by John Jakes
At the apex of my ascent, I was drawn forward. Directly over the craft, I began to drop—straight toward the hole into which Conax had vanished.
I floated smoothly past the angular faces of the two blue personages. I recall glancing down between my sandals, to see what fate awaited.
I glimpsed several more blue faces peering up at me.
That is all I remember.
"Let me out, let me out!"
Thus my voice pealed for freedom, even before my eyes flew open.
I lurched up from a curious, spongy object which was evidently supposed to be a chair, but which returned to the contours of a colorful sphere when I left it. At once, the tingling force seized me. I was reseated gently but emphatically.
On my left hand, glowering Conax occupied a similar sphere-chair. He seemed restrained by invisible force, much as I was.
"Regrettably," said a mellifluous voice, "we cannot let you run around and let you interfere with the crew, since we are traveling beneath the liquid medium at a depth of eleventy-six—" at least that is what I believe I heard! —"frambs, and a speed of nine-plenty threepmores. Also, based upon physical studies conducted after you were brought aboard unconscious, it is our opinion that you would perish if you sought to escape into the liquid medium. Therefore, be comfortable. In order to prevent damage to this vessel, particularly on the part of your lively companion, we have been required to hold you with a force. As soon as you give evidence of being tractable, we shall unbind it. Then you will be free to move about."
The speaker, having moved around from behind me, turned out to be another of the blue personages. The garment it wore was nearly as peculiar as its features—a robe which seemed to radiate constantly changing light. How this was possible, I could not say, for the pebbly-textured garment bore no ornamentation whatsoever.
At close range, it became possible to detect individuality among the blue personages. Up to now, they had all seemed of identical visage. But who can blame me for such a prejudiced judgment, given the circumstances under which I first encountered the creatures?
Our speaker, for example, was a bit more fully-fleshed in the cheeks, and possessed a longer jaw than some of his fellows. He confronted us in a circular, low-ceilinged chamber. Its continuous wall bore ever-shifting pastel patterns. Its floor resembled a seamless expanse of ivory, with hidden fires glowing beneath.
Then I grew conscious of a low, constant sound. The noise of magical machinery which drove the craft through the "liquid medium," perhaps? If so, it was machinery undreamed of by anyone I knew!
I would have been instantly reterrified, save for my sudden realization that I was, in fact, alive and breathing. I did not seem to be injured, either. Therefore, I addressed our host:
"I, Hoptor the Vintner, a fully enfranchised citizen of the Island Kingdom of Atlantis, demand that you release me at once."
"In return, do you pledge peacefulness and cooperation?"
"Of course!" At this juncture, I would have pledged anything.
The tingling sensation ceased. I was able to stand on my own unsteady legs.
The blue personage indicated Conax. "Can you offer the same guarantees for your companion?"
"Let me see."
I rushed over and whispered in Conax's ear, "If you know what's good for you, you won't attempt to injure this blue gentleman. Nor damage any of the furnishings. At least not until we learn the identity of these horrors. If you agree, that one will release you from the invisible bondage."
Conax grumped something about humiliation. But finally he gave a brusque nod. In a trice, he was on his feet.
Questions by the score overwhelmed my mind. The first one I uttered was, "We are truly beneath the sea?"
"If that is your term for the liquid medium, the answer is yes."
"Who are you, may I ask?"
"The ship's captain. It is I who will escort you to those who await."
"And who might they be? Atlanteans don't hobnob with just anyone, you know."
"The almighty ones," he returned. "Come."
"First tell us how you can converse in our language."
"On Zorop, we study every tongue. We are students of all the races of the stars."
"Zorop? I've never heard of an island called Zorop. Which direction does it lie?"
"That way," he said, pointing overhead, "a trillion-plenty"—at least I believe those were his words!—"fronks away. Zorop is not of this world."
* Ten *
I believe it is a fair statement—and no conceit!—to say that had Hoptor the Vintner not been accustomed to dealing with frequent changes of fortune, Hoptor the Vintner might have swooned dead away.
That I did not is proof that I am a man of courage and substance.
Also, from a practical standpoint, I was certainly no worse off among these blue personages, no matter what their devastating revelations, than I would have been in the presence of Pytho. At least, that was certainly the case up until the moment someone issued an execution order!
Therefore, I invited the captain of the craft to lead where he would.
We left the round chamber via a circular portal, proceeding through a sort of dim tunnel intersected on right and left by similar passageways. Various blue beings passed by, these dressed less opulently than our guide. They treated him deferentially, by means of a peculiar flexing motion of their digits.
Conax continued to scowl and mutter. I certainly hoped he'd honor his vow and check his temper. At least until we discovered how the land lay!
Ahead, I perceived another portal, curtained—if that's the term!—by an array of golden bubbles. Our guide emitted a bizarre whistling noise, and the bubbles all rushed to the portal's outer edges, leaving us free to pass through.
A sunken chamber lay beyond. But rather than conventional steps leading downward, I discovered another of those inclines. Naturally I hesitated. Naturally Conax bumped me from behind.
Helpless, I stumbled onto the top of the incline. But rather than falling forward on my face, I remained upright. The incline itself seemed to grip my sandals, and I was conveyed smoothly to the bottom.
There, two blue beings were seated—if that's the word!—upon thin golden sticks rising from the floor. I marveled at the starkly functional design of this furniture.
The personage on the right was clad in a garment that glittered even more opulently than our guide's. His companion, of slighter build, wore a pebbly-textured robe emitting a softer glow. Though the facial structure of the two was basically the same, several tufts of blue hair grew from the head of the second. Each of these tufts was bound by a crystal ring. Had I at last encountered sex differentiation?
Searching for more obvious signs—chiefly bosoms—failed to yield an answer.
"All honor," intoned our guide. "We bring you two persons from yon island state. We plucked them from the liquid medium. The one of lesser height and greater girth calls himself Hop-tor the Vin-ner. I am unable to ascertain the meaning of the latter name."
"Vintner, vintner," I corrected. "It means a grower of wine grapes. My friend and I are of course happy to meet you folk, who obviously hail from a different country. Let us be the first to welcome—"
Rudely, Conax shouldered me aside.
"Don't confuse me with a cowardly, conniving Atlantean. I am a king of a mighty northern kingdom, and I'm not accustomed to being ordered about."
"King?" echoed the blue being I took for the male. The corners of his narrow mouth quirked. "We also! We must spend a gorf or two discussing how we both have been ill-treated by the comrades of this one—"
And his thin blue digit indicated myself!
"If you mean you've been poorly received by the populace of Atlantis," I said, "as well as by the vested powers, it's not surprising. Affairs on the island are in a terrible state. I, for example, have been forced to flee for my life, unjustly accused of crimes of which I'm wholly innocent!"
Far be it from me to overlook an opportunity to get t
hat point across! For even though I hadn't the vaguest idea about the origin of the blue persons, it was plain they were supreme in their limited sphere.
That sphere, at the moment, happened to be the depths of the sea, which I noted churning against a large window in the wall behind them. A large jellyfish floated up, studied the activity inside for a moment, and then, obviously bored, hobbled off to attack some chubby fish. I continued in my most helpful tone:
"Perhaps if you could give me some idea of the purpose of your visit, I could direct you to the proper authorities—"
"We have come," said the male, "to have congress with the native kind of this planet."
Wondering what a "planet" might be, I heard the female with the tufted hair say:
"Thus far, none has welcomed us with a dignity befitting our stations on distant Zorop."
"Exactly what are your stations on distant Zorop, if I may ask? Your captain employed the term almighty ones, and you, sir, made what I believe was a reference to kingship—"
"Yes," he said. "His Subservience used the correct honorific."
"His Subservience?" I repeated, wondering whether I'd heard aright.
"Chiefest of the chiefs of the many ships of our fleet," said the female. "Your host—Captain Mrf Qqt."
The captain flexed his digits at me!
At once I asked that his name be repeated. But even after several pronunciations, it remained—as far as I was concerned!— unpronounceable.
"And this," said the captain—beg pardon, His Subservience!—" this is His Splendor, Uulor Zrz. Next to him is Her Radiance, Mna Zra."
Conax snorted, "Idiotic names. They sound like the utterances of a steppe warrior with his mouth full of—oof!"
My elbow in the ribs quelled him just in time. I hastened to direct an apologetic smile at the monarchs.
I needn't have worried. They seemed unperturbed. But I wished to be sure.
"Believe me. Your Splendor and Your Radiance, we certainly appreciate being rescued from the oce—the liquid medium. As I tried to suggest, we were forced to take refuge in an open boat because of the unbridled vengefulness of a certain military officer in Atlantis—"
"At-lan-tis," echoed Uulor Zrz, the male. "That is the nearby island which we have unsuccessfully attempted to visit?"
"One hundred percent correct. Very good! But you must realize that you've been going at it the wrong way. Take your vessels, now. Constantly whizzing back and forth in the heavens—those are your ships we've seen lately, am I right?"
"You are. Our exploration fleet is numerous. The other craft are, at the moment, in a patrol formation, there." He signed toward the sky.
"But when they're glimpsed by ordinary folk, their unusual radiance proves terrifying."
"Radiance is a function of astral travel," Mna Zra informed me.
"It does not attend our passage when the vessels sink beneath the liquid medium," noted His Splendor. "Only our way-lanterns shine then."
"Be that as it may, we Atlanteans aren't used to the sight of such fantastic machineries. Furthermore, when I encountered what I believe was one of your—ah—men—it happened at the imperial palace, during last night's storm—your representative failed to identify himself. And I was so taken by surprise, I believed the creat—ah, gentleman to be a demon."
"It is our procedure," said His Splendor, "to first pay a secret visit to any state with which we desire congress. To this end, we lower one or more of our officers by stealth, permitting them to observe conditions and report back. No doubt it was one such whom you encountered."
Then he fixed Conax with his immense, elongated eyes.
"Upon completion of the scouting of At-lan-tis, we made our decision to land and give greetings. This we did. Our memory reminds us that we were harried by our fellow king."
He didn't seem overly upset. But he was putting us on the spot, all the same. To his mate he added:
"You, sweet consort, happily failed to witness the unfriendly exchange."
Before I could even begin to explain, Conax assumed a menacing posture.
"So you were one of the thrice-cursed curs who humiliated the ruler of Chimeria!"
"There was no intent of humiliation. We merely decided, based upon what happened, that unfavorable confluences of the starry portents must have precluded a warm welcome just then. In order not to impair relations at a more favorable time later, we made ourselves rid of you in the gentlest possible manner, and departed."
Bright blue lids dropped briefly over his queer eyes, then disappeared up in his skull again. My spine chilled a little, because His Splendor's tone had become a mite less cordial.
"Had we desired, O king, we could have easily dealt with you in a manner befitting your rudeness."
"That," Conax shrieked, "I don't believe for one minute! Get off that stick and fight like a human being! Fight, I say, you—"
His Subservience reached out and tapped Conax on the head, gently. The barbarian sprawled in a semi-daze.
His Splendor said, "That is but a sampling. Half-strength. Kindly behave."
Her Radiance tugged at her blue hair as if piqued.
"Does your companion always act so rashly?"
"No, no, it's merely a nervous reaction. True, he's a powerful king. But he doesn't know much about civilized ways."
Conax had clambered to his feet. He appeared to be casting about for furniture to smash. The captain, His Subservience, extended his hand, ready to provide another cranial tap. Conax cooled down at once.
Her Radiance uttered a disconsolate sigh.
"Everywhere we travel upon this planet, the reception is the same. Resistance, rejection, shrill outcries of terror—we come in peace and we are treated as foes!"
"Well, as I have tried to suggest, you get a hot reception in part because your appearance is so—ah—unusual. It's quite a jolt to all but the most sophisticated. You have said you hail from a place called Zorop—"
"Another planet!" exclaimed His Splendor. "Another world! Lying an immense distance across space—"
"Do you mean to tell me that Zorop is not on this same piece of terra firma which holds the Inland Seas, the Misty Outer Kingdoms, the Pillars, stinking Lemuria and fair Atlantis? Come, I heard your captain claim something like that. But I hardly believed him! The notion's ridiculous. As everyone knows, the world is shaped like a dinner plate. It's round and flat, and kingdoms and oceans repose on its upper surface. It is completely surrounded by a crystalline envelope in which the heavenly lights twinkle. Since there is nothing but featureless void beyond the envelope, I simply can't accept your statement that you come from another 'planet.' No offense intended, of course!"
Whereupon, in the space of minutes, I received a lesson in cosmology that struck me dumb with wonder.
These Zorophim—that being the inclusive term for all blue beings—insisted that fair Atlantis was merely one dot upon a large ball of matter whirling in "space"—and that no solid envelope whatsoever surrounded the ball!
They maintained that eight or nine similar balls of matter—all lifeless!—were located within a reasonable distance of ours. All the balls, they said, traveled in fixed patterns, in relationship to the sun.
"No, no!" I disputed. "The sun—the Eye of Heaven—is affixed to the inside of the envelope. It slides from one end of the envelope to the other, then back again, bringing day to some locations on the dinner plate, while night claims the others."
Gently, as if tutoring an infant, His Splendor stated that this was not the case at all. He said "space" was open—uncircumscribed!—and that beyond our own relatively small neighborhood of balls, there were countless other balls and suns quite some number of "fronks" away. The "planet" Zorop was one such ball, whirling around its own far-off sun.
"Enough, stop!" I cried, pressing my throbbing temples. "It's more than even my educated mind can grasp!"
"But we have tried to explain clearly and simply—"
"Surely it can't be true! Surely you've come
from some other kingdom affixed to the remote edge of the great dinner plate—!"
"Superstition and ignorance!" sighed His Splendor, rising from the golden stick and pacing to the window. "It is everywhere upon this benighted sphere. Of course Zorop is not of this planet! Have you ever seen crafts such as this one before?"
"You've got a point there," I admitted, hoping to soothe his irritation. "On the other hand, you must realize that all this talk of balls and suns and vast distances measured in 'fronks' simply contradicts my entire upbringing. If you indeed belong to a superior race from far away, why trouble yourselves visiting our dinner pla—uh, planet, where you have received nothing but insults? Had you named myself to be your emissary at the court of Atlantis, I might interpolate, your reception could have been entirely different!"
A hit! His Splendor turned back from the window. Even Her Radiance looked interested.
"You are well-known to those who hold power on the walled island?"
"Oh, yes, I'm very well-known. A mention of the name Hoptor brings all sorts of immediate attention."
"Then perhaps," mused His Splendor, "this is a well-met moment. You ask why the Zorophim take wing. Leave the comforts of their idyllic home planet—voyage a trillion-plenty fronks through space—explore world after world in search of intelligent life. It is because, unless the current trend is reversed, Zorop perishes."
"Well, I'd call that good riddance," commented Conax.
I elbowed him.
"If you do that once more, you toadying, overstuffed—"
His Subservience, Captain Mrf Qqt, raised a potent hand. Conax bit his lips and fell silent. But his eyes promised hot-tempered vengeance at a later time.
I asked His Splendor why Zorop was facing doom. He answered:
"It is a matter of the Sacred Fuel."
"Sacred Fuel? What might that be?"
Pleased by my feigned interest, he replied, "Since you seem more reasonable than your companion—indeed, you are the first even-dispositioned inhabitant of your world we have encountered!—allow me to show, rather than tell."
