Riverworld03- The Dark Design (1977)

by Philip José Farmer

  The chief grinned. "You have the curiosity of a wildcat and the eyes of a hawk. However, I promised the Shaawanwaaki chief not to say a word about this business."

  Burton stood up. "I understand. Many thanks for your hospitality, chief, whether or not I ever see you again."

  "If not in this world, perhaps in the next."

  It was difficult to get to sleep. After hours of tossing and turning, he was surprised to find himself being shaken awake by Monat. Burton freed himself of the Arcturan's three fingers and thumb and got up. Monat, who also came from a planet with a twenty-four hours' rotation, had a biological chronometer in his head. Burton had depended upon him to wake the others at the right time.

  They moved around, talking softly while they drank instant coffee. The crystals, a gift from the islanders, provided a boiling heat as they dissolved.

  After going over their plan once more, they moved outside and relieved themselves. The hut was just high enough to be above the mists, enabling them to see a faint glow high up on the spire. The Shaawanwaaki, even though in fog, would be able to discern it as a dim glow. That would be all they needed.

  Frigate and Burton were the only ones who had been wearing a full suit of cloths when the Hadji II had gone down. The others, however, had cloths given them by the Ganopo. Clad from head to foot in these, they walked down into the fog. Burton led, one hand in Alice's, hers in Frigate's, and so on down the line. Depending upon an unusual sense of direction, Burton led them to the water's edge. Now they could see the glow of the torches in the fuzziness.

  Burton took out his flint knife. Kazz had a club he'd fashioned from a stick of pine with a knife he'd borrowed from a Ganopo. Frigate's knife had been given to the Neanderthal woman, Besst. The rest were unarmed.

  Burton moved cautiously forward until he was at the edge of the raft. There was enough space between the torches ranged along the edge for him to crawl through unseen. He proceeded to do this until he was well out of range of the guards' vision and hearing. He waited while, one by one, me others caught up.

  "This is the easy part," he said. "From now on we'll be blind until we come across a torchlight. I have the location of the buildings and the boats in my head, but in this fog . . . well, follow me."

  Despite his assurances, he blundered around for a while. Then, abruptly, the huge black figure of the idol, a fire in its hollow belly, was in front of him. He stood for a minute, estimating the probable number of paces from the statue to the building which held the grails.

  Kazz said, "I can just see some lights to the right."

  Keeping to the right of the torches, Burton led the others until he saw the square walls and conical roof of the storehouse. From the front of the building came the voices of the guards, speaking in low tones, stamping their feet now and then. After going behind the building, touching it with a finger to keep contact, Burton stopped on the other side.

  Here he removed from under his cloths a coil of leather rope borrowed from the Ganopo chief, who had not asked him about its intended use. Monat and Frigate also carried coils. Burton tied their ends together to make a single rope. While Alice held one end, he moved out into the darkness with Frigate, Monat, Loghu, and Kazz. He knew that there was a boat rack on the edge of the raft just opposite the storehouse. This time, he went straight to his target.

  Cautioning them to move slowly and silently, he and the others eased a large canoe off the rack. It could hold ten people and so, though made of light pine and thin fish-skin, was heavy.

  After me canoe was in the water and paddles placed in it, all returned except Loghu. It was her job to keep the canoe from drifting away.

  Following the rope, they went swiftly back to the storehouse.

  Just as they returned, Kazz grunted, and said, "Others coming!"

  The flames of four torches became visible.

  "It's a change of guards!" Burton said.

  They had to move around to the other side of the building since the four armed men were headed toward them.

  Burton looked upward. Was it his imagination or was the fog becoming less dark above?

  They waited, some of them sweating despite the damp, cold air. The guards exchanged some words, somebody must have cracked a joke, judging by their laughter, then the relieved men said good night. The torches showed that two were going to homes in the forward part. The other two went in the opposite direction, causing a swift retreat by the invaders.

  Burton, watching from the corner said, "Those two are separating. Kazz, do you think you could get one of them?"

  "No sweat, Burton-naq," Kazz said, and he was gone.

  Both the torches were almost out of sight when Burton saw one of them drop. A minute later it lifted, becoming more bright as it approached them.

  By then, Burton had moved the group from the side to the back of the building. He did not want a guard to walk past the front and see the torch.

  Kazz had thrown his hood back. His big, blocklike teeth gleamed in the light of the flames. In one hand he held the heavy oak spear tipped with a long hornfish horn which he had taken from the guard. His belt held a chert knife set in a heavy wooden handle and a flint-headed axe. These he passed out to Frigate and Alice. His club went to the Arcturan.

  "I hope you didn't kill him," Monat whispered.

  "That depends on how thick his skull is," Kazz said.

  Monat grimaced. He had an almost pathological abhorrence of violence, though he could be an effective fighter in self-defense.

  "Will your leg handicap you?" Burton said. "Think you can throw that axe as effectively as usual?"

  "I think so," Frigate said. He was shaking now, though he would be steady when the fighting started. Like the Arcturan, he dreaded physical conflict.

  Burton told them what to do, then he led Kazz and Alice around one side toward the front. The others went around the opposite corner.

  Burton peered around the corner. The four guards were standing close together, facing each other, and talking. A moment later, a torchlight appeared around the corner. The guards did not see it until it was close. As soon as Burton saw them turn toward it, calling a challenge, he moved out.

  Kazz, his features shrouded by his hood, got near to them before he was required to stop. Probably, the guards thought that he was one of the relieved men, returned for some reason.

  By the time the mistake was discovered, it was too late for them. Kazz grasped his spear just behind its head, and, using it as a quarterstaff, struck its butt against the side of a guard's neck.

  Burton, holding his knife in his left hand, chopped the edge of his right against the back of the neck of another man. He had no wish to kill, and he had ordered the bloodthirsty Kazz to avoid using the spearhead if he could do so.

  Frigate's axe whirled out of the greyness and caught a third in the chest. It was thrown not quite accurately enough, or perhaps Frigate was trying not to kill. In which case, his axe-throwing was superb. The blunt forefront, not the cutting edge, struck, and the man fell back, the wind knocked out of him. Before he could recover it, he was knocked out by Burton's savage kick to the side of his head.

  At the same time as the others, Monat struck, and the fourth crumpled from a blow on the head.

  There was silence for a moment as they waited to find out if anyone had heard the fight. Then they picked up the torches from the deck, and Burton unbarred the door. The fallen were dragged inside, where Monat examined them.

  "Very good. They're all alive."

  "Some of them'll be coming-to soon," Burton said. "Watch them, Kazz."

  He held a torch above the free-grail rack. "We're beggars no longer."

  He hesitated. Should just seven grails be taken? Why not all thirty? The extras could be used to trade for wood and sails for the new boat to be built.

  Honour, Not Honours was his motto, but this was a matter of recompense, not thievery.

  He gave the order, and each took five grails. They put the wide handle of one grail over
their head, letting it hang behind them by the neck and thrust each arm through the handles of two grails. Then they left the building, barred the door, and followed the leather cord to the canoe. The torches were left upon the deck outside the storehouse.

  Loghu said, "Isn't it about time the Indians attacked?"

  "Past time, I would say," Monat replied.

  The canoe loaded, they paddled away. Their destination was the south bank, which they intended to follow up-River until just before dawn. Burton was worried about the extra grails. If the local authorities saw them, they might seize them. Even if they didn't, greedy individuals would try to steal them.

  There was only one way to hide them. The extras were filled with water. Sections of leather line were cut, and one end of each was tied to a handle. The other end was tied to the upper part of the canoe framework through a hole punched in the skin.

  The drag on the canoe was heavy, but fortunately they were very close to the bank. They stopped at a dock complex near a grailstone and tied the canoe to a piling under a dock.

  They sat down under the stone and waited. Dawn and hundreds of citizens came. Burton's group introduced itself and requested permission to use the stone. This was given gladly, since the south-bank locals were peaceful. In fact, they welcomed strangers, a source of news and gossip.

  The fog burned away. Burton got on top of the stone and looked toward the spire. Its base was about 2.5 nautical miles distant, which, from his altitude, put the horizon 4 miles away. He could see the larger buildings and the idol but the flames he had expected to be rising from them were nonexistent. Perhaps the Shaawanwaaki had not set them afire. After all, they might have wanted to keep the raft intact until it could be taken to the shore and dismantled. Its logs were valuable.

  Instead of pushing on that day, he decided that they would rest. That afternoon a Ganopo party landed, the chief among them. Burton questioned him.

  The chief laughed. "Those Shaawanwaaki turtleheads completely missed the raft. They couldn't see the fire, though how they could not, I don't understand. Anyway, they paddled around for hours, and when the fog lifted they found that the current had taken them five stones below the island. What a bunch of bums!"

  "Did the Babylonians say anything to you about their missing canoe? Not to mention the guards we had to rough up?"

  Burton thought it best not to say anything about the grails.

  The chief laughed again. "Yes, they came storming ashore before the stone flamed. They were very angry, though they did not say why. They knocked us around a little, but the bruises and the insults did not bother us because we were happy that you had made fools of them. They searched the island thoroughly, but they did not find you, of course. They did find the ashes of the fire and asked us about it. I told them that it was a ceremonial fire.

  "They didn't believe me. I think they must have guessed the truth. You won't have to worry about them sending out search parties for you. Every one of them, .including Metuŝael, is straining to get the raft off today. They must expect another attack tonight."

  Burton asked the chief why the Shaawanwaaki didn't attack in the daylight. They could easily overwhelm the Babylonians.

  "That is because there is an agreement among the states in this area to protect strangers. So far, it has been honored and with good reason. The other states would be compelled to go to war against the aggressor. However, the Shaawanwaaki were hoping to keep it a secret. If they were to be found out, they would say that the raftspeople had refused to pay compensation for the damage done to us.

  "I don't know. Perhaps the Shaawanwaaki will give up the idea.

  Still, there are many among them who would like to make a raid just for the sake of excitement."

  Burton never found out what happened to the Babylonians. He decided that they should leave that day. After the canoe was on its way, the grails were pulled up, emptied, and placed in the bottom of the canoe.

  Chapter 21

  * * *

  After traveling 200 kilometers, Burton found an area suitable for boat construction. It was not determined by the wood available, since all places had plenty of pine, oak, yew, and bamboo. What was now difficult to find was flint and chert for cutting timber. Even in the beginning, these stones were restricted to certain sites, some being rich in them, others comparatively poor, and many lacking them entirely. Wars for flint had been common in the old days.

  The minerals were even rarer now. Hard as they were, flint and chert wore out, and new supplies were almost unheard of. As a result, the end of 32 A.R.D. (After Resurrection Day) was also the near end of large-vessel construction. At least, it was in the countries through which Burton had passed, and he presumed that it was the same everywhere.

  The area at which he stopped was one of the very few that still had a plentiful store. The locals, a majority of pre-Columbian Algonquins and a minority of pre-Roman Picts, were well aware of the value of their stones. Their chief, a Menomini named Oskas, haggled fiercely with Burton. Finally, he stated that his rock-bottom price was seven thousand cigarettes of tobacco, five hundred of marijuana, twenty-five hundred cigars, forty packages of pipe tobacco, and eight thousand cupfuls of liquor. He also suggested that he would like to sleep with the blonde, Loghu, every five days or so. Actually, he would prefer that it be every night, but he did not think his three women would like that.

  Burton took some time to recover from his shock. He said, "That's up to her. I don't think either she or her man would agree to it. Anyway, you're asking far too much. None of my party would have booze or tobacco for a year."

  Oskas shrugged and said, "Well, if it isn't worth it to you . . . ?"

  Burton called a conference and told his crew what Oskas demanded. Kazz objected the most.

  "Burton-naq, I lived all my life on Earth, forty-five summers, without whiskey or nicotine. But here I got hooked and if I go a day without either, I am ready, as you put it, to climb the wall. You know that I tried to quit both at different times, and before a week was gone I was ready to bite my tongue off. I was as mean as a cave bear with a thorn in his paw."

  Besst said, "I haven't forgotten."

  "If there was no alternative, we'd have to do it," Burton said. "It'd be cold turkey or no boat. But we do have the extra grails."

  He returned to Oskas and, after they had smoked a pipe, he got down to business.

  "The woman with the yellow hair and blue eyes says the only part of her you'll get is her foot, and you might have a hard time pulling it out of your ass."

  Oskas laughed loudly and slapped his thigh.

  When he had dried his tears, he said, "Too bad. I like a woman with spirit, though not with too much."

  "It so happens that some time ago I got hold of a free-grail. Now, I am willing to trade that for a place in which to build our boat and the materials to build it."

  Oskas did not ask him how he got it, though it was evident that he thought Burton had stolen it.

  "If that is so," he said, smiling, "then we have a deal."

  He stood up. "I will see that things are arranged at once. Are you sure that the blonde is not just playing hard to get?"

  The chief took the grail to the council's stronghouse, adding it to the twenty-one free-grails there. These had been collected through the years for the benefit of himself and his subchiefs.

  Here, as everywhere, special people made sure that they got special privileges.

  It took a year to build another cutter. When it was half-finished, Burton decided not to name it after its predecessors, Hadji I and Hadji II. Both had come to bad ends, and, though he denied it, he was superstitious. After some talk with his crew, it was agreed that Snark was suitable. Alice liked the name because of her association with Lewis Carroll, and she agreed with Frigate that it was most appropriate.

  Smiling, she recited part of the Bellman's speech from The Hunting of the Snark.

  "He had bought a large map representing the sea,

  Without the least
vestige of land:

  And the crew were much pleased when they

  found it to be

  A map they could all understand.

  " 'What's the good of Mercator's North Poles and

  Equators,

  Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?'

  So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would

  reply

  "They are merely conventional signs!

  " 'Other maps are such shapes, with their islands

  and capes!

  But we've got our brave Captain to thank'

  (So the crew would protest) 'that he's bought us

  A perfect and absolute blank!' "

  Burton laughed, but he was not sure that Alice was not obliquely insulting his abilities as a captain. Lately, they had not been getting along so well.

  "Let's hope the voyage in the new boat won't be another agony in eight fits!" Alice cried.

  "Well," Burton said, grinning savagely at her, "this Bellman knows enough not to get the bowsprit miffed up with the rudder sometimes!

  "Nor,'' he added, "is there a Rule 42 of the boat's code. No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm."

  "Which," Alice said, her smile gone, "was decreed by the Bellman himself. And the Man at the Helm shall speak to no one."

  There was a short silence. All felt the tension between the two, and they looked uneasy, dreading another violent explosion of their captain's temper.

  Monat, eager to avoid this, laughed. He said, "I remember that poem. I was especially struck by 'Fit the Sixth, The Barrister's Dream.' Let me see, ah, yes, the pig was on trial for having deserted its sty, and the Snark, dressed in gown, bands, and wig, was defending it.

  "The indictment had never been dearly expressed,

  And it seemed that the Snark had begun,

  And had spoken three hours, before any one

  Guessed

  What the pig was supposed to have done."

  He paused, rolled his eyes, and said, "I have it. That one quatrain which so impressed me.