Homesmind

by Pamela Sargent

  Anra stared at the mob, unable to move; she would be trampled. Rulek suddenly grabbed her and thrust her into a shuttle, then followed Olin and Gennon inside as Paeter and Fiella scrambled into another craft. Rulek reached out for Reiho, pulling the man through the open door. The door slid shut; the craft lifted slowly.

  Other shuttles rose around them. Reiho threw himself into one of the front seats and took control of the craft. They became part of the stream flowing toward the corridor.

  Gennon cried out as one craft dipped toward them. "It's all right," Reiho said. "The craft's piloting itself now. We won't collide with anyone as long as we keep moving." They shot through the corridor and emerged from the root, floating up past immense tree trunks. Other shuttles were rising from other roots. The spaces around them were thick with shuttlecraft; Anra peered through the dome, too stunned to speak.

  Her vessel continued to rise. By the time they were above the trees, the craft had maneuvered itself to the edge of the river of vessels, where it hung with other Earthbound shuttles. The larger stream shot out toward the smaller comet.

  "Look," Olin whispered.

  Anra's throat locked; she could not even utter a cry. The Visitor hung overhead, blotting out nearly a quarter of the black, starry sky. Its giant trees were encased in ice, giving off a cold, silver light. She heard its howl; her trembling hands tapped against the dome.

  The swarm of vessels flew on toward the seeded world, far outnumbering the ones waiting with her own. Anra clutched at her armrest. Her perspective had shifted; the Visitor was below her now. The other passengers continued to stare at the awesome sight as if entranced.

  The fleeing shuttles were soon only specks merging with the seeded comet. The shuttles hovering near Anra began to move toward the blue orb of Earth.

  "We've failed," Reiho muttered. "Look at them. They don't care about saving the Minds—they've even abandoned Homesmind."

  "We must get to Earth," Gennon said.

  "To do what?" Rulek asked, his voice higher than usual. "What will await us there?"

  "You could have run to that other world," Olin said harshly. Anra turned her head. Olin was sitting on the edge of his seat, glaring at the blond boy, who sat just in front of him.

  Rulek met his eyes. "I may be weak and fearful," he said slowly, "but I wouldn't have done that." He turned his seat until his back was to Olin.

  The craft started to float toward Earth. Anra continued to look at the green head and the bright tail of the seeded world, which now seemed to be moving as well. Its new inhabitants were safe inside its roots; she wondered if they would give any thought to those they were leaving behind. She bit her lip and tasted blood.

  The Visitor shrieked with laughter.

  The comet worlds shrank as the shuttle gathered speed. The seeded world was moving, but toward the Visitor, not away from it. As the craft flew on, the Voice sang of its triumph, blending with the screams of the sky-dwellers who had tried to escape its grasp.

  Reiho gripped the back of his chair, his mouth open in horror; Anra took his hand. She closed her link; her ears pounded in the silence as the Visitor swallowed the doomed world. The tiny stems of the seeded world shriveled as they met the Visitor's icy limbs; the leaves flared up in a cold, blue fire. Anra covered her face, grinding the heel of her hand against her mouth. Only Homesmind and the failing Minds of Earth now stood between her world and the Visitor.

  ELEVEN

  Anra had been dreaming of Homesmind. She lay against her seat, eyes closed, listening to the low murmurs of the others inside the shuttle. She had traveled through Homesmind's lattices as if she were one of Its thoughts, marveling at the intricate, complex connections that had given It consciousness.

  Homesmind had always craved knowledge, swallowing facts, ideas, and experiences while seeking more. The Visitor might be another such being, but knowledge alone had not satisfied it; the Visitor longed for the very minds that held the knowledge. If it had still had the beings who had made it to serve and care for, perhaps its hunger would have been restrained, for it would have had their thoughts to explore, but the Visitor could now serve no one except itself. It wanted to possess all other minds, as if enthralled by a twisted love and unable to bear the thought of a mind apart from itself. How many minds could it swallow before it was satisfied? Would it eventually meet another like itself, and be swallowed in turn?

  She opened her eyes. A soft light glowed inside the craft; on the plain of night around her, other shuttle domes shone. They had landed in the desert near the place where she had found Rulek. No Earthfolk were likely to venture here now.

  Olin handed her a wafer as she sat up. She bit into it, tasting almonds, then swallowed a goblet of water. Standing up, she pressed the door open and hopped down to the ground. Olin jumped out after her.

  The domes lighted her way as she wandered from craft to craft, peering up at each vessel. Tuela and Jerod sat gazing intently at Chilon; in another shuttle, Daiya was comforting Chal as Lydee and Marellon ate. Olin trailed her, not speaking. They walked on until the craft were several paces behind them.

  Away from the lights of the craft, she could now see that the desert was bathed in an eerie red glow. She looked up at the sky. The moon was bright red; she could almost feel the Visitor tugging at Earth's satellite. She turned west, toward the mountains. The fat, white tail of the Visitor had fanned out across the sky, outlining the black peaks; the Wanderer, once so impressive, was only a thin streak near the enemy comet's head.

  "How much death will we have to endure?" Anra said. "Can that thing swallow all of Earth, too?"

  Olin folded his arms. "Even if it doesn't, we would have to live as solitaries. I wonder which would be worse— living as a separate self or being trapped inside the Mind of the Visitor."

  The Visitor, Anra thought, hardly had a Mind at all now; its hunger had overwhelmed whatever rationality it might have once possessed. She gazed at the distant mountains, wondering how many of the pillars under them had already failed and how many of the tiny lights dancing on their surfaces had winked out.

  "Anra, I must ask this now. You said before that you would choose me. Will you pledge yourself to me as a partner?"

  She glanced at him, startled. "You still want such a pledge from me?"

  "Yes, if you'll give it. You're thinking that your feeling for Rulek still stands in the way of such a pledge."

  He had not touched her thoughts; he was only guessing. "No, Olin. My feelings are confused, and too much has been burned out of me. I'm thinking that it might be too easy to make a pledge now, because I don't know if I'll live long enough to break it."

  "I've lost my family and my village. I don't want to die without a bond with another. You see that my reasons for asking are partly selfish ones."

  "Then I pledge myself to you," she said, holding out her hand. "I have love for you now, and it will grow." She felt a pang as she thought of Rulek. Her love for him was a wilder feeling, as likely to evoke pain as pleasure. Perhaps her feeling for Olin was a truer love. If they lived, she would make certain Olin never regretted the pledge.

  "Then I pledge myself to you," she said, holding out her hand.

  He took her fingers. "I pledge myself to you."

  "May our souls draw together until we have merged, and may all our children carry both our names."

  Olin repeated the words. As solitaries, their souls would never be able to draw together, and they might not live to have children, but the words were a traditional part of the pledge.

  "I call you partner," she finished.

  "I call you partner." Olin kissed her lightly. They were now as bound as they would be if they had made the pledge before an entire village.

  She released his hand. "We must tell Daiya and Reiho. They were my guardians. We could repeat our pledge for them, so that they could witness it."

  "Then we shall."

  As they were about to turn toward the shuttles, Anra heard the distant rumbling of thunder.
Suddenly a sheet of rock slid down one of the mountains and smashed to the ground. Earth shifted under her feet, nearly throwing her forward; the lighted shuttle domes rose and fell. She heard a scream.

  The two ran toward the shuttles. Earthfolk and comet-dwellers were already gathering on the land around the craft. The ground rippled; one craft fell on its side, narrowly missing Marellon.

  Anra was lying on the sand; she got to her feet. Babies wailed as adults clutched at them protectively. Pebbles and boulders spilled from the mountains; had the ships been closer to the peaks, they might have been buried. Yvela raced past Anra, screaming; Rulek ran after the girl and grabbed her by the shoulders, calming her. Anra turned toward the crowd, trying to see who might be missing. Upturned faces, reddened by the moon's light, watched the sky.

  /Our time is upon Us/

  "The Minds," she whispered.

  /The Visitor calls Us to itself, and We can no longer resist/

  She heard a crack as a mountain peak collapsed. The ground shifted again, throwing several people to their knees.

  /Listen to Us. There is only one chance for you now. You must close your minds to Us completely—only that can save you. Otherwise your souls will be dragged to the Visitor along with Our own/

  Anra was calm, and that surprised her. She had thought that in the end she might lose all courage. —The other Earthfolk, the rest of our world— she said. —Will they be safe, too?—

  /Many cling to Us. They fear separateness more than the Visitor, and leave their minds open. They believe Earth's cycles will end/

  —Then we can't close our links yet. If others won't listen to You, they might listen to us. We have to try— She turned toward the assembled people. Everyone's channel was open now, and all would hear her; even the skydwellers had opened their links a little. —We must weave a Net and reach out to other Earthfolk. We'll tell them we have some skydweller tools, that we can live and rebuild if we survive this battle, that this needn't be the end of Earth—

  /You must withdraw and close your minds/

  —Not until we've spoken. Can You give us the power to do so?—

  /We can try. This will be the last service We can perform for Earth/

  —But how can we speak to all of Earth?— Paeter asked. —Can our Net become strong enough?—

  —We can begin with one group— Anra answered, —reach out to any who might still be near our old village. If even a few heed us, they in turn can touch others more distant until we have a chain of minds, a Net over all of Earth—

  —We'll be lost— Viya protested.

  —No, Anra is right— Lydee stepped forward. —We don't have much time. We must begin now. We must all link minds, Earthfolk and cometdwellers alike—

  The infants and the youngest children had been hastily collected in one group. Daiya, Reiho, and a few of the older children sat with them, shielding them in case the untrained children opened their links.

  The others encircled the group, linking arms, forming two rings. Anra stood in the outer circle between Eiella and Olin; Rulek was nearby, holding the hands of Paeter and Viya. There were nearly three thousand of them; Anra hoped that would be enough to weave a strong Net.

  She opened her mind. The Visitor wailed; she could barely sense the Minds. As the Net began to form, all of the fear and terror of those with her nearly over-whelmed Anra. She drew on more power. The strands of the Net leaped from mind to mind until the web held all. They were all bound, their senses tied together; but the thoughts of the skydwellers, unused to such sharing, were threatening to drop away.

  Anra pulled at the tenuous thoughts of one skydweller. Several Earthpeople, disoriented by the mental touch of the skyfolk, were weakening the Net. But the thoughts of Anra's friends were strong. She realized that they were the nexus of the Net, the link between the cometdwellers and the Earthfolk. We have to hold the two together, she thought. We have to be the bridge we were meant to be.

  She viewed the desert through hundreds of eyes, seeing the mountains from a thousand different perspectives. She was Fiella and Faeter and Olin and Rulek and Lydee; she flowed from one mind to another, swept along by the deep currents of their thoughts. She became a ray of light, shooting through the mountains and across the foothills, searching for other minds.

  —This is the last Net we shall weave— they called out together. —We must link one last time and then give up merging forever. If we do not drop away from the Minds and close our channels, the Visitor will take us and imprison us inside itself. Warn others, and give them this promise: that we shall rebuild, and Earth will live— The Net brightened as other minds joined it. —You must choose separateness to live, but life is possible. Reach out to others until all of Earth can hear our words, and then shield yourselves from the Voice—

  —We hear— a few replied as other strands were added to the Net. —May God be merciful— Their sorrow rushed into her, dimming her light for a moment; they were choosing solitude.

  —No— other minds answered. —We must merge with the one above—

  —Weave the Net— Anra was stretched thin, her mental rays shooting out as the web touched distant villages and bands of wanderers. Some dropped away while others added their strength to the Net. The strands branched out, leaping across the seas to islands, ice-capped mountains, forests, plains, mesas, and deserts until the Net had touched all of Earth. Anra floated in the dark void of space, sweeping away a veil of clouds with one long arm as she turned one side of her face to the sun.

  —Farewell. Close your minds forever. We have linked for the last time—

  —No— a million voices protested as the Net's strands began to break. —We cannot. To live in separateness is death—

  —Shield yourselves—

  The Voice screamed as the Visitor tugged at their thoughts. The Net shattered as Anra's mind fell in on itself, shrinking into the prison of her skull; she dimly-sensed the last faint protests.

  —No—

  —No—

  —No—

  Anra sat up, brushing sand from her face. Others were stirring; a few struggled to their feet. The Visitor was now overhead; the desert sands were white. The tiny streak of the Wanderer was still visible.

  The children wailed, crying hoarsely, as if they had been crying for a long time with no one to hear them. "Hush," a woman's voice murmured. Daiya was holding Chal, rocking him as she continued to shield him.

  Anra carefully opened her link a little. She could still sense the Minds, but their mental tendrils were thin and brittle. Something had changed. She shook herself, then realized what it was; she could not hear the Visitor.

  A low roar sounded in her head; a whip lashed her thoughts. The Visitor laughed; it would engulf them all.

  —Close your mind!— A shield blocked her thoughts. Olin held her; she gazed at him gratefully.

  "It's hungrier than ever," she murmured as Olin rubbed her throbbing temples. "The more it swallows, the more it wants."

  "I won't let it swallow you."

  Someone cried out. Images were beginning to form on the desert sands; the figures of men, women, and children appeared. Anra clung to Olin as those around her babbled in their two languages. Leito stood in front of her, along with Cerwen, Kierlus, Riene, Etey, and others the village had lost, and the countless thousands who had died long ago.

  "Come with us," they called out. "Join us. Earth's cycle is ended. Join the One who will swallow all minds."

  "Don't listen," Reiho shouted at the crowd. "Don't look at them. The Visitor's sent them."

  "Come with us, and be at peace. Our thoughts will merge, and we'll live forever." Cerwen held out his arms to Anra; she longed to run to him. "Join us. We long for you."

  The images began to glow, becoming beings of light; an icy wind swept over the crowd. A bright beam shot out toward the children. Chal wriggled in Daiya's arms, reaching for the light.

  "Come with us," the transformed dead sang. Anra stared at Leito's shining face, telling her
self that she was not seeing her great-grandmother's spirit but only an image that the Visitor had plucked from the memories of the Minds. "Leave this world of pain and toil."

  "Don't listen," Lydee cried. "They speak of death."

  The beam of light near the children widened, becoming a column reaching to the sky. The young ones, still untrained in mindcraft, could not close off their thoughts as the adults did; the Visitor would claim them. Anra watched helplessly as one baby crawled toward the light.

  Luret and Wiland were darting toward the column. Too late, Anra saw what the two had done; to protect the children, Luret and Wiland had opened their own links, raising a shield around the group. Caught by the light, the couple began to glow.

  "Come back!" Fiella screamed. Paeter held her, wrestling the girl to the ground and covering her eyes. Other people shielded their eyes and ears, refusing to look.

  "Come with us," the shining ones repeated. Rulek was walking toward the transfigured images, holding out his arms to one glowing form; Anra saw the face of Wyke.

  She leaped after Rulek, knocking him aside and shielding him with her own thoughts. —Come— the Voice said inside her. She stopped, unable to move. She was at peace; she would be united with the captured ones. The mountains in the distance had become transparent; the tiny lights on the pillars winked out as Minds were whisked to the Visitor. She would fight the comet's Mind no more. A hunger seized her; she longed to swallow thoughts.

  A lash struck her mind, a whip formed of Olin's desperate thoughts. She screamed in pain and found herself clawing at the ground; a hand caught hers and she gazed into Rulek's eyes. Turning her head, she saw Olin standing with the shining images; he had already begun to glow.

  "Olin!" She tried to jerk her arm away, but Rulek gripped it tightly. "Olin!"

  "Be still!" Rulek cried.

  The multitude of images blurred as they merged with the column, then fled toward the heavens. Fiella was weeping loudly, calling Luret's name. A woman stumbled into the column and disappeared; the column winked out.