Space for Evolution

by Zurab Andguladze

  This pleasant view, enlivened by the soft morning breeze, seemed to assure Omis that this cluster of plants couldn’t be the receptacle of any danger. For him, the image looked especially encouraging, because he had not had to walk across this forest. The traveler continued to observe the surroundings and at the same time restored his blood circulation, waving his limbs.

  Hereupon, Omis picked up his quiver and the longbow and carefully descended from his refuge. Once at the foot of the ridge, again on a rocky strip, the traveler headed south, this time with surety.

  The surrounding nature continued to maintain his good mood. The beige cliffs towered as a pleasant backdrop to the right. The edge of the forest along which he walked rustled amiably with its orange-colored, trellised leaves.

  However, this sight didn’t deceive him, and did not distract his attention. His further journey took place without incident, albeit exceedingly slowly. Hunger exhausted him more and more, he rested much frequently than usual, and his caution didn’t add any speed to him either. He hadn’t forgotten his encounter with the BLC-1.

  When he approached the ocean, Ro’s disk had already increased noticeably, as befits a luminary already falling beyond the horizon. As soon as he found himself in place, it immediately became clear that here, on the shore, he would face a new disappointment. Throughout the journey, Omis had hoped that, having arrived at the ocean, he would be able to go around the stone wall along the beach and continue on his way to the colony without any interference.

  In reality the ridge, although it had become much lower, only about twenty meters high, still remained insurmountable, and, most importantly, it didn’t end exactly on the surf line, but jutted into the water about fifty meters. He couldn’t pass it by on firm land; he could only go around it by swimming.

  The scout descended onto the warm sand and began to reflect on the new obstacle. Omis remembered that he, like all the other colonists, had learned to swim in a small bay, fenced specifically for the purpose. He’d never used this knowledge elsewhere. Realizing this, the young man decided to head straight to the tip of the reef, instead of swimming along the rocks. The surf, although weak, could still hit him hard against the rock and cripple such an inexperienced swimmer as he.

  After resting for half an hour, he began preparations for an ocean voyage. First he put his shirt in the quiver. Then he tied its cord to the bow and threw them both behind his back. Omis didn’t know what animals lived in the water and how dangerous they were, so, just in case, he stuck one of the arrows under his belt to be at least somewhat prepared for such an undesirable rendezvous.

  Having finished the preparation, he resolutely entered the waves. After a few steps, the ocean had already reached his chest. The young man pushed off the sandy bottom and found himself completely in the alien element.

  Omis swam in a way convenient for him: without taking his hands out of the water. The target was slowly approaching, and the selvage of Ro already touched the ocean. In spite of his sluggish swimming, a dozen minutes later only seven or eight meters separated him from the tip of the cape.

  Suddenly, the young man felt a touch on his left ankle. Due to the suddenness he sharply waved his limbs and moved aside from his place.

  It must be algae, he explained to himself.

  However, Omis didn’t even have time to think this thought till its end, when something again touched him. This time, he immediately ceased to hope that it was a plant—an unknown creature had tried to entwine his leg.

  Chapter 72

  Leaving the pasture behind, Bame and Em approached the impenetrable shrubs. If the colonists had watched them with a spyglass, they’d see that these two went to the ocean along the usual route: once near the thorns, they turned west.

  Although an hour later, already hidden from the eyes of their comrades, the followers of natural selection turned again and now headed north, through the forest, parallel to the western border of the pasture. After this maneuver, some time passed and at first Em slowed down a little and then asked bewilderedly, “Do you see that?”

  With these words, he stopped completely, pointed to the gap between the trees and said in an even voice, “We have almost entered the garden.”

  His companion, walking ahead of him, hearing these words, stopped and pivoted with a misunderstanding in his eyes. Em was holding out his hand and showing something. Bame, turning his head in that direction, to his surprise, saw the upper part of the parabolic antenna between the plants.

  He asked loudly, “How…when did we get so close to the farm?”

  He scratched his head and added, “We must shift deeper into the forest.”

  At that moment, they heard a muffled conversation from the garden, which immediately stopped. As if those individuals, invisible behind the plants, had also heard Bame’s talking.

  The allies stood motionless, exchanging anxious glances. Then they hastily and noiselessly hid behind the nearest tree. For some time they listened to the silence of the forest, and then carefully peered out from both sides of this thick trunk, though seeing no one.

  They continued to stand still, their heartbeats, having accelerated a minute ago, returning to normal. The two decided that they already could leave this shelter and delve into the forest.

  Their intention remained unfulfilled—just at that moment they noticed movement among the plants. A moment later, a colonist with maser at the ready appeared from behind the bushes. She stopped and gazed steadily at the grove. Bame and Em recognized Daf. A shepherd named Ider, a black dog with several beige spots on its sides, accompanied her.

  The animal stopped next to the girl and barked twice towards the forest. Daf looked at him, but the tamed descendant of predators seemed to have no interest in events around it. Apparently, he was making a noise for no reason, just out of habit. Bame and Em, hiding behind the plants, remained invisible to the girl. A barely noticeable wind blew from the side of the settlement, and therefore the sheepdog couldn’t smell them.

  Ider barked several more times, with his previous indifference, then yawned and showed with his whole appearance that he saw nothing exciting here. Seeing this, Daf turned her head and shouted to someone, “Nothing!” Then she said something to the dog, and they left the forest.

  After a short wait, Bame signaled to his partner, and they began to retreat into the forest. The companions moved slowly and carefully, but nevertheless they’d barely walked a couple of steps when Bame stepped on a dry stick covered with fallen leaves, and broke it with a loud crack.

  They immediately heard the dog barking, followed by a barely audible conversation. They accelerated their steps, running from one plant to another. Hiding behind another bush, they looked out from there and, between the vegetation they’d left behind, saw moving shadows.

  Bame and Em stiffened, waiting for further developments. The next moment, they again saw Daf and Ider, and then another silhouette of a colonist behind leaves and branches. The two managed to ascertain that the second person was a man.

  The shepherd dog carefully sniffed the ground in the place where Bame and Em had been hiding. As before, he didn’t show hostility. He barked only a few times, went to Daf, who watched him closely, and crouched at her feet. The girl turned her head, said something to her comrade and listened to his answer, while examining the thicket. Then they both carefully watched the forest for a while. After that, they held another short consultation and, in the end, returned together to the farm territory with the dog.

  The adherents of pure logic stayed motionless for another couple of minutes, and then carefully began to go deeper into the forest, until they’d decided that now no one would hear their footsteps. They found themselves at the foot of a small mound covered with bushes, at a familiar place. The colonists had visited it several times during their safaris.

  Being set to quickly overcome this height, they accelerated their steps. The two had already reached the middle of the slope when they heard the muffled hiss of animals from beh
ind the hill. The partners exchanged perplexed glances and after Bame’s gesture they removed the masers from their shoulders. They turned the safety locks off and, hiding behind the bushes, resumed their climb. Once on top, the young men carefully moved away the branches and saw that there, in a small, brightly lit clearing, three young LC-1s were romping.

  “Where did they come from?”Bame whispered. “Evidently we have not hunted here for a long time.”

  These animals didn’t pose a threat to them, but the problem was that if they remained alive after the first shot, their piercing hiss would spread rather far in the forest silence. In any case, Ider would certainly hear it and react differently this time. After that, under the dog’s leadership Daf and her companion would come with activated screens and masers to find out what was happening.

  The cause of any oddity near the colony should be investigated to the end—the rules required this. As soon as they saw the dead animals, they would immediately understand who’d killed them, man or beast.

  The comrades, conferring in a whisper, silently retreated. They went around the place in a large arc, after which they walked west for a long time, instead of moving to the north.

  “What if Daf had seen us? How would you have explained why we are here?” Em quietly asked, when they had already moved away from the predators at a sufficient distance.

  “I would have told her that, due to the lack of screens, we had changed our minds about going to the ocean. While returning back we went astray because of the same reason.”Bame explained, and after a short pause he added, “After all, have we not decided that a lie is part of our plan?”

  “I see,” Em nodded. “What about a break? We have been walking since dawn and have never rested.”

  “We cannot sit here. As you see, the soil around us is moist.” Bame answered, surveying the area.

  “I see it, but look at that elevation. The ground there must be dry. Over there, behind those three plants.” Seeing that Bame didn’t grasp where it was, Em pointed him to the place he was talking about with his hand.

  They headed to that place, but after only a dozen steps a narrow stream with swampy shores stood in their way. Fortunately, the trunk of a plant, quite firm in appearance, lay just over both the mud and this shallow wellspring. Thanks to it they could get to the other side without wetting and soiling their feet. But as soon as Bame stepped on this "bridge" it immediately wobbled uncertainly.

  “Will not it roll over?” the young man hesitated.

  “Cannot you swim?” he heard Em’s answer from behind.

  Bame turned and saw a grin on the face of his comrade. For a few moments, Bame looked at Em in bewilderment, but, having not understood what the matter was, turned away from him and continued to walk along the log.

  One by one they crossed to the other side of the stream and soon approached the elevation. Climbing it, they sat on the roots of a large tree. Here they took boiled meat and corn tortillas from their backpacks, and began their breakfast.

  “Now, which way?” Em asked, when they were about to continue their journey.

  “I think now we should go north.”

  Soon they’d left the forest and entered a brightly lit clearing, which looked like a freshly moistened carpet woven from grass-like orange colored plants.

  Its appearance surprised Em: “A strange meadow, as if we were walking on water, but nothing is squishing.”

  He’d barely finished talking when his right leg fell somehow into an invisible pit.

  Chapter 73

  Omis realized that his leg hadn’t been seized by chance or out of curiosity, but that he was being attacked! In response, facing an invisible danger, he just swung his limbs feverishly around. This, although thoughtless, still a sharp and decisive effort, nevertheless showed its effectiveness. He managed to free his leg. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he felt a new, more diligent attempt at capturing him. Now the rope-like thing had entwined not his ankle, but had shifted higher, to his knee.

  The new attack caused his limbs to jerk furiously again in an effort to release himself from this underwater beast once more. Omis didn’t realize yet that the fear of prey that had fallen into the claws of a predator had already seized him. His panic was more aggravated when the comprehension struck him that he had no weapons in his hands, and he couldn’t hide somewhere or just run away. In addition, he didn’t have a foothold under his feet, and he was caught outside his natural habitat. The foreboding that something terrible approached him clouded his mind.

  The next moment, the grip of the underwater animal intensified, and this, instead of scaring the young man even more, produced the exact opposite effect. Omis’s psyche, which had been squeezed to the limit by this time, began to inevitably and quickly straighten up, like a bow after the shooter has released the bowstring. The understanding that he had already gained though a random but still genuine first victory, when a couple of seconds ago he had managed to free himself from the enemy, helped him to brace himself.

  First of all, his ability to think began to work, and he noted with a fleeting satisfaction that the state wherein he’d acted just like a frightened animal had passed. Now Omis thought again—his brain, his main weapon, had turned on. As a result he managed to grasp the situation as a whole: he faced a difficulty that must be overcome. It didn’t matter which method he would choose, but he must save his life, and get rid of this creature.

  From now on, the actions of the explorer acquired the features of those that are planned. This time, he struck the enemy with his other foot, or rather, the edge of the rough sole of his sandal, instead of trying to pull out his captured ankle, as he had done before. The consequence of this blow showed immediately—the beast let go of his leg. Omis got a few more seconds to recover. By this moment the young man has almost fully restored his usual composure and ability to quickly estimate the situation.

  He understood that the ocean predator didn’t yet dare to recklessly attack an unfamiliar prey; first it wanted to find out what it was like. If Omis didn’t resist effectively, the predator would be more bold. But what could he do? Swim away from here? If he could…then he must decisively repel the next attack, but how? He couldn’t even see the predator.

  At the same time, Omis, fearing to see something huge and terrible, still couldn’t bring himself to lower his head into the water and see who was assailing him.

  The next moment, he felt that the ocean beast had wound around his waist instead of his leg as before. The traveler grabbed it and tried to tear the animal, or its limb, from himself. This creature turned out to be cold and slippery, as if greased. At the same time, he sensed that the beast had grabbed his right leg, too, and was starting to pull him into the depths.

  Omis longed for these to be the limbs of the same being. He again struck with his sandal and got rid of the lower tentacle, or whatever it was.

  Now he was trying to get rid of the slippery feeler entangling his waist. His other hand and both legs barely held him at the surface of the water. Meanwhile, the predator was pulling him to the bottom more and more emphatically. Thoughts crept again into the mind of the young man that he was a bad swimmer, he couldn’t see his opponent, he was unarmed, and his heart already had almost jumped out of his chest.

  Nevertheless, the truth inculcated into his consciousness throughout his life by the “personal example” of the machines, helped him to defeat a new attack of horror.

  He had never seen even a single episode when the “adults”—the RA and the RB—had lost their composure. It was impossible in principle, like just as spade couldn’t lose its “equanimity.” They operated always logically, and so did all the colonists, always. Thus, in spite of the fact that he was fighting against an underwater creature while being in the ocean, now Omis reasoned almost soberly.

  He fully understood that he couldn’t get rid of the sea animal, and therefore he should accept the challenge. As soon as he thought about giving battle, he remembered the arrow t
hat he’d put under his belt just for this occasion, but had forgotten because of the first shock. The young man took a deep breath and ducked. He continued to try to tear off animal’s limb from his waist with his left hand, and at the same time with his other hand he pulled the arrow from under his belt.

  Once under the surface, the young man first tried to discern what he was facing. To his slight relief, Omis saw that the attacker was alone. By that time, Ro had already plunged into the ocean by a third and in the underwater twilight he managed to see only the outline of the creature. It looked like a huge tubular shadow with a length of at least three meters and a width of more than one meter.

  On the side facing the man, obviously around the mouth, the beast had three very long tentacles. The predator had used them to capture Omis and was pulling him closer. Seeing this, the young man stopped trying to tear the beast from his waist, and instead took the arrow with both his hands.

  He was about to plunge the arrow top-down into the tentacle that entwined him, when at the last moment he restrained himself. He realized that instead of just piercing the predator’s limb, he could do much more harm if he would operate in another way.

  The scout stopped jerking his legs and allowed the predator to pull him closer to its jaws or whatever they were. The beast was almost instantly attracted to a victim who had ceased resistance. Omis could already see small but sharp-looking bone plates in the mouth of the sea predator, and its shimmering eye ribbon.

  The young man wanted exactly that closeness. He thrust the arrowhead with all his might into the enemy’s mouth, leaning on the tentacle entwined him. Immediately after this, without stopping for an instant, Omis grabbed the other tentacles with his liberated hands and pulled himself toward the beast, pushing the arrow with his sandal until it completely disappeared into its body.