Earthfall

by Orson Scott Card

  "Do you think I'll be fooled when Nafai starts strutting around here again? Him and his sparkling cloak embedded in his flesh, making him look like a machine himself-I'll be grateful to go back into suspended animation for the rest of the voyage, so I don't have to look at him. When I wake up, let it be on Earth, with you beside me, and our children still to raise. They'll grow older. Time will pass. And you'll still be my husband and a great man in the eyes of all who know the truth."

  Elemak looked at her sharply. Or at least he tried to be sharp. Now and then she simply went out of focus.

  She opened her mouth to speak again, but Protchnu laid a hand on her shoulder and she settled back, sitting cm her ankles, as Protchnu stepped forward and spoke quietly, where few but Elemak could hear. "Pick the time of battle," he said quietly. "You taught me that back in Vusadka. Pick the time of battle."

  Elemak answered him just as softly. "They've won already, Protchnu. By the time I awoke they had already cheated you out of your inheritance. Look at you, so young, so small."

  "Do what it takes to let us all live, Father. Someday I will not be small, and then we'll have vengeance on our enemies."

  Elemak studied his face. "Our enemies?"

  "What they have done to the father, they have done to the son," whispered Protchnu, "I will never, never, never, never, never forget."

  It filled Elemak with hope, to hear such resolve, such hatred in his son's voice.

  He rose to his feet. All eyes were upon him, watching as he took Protchnu by the hand and led him to the ladderway in the middle of the room. He turned back, "Meb. Obring."

  They got up slowly.

  "Come with me."

  "Who'll watch these people, then?" asked Obring.

  "I don't care," said Elemak. "I'm tired of looking at them."

  He dropped down the ladderway, Protchnu after him, and then Obring and Meb.

  As soon as they were gone, the women gathered around Eiadh. "Thank you," they said softly. "It was brave of you." "You were wonderful." "Thank you."

  Even Luet took Eiadh's hands in hers. "Today you were the greatest among women. It's over now, because of you."

  Eiadh could only press her face into her hands and weep. For she had overheard the words that Protchnu said to Elemak, had heard the hatred in his voice, and she knew that Protchnu was not putting on a performance as she had done, not now, anyway. Protchnu would carry on his father's hatred into the next generation. It was all for nothing. She had humbled herself for nothing. "For nothing," she murmured.

  "Not for nothing," said Luet. "For our children. For all the children. I say it again, Eiadh. Today you were the greatest among women."

  Luet knelt beside her; Eiadh reached out to her and wept against her shoulder.

  The door opened and the light came on. Nafai's eyes adjusted quickly. Elemak, Mebbekew, Obring, and Elya's son, Protchnu. He could see the hatred in their eyes, all of them.

  They've come to kill me.

  To Nafai's surprise, the thought did not come as a relief. Despite all his words of desperation to the Over-soul, he did not really want to die. But he would do it, he would submit to it, if that's what would bring peace.

  To his surprise, Elemak knelt down at his feet and began fumbling with the knots at his ankles. Mebbekew joined him, working on the knots at his wrists.

  His skin was sore there, and their working chafed him painfully. After his beating, after the Oversoul had caused the cloak to heal him, Nafai had resumed letting the sores at his ankles and wrists go unhealed. Now it made the moment of release almost excruciating.

  "We've taken an oath," Elemak said quietly. "The oath Father administered to everyone else on the ship. He is the sole ruler of the colony. No one else is his second in command or his chief adviser or any other such fiction that disguises power. He will rule. I've taken the oath, and so have Meb and Obring. And my son Protchnu. As long as Volemak lives, we obey him and no other."

  "That's a good oath," said Nafai softly. He did not add: If only you had taken it earlier and lived by it, as I did from my childhood on. It would have spared us a lot of trouble.

  "You go straight from here and take the oath as well," said Meb.

  The cords at his neck, the cords that had pulled his body in a backward arch, suddenly released. Pain shot up and down his back. He moaned.

  "Stop the histrionics," said Meb contemptuously, "We know you could heal this in a moment if you wanted to."

  His feet and hands were numb; they felt like heavy clubs, sluggish, not obeying what he told them to do. As he rolled onto his stomach, his back ached and he could hardly pull himself up onto his knees. Bracing himself on the wall, he finally stood on unsteady legs. "Where's Father?" asked Nafai. "I must go and take the oath."

  "Oykib and Chveya haven't taken it yet, either," said Obring.

  "Go get them, then," Elemak answered scornfully. "Are you still waiting for me to command you? I'm not in charge here anymore."

  "And neither am I," said Nafai.

  But he was. Already the cloak was giving him whatever information he wanted. "There is enough oxygen in the working reserve to bring us up near normal for two hours. That will be enough time to oxygenate everyone's blood and for all of us to enter suspended animation. Then the ship can replenish itself before anybody else wakes up."

  Elemak laughed nastily. "What, aren't you going to promise us to stay asleep till we reach Earth?"

  "I'm going to resume the school where we left off," said Nafai. "If Father says I should."

  "I have no doubt that he'll say whatever you want him to say."

  "Then you don't know him or me at all. Because Father will say whatever the Oversoul wants him to say, and nothing else."

  "Oh, let's not argue, Nafai," said Elemak, with exaggerated cheeriness. "We must be friends now."

  Nafai walked in silence, leaning against the corridor walls as he needed to, grateful for the low gravity. "Is this really what you want for Protchnu, Elemak? To feed him this steady diet of hate?"

  "Hate is the richest of foods," said Elemak. "It makes you strong, it fills you with power. And I have a banquet of it to give my children."

  "Let there be peace between your children and mine, Elya," said Nafai.

  "Between your big, tall children and my little tiny ones?" asked Elemak. "Of course there'll be peace, the way there's peace between the lion and the fly."

  They reached the door of Volemak's and Rasa's room just as Obring returned with Oykib and Chveya. Wordlessly Chveya embraced her father, and he leaned on her as they went into the room.

  Nafai knell and took the oath, holding his father's hand as he did it. Chveya and Oykib followed him.

  Feebly, Volemak spoke from the bed. "Then it's done. All have taken the oath. Give us the oxygen now, and let us return to sleep."

  In only a few seconds, they began to feel the difference, all of them. The breaths they were taking were deep enough, and in a few moments their panting, their gasping, began to cause them to feel drunk on oxygen, feint with air. Then their bodies adjusted, their breathing went back to normal, and it was as if nothing had ever been wrong. Mothers wept over their babies, now breathing normally. Children began to laugh and shout and run, because at last they could.

  Long before the two hours were up, however, the laughing and shouting had ended. Parents put their children to sleep. Zdorab and Shedemei put all the adults to sleep then, except for Nafai, who stayed apart from all the others so as not to cause needless offense to Elemak and those who regretted his defeat.

  Once again Nafai and Shedemei stood over the chamber where Zdorab lay. "Forgive me, Nafai," said Zdorab.

  "I already have," said Nafai. "Luet explained to me what you were thinking at the time. And how you regretted it after."

  "No more surprises," said Zdorab. "I'm with you till I die."

  "Your oath is to my father," said Nafai. "But I'm glad of your friendship, and you may be sure that you have mine."

  Alone wit
h Shedemei, Nafai could allow the sores on his wrists and ankles to heal at last. "Who would have guessed," he said.

  "What?" she answered.

  "That Zdorab's mistake would end up accomplishing something that would have been impossible otherwise."

  "And what is that?"

  "I expected that as soon as we reached Earth, Elemak would go out of control and we'd be at war. I think the Oversoul expected it, too. But now we've had the war, and I think the peace will hold."

  "Until your fether dies," said Shedemei pointedly.

  "Father isn't old yet," said Nafai. "It gives us time. Who knows what might happen in the years to come?"

  "I don't want to be there," said Shedemei.

  "It's a little late to decide that now," said Nafai.

  "I don't want to be there for the conflict. For the fighting. I came here to do some gardening." She laughed self-deprecatingly. "To tinker around with the plant and animal life of Earth. That's the dream the Keeper sent to me. Not like you others. I'm just the gardener."

  "Just? You'll be the most important person among us."

  "I lied to you too, you know, Nafai. When I told you that it would be safe for cousins to marry. Just like Zdorab, I held something back."

  "That's all right," said Nafai. "Everyone holds something back, whether they know it or not."

  "But your children-the consequences may be terrible."

  "I don't think so," said Nafai.

  "Oh." She grimaced. "So the Oversoul told me what to say?"

  "Suggested it. Every word was true."

  Shedemei laughed sardonically. "Or at least as true as every ether word of the Oversoul."

  "I trust him," said Nafai.

  "Trust her to say whatever is necessary to accomplish her purposes. That's as far as she can be trusted," said Shedemei.

  "Ah, but you see, Shedya, the Oversoul's pmposes are my purposes. So I can trust him completely."

  She patted his cheek. "You may be technically about as old as I am by now, what with staying awake continuously during the voyage. But Nyef, I must say, you still have a lot to learn."

  With that she swung into place in her chamber. Nafai raised the side, locked it, then activated the suspension process. The lid slipped closed. He watched as she drifted to sleep in the airtight compartment. He was alone again.

 

  I'm hurrying.

 

  I have an idea. Just don't talk to me for a little while. Let me go to sleep with only my own thoughts in my head.

 

  I can handle it.

 

  I wish you were better company, then.

 

  I wish he were.

 

  I'm just the puppet you want, is that it?

 

  Let me go to sleep in peace, and maybe when I wake up I'll be willing again.

 

  The skyscreen in the library showed it, the globe of Earth, blue and white, with patches of brown and green here and there. Since they had slept through the launch, they had never seen a world like this, like a ball floating in the black of night.

  "Like a moon," said Chveya.

  Oykib reached out and took her hand. She looked up at him and smiled. The last three and a half years had been both wonderful and excruciating, to know that he loved her, and yet to know that it was impossible to marry and have children during the voyage. They didn't speak of what they felt-it was easier for both of them that way. The others had been just as discreet in their pairing up. But now, as they made their reconnaissance, orbitting the Earth again and again, reading the reports the instruments made, studying the maps, searching for the landing place, waiting for the Oversoul to make a decision, or for a dream from the Keeper to tell them what to do, it was impossible for Oykib to keep himself from thinking about Chveya, about what lay ahead for them. A new world, hard work, farming and exploring, and who knew what sort of dangers from disease or animals or weather-but set against all this was the thought of Chveya in his arms, of babies, of starting the cycle over again, of being part of the living world.

  "We once fled from this world in shame and fear," said Chveya. "We once fouled it and slaughtered each other."

  She did not need to add the fear that it would happen again. They all knew that the time of real peace would be over, that even if the oath to Volemak held, the tension would still be alive underneath the civility. And how long would Volemak live? Then war might come again. Human blood might once again be shed on Earth.

  Oykib heard Chveya speaking to the Oversoul. Why did you bring us here, when we're no better and no wiser than the ones who left?

  "But we are" said Oykib. "Better and wiser, I mean."

  She turned to him, her eyes wide. "What is it that you do? Back in the crisis, you spoke so knowledgeably. Of what the Oversoul wanted. Of what Nafai wanted, when you hadn't even spoken to him. What is it you do?"

  "I eavesdrop," he said. "It's been that way all my life. Anything that's said on the channels of the Oversoul, I hear. What he says. What you say."

  She looked horrified. Is this true? she was saying to the Oversoul. That's horrible!

  "Now you know why I've never told anyone.

  Though I certainly showed it clearly enough during the crisis. I'm surprised no one guessed."

  "What I say to the Oversoul-it's so private."

  "I know that," said Oykib. "I didn't ask to hear it. It just came to me. I grew up knowing a great deal more than any child should know. I understand what's going on in others' lives to a degree that-well, let's just say that I'd much rather take people at face value than to know what really troubles them. Or, with the ones who never speak to the Oversoul, what things he has to do to keep them from doing the worst things they desire. It's not a pleasant burden to carry."

  "I can imagine," said Chveya. "Or maybe not. Maybe I can't imagine. I'm not even trying to imagine right now. All I'm doing is trying to remember what I've said to the Oversoul, what secrets you know."

  "I'll tell you one secret I know, Veya. I know that of all the people on this starship, no one is more honest and good than you, no one more loving and careful of other people's feelings. Of all the people on this ship, there's no one who is so at peace with herself, no one who adds less to the burden of shame and guilt that I carry around with me. Of all the people on this ship, Veya, you are the only one that I would be glad to be close to forever, because all your secrets are bright and good and I love you for them."

  "Some of my secrets are not bright and good, you liar."

  "On the contrary. The evil secrets you're ashamed of are so mild and pathetic that to me, having seen real evil to a degree I hope you'll never understand, to me even your darkest, most shameful secrets are dazzling."

  "I think," said Chveya, "that you're hinting around that you want to marry me."

  "As if it could ever be a secret to you, who senses the connections between people just like Aunt Hushidh. Talk about invasion of privacy."

  "I do know your secret, Okya," she said, smiling, feeling him putting her arms around his waist, holding his hips against hers. "I know what
you want. I know how much you love me. I see us bound by bright cords, tied so tightly that there's no escape ever as long as either of us lives. You are my captive, and I'm never going to have mercy and let you go."

  "Those bonds aren't bondage at all, Veya," said Oykib. "They're freedom. This whole voyage I've been in captivity because I couldn't have you. When we step out on that new world, that old world, and I'm tied to you at last, openly, so we can begin our life together- that's when I will truly be unbound."

  "My answer is yes," she said.

  "I know," he said. "I heard you tell the Oversoul."

  PART 2 - LANDFALL

  NINE - WATCHERS

  There were many things for a young man to do, many duties that the community required of him, even if he was already married, and to a remarkable woman like Iguo. Because of pTo's extraordinary advancement, people looked to him for achievement, looked for him to be a model of young manhood.

  Well, perhaps not always. Many of diem looked to pTo for disappointment at best, scandal at worst. He was too young. Iguo had only married a mere boy like that because her great grandmother Upua had done the same with Kiti. It had become something of a family tradition for the women of that line, to marry a man who was too young-and pTo was no Kiti, as many were quick to point out.

  "You're no Kiti, you know," said pTo's own otherself, Poto.

  "As well for you I'm not," said pTo. "His otherself was dead the year he made his sculpture and was chosen by Upua."

  "You can't go doing crazy things. They're not going to forgive you anything. If you're brilliant they'll say you're arrogant. If you falter, they'll say you overreached. If you're friendly they'll say you're condescending. If you're aloof they'll say you're arrogant."

  "So I might as well do what I want."

  "Just remember that it's my name you're dragging through the mud. If you're a madman, what am I?"

  "A helpless victim of my lunacy," said pTo. "I want to go to the tower."

  Resting on the stout limb of a tree, they were watching over a flock of fat turkeys. The turkeys themselves were docile enough, too stupid to know the fate that the people had in store for them. The danger was from devils, who liked nothing better than to steal from the herds of the people. Lazy creatures, devils never did their own work except digging their nasty little holes in the ground and carving out the hearts of trees. During the birthing season, they came in force, stealing sometimes as many as a third of each year's newborns- that was why so many people had lost their otherself. During the rest of the year, though, it was the flocks and herds they were after.