Hal Clement - Cycle of Fire

“No.”

“Did your Teachers tell you of my city?”

“No.”

“Then there must be two sets of stupid Teachers on Abyormen.” If Kruger had understood this remark he would have confidently expected to see it answered with a volley of crossbow bolts, but nothing of the sort happened. The unseen speaker simply returned to the original question.

“Will you come with us without fighting?”

“We will come.” Dar made the answer without any further consultation with Kruger. After all, the boy had already asked Dar what should be done, and presumably had no opinion of his own.

With Dar Lang Ahn’s words the openings in the surrounding buildings gave forth some fifty beings. Kruger was able to take the revelation without particular surprise, but Dar was shocked beyond measure to find that the attackers were identical physically with himself. He was a well-traveled individual; he had met, on his official trips to the Ice Ramparts and elsewhere, members of his race from several score cities scattered over Abyormen’s globe, and he had never heard of any except the uncaught savages living out of touch with the Teacher-ruled cities. Still, there was no questioning the facts; the beings surrounding him might have come straight from any city he had visited. Even the carrying harness they wore was virtually identical with his own, and the crossbows borne by most of them might have been made by Merr Kra Lar, home in Kwarr.

One who seemed to be in charge spoke as soon as he came up to them.

“You used a word that I never heard a little while ago. What is a book?” This question was not understood by Kruger; Dar had never told him what was in the pack he kept so carefully by him. Dar might not have been surprised at his human companion’s ignorance of such matters, but that a member of his own species should never have heard of a book was quite unthinkable. Life could not go on without a record of the life that had gone before!

When he recovered from the astonishment that the question had caused him he tried to explain, but his listener seemed unable to digest the concept of writing. In an effort to clarify the point Dar removed one of the books from his pack and held it open before him while he tried to explain the significance of the marks, but this produced a result he had not foreseen.

“I do not quite understand why you need such a thing when you can ask Teachers for what you need to know, but perhaps our Teachers can tell why you do. We will show them your books; give them to me.”

THERE WAS NOTHING else to do; one crossbow can do nothing against two-score. For an instant Dar thought of making a wild break through the surrounding group to the shelter of the nearest building, but he abandoned the idea. Alive, he might recover the books.

“I would prefer to carry them and show them to your Teachers myself,” he suggested.

“There is no need to bring you to them at all unless they order it,” was the reply, “but they will certainly want to see your books. I will go to them and show them the books and ask what is to be done to you.”

“But I want to see them, to explain why I did not know I was breaking their law.”

“I will tell them that. Since you have broken it what you want is not important.”

“But won’t they want to see my companion? You have already said he was different from people.”

“Yes, I will take him.”

“Then you will need me. He knows very little proper speech, and I know some of his words.”

“If the Teachers wish to speak as well as look, and find that they need your aid, you will be sent for.” The speaker held out a hand and Dar reluctantly handed over his priceless pack.

Marching orders were given and the group headed back the way Dar and Kruger had come. However, instead of turning inland when they reached the avenue the pair had followed to the sea, they crossed it and headed toward the seaward side of one of the volcanoes — the one that had been on the left as the wanderers approached the city.

For the first time Dar regretted that he had not insisted on learning more of Kruger’s language. The problem was to get the books back and get out of reach of these people, the sooner the better; failing that, to get out himself and get a report to the Ice Ramparts telling of their location. That had to be done in less than twenty years; no alternative was thinkable. With luck, Nils Kruger would help. Just now it would hardly be advisable to discuss the matter with him; too many of the words they would have to use would be understood by those surrounding them. Later, perhaps they would be left alone; if not, Dar would simply have to make use of the little English he had mastered. In that connection an idea struck him and he spoke to Kruger, using his English vocabulary to the utmost.

“Nils, talk while going. Your tongue. About anything.” He could not be more explicit; he wanted Kruger to discuss what they saw as they went along, in the hope that an occasional word would bear a sufficiently obvious meaning, when considered in connection with the words Dar already knew, for the native to grasp it. Kruger did not understand this, but he could see that Dar had something definite in mind, and endeavored to please. Since the most obvious subject for speech was just what Dar wanted, things did not go too badly.

It was a method which would not have been very practical, used by most human beings, but with the sort of memory Dar possessed it was not completely unreasonable. Even so, the little pilot’s vocabulary increased very, very slowly indeed and frequently had to be corrected.

While this was going on the group passed the volcano, following the narrow beach of pulverized ash between it and the sea. On the other side the jungle came down practically to the shore in scattered tufts of vegetation, separated by piles of ejecta and occasional small sheets of lava. For a couple of hours they threaded their way through these patches of jungle, gradually working away from the sea. The ground did not rise again; they remained about at sea level and Kruger would not have been surprised to encounter another swamp. Instead they finally ran into a region of fog.

This was the first time in his months on Abyormen that Kruger had encountered this phenomenon and he was more than a little surprised. It did not seem to go with the air temperature. Nevertheless the drifting wisps of water vapor were there and as the group advanced they grew larger and more frequent. The boy had a sufficiently good background of physics to attribute the whole thing to one of two causes — either something cooling the nearly saturated air, or a body of water whose temperature was higher than that of the air above it. He was not too startled, therefore, when the second of these situations materialized. Pools of water appeared on both sides of their path, and presently the way led into a clearing two or three hundred yards across, dotted with more bodies of water which were giving off thick plumes of vapor. Some were bubbling violently, others lying quiet in the sunlight, but all seemed to be hot. Dar was visibly nervous — visibly to their captors, that is; Kruger still did not recognize the symptoms. The being who carried the pack was moved to inquire about it.

“Has your companion said something to trouble you?”

“No,” replied Dar, “but it seems to me that if anyone is trespassing on forbidden ground, it is this group, right now.”

“Why? No one has forbidden this area; we were told to live here.”

“By your Teachers?”

“Of course.”

“With all this smoke?”

“It is water-smoke; it hurts no one. See, your friend is not bothered by it.”

Kruger had stepped aside to one of the hot pools, watched alertly but not prevented by his captors, and was examining both the water and the rock around it carefully. Up to now he had seen no limestone on the planet, but this pool was rimmed with travertine. The rim was a foot or so higher than the rock a short distance away.