I think--"
Charlie smiled at her, a little condescendingly. "Oh, it's the bookagain, is it?" he asked.
"All right. It's the book. Stop making fun of me."
Many years ago, when they'd been small children, they had returned tothe ruined spaceship which had brought them to Crimson. It had beenempty except for the book, as if the book had been placed there for themby whatever power had put them in the spaceship. Naturally, they had notbeen able to read, but they kept the book anyway. Then one day, yearslater, Robin had wished to be able to read and the next time she liftedthe book and opened it, the magic of the words was miraculously revealedto her. The book was called A ONE VOLUME ENCYCLOPEDIC HISTORY and ittold about just everything--except Crimson. There was no mention ofCrimson at all. Robin read the book over and over again until she almostknew it by heart. Even Charlie had listened to it twice all the waythrough when she read it, but he had never wished for the ability toread himself.
Now Charlie asked: "Do you really believe the book? This is Crimson.This is real."
"I don't know. Sometimes I think this isn't as real as everything in thebook. And sometimes I just don't know."
They walked in silence to their elevator and took it to the top of thehighest cliff. They had wished for a house there, like one Robin hadseen in the book. They had wished for many things to make their livesinteresting, or pleasant. They had peopled Crimson with the fruit oftheir wishes, using the ONE VOLUME ENCYCLOPEDIC HISTORY as a guide.
* * * * *
They lived a mile from the Indian Camp. They traded with the Indianswho, strangely, did not know how to wish for things. Neither did thepirates, or anyone. Just Robin and Charlie. The pirates lived across thesea on an island. To the south along the shore were Phoenicians, Greeks,Mayas, Royal Navymen, Submariners, mermaids and Cyclopes. To the northalong the shore were Polynesians, Maoris, Panamanians and Dutchmen.Inland were Cannibals, Lotus Eaters, a few settlements of cowboys tomake life interesting for the Indians, farmers, Russians, Congressmenand Ministers. All had been created by Robin and Charlie, who visitedthem sometimes. They never believed for a minute that Robin and Charliehad really created them, although all were amazed by Robin and Charlie'sability to make things appear out of thin air.
Just as they reached their house, an Indian brave came running down thetrail toward them.
"Skyship come!" he cried, gesturing wildly and excitedly.
"Skyship?" repeated Charlie, looking at Robin. "Have you created anyspaceships?"
"No. You know it's a bargain between us. We don't create anything wedon't think we understand."
The Indian was sweating. His name was Tashtu, which meant Wild Eagle,and he was their go-between with the tribe. "Skyship sweep acrossheavens," he said. "Not land. Go up in Wild Country."
Charlie's interest quickened. Wild Country. They had created it onimpulse, about twenty miles from the Indian Camp, midway between thesettlements of Congressmen inland and Cyclopes on the shore. It was aplace of tortuous gorges and rocks and mountains, utterly lifeless. Noone ever went there. Someday, he had always told Robin, they wouldexplore Wild Country. If there really was a spaceship, and if it hadgone there ...
"No," Robin said. "I know what you're thinking. But I'm perfectly happyhere."
"You just now said you sometimes thought Crimson wasn't real and therewere other, real worlds which--"
"That's different. I can dream, can't I?"
"But don't you see, if a spaceship's really come, maybe they can tellus."
* * * * *
She gripped his arm. "Charlie. Oh, Charlie, I don't know. I'm afraid.We've been happy here, haven't we? We really wouldn't want it tochange ..."
"I'm going to Wild Country," Charlie said stubbornly.
Tashtu nodded his head. "It is good that you do. For the braves--"
"Don't tell me they went after the skyship?" Charlie asked.
"Yes, Lord. Skyship come low, ruin crops mile around. War dance follow.War party leave last sunrise."
"Six hours ago!" Charlie cried. "Can we overtake them?"
Tashtu shrugged. "Hurry, Lord."
"Don't you see," Charlie told Robin. "They're savages. They wouldn'tunderstand anything like spaceships. They wouldn't want to. If they getthe chance, they'll kill first and ask questions afterwards. We've gotto go to the Wild Country now."
Big and brawny Tashtu was nodding his head earnestly, but Robin seemedunconvinced. "Why," she said, "there isn't even anything about WildCountry in the book."
"That's because we made it."
"And besides, the Congressmen are dangerous."
"Congressmen? Don't you mean the Cyclopes?"
"Yes, I'm sorry. The Cyclopes are dangerous."
She couldn't possibly have meant the Congressmen. It was never clear toeither of them precisely what a Congressman did. But there were hundredsof them on one side of Wild Country and they were forever makingspeeches and promises, little round bald men with great, rich voicesand wonderful vocabularies. Charlie loved to hear them speak.
"We go, Lord?" Tashtu asked.
Charlie nodded and went inside swiftly for his rifle. It was modeledafter the most powerful rifle in the encyclopedia and was called aMannlicher Elephant Gun. Robin came with her own smaller Springfieldrepeater.
"Ready?" Charlie asked.
"Yes. We can think up food along the trail."
"Hurry, Lord," Tashtu urged.
Charlie could hardly contain his excitement. The Wild Country, at last.And a spaceship.
* * * * *
By the time they were ready to make planetfall on the unexplored world,Purcell knew his dislike of Glaudot bordered on actual hatred. Purcell,who was forty-five years old and a bachelor, liked his spacemen tough,yes: you had to be tough to land on, explore, and subdue a couple ofdozen worlds, as Purcell himself had done. But he also liked hisspacemen with humility: facing the unknown and sometimes the unknowableat every step of the way, you needed humility.
Glaudot, younger than Purcell by fifteen years, confident, arrogant, alean hard man and handsome in a gaunt-cheeked, saturnine way, lackedhumility. For one thing, he treated the crew like dirt and had treatedthem that way since blastoff from Earth almost five months before. Foranother, he seemed impatient with Purcell's orders, although Purcell wasnot a cautious man, and certainly not a timid one. What had been growingbetween them flared out into the open moments before planetfall.
"I can't get over it," Purcell said. "I've never seen a world anythinglike it." They had made telescopic observations from within theatmosphere. "Giants living in caves," Purcell went on. "Sailing shipsflying the Jolly Roger. A town consisting of miniature replicas of theWhite House on Earth. Mermaids."
"Don't tell me you really thought you saw mermaids?" Glaudot asked alittle condescendingly.
"All right, I'll admit I only caught a glimpse of them. I thought theywere mermaids. But what about the Indians?"
"Yes," Glaudot admitted. "I saw the Indians."
Using their atmospheric rockets, they had flown over the Indian villageat an altitude of only a few hundred feet, to see bronze-skinned menrush out of tents and stare up at them in awe. After that, Purcell haddecided to find some desolate spot in which to land, in order not torisk a too-sudden encounter with any of the fantastically diversifiednatives.
Now Glaudot said: "You're taking what we saw too literally, Captain.Why, I remember on Harfonte we had all sorts of hallucinations untilCaptain Jamison discovered they were exactly that--we'd been hypnotizedinto seeing the things we most feared by powerless natives who reallyfeared us."
"This isn't Harfonte," Purcell said, a little irritably.
"Yeah, but you weren't there."
"I know that, Glaudot. I'm only trying to point out that each world mustbe considered as unique. Each world presents its own problems, which--"
"I say this is like Harfonte all over again. I say if you'd had the gutsto lan
d right smack in the middle of that Indian village, you'd haveseen for yourself. I say to play it close to the vest is ridiculous,"Glaudot said, and then smiled deprecatingly. "Begging your pardon, ofcourse, Captain. But don't you see, man, you've got to show theextraterrestrials, whatever form they take, that Earthmen aren't afraidof them."
"Caution and fear aren't the same thing," Purcell insisted. He didn'tknow why he bothered to explain this to Glaudot. Perhaps it was becauseEnsign Chandler, youngest man in the
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