A, B, C: Three Short Novels

by Samuel R. Delany

  “You have done wrongs to Argo…at least to Argo of Leptar,” Geo explained. “We have come to undo them. You have kidnapped the young Argo, as well as her grandmother, apparently. We have come to take her back. You have misused the jewels. We have come to take the last one from you.”

  Hama smiled. “Only a poet could see the wisdom in such honesty. I thought I might have to wheedle to get that much out of you.”

  “I was pretty certain you knew that much already,” Geo said.

  “True.” Then his tone changed. “Do you know how the jewels work?”

  They shook their heads.

  “They are basically very simple mechanical contrivances that are difficult in execution but simple in concept. I will explain. Human thoughts, it was discovered after the Great Fire during the first glorious years of the City of New Hope, did not produce waves similar to radio waves; but the electrical synapse pattern, it was found, could affect radio waves, in the same way a mine detector reacts to the existence of metal.”

  “Radio?” Geo said.

  “That’s right,” Hama said. “Oh, I forgot. You don’t know anything about that at all. I can’t go through the whole thing now. Suffice it to say, each of the jewels contains a carefully honed crystal that is constantly sending out beams that can detect these thought patterns. Also the crystal acts both as a magnifying glass and a mirror, and reflects and magnifies the energy from the brain into heat or light or any other kind of electromagnetic radiation—there I go again—so that you can send great bolts of heat with them, as you have seen done.

  “But the actual workings of them are not important. And their ability to send heat out is only their secondary power. Their primary import is that they can be used to penetrate the mind. Now we come to the lizards.”

  “Wait a minute,” Geo said. “Before we get to the lizards. Do you mean they go into minds like Snake does?”

  The god went on. “Like Snake,” he said. “But different. Snake was born with the ability to transmute the brain patterns of his thoughts to others; in that, he has a power something like the jewels, but nowhere as strong. But with the jewels, you can jam a person’s thoughts—”

  “Just go into his mind and stop him from thinking?” asked Iimmi.

  “No,” said the god. “Conscious thought is too powerful. Otherwise, you would stop thinking every time Snake spoke to you. It works another way. How many reasons does a man have for any single action?”

  They looked at him uncomprehendingly.

  “Why, for example, does a man pull his hand from a fire?”

  “Because it hurts,” said Urson. “Why else?”

  “Yes, why else?” asked Hama.

  “I think I see what you mean,” said Geo. “He also pulls it out because he knows that outside the fire his hand isn’t going to hurt. Like the bird, I mean the lizard. One reason we reacted as we did was because it sounded like a bird. The other reason was because we wanted to hear a bird just then. The man pulls his hand out because the fire hurts, and because he wants it not to hurt.

  “In other words,” Geo summarized, “there are at least two reasons for everything.”

  “Exactly,” explained Hama. “Notice that one of these reasons is unconscious. But with the jewel, you can jam the unconscious reason, so that if a man has his hand in a fire, you can jam his unconscious reason of wanting it to stop hurting. Completely bewildered and in no less pain, he will stand there until his wrist is a smoking nub.”

  Geo reached over and felt his severed arm.

  “Dictators during the entire history of this planet have used similar techniques. By not letting the people of their country know what conditions existed outside their boundaries, they could get the people to fight to stay in those conditions. It was the old adage: Convince a slave that he’s free, and he will fight to maintain his slavery. Why does a poet sing? Because he likes music and because silence frightens him. Why does a thief steal? To get the goods from his victim; also to deprive his victim of them.”

  “That’s how Argo got Snake back,” Geo said to Urson. “I see now. He was just thinking of running away, and she jammed his desire not to get caught; so he had nothing to tell him in which direction to run. So he ran where she told him, straight back to her.”

  “That’s right,” Hama said. “But something else was learned when these jewels were invented. Or rather a lesson history should have taught us thousands of years ago was finally driven home. No man can wield absolute power over other men and still retain his own mind. For no matter how good his intentions are when he takes up the power, his alternate reason is that freedom, the freedom of other people and ultimately his own, terrifies him. Only a man afraid of freedom would want this power or could conceive of wielding it. And that fear of freedom will turn him into a slave of this power. For this reason, the jewels are evil. That is why we have summoned you to steal them from us.”

  “To steal them from you?” asked Geo. “Why couldn’t you have simply destroyed them when you had them?”

  “We have already been infected.” The god smiled. “We are a small number here on Aptor. To reach this state of organization, to collect the scattered scientific knowledge of the times before the Great Fire, was not easy. Too often the jewels have been used and abused, and now we cannot destroy them. We would have to destroy ourselves first. We kidnapped Argo and left you the second jewel, hoping that you would come after the third and last one. Now you have come, and now the jewel is being stolen.”

  “Snake?” asked Geo.

  “That’s right,” replied Hama.

  “But I thought he was your spy,” Geo said.

  “That he is our spy is his unconscious reason for his actions,” explained Hama. “He is aware only that he is working against the evil he has seen in Jordde. ‘Spy’ is too harsh a word for him. Say, rather, little thief. He became a spy for us quite unwittingly when he was on the Island as a child with Jordde. I have explained something to you of how the mind works. We have machines that can duplicate what Snake does in a similar way that the jewels work. This is how the blind priestesses contacted Jordde and made him their spy. This is how we reached Snake. But he never saw us, never even really talked to us. It was mainly because of something he saw, something he saw when he first got here.”

  “Wait a minute,” Iimmi said. “Jordde wanted to kill me, and he did kill Whitey, because of something we saw here. Was it the same thing? And what was it?”

  Hama smiled. “My telling you would do no good. Perhaps you can find out from Snake or my daughter, Argo Incarnate.”

  “But what do we do now?” Geo interrupted. “Take the jewels back to Argo? I mean Argo on the ship. She’s already used the jewels to control minds, at least Snake’s, so that means she’s ‘infected’ too.”

  “Once, you guessed the reason for her ‘infection,’ ” said Hama. “We have been watching you on our screens since you landed. Do you remember what the reason was?”

  “Do you mean her being jealous of her daughter?” Geo asked.

  “Yes. On one side her motives were truly patriotic for Leptar. On the other hand they were selfish ones of power seeking. But without the selfish ones, she would have never gotten so far as she did. You must bring young Argo back and give the infection a chance to work itself out.”

  “But what about the jewels?” asked Geo. “All three of them will be together. Isn’t that a huge temptation?”

  “Someone must meet this temptation and overcome it,” said Hama. “You do not know the danger they create while they are here in Aptor.”

  Hama turned to the screen and pushed a switch to the on position. The opaque glass filled with a picture of the interior of the Temple. On the great statue, a spotlight followed two microscopic figures over the statue’s shoulder. They climbed over the statue’s elbow.

  Hama increased the size. The two made their way along the statue’s forearm to the golden stalks of wheat in the god’s black fist. One after the other they shimmied down the
stem. At the base they climbed over the rail. The view enlarged again.

  “It’s Snake!” said Geo.

  “And he’s got the jewel!” Urson added.

  “That’s Argo with him,” Iimmi put in. “I mean…one of the Argos!” They gathered around the screen to watch the congregation give way before the frightened children. Argo held on to Snake’s shoulder.

  Suddenly Hama turned the picture off. They looked away from the screen, puzzled. “So you see,” said the god, “the jewel has been stolen. For the sake of Argo and of Hama, carry the jewels back to Leptar. Young Argo will help you. Though we here are pained to see her go, she is as prepared for the journey as you are, if not more. Will you do it?”

  “I will,” Iimmi said.

  “Me too,” said Geo.

  “I guess so,” Urson said.

  “Good.” Hama smiled. “Then come with me.” He turned from the screen and walked through the door. They followed him down the long stairway, past the stone walls, into the hall, and along the back of the church. He walked slowly and smiled like a man who had waited long for something to finally come. They left the Temple and descended the bright steps.

  “I wonder where the kids are,” Urson said.

  Hama led them across the garden. Black urns sat close in the shrubbery. Old Argo joined them at the crosswalk with a silent smile of recognition. They turned from the path and stepped between the urns.

  —

  Argo twisted two ends of wire together with sun-dappled hands. Snake, knees beneath his arms, set the jewel on the improvised thermocouple. Now Argo crouched too. They concentrated at the bead. The thermocouple glowed: current jumped in the copper veins, the metal core became a magnet, and the armature tugged once about its pivot, tugged once more. Brushes hissed on the turning rings. The coil whirled to copper haze. “Hey!” she whispered. “Look at it go, will you! Just look at that thing go!” Oblivious to the elder gods, who smiled at them from the sides of the stone urn, the young thieves gazed at the humming motor.

  chapter eleven

  Under the trees, she stood on tiptoe and kissed the Priest’s balding forehead. “Dunderhead,” she said, “I think you’re cute.” Then she blinked rapidly and knuckled beneath her eye. “Oh,” she added, remembering, “I was making yogurt in the biology laboratory yesterday. There’s two gallons of it fermenting under the tarantula cage. Remember to take it out. And take care of the hamsters. Please don’t forget the hamsters!”

  That was the last of some twenty or twenty-five good-byes. There had been the entrusting of the shell collection, several exchanges of poems, the confession of authorship to a dozen practical jokes, and again respects to old Argo and Hama.

  They started along the slope of the volcano. The Temple disappeared among the trees behind.

  “Two days to get to the ship.” Geo squinted at the pale sky.

  “Perhaps we had better put the jewels together,” said Urson. “Keep them out of harm’s way, since we know their power.”

  “What do you mean?” Iimmi asked.

  Urson took the leather purse from Geo’s belt. “Give me your jewel.”

  Geo hesitated, then took the thong from his neck; Urson put it in the purse.

  “I guess it can’t hurt,” Iimmi said, and dropped his chain after it.

  “Here’s mine too,” Argo said. She had been carrying the third one. She had woven the cord she used to climb the statue into a small net sack, put the jewel inside, and hung it around her neck. Now she gave it to him.

  Urson pulled the purse string and tucked the pouch at his waist.

  “Well,” said Geo, “I guess we head for the river, so we can get back to your mother and Jordde.”

  “Jordde?” asked Argo. “Who’s he?”

  “He’s a spy for the blind priestesses. He’s also the one who cut Snake’s tongue out.”

  “Cut his…” Suddenly she stopped. “That’s right—four arms, his tongue—I remember now, in the film!”

  “In the what?” asked Iimmi. “What do you remember?”

  Argo turned to Snake. “I remember where I saw you before!”

  “You know Snake?” Urson asked.

  “No. I never met him. But about a month ago I saw a movie of what happened. It was horrible what they did to him.”

  “What’s a movie?” asked Iimmi.

  “Huh?” said Argo. “Oh, it’s sort of like the vision screens, only you can see things that happened in the past. Anyway, Dunderhead showed me this film about a month ago. Then he took me down to the beach and said I should have seen something there, because of what I’d learned.”

  “See something! What was it?” Iimmi took her shoulder and shook it. “What was it you were supposed to see?”

  “Why—?” the girl began, startled.

  “A friend of mine was murdered and I almost was too, because of something we saw on that beach! Only I don’t know what it was!”

  “But…” began Argo. “But I don’t either. I couldn’t see it, so Dunderhead took me back to the Temple.”

  “Snake?” Geo asked. “Do you know what they were supposed to see? Or why Argo was taken to see it after she was shown what happened to you?”

  The boy shrugged.

  Iimmi turned on Snake. “Do you know or are you just not telling? Come on, now! That’s the only reason I stuck with this so far. I want to know what’s going on!”

  Snake shook his head.

  “I want to know why I was nearly killed!” the black sailor insisted. “You know and I want you to tell me!” Iimmi raised his hand.

  Snake screamed. Sound tore through the distended vocal cords. Then he whirled and ran.

  Urson caught him and brought the boy crashing down among leaves. “No you don’t!” the giant growled. “You’re not going to get away from me this time.”

  “Watch out!” cried Argo. “You’re hurting him. Urson, let go!”

  “Hey, ease up,” said Geo. “Snake, you’ve got to give us some explanation. Let him go, Urson.”

  Urson let the boy up, still mumbling. “He’s not going to get away again.”

  Geo came over to the boy. “Let him go. Look, Snake, do you know what there was about the beach that was so important?”

  Snake nodded.

  “Can you tell?”

  Now the boy shook his head and glanced at Urson.

  “You don’t have to be afraid of him,” Geo said, puzzled. “Urson won’t hurt you.”

  Snake shook his head again.

  “Well,” said Geo, “we can’t make you. Let’s get going.”

  “I could make him,” Urson mumbled.

  “No,” said Argo. “I don’t think you could. I watched the last time somebody tried. And I don’t think you could.”

  Late morning flopped over hot in the sky, turning to afternoon. The jungle grew damp. Bright insects plunged like tiny knives of blue or scarlet through the foliage. Wet leaves brushed their chests, faces, and shoulders.

  At the edge of a rocky stretch, Urson suddenly drew his sword and hacked at a shadow, which resolved into a medium-sized cat-like animal. Blood ran over the rock and mixed with encrusted leaves in the dirt.

  No one suggested using the jewels for fire. As Iimmi was striking stones over a handful of tinder, he suddenly asked, “Why would they show you a film of something awful before taking you to the beach?”

  “Maybe it was supposed to have made me more receptive to what I saw,” said Argo.

  “If horror makes you receptive to whatever it was,” said Iimmi, “I should have been about as receptive as possible.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Geo.

  “I had just watched ten guys get hacked to pieces all over the sand, remember?” The fire flickered, caught, and held.

  As they ate, Argo got out a packet of salt from her tunic, then disappeared with Snake into the woods, to come back two minutes later with a purplish vine that she said made good spice when the bark was stripped and the pith rubbed on meat. “Back at t
he Temple,” she told them, sitting down in front of the fire, “I had a great herb garden. There was one whole section for poisonous plants: death angel, wolfsbane, deadly nightshade, monkshood, hebenon, the whole works.” She laughed. Then the laugh stopped. “I guess I won’t be going back there again. For a little while, anyway.” She twisted the vine. “It was a beautiful garden, though.” Then she let the stem untwist.

  They left the rocky plateau for lower woods, and the dampness grew and the light lessened. “Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Urson asked.

  “We should be,” said Iimmi.

  “It is,” said Argo. “We’ll come out at the head of the river. It’s a huge marsh that drains off into the main channel.”

  Evening came quickly.

  “I was wondering about something,” Geo said after a little while.

  “What?” asked Argo.

  “Hama said that once the jewels had been used to control minds, the person who used them was infected….”

  “Rather the infection was already there,” corrected Argo. “That just brought it out.”

  “Yes,” said Geo. “Anyway, Hama also said that he was infected. When did he have to use the jewels?”

  “Lots of times,” Argo said. “Too many. The last time was when I was kidnapped. He used the jewel to control pieces of that thing you all killed in the City of New Hope to come and kidnap me and then leave the jewel in Leptar.”

  “A piece of that monster?” Geo exclaimed. “No wonder it decayed so rapidly when it was killed.”

  “Huh?” asked Iimmi.

  “Argo—I mean your mother—told me they had managed to kill one of the kidnappers, and it melted the moment it died.”

  “We couldn’t control the whole mass,” she explained. “It really doesn’t have a mind. But, like everything alive, it has, or had, the double impulse.”

  “But what did kidnapping you accomplish, anyway?” Iimmi asked.

  Argo grinned. “It brought you here. And now you’re taking the jewels away.”

  “Is that all?” asked Iimmi.