Rhapsody in Black

by Brian Stableford

  ‘Surely they don’t join in with this crazy farce of not seeing you or recognising that you exist?’

  He shrugged fatalistically. ‘Most do. It’s their way of life. Some of them can bring themselves to remember, now and again. We can always get help if we need it badly. But once in a while and all the time are two different things.’

  ‘But they couldn’t want to stay here,’ I protested. ‘Not if they could go to a better world.’

  He looked at me steadily, with an expression of patient longsuffering. ‘Do you think we’d want to go if we could stay here?’ he asked.

  I don’t know why it surprised me. This was, after all, his world—the only word he’d ever known. He’d never seen sunlight and he wasn’t particularly keen to make its acquaintance. He probably wouldn’t like it. It would cause him a great deal of physical discomfort, at first. And there was the change in sensory balance. Going native works both ways. I don’t suppose he liked the thought of coming out of the warren any better than I would have liked staying there for good. It was purely and simply that life there was being made impossible for him. The symbolic non-existence worked both ways as well. By denying that the outcasts existed, the Churchmen actually robbed them of a great deal of that existence.

  And all that could be put down to Krist. He was not solely responsible, nor could he really be said to be at fault—he was trapped in the system just as the outcasts were. The fact that he was content with it didn’t make him any the less trapped. But he was the Hierarch. He had to carry the can for anything rotten within his state. He had to bear the brunt of any grudges.

  And Bayon’s outcasts certainly had a big grudge.

  It was no wonder that they wanted more out of Krist than for him to turn his back while they sneaked away to an alien existence. I could have been very sympathetic, if I hadn’t been so dangerously involved.

  ‘It’s a dangerous game,’ I said.

  ‘So it is,’ agreed Tob laconically.

  ‘And you don’t really know what you’re trying to win, do you?’

  ‘Maybe not’

  ‘You can’t stay here—no matter what you do.’

  ‘I know that.’

  ‘Isn’t it better, then, just to make a clean break and leave the whole foul mess behind, to look after itself?’

  ‘I got a daughter is part of that foul mess,’ he reminded me.

  ‘Have you? Is she really your daughter, now?’

  ‘They can’t make that any different.’

  ‘But it is different, isn’t it?’ I didn’t wait for him to answer. ‘You can’t possibly do her any good by making a stand here and putting on a big show. If anything, it will do her harm. There might be recriminations, whether you exist officially or not. You’d be doing her all the favours you could simply by slipping out quietly. Leave her to her life. You can only hurt her by forcing the Church—and her—to admit that you exist. There’s nothing to be gained.’

  He was silent for a few moments, and I judged that I must be gaining ground. The fact that a man has never run away in his life isn’t sufficient reason for his making a stand at every crisis. There has to be something else to give him a reason for fighting.

  ‘Bayon’s the boss,’ he said.

  ‘You don’t owe him anything. You follow because he leads. You don’t have to go with him, if he goes the wrong way. You aren’t attached to him.’

  ‘I don’t reckon this is a good time to start betraying him,’ he said.

  ‘It has to be done, if needs must.’

  ‘Not now.’

  I didn’t try to press him any harder. I’d said what I could. There was no need to hammer it home. Tob was as capable of thinking it out as I was. I thought that I could trust him to make a rational decision. I hoped that rational decision would be the same as mine. If it was the same as Bayon’s, the future might be very bleak indeed.

  We had been very quiet while we talked, but we had awaked Rion Mavra. As Tob retired slightly to resume his sentry position, Mavra came up behind me and knelt down. I turned around, and sat back against the tunnel wall.

  ‘I’m worried,’ he said.

  ‘You’re not alone,’ I assured him.

  ‘Exactly what power do you have with these people?’

  ‘You saw him turn the gun on me. What do you think?’

  ‘But he will listen to you. You can talk to him, at least. He won’t hear what we have to say.’

  ‘That’s understandable,’ I said, ‘since you wouldn’t even concede that he exists. You can’t really expect to be able to argue him around to your point of view. What’s the change of heart for, anyway? I thought you were aligned with the rest of them so far as voluntary blindness goes?’

  ‘I’d be a fool if I refused to see a gun that wanted to shoot me.’

  ‘There are a lot of fools in these parts.’

  ‘Even Krist might compromise when it comes to facing a bullet.’

  ‘Well, I hope so. Bayon probably won’t settle for anything less. Somebody’s going to have to talk to him eventually, and say some things he wants to hear. Somebody right at the top. I don’t think you qualify.’

  ‘I’d be easier to deal with than Jad Gimli. I warn you—Gimli might be intransigent. He wouldn’t shed many tears over Akim Krist’s death after the events of the last few days. I arrived late but I gather that a great deal of heat was generated between the two.’

  ‘It’s no good your angling for release,’ I told him. ‘Bayon won’t consider it. He knows full well that it’s Gimli we have to talk to. I don’t know how much influence you’ve managed to win back since Titus Charlot imported you to act as his agent, but you’re not going to convince Bayon or me that you can swing the council. What you can do, though, if you want to be co-operative, is tell me what you know about the stuff in the grotto. How much of it has got out?’

  He spread his arms wide. ‘I don’t know. How can I? Nobody would admit to having removed any. The official story is that it’s all there, but I don’t know what to believe.’

  ‘But there’s a chance that if we can destroy the grotto we can exterminate the whole thing?’

  ‘You can’t destroy the grotto. And even if you did, it would only precipitate trouble. We’d be no better off.’

  ‘We’d have sidestepped the issue of price. Bayon couldn’t sell what he hasn’t got, and he can’t object to the Church selling it, either. It would make things a lot simpler from our side. And a lot of people might thank us for it, if they ever found out.’

  ‘And if we were still alive to be thanked.’

  ‘We’ll have to overlook that, for now. If I can get the beamer away from Bayon, will you help me? I don’t suppose Krist will help, but you might persuade Capra. If Harl and Ezra could be taken by surprise....’

  ‘You’re asking too much. There are four of them and three of us. They have the guns.’

  ‘We could try.’

  ‘No.’

  And who could blame him? I didn’t think much of it myself. As a plan of action, it was a joke.

  It became redundant anyway, within a matter of minutes. One of Bayon’s men arrived at a run, and awoke Bayon and Ezra.

  ‘They broke through,’ he said, loudly enough to awake everyone else. ‘They knew just where to hit. They’ve cut us off completely. We’re sealed in. Arne’s dead.’

  Bayon was still shaking himself into full alertness but he missed none of the rapid speech. He didn’t waste any time in wondering what to do, either. His contingency plans were already made.

  ‘Harl! Get out into the tunnels and warn the rest. Bring them all back down here. Haul a couple of ore trucks back and barricade the tunnel just this side of the slit. We can defend there.’

  Harl rushed off to carry out the orders.

  ‘Anybody else hurt?’ Bayon asked the bearer of bad news.

  ‘Lud was hit. I don’t know how bad. The others are bringing him back at his own pace. We had to leave Arne’s body at the cutting.’

&
nbsp; ‘How many were there?’

  ‘I don’t know. Eight or ten, maybe. They knew where we’d be and what to do about it. There was nothing we could do, Bayon.’

  ‘All right. Nobody’s blaming you. If we’re shut in, we’re shut in. It makes no difference, except that we’ve got a dead man to think about.’

  I came to Bayon’s shoulder.

  ‘I think they’ve conceded the fact that you exist,’ I told him.

  ‘Don’t you believe it,’ he said. ‘You wait until Jad Gimli comes down to the barricade.’

  ‘You think he’ll come? After killing one of your men and sealing you in? Surely he wouldn’t dare. He’ll try to starve you out. And he can do it, too.’

  Bayon shook his head. ‘He’ll come. To talk to you. He’s a lot more worried about the cave than about us.’

  ‘Don’t bet on that. He might already have his bit stashed away. It might serve his purposes very well to see the worms—and Akim Krist as well—burned up.’

  ‘We’ll find out,’ he said confidently. ‘Gimli will come.’

  He was right. Gimli came.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Jad Gimli was a tall man with a hawk-nose. He was the whitest man I’d seen on Rhapsody. He was obviously proud of his provenance. He had grown his hair long and combed it back so that it swept away from his deep forehead and down to a point a couple of inches below his collar. His eyes were very pale and sharp, and his mouth very thin. He was impressive, by virtue of the fact that his etiolation had gone beyond the colourlessness which characterised most of the people of Rhapsody and taken on a boldness of its own. The whole effect was reminiscent of Angelina. But she was beautiful, and Gimli was hideous.

  He waited on the outside of the barricade which had been formed by angling two ore trucks into an outward-facing V. I stepped across to join him. Bayon got up on top of the barricade and looked down on the two of us. Gimli didn’t look up at him.

  ‘What do you want?’ he asked, his voice sounding distinctly viperish.

  ‘Bayon holds the grotto,’ I said. It didn’t prompt a denial. Gimli simply waited. I continued. ‘The outcasts hold Akim Krist. There are three other people in the tunnel as well—Rion Mavra, Cyolus Capra and a girl named Angelina.’

  ‘Have you injured any of these people?’ asked Gimli.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then what do you want?’

  ‘We want safe conduct out of the warren. For me and for all of Bayon’s men. And we want the price of the grotto—whatever you have agreed with either Charlot or the man from Star Cross.’

  ‘And we want you to tell the whole world who took the price’. This from Bayon. Gimli gave no sign that he had heard.

  ‘The council has not yet reached a decision,’ said Gimli. ‘We waited until we could hear what you had to say. You are Titus Charlot’s pilot, are you not?’

  ‘At the moment,’ I said, ‘I’m Bayon Alpart’s spokesman. You know Bayon Alpart, I presume.’ I pointed up at the man who towered over us. This time, Gimli did look up. But he gave no sign of recognition.

  ‘Why did you take the grotto?’ he demanded.

  ‘Because it was valuable,’ I told him, rather sharply. I had the feeling that he was trying not to communicate. I had expected it, but I wanted it out of the way as soon as possible. Once we were prepared to deal with the realities of the situation, then we could achieve something. Until then, it was all hot air.

  ‘You imagined that you could steal the contents?’ he followed through.

  ‘We could have stolen some of it,’ I pointed out. ‘But Bayon wanted it all. He wants the full price. Whatever you care to ask of New Alexandria or of Star Cross must go to him, and we must all leave the world in order to be able to enjoy it. You can go back to exactly where you were before the grotto was discovered.’

  ‘Except,’ added Bayon, ‘that you have a public renunciation to make.’

  ‘We could take back the grotto,’ said Gimli.

  ‘Krist and the others would be killed.’

  ‘So would you,’ he said. ‘You would gain nothing.’

  ‘Quite so,’ I countered. ‘Give us what we want and we will gain our price, you will gain one Hierarch.’

  ‘Another Hierarch can be elected,’ he said dourly.

  ‘Is that the council speaking?’ I asked. ‘Or Jad Gimli?’

  ‘You can gain nothing by killing Krist,’ he persisted.

  ‘Nor can you.’

  There was a temporary halt while we stared at one another and contemplated the deadlock. Bayon jumped down from the truck. He rammed the power rifle into Gimli’s stomach and forced the Churchman back against the wall. Gimli flinched, more because of the dirt adhering to the rock surface than because of the gun in his belly. He pulled himself back to his full height, but Bayon topped him by a good two inches.

  ‘Who am I?’ said Bayon roughly.

  Gimli—perhaps wisely—did not attempt to deny that someone had a gun in his gut. ‘I don’t know,’ he said—not very calmly.

  ‘You remember me,’ growled Bayon.

  ‘I don’t know you,’ insisted Gimli.

  ‘Well, hear me anyhow. I want my freedom. I want my price. And I want my peace of mind. Before I go, you’ll tell the people of Rhapsody that Bayon Alpart is not dead. He exists. He lives. And he is escaping this world for a better one. He has found his own Exclusive Reward.’

  ‘I’ll tell the council what you say,’ he said.

  ‘Good. But there’s one more thing before you go. Tell me my name’

  ‘I don’t know you,’ said Gimli.

  ‘Grainger,’ hissed Bayon. ‘Tell him what my name is.’

  ‘His name is Alpart,’ I said. ‘Bayon Alpart.’

  ‘That’s right,’ said Bayon. ‘Now. Tell me my name.’

  ‘You know your name,’ said Gimli, between tight lips. My heart fluttered. I expected to see his abdomen disappear in a great gout of smoke and a big stink.

  ‘Say it!’ shouted Bayon. He thrust his face closer to Gimli’s, and pushed harder with the barrel of the gun. But his finger didn’t tighten on the trigger. He was determined to make the Churchman back down. He didn’t want to kill him.

  Seconds of agonised silence dragged by. Then Gimli decided that eventually compromise was inevitable.

  ‘Bayon Alpart,’ he said hesitantly, but not faintly.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said gently. ‘Now you can tell the council who it is you have to deal with. I’m sure they’ll have the same kind of difficulty which you have. But I’m equally sure that you can make them see what they have to see.’

  Bayon took away the gun and stepped back. Gimli staggered off the wall, then collected himself together and set about dusting the filth from his shoulders.

  ‘Never mind that,’ I said. ‘Go back to the council. Try to make them see our point of view.’

  He turned his back, without a word, and walked away.

  ‘We should send Mavra and Angelina with him,’ I told Bayon. ‘They’re both prepared to acknowledge you. They could help us.’

  ‘Who knows what Mavra might say once he’s free?’ said Bayon scornfully.

  ‘You can’t doubt Angelina. She’s never denied you.’

  ‘Angelina doesn’t count. The council won’t hear her. Gimli knows how things stand. He can tell the council, behind closed doors. They can make a real decision.’

  ‘And what will that be?’

  ‘They’ll agree.’

  ‘You can’t believe that.’

  ‘Then you tell me,’ he said. ‘What will they do?’

  ‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘For the time being, they’ll do absolutely nothing. Why should they? Time is on their side. They’ll make you sweat.’

  ‘It won’t change a thing,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to back down.’

  ‘I know that,’ I said glumly.

  ‘They’ll have to do something eventually.’

  ‘I know that, too.’

  ‘They’ll agree,’ he
said again.

  ‘I only hope you’re right’

  I wandered back down the tunnel, and went into the grotto to have a look at the most valuable worms in the galaxy. Considering that it was supposed to be a cakewalk, I reflected, this trip was causing me a great deal of heartache. I wished yet again that I’d had the sense to stay in jail. The escape had been Johnny’s fault. It simply wasn’t fair that it should be me who reaped the harvest of trouble.

  If you were prepared to unbend a little, offered the wind, I could go a long way towards helping you get out of this mess.

  ‘I’m sure you could,’ I replied. ‘But I would rather it was me that emerged from my sea of troubles, and not someone else.’

  You look at things from a point of view which is both illogical and uninformed.

  ‘So you keep telling me. Exactly how would you propose to extract me from my present predicament? Would we grow wings and fly, or grow spades and dig?’

  We would need only the body and the mind which is already at our disposal. It would simply function more efficiently.

  ‘I’m afraid this is a one-mind body. It wouldn’t function very well for anyone else. I may not be much, but it knows me well.’

  You’re being deliberately ridiculous.

  ‘You noticed.’

  Only a fool refuses help when he needs it.

  ‘Maybe so. But I don’t think that my need is so great just yet. Come the day that I’m staring down Bayon’s gun barrel and his hand is tightening on the trigger I just might decide that assistance is necessary. Even then I may elect to do my own superhero act. I’m certain that your offer is backed by the best of intentions, but I’m simply not interested. I’m sorry if this makes your stay here less than pleasant, but I didn’t invite you into my mind. You picked me, you have to put up with me.’

  Fine. But inside, you’re still scared. What it comes down to is that you’re more scared of me than you are of Rhapsody and all its terrors.

  ‘That seems to be a fair way of putting it’

  You belong on a world like Rhapsody. Grainger, the man without a name, without a human identity. The man alone. You do your utmost to preserve your isolation, just like the cave-men. Grainger alone against the worlds, always taking a course which no one else has chosen. You can’t even justify yourself except in terms of compulsion and inner need. Why not admit to being a member of the human race? Why not admit that you’d still be a member of the human race if you allowed yourself to fuse minds with me? It’s not so difficult, you know. There are people who’ve been human all their lives. They even profess to like it. And there are people with symbiotes like me. They profess to liking it, as well.