The Light-Years Beneath My Feet

by Alan Dean Foster

  “Well, what do you think?”

  The waterfall at whose base they had gathered was not high, but it was noisy, which was what Walker was after. As always, their appearance garnered the usual stares from passing Niyyuu. None approached the foreign visitors to the nature park, however. Visiting aliens were accorded the same privileges as locals. That extended to privacy.

  And if common courtesy was not sufficient to discourage infringement, Braouk’s intimidating presence was sufficient to keep the otherwise intrigued at a distance.

  Espying a shallow sandbar, Sque slid gratefully into the water. She remained there with only the upper half of her body breaking the surface, forcing her companions to settle themselves around her. No one minded the proximity to the manicured cataract that over the centuries had undergone a transformation from wild torrent to well-mannered cascade. Though carefully maintained native vegetation, lush and vibrant, flourished throughout the park, Walker would have traded every gaudy frond and twisted fiber of alien exoticism for one glimpse of a solitary daisy.

  They had not come to enjoy the scenery, however, but to discuss their immediate future. One that Walker’s proposal promised to perturb appreciably.

  “Is taking a chance, that could seriously unsettle, existing relationship.” Himself larger than many of the surrounding growths, Braouk’s initial response to Walker’s plan reflected his natural caution. “We have fashioned a comfortable arrangement with the Niyyuu. Involving ourselves in a scheme such as you propose, Marc, could damage that irreparably.”

  Walker had anticipated numerous possible objections to his proposal. Braouk’s was one of them. “How? All decisions will be made by Saluu-hir-lek, all orders will be issued by him, and he’ll be the one to execute and follow through on every action.” He smiled knowingly. “That’s so he can also claim all the credit. No problem there. We’re not looking to get credit out of this. Our objective is to strengthen one important ally to the point where he’ll be able to demand instead of request the kind of assistance we’ve been asking for.”

  As a relaxed George dog-paddled nearby, Sque focused her laserlike attention on the human. “It is apparent you have given this as much thought of which you are capable. I confess that I am more intrigued than I expected to be. But our moody Tuuqalian makes a point. Suppose that events do not proceed in the fashion desired. Our hosts are not so developed that their base desires have completely atrophied. This society still understands revenge, for example.”

  Ignoring the fact that he was soaking his pants, Walker waded into the water and crouched down close to her. There was a time when such proximity to a four-foot-high tentacled nightmare like the K’eremu would have sent him screaming. Time and close acquaintance had long since altered both his view and his reaction.

  “In that case, what’s the worst that could happen? The Niyyuu know we still have friends among the Sessrimathe. They’d probably just expel us, send us back to Seremathenn. In that case, we’d be no worse off than we were before we made the decision to come here.”

  Half a dozen slender tendrils stirred the water lazily. Half in, half out of the cool stream, Sque was at her most physically comfortable. Mentally, she was still skeptical.

  “It is true that if we do not do something, we condemn ourselves to remain forever poised on the cusp of inertia: a poor motivator of proaction.” Silver-gray eyes peered intently at him while her pink speaking trunk weaved back and forth close to his face. Used to its utterly alien presence, he ignored its fluttering.

  “In order to have a chance of bringing this off successfully, I’ll need your knowledge and your help, Sque.”

  “Of course you will,” she agreed tellingly. “You would have no chance whatsoever of succeeding without my active involvement. If nothing else, you will need the participation of a higher intelligence merely to keep track of all the possible ramifications of your proposed machinations. Which, I must admit, show a level of sophisticated multithinking I had not previously associated with you.”

  “Believe me, I’m just as taken aback as you to find that certain requirements for success in my former profession fit the present situation unexpectedly well. How they’ll play out remains to be seen.” His legs were beginning to cramp from crouching in the sitting position, and he straightened up, water dripping from his pants. “Saluu-hir-lek is certainly fascinated by the proposal I laid out for him.” Turning to his left, he raised his voice to the giant, who remained back in the shade of the trees and well clear of the fast-moving watercourse.

  “What about you, Braouk? Will you go along with this? As long as it doesn’t violate any accepted tenets of traditional Niyyuuan warfare, I’m sure the general would be delighted to see you in a suit of custom-made Kojn-umm armor.”

  “More fighting is, not to my liking, right now.”

  Walker did not try to force the issue. Given time and sufficient motivation, he felt he could inveigle the Tuuqalian into fighting. If not necessarily on behalf of their hosts, then in support of the broader effort to get all of them home. Convinced that was the real goal, Braouk might be willing to set his temperamental recitations aside and pick up a specially forged heavy sword. Four of them. The appearance of an armored Tuuqalian on the battlefield ought to be worth at least a company of regular soldiers to Saluu-hir-lek. The more invaluable they could make themselves to the general, Walker knew, the less likely he was to abandon the visitors’ goal once they achieved some measure of success.

  That was Walker’s ultimate objective: to create an enterprise with a momentum of its own. One that not even Saluu-hir-lek, should he have a change of mind or heart, could halt. All would find themselves swept up in the same risky, mutual challenge.

  Could he bring it off? Despite the assurances he had given the general, Walker’s confidence wavered. What he had proposed was something rather more demanding than selling pineapple juice futures short. Among his companions, George was a reluctant participant at best, Braouk still remained to be fully convinced, and one could never tell for certain when Sque might change her mind completely about something.

  Then he remembered his own argument, and voiced it aloud to his companions. “We’ll do this because we can make it work. Because it will ultimately help us in our essential goal, which is to find our way home. But most of all we’ll do it because it’s the only thing any of us has thought of to get things moving here, since official policy apparently is to politely but firmly ignore our pleas for meaningful help.”

  “And I shall also participate,” Sque added with unexpected passion, “because I am bored—bored!” Following this confession, she took on a startled appearance. Limbs flailing fervently, splashing water in all directions, she whirled in the stream to see what had assaulted her from behind. Grinning, George paddled rapidly away.

  “I hate to see anyone bored,” the retreating dog shouted back as Walker wiped water from his face. “Especially someone with so many loose limbs hanging around just begging to be yanked.”

  With the perpetrator of the outrage thus self-confessed, an irate Sque went after him. Faster in the water and much bigger than the mutt, it seemed an unequal contest. However, George managed to keep the infuriated K’eremu at bay with the one weapon she did not possess: teeth.

  Watching them, Walker marveled at how far he and his friend had come. Not only from Earth, but of Earth. He was as comfortable now with K’eremu and Tuuqalian, Niyyuu and Sessrimathe, as he had been with friends and coworkers and girlfriends back home. If it was true what they said, that travel broadens the mind, then his had been broadened beyond the wildest dreams of all but the most mind-expanded travel writers. It had certainly all been fascinating, and enlightening, and awe-inspiring.

  But even taken in toto, it was no substitute for a good concert or a night out with friends.

  Though a bold and forthright fighter, Saluu-hir-lek was capable of subtlety when it was required. Preparations were begun quietly, without shouting or the usual kind of loud, patriotic exho
rtations to the populace that normally accompanied a significant military buildup. It helped that a major assault on the integrity of Kojn-umm had just been repulsed. The citizenry, not only in the capital but elsewhere throughout the realm, had experienced their fill of local combat. Enthusiasts had turned elsewhere, most notably to the war currently in progress on the other side of Niyu between the powerful realms of Gwalia-uun and Tigrada-eeb.

  Largely ignored by the media as well as by the government, Saluu-hir-lek was able to slowly but steadily marshal his forces, increasing the size and strength of his brigades, most importantly those responsible for logistics and support. The latter, Walker knew, would be crucial to the success of his proposal, since if events transpired as hoped the expeditionary army of Kojn-umm would be in the field far longer than was customary.

  It took a significant number of ten-days for the army to make ready. As the public became aware that a military campaign of unusual dimensions was being planned, questions about its propriety were raised in the media throughout the realm. Some were doubtful; some were supportive. Used to the respectful excesses of conventional Niyyuuan warfare, the great majority of citizens simply ignored the maneuvers while getting on with their daily lives. Unable to influence the outcomes of battles that nevertheless affected them deeply, they had grown used to trusting the strategic decisions of their military leaders. If it was determined that a punishing invasion of belligerent Toroud-eed was needed as a follow-up to that nation’s attack on Ehbahr’s traditional fortifications, then so be it. They would provide their support, as always.

  And besides, if the assault was to be commanded by Saluu-hir-lek, their finest officer, there was always the chance of achieving a notable triumph, if not a spectacular victory. Commercial advantages could accrue. There was no lack of financial backing for the proposed expedition.

  The media duly reported on the extensive planning, which could not be concealed. These reports made for solid, if somewhat monotonous, coverage and were always good for a fill if the day’s other news inclined toward the passive. As regular visitors to the main bivouac, Walker and his friends were fascinated by the contrasting combination of high tech and low reality that comprised the preparations.

  Advanced air-repulsion vehicles banned from any field of battle delivered supplies that were laboriously transferred to selgeth wagons. The selgeth were hippo-sized bipeds with long trunks and comically floppy ears whose stout bodies ran to an excess of fat. Harnessed to large-wheeled wooden wagons in groups of three, they munched contentedly on whatever plucked vines and cut grasses were laid before them. Blessed with an inherent patience—and a complaisant stupidity—that verged on the somnolent, a troika of selgeth could pull a fully loaded wagon all day long without tiring or complaint. Others were yoked to mobile siege engines whose designs were thousands of ten-days ancient.

  Custom allowed barrels and crates, but not their contents, to be made of plastics and other modern materials. Swords and spears and slingbolts could be fashioned by machines in automated factories, but once delivered to the army could only be sharpened and maintained by hand. More out of a desire to be able to defend himself in possible unforeseen circumstances than from any yearning to participate in actual fighting, at his request Walker was given instruction in their use. His senior Niyyuuan trainer was fascinated by the profusion of fingers on each of the human’s hands. Though shorter than the two digits that terminated in a Niyyuuan hand, and less flexible, human fingers were strong and had the advantage of numbers.

  As for the other potential combatant in the group, Braouk needed no martial instruction. Utilizing all four powerful upper tentacles, all he had to do was grip whatever weapon was at hand and swing. Whether wielding sword, club, or stray wagon, the Tuuqalian was bound to do considerable damage. Especially if, as had happened several times when they were captives aboard the Vilenjji ship, he lost control of himself. At such moments, Walker would not want to be a member of a rival army. Surprisingly—though a rare event—there was nothing in the extensive official canon of traditional Niyyuuan warfare that prohibited the participation of an alien in local conflict, provided only that it utilized nothing more lethal than traditional forms of weaponry.

  As for George, having nothing to grip a weapon with, he pointedly removed himself from instruction in their use, while Sque refused absolutely any martial schooling whatsoever. Primal physical hostilities, she remarked without having to be prompted, were beneath her and her kind. They had advanced beyond such foolishness. But she was quite willing to offer her often unsolicited opinion on tactics and strategy. Just because her kind did not make war among themselves did not mean they had not studied its format and consequences among other species.

  The day chosen for the departure of the army dawned overcast and clammy. Walker and George would have preferred more sunshine, Braouk had expected nothing less, while Sque was delighted with both the darkness and the damp. As for the soldiers of Kojn-umm themselves, they were so keyed up by many successive ten-days of preparation that they had to be held back by their officers. It had been a long, long time since the forces of Kojn-umm had made a sortie against those of Toroud-eed. For years they had been restricted by their cautious commanders to the defense of ancient fortresses such as Jalar-aad-biidh. Now they were to be offered a chance to give the Toroudians a taste of their own medicine.

  And then the politicians arrived.

  There were four in the delegation who had come up from the capital. They were well dressed, well informed, and well meaning. As they addressed Saluu-hir-lek and his officers within the somewhat-claustrophobic confines of the staff wagon, they cast occasional glances in the direction of the three aliens who were also present.

  “What are they do here?” one of the important visitors asked almost immediately.

  The general gestured casually in the direction of his guests, as if the presence of outr aliens on a traditional Niyyuuan military exercise were an everyday occurrence. “They bring fresh views and a different perspective on tactics to the grand expedition. I value their advice, though of course I make my own decisions.” Saluu-hir-lek leaned toward the leader of the visiting delegation. “What do it matter? Does the government value gastronomic talents of biped so highly it would seek to restrain him from accompanying?”

  The inquisitive official was immediately on the defensive. “Nothings, no, General. Was only curious to see them here. Is unexpected.”

  If they think our presence is unexpected, Walker mused, wait until they see Braouk in full armor. The Tuuqalian was not present at the gathering for one simple reason: even shorn of armor and weapons, if he were to squeeze into the staff wagon there would be no room left for anyone else. No doubt he was even now off somewhere ingratiating himself to the Kojn-umm soldiery with lengthy recitations of venerable Tuuqalian sagas.

  “The government has concerns,” another of the officials declared doggedly. She was unusually tall and slim, even for a Niyyuu, though the appropriately high-ceilinged interior of the staff wagon meant she did not have to bend to fit within. “It not that they troubled by thought of attacking Toroud-eed. Has been trade and other disagreements between our two realms for many long-times. But to attack an enemy just defeated seems to some an ill-mannered adventure.”

  Truly, Walker reflected, the Niyyuuan way of war was more than a little different from the brand waged by his own kind.

  “You fight force from Toroud-eed at wall of Jalar-aad-biidh for several ten-days,” the third member of the visiting party observed. “Beat them back each time. Most commendable victorying.” He made a gesture that Walker recognized as a praise flourish. “Why suddenly now the need, at considerable expense to the treasury, to follow so soon to attack that already-defeated force?”

  Saluu-hir-lek glanced ever so briefly in Sque’s direction. The K’eremu did not react. The attendant politicians would probably not have noticed if she had.

  “Toroud-eed expeditionary force seriously weakened by their losses sust
ained before Jalar-aad-biidh. They barely back in barracks. If attack them now, good chance they not strong enough to assist much in protection of Toroud-eed traditional fortifications. Exists for us excellent possibility of overwhelming defenses of the realm. Could bring momentous, if not necessarily total, defeat on traditional level of Toroud-eed itself.”

  The tall female looked at the associate on her left before returning her attention to the general. “That quite a claim to make, General. Is also possible by committing so much of military resources of Kojn-umm to this offensive that we could be as weakened in turn. Assault will be widely broadcast across all of Niyu. If attack falters, other traditional adversaries of the realm might be tempted attack Kojn-umm while its main army occupied in front of fortresses of Toroud-eed.”

  For a civilian politician, Walker decided, the tall representative had a respectable grasp of military tactics.

  Saluu-hir-lek was ready with a response. “Integrity of Jalar-aad-biidh not seriously compromised by Toroudian assault. Other traditional walls and citadels not impacted at all. Sufficient forces remain in Kojn-umm to successfully defend time-honored interests of the realm. If I not believe this with all my self, I would not propose or plan this expedition against Toroud-eed.” His gruff, grating voice ascended until it filled the interior of the staff wagon with a sound like gravel being crushed.

  “Is long overdue time we teach lesson to Toroud-eed once and for all. Who here not wish to see such a triumph?”

  While impressed by his vision and his commitment, the visitors were not overawed. “All patriotic citizens would desire to see such an eventuation, General,” the first speaker declared. “What we not wish see is same thing happen to Kojn-umm while main army of the realm is occupied with ill-conceived escapade elsewhere.”