Before The Golden Age - A SF Anthology of the 1930s

by Edited By Isaac Asimov

  The worried look again came into her face and she started talking very slowly and distinctly, repeating the word “Ulm” several times. Gradually my Hawaiian was coming back and while her speech was not the language I had learned in my youth, for she made use of the consonants “s” and “t,” both of which are unknown in Hawaiian, presently I made out her meaning. She was asking me to go with her to Ulm. I had no idea of where Ulm was but I had given up hopes of finding my adjuster and besides, since I had met this girl, I wasn’t so very anxious to find it at once. It seemed to me that it might be a good idea to go to Ulm for a while, and then make a fresh start for the glade with a competent guide. I therefore gave her to understand that her program suited me. She nodded brightly and stepped in front of me and set off toward the northeast.

  * * * *

  For perhaps three hours we made our way through the jungle, keeping a pretty straight line as I could tell by my compass. I found later that the people of Ulm have an uncanny sense of direction and can find their way from place to place in their miniature world without the aid of any other guide. The girl kept up a steady talk in her language and as I recalled more of my early Hawaiian, I found that I could understand the sense of most of what she said if she talked very slowly and I was even able to answer her after a fashion.

  “What is your name?” I asked her.

  “Awlo Sibi Tam,” she replied, raising her head proudly as she did so.

  “My name is Courtney,” I told her.

  She tried to repeat it, but she had a little trouble with the “r” sound which was evidently strange to her. She repeated it several times as we went along and at last managed to get a very fair rendition. Anyhow, I thought that I had never heard it pronounced so beautifully before.

  Suddenly Awlo paused in her talk and listened intently. She turned a terror-stricken face toward me and said, “They are coming.”

  “Who?” I asked.

  “The Mena,” she replied.

  I listened but I could hear nothing.

  “Are there many of them?” I asked.

  “Many,” she replied, “hundred, I believe. They are following our trail. Can’t you hear them?”

  I laid my ear close to the ground and could detect a faint murmur but I would never have recognized what it was.

  “What shall we do?” I asked. “This,” I held up my rifle, “will kill about a hundred but no more.”

  “Run,” she said, “run as fast as we can. It will be of little use, because the Mena can catch us. You are slow and I am tired, but if we are lucky, we may win to the plains of Ulm and there we are safe.”

  Her advice sounded good and I started after her as swiftly as I could. I am a fair average runner, but I could not keep up with Awlo, who fled over the ground like an antelope. I was handicapped by the weight of my rifle but I hung to it like grim death. It was not long before I could plainly hear the shouts of the pursuing Mena.

  “Have we far to go?” I gasped.

  “No,” she replied over her shoulder. “Hurry!”

  I panted along in her wake. The jungle thinned before us and we debouched onto a huge open plain. Awlo stopped and uttered a cry of dismay.

  “What is it?” I demanded.

  She did not answer but pointed ahead. Our way was barred by a wide, gently flowing river. Over it had been thrown a bridge but a glance showed me that the center span had been removed and a gap twenty feet wide yawned in the middle of the structure.

  “Can you swim?” I asked.

  She looked at me interrogatively. Evidently the word was a new one.

  “Swim, run through the water,” I explained.

  An expression of absolute terror passed over her face.

  “It is tabu,” she replied. “It is death to enter.”

  “It is death to stay on this side,” I told her.

  “It is better to die at the hands of the Mena than at the hands of the Gods,” she answered.

  She meant it too. She would rather face certain death at the hands of those hideous savages than to enter the stream. There was only one thing to do and that was to look for a place where I could sell my life dearly. With this in mind, I started along the river bank looking for a depression which would shelter us from the spears of the Mena. We made our way through a clump of trees in front of us and it was my turn to cry out, only the cry was one of joy and not of apprehension. There, between the trees and the river bank, stood a familiar looking object—an Electronic Vibration Adjuster.

  “We are saved, Awlo,” I cried joyously as I raced for the machine. A glance showed me that it was my first model which I had sent, as I thought, to infinite smallness nearly a year before. I was puzzled for a moment at the fact that it had not shrunk to nothing, but I had no time for philosophical reasoning. The shouts of the Mena were already perilously close.

  “Run off a few yards, Awlo,” I commanded, “and don’t be frightened. I can save you easily.”

  She obeyed me and I entered the adjuster. A momentary fear came over me that the batteries might be exhausted but I seized the switch and threw it on in the direction of increasing size. The landscape began to diminish its size, although as before, I could feel nothing. I kept my eye on the river until it had shrunk to a point where I knew that I could easily leap it and then I opened my switch and stepped out.

  For a moment I could not see Awlo, but I detected her lying face downward on the ground. I bent over her and then I saw something else. The Mena, hundreds of them, had emerged from the jungle and were coming along our trail. I hesitated no longer. As gently as I could, I picked up Awlo and leaped over the river with her. I waited to see whether the Mena were going to make any attempt to follow, but they had evidently caught a glimpse of my gargantuan proportions and they were in full retreat. I found out later that the river was as much taboo to them as it was to Awlo and they would under no circumstances have crossed the stream except by means of a bridge or in boats.

  I raised Awlo to the level of my eyes to talk to her but she had fainted. I leaped back to the other side of the river, reentered my adjuster and closed the reducing switch. Since I had the machine under control, I determined not to stop it until I found what had made it cease functioning when it did. My size rapidly grew smaller until I was correctly scaled to my surroundings and then the machine abruptly ceased working. I could not make it reduce either itself or me any further. The only explanation which has ever occurred to me is that the land of Ulm must be at the limit of smallness, that is, the period of vibration of the atoms and their component parts must be at the lower limit of motion and any further reduction would result in contact and consequent nothingness.

  My intention had been to swim the river while Awlo was unconscious but it occurred to me that the adjuster might be useful on the other side of the river so I again increased my size until I could step over it. Knowing that the machine would only get so small, I reached in with a piece of wood and closed the reducing switch and watched it grow to toy size. With it in my hand, I again leaped the river and used my pocket knife blade to close the increasing switch. When it had grown to the right size, I stopped it, reentered it and soon had both the adjuster and myself down to the minimum to which it would go.

  * * * *

  Awlo was still unconscious and I bent over her and chafed her hands. She soon recovered and sat up. Her gaze wandered and it fell on the adjuster, she shuddered and turned to me with fear in her eyes.

  “What happened, Courtney Siba?” she asked with a quaver in her voice. “I thought that you had changed into a kahuma, a wizard of the old days. Was I dreaming?”

  I thought rapidly. Evidently a kahuma was something to be revered but also something not quite human. The advantage and disadvantages of being one flashed before me but a glance at Awlo’s scared face decided me.

  “I am no kahuma, Awlo,” I replied. “What I did, I did with the aid of that. It made me appear to the Mena to be larger than I am and they ran. While they were gone, I carried you
and the machine over the river. We are perfectly safe now and unless the Mena find some way of crossing, they won’t bother us again.”

  Awlo seemed satisfied with my explanation. I suggested that she rest for a while to recover from her scare but she laughed at the idea.

  “Ulm is near at hand,” she told me, “and we must hurry on. I would not that my father be unduly worried by my absence.”

  “That reminds me of something I have been meaning to ask you, Awlo,” I said as we resumed our onward way. “How did you happen to be in the jungle with the Mena after you when I found you?”

  “I was visiting my uncle, Hama, at his city of Ame,” she replied. “My visit was at an end and I started homeward yesterday. It has been three years since the Mena have ventured to attack us and the guard was small, only about three hundred soldiers. We were about half way between the two cities and were going peaceably through the jungle when, without warning, the Mena attacked. The soldiers fought desperately but the Mena were too many and too powerful for them and they were all killed. I and two of my maidens were captured. The Mena took us to one of their cities in the jungle and prepared for a feast.”

  “For a feast?” I inquired.

  “We are food for the Mena,” she replied simply.

  I shuddered at the thought and gritted my teeth as I thought of those flying monsters who were at my mercy a few minutes before. Had I known what brutes they were, I could have taken glorious vengeance on them.

  “Last night,” went on Awlo, “they took first one and then the other of my maidens out from the cave where we were confined, and killed them and dragged them away to the pot. My turn was next and two of them seized me and dragged me out. They released me and one of them raised a spear to end my life. I dropped to the ground and the spear passed over my head and then I fled. I tried to run toward Ulm, but they suspected the course I would pursue and a party went to head me off while others followed my trail. As long as it was dark I was able to baffle them and go faster than they could trail me, but with the coming of light they found my trail and soon I heard them after me. I ran as fast as I could, but they gained rapidly and I thought that I was lost when I heard your shout. Awlo Sibu Tam will never forget how you saved her and neither will Ulm. My father, Kalu, will honor you highly, Courtney Siba.”

  “If these Mena are such brutes, why don’t your soldiers wage war on them until there are none left?” I asked.

  “They have waged war for ages,” she replied, “but the Mena are too many and we cannot hunt them all down. In ages past, there were no Mena and then Ulm and Ame fought together. Sometimes one would be victorious and sometimes the other, but always they ceased warring before either was destroyed. Then came the Mena through the passes from the wilderness to the north. They came in thousands and they attacked Ame. The men of Ulm forgot their hatred of their old rival and our armies marched to the assistance of the threatened city. For a time our armies drove the invaders back but more and more came from the north and carried the battle to the gates of Ame itself. There our armies stopped them for they could not climb the walls nor could they break in.

  “When they saw that they could not win the city, they attacked Ulm. Our army hurried back to defend the city and the men of Ame came with them, leaving only enough to man the walls. Again the Mena fought their way to the city walls and again they were stopped. When they found they could not take either city, they drew back into the jungle and established cities of huts. Such is the condition today. The Mena fight among themselves and when they are weakened in numbers, the armies of Ulm and Ame march out to attack them. They have always defeated them and tried to hunt them down and sometimes for a generation the Mena are not seen, but eventually they return stronger than ever and attack one of the cities. It has been many years now since war was waged on them and it may be that they are planning to attack again.”

  “Do Ulm and Ame ever fight now?” I asked.

  “No, there is peace between them. Brothers of one blood sit on the two thrones and the old enmity is forgotten. But see, there lies Ulm!”

  We had topped a little rise and had come to the cultivated fields. Before us lay row after row of cultivated plots, most of them planted with keili bushes, the nut of which is the staple food of the poorer classes of Ulm. Two miles or so across the plain rose a massive walled city. Dotted about on the plain were small stone structures, which reminded me of the old blockhouses which used to be erected on our own plains to guard against Indian raids. That, in fact, was the exact function of these structures.

  As we approached the nearest of them a figure appeared on the wall and scrutinized us closely. He called out a musical greeting and Awlo raised her face.

  “Awlo Sibi Tam commands your presence,” she cried imperiously.

  The sentry rubbed his eyes and looked and then came down from that wall in a hurry. The massive gates swung open and an officer appeared and prostrated himself and kissed the ground before Awlo.

  “Rise!” she commanded.

  He rose and half drew his sword from its sheath and presented the hilt to Awlo. She touched it and he returned it to its scabbard with a sharp motion and stood upright.

  “I would go to Ulm,” she said. “Send couriers to warn my father of my approach and bid my guard come hither to escort me.”

  He bowed deeply and Awlo took me by the hand and led me into the building. It was a typical guardroom such as are found in all nations and at all times. We seated ourselves and I heard the sound of hoof-beats rapidly dying away in the direction of the city.

  “Who are you, Awlo?” I asked. “Are you a Chief’s daughter or what?”

  “I am Sibi Tam,” she replied.

  “I don’t know that rank,” I answered. “How important is it?”

  She looked at me in surprise and then laughed.

  “You will find out in time, Courtney Siba,” she said with a laugh.

  I tried to press the question but she refused to answer and turned the talk to other matters. Half an hour passed and then I was aware of a confused murmur approaching from the city. Awlo rose.

  “It is doubtless our escort,” she said. “Let us greet them.”

  I followed her out into the courtyard and up on the thick wall which surrounded the building. Coming down the road was the most gorgeous cavalcade I had ever seen. First came a band of cavalry mounted on superb horses and carrying long lances. They wore golden helmets with nodding crimson horsehair plumes rising from them, a cuirass of gold and golden shin guards. Their thighs were bare. Besides the armor they wore a short crimson garment like a skirt, which fell half way to the knee, and a flowing crimson cape trimmed with brown fur. Heavy swords on the left side of their belts and a dagger on the right, together with their twelve-foot lances made up their offensive weapons.

  Following the cavalry came a number of gorgeously decorated chariots, occupied by men gorgeously dressed in every imaginable hue. Another troop of cavalry, similar to the first except that their plumes and clothing were blue, brought up the rear.

  As the leading troop came opposite the gate, Awlo stepped to the edge of the wall. Her appearance was greeted by a roar of applause and salutation and the red cavalry reined in their horses and pointed their lances toward her, butt foremost. She answered the salute with a wave of her hand and the troop charged forward at a word of command past the tower and then whirled to form a line facing her. The chariots came up and an elderly man dismounted from the first one and passed in through the gate. He came up the steps to the wall and dropped on one knee before Awlo, half drawing his sword and thrusting the hilt toward her as he did so.

  She touched the sword and he returned it and rose to his feet.

  “Greeting, Moka,” she said. “Come with me for I desire a word with you.”

  Submissively he followed her a short distance along the wall and I could see that she was speaking rapidly. I could tell from the direction of Moka’s glances that I was the topic of conversation, and his actions when Awlo
had finished amply proved it. Moka came forward and drew his sword and cast it at my feet. I drew my pistol and placed it beside his weapon. Moka laid his left hand against my breast and I did the same.

  “My brother and my lord,” he said as he rose.

  Awlo interrupted before I could say anything.

  “I would go to Ulm,” she said.

  Moka bowed deeply and we each picked up our weapons. I followed Awlo toward the chariots. The largest and most ornate was empty and into it she sprang lightly, motioning to me to go with Moka in his chariot. I entered it and the whole cortège turned about and proceeded toward the city.

  We drove in through a huge gate which was opened before us and down a wide thoroughfare which led directly into the center of the city. This avenue ended in a park in the center of which stood the largest and most beautiful building in the city. We left our chariots and made our way on foot across the park and entered the palace between rows of guards who, as Awlo passed, presented their spears, butt foremost.