Mindworlds

by Phyllis Gotlieb

  The Lyhhrt said, “They don’t yet mean to kill. They do mean to succeed.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Dritta said.

  Hasso was about to say, That they are willing to shoot— and stopped.

  He noticed for the first time a bracelet on Dritta’s wrist, had a flash of thought that jewelry was incongruous on a police officer; then realized that the band, pewter studded with onyx, indicated sterility. In some countries, not his own, it was the obligatory brand of sterility, in men or women. A warning: not worth marrying! Skerow had not worn one.

  Hasso shivered. In a way her burden, hidden under youth and health, was greater than his own. He turned his mind away and helped her gather baggage.

  “Land in one half-hour!” Shipmaster said. “Officer! I am willing to put full effort into moving this vessel, but I will not put the lives of all my passengers in danger for your sake!”

  “Do your best, please, Shipmaster!”

  Now Hasso could see that there were stony arms of land rising to either side of the barge, and the quieter water let it slip toward the shore more quickly.

  After a calm quarter-hour the noise of a shot cracked across the water once more, and in a few minutes the barge was gritting against a dock and the shipmaster rang his brass bell. “Out!” he barked through his microphone. “This here is Insight Island, just off Dead Moon Crater, and I am taking you no further for all your Offices and badges. I’m telling the Coastal Police where we’re landing you, I will inform the Ocean Star, and I’ve taken as much risk as I can! Out, and let me get away from those damned murderers. Next time I would sooner give you up to them than let them shoot at me again!” He wound up the microphone to its loudest. “You with your guns out there! There’s nothing for you on this barge!”

  “I will report you!” Dritta said.

  “Do that, Madam Officer, and you will see the twist of my tail and no more of me. Get off.” He lifted his arm to his workers and they let fall a gangplank.

  Hasso could smell from far off the stench of ancient fires that had never been allowed to go out. “Dems’l, the shipmaster is not completely out of order. This place probably smells better than that other and you are well armed to defend us.”

  “Gorodek has no clearance for Dead Moon Crater, but nobody can stop him from landing here,” Dritta said.

  There was little to see of Insight Island except a rocky barren slope topped with a square block of a building that may have once been white and inhabited by a watchman, but was now smoke-blackened and half-collapsed. The air was hot as well as fetid and the hard blue sky, smudged with smoke and ash, held nothing but the brazen sun.

  Hasso pulled a handful of silver pistabat from his purse, more than enough, tossed it to the shipmaster and said roughly, “We never chose to bring you into danger.”

  He stepped down on the gangplank and reached to help the Lyhhrt, who was still unsteady.

  “I’d have had sharper words for him,” Dritta said.

  “What use?” A couple of workers were quickly pulling up the gangplank and the barge steamed away even faster than it had come.

  Ekket pointed: “Look, they will land in a moment!” The yacht was only a few hundred siguu away from the shore and traveling fast. Dritta fired a shot into the air, but it would not slow.

  “Get up the hill and hurry! Lyhhrt, can you climb?”

  “I believe so.”

  “Then come.” Dritta and Ekket, both strong enough and light-footed, took Hasso by one arm each before he could protest and half-carried him up the slope. But he was grateful; it was hard keeping his sandal-boots level on the sharp rocks.

  The Lyhhrt climbed easily enough, but said to Hasso alone, :Their Lyhhrt is inside the body of one on that boat.:

  Hasso could not tell if there was more fear than anger in the thought. You have more power in your shell than he in whatever body.:

  The hilltop gave way to more hills, folded and pleated by weather as well as earthquakes, with here and there a clump of semi-succulent thumbknuckle shrubs, most with spines, and one or two small stands of stunted trees. Hasso thought that the place was an outcropping that had been separated from the crater wall by earthquake, though the crater itself, unlike most on Khagodis, was caused not by volcano but from an ancient comet. A self-punishing place to look for insight.

  “Plenty of hiding places,” Dritta said.

  “Best not to get backed up in them,” Hasso muttered. Looking down, he could see that the yacht had reached the dock and one of its crew had jumped off to tie up. Two or three others were helping Gorodek disembark. “Is he actually coming to chase after us himself?”

  “Good, he’ll slow them,” Dritta said. “Let’s move.”

  Hasso was struck again with a sharp sense of unreality. His heart began to thud frighteningly, and he fought to force calm on himself, and keep moving with the others. Dritta took his hand; the onyx bracelet gave him a cold touch and he shivered again, for her sake.

  There were voices calling, and one more shot.

  So far they have not shot at us, but—

  He was angry now.

  “I can see a crease in the rock wall, down over there,” Dritta said, “where we can watch for them.”

  “There is also a back way out, and that’s good, but we can’t afford to go too far …”

  Would Gorodek order Ekket to be fired on? Go that far?

  But someone fired into the air again, and even Hasso hurried toward the shelter of the rock crevice.

  Dritta remained at its opening with her Uzi MarkVII harnessed on her shoulders and her eyes on its miniscreen, but all Hasso could see was a slate-colored wedge of sky with her at its lowest point, and could not keep from crying out, “Don’t stay there, dems’l!”

  A voice out of a loud-hailer called, “Come out and speak to us, we will not fire!”

  Dritta switched off her helmet for one moment and said, “Just one of you come forward and we will both put down weapons.”

  Hasso said evenly, “What will you do if they do fire at us?”

  “I will return fire.”

  But a great mindvoice swelled out and seemed to Hasso as if it struck sky, rocks and even the sun like a gong.

  :Why did you desert me! Why do you hate me! Why will you not be my Other!:

  The Lyhht began to tremble, both in his thoughts and in control of his workshell: its microscopic plates sang like the faintest of wind chimes.

  Ekket and Dritta cried out in ragged chorus, “What’s this? What’s happening?”

  Hasso did not know how to explain the outburst, but he forced himself to say, “One of those with Gorodek is harboring a Lyhhrt.” Or maybe Gorodek himself … but no, he would not let himself do that.

  “Eki, that’s possible? I knew there might be another Lyhhrt, but not—”

  That mind said, : You know you want to be One with me, with me!:

  The Lyhhrt left Hasso’s side, went to stand beside Dritta, and spoke. :I longed to have an Other like you, but I cannot make myself live in the mind and body of another person.: Just the same he stepped past Dritta and she was unable to stop him.

  Hasso said, :Friend! Think how hard you have fought against this! Every step you take away from us you are nearer to being taken, Lyhhrt.:

  The Lyhhrt paused. :I want! I cannot help wanting, there is no one else—:

  “That one nearly killed you, Lyhhrt,” Hasso said.

  The Lyhhrt said, in the whisper of a thought, :You saved me.:

  “You owe me nothing,” Hasso said, “but whatever happens to you ought to be under your own control.”

  “I want to see what body this one is living in.”

  “You know he was living inside Sketh, it is obvious now when I think of it that he cut himself out of Sketh’s body and called for his workshell to receive him! What else could have happened? Sketh died only because that other did not like his corrupted lodging … and where he is now is probably in Osset, because he is the one closest to Gorodek an
d most controllable.”

  The Lyhhrt paused.

  :Lies! Lies!: The cry came from Gorodek himself, and his party began to swarm over the ridge and down, five armed guards, first, three of them women half again as tall as Dritta, and Gorodek supported between Osset and one other.

  “Dritta, can you signal the Ocean Star on your comm?”

  “I have been doing it since we landed.” She was shaking now, if only for a moment, louder than the Lyhhrt with her chattering teeth. She was very young. “I will hold them off as long as possible.” She pulled at herself and clamped her jaws.

  :Don’t deny you truly want to be my Other!: the mindvoice from Gorodek’s troop called across the breadth of sliding rock. :Living within flesh is one more kind of love!:

  Horrible, Hasso was thinking, he means it, it’s no lie.

  The Lyhhrt took one step back. And said, :Not for me. Whatever I wanted once I do no longer.: And to Hasso, : Yes, it is Osset … see, he is sleepwalking … : Osset was staring at emptiness.

  Gorodek was now within hearing and called, “Ekket, you must come with me! I paid your mother for you! I have a right to you!”

  Ekket said suddenly, “By all the Saints, I can’t bear this, let me go to him and save yourselves.”

  Dritta said, “What makes you believe that will save us?”

  Hasso added, “He’s most dangerous now he has lost everything—he’s a felon with charges against him and you will still be in danger.”

  “I must do some—”

  Gorodek, a tiny figure among tall ones, waved his arms, half-dancing on sliding rocks as he balanced, drawing air desperately to scream, “If I can’t have you no one will! Kill her, Osset, Lyrhht—”

  Dritta said sharply, “Get back, Ekket, back—and you, Lyhhrt!” She undid the clasp of the heavy Uzi MarkVII and let it fall, pulled up her stunner and fired, the shot went wild and hit one of the men, who fell immediately into heavy sleep, another took his place and raised a weapon that was not a stunner, and—

  —the greatest voice in the world said

  are all people like this

  The unbodied speaker! Not now, whatever you are! I am not a magnifying glass! Hasso’s scales rose as his vision expanded into the universe and every object, being, bone, brain, blood vessel, rock-vein, cloud, thorn-bud, and—worst of all-thought, presented itself … to whom? … in one integrated panorama of existence. Good Saints, not now! He fought to keep balance and consciousness, mind darting like lightning through the other minds around him in dazzling mosaics of electric impulses—

  —nothing changed, the guard’s finger tightened on the trigger—

  But Osset cried out, “No!” :No! NO! Stop! By all of our Gods, STOP!:

  Everything stood still. Gorodek turned slowly and stared. “What, Osset?”

  Osset pulled off his helmet and threw it away, burst into a torrent of garbled words, half esp, half choking voice:

  “I can bear no more of this! For your sake I committed terrible crimes, I gave you the use of my body and even my soul to carry this enemy because I believed that your course would make us strong and wealthy, but you care nothing for anyone but yourself and you are nothing, nothing but an evil, self-deceiving and impotent old fool and I will defy you!” There was a knife in his hands, suddenly, and he drove it into his belly and fell to his knees, and then on his side, choking and retching.

  “Osset!” Gorodek fell to his knees. “No, Osset.” His eyes burst with tears and drops of blood.

  Hasso could not move and could not prevent himself from watching alongside the disembodied Observer who had chosen him.

  To see Gorodek observing his own shrunken life.

  But the Lyhhrt was not paralyzed. He strode forward past Dritta and set himself beside Osset to raise his head and keep him from suffocating himself. “Help me! Osset is not dead, he killed only that—that one,” he paused, shocked at what he had just said, and the words reverberated in the minds of the others. He was stammering a bit: “His organs are not badly harmed. Only leave the wound open a quarter-hour to drain.” And added with faint bitterness, “Dead Lyhhrt turn to water easily enough. Now help me raise him.” Paying no attention to the guard and his finger on the trigger. But then no other Lyhhrt was in control now.

  The guards, who had been standing like stone columns, came alive and stared at their Governor kneeling, in tears, beside their bleeding and shivering Commander. They looked about as if wondering where they were, and why, found themselves inexplicably terrified, began to howl and turned toward their yacht.

  Gorodek, still streaming bloody tears, twisted his body trying to catch at them. “Take me with you! I command you to take me with you, you fools!”

  The guards paused and stared at him. “No! Old man, we are free now, and you are nothing!” They hurled themselves into the yacht and sped away.

  Dritta dropped the rifles and stood gaping after them. “Now what are we—”

  “We wait,” Hasso said. “Better off without all their armaments.” The sea washed the shores, Osset gasped in pain, Gorodek wept. Dritta padded the wound with a cloth she had wrapped the food in, clean enough for the moment, and bandaged it with Osset’s own sash. Ekket turned her back on everyone and watched the sea line. The sun passed its peak in the sky. No more than one endless quarter-hour.

  “Our cruiser is here,” the Lyhhrt said. “And that other over there is the police boat.”

  Ocean Star’s whistle blasted, and her dark shape was breaking the flat line of the horizon, and soon joined by the police.

  Are all people like this?

  Being, spirit, whatever you are, I believe you have found out for yourself … .

  Out of Sight

  On Dritta’s advisement Gorodek was carried away by the Coastal Police to be returned to the Interworld Court, and Osset taken aboard the Ocean Star under guard to be given medical help; Dritta had given a concise account of all that had happened and Hasso did not try to embellish it.

  Hasso stood at the railing and looked out to sea, free of enemies and rubbing his head in relief at not needing a helmet, happy enough that he could not catch sight of Dead Moon Crater or its outcast island.

  He had heard from Tharma through the ship’s communication channels that Gorodek had actually arranged to gather a fighting force on one of the Fthel worlds in order to raid the Isthmuses in a hugely expensive and risky scheme, but she did not know any more of the details. She did add that Skerow, in spite of her unwillingness to travel, was coming down to meet him in Burning Mountain.

  The Lyhhrt had gone to stay alone in a cabin and do his best at healing his battered self.

  Ekket recovered her spirits; glowing with pleasure at her freedom, she came to thank Hasso.

  “For what, dems’l? I am not any kind of hero. Only,” he smiled to disarm her seriousness, “the same plain fellow who grew up by the Sea of Pitch.”

  Ekket smiled back at him, and he knew that though she would not love him she saw a dignity in him that he would never have looked for in himself.

  She said, “You and Tharma helped more than anyone else in the world to stand between Gorodek and me. And she could not have done it without you.” And added:

  :when evil has turned

  gold

  into filth

  even the Sea of

  Pitch

  smells sweeter:

  “If I work at it perhaps I will write seh almost as good as your goodmother Skerow’s.”

  Then she left, to walk and look about her through the ship’s world without, as Hasso could not resist thinking, let or hindrance. He went on looking at the sea, though he was tired of it.

  But Dritta appeared so soon after Ekket’s leaving that Hasso wondered if she had not been standing in line. She was composed as usual, and Hasso thought of the years of effort that composure must have cost.

  “Now I have someone to thank,” he said.

  “I’m not pleased with myself,” Dritta said briskly. “I should have
found some way to avoid endangering everyone.”

  “I don’t know how, with so many circumstances beyond your control. I’m sure Tharma doesn’t blame you.”

  “No, she doesn’t, but my own standards are …” She fell silent.

  “After all, we are unharmed, so don’t make your standards into shackles.”

  She smiled then, briefly. And said very carefully, “I saw you taking notice of my bracelet …”

  “Yes, I should not have let you see, but I couldn’t help thinking of Skerow.”

  “My case was much the same. I married too young, had a difficult lying-in, and ended sterile and without a husband … I have a child, a girl six years old. My mother cares for her.”

  “You must have spent some time in Burning Mountain, where Tharma was stationed, since she knew of you.”

  “I served under her there for a year, after my divorce. It was easier then than now to visit my daughter, my mother’s house is downriver near Port Dewpoint, where Ekket is going. But the pay at the new court is better for all of us.”

  Hasso said with great daring, so much so that it made his scales rise, “My goodmother would so much enjoy meeting you. And your daughter too, as would I.”

  She looked at and through him as clearly as the Being would do. “Tharma has given me generous time off,” she smiled again, “with pay, and from Dewpoint to Burning Mountain is a sight-seeing day-trip … but now, I still have a great thirst for sleep … .”

  Hasso stood alone at the rail again, not needing sleep yet, so filled with hope that he shook with fear.

  But he had not finished the venture he set out on.

  He closed his eyes and leaned on his staff. He thought of the monstrous gargaranda in the Great Equatorial River’s depth that rose to draw air through its flute-shaped nostrils, and sank to blow an underwater mist of froth that masked it from its prey as it drove forward with wide-hinged jaws. Almost he thought he might see it astern in its trail of bubbles, though he knew that these waters were not its territory … and again of the greater thouk and the blue small-winged scavengers that flew under its great sails to catch the scraps that fell from its horned mouth. As he leaned with an arm on the rail and the staff in his hand he could feel sleep gathering behind his eyes, though that was not what he was after … .