Frank Herbert - The Green Brain

The pulsating counterpoint of rocket motors echoed along the hills. Joao turned his head to follow the sound. It grew fainter upstream, blended with the lapping-swishing-tumbling of the river.

“Won’t they come down and look for us?” Rhin pleaded.

“They weren’t looking for anyone,” Joao said. “They were just going from someplace to someplace.”

Rhin looked up at the covering blanket of insects. From this angle and distance, the individuals blended one into another and the whole cloud of them appeared to be one organism.

“We could shoot them down!” she said. She reached for a sprayrifle, but Joao grabbed her arm, stopped her.

“There’re still the clouds,” he said.

“And our friends have more reinforcements than we have spray charges,” Chen-Lhu said. “That I’ll wager.”

“But if the clouds weren’t there,” she said. “Won’t the clouds ever… go away?”

“They may burn off this afternoon,” Joao said, and he tried to speak soothingly. “This time of year they do that quite often.”

“They’re going!” Rhin said. She pointed at the insect cover. “Look! They’re going.”

Joao looked up to see the fluttering mass start to move back toward the left shore. The shadow accompanied them until they went into the trees and were lost from sight.

“They’re gone,” Rhin said.

“That only means the truck is no longer with us,” Joao said.

Rhin buried her face in her hands, fought down shuddering sobs.

Joao started to caress her neck, to comfort her, but she shook off his hand.

And Chen-Lhu thought: You must attract him, Rhin, not repel him .

“We must remember why we are here,” Chen-Lhu said. “We must remember what it is we must do.”

Rhin sat up, lowering her hands, took a deep breath that hurt the muscles of her chest.

“We must keep ourselves occupied,” Chen-Lhu said. “With trivia if necessary. It is a way to prevent… fear, boredom, angers. I tell you—I will describe for you an orgy I once attended in Cambodia. There were eight of us, not counting the women—a former prince, the minister of culture…”

“We don’t want to hear about your damned orgy!” Rhin snapped.

The flesh , Chen-Lhu thought. She dares not listen to anything that reminds her of her own flesh. That is her weakness, for sure. It is good that I know this.

“So?” Chen-Lhu said. “Very well. Tell us then about the fine life in Dublin, my dear Rhin. I love to hear of the people who trade wives and mistresses and ride horses and pretend the past has never died.”

“You’re really a terrible man,” Rhin said.

“Excellent!” Chen-Lhu said. “You may hate me, Rhin; I permit it. Hate keeps one occupied, too. One may indulge hate while one thinks about such things as wealth and pleasures. There are times when hate is a much more profitable occupation than making love.”

Joao turned, studied Chen-Lhu, hearing the words, seeing the harsh control on the man’s face. He uses words as weapons , Joao thought. He maneuvers people and pushes them with words. Doesn’t Rhin see this? But of course she doesn’t… because he’s using her for something, wielding her . For a moment, Joao sat stupefied with discovery.

“You watch me, Johnny,” Chen-Lhu said. “What do you think you see?”

Two can play that game , Joao thought. And he said, “I watch a man at work.”

Chen-Lhu stared. It wasn’t the kind of answer he’d expected—too subtly penetrating and leaving too much uncommitted. He reminded himself that it was difficult to control uncommitted people. Once a man had invested his energies, he could be twisted and turned at will… but if the man held back, conserved those energies…

“Do you think you understand me, Johnny?” Chen-Lhu asked.

“No, I don’t understand you.”

“Really, I’m quite uncomplicated; it’s not difficult to understand me,” Chen-Lhu said.

“That’s one of the most complicated statements any man ever made,” Joao said.

“Do you mock me?” Chen-Lhu asked, and he put down an upsurge of dismay and anger. Johnny was acting most out of character.

“How could I mock if I don’t understand?” Joao asked.

“Something has come over you,” Chen-Lhu said. “What is it? You are behaving most strangely.”

“Now we understand each other,” Joao said.

He goads me , Chen-Lhu thought. HE goads ME! And he asked himself: Will I have to kill this fool?

“See how easy it is to keep busy and forget our troubles,” Joao said.

Rhin glanced back at Chen-Lhu, saw a smile spread across his face. He was speaking mostly for my benefit , she thought. Wealth and pleasures—that’s the price. But what do I pay? She looked at Joao. Yes, I hand him a bandeirante on a platter! I give him Joao to use as he sees fit .

The pod floated backward down the river now, and Rhin stared upstream at hills that disappeared into drifting clouds. Why do I bother with such questions? she wondered. We don’t stand a chance. There are only these moments and the opportunity to take whatever pleasure we can from them .

“Are we down a little on the right side?” Joao asked.

“Perhaps a little,” Chen-Lhu said. “Do you think your patch is leaking?”

“It could be.”

“Do you have a pump in this stuff?”

“We could use a sprayhead from one of the hand units,” Joao said.

Rhin’s mind focused now on the weapon in Joao’s pocket, and she said, “Joao, don’t let them capture me alive.”

“Ahh, melodrama,” Chen-Lhu said.

“Leave her alone!” Joao snapped. He patted Rhin’s hand, looked out and around the pod on all sides. “Why do they leave us alone like this?”

“They’ve found a new place to wait,” Rhin said.

“Always look on the black side,” Chen-Lhu said. “What is the worst that could happen, eh? Perhaps they want our heads in the fashion of the aborigines who lived here once.”

“You’re a great help,” Joao said. “Hand me the sprayhead off one of those hand units.”

“At once, Jefe,” Chen-Lhu said, his voice mocking.

Joao accepted the metal and plastic hand pump unit, slipped back to the rear hatch and down to the float. He paused there a moment to study their surroundings. Not a sign of the creatures he knew were watching them. Downstream at a bend in the river, a rock escarpment loomed high over the trees—distance perhaps five or six kilometers.

Lava rock , Joao thought. And the river may have to get through that rock some way .

He bent to the float, unlocked the inspection plate and probed with the pump. A hollow sloshing echoed from the interior of the pontoon. He braced the pump against the side of the inspection hole, worked the toggle handle. A thin stream of water arched into the river, smelling of poisons from the sprayhead.

The yelping cry of a toucan sounded from the jungle on his right and he could hear the murmur of Chen-Lhu’s voice from the cabin.

What is it he talks about when I’m not there? Joao wondered.

He looked up in time to see that the bend in the river was wider than he’d expected. The current carried the pod now away from the rock escarpment. The fact gave Joao no elation. The river could meander a hundred kilometers through here in this season and return to within a kilometer of where we are now , he thought.

Rhin’s voice lifted suddenly, her words distinct in the damp air: “You son of a bitch!”

And Chen-Lhu answered, “Ancestry is no longer important in my land, Rhin.”

The pump sucked air with a wet gurgling, the sound drowning Rhin’s reply. Joao replaced the cap on the inspection hole, returned to the cabin.