Jack Vance - The Asutra

Ifness frowned. Tonight? The way is long… Still, Baba's inn offers only small solace. I agree; haste is desirable. Well then, the Ka and I will ride for Shillinsk with Fabrache to guide us. We leave at once."

The suns were three hours gone beyond the far Orgai, and the last purple glow had left the sky. On the plain waited eighteen Alula warriors, with Etzwane and Hozman.

"Here is my usual spot," said Hozman, "and now is my ordinary time. The routine is this. I press the button. After twenty minutes I look for a green light overhead. I then release the button and the car lands. My slaves stand in an orderly line. They are drugged and obedient, but not aware, like people in a dream. The door opens and a pale-blue light issues forth. I move forward, marshaling the slaves. If the car contains a mentor it appears on the ledge, and then I must wait while the mentors converse. When the slaves are within and the conversation at an end, I close the door and the car departs. There is no more to be told."

"Very good. Press the button."

Hozman did as instructed. "How often have I done this deed," he murmured. "Always I wondered where they went and how they passed their lives. Then, after the car departed, I would look up into the sky and consider the stars… But no more, no more. I shall take your pacers to Shagfe and sell them to Baba, and then I shall return to the land where I was born and become a professional seer.… Stand in line, close together. You must seem vague and limp."

The group formed a line and waited. The night was silent. Five miles to the north lay Shagfe, but the fires and oil lamps flickered too dimly to be seen. The minutes passed slowly; Etzwane had never known time so to prolong itself. Each second stretched elastically and departed with reluctance into the past.

Hozman held up his hand. The green light… The car comes down. I now release the button. Stand ready-but limp and easy; make no moves…"

Above sounded a faint sigh and a hum; a dark shape moved across the stars and settled fifty or sixty yards away. An aperture slowly appeared, casting a wan blue glow upon the ground. "Come," muttered Hozman. "In a line, close together… There crawls the mentor. You must be quick-but not hasty."

Etzwane halted at the entrance. A blue glow showed the way within. On a ledge beside a row of colored lights rested an asutra. For an instant Etzwane and asutra looked eye to eye; then the asutra, apprehending its danger, hissed and scuttled backward toward a small "passage. Etzwane swung his blade, to chop away the creature's abdomen and block its escape. In revulsion he scraped the jerking parts to the deck, where they were crushed under Alula boots.

Hozman gave a whinny of crazy, high-pitched laughter. "I am not yet free of the thing's influence; I could feel its emotion. It was furiously angry."

Karazan pushed into the interior, and the ceiling pressed down upon his head. "Come, let us do the business while our blood flows hot! Gastel Etzwane, do you understand the use of these swivels and pegs and blinking ghost-lamps? " "I do not."

"Come in then; we go to do what we must."

Etzwane was last to enter. He hesitated, beset by the certain knowledge that their plans were insanely rash. "On this consideration alone may we expect success," he told himself hollowly. He looked back into Hozman's face and surprised an expression curiously vital and eager, as if Hozman could hardly keep from shouting aloud in joy.

Here is his revenge, Etzwane gloomily told himself: on us and on the asutra as well. He will go forth now to take vengeance on all Durdane for the horror which has been his life… Best that I should kill him now… Etzwane paused in the doorway. Outside, Hozman stood expectantly; within, the Alula, incipiently claustrophobic, began to grumble. On a sudden-impulse Etzwane jumped back to the ground and jerked at Hozman's arm, which was crooked somewhat behind his back. In his hand he carried a length of white rag. Etzwane looked slowly up into Hozman's face. Hozman licked his lips, his brows dropping hangdog low at the outer corners.

"So, then," said Etzwane, "you would signal us to our doom, with all the others on the ship."

"No, no," stammered Hozman. "This is my kerchief. It is a habit, no more; I wipe my sweating palms."

"They sweat understandably," said Etzwane.

Karazan lurched forth from the car. He apprehended the situation in an instant and turned a terrible stare upon Hozman. "For this act you can blame no mentor, no evil force which compelled you. " He drew his great scimitar. "Hozman, on your knees and bend your neck, for your time has come. " "A moment," said Etzwane. "What is the system to closing the door?"

"You must puzzle it out for yourself," said Hozman. He attempted to spring away, but Karazan lunged to catch the collar of his cape.

Hozman began to plead in a hysterical, tearful voice. "This is not according to our arrangement! And also, I can supply information to save your lives, but unless you guarantee my freedom, you will never hear it; you may kill me first, and then, while you slave on a far distant world, remember this laugh of mine. " He threw back his head and uttered a wild wail of mockery. "And you will know I died happy, for I brought ruin to my enemies! "

Etzwane said, "We don't want your miserable life; we hope to save our own, and your treachery is our worst danger."

There will be no more treachery! I trade my life and freedom for your own! "

"Thrust him inside," said Etzwane. "If we live, he lives, and upon our return he shall have a flogging."

"No, no, no! " screamed Hozman. Karazan cuffed him to silence.

"I would prefer to kill the vermin," said Karazan. "In with you. " He thrust Hozman into the car. Etzwane studied the door and discovered the inside clamp. He asked Hozman, "What now? Do I pull the door closed and throw down this lever?"

"That is all," came Hozman's sullen reply. The car will leave Durdane of its own volition."

Then make ready; we are about to leave."

Etzwane closed the door. At once the floor thrust into their feet. The Alula gasped, Hozman whimpered.

There was a period of acceleration, then ease. The blue illumination made faces unrecognizable and seemed to deduce a new dimension of each man's soul. Etzwane, looking on the Alula, felt humble in the face of their bravery; unlike himself, they knew nothing of Ifness' abilities. Then Etzwane asked of Hozman: "What is this knowledge by which you will save our lives?"

"It is nothing definite," said Hozman. "It concerns your general demeanor and how you must act to avoid instant detection."

"Well, then, how must we act?"

"You must walk like this, with your arms limp, your eyes blank and mild, your legs loose, as if they barely supported the weight of your bodies. " Hozman stood limp and futile, with long, hopeless creases pinching his face.

Fifteen minutes the speed held, then slackened. Hozman said nervously, "I know nothing of conditions aboard-but you must strike hard and fast, and make the most of surprise."

"The asutra ride their hosts?"

"I imagine that they do."

"For your own sake," said Etzwane, "fight and fight well."

Hozman made no response. A moment passed. The car touched a solid object and slid into a socket, with a small shock of finality. The men tensed themselves. The door opened. They looked into an empty corridor, along which men might walk single file. A voice came from a panel: "Step forth into the hall; remove all clothing; you will be cleansed by a refreshing spray."

"Act as if you are too drugged to understand the instruction," muttered Hozman. Etzwane moved slowly out into the corridor and languidly walked to the far end, where a door barred the way. The Alula followed, Hozman shambling in their midst. The voice spoke again, "Remove all clothes; they must be removed.''