He shook his head, forcing those thoughts away from his mind. Worry about the Spelljammer later, he told himself. I've got enough to think about here and now.
The trilateral stopped thirty feet away from the crewmen. While the eye itself remained motionless, Teldin could see the three-lobed pupil opening and closing in precise, almost mechanical gradations-presumably scrutinizing the two figures standing in front of the creature. After a few seconds, it edged a couple of feet closer, then stopped again. The Cloakmaster waited for almost half a minute, but the creature didn't move again. Neither did it make a sound, or try to communicate. It just stood there, its tentacle tips writhing like baskets of snakes.
I suppose it's my turn, he told himself. Taking a deep breath in an effort to calm himself, he stepped forward, between Beth-Abz and Dargeth, toward the creature. Stopping twenty feet in front of the creature, he opened his hands to show them empty.
It watched him in utter silence, its only movement the rapid opening and closing of its pupil.
Without warning, Teldin felt a warm pulse of power from the cloak at his back. The back of his neck tingled, and the sensation-almost like a slight jolt of static electricity- spread up his spine and into his brain…
And he could suddenly sense and interpret the trilateral's thoughts, a confusing mix of concepts and emotions blended with symbols for which Teldin's mind had no referents.
This one [interest] partial crippled [surprise-pity] incomplete!
Teldin staggered backward a step under the impact- almost painful-of the creature's thoughts. If Estriss's mental voice had been the "volume" of normal speech, this unexpected rush of thoughts was more like a full-throated yell. As he regained his balance, in his peripheral vision he saw Julia and Djan running to help him. He waved them back. "I'm all right," he told them. "Everything's okay."
Then he turned back to the trilateral and took another slow step toward it. "I mean you no harm," he said calmly, trusting to the cloak to convert his words into something the creature could understand. Around his shoulders, the cloak pulsed and throbbed with power. It suddenly struck him that this was the most complex translation task to which he'd ever put the ultimate helm, and it was pushing the powerful item to its limits. "I wish to talk to you."
The trilateral jerked as though it had been whipped or stung. Lightning fast, it pivoted around to focus a different eye on Teldin. Its thoughts flooded out and into the Cloak-master's mind, filtered through the cloak to a more bearable psychic "volume."
This [shock] animal talks [amazement]. Yet not [disbelief] cannot be. Cannot be intelligent. Mistake [certainty].
Teldin almost smiled. He could understand the creature's denial all too well. Before the reigar's ship had crashed on his farm, if some strange apparition that didn't match his image of how an intelligent creature "should" look had spoken to him, he'd probably have denied it and dismissed it as some kind of mistake or hoax. He took another slow step forward.
"It's not a mistake," he said quietly, and felt the cloak processing his meaning. "I can understand you, and I can speak. I am intelligent. Different, but still intelligent."
The trilateral pivoted again to give its third eye a view. It was "silent" for a long time-processing his words, Teldin thought. Then it edged a couple of steps closer.
Not mistake [doubt-fear]? Incomplete animal [wonder] talks. Where from, incomplete animal?
"We came here from Heartspace," Teldin explained. "You might call it something else, of course. We followed the river in the phlogiston…"
A rush of thoughts cut him off. Incomplete animal [bafflement] nonsense no meaning. Talk mistake [doubt] after all?
The cloak wasn't capable of handling complex subjects, Teldin decided. Quickly-before the trilateral decided his incompletely translated words were just mindless babble after all-he rephrased his answer. "This world is in a crystal sphere," he explained. "Outside the crystal sphere is what we call the phlogiston, or the Flow. We came here from another crystal sphere, one with more worlds inside it."
No meaning [confusion] yet form of meaning. The creature's thoughts came slower, as though it were puzzling over Teldin's communication. Crystal sphere [frustration] no referent, phlogiston no referent. Incomplete animal [curiosity] incomplete thoughts? World beyond world [perplexity] meaningless. And then, with a sudden blast of mental speech that almost staggered him again, the Cloakmaster felt its comprehension.
Incomplete animals [shock] from above suns? [stupefaction] Words mean this, meaning complete after all. Yet what beyond suns [awe]? Nothing beyond suns [anxiety] nothing beyond world. Nothing [fear] but time ancient time before People [terror-shock] before people were Others [panic] can incomplete animals be Others be incomplete [disgust-denial] no no [shock] impossible mistake…
Discrete thoughts faded into a kind of "mental white noise," blurring into a mishmash of symbols for which Teldin had no referents, no basis for understanding. There was no mistaking the emotional content, however-profound shock, mixed with fear and a kind of panicked doubt.
Without changing its orientation, the creature strode quickly away from Teldin-one of the advantages of trilateral symmetry, he thought-and joined its comrades. Over the intervening distance, he could sense their rapid mental conversation-or argument, maybe-even though the cloak was incapable of distinguishing individual thoughts or concepts.
He felt a presence at his side and turned to see Julia standing next to him. Her eyes were fixed on the three trilaterals. "What in the hells was that all about?" she asked in a whisper. "What are those things?"
Teldin didn't answer at once. That was the question, wasn't it: what were the trilaterals?
Were these the Juna?
No. They couldn't be. Could they?
Even though they definitely matched Estriss's description, he couldn't bring himself to believe that these creatures were the all-powerful Juna-the race that had left artifacts behind them on a hundred worlds, possibly including both the ultimate helm and the Spelljammer itself. Hadn't the Juna been traveling the seas of the phlogiston millions of years ago? Hadn't they roamed the universe before humans and illithids-even before the thri-kreen that Estriss had talked about-had ventured into the void?
Yet the trilateral hadn't understood anything that Teldin had "said" about crystal spheres, or the phlogiston, or other worlds, had it? And that couldn't have been just a translation problem. Eventually the creature had grasped that Teldin meant he'd come from "beyond the suns," and that had disturbed it profoundly, almost as if…
Almost as if the sphere surrounding the planet was forbidden territory from both directions-from the Flow coming in, and from the planet going out. Almost as if Teldin and the others had become objects of fear because they'd come from the taboo region. No, these couldn't be the planet-shaping, sphere-altering Juna.
But then, what were they?
"I don't know," he replied to Julia's question.
Could the Juna have devolved? The thought struck him suddenly. Could they have somehow slipped backward, forgotten what they used to know, lost their powers? Could they have become marooned here on this single planet, cut off from the universe that had once been their playground- marooned for so long that their racial memory didn't contain any trace of what they'd once been? That would certainly explain why the Star Folk had vanished from the ken of all other races: they'd just turned in on themselves, somehow, leaving only artifacts behind.
He shook his head. It couldn't have been like that, he told himself. That was too sad an ending to the glorious story of the Juna. Leaving this universe for another plane of existence, as many rumors told-now that was a fitting conclusion. But to sink back into obscurity, to become savages again-at least, in comparison with their greatest achievements-was just too ignoble. Even worse, what did that say about humankind and the other demihumans-even long-lived elvenkind? That they, too, could lose everything they'd gained, including even the memory of those gains? It was a chilling, depressing thought….
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With an effort, he forced the thoughts away. The trilaterals' argument of thoughts had ended, and one of the creatures-not the first one he'd "spoken" to, though Teldin didn't know what made him quite so sure of that-was approaching him again.
Teldin stepped forward to meet it. "I am Teldin Moore," he said.
Greetings [curiosity], Cloakmaster, the trilateral "said." Apparently the cloak had been unable to translate his name, Teldin realized. Interesting how it chose to identify him instead…. This one [pride] Speaks First, of the People. Incomplete person [acceptance] not of the People, not of the World of the People, but [curiosity] of elsewhere. True [anticipation]?
Teldin paused. This trilateral's mental "voice" was slower, more deliberate, and considerably clearer and easier to understand than the first one. Yet he still had to struggle to make sense of what it was trying to communicate. "Speaks First" seemed to be the creature's name-an indication that it was some kind of a leader among "the People," maybe?- and it seemed to view Teldin somewhat differently from the first individual: as an "incomplete person" rather than as an "incomplete animal." Considering that the Cloakmaster only had four limbs instead of six, he could understand the "incomplete" part. Did the transition from "animal" to "person" mean that Speaks First was willing to consider him an equal?
"Greetings, Speaks First," Teldin said. "You're right, we're not of the People"-he pointed, one at a time, to the three trilaterals-"or of the World of the People"-he indicated the ground under his feet. "We came here from beyond the suns. And that seemed to scare the first of your group to talk with us. Why was that?"
Looks Around lives the Legends too much [amusement]. No immediate understanding, then fear [condescension].
Teldin nodded slowly. He'd met two-legged people like that: anything they didn't understand at once was an object of fear. Yet there was more to it than that, wasn't it? All that babbling about the "ancient time" and "the Others"…
The creature edged forward. Although it moved slowly, Teldin didn't get the sense that it did so out of fear-more that it didn't want to frighten him with a precipitous approach. When it was less than a man's height away, it stopped. May this one [fascination] touch? it asked.
For a moment, Teldin considered refusing. This thing was just so alien-more so, he found, than even the beholder Beth-Abz. But he steeled himself and nodded.
It took him a few seconds to realize the creature wouldn't know how to interpret his gestures. But before he could express his agreement in words, the trilateral had started to reach toward him with one of its twice-trifurcated tentacles. Apparently the cloak will translate gestures as well, part of his mind noted. I'll have to remember that….
With the delicacy of a lover's caress, the nine tentacle tips touched his face, traced the lines of his cheekbones and jaw, brushed his nose and lips. The trilateral's skin was as smooth as a baby's, slightly cooler than human flesh. It exuded a complex, faint odor, with a slight undertone of musk-sharp, yet by no means distasteful. Teldin closed his eyes and felt feather touches across his eyelids.
Then the examination was over. The creature backed a step away. Cloakmaster is not incomplete [curiosity-certainty], it stated mentally. Cloakmaster is not [resolution] of the People. Cloakmaster is not [doubt-decision) of the Others.
"What are the Others?" Teldin demanded.
Legends tell, Speaks First answered slowly. Legends [reverence] tell of Others, tell of place of People [certainty] in life. Legends [perplexity] for People only [doubt]… yet though Cloakmaster not of People [indecision] Cloakmaster speaks with People…. The creature's mental voice fell silent for a moment. Then, Cloakmaster [decision] not-People [resolution], it stated firmly, yet Legends for Cloakmaster also. Cloakmaster to Place of People [certainty] will come. As though that had totally settled matters, Speaks First strode off to join its fellows.
"Wait," Teldin called after it. "What about my friends?"
The trilateral paused. With five tentacle tips it indicated Djan, Julia, and the others. Other not-People [hesitation] speak with People? it queried.
Teldin shook his head. "No," he said unwillingly. Speaks First rubbed its tentacle tips together with a hissing sound. Legends [decision-determination] not for not-People not-CIoakmaster, it stated firmly. Cloakmaster alone [certainty] come.
And that seemed to be that.
Chapter Eight
As he'd expected, Teldin was hard pressed to match the pace the three People were setting through the forest. All three of the creatures were walking in front of him, "chattering" back and forth among themselves-probably thinking the "not-People" couldn't overhear their conversation. The Cloakmaster smiled wryly. With the cloak's help, he could decipher their crosstalk… if he wanted to. But he'd quickly decided the creatures didn't have much to "say" that wasn't banal-comments about the position of the mini-suns, the way the foliage was growing, and such things-and had soon "tuned out" their conversation until it became nothing more than a background mental hum.
Even though they didn't discuss him-presumably out of some sense of politeness-Teldin knew he still fascinated the creatures. When they didn't think he was paying attention, all three of them oriented themselves so that one of their three eyes was fixed directly on him. As soon as they saw his own eyes on them, however, without breaking stride they pivoted slightly-a matter of sixty degrees or so-so they weren't staring right at him. Each time he noticed this shift, he chuckled slightly to himself.
It's fascinating, he told himself. I have no fear of these creatures. Why is that?
When Speaks First had made it clear that the invitation to the "Place of People" was for Teldin alone, the Cloakmaster had passed the message on to Julia and Djan. Predictably. both first and second mate had tried to talk him out of going alone with the trilateral-Julia even going so far as to call him an overtrusting, rock-headed idiot. But he'd been adamant, eventually "pulling rank" on the two of them, ordering them-as captain-to wait for his return. He shook his head. Maybe that hadn't been such a swift move, particularly in Julia's case. Odds were, she'd make him pay later, one way or another.
The path the creatures were following was smooth and free of obstacles, an easy walk. That allowed Teldin to let his concentration wander from the ground at his feet to the grass-trees that towered around him. At first he'd thought the foliage and underbrush were empty of life. Once he'd figured out what to look for, and where, however, he was amazed by the profusion of creatures surrounding him.
To his fascination, there wasn't a single specimen that even vaguely resembled a creature with which he was familiar. Certainly, it was easy to pick out the niche each creature filled, or the function it fulfilled in the forest, but the details were decidedly alien.
Take the "birds," for example. They perched on the branches of the grass-trees, feeding on the leaves or on bright purple berries, delicately picking the fruit with one delicate, three-clawed foot while clinging to their perch with the other two, and consuming it with a mouth mounted on their undersides. When they flew from perch to perch, they did so, not by flapping their three wings-covered with short, wiry hair, he noticed, not feathers-but by whirling them around their bodies in complex, interwoven patterns. Althrough they looked like small, swirling bundles of chaos, he couldn't help but notice the precision with which they avoided obstacles and landed on the slender branches.
Is everything trilaterally symmetrical here? he asked him-self. If so-and that was certainly how it appeared-the fact that the People matched Estriss's vague description of the Juna didn't necessarily mean much after all. There could well have been two intelligent races on Nex-the Juna and the People. In that case, the "Others" that Speaks First mentioned might be the Juna themselves.
But how likely was it that a race sharing a planet with the advanced Juna would remain at this relatively primitive level? He mused on that for a while. On Ansalon, there were more "primitive" races. But either the humans had "civilized" them to some degree, or-in the case of some of the huma
noids-the other races had borrowed or stolen components of human civilization. No, he thought, it didn't seem likely that advanced and primitive races could coexist without some kind of "cultural diffusion" between the two.
So maybe the People arose after the Juna had left. That made a little more sense, didn't it? When the Juna were present, the race that would become the People wasn't intelligent. Perhaps they bore the same relationship to the Juna that apes bore to humankind. When the Star Folk moved on-or died out, or whatever-the People continued to evolve, increasing in intelligence and sophistication over the passing millennia. Maybe magic and other artifacts left behind by the Juna had helped this new race up the evolutionary ladder. In a way, then, if that were true, didn't it make the People the heirs of the Juna? It was an interesting thought. He found himself staring at his three guides with ever deeper fascination.
The trek through the forest lasted no more than a quarter hour. The path they followed led across the slope of the terrain, angling only slightly downward while the hills above and below the path itself were inclined at almost forty-five degrees. Eventually the path opened into a clearing only slightly smaller than the meadow where the Boundless had landed. As the three People continued into the open space, Teldin paused on the margin.
There were more of the People in the clearing-almost twenty of them. Most were roughly the same size as Speaks First and its two companions, but he spotted four that were considerably smaller. Children, he guessed. This had to be a family group, then, or perhaps a tribe or clan. For a few moments the other People seemed unaware of Teldin's presence. Then one of them stopped stock still, a bright gold eye staring directly at the Cloakmaster. In his mind he "heard" a mental cry of warning or alarm-the cloak didn't bother to translate the exact meaning, but its significance was clear enough-and then all of the other People were frozen motionless, too, staring at him. They're examining the "incomplete animal," he thought with a wry smile; having seen the birds and other examples of three-legged Nex native life, the phrase made a lot more sense now.
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