A Larger Universe (15 page)

Near the stairwell to the observation room, a large cargo
elevator lifted boxes and canisters to the level of the tunnel floor.  A mixed
crew of artisans and farmers then quickly loaded the waiting carts and trucks. 
He moved through the stairwell door before someone could put him to work.

In the observation room, he turned off the lights and moved
close to the window.  Outside, the disk-shaped landers moved toward and away
from some area of the ship below his view.  In the distance he saw a blue and
white ball, approximately five times the size of a full moon and lit by an
orange star. 

He watched for a while and almost fell asleep in front of
the window.  That made him feel guilty. 
Perhaps I shouldn't be goofing off
when everyone else is working.
  He moved to turn on the light when the
sound of a gong and a single word in the lords' language came from a speaker
somewhere in the chamber:  "Recall!" 

The landers that had been moving toward the planet slowed
and turned back toward the ship.  A stream of landers soon followed. 
Occasionally, he heard a faint clank he assumed must be a lander docking. 
Mostly, he heard nothing as the disks flew toward his face and, at the last
moment, turned aside and vanished.

Soon after the last disk disappeared from view, the clanking
sounds ended.  The stars wheeled outside the window, steadied, and several more
minutes passed.  Tommy waited for some other announcement to be made over the
speaker, but heard nothing.  As he waited, an impossible motion caught his
eye.   In the distance, partially eclipsing the planet, a gray sphere
materialized where empty space had been before.  Irregularities in its face
reflected the sun, shining from a point above Tommy's perspective, as the
sphere spun.  A twinkling of lights flashed in four rows across the middle of
the sphere, then across the middle of the sphere again, and then again.  A few
seconds passed, and he saw a swarm of tiny toothpicks coming toward him.  As
the sphere continued to spin, the flickering row of lights twinkled again, and
again, and again.

The toothpicks in the first swarm grew.

A second swarm of toothpicks appeared. 

He backed from the window as the first toothpicks, now the
size of gigantic logs, approached the ship at tremendous speed.

The window went completely black.

Tommy turned on the light and looked at himself in the
mirror.  He saw a chalk white face over clothes soaked with sweat. 

That was another ship!  A ship attacking this ship!  And
this ship did nothing in return except run!

#   #   #

Valin shook him awake the next morning.  "Lord Ull
wants to see you.  Now!"

Did the wireless transmitters interfere with something
after all?  Is that why this ship did nothing to defend itself? 
 

He put both feet into the same pant leg, stood up, and
sprawled to the floor. 

"Why?  Why does she want to see me?" was all he
could think to say as he started over with his pants.  "Can I leave Potter
here in the room?"  He had been taking Potter each day to the deck where
he was working.  Somehow, he didn't think that would work with Lord Ull.

"I don’t know why she wants to see you, and you worry
too much over that silly cat.  Yes, he will be all right here.  Leave the door
closed.  Hurry!  A lord shouldn't be kept waiting."

As they rushed to the central shaft, Tommy realized he had
never heard one of the lords described.  "What does she look like?"
Tommy asked breathlessly.  "Is she tall, short, big, little?  What color
is her hair?"

"These are not appropriate questions to ask concerning a
lord.  A lord is a lord, and in any case, you'll soon know."

"Well, how should I act toward her?  You've never told
me anything!  Are you going to help me with this or just throw me in on my
own?  You said lords kill people!  What should I do when I see her?  What
should I say?  Why haven't you ever told me these things?"

There was a nervous edge to Valin’s voice.  "We have
little time for this now, but I'll tell you what I can.  This is completely
without precedent, at least in my memory.  The lords communicate through
artisans and farmers of the guildmaster level and with priests.  You are
neither.  I am as surprised by this as you are."  They reached the bank of
elevators.  "When you are in a lord's presence, keep your head down.  Do
not look directly at her.  Do not speak unless she asks you a question, then
only to give her a direct answer.  Always tell her the truth.  To lie is to
risk your life."

The ride up was the longest Tommy had ever taken.  The deck
markers flickered by, one after another.  A question from Valin interrupted his
count at forty.  "Where were you, yesterday?  I searched for you for a
work assignment."

"I went to one of the observation windows and didn't
make it back for several hours.  What work assignment?"

"We had to get cargo loaded and put away.  Your
strength would have been helpful, and, in any case, everyone works in such a
situation."

"I watched some of that through the window.  The ship
left in a hurry after another ship appeared.  What was that about?"

"The lords didn't share that information with
me."  Valin smiled tightly.  "Perhaps Lord Ull will explain the
situation to you when we see her, if you ask politely.  Or more likely after
you've become fertilizer in the Commons, I'll receive the same fate for allowing
your silly questions."

Tommy crossed his arms in front of his chest.  "I can't
control being curious."

"Be curious.  Just control your mouth in a lord's
presence."

The two men who met them when the elevator door slid aside
wore blue instead of green tunics and armbands, but otherwise were much like
the first warriors he had seen. 

The man on the left grunted, "Follow me." When
they complied, the other man fell in behind.

As they followed the warrior down the corridor, the
warrior's hem bouncing around his knees made Tommy want to giggle. 
I wonder
what he's wearing under that tunic
, Tommy thought.  He pressed his hand
firmly against his mouth.  Not a question to ask right now.

Valin leaned over to his ear and whispered, "Remember
to be quiet!"

Tommy glanced behind him, then at the warrior ahead.  Both
ignored him and Valin, though he was certain that could change instantly.

"I think they just do as they're told," Tommy
said, "And they were told to escort us to Lord Ull.  They aren't
interested in what I might say."

"Perhaps, but you take too many chances," Valin
grumbled.  "Life was much easier before I was given you to oversee."

The lead warrior stopped at a large hatch marked with a
symbol Tommy had never seen before:  a thick, upside-down V in white crossed
with a wavy, irregular, blue line extending over both legs.  Unlike on the
doors to storerooms below the Commons, no words explained the symbol or what
lay beyond.  On the door's face held a silver plate like that on the door to
the room in which he had first been held captive.  One of the warriors placed
his hand on the plate. 
A doorbell
, he thought, as the door opened
outward,
or maybe a doorknob, depending on who you are.

As he followed the lead warrior through the hatch, he first
heard the sound of falling water, and then a puff of humid air brought the
smell of an indoor pool like that at the YMCA near his home on Earth.  When the
warrior moved aside enough for him to see, he realized why.  The chamber's
dominant feature was a pond, much bigger than the Olympic sized pool at the Y. 
A rocky cliff bordered the pond against the left wall, and a stream of water
fell from near the high ceiling into a dark pool surrounded by floating
greenery.  Tommy searched for an outlet to the pond without success. 
The
water must be circulated from beneath, like in a Koi pond, a gigantic Koi
pond.  Are the lords fish?
  The edges of the lake were irregular, with
dusky inlets extending under overhanging trees and faint trails leading from
the bank to almost hidden walls.  A trough, to the right of the waterfall, also
carried water from the top of the cliff to the pool, down a double S shaped
curve.  More water splashed down a trough on the front of a low hill directly
across from the entrance. 

Periodic waves moved out from the base of the waterfall,
lifting the lilies surrounding the plunge pool.  One of the waves turned into a
roiling silver line, beginning near the waterfall and ending when a long, grey
shape catapulted from the water and landed on its hind feet, drenching them.

Tommy jumped back, trying to escape through the entrance. 
Before he could, Valin, who had prostrated himself on the wet floor, pulled him
to his knees.  "Get down," Valin hissed.

The creature gave an undulating whistle, its transparent
inner eyelids snapping shut and then open again, and bent over to examine
Tommy.  "So this is the boy from Earth," she said in the lords'
language.  "Are you sure he is human?" After whistling again, she
said, "Stand up, let me see you.  Show me how well you speak our language."

Valin's face twisted into an expression of utter misery. 

Tommy stood, carefully, as his feet almost slipped out from
under him.  Valin needn't have worried.  The shock of meeting an animal that
could speak had made him dumb.  He kept his head down, but even as the beast
was turning him, he tried to see what it was.  The creature had the appearance
of a slender bear, more than seven feet in height, covered with sparse fur,
except for a thicker ruff circling the neck.  Its torso seemed long for its arms
and legs, and a thick tail snaked back to the water's edge.  Tommy risked
tilting his head a bit to see its head.  It had a long snout below black eyes,
a high brow and a domed skull that seemed completely out of place.  When the
creature reached out, roughly, to turn him, he saw that its fingers were webbed
for a third of their length.  A pair of tight shorts held up by straps crossing
over its narrow shoulders made it look like a cartoon animal, one of the
weasels in
The Wind in the Willows
. 

This strange creature had to be a lord.  It had to be Lord
Ull.  This 'toon had ordered his capture and might have him killed on a whim. 
Except Tommy wasn't a cartoon character.  He wouldn't bounce back to life. 

His vision fizzed at the edges.  The fizz became a drifting
snow that spiraled until he looked down a tunnel.  All he saw was Lord Ull's
webbed feet and the sharp claws at the end of her toes.  His thoughts slowed. 
He had another migraine.  He needed to be able to think.  He needed to use the
sprayer he carried in his pocket. 

Lord Ull was speaking.  "Without consulting with me,
you have completed repairing the dead hydroponics farms."  Tommy saw Valin
drop lower through the fuzz at the edge of his vision.  "How many
computers were brought from Earth?"  When Tommy didn't answer, Lord Ull
struck him on the side of the head.

The blow resulted in nausea rather than pain.  The room
spun.  He took a deep breath.  "Over a thousand."

"We have many dead computers on this ship.  The
artisans will provide you with a list.  After you receive the list, I will
inform you of the order of their replacement.  I will also ensure you have
access to all sections and the cooperation of every guild and craft.  My desire
is that every part of this ship, once again, be fully functional."

Tommy decided some response was required and managed to say,
"Yes, Lord Ull."  The nausea was getting worse.  He wondered what
would happen if he threw up on Lord Ull's feet.

"These computers create radio signals." Her words
were not a question.

Tommy body became rigid. 
Here it comes
. 
She
knows something is wrong.

"Will the radio signals always be on the frequencies we
have detected and of no greater power?"

She doesn't know!  She doesn't understand!
"Yes,
Lord Ull.  The frequencies will always be the same, for each new
computer."

"The frequencies are not of those we use.  If it were
otherwise..." She broke off.  "That is enough.  Go back to work.  I
will check on your progress."

Valin grabbed the back of Tommy's shirt and pulled him to
the rear, out of the chamber.  As soon as the portal had closed in front of
them, Tommy pulled the migraine sprayer from his pocket and tore off the
wrapper.  The spray exploded up his nostril, and, by the time they were on the
elevator, his vision had cleared.

As Ull swam in slow, joyless circles around her pond, she
considered her options.  After Valin had reported problems with translating the
computer books, her proposal to the ship's council had been simple but
controversial.  At least two humans knowledgeable about the latest Earth
computers would be taken to provide assistance.  These humans would be confined
and closely watched, and their cooperation forced.  Feral adult humans were
never allowed the freedom of the ship.  Valin would evaluate which feral human
was most helpful.  The others would be disposed of.  When the remaining human
was no longer useful, it too would be disposed of.  The council had agreed
after much argument.  The failure of the pumps beneath Nore's pond had
emphasized the need to act. 

However, it had originally been her idea to obtain the
computers she had seen in the television programs.  The other members of the
council had been doubtful, even scornful, that anything created by humans could
be of use to The People.  The People had traded humans' primitive machinery to
other, even more primitive, cultures for generations, but nothing mechanical,
beyond hoe and plow, had ever been used on
The People's Hand
.  Without
the fish kill in Nore's pond, her arguments would have been political suicide. 
Since the revolt three hundred years before, Feral adult humans were brought on
board for immunizing the tame humans with their latest diseases, then
returned.  They were just too dangerous.