whichsometimes shone like blue beacons in the dark.
Kendricks drove the truck which carried the animals, and was amused byit. Rafe and I took turns driving the other truck, sharing the widefront seat with Regis Hastur and the girl Kyla, while the other menfound seats between crates and sacks in the back. Once while Rafe was atthe wheel and the girl dozing with her coat over her face to shut outthe fierce sun, Regis asked me, "What are the trailcities like?"
I tried to tell him, but I've never been good at boiling things downinto descriptions, and when he found I was not disposed to talk, he fellsilent and I was free to drowse over what I knew of the trailmen andtheir world.
Nature seems to have a sameness on all inhabited worlds, tending towardthe economy and simplicity of the human form. The upright carriage,freeing the hands, the opposable thumb, the color-sensitivity of retinalrods and cones, the development of language and of lengthy parentalnurture--these things seem to be indispensable to the growth ofcivilization, and in the end they spell _human_. Except for minorvariations depending on climate or foodstuff, the inhabitant of Megaeraor Darkover is indistinguishable from the Terran or Sirian; differencesare mainly cultural, and sometimes an isolated culture will mutate in astrange direction or remain, atavists, somewhere halfway to the summitof the ladder of evolution--which, at least on the known planets, stillreckons homo sapiens as the most complex of nature's forms.
The trailmen were a pausing-place which had proved tenacious. When themainstream of evolution on Darkover left the trees to struggle forexistence on the ground, a few remained behind. Evolution did not ceasefor them, but evolved _homo arborens_; nocturnal, nystalopic humanoidswho lived out their lives in the extensive forests.
The truck bumped over the bad, rutted roads. The wind was chilly--thetruck, a mere conveyance for hauling, had no such refinements of luxuryas windows. I jolted awake--what nonsense had I been thinking? Vagueideas about evolution swirled in my brain like burst bubbles--thetrailmen? They were just the trailmen, who could explain them? JayAllison, maybe? Rafe turned his head and asked, "Where do we pull up forthe night? It's getting dark, and we have all this gear to sort!" Iroused myself, and took over the business of the expedition again.
But when the trucks had been parked and a tent pitched and the packanimals unloaded and hobbled, and a start made at getting the geartogether--when all this had been done I lay awake, listening toKendricks' heavy snoring, but myself afraid to sleep. Dozing in thetruck, an odd lapse of consciousness had come over me ... myself yet notmyself, drowsing over thoughts I did not recognize as my own. If Islept, who would I be when I woke?
* * * * *
We had made our camp in the bend of an enormous river, wide and shallowand unbridged; the river Kadarin, traditionally a point of no return forhumans on Darkover. The river is fed by ocean tides and we would have towait for low water to cross. Beyond the river lay thick forests, andbeyond the forests the slopes of the Hellers, rising upward and upward;and their every fold and every valley was filled to the brim withforest, and in the forests lived the trailmen.
But though all this country was thickly populated with outlying coloniesand nests, it would be no use to bargain with any of them; we must dealwith the Old One of the North Nest, where I had spent so many of myboyhood years.
From time immemorial, the trailmen--usually inoffensive--had kept strictboundaries marked between their lands and the lands of ground-dwellingmen. They never came beyond the Kadarin. On the other hand, almost anyhuman who ventured into their territory became, by that act, fair gamefor attack.
A few of the Darkovan mountain people had trade treaties with thetrailmen; they traded clothing, forged metals, small implements, inreturn for nuts, bark for dyestuffs and certain leaves and mosses fordrugs. In return, the trailmen permitted them to hunt in the forestlands without being molested. But other humans, venturing into trailmanterritory, ran the risk of merciless raiding; the trailmen were notbloodthirsty, and did not kill for the sake of killing, but theyattacked in packs of two or three dozen, and their prey would bestripped and plundered of everything portable.
Travelling through their country would be dangerous....
* * * * *
The sun was high before we struck the camp. While the others werepacking up the last oddments, ready for the saddle, I gave the girl Kylathe task of readying the rucksacks we'd carry after the trails got toobad even for the pack animals, and went to stand at the water's edge,checking the depth of the ford and glancing up at the smoke-hazed riftsbetween peak and peak.
The men were packing up the small tent we'd use in the forests, movingaround with a good deal of horseplay and a certain brisk bustle. Theywere a good crew, I'd already discovered. Rafe and Lerrys and the threeDarkovan brothers were tireless, cheerful and mountain-hardened.Kendricks, obviously out of his element, could be implicitly relied onto follow orders, and I felt that I could fall back on him. Strange asit seemed, the very fact that he was a Terran was vaguely comforting,where I'd anticipated it would be a nuisance.
The girl Kyla was still something of an unknown quantity. She was tootaut and quiet, working her share but seldom contributing a word--wewere not yet in mountain country. So far she was quiet and touchy withme, although she seemed natural enough with the Darkovans, and I let heralone.
"Hi, Jason, get a move on," someone shouted, and I walked back towardthe clearing squinting in the sun. It hurt, and I touched my facegingerly, suddenly realizing what had happened. Yesterday, riding in theuncovered truck, and this morning, un-used to the fierce sun of theselatitudes, I had neglected to take the proper precautions againstexposure and my face was reddening with sunburn. I walked toward Kyla,who was cinching a final load on one of the pack-animals, which she didefficiently enough.
She didn't wait for me to ask, but sized up the situation with oneamused glance at my face. "Sunburn? Put some of this on it." Sheproduced a tube of white stuff; I twisted at the top inexpertly, and shetook it from me, squeezed the stuff out in her palm and said, "Standstill and bend down your head."
She smeared the mixture efficiently across my forehead and cheeks. Itfelt cold and good. I started to thank her, then broke off as she burstout laughing. "What's the matter?"
"You should see yourself!" she gurgled.
I wasn't amused. No doubt I presented a grotesque appearance, and nodoubt she had the right to laugh at it, but I scowled. It hurt.Intending to put things back on the proper footing, I demanded, "Did youmake up the climbing loads?"
"All except bedding. I wasn't sure how much to allow," she said. "Jason,have you eyeshades for when you get on snow?" I nodded, and sheinstructed me severely, "Don't forget them. Snowblindness--I give you myword--is even more unpleasant than sunburn--and _very_ painful!"
"Damn it, girl, I'm not stupid!" I exploded.
She said, in her expressionless monotone again, "Then you _ought_ tohave known better than to get sunburnt. Here, put this in your pocket,"she handed me the tube of sunburn cream, "maybe I'd better check up onsome of the others and make sure they haven't forgotten." She went offwithout another word, leaving me with an unpleasant feeling that she'dcome off best, that she considered me an irresponsible scamp.
Forth had said almost the same thing....
I told off the Darkovan brothers to urge the pack animals across thenarrowest part of the ford, and gestured to Corus and Kyla to ride oneon either side of Kendricks, who might not be aware of the swirling,treacherous currents of a mountain river. Rafe could not urge his edgyhorse into the water; he finally dismounted, took off his boots, and ledthe creature across the slippery rocks. I crossed last, riding close toRegis Hastur, alert for dangers and thinking resentfully that anyone soimportant to Darkover's policies should not be risked on such a mission.Why, if the Terran Legate had (unthinkably!) come with us, he would besurrounded by bodyguards, secret service men and dozens of precautionsagainst accident, assassination or misadventure.
All that day we
rode upward, encamping at the furthest point we couldtravel with pack animals or mounted. The next day's climb would enterthe dangerous trails we must travel afoot. We pitched a comfortablecamp, but I admit I slept badly. Kendricks and Lerrys and Rafe hadblinding headaches from the sun and the thinness of the air; I was moreused to these conditions, but I felt a sense of unpleasant pressure, andmy ears rang. Regis arrogantly denied any discomfort, but he moaned andcried out continuously in his sleep until Lerrys kicked him, after whichhe was silent and, I feared, sleepless. Kyla seemed the least affectedof any; probably she had been at higher altitudes more continuously thanany of us. But there were dark circles beneath her eyes.
However, no one complained as we readied ourselves for the final lastlong climb upward. If we were fortunate, we could cross Dammerung beforenightfall; at the very
The Planet Savers Page 7
