As on a Darkling Plain

by Ben Bova

  They came out of the caves only during the early morning and evening hours. The blazing midday heat of Sirius was too much for them to face. They ate crustaceans and the small fish that dwelled in the shallows along the beach, insects, and the grubby vegetation that clung to the base of the cliffs. Occasionally they found a large fish that had blundered into the shallows; then they feasted.

  They had no wood, no metal, no fire. Their only tools were from the previous bones of the rare big fish, and hand-worked rock.

  They died of disease and injury, they aged prematurely from malnutrition. They had to search constantly for food, especially since half their day was taken away from them by Sirius’ blowtorch heat. They were more apt to be prowling the beach at night, hunting seaworms and crabs, than by daylight. Grote and I damned near blundered right into them, Lee realized after watching a few of the night gathering sessions.

  There were some dangers. One morning he was watching one of the teen-age boys, a good swimmer, venture out past the shallows in search of fish. A shark-like creature found him first.

  When he screamed, half a dozen men grabbed spears and dove into the surf. Lee found himself dashing into the water alongside them, empty-handed. He swam out to the youngster, already dead, sprawled face down in the water, half of him gone, blood staining the swells. Lee helped to pull the remains back to shore.

  There wasn’t anything definite, no one said a word to him about it, but their attitude toward him changed. He was fully accepted now. He hadn’t saved the boy’s life, hadn’t shown any uncommon bravery. But he had shared a danger with them, and a sorrow.

  Wheel the horse inside the gates of Troy, Lee said to himself. Nobody ever warned you to beware of Earthmen bearing gifts.

  After he got to really understand their language, Lee found that Ardraka often singled him out for long talks. It was almost funny. There was something that the old man was fishing for, just as Lee was trying to learn where these people really came from.

  They were sitting in the cool darkness of the central cave, deep inside the cliff. All the outer caves channeled back to this single large chamber, high-roofed and moss-covered, its rocks faintly phosphorescent. It was big enough to hold four or five times the clan’s present number without crowding.

  It was midday. Most of the people were sleeping. A few of the children, off to the rear of the cave, were scratching pictures with pointed, fist-sized rocks on the packed bare earth back there. Lee sat with his back resting against a cool stone wall. The sleepers were paired off, man and mate, for the most part. The unmated adolescents slept apart. The older couples paired permanently, although the teens played the game as freely as they could.

  Ardraka was lying beside him, eyes closed. Lee settled back and tried to turn off his thoughts, but the old man asked softly:

  “Lee is not asleep?”

  “No, Lee is not,” he answered.

  “Ardraka has seen that Lee seldom sleeps,” Ardraka said.

  “That is true.”

  “Is it that Lee does not need sleep as Ardraka does?”

  Lee shook his head. “No, Lee needs sleep as much as Ardraka or any man.”

  “This... place... that Lee comes from. Lee says it is beyond the sea?”

  “Yes, far beyond.”

  In the faint light of the gleaming rocks, the old man’s heavy-boned, wrinkled face looked troubled, deep in difficult thought.

  “Are there men and women living in Lee’s place, men and women such as the people here?”

  Lee nodded.

  “And how did Lee come here? Did Lee swim across the sea?”

  They had been through this a hundred times. “Lee came around the edge of the sea, walking on land just as Ardraka would.”

  Laughing softly, the old man said, “Ardraka is too feeble now for such a walk. Ardra could make such a walk.”

  “Yes, Ardra could.”

  “Ardraka has tried to dream of Lee’s place and Lee’s people. But such dreams do not come.”

  “Dreams are hard to command,” Lee said.

  “Yes, truly.”

  “And what of Ardraka and the people here?” Lee asked. “Is this the only place where such men and women live?”

  “Yes. It is the best place to live. All other places are death.”

  “There are no men and women such as Ardraka and the people here living in another place?”

  The old man thought hard a moment, then smiled a toothless smile. “Surely Lee jokes. Lee knows that Lee’s people live in another place.”

  We’ve been around this bush before. Trying another tack, he asked, “Have Ardraka’s people always lived in this place? Did Ardraka’s father live here?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “And Ardraka’s father’s father?”

  A nod.

  “And all the fathers, from the beginning of the people? All lived here, always?”

  A shrug. “No man knows.”

  “Have there always been this many people living here?” Lee asked. “Did Ardraka’s people ever fill this cave when the people slept here?”

  “Oh, yes.... When Ardraka was a boy, many men and women slept in the outer caves, since there was no room for such men and women here. And when Ardraka’s father was young, men and women even slept in the lower caves.”

  “Lower caves?”

  Ardraka nodded. “Below this one, deeper inside the ground. No man or woman has been in the lower caves since Ardraka became chief.”

  “Why is that?”

  The old man evaded Lee’s eyes. “They are not needed.”

  “May Lee visit the lower caves?”

  “Perhaps,” Ardraka said. After a moment’s thought, he added, “Children have been born and grown to manhood and died since any man set foot in the lower caves. Perhaps the lower caves are gone now. Perhaps Ardraka does not remember how to find them.”

  “Lee would like to see the lower caves.”

  Late that night he walked the beach alone, under the glowing star-poor sky, giving his weekly report back to the ship.

  “He’s being cagy about the lower caves,” Lee said as the outstretched fingers of surf curled around his ankles.

  “Why should he be so cautious?” It was Marlene’s voice. She was taking the report this night.

  “Because he’s no fool, that’s why. These people have never seen a stranger before... not for generations, at least. Therefore their behavior toward me is original, not instinctive. If he’s leery of showing me the caves, it’s for some reason that’s fresh in his mind, not some hoary tribal taboo.”

  “Then what do you intend to do?”

  “I’m not sure yet....” Lee turned to head back down the beach and saw Ardra standing twenty paces behind him.

  “Company,” he whispered. “Talk to you later. Keep listening.”

  Ardra advanced toward him, and Lee couldn’t help feeling the alienness of the young man’s face, the bunched muscles in his shoulders and arms, the heavy brows that hid the expression in his eyes.

  Ardraka’s son said, “Many nights Ardra has seen Lee leave the cave and walk on the beach. Tonight Lee was talking, but Lee was alone. Does Lee speak to a man or woman that Ardra cannot see?”

  His tone was flat, factual, neither frightened nor puzzled. If anything, menacing.

  “Lee is alone,” he answered as calmly as he could. “There is no man or woman here with Lee. Except Ardra.”

  “But Lee speaks and is silent. Then Lee speaks again.”

  He knows a conversation when he hears one, even if it’s only one side of it and in a strange language.

  Ardra suggested, “Perhaps Lee speaks to men and women from Lee’s place, far beyond the sea?”

  “Does Ardra believe that Lee can speak to men and women far away from this place?”

  “Ardra believes that is what Lee does at night on the beach. Lee speaks with the Karta.”

  “Karta? What is the meaning of Karta?”

  “It is an ancient word. It
means men and women who live in another place.”

  Others, Lee translated to himself. “Yes,” he said to Ardra. “Lee speaks to the Others.”

  Ardra’s breath seemed to catch momentarily, then he said with deliberate care, “Lee speaks with the Others.” His voice had an edge of steel to it now.

  What have I stepped into?

  “It is time to be sleeping, not walking on the beach,” Ardra said in a tone that Lee knew was a command. And he started walking back toward the caves.

  Thin as he was, Lee outweighed the chiefs son by a few kilos, and was some ten centimeters taller. But he had seen the speed and strength in Ardra’s stocky frame, and knew the difference in reaction time that the age difference between them made. So he didn’t run or fight; he followed Ardra back to the caves and obediently went to sleep. Ardra stayed awake over him.

  The next morning, when the men went out to fish and the women to gather greens and insects, Ardra took Lee’s arm and led him to the back of the central cave. Ardraka and five other elders were waiting for him. They all looked very grim. Only then did Lee realize that Ardra was carrying a spear in his other hand.

  They were sitting in a ragged semicircle, their backs to what looked like a tunnel entrance, their eyes hard on Lee. He sat at their focus, with Ardra squatting beside him.

  “Lee,” Ardraka began without preliminaries, “why is it that Lee wishes to see the lower caves?”

  The question caught him by surprise. “Because... Lee wishes to learn more about Ardraka’s people. Lee comes from far away, and knows little of Ardraka’s father and the fathers of all the men and women here.”

  “Is it true,” one of the elders asked in an age-trembling voice, “that Lee speaks at night with the Others?” His inflection made the word sound special, fearful, ominous.

  “Lee speaks to the men and women of the place where Lee comes from. It is like the way Ardraka speaks to Ardraka’s grandfather... in a dream.”

  “But Ardraka sleeps when doing such a thing. Lee is awake.”

  Ardra broke in, “Lee says Lee’s people live beyond the sea. Beyond the sea is the sky. Do Lee’s people live in the sky?”

  Off the edge of the world, just like Columbus.

  “Yes,” he admitted. “Lee’s people come from the sky...”

  “See!” Ardra shouted. “Lee is of the Others!”

  The councilmen physically backed away from him. Even Ardraka seemed shaken.

  “Lee is of the Others,” Ardra repeated. “Lee must be killed before he kills Ardraka’s people!”

  “Kill?” Lee felt stunned. He had never heard any of them speak of violence before. “Why should Lee kill the people here?”

  They were all babbling at once. Ardraka raised his hand for silence.

  “To kill a man is very serious,” he said painfully. “It is not certain that Lee is of the Others...”

  “Lee says it with Lee’s own mouth!” Ardra insisted. “Why else did Lee come here? Why does Lee want to see the lower caves?”

  Ardraka glowered at his son, and the younger man stopped. “The council must be certain before acting.”

  Struggling to keep his voice calm, Ardra ticked off points on his stubby fingers: “Lee says Lee’s people live in the sky... the Others live in the sky. Lee wishes to see the lower caves. Why? To see if more of Ardraka’s people are there, so that Lee can kill all the people!”

  The council members murmured and glanced at him fearfully. Starting to look like a lynch jury.

  “Wait,” Lee said. “There is more to the truth than what Ardra says. Lee’s people live in the sky... that is true. But that does not mean that Lee’s people are the Others. The sky is wide and large... wider even than the sea, by far. Many different people can live in the sky.”

  Ardraka’s brows were knitted in concentration. “But Lee, if both Lee’s people and the Others live in the sky, why have not the Others destroyed Lee’s people as the Others destroyed Ardraka’s ancestors?”

  Lee felt his stomach drop away from him. So that’s it!

  “Yes,” one of the councilmen said. “The Others live far from this land, yet the Others came here and destroyed Ardraka’s forefathers and all the works of such men and women.”

  “Tell Lee what happened,” he said, stalling for time to work up answers. “Lee knows nothing about the Others.” Not from your side of the war, at least.

  Ardraka glanced around at the council members sitting on both sides of him. They looked uncertain, wary, still afraid. Ardra, beside Lee, had the fixed glare of a born prosecutor. And the spear rested on the ground beside him.

  “Lee is not of Ardraka’s people,” Ardra said, barely controlling the fury in his voice. “Lee must be of the Others. There are no people except Ardraka’s people and the Others!”

  “Perhaps that is not so,” Ardraka said. “True, Ardraka has always thought it to be this way, but Lee looks like an ordinary man, not like the Others.”

  Ardra huffed. “No living man has seen the Others. How can Ardraka say—”

  “Because Ardraka has seen pictures of the Others,” the chief said quietly.

  “Pictures?” They were all startled.

  “Yes. In the deepest caves, where only the chief can go... and the chief’s son. Ardraka has thought for a long time that soon Ardra should see the deepest cave. But no longer. Ardra must see the cave now.”

  The old man got up, stiffly, to his feet. His son was visibly trembling with eagerness.

  “May Lee also see the pictures?” Lee asked.

  They all began to protest, but Ardraka said firmly, “Lee has been accused of being of the Others. Lee stands in peril of death. It is right that Lee should see the pictures.”

  The council members muttered among themselves. Ardra glowered, then bent down and picked up the spear he had left at his feet. Lee smiled grimly to himself. If those pictures give you the slightest excuse, you’re going to ram that thing through me. The ideal lawman; sheriff, jury, and executioner.

  Far from having forgotten his way to the deeper caves, Ardraka threaded through a honeycomb of tunnels and chambers, always picking the path that slanted downward. Lee sensed they were spiraling deeper and deeper into the solid rock of the cliffs, far below sea level. The walls were crusted and a thick mat of dust clung to the ground, but everything shone with the same faint greenish luminosity as the upper caves. And beneath the dust the footing began to feel more like pitted metal than rock.

  Finally Ardraka stopped. They were standing in the entryway to a fairly small chamber. The lighting was very dim. Lee stood behind Ardraka, and felt Ardra’s breath on his neck.

  “This is the place,” Ardraka said solemnly. His voice echoed slightly.

  They slowly entered the chamber. Ardraka walked to the farthest wall and wordlessly pointed to a jumble of lines scrawled at about eye level. The chamber was dark, but the lines of the drawing glowed slightly brighter than the wall itself.

  Gradually, Lee pieced the picture together. It was crude, so crude that it was hard to understand. But there were stick figures of men that seemed to be running, hands raised over their heads protectively, and rough outlines of what might have been buildings with curls of smoke rising from them. Above them all were circular things, ships, with dots for ports. Harsh, jagged lines were streaking from the ships toward the stick figures and buildings.

  “Men and women,” Ardra said in a reverent whisper as he pointed to the stick drawings. “The men and women of the time of Ardraka’s farthest ancestors. And here,” his hand flashed to the circles, “are the Others.”

  Even in the dim light, Lee could see Ardra’s face gaping at the picture. “The Others,” he said, his voice barely audible.

  “Look at Lee,” Ardraka commanded his son.

  “Does Lee look like the Others, or like a man?”

  Ardra seemed about to crumble. He said shakily, “Lee... Ardra has misjudged Lee.... Ardra is... ashamed.”

  “There is no shame,” Lee said.
“Ardra has done no harm. Ardra was trying to protect Ardraka’s people.” And besides, you were right.

  Turning to Ardraka, Lee asked, “Is this all that you know of the Others?”

  “Ardraka knows that the Others killed the people of Ardraka’s forefathers. Before the Others came, Ardraka’s ancestors lived in splendor: the living places covered the land everywhere; men and women swam the seas without fear of any creature of the deeps; men and women leaped through the sky and laughed at the winds and storms; every day was bright and good and there was no night. Then the Others came and destroyed all. The Others turned the sky to fire, and brought night. Only the people in the deepest caves survived. This was the deepest cave. Only the ancestors of Ardraka escaped the Others.”

  We destroyed this world, Lee told himself. An interstellar war, aeons ago. We destroyed each other, old man. Only you’ve been destroyed for good, and we climbed back.

  Lee felt the weight of those aeons on him. Sweet Christ Almighty, we did this to you.

  “Come,” Ardraka said. “No more can be learned here. This place is dead. As dead as the people who made the pictures.”

  In the darkness, Lee nodded. As he turned back toward the entry way, his eyes caught a glint of something high up on the wall. He stopped momentarily and tried to make out what it was. But Ardra was right behind him, so he said nothing and followed Ardraka back up toward the harsh daylight.

  It was a week before he dared to stroll on the beach at night again, a week of torment, even though Ardra never gave him the slightest reason to think that he was still under suspicion.

  The people at the ship were just as stunned as he was when he told them about it.

  “We killed them,” he whispered savagely at them, back in the comfort of the ship. “We destroyed them. We made the Pup explode to wipe them out completely.”

  “That’s... farfetched,” Rassmussen answered. But his voice sounded lame.