. The decision on this question was that only time and engineering skill would determine whether or not an S-link could be built.
The other subject was probably what Boozie had in mind when he once mentioned "dragon seeds." But the Duke and the Skipper were unanimous in backing what was called the "Hellenistic Plan." This was a euphemism for using slave labor. As Nolokov expressed it, they were really talking about a form of medieval feudalism which included not only enslavement of the natives but all the trappings of the Inquisition.
As Poyntner and the Duke explained, however, there was no other way to set up the industrial and agronomic structures they needed without a large labor force, and they couldn't conceive of the Talavat nation or the Golak tribesmen working as paid employees. The imperatives of the situation permitted no other economic or social alternative.
"Assuming," said Poyntner suggestively, "that our goal is to return the Sirius III to Earth, by either the S-link or the hibernation method." He shrugged. "Of course, were we to plan on a permanent residence here, other approaches to the indigenous races could be considered perhaps."
"He practically ran up the secessionist flag on that one," commented Nolokov later.
This was the point of schism, regardless of the Council's official endorsement of the Hellenistic system. The questions had been settled communally, yet on an individual level many problems were left unresolved. Enslavement of the natives was an ethical issue with which one struggled according to his conscience. Tallullah had commented that the natives would be compensated in terms of education and "religious enlightenment," but this didn't help stabilize the wavering scales of justice. On the other hand, to be left here forever or to return to Earth was a much more personal matter that definitely probed the depths of instinct. What watered the dragon seeds was that there were some options, depending upon one's philosophy and makeup. There was the awesome gamble of challenging the Barrier Wall again some day, or the perhaps more feasible gamble of "interfacing" with the native cultures and making a permanent go of it. This offered certain advanced guarantees of security especially if one were on the ruling side of a "Hellenistic" society.
Where Danny himself was concerned, he held to his first decision: the hiber trip if it happened, and the book. The Duke and the Skipper were still the law. That way he could leave the soul-searchings and struggles of conscience to others.
Or could he?
The first test of this question came when he saw Ravano again. He and Boozie had been helping out on the new intercom and P.A. system for the temple. Quite unexpectedly they had encountered him and Akala in a special session with Lalille. Freddie was also present, along with Sam and Nolokov and, of all people, Jerry Fontaine.
"I'm out," Jerry had beamed at them happily, "thanks to the women and the Bishop. Humanitarian amnesty. I was getting the flips in that cage!"
His scientific reason for being with Ravano was agricultural. He had come to identify certain fruits and roots in regard to their use and edibility.
"We are here to work with Akala on the temple inscriptions and symbolisms," explained the swami. "She seems to be a priestess. Of course," he smiled, "I'm really only excess baggage here."
The inference was obvious. Nolokov was so involved with Ravano's sister that he hardly noticed them, and it was small wonder. Apparently, Tallullah and the Bishop had perceived the perils of having an undraped heathen female running about the place, but the diaphanous bra she had finally tolerated was more of an enticement than the naked truth. Nevertheless, Akala was apparently eons removed from the sophistications of role playing. Still sullen and wary since the Talavat massacre, she was thinly civil to the Mad Monk, yet somewhat in awe of his brilliantly probing intellect.
The native pair's progress in English was amazing.
"It's the hypno-strobe," Lalille told them.
Which also explained the presence of Frederica. She was the machine's operator, since it was a psychological instrument. By means of subliminal impressions, the learning process could be accelerated with it. Danny noted that she was wearing the leotards and the torso jumper again, replete with the picture-collar blouse. Her dark hair was still down over her shoulders, and the fresh yellow flowers she wore in it added the pagan touch again. Moreover, she seemed to be in a friendlier mood than usual, probably due to the progress both of the girls had been making.
She even nodded to him and smiled. "These two are just marvelous!" she enthused. "They're learning English almost as fast as Lalille is learning Talavat."
Ravano sat regally on a ceremonial stone bench as if he were a king receiving his court. His keen brown eyes studied each person present, including Kenny Makart who was standing guard at the chamber's pillared entrance. On either side of him were massive floor-to-celling panels covered with carved inscriptions.
"One thing we've learned about their religion and social standards," said Sam, "is that they follow the code of laws left by the Lahas." He pointed to the panels.
"Lahas?" asked Boozie.
"Yes, the Great Ones who built the temple."
Makart had apparently made an exception for Danny and Boozie because of their tools and wiring equipment. Ordinarily, unscheduled or uncontrolled fraternizing with their guests was not permitted. It was an opportunity to learn much that had not been released to the general colony populace. There was still a considerable language barrier, but what Lalille had been able to gather from the two Talavats made an impression on Danny that troubled him vaguely. He couldn't analyze his reactions then, or why his gaze kept returning to the steady eyes of Ravano.
One mystery was partially solved. When they had first made contact with the Talavats in the canyon village, some kind of religious observance had been in effect for days. Much of it had to do with the blind, nymph-like creatures they had seen. The advent of the scout ship had broken some kind of spell and precipitated the disaster that followed.
"The nymph creatures are called Moals," Sam explained. "The cyclopes are called Raks. Both types are highly significant to disciples of the Mysteries who understand the Memory of Nature." He smiled resignedly. "Of course Poyntner and Stockton would call this gibberish, but what I'm saying is more important than they might realize. Either this is Earth
in the Lemurlan epoch, or it's another Earth in what you might call a parallel universe."
Startling as this declaration was, the swami persisted in commenting on the Moals. His guess was that they existed in symbiotic relationship with the Talavats, at least under certain conditions which he avoided elaborating on.
"I am willing to wager that the Moals still possess the lost faculty, the collective consciousness of the lower kingdoms. Of course with them it's only intuitive, but it works its ancient magic. In Biblical doctrine, that lost faculty was what constituted the 'Fall' of Man. The 'Apple' symbology signified the acquisition of intelligent self-consciousness. It moved homo sapiens into a higher kingdom but at a price."
"Remember?" said Jerry. "I told you the Moal girl I saw seemed to have some kind of extra sense."
Sam went on. "I believe they are able to warn the Talavats of the presence of danger. Perhaps they can even control the Raks. When your scout ship came thundering in on them, it must have broken up the whole rapport."
"That collective consciousness," said Boozie. "Is it the same kind of thing you attribute to the plant kingdom?" He was obviously thinking about his interstellar communication idea.
"Of course! It also applies to the mineral kingdom. That's right. Ancient Wisdom teaches that atoms are a form of life. They have a deep and dreamless collective consciousness. What do you suppose holds the worlds together?"
The swami was getting deep. Lalille soon interrupted him with information of another kind. Ravano's crisis was related to more than the Moal situation, which had some vital religious significance for him and Akala. The volcanic disturbances had been very heavy recently and were taken to be a sign from the gods. He and his people had an intuitive urge to emigrate, to evade an impending cataclysm.
Star Quest Page 12