Return to Eden e-3

by Harry Harrison

  “Fat gilded-beetle to be crushed! Decayed worm from lowest dungpit! Before you stands Ambalasei highest of the high, eistaa of science, intelligence of the world, possessor of infinite powers. I should sentence you to death for your ill-speaking. I consider that now.”

  So powerful were her movements, so strong her will and her contempt that fargi screamed and fled on all sides, the fargi next to her stood with eyes closed, moaning and shaking. The pudgy Yilanè stepped back, gasping, the colors of her skin fading before the onslaught. She could not talk, could barely think. Ambalasei was very pleased with herself and took another bite of meat, chewed and swallowed before she spoke again.

  “Approval of your fearful respect,” she signed. “Magnanimity in greatness, insult forgotten. Your name?”

  “Muruspe…” the terrified creature finally gasped.

  “Tell me Muruspe, who is the eistaa of this great city that has such fine meat?”

  “She is… Lanefenuu, Eistaa of Ikhalmenets before Ikhalmenets came to Alpèasak.”

  “Sea-girt Ikhalmenets come here. I had not heard.”

  “Cold of winter, snows of cold whiteness descending.”

  “I can well believe that. Your city was too far to the north. Now, lead me to Lanefenuu for I have heard of her and desire the pleasure of her acquaintance.”

  The ambesed was large and sunfilled. The eistaa, arms gleaming with multicolored painting, sat at ease and issued orders to those gathered about her. It was a pleasant, civilized scene and filled Ambalasei with much pleasure as she approached and spoke.

  “Powerful Lanefenuu, Eistaa of sea-girt Ikhalmenets now come to Alpèasak, accept the salutations of Ambalasei knowledgeable of all things who now stands before you.”

  Lanefenuu curved her arms in warm greetings and admiration. “If you are the Ambalasei of whom I have heard ever since I was a wet-skinned fargi you are amplified/welcomed to my city.”

  “Could this world possibly contain two Yilanè of such achievements? Impossibility. I admit to being the Ambalasei of whom you speak.”

  “Ambalasei!” the name rang out, the tones echoing hers, and she turned to see a familiar figure pressing forward. “Ambalasei who instructed me in all the wisdom of science. Greatest pleasure in life to witness your presence here.”

  “Undoubtedly. Is that you lean Ukhereb, my student?”

  “I am. And look, hurrying there, another of your students.”

  “Figure of fatness — it can only be Akotolp. The greatness of your city increases, Lanefenuu, with scientists of their knowledge, who learned from me of course, serving you here.’

  They pressed thumbs in greetings and Lanefenuu ordered a chair of great comfort to be brought forward for the old scientist. The Yilanè present moved with pleasure for all had heard of Ambalasei, while the rings of fargi behind them stirred with the knowledge of great events occurring. There was silence as the Eistaa spoke.

  “By what unknown scientific means do you appear in our city?”

  “The science of the uruketo. The commander now takes the beast north along the shore to continue my oceanic researches, which are important beyond comprehension.” She waved over the fargi with her container, reached into it and held up the recording creature. “Facts contained herein, Eistaa. Discoveries of note to change complete knowledge of the world. None in any of the cities of the Yilanè know of this yet. The pleasure is mine to share this knowledge first with Lanefenuu. Even before it is imparted to scientists/friends. For a great eistaa, who can safely move her city across an entire ocean, is deserving of highest rewards.”

  Lanefenuu signed only magnification of pleasure in return. This was becoming a day to be long remembered. “All of you back,” she ordered. “This greatest Yilanè of science shall speak with me alone.”

  They pushed and stumbled over each other so forceful was the command, so great the event. Moved back ten, twenty, thirty paces until Lanefenuu and Ambalasei were at the center of an immense ring of admiring Yilanè, they in turn surrounded by fargi. The ambesed was now filled to capacity as word spread and all in the city hurried to witness what was occurring.

  They saw Ambalasei hand the recording creature to the Eistaa, saw them bend close in conversation, their voices so low that the meaning of their movements could not be understood. But they all understood easily enough when the Eistaa climbed to her feet and held the recording creature over her head as she moved her body in arcs of triumph. A great rustle of sound came from their feet as they hurried close at her signed command.

  “A day that will be talked about, remembered forever. This greatest Yilanè of knowledge has revealed it to me — and I reveal it to you. The world that we know now is incomplete. We Yilanè have come here to Gendasi*, from Entoban*, have seen the size of the known world doubled in our lifetime. We knew of but one continent and now we have voyaged to this second continent. Now listen and be amazed. Great Ambalasei, in her wisdom, has discovered yet a third immense, warm continent to the south of us.” She turned to the scientist. “You have described this new land, Ambalasei, but you have not told us its name. Will you do that now?”

  “I will, since it is the eistaa’s request and must be obeyed, but modesty has prevented me up until now. One aboard the uruketo with me when first we saw this land said that since I had divined its existence and had led the uruketo there, since I had known of it when no other did, why it was suggested, and I hesitate to say it, it was suggested that this new land be called… Ambalasokei.”

  “And so it shall! I, Lanefenuu, so proclaim it and so it shall be known hereafter. Ambalasokei, the place that Ambalasei found. This is a wonder indeed.”

  An even greater wonder than they could possibly ever know was Ambalasei’s silent thought as she watched their jubilation. She sat, unmoving, her body shaped in a silent curve of acceptance of honor, revealing nothing. If she chose not to speak of some matters, a new city grown, new Yilanè discovered, and they had not the knowledge to ask of these matters, then that knowledge would not be transmitted. Enough to bring them an entire new continent. Satisfaction sufficient for one day.

  Akotolp waddled over and took the recording creature from the Eistaa when she was summoned, cradled it gently between her thumbs. When Lanefenuu granted permission she hurried off with Ukhereb to the laboratory. Ambalasei watched them leave with a feeling of great relief; her place in history was safe. Knowledge of her discoveries would slowly spread from scientist to scientist, city to city. Not quickly, for that was not the Yilanè way, but surely. One day other scientists would come here, hear the record, bring the word to still others in Entoban*. Interest would be roused among those cities threatened by the approach of winter and expeditions would be mounted. Some day her city of Ambalasokei would be contacted, but not in the foreseeable future, not in her lifetime. She owed the disputatious Daughters at least that much. This would give them some time to resolve their problems and, if possible, insure the future of their city.

  The Sorogetso were another matter altogether. Their future was between her thumbs and it was a grave responsibility. How lucky they were that she was the one to both find them and secure their untroubled existence. Such responsibilities she bore upon her broad shoulders! Ambalasei smiled with happiness and signed to an attendant fargi for a water-fruit.

  Days of pleasure followed. The Eistaa saw to her comforts and regaled her with the story of their heroic move from Ikhalmenets. She spoke very briefly of the battles to displace the ustuzou from this city and the long war that followed. When she made curt mention of the name Vaintè Lanefenuu’s anger was so great that Ambalasei was careful to never speak the name again in her presence. But she did question the two scientists about the matter, and expressed approval at the successful biological warfare they had waged against the enemy.

  “What you did was perfectly correct. This is a Yilanè city, therefore it was your duty to destroy the intruders who occupied it, to drive them back to their caves and dens. But as you were right, this Vaintè w
as in error to pursue and attempt to annihilate them. They sound a poisonous and deadly species, but still a species which, like all others, must be preserved. Like any trapped animal they fought back viciously. Two uruketo dead before the fighting ended, Vaintè sent away in disgrace! Terrible. But still a lesson taught, hopefully learned. The attempt to destroy another species is the seed of self-destruction.”

  The two scientists signed complete agreement, together with modifiers of great intensity. This matter was so distasteful that they were happy to turn their thoughts away from it to a more pleasurable discussion of Ambalasei’s biological discoveries and how some of the species she described seemed related to others here in Gendasi*. It was a delightful and fruitful discussion.

  The days flew by swiftly after this. Fine food for the body, fine nourishment for the mind. Lanefenuu pressed her to stay, as did Ukhereb and Akotolp, but Ambalasei was firm. “Pleasures here greatly enjoyed. But my work is not complete. Each day that I grow older is one day less to finish my labors. They must go on. The uruketo is charting water temperatures and will return soon. I must leave on it when it arrives.” She was becoming quite adept at vagueness that suggested lack of knowledge. This was the ninth day and the uruketo would be back in the morning and she would be gone. But it had been a very pleasant stay.

  This pleasure was not to last. As the three scientists sat at their ease they became aware of shouts and a great disturbance from the ambesed. Before they could inquire a messenger arrived. Not a fargi, but Muruspe herself, Lanefenuu’s efensele, gasping for breath.

  “Presence required… urgency of motion… strongest desire.”

  The fargi were pushed back to make way for them, until they reached the center of the ambesed and the group around the Eistaa. There was a tall Yilanè there clutching the arms of a smaller one. A thin figure that looked horribly familiar to Ambalasei.

  “See this!” Lanefenuu called out. “Look what has been discovered on our beach.”

  Ambalasei was paralyzed with shock, speechless for the first time in her life.

  It was Far!.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Lack of understanding,” Akotolp signed. “Confusion as to meaning of this presence.”

  “Speak, esekasak,” the Eistaa ordered. “Tell all assembled what you have found.”

  The tall Yilanè who was esekasak, the birth-beach guardian, shook Far!’s thin body, then pushed her forward so all could see.

  “It is my duty to guard the beaches, to guard the males who rest there. I guard and assure the safety of the beaches when the males are in the hanalè. I assure the safety of the elininyil when they emerge from the sea. They are weak and need protection. It is my duty also to look at each elininyil as it emerges from the sea because in the efenburu in the sea it is not as it is in the city…” Her speech stopped and she turned to the Eistaa for aid.

  “I shall talk of this matter,” Lanefenuu said, “for the esekasak is not permitted to do this. Her duty, in addition to protecting all, is to separate the males from the females when they leave the ocean, to take them at once to the hanalè. It was in the performance of her duty that she found this one she holds leaving the beach.

  Lanefenuu paused because her fury was so great that her body writhed and she could not speak clearly. She fought for control and raised her thumbs and pointed to Far!, then spoke again with great difficulty.

  “Found this one… leaving the beach… with an elininyil. A MALE!”

  It was an unheard-of crime, an inconceivable crime. The order and organization of the city did not, could not permit this to happen. Males were confined to the hanalè and rarely seen; were never seen unguarded. What had happened? What could possibly have happened? Most of the spectators were so rigid with shock that Ambalasei’s stunned silence drew no attention. It was Akotolp, ever the scientist, who stepped forward with signed queries.

  “Where is the male?”

  “Now, in the hanalè.”

  “Did it say anything?”

  “It is yiliebe.”

  “Has this one spoken?”

  “No.”

  Akotolp pushed her face close to Far!’s, shouted her command.

  “I do not know you — tell me your name!”

  Far! signed negative, then gasped with pain as the big guardian closed hard thumbs on her thin arms. Akotolp looked to the circle of Yilanè. “Does anyone recognize her? Who here knows her name?”

  There was only silence, and it was Lanefenuu who spoke next.

  “Her name — unknown. Then she is not of this city and is a stranger. Where are you from, stranger? Someone must know you if you came with us from Ikhalmenets.”

  Far!’s limbs moved as she listened and, with no intention of speaking, she still signed not Ikhalmenets. There was no way for her to avoid the truth for, like all Yilanè, she lacked the ability to lie. What she thought, she said, and it was clear for all to understand. Lanefenuu was relentless.

  “You attempt to hide who you are and where you are from. But you cannot. You cannot hide from me. I will name a city and you will answer. I will ask you until you tell me. I will find out.”

  Far! looked about, writhing now with panic, not wanting to speak but knowing that she would be forced to. Her glance fell on Ambalasei’s rigid body for a moment, hesitated, moved on. Understood.

  For an instant, unnoticed by any of the others who had eyes only for the questioning Akotolp and the prisoner, Ambalasei had spoken. A single, simple nonverbal expression. Far! understood. She writhed in understanding and hatred, so strong that the Eistaa recoiled.

  Death, Ambalasei had said. Death.

  Far! knew that she would eventually have to convey information. And in doing so she would reveal the existence of the city and of the Daughters of Life. They would be found, captured, killed, their newfound freedom doomed. She would speak and everything she had lived for would die. The hatred was for Ambalasei who would live on. For her there could be only one thing.

  Death.

  Hers — or all the others’. At the thought of all the deaths she would cause Far! writhed with agony. Her eyes closed and her body sagged. Ambalasei watched, immobile and expressionless.

  “Dead,” Lanefenuu said with disgust, as the esekasak opened her thumbs and Far! dropped to the ground. “Now we will never know.”

  Akotolp waddled over and nudged the limp body with her foot, signalled to the nearest fargi. “We will do a dissection, Eistaa. Perhaps there is a disease, an infection of the brain, that may explain this unusual happening.”

  Lanefenuu signed termination of presence and the corpse was hurried from her sight. Most of the onlookers left as well since the Eistaa, still moving with anger and affront, was obviously in no humor for conversation. Forgotten for the moment, Ambalasei moved away with the others, determined not to be noticed again. The fargi milled about in the dusk, seeking sheltered sleeping places, and she stayed close to them. When darkness fell they took no notice of her presence in their midst. She slept, as well as she could on the hard ground, and was awake and on her way to the waterfront at first light. She walked past the tethered uruketo to the open space at the dock’s end and waited there, forcing herself into stolid silence. Very soon after this an uruketo appeared from the sea haze and she saw, with great relief, that Elem was on the fin. Their presence was not noticed among the other uruketo: a crewmember helped her aboard and Ambalasei ordered instant departure.

  “You sign great worry, great unhappiness,” Elem said when she had climbed up to join her.

  “I have good reason to. I will speak of it later. Because right now you and your crew have no time for listening since you will be working as hard as you can to get this creature to the beach just as quickly as possible.”

  They were waiting on the sand, the four Daughters of Life and a huddled group of frightened fargi. There was a great deal of milling about before the fargi could be urged into the surf, to swim out to the uruketo. But once started they came strenuously on, stron
g swimmers since they were but recently emerged from the sea. They swarmed aboard and were gaping about stupidly long before the Daughters arrived. Satsat was the first to pull herself out of the water, to face an enraged Ambalasei.

  “What happened out there? What possessed that idiot Far!? Do you know what she has done?”

  “I do. She could not be dissuaded. Our work here was finished, she said, for we had talked to the fargi and had given them food. Those who understood us stayed with us and listened, but the ones that were still yiliebe drifted away. Those who learned of Ugunenapsa are with us now. Our city shall grow and prosper…”

  “Cease rambling? Speak of Far!.”

  Satsat looked with great unhappiness at the fargi and her companions now climbing into the uruketo, fought to order her thoughts. “She said that we had new Daughters of Life — but only daughters. For our city to grow and prosper in the natural way males were needed, as she has always said. We urged her not to go, spoke of the danger, but she would not listen to us…”

  “I can well believe that.”

  “Although she risked death she took the risk gladly. She felt that if she could but bring a single male to the wisdom of Ugunenapsa no sacrifice would be too great. She left us, did not return. Not last night nor this morning.”

  “She did as she desired,” Ambalasei said coarsely, “her greatest wish has been granted. She is dead. She died to stop herself from speaking. Probably the only intelligent thing that she ever did in her entire life.”

  Ambalasei turned away from the horrified Satsat and made her way into the interior of the uruketo and sought a dark and quiet spot to rest. She remained there for most of the return voyage, eating little but sleeping a great deal, ignoring the others. Although she did talk to some of the fargi, slowly and quietly with none of her usual brusqueness. Most of the time she slept. It was midday , warm and humid, when they returned. She was first ashore and left the unloading to the others. They had been seen upon the river and it seemed that the entire city was there.