Inferno: A Chronicle of a Distant World (The Galactic Comedy) (2 page)

"Thank you. I'd very much like to."

Disanko summoned one of his warriors. "Her life is your life."

"I don't understand," said Beddoes.

"There are many wild animals beyond our city, and some of them are eaters of flesh. Tubito will protect you, to the point of sacrificing his life, if need be."

"That won't be necessary," said Beddoes.

"Let us hope that it is not necessary," said Disanko. "He has been a good and loyal servant, and I should be most displeased to lose him."

Beddoes studied the sitate, trying to determine whether he was issuing a threat or merely stating a fact, but his golden face disclosed no emotion, and finally she turned to Tubito, who looked questioningly at Disanko. The sitate nodded, and Tubito bowed and began leading her past Disanko's exquisitely preserved ancestors.

Eventually they reached a major avenue, and she followed him between rows of surprisingly complex wood-and-grass houses. Children came out to stare at her, and she noticed that, once away from Disanko, Tubito's entire demeanor had changed. He smiled, he spoke to the children, he waved to a number of the women who paused to watch them.

Suddenly she was conscious of the pungent odor of animals, and she saw that they were approaching a number of large, meticulously-constructed pens that housed the community's meat animals. Laced around the wooden bars were row upon row of thorns, obviously placed there to keep the domestic animals in and the predators out.

"Would you like to walk out beyond the city?" asked Tubito.

"If we have time," answered Beddoes.

"The sitate would not have sent me to accompany you if we did not," replied the Ekkoti. He stared at her. "You are a female, are you not?"

"Yes."

"You must come from a very strange land," said Tubito. "Here no female other than his wives may address the sitate, and then never in public—and yet you spoke to him without fear."

"Among my race, males and females are considered equal," answered Beddoes.

"Then the males are the same size as the females?" asked Tubito.

"No, they are larger."

Tubito seemed about to say something, then changed his mind and began leading her around the corrals.

"You wish to ask something?" said Beddoes.

"I am trying to understand," he replied. "But I do not wish to cause offense."

"Ask your question. It won't offend me."

He stopped walking and turned to her. "If males are larger and stronger than females, you cannot defeat them in combat. Therefore, I wonder why they consider you to be their equals." He paused, frowning. "Unless you are stronger, even though they are larger."

"We are not stronger."

"Then . . . ?" He shrugged in puzzlement.

"We are their mental and spiritual equals," said Beddoes. "And since we have machines to do our work for us, and even fight our wars for us, physical strength is not a measure of worth."

He considered her statement for a long moment. "That is most interesting," he said at last, trying to comprehend a world in which the mental was more highly valued than the physical.

"Surely you have the equivalent among the Enkoti," continued Beddoes. "For example, the old one who whispered to Disanko is weak and frail, but I notice that the sitate values his advice."

"True," admitted Tubito. "But he is the Oracle."

"Can no female become an oracle?"

"No female
has
been one," said Tubito. "But I suppose it is possible. There is old Marapha, who never leaves her house, but forecasts the rains."

"You see?" said Beddoes with a smile. "Perhaps we are not so different after all."

"Perhaps," said Tubito. "I wonder if I might ask you more about your city?"

"If I, in turn, can ask you more about yours," she replied. "For example, how many Enkoti cities are there, and how far does your kingdom extend."

"If you will climb the highest peak of the Hills of Heaven," answered Tubito, pointing to a mountain range far to the west, everything that you can see, from there to the Bortai River, belongs to the Enkoti."

They passed a grove of fruit trees. Tubito pulled down a reddish citrus fruit, peeled it with a knife, and handed it to her.

"I don't know if it is safe for me to eat it," said Beddoes.

"McConnell ate them with no ill effects," answered Tubito. "In fact, when he left, he took many of them with him."

She held it up to her face, sniffed at it cautiously, and then took a small bite.

"It's very sweet."

"It gives you strength," said Tubito. He stared at her expectantly.

"I like it."

Tubito seemed relieved, and pulled down two more. One he handed to her, and another he bit into, without removing the outer peel.

"What do your people eat?" he asked.

"A little of everything: meat, fish, birds, vegetables, fruit," she answered.

"And milk?"

"When we are very young."

"
We
drink milk every day," he said. "It makes us strong."

"I'm sure it does."

"Then why do you drink it only when you are young?"

She tried to explain the concept of vitamins and balanced diets to him, but while he listened politely, she could tell that he understood almost nothing of what she said.

Before long they found themselves in waist-high grass, and Tubito moved in front of her and began walking very slowly, his keen eyes scanning the area.

"What's the matter?" asked Beddoes.

"This is the domain of the Plainstalker, which can kill an animal four times its own size. It is much the same color as the grass, and strikes swiftly and silently. Probably there are none nearby, for otherwise our penned animals would have scented them and become uneasy, but one cannot take chances with Plainstalkers." He paused and turned to her. "Perhaps you would rather return to the city?"

To continue virtually unarmed in these surroundings would have verged on the suicidal, and while Beddoes carried a molecular imploder that could turn any carnivore to jelly in a fraction of a second, she had no desire to show off the state of her weaponry, so she nodded her acquiescence.

"Perhaps if you stay long enough, you can watch our young warriors embark on a Plainstalker hunt," suggested Tubito.

"Do you hunt them to protect your stock animals?" she asked.

Tubito shook his head. "No male can become an adult without killing a Plainstalker in physical combat."

"I think I might enjoy watching such a hunt," she said. "Speaking of animals, on my walk from my ship to your city, I passed some huge herbivores, standing twice as tall as an Enkoti at the shoulder. I'm surprised they haven't eaten the vegetation down."

"Often they do," answered Tubito. "But then it rains, and everything grows again."

"How often does it rain?"

"Almost every afternoon."

They made their way back to the village through a profusion of flowers, shrubbery and fruit trees. Beddoes stopped twice to admire the colorful avians that flew overhead, and once to examine a small ten-legged purple-and-white insect that Tubito caught for her.

"Thank you," she said as he handed it to her.

"The sitate says you are interested in insects. I am happy to help."

"That was very thoughtful of you."

"I do the sitate's bidding," he answered. "Though I am glad that it makes you happy."

"Tell me about him."

"The sitate?"

"Yes," said Beddoes.

"He has been a good ruler," replied Tubito. "He is firm but compassionate, and the justice he metes out is swift and fair. Under Disanko our kingdom has prospered, and he has actually fought very few wars with our neighbors, preferring to negotiate."

"From a position of strength, of course."

"One cannot negotiate from a position of weakness," said Tubito.

They found Disanko waiting for them, and she was immediately ushered into his dwelling, a multi-chambered structure that seemed to go on forever. Just when she was wondering where the dining room was, they emerged into a courtyard that was surrounded by thorn fencing, with warriors standing guard every ten feet, and she realized that the tour of the "palace" had been performed simply to impress her.

She was led to one side of a low, hand-carved wooden table, while Disanko stood opposite her.

"Wilson McConnell ate our meat animals when he was here, and suffered no ill effects," announced the sitate. "Therefore, I assume they will not harm you." He clapped his hands, and two females staggered in bearing a huge tray containing more meat than Beddoes could have eaten in a month. "Please sit down."

Beddoes seated herself on a small stool, much lower than Disanko's, as the females bowed and left.

"You seem uncomfortable," he noted.

"I am," she admitted.

"You may sit on the floor, if you prefer." He paused. "I know you would prefer a higher stool, but there is only one sitate's chair, and no one else may sit upon it."

She considered her options and lowered herself to the floor. Before either she or Disanko could take a bite of anything, one of the warriors stepped forward, pulled out his dagger, and cut off a piece of meat. He chewed it thoroughly, swallowed it, and stepped back to his position against the thorn wall. Then another warrior approached and ate a small purple fruit. This went on until every variety of food had been tasted by one of the warriors.

"A precaution," explained Disanko. "I am not without my enemies, those who wish to become sitate and those who simply wish for any sitate other than myself. I may someday be killed in battle, but at least I know I will not be poisoned."

A colorful avian, about the size of a large crow, flew down from an overhanging branch and perched on the corner of the table. Disanko flipped a piece of fruit onto the ground, and the avian swooped down, grabbed it in its claws, and, screeching happily, flew back to its perch in the tree.

If Beddoes expected to speak to Disanko about her mission or anything else, she was disappointed, for the sitate began eating and never said a word or looked up until he was finished. When he had finished, the tray was taken away, and a lovely young female, just approaching maturity, entered the area and began grooming Disanko's furry face with her fingers. She left a moment later, Disanko stood up, and Beddoes got to her feet.

"You may spend the night in your ship," he announced.

"I thought you wanted me here," she said.

"I did, but the affairs of state intervene. My ambassador has returned from the land of the Traja, and I must confer with him. You will return in the morning, and then we will negotiate for my people's services. Tubito will accompany you."

"I will be happy to have Tubito's company, but if you require him for any other duties, I am quite capable of making my way to my ship on my own."

"When you are in the country of the Enkoti, you are under my protection," said Disanko. "Tubito will accompany you."

The sitate's manner said that the meal and interview were both over, and Beddoes merely bowed and waited for him to leave. Then she stepped outside, where she found Tubito waiting for her.

The trek to her ship took a little more than two hours. They passed numerous herds of herbivores, some huge and ponderous, some small and swift, and once he grabbed her by the shoulder and pointed to a tree limb about a quarter of a mile distant. She saw a flicker of motion, a flash of crimson skin and brilliant white teeth, and then nothing, as the creature vanished behind some foliage that she would have sworn couldn't have hidden half of it from view.

They crossed the same three streams she had crossed in the morning, each lined with bushes laden with scarlet-and-gold berries, passed a grove of flowering trees, and finally arrived at the ship.

"Will you be going home now?" asked Beddoes.

He shook his head. "I will sleep outside your ship."

"What will you eat?"

He reached into a pouch that was suspended from his waist and pulled out a piece of dried meat, holding it up for her to see.

"If it rains, just open the hatch and make yourself at home."

"That is very kind of you," he replied, "but I am used to rain."

"There's no need to be uncomfortable."

"I appreciate your offer, Susan Beddoes, but I serve the sitate, and the sitate has ordered me to protect you. If danger threatens, it will not come from within your ship."

She entered her ship, going straight to the cargo area to select the gifts and trade items she would bring with her tomorrow. After sorting through them and packing them neatly, she went into the galley, ordered it to prepare dinner for her, and sat down to record her day's activities in her log.

A few hours later, as she prepared to go to sleep in her cabin, the computer informed her that a message was coming in over the subspace radio. She had it transferred to the cabin and sat up.

"Attention, Crystal Wing, do you read?" said a masculine voice, crackling with static. "Attention, Crystal Wing, do you read?"

"This is the
Crystal Wing
, Susan Beddoes commanding, 9 days out of Amazonia, currently at rest on Brazzi II, local name Faligor."

"Good evening, Susan." There was a brief pause. "At least, according to my charts, I
think
it's evening where you are."

"It is, Arthur."

"Well?" asked Arthur Cartright, Assistant Secretary of the Republic's Department of Cartography, which was located on the distant world of Caliban. "What's your first impression?"

"McConnell was right: it's a beautiful world. Temperate, fertile, unpolluted. You get the feeling that you could toss a packet of seeds—any kind of seeds—out the hatch, and by tomorrow morning there'd be a garden in full bloom."

"And the natives?"

"I'd say they're a bit more sophisticated than your run-of-the-mill aboriginals—they're working with metals, and they seem to possess a complex social structure—but technologically they're quite primitive."

"Friendly?"

"They seem to be."

"Better and better," said Cartright. "Any military capability?"

"None that I could see," replied Beddoes. "Of course, we're going under that assumption that the Enkoti are the most advanced of the various tribes, and McConnell could be wrong about that—but they do rule a vast amount of land, and no one seems to be threatening to take it away from them. In fact, the ruler made some reference to meeting his ambassador to some other kingdom."