Escape from the Drowned Planet

by Helena Puumala

  Time and again Kati found herself tuning out the questions and the answers, while she amused herself by watching the youthful eyeless ones come to the picnic area to eat of the bounty on the table with a fastidiousness that seemed almost impossible to her, considering that the eaters were blind. After eating, the mixed-sex group of about dozen poured into the pond to swim and play in the water. They looked to be having so much fun that she thought it a pity she could not join them. Instead, she was bound, as if by an invisible thread, to the two discussing the methods by which the Federation had succeeded in keeping its corner of the galaxy peaceful for a thousand years.

  She became aware of a jolt of electricity passing through her body. She was watching a couple of the young ones embrace in the water; they were a youth and a girl. Bodies twined, they were coming out of the water and it was clear that the youth, at least, was sexually aroused. Kati stifled a gasp as the two threw themselves on the grass and entwined again—she was watching a copulation in progress! Her face flaming red, she turned her eyes away, trying to pretend that the sudden rush of blood to her loins was not happening.

  “Are you okay, Kati?” Mikal had spoken the words aloud, clearly intending to distract her.

  She realized that her hold on the other two minds had grown tenuous. She brushed her hot face with her hands, wishing with all her might that she could immerse herself in the arcane details of Star Federation history. At the same time she realized that neither Mikal nor the Farseer were in the least affected by what she experienced as a lewd display.

  “Only you and I can see what’s happening, so for all intents and purposes their privacy is intact.”

  Mikal’s words made sense. And she could feel a thread of amusement at her reaction flowing from The Farseer. She got hold of herself and laughed a short bark.

  “Well, excuse me for being a prude about sex,” she muttered out loud. “I come by it honestly, thanks to my Protestant forbears.”

  Then she turned her mind back to the subvocal discussion going on between the old woman and Mikal.

  *****

  Later on, Mikal led The Farseer to talk about what she knew about the world that they were on.

  “We haven’t had much to do with the Up-Aboves for more generations than I can count,” she told him. “Every now and then all of us Kitfi come together as a mental gestalt, so I can look at the world outside and try to figure out what is going on there. The Farseers have been doing this throughout the ages; we try to foresee any danger that might come to us from the Up-Aboves.

  “About twenty generations or so ago, danger did come. And we, the Kitfi, foresaw it, and were forewarned and able to take steps to save ourselves.”

  “And the danger was?” Mikal prompted.

  “Water. Many of our passages were flooded. This valley turned into a lake. We had to abandon most of our ways and huddle in a small area that stayed dry because the openings to the outside world happened to be so high up on a mountain that the flood waters did not flow through them. We, the Kitfi, are not many in number since we have had, for as long as we can remember, a breeding program that allows us only to replace ourselves, so we did not crowd ourselves out of existence even though we were short of space. Because we had forewarning of the disaster, we were able to arrange for food and water to sustain us through the crisis, if not handsomely, at least adequately, and that was much better than the Up-Aboves managed.

  “Perhaps the fact that the Up-Aboves suffered and died in huge numbers in the disaster was a judgement on them, since it was their behaviour that caused the disaster. They died in the torrential floods that ran down from the mountains when the great ice-covers melted faster than anyone had ever dreamed that that they might; they drowned in their coastal cities that were deluged by the rising oceans. They perished from hunger when the best crop lands were inundated by seawater or turned into deserts by the growing temperatures. We came to understand as we watched and contemplated their fate through the Kitfi gestalt, that the heating of the air, and the melting of the mountain ice that it caused, as well as all the other melting around the globe that caused the sea waters to rise, were all caused by the chemicals that the Up-Aboves had released into the atmosphere by burning up the fuels that had been locked up in the world’s body millennia earlier.”

  “So the Up-Aboves have a fossil-fuel economy?” Mikal seemed to have knowledge of this sort of thing.

  “They had such. Not now. There was great destruction and, to their credit, those of their wise ones who survived, declared fuels dug out of the ground unclean, banned forever. What mechanics they managed to keep are run on wind power; and heat, when that of the sun is not enough, must be obtained through the burning of wood which can be replaced by planting trees. Their wise ones have declared that for every tree cut down a new one must be planted, so as to keep what’s left of the world’s balance.”

  “That is why I could not recognize the global image that the Xeonsaur gave us of this world,” Kati’s node broke into the mental conversation. “When I spent time on this planet, it was before the disaster. I remember large cities teeming with people, factories run on coal and oil, transportation systems dependent on the same. Yes, the folk I knew were taking the health of their planetary system for granted, way too much.”

  “You must have been here not long before the disaster. It came quickly. There were those that understood what was happening but their warnings were not heeded. It was as if the Up-Aboves were bent on destroying themselves and their way of life.”

  “What was left?” Kati asked.

  The Farseer’s tale was hitting a little close to home. Although, she reminded herself wryly, she was very far from home and the Earth’s fate might well be merely of academic interest to her. Still, Jake was there and his future mattered to her, even if she never got to participate in it.

  “A hundred million or so people,” answered The Farseer. “Not that many when you consider how many of them there were before the disaster. Enough for a viable population, although the fact that they are spread in pockets around the globe, makes it a little less so. However, sentient beings are always resilient. These ones have made themselves new lives; they farm where it is possible to grow crops, they have commerce, even though they have had to go back to animals for transportation on land, and sailing ships on the seas. And the world will eventually recover, just as this hidden valley of the Kitfi has recovered from the flood.”

  “Did your people, the Kitfi, ever use fossil fuels?” Kati asked.

  “Never that I know of,” The Farseer replied. “And that really means never, since if it had happened I would know it.”

  “Then how did you make the tunnels?” She really was curious about that.

  “Ah, yes. That would be mysterious to you. The Kitfi gestalt can be very powerful. And we have some talents that might seem strange to such as yourselves. We can cut stone with sound, for instance. Our ancestors honed that talent at one time, and that is how they built the passageways through the rock, utilizing natural caverns as well, when that was convenient.”

  “I have heard of singers breaking glass with high notes,” Kati subvocalized, “but I have never heard of sound being used to cut stone.”

  “It can be done. These stone seats we sit on were cut out of the mountain with sound. And carried here into this place using other powers that we have.”

  “I have heard of stone-cutting with sound,” Mikal commented. “The Grenies of Paradiso are supposed to have men they call Stonesingers among them. But the Grenies are unable to leave their planet—if they do, they die within months—so not many people have seen this feat performed. But Paradiso is a member of the Star Federation as a Restricted World so there must be records of it.”

  “The Up-Aboves do not have that talent, do they?” Kati queried.

  “No, of course not. They would have had no need to befoul the world if they had the talents that we do. We do no disrespect to them, however. They are what they are, and we are what w
e are, and both of our kind belong on this planet.”

  “We are going to have to travel among them,” Mikal commented. “To get off this world, Kati and I will have to find the beacon that can call a Federation vessel to pick us up. The beacon, and I am assuming one exists on this world, would certainly be in one of the cities of the Up-Aboves. In a city that is still above water, I would expect; the installers would have made sure that the beacon was fairly safe from disasters.”

  “How would you find a thing like that?” asked The Farseer.

  “It would be associated with a local religion. It would be installed in a temple dedicated to the worship of celestial bodies, most likely a star, or stars, but possibly the sun, if there are no local religions associated with the stars. A beacon such as I’m talking about is not a large object, and most likely the locals, including the priests or priestesses, would not even know it was there, but someone with the necessary knowledge, like myself, could find it easily enough once he or she was on the premises. And once I found it, activating it would be simple; then all we would need to do is wait for a ship to arrive.”

  “Once we find it.... That’s an awfully big requirement, right there.” Kati tried to not feel totally overwhelmed. There was a whole globe out there to search, and where to begin? It could take years, especially considering that they had to eat, and shelter themselves, too!

  “Kati, you have mentioned the global image of this world that the lizard creature on the ship implanted into your mind.” The Farseer’s thoughts were not perturbed. “If you can pass that image to me, and if Mikal can clarify to me exactly what it is that you will be looking for, I can get the gestalt together to search for the beacon. We can save you years of work, although you will still have to travel to the beacon’s location on your own.”

  “Farseer, we would be eternally grateful to you if you can do this for us.” There was hope and relief in Mikal’s thought, and Kati felt her own spirits rising a notch. “We will, of course give you any information that we have and you can use.”

  “The globe In Kati’s mind is what we want in return for this favour. We cannot obtain such on our own, but it will be a very useful tool for us during our gestalt fact-finding missions. Also, if you could not mention our existence to the Up-Aboves. We are a legend to them; they do not really believe that we exist. We would like to keep it that way, at least as far as most people are concerned. There may be those who can be trusted with the information; it may even become necessary to trust the occasional Up-Above. But, please, not without good reason, and only when necessary.”

  *****

  Night had arrived while they were communicating. Kati found herself staring at the bowl of sky visible from the valley. It was filled with stars, so many in fact that the valley was as bright as the forests of Earth had been during the full moon. Only the moon shadows were missing.

  “It is time to put an end to this day,” commented The Farseer. “There are facilities for your comfort in the tunnel through which you came to this valley. You will find your possessions there, and I have given instructions for lights to be set out for your comfort; you can turn them off to sleep if you prefer. I, myself, sleep outside whenever I can. Tomorrow we will search for your beacon.”

  *****

  The next morning they met in the same picnic area. This time there were many more of the Kitfi around and near the table, all of them seated quietly on the seats or on the ground. The Farseer’s mental presence had the sense of vastness that Kati remembered from her original contact with her, and she guessed that the whole of the eyeless population had lent her their powers of the mind. With the granda’s help she passed over the Xeonsaur’s image of the world to The Farseer; the old woman and her supporters grasped it enthusiastically. Apparently, without sight organs they could not create a picture of the world for themselves, even in their vast, collective mind. However, now that they had the image that the Xeonsaur had mapped out, they had a template which they could use to work on. It would stay with them after she and Mikal had gone; no doubt a treasure to be cherished. Now, if only the gestalt would find Mikal’s beacon!

  “It’s not my beacon,” Mikal subvocalized to her, and she recalled with a start that he was in rapport with her through The Farseer.

  She tried to follow the details as Mikal explained to The Farseer what it was that he was looking for, what it was made of, where it would likely be found, how it operated, and how it would be concealed from the locals. Also, how it would be recognizable to someone like himself who was lost and stuck planetside. When The Farseer judged that she had enough detail to go on, she abruptly pushed her and Mikal away, and they found themselves left to their physical devices, staring at one another while all around them were people in a trance.

  Kati reached for a piece of fruit from the pile that sat on a slab on the central table. She ate it hungrily; they had not had any breakfast yet. Mikal, meanwhile, was eyeing the protein bars on another slab.

  “I wonder what those are made of?” he mused. “I’m hoping that it’s not anything too disgusting, but since these people don’t have access to meat-bearing ruminates, I’m a little leery. Processed grubs, maybe?”

  “Grubs are supposed to be delicious and very nutritious,” Kati commented with a wicked grin. She grabbed one of the bars and bit into it. “Mmm, delicious. No not grubs, I don’t think. Vegetable protein, more likely.”

  She gobbled up the bar and reached for another. Mikal reached for one, himself, but more gingerly. He sniffed it and examined it carefully, before finally biting a piece off one corner.

  “Come on, eat it,” Kati urged him. “Live a little dangerously.”

  Mikal laughed at her and began to slake his hunger.

  *****

  The Kitfi gestalt searched for several hours before it, at last, broke apart. The eyeless ones ravenously attacked the victuals on the picnic table. The Farseer waved Kati and Mikal aside until she, too, had eaten her fill. Then, while the others of her kind left to see to whatever tasks had been neglected while the group was busy working with The Farseer, she took the two outlanders back into her now singular mind and began to show and explain what it was that she had found.

  She brought the image of the globe out again. Kati took the one that she still had inside her mind—or was it the granda’s—and superimposed the two, to make sure that she would retain a mental record of the information she was being given. She did not know what Mikal could do in that manner; she assumed that keeping this record would be her job, hers and the granda’s.

  “To begin with,” the Farseer started her explanation, “I located the place where we are now on this globe.” She marked a spot that did, indeed, look like the representation of a round valley inside a mountain; the underground passages opened into it. As the granda had informed Kati and Mikal days earlier, they had travelled considerably higher into the mountains from the place where they had entered the caverns.

  “The space ship that you two escaped from has lifted up again. However, at least one person stayed behind on planet; maybe two. He, or they, have one of those flying machines, a flit, is that what you call it? It is presently on its way to the populated parts of this continent.”

  Mikal swore. “They won’t give up, will they?”

  “You must pose a real threat to them, Mikal,” Kati stated. “I doubt that they’d waste all those resources on a single runaway slave.”

  “Oh, I grant I’m good at what I do,” Mikal sighed. “I just didn’t realize I was good enough to merit quite this much attention.”

  “You’ll have to try to blend in with the Up-Aboves when you get to their part of the world. I believe that we can help with that, local dress and such. Up-Aboves do occasionally wander into the caverns, get disoriented or panic, and die. Very occasionally we come across such bodies; we bury them the way we bury our own, which is naked, so we have a store of garments we have collected over the years, decades, centuries, maybe. We thought they might come in useful someti
me, and this seems to be such a time.

  “As for the beacon, we found two places that fulfill the parameters of your explanation, Mikal. One on this continent; the other on the larger Western continent.”

  “Two? That’s rather odd. I believe the idea was to have just one per planet. I had not heard of any planet having two.” Mikal seemed to be genuinely puzzled.

  “I don’t know anything about that,” The Farseer commented. “All I know is that these two items in the two places correspond to your description. One, I suppose, could be something else, but if so, then it would definitely be an alien artefact very much like your beacon. Here, the one on this continent is in this city along this river; if you want to check it out first, my people can take you to this tunnel outlet. It’s the nearest one to the place, although still a long walk away.”

  “That would make sense. Obviously we’ll check the nearest place first.” Kati was a little surprised to find herself getting into the act without deferring to Mikal. “If it’s a dud we’ll have to go on to the other one.”

  “The second one is here.” The Farseer marked another spot. “In what before The Disaster was a city in the middle of the continent. From the first site, it’s an ocean, a desert and some mountains away. I certainly hope, for your sakes, that the river city location is not a dud, as you called it.”

  *****

  The Farseer’s promises held. Later the same day she took Kati and Mikal to a tunnel storage room where items belonging to dead Up-Aboves were stacked in neat piles along one wall. Kati and Mikal brought along a few of their lights, and after spreading them strategically they were able to examine the items carefully. All the clothes looked to Kati to be male attire but how could she be sure? She got the granda’s opinion on that, but the node pointed out that its knowledge of the planet’s fashions was very much out of date.