Frek and the Elixir (30 page)

They rose into the air and Gawrgor poked the control stick to make the hoverdisk trumpet the same three notes as before. The hall's great round door swung open and they were out in the fresh morning air. It felt wonderful. The two suns were a handbreadth above the spaceport on the left, with half of Jumm bulging up above the right side of the horizon like the world's largest mushroom. In the morning light the rickrack trees were a gentle shade of green. Their long, pointed branches rocked and whispered in the breeze, now and then bumping together to make musical booms.

Far beyond the trees Frek could see the bright line of the transport tube arcing down from Jumm to the surface of Unipusk. That's where the branelink would be. The morning suns lit up a large high yellowish cloud beside the transport tube. This was the leftover spill of Jumm stuff, slowly drifting away.

To begin their tour, the hoverdisk circled among some of the nearby rickrack trees, with Hawb and Cawmb pointing out the dwellings that they most admired. As Renata had said, all of the Unipuskers living near the spaceport seemed to be pilots, kenny crafters, or producers of branecast channels. To Frek's eye, the ornamentation-encrusted rickrack trunks soon began looking much the same. And it was hard to get over the fact that rickrack was the one and only kind of plant in sight.

“Show him the suburbs and the farms and the kenny crafters' studio, Gawrgor,” put in Renata. “That's more interesting. Look Frek, I made a map. Show the map, turkle.” Her turkle's back flashed a colorful little diagram, with the spaceport in red, the rickrack mansions in yellow, the suburbs in purple, and the farms in green. The kenny crafter's studio was a deep blue splotch.

Gawrgor kicked the stubby control stick. The hoverdisk heeled over and sped out to a zone where the rickrack homes were smaller and their decorations less intense. Unipuskers were out and about: trading stuff with each other, attaching fresh adornments to their houses, gossiping, playing with their children, and walking their vigs. The vigs rocked along on their stubby leg-bumps like high-speed inchworms. When two pet vigs met, they'd usually rub their eye stalks together in a friendly way, though a few of them were prone to varking.

Frek could see all this because Gawrgor had slowed the hoverdisk to the pace of a walk, the better to show Frek the ambience of suburban Unipusk. Everyone had time to stop and stare at Frek, often calling out, “You're ugly and you stink.” Frek noticed a large number of flickerballs in use; the buzzing sound was pervasive, and every window seemed to pulse with the ragged light. The flickerballs seemed more aggressive here among the lower classes. The fat part of the market. Some of the Unipuskers were using flickerballs to watch through Frek's eyes even as he passed; they alternated between looking at him directly and looking at the flickerball view of what he saw. He sky-air-combed his mind to keep his personal thoughts his own.

The ride got embarrassing when, in a burst of creativity, one of the Unipuskers had the notion of yelling, “Kiss Renata again!” Apparently the espers had observed the tender moment on their flickerballs.

“Kiss Renata again!” repeated the next Unipusker. And then, in typical Unipusker fashion, each and every one of the others had to parrot the little witticism. When Frek shook his fist at one of them, that immediately became something that all the Unipuskers had to do too. At his approach, they'd yell, “You're ugly and you stink,” shake their fists, yell, “Kiss Renata again,” and burst into Unipusker laughter, making the exact same wet creaking noise every time.

“They're idiots,” Frek whispered to Renata.

“I know,” said Renata, shaking her head. Even so, she was smiling and in a good mood.

They flew above some fields filled with very small rickrack plants and orange, grazing vigs. Although the rickrack plants were indeed a pleasant shade of green, Frek was getting sick of the color. There were absolutely no other plants but rickrack on Unipusk. And no other animals but vigs. This was the ultimate result of the policies NuBioCom had set for Earth: one plant, one animal. Frek redoubled his resolve to fetch a biome-restoring elixir. Fetch the elixir and save Earth from the branecasters. The vastness of the task was daunting. Yet for some reason Frek felt sure he'd find the way.

Most of the farm vigs looked peaceful. Frek noticed one letting her eye stalks flop down limp in contentment as she munched her food. He saw a farmer milk a calm vig by rubbing his hand along a spongy spot on the beast's belly. The gray milk drizzled down through the farmer's fingers into a little trough leading to a bucket. Yet a few vigs had a wild side; Frek saw a Unipusker vig herder step into one fenced field where the vigs aggressively opened up their long mouths and charged.

Meanwhile they were drawing closer to the all-but-endless column of the transport tube. The bottom of the tube disappeared into a big open pit in the ground. A steady stream of turbid fluid was traveling down the tube to be processed by the devices in the pit. There were several buildings at the edge of the pit, with messy piles of blue Unipusk dirt all around them. Unlike the dwellings on Unipusk, these structures weren't rickrack plants. They were of smooth, clear-colored materials that could only be crafted kenner. One of the buildings was a golden sphere standing on legs, while another resembled an enormous model of a Unipusker's iridescent brown head.

“We'll go in there first,” said Renata, pointing at the clam-shaped building. “That's the kenny crafters' studio. Should be lively today with the transport tube working again.”

The great, glistening structure was complete with long, gently wobbling “eye stalks” and a dozen shorter projections. And just as upon a Unipusker head, the edges on one side of the building were parted in a great horizontal slit: the door. The hoverdisk carried them right in.

The space within the shell was even larger than Frek had expected from the outside; some kind of alien technological magic was at work, akin to Ulla's shrinking field that made the space inside her seem so big.

The effect was that the cavernous interior of the kenny crafters' studio room seemed to stretch hundreds of meters on every side. Every square centimeter of the domed ceiling had something fastened to it: paintings, models, and full-scale examples of things the kenny crafters had made. Ranged along the edge between top and bottom were flickerballs, all of them turned on, each one showing a different world. And down in the center of the concave floor were a dozen or so Unipuskers fiddling with various objects: statues, couches, lamps, tail covers. They seemed to be studying the objects and, from time to time, doing things to change their shapes. Kenny crafters. Next to each of the kenny crafters was a limp orange cloth tube with one end attached to the floor.

“Give Frek a complete tour of available merchandise,” said Hawb.

“Be very alert for fresh enhancements for our home,” added Cawmb.

“Oh, please don't do that again,” protested Renata. “It's so boring! Frek is supposed to see the kenny crafters themselves, not the stupid junk they make. The crafting is the part that's interesting.”

Hawb's only response was a grunt. Gawrgor jiggled his foot, steering the hoverdisk up to the very apex of the shell. They began circling the room, spiraling outward, raptly staring up at displays on the ceiling: kenny crafted furniture, art objects, saucers, hoverdisks, eating utensils, grooming aids, garments, toys, and any number of artifacts whose purpose Frek couldn't fathom. After completing each gyre around the great room, Gawrgor moved the hoverdisk a notch farther out so as to circle a fresh band of goods.

“Order that one,” said Cawmb now and then. “Order that one, too.”

“They always do this,” Renata murmured to Frek. “They love to shop. Viewing the whole display takes over an hour.”

Frek and Renata sat down on the floor of the hoverdisk and let their legs dangle over the whorls and swirls of the hoverdisk's ornate brassy border. The constant rapid circling was less sickening if you looked away from the goods. Renata told Frek a little more about the kenny crafters working below.

“See those orange tubes coming out of the floor? That's where the kenner can come out. Dark matter. We have a fair amount of it around Unipusk anyway, but to get it in bulk, we process the stuff in the transport tube. The kenner's invisible until a kenny crafter vaars it.”

“Vaars it?”

“A Unipusker word. It means that a kenny crafter can look at a spot where you wouldn't see anything, and he sees the dark matter there, the kenner, and he's able to reach out and make it want to let us see it. Flop it over into ordinary reality. And then the crafter shapes the kenny with his mind.”

“Just by thinking at it? How?”

“Some people say that kenner is free-floating consciousness.”

“People like who?”

“Like Mom.” Renata giggled.

It was hard to keep up a conversation with the hoverdisk racing around so fast. Finally Frek and Renata gave up talking and simply sat it out. Renata passed the time by sketching Frek's profile on her turkle. For his part, Frek was watching the kenny crafters down below. Every now and then one of them would stare at his floor tube for a while, the tube would swell up, he'd move his hands, and there'd be an object next to him. And then he'd mess with the object for a long time. Vaaring. Frek was going to have to get a closer look when they landed. Meanwhile they had to work their way through what amounted to a very large catalog fixed to the ceiling. It really did take more than an hour. Renata went ahead and drew a second picture of Frek, which was flattering, and then, without thinking about it too much, the two began holding hands.

Finally Gawrgor set the hoverdisk down on the floor, right near a slender kenny crafter with extra long eye stalks on his head. Though most of his companions were busy, this one seemed not to be doing much of anything just now.

“Greet Cawmb and Hawb,” he said, languidly aiming an eye stalk toward them. “Inquire how many new kennies you want. Greet Renata as well.”

“Greet Gawrnier,” said Cawmb. “Transmit our order form.” One of the stubby antennas on his head twitched, presumably sending information to the kenny crafter.

“Propose delivery in two weeks,” said the kenny crafter. “Apologize that we have a considerable backlog, what with the transport tube only having come back online yesterday.”

“Politely inquire why you nevertheless appear so idle,” said Cawmb.

“Huffily declare that I was thinking,” said Gawrnier. “Remind you that I'm an artist, not a machine. Condescendingly explain that the finest kennies take more advance planning than a laypusker can imagine.”

“Accept your delivery date,” put in Hawb. “Apologize for my partner's rudeness.” The two producer Unipuskers seemed a bit in awe of the kenny crafter.

“Tell Gawrnier about Frek,” piped up Renata.

“Present the negotiator for a new talent race,” said Hawb. “Introduce Frek Huggins to Gawrnier; introduce Gawrnier to Frek Huggins. Prepare to say good-bye.”

“Wait,” protested Frek. “We spent all that time circling around up there, and I still haven't gotten a good look at what they do.”

“Frantically jabber about a shortage of time,” said Cawmb. “Stress that the branelink is finally coming online in just a few minutes. Announce that we need to fetch Yessica and Carb before taking you to the branelink. Explain that we expect them to help convince you to play along. Threaten to kill you otherwise. Scold that you should be fully satisfied with your Unipusk tour by now.”

“You wasted an hour looking at a geevin' catalog,” exclaimed Frek, by no means wanting to go the branelink yet. “That's your idea of a tour?”

“Propose you leave Frek and Renata with me,” put in Gawrnier unexpectedly. “Suggest they watch me working while you get the other members of your party.”

“Assent,” said Cawmb quickly. “Remark that we can fly faster without the flimsy humans on board. Thank Gawrnier. Caution Gawrnier not to let Frek escape. Estimate that we'll return in ten to fifteen minutes.” And then he, Gawrgor, and Hawb were gone.

“Inquire if you want to watch me craft a kenny,” asked Gawrnier.

“Sure,” said Frek, mainly wondering if this might be the last thing he ever saw. He stuck one hand in his pocket and glued his fungus purse to the palm of his hand, trying not to think too clearly about his half-formed plan. The golden glow and the espers were pressing in. Sky-air-comb, he thought. Sky-air-comb.

Gawrnier took hold of the floppy tube leading up out of the floor; it was made of a material resembling shiny cloth. He focused his two eye stalks on the tube, vaaring it, and suddenly the tube grew firm, as if air were blowing out of it. Dark matter? Frek leaned forward and stuck out his hand. He felt the ghost of a breeze. The tube was rippling with the passage of
something.

Gawrnier let go of the tube, which was temporarily able to stand up on its own. He held out his arms as if hugging a big ball; he brought them high up into the air and began staggering back and forth as if he were carrying something awkward and heavy. Frek glimpsed a flicker above Gawrnier, like the wiggling in the air above a fire. And then a big box on legs took form; Gawrnier jumped to one side to let it drop to the ground.

The thing was shaped a bit like a four-legged mahogany piano, but with no keyboard and with a circle of gold pads on its top surrounding a cut-out hole. The legs had an archaic animal look to them; they ended in claws tipped with gold talons. One of the legs had splintered when the thing dropped from the air. Gawrnier vaared at the leg until it healed itself. Frek forgot about the life-or-death decision hanging over his head. This was goggier than anything he'd ever seen. Could Gawrnier perhaps teach Frek to be a kenny crafter?

Gawrnier circled the object, examining each part. Frek could see greater or lesser alterations taking place at the touch of the kenny crafter's eyes. Embossed images of lizards like the ones Frek had seen in the flickerball appeared upon the gold disks on the thing's top surface. Wonderful. The edges of the top rounded themselves off, then became scalloped. Carvings of prehistoric ferns appeared upon the sides of the table. The legs roughened their texture and developed knees, becoming still more like dinosaur legs.