Kutath, page 26
part #3 of Faded Sun Trilogy Series
“Do you not know me?” Melein asked.
“I know you,” the epee Abotai said, her old voice quavering with anger.
“And yet you let me in?”
“I had no choice,” the elee acknowledged hoarsely. “I beg you, send your war away. It has no place here.”
“Eighty thousands of years.” Melein murmured. “Eighty thousand years of voyaging. and to hear that we should go away. You are of persistent mind, Mother of elee.”
“You will ruin us,” the mother?second cried.
“Listen,” said Abotai, and made a trembling gesture to her companions. “Show them. Show them.”
A young elee moved, stirred several others into motion, a glittering of jewels, a nodding of white heads so swiftly moving that Niun clenched his hand on his gun and watched well where hands were. Light and colors flared, an entire jeweled wall parting upon, a screen which came alive with images. black, and fire. dead mri, a tangled field of corpses, an edun in ruins; an edun fell in fire, and figures ran, swarming like corruption over the dead..
came closer, showing naked human faces.
changed again, ships over ruins, and Kesrithi landscape.
And a human face dominated the screen, young and familiar to them. The Kel went rigid, and dus?sense lashed out. “No,” Duncan said beside him, and Niun set a hand on his shoulder. “No. This is nothing humans have sent.”
“Regul,” Niun said, loudly enough for Melein, and the possibilities set a great dread into him. Melein’s face had lost all humor.
“Open your machines to me,” she said.
“No,” the elee she’pan said. “Go fight from the dead cities.”
“We have not come to go away at your bidding. If we fight, we will begin here.”
The old she’pan’s lips trembled. After a moment she rose up, and the mother?second and the Husband with her. She made a move of her hand; elee opened farther doors, and Niun gazed in amazement at a machine like and unlike that of An?ehon. like, for it had the same form; and unlike, for it was almost lost in ornament, in precious metal embellishments, in glass, in jewels.
“Come,” said Melein to the few of the Sen who had come with them; they walked alone into that place, and the she’pan of the elee sought to follow.
“No,” said Niun quickly, gestured, and keranthein moved at once to sweep their own contingents this way and that about the hall of the she’pan of the elee, setting their own bodies and their weapons between the elee and the machine that was Ele’et.
“It will kill you,” Abotai cried. “Our machine does not speak the hal’ari.”
Melein turned, small and white against that metal complexity, walked back within the doorway. “Will it? Then you remind me of something even I had forgotten, Mother?of?elee; that elee know how to lie.”
There was silence.
“Let her come,” Melein said. “You may all come.”
Niun hesitated, made a slight sign to the others, walked with Duncan and Hlil and Ras into that place; with Kalis and Mada and Rhian keeping close guard upon what elee strayed in and others holding the room behind.
Melein stepped within the white area of the floor, bathed at once in light that set her robes agleam; and Niun’s heart clenched in him at the meaningless words that came.
“Na mri,” she answered it, and again; “LeVhaen! An?ehonI ZohainI Tho’e’i?shail” Banks began to light, all but one. “A’on! Ti’a’ma?kal Kha’o!” More flared into life, and there was an outcry of consternation from the elee present. Melein’s voice continued, a roll call which set banks alight from one end to the other of the vast hall… the cities, Niun realized with a stirring of the hair at his nape; she was summoning the minds of the cities all about the world, names he had heard her name and names he had not dead witnesses, the past springing to life about them, the guardians of the World.
And with every bank but two alight, with the thunder of machinery working, Melein spun in a swirl of white robes and pointed the finger at the she’pan Abotai with the blaze of triumph in her eyes.
“M, tell me now, Mother?of?elee, that I have no claim, tell me now that this place is yours, Mother of wars, Devourer of lifel Now take the machine from me, elee!”
The elee stepped forward, stopped, at the edge of the light, her white face and white mane and metal robes agleam with it.
“The machines,” Melein continued, her arm outstretched, “hold what I have given them, assume the pattern I built, as it was, as it was, elee she’pan. It holds the past of Kutath and the past of my own kindred, not, elee she’pan, not of Kutath; the Mysteries of those?who?went?out are within the net as well, my working; and it speaks the hal’ari, elee she’pan.”
“Ele’et!” the elee cried.
“I am here,” the machine responded, but it answered in the hal’ari, and the elee seemed shaken by that.
“Duncan,” Melein said.
There was silence then, save for the machines. “Sov?kela,” Niun murmured, touched Duncan’s arm, received a distressed look, to which he nodded, indicating the circle to which he was summoned. “Leave the dus, sov?kela, for its sake.”
Duncan entered the circle, and the dus stayed. “I am here,” he said.
“This is the shadow?who?sits?at?our?door,” the machine answered. “An?ehon remembers.”
“Kel Duncan,” Melein said. “Are you mine?”
“Yes, she’pan.”
“I have need of a ship, kel’en. From here, it would be possible for you to contact humans. Do you think they will come to your request?”
“To take it?”
“That you will do for me too.”
There was a moment’s silence. There were five of them who felt that pain; and Niun swallowed heavily, trying to remain in contact. Duncan nodded assent; Melein reached to the board nearest and made some adjustment, looked back again.
“You have only to speak,” she said. “An?ehon, give kel Duncan access for a transmission.”
“He has access.”
There was a moment when Duncan stood still, as if paralyzed; dus?sense purged itself, grew clear.
“SurTac Sten Duncan code Phoenix to any human ship, please respond.”
He had spoken the human tongue. Niun understood; Melein would; there were no others, and the Kel and the elee shifted nervously. Duncan repeated his message, again and again.
“Flower here” a human voice returned. “Duncan, we copy; what’s your location?”
And another voice, supplanting it, female; “Duncan, this is Boaz. Where are you?”
Duncan looked at Melein; she nodded slightly.
“Shuttle one, this is Flower.” It was a different voice, older. “Boz, don’t jeopardize your position; keep silence. You may draw fire.”
“Tell them otherwise,” Melein said.
“This is Duncan. The cities will not fire, if you do not provoke it. I can give you my location. Boaz, is a shuttle out?’
“We have two. Galetfs down here; you know him, Sten. We’ll come in if you’ll let us. No firing. Where are you?”
“Terms,” the voice from Flower cut in. “What guarantee of safety? Duncan, are you speaking under threat?”
“Your name is Emil Luiz, sir, and if I were under threat I would not give you a correct answer. Boz, from the ruins nearest Flower, southeast to some low hills; you’ll see pillars, Boz, and a city within the rocks. Do you know that site?”
“We can find it. We’ll be there, Duncan. Be patient with us.”
“Understood, Boz. Youtt be safe to land. You only.”
“Cease,” said Melein.
Transmission ceased,” the machine echoed.
“Aliens,” Abotai hissed. “You deal with aliens.”
Duncan pulled his veil aside, and there was a void in the dus?sense; a cry went up from the elee, for it was the face of the image. He seemed not to regard it, but looked at Melein. “Is there else,” he asked, “she’pan?”
“When they come,” she answered.
“Aye,” Duncan said, and the void persisted, a gap and a darkness where Duncan had been. A touch fell on Niun’s shoulder; it was Hlil. He felt all of them, Has, Rhian, Taz. Only Duncan was not there, for all that Duncan returned to him, and looked nakedly into his eyes, and stood among them.
“Veil yourself,” Niun said, “sov?kela.”
Duncan did so, and he and his beast went aside, into the other room, among the others who waited.
They rested. must, finally. Galey sucked in great breaths from the mask, bowed over, uninterested in the rations the others passed among them. A drink of water, that he took, and bowed down with his head against his arms. His knees ached and his temples pounded. He rubbed at eyes which ran tears that never stopped.
More such to go; the city of the mri dead. that one next, he reckoned.
“Sir,” Kadarin said. And when he responded lethargically; “Sir.”
He looked up, rose, as the others scrambled to their feet There was a ship coming. He stared at it, blank and terrified; and there was no place to go, no concealment in the vast flat; it was coming low.
One of their own. He blinked, no less disquieted, heard the same realization on the lips of Magee and Kadarin.
It was coming for them, coming in fast.
“Treachery,” Nagn hissed, her color gone white around the nostrils. Suth sat still, his hearts quite out of phase, stared at the screens on which shuttles and Santiago were moving dots, all his calculations amiss.
“Bai,” Morkhug pleaded.
Suth faced his sled about. His attendant crouched in the corner, attempting invisibility. Suth considered, regarding his mates who looked to him for decision. suddenly keyed in the control center, where a contact to Saber?Corn was maintained continuously.
“Bai Koch,” he requested of his own younglings, and slowly calmed his breathing, suppressed the racing heartbeats with reason. The human face suddenly filled his screen; Koch, indeed; Suth knew him by the ruddiness and white, clipped hair.
“Bai Suth?” the human bai asked.
“You are undertaking operations without consultation, bai, contrary to agreement”
“No operations; maneuver. As you have an observer near the world as you have received transmission, as we have. We are moving more reliable monitoring into position. We confess surprise, bai Suth; we are not yet ready to address policy.”
“What action are you taking, bai?”
“Meditating on the matter, bai Suth.”
“What is your installation onworld doing?”
A hesitation. “What is yours doing?”
“We are not in contact. They are pursuing previous instruction. Doubtless they will not act beyond those instructions.”
“Ours likewise, bai Suth.”
Suth sucked air. Is your intention to accept this offered contact, reverend ally?”
There was a second hesitation. “Yes,” Koch said.
Suth’s hearts left synch again. “We. urge the bai to enter urgent consultations with us.”
“Most assuredly. You are welcome aboard.”
“We also. must contact our onworld mission.”
Koch’s face remained impassive. There was a slight flaring of his nostrils; what this meant in a human was disputable.
“We advise you,” Koch said, “to stay clear of Kutath; we do not mean to have lives endangered. We would take very seriously any approach to Kutath, bai Suth.”
“We wish to send a shuttle to your ship.”
“I have said that you are welcome.”
“I am entering arrangements. Favor, bai Koch, maintain a full flow of data to our offices.”
“Agreed.”
“Favor.”
“Favor,” Koch murmured in turn, and faded.
Suth sucked a deep breath, puffed it out with a flutter of his nostrils. “They wish me aboard.”
“Bai?” Tiag mourned, visibly disturbed.
“Secure ship,” Suth said. And when they delayed in confusion; “Leave onworld to onworld; secure the ship. Saber … is here”
“Enough,” said Melek in horror; Magd killed the message which played over and over in the recorder. There was the thump of the pumps in the silence, the furtive scratching of some night?wandering crawler at the plastic dome.
They were alone, they two, senior. They had killed their assistants, a grim matter of economics. They hungered almost constantly in their terror; and Magd looked on Melek with continual fear. It was next, when it came to seniority.
“There is a way out,” said Melek.
“I am listening.” Magd’s belly hurt. It already existed on short rations, pampering Melek, beginning to die slowly in the hope of living longer. Its skin flaked; its joints were whitening. More than anything it desired to please; its thoughts were nightmare, of hunger on the one hand, being refused survival by the elder Suth if it dared leave its post; of slaughter at Melek’s hand, merciful and more immediate. It could not think. It wanted life, dung to hope, scrabbled after this one, that Melek itself offered.
“Orders,” Melek said, “require we observe and find this youngling Duncan. That we stir up the mri and destroy this youngling if we find it. This is our way out Listen. listen, youngest] Will this message have gone out and Skirug not know? Is not our time shortened here? They will send us orders; we finish here; we finish. Then we can come back; then Eldest will welcome us and make us favorites, feed us of his own cup. Both. both of us. If we do this for him. If we finish.”
Magd had no inner confidence. Magd’s hearts labored and its mouth was dry, its tongue sticking to the membranes, so that water and soi were the only coherent desires. Magd knew the trap; that yielding food to Melek, Magd was no longer strong enough to resist, no longer keen?witted.
“Yes,” it said, desperate, paid anxious attention as Melek brought up charts on their screens.
“Here,” Melek said, indicating a place near hills. “This is the place. We must be ready; we must work out all the details. You will lead in, youngest”
“Yes,” it said again.
It would have agreed to any instruction.
Chapter Seventeen
It was an hour for sleeping. Perhaps some within the elee city did so, but none within the hall of the elee she’pan, nor anywhere about it. Niun sat still, at the feet of Melein, his dus and his companions by him, while certain kel’ein, mostly hao’nath and ja’ari, walked the corridors of the city, wandering by twos and by threes, to observe the things which passed among the elee. None offered them violence. None challenged them, or alarm would have been raised in the halls of Ele’et, and blood would have flowed; it did not; and the most part of the Kel sat quietly in attendance on the she’pan.
“You must call them back,” said Abotai of the kel’ein who ranged the city corridors. “They must not must not harm Ele’et”
“They do not,” Melein said softly, and stilled any protest of Sen or Kel with an uplifted and gently lowered hand. “And we go where we will.”
“Understand.” Abotai’s lips trembled, and she held the hand of the Husband who sat beside her. “More than lives. these precious things, she’pan of the mri.”
“What thingsr
Abotai gestured about her, at the hall full of carved stones, flowers in jade, ornate work over every exposed finger’s?length of surface, works in glass, statues in the likeness of elee and mri and lost races and beasts long forgotten, whether myth or truth. “Of all Kutath has made, of beauty, of eternal things. they are here. Look look, mri she’pan.” Abotai slipped from her or-nate robes a pin, passed it to the youth Illatai, who sat in a chair near her. He leapt up to bring it, but Niun gestured abruptly and intercepted it. It was a translucent green stone, the likeness of a flower even to veins within the leaves, and a drop of moisture on a petal. He handled it most carefully, and passed it to Melein.
“It is very beautiful,” Melein said, and passed it back at once the same route it had come. “So are live ones. What is that to me?”
“It is an elee’s life,” said Abotai. “A sculptor spent his Me to perfect that flower. Each thing you touch. even to the stonework under your feet … is the life of an elee, a perfection. Ele’et is a storehouse of all the millions of years of the meaning of Kutath, not alone of elee. You are here, wrought in stone, written in records, as we are.”
“You are generous, then. A manner of pan’en, a holy thing. We shall tread lightly on it, this stonework. But we care nothing for it.”
“It is all here,” said Abotai. “All the goodness of the past All perfection. Saved.”
“For whom?” Melein whispered. “When the sun fades and the last lake of the last sea is drunk, and the sand is level … for whom, mother of elee?”
“For the Dark,” said Abotai. “When the Dark comes. and all the world is gone. these things will stand. They will be here. After us.”
“For whom,” Melein said yet again. “When the power fades, when there is not even a lizard left to crawl upon your beautiful stones what is the good?”
“The stones will be here.”
The wind will erode them and the sand will take them.”
“Buried, they will survive any wind that blows.”
“Will it matter?”
“They will exist.”
Niun drew in his breath, and there was a murmuring in the Kel.
“Is that the end,” asked Melein, “of all the races and the civilizations, and the dreams of the world, to be able to leave a few stones buried beneath the sands, to tell the Dark that we were here? Leave us out of your pan’en, she’pan of elee. We want no part of it. Consumer of the world’s substance, was it this, was it this for which you ate all the world and let the ships go … to leave a few stones to say that you were here?”
“And what gift do you leave?” Abotai pointed to the kel’en by a serpent pillar, at Duncan. “That, and the beasts? Aliens, to come here and see these things, and steal them, or destroy them?”
Duncan had looked up, and for a moment, a brief moment, he was back with them, a touch of pain in the dus?sense.
“He,” said Melein in a still voice, “is more to Kutath than you, or your children, or the fine trinkets you have made to amuse the Dark. You gave me a flower in stone to touch, and it was the life of an elee. Duncan, kel’en, shadow?at?my?door. come here. Come here to me.”
