Arthur C Clarke - City And The Stars Read online

  Eleven

  Try as she would, alystra could extract no further infor­ mation from khedron. The jester had recovered quickly from his initial shock, and from the panic that had sent him flying back to the surface when he found himself alone in the depths beneath the tomb. He also felt ashamed of his cowardly be­havior, and wondered if he would ever have the courage to return to the chamber of the moving ways and the network of world-ranging tunnels that radiated from it. Although he felt that alvin had been impatient, if not indeed foolhardy, he did not really believe that he would run into any danger. He would return in his own good time. Khedron was certain of that. Well, almost certain; there was just enough doubt to make him feel the need for caution. It would be wise, he decided, to say as little as possible for the time being, and to pass the whole thing off as another joke. Unfortunately for this plan, he had not been able to mask his emotions when alystra encountered him on his return to the surface. She had seen the fear written so unmistakably in his eyes, and had at once interpreted it as meaning that alvin was in danger. All khedron's reassurances were in vain, and she became more and more angry with him as they walked together back through the park. At first alystra had wanted to remain at the tomb, waiting for alvin to return in whatever mysterious manner he had vanished. Khed­ron had managed to convince her that this would be a waste of time, and was relieved when she followed him back to the city. There was a chance that alvin might return almost at once, and he did not wish anyone else to discover the secret of yarlan zey. By the time they had reached the city, it was obvious to khedron that his evasive tactics had failed completely and the situation was seriously out of hand. It was the first time in his life that he had ever been at a loss and had not felt himself capable of dealing with any problem that arose. His immediate and irrational fear was being slowly replaced by a profounder and more firmly based alarm. Until now, khedron had given little thought to the consequences of his actions. His own interests, and a mild but genuine em­pathy toward alvin, had been sufficient motive for all that he had done. Though he had given encouragement and as­sistance to alvin, he had never believed that anything like this could ever really happen. Despite the gulf of years and experience between them, alvin's will had always been more powerful than his own. It was too late to do anything about it now; khedron felt that events were sweeping him along toward a climax utterly beyond his control. In view of this, it was a little unfair that alystra obviously regarded him as alvin's evil genius and showed an inclina­tion to blame him for all that had happened. Alystra was not really vindictive, but she was annoyed, and part of her annoyance focused on khedron. If any action of hers caused him trouble, she would be the last person to be sorry. They parted in stony silence when they had reached the great circular way that surrounded the park. Khedron watched alystra disappear into the distance and wondered wearily what plans were brewing in her mind. There was only one thing of which he could be certain now. Boredom would not be a serious problem for a considerable time to come. Alystra acted swiftly and with intelligence. She did not bother to contact eriston and etania; alvin's parents were pleasant nonentities for whom she felt some affection but no respect. They would only waste time in futile arguments and would then do exactly as alystra was doing now. Jeserac listened to her story without apparent emotion. If he was alarmed or surprised, he concealed it well-so well that alystra was somewhat disappointed. It seemed to her that nothing so extraordinary and important as this had ever happened before, and jeserac's matter-of-fact behavior made her feel deflated. When she had finished, he questioned her at some length, and hinted, without actually saying so, that she might have made a mistake. What reason was there for sup­posing that alvin had really left the city? Perhaps it bad been a trick at her expense; the fact that khedron was involved made this seem highly probable. Alvin might be laughing at her, concealed somewhere in diaspar, at this very moment. The only positive reaction she got out of jeserac was a promise to make inquiries and to contact her again within a day. In the meantime she was not to worry, and it would also be best if she said nothing to anyone else about the whole affair. There was no need to spread alarm over an incident that would probably be cleared up in a few hours. Alystra left jeserac in a mood of mild frustration. She would have been more satisfied could she have seen his behavior immediately after she had left. Jeserac had friends on the council; he had been a member himself in his long life, and might be again if he was unlucky. He called three of his most influential colleagues and cau­tiously aroused their interest. As alvin's tutor, he was well aware of his own delicate position and was anxious to safe­guard himself. For the present, the fewer who knew what had happened, the better. It was immediately agreed that the first thing to do was to contact khedron and ask him for an explanation. There was only one defect in the excellent plan. Khedron had anticipated it and was nowhere to be found. If there was any ambiguity about alvin's position, his hosts were very careful not to remind him of it. He was free to go anywhere he wished in airlee, the little village over which seranis ruled-though that was too strong a word to de­scribe her position. Sometimes it seemed to alvin that she was a benevolent dictator, but at others it appeared that she had no powers at all. So far he had failed completely to understand the social system of lys, either because it was too simple or else so complex that its ramifications eluded him. All he had discovered for certain was that lys was divided into innumerable villages, of which airlee was a quite typical example. Yet in a sense there were no typical examples, for alvin had been assured that every village tried to be as unlike its neighbors as possible. It was all extremely confusing. Though it was very small, and contained less than a thou­sand people, airlee was full of surprises. There was hardly a single aspect of life that did not differ from its counterpart in diaspar. The differences extended even to such fun­damentals as speech. Only the children used their voices for normal communication; the adults scarcely ever spoke, and after a while alvin decided that they did so only out of politeness to him. It was a curiously frustrating experience to feel oneself enmeshed in a great net of soundless and un­detectable words, but after a while alvin grew accustomed to it. It seemed surprising that vocal speech had survived at all since there was no longer any use for it, but alvin later discovered that the people of lys were very fond of singing, and indeed of all forms of music. Without this incentive, it was very likely that they would long ago have become com­pletely mute. They were always busy, engaged on tasks or problems which were usually incomprehensible to alvin. When he could understand what they were doing, much of their work seemed quite unnecessary. A considerable part of their food, for example, was actually grown, and not synthesized in accord­ance with patterns worked out ages ago. When alvin com­mented on this it was patiently explained to him that the people of lys liked to watch things grow, to carry out com­plicated genetic experiments and to evolve ever more subtle tastes and flavors. Airlee was famous for its fruits, but when alvin ate some choice samples they seemed to him no better than those be could have conjured up in diaspar by no more effort than raising a finger. At first he wondered if the people of lys had forgotten, or had never possessed, the powers and machines that he tookfor granted and upon which all life in diaspar was based. He soon found that this was not the case. The tools and the knowledge were there, but they were used only when it was essential. The most striking example of this was provided by the transport system, if it could be dignified by such a name. For short distances people walked, and seemed to enjoy it. If they were in a hurry, or had small loads to move, they used animals which had obviously been developed for the purpose. The freight-carrying species was a low, six-legged beast, very docile and strong but of poor intelligence. The racing animals were of a different breed altogether, normal­ly walking on four legs but using only their heavily muscled hind limbs when they really got up speed. They could cross the entire width of lys in a few hours, and the passenger rode in a pivoted seat strapped on the creature's back. Noth­ing in the world wou
ld have induced alvin to risk such a ride, though it was a very popular sport among the younger men. Their finely bred steeds were the aristocrats of the animal world, and were well aware of it. They had fairly large vocabularies, and alvin often overheard them talking boastfully among themselves about past and future victories. When he tried to be friendly and attempted to join in the con­versation, they pretended that they could not understand him, and if he persisted would go bounding off in outraged dignity. These two varieties of animal sufficed for all ordinary needs, and gave their owners a great deal of pleasure which no mechanical contrivances could have done. But when ex­treme speed was required or vast loads had to be moved, the machines were there, and were used without hesitation. Though the animal life of lys presented alvin with a whole world of new interests and surprises, it was the two extremes of the human population range that fascinated him most of all. The very young and the very old-both were equally strange to him and equally amazing. Airlee's most senior in­habitant had barely attained his second century, and had only a few more years of life before him. When he had reached that age, alvin reminded himself, his body would scarcely have altered, whereas this old man, who had no chain of future existences to look forward to as compensation, had almost exhausted his physical powers. His hair was completely white, and his face an unbelievably intricate mass of wrinkles. He seemed to spend most of his time sitting in the sun or walk­ing slowly around the village exchanging soundless greetings with everyone he met. As far as alvin could tell he was com­pletely contented, asking no more of life, and was not dis­tressed by its approaching end. Here was a philosophy so much at variance with that of diaspar as to be completely beyond alvin's comprehension. Why should anyone accept death when it was so unnecessary, when you had the choice of living for a thousand years and then leaping forward through the milenniums to make a new start in a world that you had helped to shape? This was one mystery he was determined to solve as soon as he had the chance of discussing it frankly. It was very hard for him to believe that lys had made this choice of its own free will, if it knew the alternative that existed. He found part of his answer among the children, those lit­tle creatures who were as strange to him as any of the animals of lys. He spent much of his time among them, watching them at their play and eventually being accepted by them as a friend. Sometimes it seemed to him that they were not human at all, their motives, their logic, and even their lan­guage were so alien. He would look unbelievingly at the adults and ask himself how it was possible that they could have evolved from these extraordinary creatures who seemed to spend most of their lives in a private world of their own. And yet, even while they baffled him, they aroused within his heart a feeling he had never known before. When-which was not often, but sometimes happened-they burst into tears of utter frustration or despair, their tiny disappointments seemed to him more tragic than man's long retreat after the loss of his galactic empire. That was something too huge and remote for comprehension, but the weeping of a child could pierce one to the heart. Alvin had met love in diaspar, but now he was learning something equally precious, and without which love itself could never reach its highest fulfillment but must remain for­ever incomplete. He was learning tenderness.