by Jack Vance
"It is a dream," mumbled Hozman. "I rode through the air like a gray ghost, I spoke with monsters; I am a creature alive and dead."
"First of all," said Ifness, "where are the people you stole last night?"
Hozman threw his arm up in an unrestrained gesture which suggested imprecision in his thinking processes. "Beyond the sky! They are gone forever. No one returns after the car drops down;"
"Ah, I see. They have been taken into an aircraft."
"Better to say that they are gone from the world Durdane."
"And when does the car drop down?"
Hozman looked furtively aside, with his mouth pinched into a crafty knot. Ifness spoke sharply, "No temporizing! The Alula are waiting to torture you and we must not inconvenience them."
Hozman gave a hoarse laugh. "What do I care for torture? I know I must die by pain; so I was told by my witch-uncle. Kill me any way you like; I have no preference."
"How long have you carried the asutra?"
'It has been so long I have forgotten my old life.… When? Ten years ago, twenty years. They looked into my tent, two men in black garments; they were no men of Caraz, nor men of Durdane. I rose to meet them in fear, and they put the mentor upon me. " Hozman felt his neck with trembling fingers. He looked sidelong toward the Alula, who stood attentive, hands at the hilts of their scimitars.
"Where are the four you stole from us? " asked Karazan.
"They are gone to a far world. You are curious as to what is to be their lot? I cannot say. The mentor told me nothing."
Ifness made a sign to Karazan and spoke in an easy voice, "The mentor was able to communicate with you?"
Hozman's eyes became unfocused, words began to gush from his mouth. "It is a condition impossible to describe. When I first discovered the creature I went crazy with revulsion-but only for a moment! It performed what I call a pleasure-trick, and I became flooded with joy. The dreary Balch swamp seemed to swim with delightful odors, and I was a man transformed. There was at that moment nothing which I could not have accomplished! " Hozman threw his arms to the sky. "The mood lasted several minutes, and then the men in black returned and made me aware of my duties. I obeyed, for I quickly learned the penalty of disobedience; the mentor could bless with joy or punish with pain. It knew the language of men but could not speak except in a hiss and a whistle, which I never learned. But I could talk aloud and ask if such a course fulfilled its wishes. The mentor became my soul, closer to me than hands and feet, for its nerves led to my nerves. It was alert to my welfare and never forced me to work in rain or cold. And I never hungered, for my work was rewarded with ingots of good gold and copper and sometimes steel."
"And what were your duties? " asked Ifness.
Hozman's flow of words was again stimulated, as if they had long been pent inside of him, building a pressure to be released. "They were simple. I bought prime slaves, as many as could be had. I worked as a slave-taker, and I have scoured the face of Caraz, from the Azur River in the east to the vast Dulgov in the west, and as far south as Mount Thruska. Thousands of slaves have I sent into space! "
"How did you so send them?"
"At night, when no one was near and the mentor could warn me of danger, I called down the little car and loaded aboard my slaves, which first I had drugged into a happy stupor: sometimes only one or two, again as many as a dozen or even more. If I chose, the car would take me where I wished to go, quickly through the night, as from the Orgai to Shagfe village."
"And where did the car take the slaves?"
Hozman pointed into the sky. "Above hangs a depot hull, where the slaves lie quiet. When the hull is full it flies away to the mentor's world, which lies somewhere in the coils of Histhorbo the Snake. So much I learned to my idle amusement one starry night when I asked my mentor many questions, which it answered by a yes or a no. Why did it need so many slaves? Because its previous creatures were inadequate and insubordinate, and because it feared a terrible enemy, somewhere off among the stars. " Hozman fell silent. The Alula had drawn close to surround him; they now regarded him less with hate than with awe for the weird travail he had undergone.
Ifness asked in his most casual voice, "And how do you call down the little car?"
Hozman licked his lips and looked off over the plain. Ifness said gently, "Never again will you carry the asutra which brought such bliss to your brain. You are now one with the rest of us, and we consider the asutra our enemies."
Hozman said sullenly, 'In my pouch I carry a box with a little button within. When I require the car, I go out into the dark night and push on the button and hold it so until the car comes down."
"Who drives the car?"
"The device works by a mysterious will of its own."
"Give me the box with the button."
Hozman slowly drew forth the box, which Ifness took into his own possession. Etzwane, at a glance and a nod from Ifness, searched Hozman's pouch and person, but found only three small ingots of copper and a magnificent steel dagger with a handle of carved white glass.
Hozman watched with a quizzical expression. "Now what will you do with me?"
Ifness looked toward Karazan, who shook his head. "This is not a man upon whom we can take vengeance. He is a puppet, a toy on a string."
"You have made a just decision," said Ifness. "In this slave-taking land his offense is simple overzealousness."
"Still, what next? " demanded Karazan. "We have not reclaimed our daughters. This man must call down the car, which we will seize and hold against their release."
"There is no one aboard the car with whom you can bargain," said Hozman. Suddenly he added, "You might go aloft in the car and expostulate in person."
Karazan uttered a soft sound and looked up into the purple sky of the evening: a colossus in white blouse and black breeches. Etzwane also looked up and thought of Rune the Willow Wand among the crawling asutra…
Ifness asked Hozman, "Have you ever gone aloft to the depot ship?"
"Not I," said Hozman. "I had great fear of such an event. On occasion a gray dwarf creature and its mentor came down to the planet. Often have I stood hours through the night while the two mentors hissed one to the other. Then I knew that the depot had reached capacity and that no more slaves were needed for a period. " "When last did the mentor come down from the depot?"
"A time ago; I cannot recall exactly. I have been allowed small time for reflection."
Ifness became pensive. Karazan thrust his bulk forward. "This shall be our course of action: we shall call down the car and ourselves go aloft, to destroy our enemies and liberate our people. We need only wait until night."
"The tactic leaps to mind," said Ifness. "If successful it might yield valuable benefits-not the least being the ship itself. But difficulties present themselves, notably the return descent. You might find yourself in command of the depot ship, but nonetheless marooned. Such a venture is precarious. I advise against it."
Karazan made a disconsolate sound and again searched the sky, as if to discover a feasible route to the depot ship. Hozman, seeing an opportunity to slip away unobserved, did so. He walked around the inn to his pacer, to find a Blue-worm rifling the saddlebags. Hozman gave an inarticulate babble of fury and leapt upon the burly back. A second Blue-worm, at the other side of the pacer, drove his fist into Hozman's face, to send Hozman staggering back against the wall of the inn. The Blue-worms continued their ignoble work. The Alula looked on with disgust, half of a mind to intervene, but Karazan called them away. "Let the jackals do as they will; it is none of our affair."
"You call us jackals? " demanded one of the Kash. "That is an insulting epithet! "
"Only for a creature who is not a jackal," said Karazan in a bored voice. "You need not take offense."
The Kash, considerably outnumbered, had no real stomach for a fight and turned back to the saddlebags. Karazan turned away and shook his fist at the sky.
Etzwane, restless and troubled, spoke to Ifness. "Suppose for a fact
that we did capture the ship. Could you not bring it down to the ground?"
"Almost certainly I could not. With definite certainty I do not intend to try."
Etzwane stared at Ifness with cold hostility. "We must do something. A hundred, perhaps two hundred people hang up there, waiting for the asutra to take them away to some strange place, and we are the only ones who can help them."
Ifness laughed. "You exaggerate my capabilities, at least. I suspect that you have been captivated by certain flirtatious glances and that now you wish to perform a gallant feat, no matter what the difficulties."
Etzwane contained his first rush of words, especially since the remarks were apt enough to cause him discomfort… Why should he suddenly expect altruism from Ifness, after all? From the moment of their first meeting Ifness had consistently refused to divert himself from his own large concerns. Not for the first time, Etzwane regarded Ifness with cold dislike. Their relationship, never close, had shifted into a new and distant phase. But he spoke in an even voice, "At Shillinsk, could you not call Dasconetta and request an Earth ship for a business of great urgency?"
"I could do this," said Ifness. "Furthermore, Dasconetta might well put through the order, and thereby sequester to himself an achievement which rightfully should be credited elsewhere."
"How long before such a ship could arrive at Shagfe?"
"As to this, I could make no estimate."
"Within a day? Three days? Two weeks? A month?"
"A number of factors are involved. Under favorable conditions a ship might arrive in two weeks."
Karazan, comprehending nothing of the matter save the time-span involved, declared, "By that time the depot may be gone, and the people as well, to terrible events on some far, cold world."
"It is a tragic situation," agreed Ifness, "but I can make no recommendations."
"What of this? " asked Etzwane. "You ride at best speed to Shillinsk, and there demand assistance from Dasconetta. I will call down the transfer car and go up with the Alula to capture the depot ship. If possible we will return to Durdane; if not we will await your coming."
Ifness reflected a moment before replying. "The scheme has a certain mad logic, and conceivably might come to a successful issue. I know a tactic to obviate Dasconetta's interference, which goes to answer one of my previous objections… The uncertainties however are numerous; you are dealing with an unknown situation."
"I understand this," said Etzwane. "But the Alula will go aloft in any event and here "-he patted his pouch with the energy gun within- "is their best hope of success. Knowing this, how could I stand aside?"
Ifness shrugged. "I personally cannot afford these quixotic extravagances; I would long since have been dead. Still, if you bring down to Durdane an alien spaceship, or even secure it in orbit until my coming, I shall applaud your altruistic bravado. I emphasize, however, that while I will keep your affairs in mind, I can guarantee nothing, and I strongly recommend that you stay below. " Etzwane gave a bitter chuckle. "I understand very well. Still, Ivman lives are at stake whether we go up or not. You had best leave for Shillinsk at once. Haste is essential."
Ifness frowned. Tonight? The way is long… Still, Baba's inn offers only small solace. I agree; haste is desirable. Well then, the Ka and I will ride for Shillinsk with Fabrache to guide us. We leave at once."
CHAPTER 7
The suns were three hours gone beyond the far Orgai, and the last purple glow had left the sky. On the plain waited eighteen Alula warriors, with Etzwane and Hozman.
"Here is my usual spot," said Hozman, "and now is my ordinary time. The routine is this. I press the button. After twenty minutes I look for a green light overhead. I then release the button and the car lands. My slaves stand in an orderly line. They are drugged and obedient, but not aware, like people in a dream. The door opens and a pale-blue light issues forth. I move forward, marshaling the slaves. If the car contains a mentor it appears on the ledge, and then I must wait while the mentors converse. When the slaves are within and the conversation at an end, I close the door and the car departs. There is no more to be told."
"Very good. Press the button."
Hozman did as instructed. "How often have I done this deed," he murmured. "Always I wondered where they went and how they passed their lives. Then, after the car departed, I would look up into the sky and consider the stars… But no more, no more. I shall take your pacers to Shagfe and sell them to Baba, and then I shall return to the land where I was born and become a professional seer.… Stand in line, close together. You must seem vague and limp."
The group formed a line and waited. The night was silent. Five miles to the north lay Shagfe, but the fires and oil lamps flickered too dimly to be seen. The minutes passed slowly; Etzwane had never known time so to prolong itself. Each second stretched elastically and departed with reluctance into the past.
Hozman held up his hand. The green light… The car comes down. I now release the button. Stand ready-but limp and easy; make no moves…"
Above sounded a faint sigh and a hum; a dark shape moved across the stars and settled fifty or sixty yards away. An aperture slowly appeared, casting a wan blue glow upon the ground. "Come," muttered Hozman. "In a line, close together… There crawls the mentor. You must be quick-but not hasty."
Etzwane halted at the entrance. A blue glow showed the way within. On a ledge beside a row of colored lights rested an asutra. For an instant Etzwane and asutra looked eye to eye; then the asutra, apprehending its danger, hissed and scuttled backward toward a small "passage. Etzwane swung his blade, to chop away the creature's abdomen and block its escape. In revulsion he scraped the jerking parts to the deck, where they were crushed under Alula boots.
Hozman gave a whinny of crazy, high-pitched laughter. "I am not yet free of the thing's influence; I could feel its emotion. It was furiously angry."
Karazan pushed into the interior, and the ceiling pressed down upon his head. "Come, let us do the business while our blood flows hot! Gastel Etzwane, do you understand the use of these swivels and pegs and blinking ghost-lamps? " "I do not."
"Come in then; we go to do what we must."
Etzwane was last to enter. He hesitated, beset by the certain knowledge that their plans were insanely rash. "On this consideration alone may we expect success," he told himself hollowly. He looked back into Hozman's face and surprised an expression curiously vital and eager, as if Hozman could hardly keep from shouting aloud in joy.
Here is his revenge, Etzwane gloomily told himself: on us and on the asutra as well. He will go forth now to take vengeance on all Durdane for the horror which has been his life… Best that I should kill him now… Etzwane paused in the doorway. Outside, Hozman stood expectantly; within, the Alula, incipiently claustrophobic, began to grumble. On a sudden-impulse Etzwane jumped back to the ground and jerked at Hozman's arm, which was crooked somewhat behind his back. In his hand he carried a length of white rag. Etzwane looked slowly up into Hozman's face. Hozman licked his lips, his brows dropping hangdog low at the outer corners.
"So, then," said Etzwane, "you would signal us to our doom, with all the others on the ship."
"No, no," stammered Hozman. "This is my kerchief. It is a habit, no more; I wipe my sweating palms."
"They sweat understandably," said Etzwane.
Karazan lurched forth from the car. He apprehended the situation in an instant and turned a terrible stare upon Hozman. "For this act you can blame no mentor, no evil force which compelled you. " He drew his great scimitar. "Hozman, on your knees and bend your neck, for your time has come. " "A moment," said Etzwane. "What is the system to closing the door?"
"You must puzzle it out for yourself," said Hozman. He attempted to spring away, but Karazan lunged to catch the collar of his cape.
Hozman began to plead in a hysterical, tearful voice. "This is not according to our arrangement! And also, I can supply information to save your lives, but unless you guarantee my freedom, you will never hear it; you
may kill me first, and then, while you slave on a far distant world, remember this laugh of mine. " He threw back his head and uttered a wild wail of mockery. "And you will know I died happy, for I brought ruin to my enemies! "
Etzwane said, "We don't want your miserable life; we hope to save our own, and your treachery is our worst danger."
There will be no more treachery! I trade my life and freedom for your own! "
"Thrust him inside," said Etzwane. "If we live, he lives, and upon our return he shall have a flogging."
"No, no, no! " screamed Hozman. Karazan cuffed him to silence.
"I would prefer to kill the vermin," said Karazan. "In with you. " He thrust Hozman into the car. Etzwane studied the door and discovered the inside clamp. He asked Hozman, "What now? Do I pull the door closed and throw down this lever?"
"That is all," came Hozman's sullen reply. The car will leave Durdane of its own volition."
Then make ready; we are about to leave."
Etzwane closed the door. At once the floor thrust into their feet. The Alula gasped, Hozman whimpered.
There was a period of acceleration, then ease. The blue illumination made faces unrecognizable and seemed to deduce a new dimension of each man's soul. Etzwane, looking on the Alula, felt humble in the face of their bravery; unlike himself, they knew nothing of Ifness' abilities. Then Etzwane asked of Hozman: "What is this knowledge by which you will save our lives?"
"It is nothing definite," said Hozman. "It concerns your general demeanor and how you must act to avoid instant detection."
"Well, then, how must we act?"
"You must walk like this, with your arms limp, your eyes blank and mild, your legs loose, as if they barely supported the weight of your bodies. " Hozman stood limp and futile, with long, hopeless creases pinching his face.
Fifteen minutes the speed held, then slackened. Hozman said nervously, "I know nothing of conditions aboard-but you must strike hard and fast, and make the most of surprise."
"The asutra ride their hosts?"
