The Asutra

by Jack Vance

  "Nevertheless, I believe that he will give serious regard to my business," said Etzwane, "especially if he is concerned for his prestige. Is there no way to communicate with him directly?"

  Ifness made a gesture of weary resignation. "Well then, briefly, what is your proposal? If the matter is important, I can at least advise you."

  "I realize this," said Etzwane. "But you are preoccupied with research; you stated that you could not cooperate with me, that you lacked authority, and you implied that all must be referred to Dasconetta. Hence, the rational course is to discuss my business with Dasconetta at once."

  "You have misinterpreted my remarks," said Ifness, his voice rising a trifle. "I stated that I had no place for you in my entourage, that I could not escort you on a tour of the Earth worlds. I did not indicate that my authority was insufficient or that I deferred to Dascon-etta in any respect, save that imposed by an administrative technicality. I must listen to your business, since this is my function. So then, what is the matter which has so excited you?"

  Etzwane spoke tonelessly. "A report out of Caraz has come to my attention. It may be no more than a rumor, but I feel that it must be investigated. To this end I need a swift vehicle, which I am sure Dasconetta can supply."

  "Aha! Well, well, indeed. And what is the nature of this rumor?"

  Etzwane went on in a flat voice. "Roguskhoi have appeared in Caraz: a considerable horde."

  Ifness gave a curt nod. "Go on."

  The horde fought an army of men, who reputedly used energy weapons. The Roguskhoi were apparently defeated, but here the rumor is uncertain."

  "What is the source of this information?"

  "A mariner who heard the tale from a Caraz bargeman."

  "Where did the occurrence take place?"

  "Is not this irrelevant?" asked Etzwane. "I am requesting only a suitable vehicle in which to investigate the business."

  Ifness spoke gently, as if to an irrational child. "The situation is more complex than you suppose. If you communicated this request to Dasconetta, or anyone else of the Coordination, they would merely refer the matter back to me, with a sharp comment as to my competence. Further, you know the proscriptions which control Fellows of the Institute: we never interfere with the flow of local events. I have violated this precept, of course, but so far I have been able to justify my acts. If I allowed you to place this remarkable request before Dasconetta, they would think me not only irresponsible but foolish. There is no help for it. I agree that the rumor is significant, and whatever my personal inclinations I may not ignore it. Let us return into the tavern; I now require from you all factual information."

  For an hour the discussion continued, Etzwane politely persistent, Ifness formal, rational, and impervious as a block of glass. Under no circumstances would he attempt to procure for Etzwane a vehicle of the type he had in mind.

  In that case," said Etzwane, "I will proceed with less efficient transportation."

  The statement surprised Ifness. "You seriously intend to venture into Caraz? Such a journey might occupy two or three years-assuming day-to-day survival."

  "I have taken all this into account," said Etzwane. "Naturally I will not trudge afoot through Caraz. I intend to fly."

  "By balloon? By glider? " Ifness raised his eyebrows. "Across the wilds of Caraz?"

  "Long ago the folk of Shant built a combination craft, the so-called 'Farway.' The fuselage and wing roots were gas-inflated; the wings were long and flexible. Such a craft is heavy enough to glide, but light enough to stay aloft on a breath."

  Ifness toyed with a silver trinket. "And once you touch ground?"

  "I am vulnerable, but not helpless. A man, single-handed, can kite himself up in an ordinary glider; still, he must wait for wind. The Farway rises against an easy breeze. The voyage will be a risk, I agree."

  "A risk? Suicide."

  Etzwane nodded somberly. "I would prefer the use of a power vehicle such as Dasconetta might supply."

  Ifness gave the silver trinket a petulant jerk. "Return here tomorrow. I will arrange for air transportation. You will be under my orders."

  For the folk of Shant the affairs of the next canton were of small concern; Caraz was as far as the Schiafarilla [3] and not nearly so visible. Etzwane, a musician, had traveled every region of Shant and was somewhat wider in his viewpoints; nevertheless Caraz was to him no more than a far region of windy wastes, mountains, and chasms of incomprehensible scale. The rivers of Caraz straddled vast plains, brimming too wide to be seen from bank to bank. Durdane, nine thousand years before, had been settled by fugitives, recalcitrants, and dissidents; the wildest and most irredeemable had fled to Caraz to lose themselves forever, wandering from one hazy distance into the next. Their descendants still roamed the solitudes.

  At noon Etzwane returned to Fontenay's Inn, but found no sign of Ifness. An hour passed, and another. Etzwane went outside and paced up and down the avenue. His mood was placid, if somewhat heavy. Irritation toward Ifness, so he had concluded, was self-defeating. As well feel anger toward the three suns.

  Ifness at last appeared, striding up Galias Avenue from the direction of the Sualle. His face was set in long, pensive lines; for a moment it seemed as if he would walk past Etzwane without acknowledgment, but at the last moment he stopped short. "You wanted to meet Dasconetta," said Ifness. "So you shall. Wait here; I will be no more than a moment."

  He stepped into the tavern. Etzwane looked up into the sky as a bank of clouds passed before the suns; gloom pervaded the city. Etzwane frowned and shivered.

  Ifness returned, wearing a black cloak which flapped dramatically as he walked. "Come," said Ifness, and turned up the avenue.

  Etzwane, thinking to assert his dignity, made no move to follow. "Where?"

  Ifness swung about, eyes glittering. He spoke in an even voice. 'In a joint enterprise each party must learn what to expect from the other. From me you may count on information adequate to the needs of the moment; I will not burden you with over-elaboration. From you I will expect alertness, discretion, and responsiveness. We will now proceed, to Canton Wild Rose."

  Etzwane felt he had won at least a minor concession, and went silently with Ifness to the balloon-way station.

  The balloon Karmoune tugged at the guys; immediately upon Ifness and Etzwane's stepping into the gondola, the ground crew loosed the judas-dolly; the balloon swung aloft. The winch-tender canted to the beam wind; the Karmoune fled south, dolly singing in the slot.

  Through Jardeen Gap they flew, with the Ushkadel bulking to either side. Etzwane glimpsed the palace of the Sershans glittering through the forest of similax and cypress. The pleasant vales of Canton Wild Rose spread before them and presently they came to the town Jamilo. The Karmoune showed an orange semaphore; the ground crew shackled the running-dolly and walked the judas-dolly to the depot, bringing the Karmoune down to the landing ramp. Ifness and Etzwane alighted; Ifness signaled a diligence. He gave the driver a terse order; the two climbed aboard and the pacer [4] sprang off down the road.

  For half an hour they drove up the Jardeen Valley, past the country places of the Garwiy Aesthetes [5], then through an orchard of strawberry trees to an ancient manor house. Ifness spoke to Etzwane in a measured voice. "You may be asked questions. I cannot suggest your responses, but be succinct and volunteer no information."

  "I have nothing to hide," said Etzwane, somewhat curtly. "If I am questioned, I will answer as my best judgment advises."

  Ifness made no reply.

  The diligence halted in the shadow of an old-style observation tower. The two men alighted; Ifness led the wav through a rank garden, across a courtyard paved with mieereen marble, into the front hall of the manor. He halted and signaled Etzwane to do likewise. No sound was to be heard; the house seemed deserted. The air smelled of dust, dry wood, old varnish. A shaft of lavender afternoon light slanted down through a high window to play on a faded portrait of a child in the quaint costume of olden times… At the end of the hall
a man appeared. For a moment he stood watching, then came a step forward. Ignoring Etzwane, he spoke to Ifness in a suave, rhythmical language, to which Ifness made a brief reply. The two moved away and passed through a doorway; Etzwane unobtrusively followed, into a tall, twelve-sided room paneled in snuff-brown madera and illuminated by six high bull's-eyes of dusty purple glass. Etzwane examined the man with candid interest. Could he be Dasconetta, living like a ghost in this ancient house? Strange, if not incredible. He was a strongly built man of middle size, abrupt but tightly controlled of movement. A pelt of glossy black hair formed a prow halfway down his high and prominent forehead, then coved back from the temples, and again around the ears. His nose and chin were pallid; his mouth showed almost no lip whatever. After a single flash of his black eyes, he paid Etzwane no further attention.

  Ifness and Dasconetta (if this were his identity) spoke in measured sentences, Ifness stating, Dasconetta acknowledging. Etzwane settled upon a camphor-wood bench and watched the conversation. There was clearly no friendship between the two men. Ifness was not so much on the defensive as wary; Dasconetta listened attentively, as if matching each word against a previous statement or point of view. On one occasion Ifness half-turned toward Etzwane, as if to command corroboration or to draw forth some special fact; Dasconetta halted him with a wry word.

  Ifness set forth a demand, which Dasconetta rejected. Ifness persisted and now Dasconetta performed a strange act: he reached behind him and by some unknown method brought into view a square four-foot panel composed of a thousand blinking white and gray shapes. Ifness made a set of remarks, to which Dasconetta gave a reply. Both examined the square panel, which blinked and flickered black, gray, and white. Dasconetta turned back to face Ifness with a quiet smile.

  The conversation continued another five minutes. Dasconetta spoke the final sentence; Ifness turned away, walked from the room. Etzwane followed.

  Ifness marched silently back to the diligence. Etzwane, controlling his exasperation, asked, "What have you learned?"

  "Nothing new. The policy group will not approve my plans."

  Etzwane looked back at the old manor, wondering why Dasconetta would choose to make his headquarters here. He asked, "What then is to be done?"

  "About what?"

  "About a vehicle to take us to Caraz."

  Ifness said in an offhand voice, 'That is not my primary concern. Transportation can be contrived if and when needful."

  Etzwane struggled to maintain an even voice. "What then was your 'primary concern'?"

  "I suggested an investigation by agencies other than the Historical Institute. Dasconetta and his clique are unwilling to risk an adulteration of the environment.

  As you saw, Dasconetta was able to manipulate a consensus."

  "What of Dasconetta? Does he reside permanently here in Wild Rose?"

  Ifness allowed a small twitch of a smile to his lips. "Dasconetta is far away, beyond the Schiafarilla. You saw his simula; he spoke to mine. The business is accomplished by a scientific method."

  Etzwane looked back toward the old house. "And who is there?"

  "No one. It is Joined to a similar structure on the world Glantzen Five."

  They climbed into the diligence, which set off toward Jamilo.

  Etzwane said, "Your conduct is incomprehensible. Why did you assert that you could not take us to Caraz?"

  "I made no such assertion," said Ifness. "You drew a faulty inference, for which I cannot accept responsibility. In any event the situation is more complicated than you suppose, and you must be prepared for subtlety."

  "Subtlety or deception? " demanded Etzwane. "The effect is much the same."

  Ifness held up his hand. "I will explain the situation, if only to reduce the flow of your reproaches… I conferred with Dasconetta neither to persuade him nor to requisition transportation, but, rather, to provoke his adoption of an incorrect policy. He has now made this error, and furthermore obtained a consensus through the use of incomplete and subjective information. The way is open for a demonstration to cut the ground out from under his feet. When I make an investigation I will be acting outside Standard Procedures, which will embarrass Dasconetta and catch him in a dilemma. He must commit himself even more completely to an obviously incorrect position or perform a humiliating reversal."

  Etzwane gave a skeptical grunt. "Has not Dasconetta taken all this into consideration?"

  "I think not. He would hardly have called for a consensus and argued from so rigid a position. He is sure of his case, which is based on Institute Regulation; he imagines me fretting and constrained. The opposite is true; he has opened the door upon a set of rewarding prospects."

  Etzwane was unable to share Ifness' enthusiasm. "Only if the investigation yields significant results."

  Ifness shrugged. "If the rumors are incorrect, I am no worse off than before, except for the stigma of the consensus, which Dasconetta planned in any event."

  "I see… Why did you take me to this encounter?"

  "I hoped that Dasconetta might question you, in order to embarrass me further. He cautiously decided against this procedure."

  "Hmmf. " Etzwane was not flattered by the role which Ifness had laid out for him. "So now what do you plan?"

  I intend to study the events which purportedly have occurred in Caraz. The affair puzzles me: why should the asutra test the Roguskhoi again? They are a faulty concept; why deploy them a second time? Who are the men who used energy weapons in the rumored battle? Certainly not Palasedrans, certainly not men of Shant. There is mystery here; I confess that I am tantalized. So now, tell me: exactly where did this rumored engagement occur? It is agreed that we will join forces for this particular investigation."

  "Near the settlement Shillinsk, on the Keba River. " "I will check my references tonight. Tomorrow we will depart. There is no room for delay."

  Etzwane became silent. The reality of the situation now faced him; he felt a mood of awe and presentiment. In a thoughtful voice he said,"I will be ready."

  Late in the evening Etzwane once more called upon Aun Sharah, who showed no surprise to learn of Etzwane's plans. "I can supply another trifle-no, two trifles-of information. The first is negative, in that we have spoken to mariners from other shores of Caraz. None mention Roguskhoi. The second item is a rather vague report of spaceships, which might or might not have been sighted in the Orgai region, west of the Kuzi Kaza. The report goes no further than this. I wish you good luck and will anxiously await your return. I understand your motives but I doubt if they would persuade me to venture into central Caraz."

  Etzwane gave a hollow chuckle. "I have nothing better to do at the moment."

  CHAPTER 3

  , Etzwane arrived early at Fontenay's Inn. He wore a suit of gray hard-cloth, a jacket of water-repellent bast against the mists and rains of Caraz, ankle boots of chumpa [6] leather. In his pouch he carried the energy gun Ifness had given him long ago.

  Ifness was nowhere upon the premises. Once again Etzwane walked fretfully up and down the avenue. An hour passed; then a diligence drew up beside him. The driver signaled. "You are Gastel Etzwane? Please come with me."

  Etzwane scrutinized the man with suspicion. "Where?"

  To a place north of the city; such are my instructions."

  "Who instructed you?"

  "A certain Ifness."

  Etzwane entered the diligence. They drove north beside the Jardeen estuary, which presently spread wide to become the Sualle. The city fell behind; they followed a waterfront road through a dreary wasteland of rubble, nettles, sheds and warehouses, and a few dilapidated cabins. At an ancient house built of slag bricks the diligence halted. The driver made a sign; Etzwane alighted. The diligence drove back the way it had come.

  Etzwane knocked on the door of the house, evoking no response. He went around to the back, where at the foot of a rocky slope a boathouse extended over the water. Etzwane followed a path down the slope and looked into the boathouse, to find Ifness loading pa
rcels into a sail boat.

  Etzwane stood wondering if Ifness had lost his faculties. To sail such a boat across the Green Ocean, around the north coast of Caraz to Erbol, thence up the Keba River to Burnoun was, to say the least, impractical, if for no other reason than the length of the journey.

  Ifness seemed to read his mind. In a dry voice he said, "By the very nature of our research, we cannot fly grandly about Caraz in an air-yacht. Are you ready to depart? If so, step into the boat."

  "I am ready. " Etzwane took himself aboard the boat. Ifness cast off the mooring lines and pushed the boat out upon the face of the Sualle. "Be so good as to raise the sail."

  Etzwane heaved upon the halyard; the sail billowed; the boat moved out upon the water. Etzwane seated himself gingerly upon a thwart and considered the receding shore. He glanced into the cabin at the parcels Ifness had brought aboard and wondered what they contained. Food and drink? Enough for three days, at the most a week. Etzwane shrugged and looked out over the Sualle. Suns' light glinted from ten million cat's-paws in thirty million pink, blue, and white sparks. Astern rose the wonderful glass shapes of Garwiy, colors muted by distance. He might never see the glass towers of Garwiy again.

  For an hour the boat sailed out upon the Sualle until the shores were indistinct and no other boats could be seen. Ifness said curtly, "You may lower the sail and then unship the mast."

  Etzwane obeyed. Ifness meanwhile brought forth sections of transparent stuff, which he fitted into a windscreen around the cockpit. Etzwane watched silently. Ifness made a last survey around the horizon, then raised the cover from a cuddy at the stern. Etzwane noticed a black panel, a set of white, red, and blue knobs. Ifness made an adjustment. The boat lifted into the air, dripping water, then slanted into the sky. Ifness touched the knobs; the boat curved west, to fly high over the mud flats of Fenesq. Ifness said in a casual voice, "A boat is the least conspicuous vehicle in which to travel; it arouses attention nowhere, not even in Caraz."

  "An ingenious artifice," said Etzwane.