Deyv wondered if he’d ever see Jum again. He felt pangs of guilt about having sent the dog into the pipe alone. Sighing, he started the descent.
Within a sleep-time and a half, they were by the river. This was about half a mile across and, judging by its smooth green surface, at least as deep.
The Archkerri studied the river for a moment and said, ‘We’re in luck. I can see the impressions of the Yawtl out there. He went that way.’
He pointed through the thick brush and giant trees along the bank. Aejip disappeared to hunt. There was plenty of fruit here, so the three had no trouble stuffing themselves. Just as they were about to look for a good sleeping place, they made a discovery. It was the site where the Yawtl had recently fashioned a dug-out. Chips of wood, the trunk of a small tree, branches and severed liana made this obvious.
‘He used an iyvrat tree,’ Deyv said. ‘Its wood is very soft; he could hack the tree down and chop out its interior in half a sleep-time if he worked hard. There are plenty of iyvrat here. We can make our own dug-out.’
He looked at the Archkerri’s great bulk.
‘Dug-outs, I mean. Do you think you could paddle, Sloosh?’
Sloosh buzzed, ‘Yes. Your dog has been here, too.’
‘I know,’ Vana said. ‘I just stepped in his mess.’
She went to the river to wash her foot. A little later, Jum bounced from the jungle and leaped all over Deyv, his tail wagging, his rear wiggling, his tongue licking. Deyv grabbed him and hugged him and scratched him behind the ears.
‘It is evident now that we should have gone through the pipe,’ Sloosh said. ‘We might have caught up with the thief while he was making the boat. I’m surprised that Jum didn’t –’
‘He may have lost his trail for a while in the jungle. The Yawtl could have taken to the trees, you know. Besides, the Yawtl was far ahead of us. Maybe he had time to build the boat and get away before Jum caught up with him. Anyway, I’m happy that he’s still well and alive.’
‘More probably Jum went hunting and so wasted time,’ Sloosh said. ‘He can’t be blamed for that, though.’
They set to work chopping down two trees. Sloosh had no weapons or tools, so he was of no help. He did watch the humans’ techniques carefully, though. By the time Deyv and Vana were hollowing out the trunks the cat turned up. She was panting and worn out, having dragged a large bird some distance by the neck. When alive it must have stood about six feet high. Its wings were rudimentary; its head was huge and armed with a sharp curving beak. Its three toes bore large sharp talons. Evidently, Aejip had managed to surprise it from above and killed it almost at once. Given a chance, it would have been dangerous prey for Aejip.
Vana and Deyv peeled the skin off with the feathers still on, cut the bird up, and cooked it. All five ate until their bellies bulged, and then they went off to find a good sleeping place. By then carrion birds, insects and several crocodilian mammals, the athaksum, had gathered near by to clean up. The travellers could hear the furious squabble as they went through the bush.
After the party had slept a while, though not nearly long enough, they returned to the half-made boats. Aejip went off hunting again. By the time she had returned, empty-jawed this time, the craft were done. Paddles were fashioned then, during which time Sloosh fished with a pole, line and hook Deyv had made. The Archkerri did not catch anything.
The smaller boat was for Vana and Aejip. The larger was an outrigger, since Deyv felt that Sloosh would tip the boat over easily unless provision were made to prevent this. They launched the craft, and soon they were heading up-river along the bank, where the current was weakest. Sloosh sat in the rear on his haunches, his front legs folded, an enormous paddle in his hands. Deyv was in the middle, the dog in front of him.
Shortly before it was time to sleep again. Sloosh said, The Yawtl went over to the other bank. He didn’t go ashore there, though. His impressions continue up-river.’
They were very tired by then, even though they had rested often, beaching the boats. Deyv insisted that they might as well make an effort to cross the river. They did so, and they slept ashore. When they awakened, Deyv started to fish, but Sloosh demanded that he be allowed to try it. His failure had disturbed him; he regarded it as a challenge. Deyv went out with Jum, and Aejip went by herself to hunt. Vana looked around for fruit and berries. All got what they wanted, so they set out with stuffed bellies. Most of Vana’s pickings were in woven baskets in the boats. They ate these during the rests.
The strange gleaming green object at the end of the valley grew larger. By now they could make out its details. It seemed to be about half a mile wide and almost as high. It was set where the valley walls suddenly narrowed, forming a natural dam. However, when they saw that its surface was cut into facets, Sloosh said that it could not be natural.
‘What it is,’ he said, ‘believe it or not, is a trishmaging.’
Deyv called to Vana, whose boat was alongside his. ’What’s a trishmaging?’
‘It’s a beautiful, very rare semi-transparent hard stone. The ancients cut facets into it. My shaman has one like this, though it’s very small. Small enough to be worn on a finger if it’s set in a wooden ring. The shaman got it during the Trading Season. The warrior who traded it had found five of these stones, each different from the others. They were in the dirt of a hillside washed down by rains along with a few other things made by the ancients. One stone was set in a ring made of a yellow metal. Evidently, the ancients wore the beautiful cut stones in rings.’
‘But this stone! What sky-high giant wore it in a ring?’
Sloosh said, ‘Those stones were probably natural. But this one… it was manufactured by the ancients. For what reason I do not know. Perhaps as a dam which the waters would never wash away. I doubt it, though.’
Deyv looked at the colossal precious stone with awe. How mighty the ancients! Yet, they had perished, and all that remained of them were a few relics.
14
The trail left the river near the foot of the Brobdingnagian stone, where the waters fell in roaring sheets. They followed it into the forest until they came to a very narrow, very deep canyon. This gave them rough access to the other side of the mountain. There they were confronted by another valley, but it was much wider than the one they’d left. Much of it was occupied by a large lake, the other side of which was too distant to be seen. Several miles from the shore was an island. It seemed to consist mostly of steep-sided hills centred on a peak perhaps three thousand feet high. Small black clouds circled around and over the island, settled down on it or suddenly ascended from it.
‘Flocks of birds,’ Sloosh said.
From the top of the peak something whitish and fluid flowed out, running down the sides in great streaks.
A tiny white object floated up from the foothills of the island and was swept with the wind from the end of the valley. It rose higher and higher, gleaming, then was lost. It was headed towards the other end of the valley, where it could exit between two peaks.
Near the travellers was the freshly cut stump of another iyvrat tree, severed branches and woodchips.
‘He went to that island,’ Sloosh said. ‘Whether or not he got there, I can’t tell. But he did get near his goal.’
Sloosh’s doubt was caused by the monstrous fish that now and then surfaced or dived back into the water. They looked big enough to swallow a war canoe of twenty men without straining themselves.
‘We could go round the lake and pick up his trail on the other side,’ Deyv said. ‘That would put us far far behind him, though.’
‘We wouldn’t find his trail there,’ the Archkerri said. ‘The crafty creature intends to get aboard a young tharakorm and sail off with it.’
Deyv and Vana asked him what he meant.
‘That island must be a breeding ground for the tharakorm. “Breeding” is not the correct term, though, since the tharakorm are not animals. You remember my description of the tiny invisible-to-the-eye creatures called b
acteria and viri? Those white streams from the top of the peak are the overflow from a great mass of viri continually duplicating itself. The mass lie in a hollow within the top, and it draws those birds you see circling around within the peak and onto the sides. It does this by emitting a powerful perfume, clouds of molecules which entice the birds.
‘As you know, I have no sense of smell, unlike you humans. That is one sense you’re up on me, though of course I’m compensated by my greater intelligence, not to mention other senses.
‘However, we can observe these molecular masses, which draw the birds as if they were tied to strings. The birds eat the boiling pulsing mass of viri, and they die shortly thereafter. They continue to flock in by the thousands though they see their fellows die. The dead are used as food by the viri to duplicate themselves. Hence, the continual ferment and flow of the viri down the mountainside.’
‘I don’t smell anything unusual,’ Vana said.
‘That is because the wind carries it off at right angles to us. But when we get near enough, if we get near enough and are not swallowed by a great fish, then you’ll smell it.’
‘Will we be enticed as the birds are?’ Deyv asked.
‘No. In fact, human beings find the odour most disagreeable.’
‘Where does all the stuff go?’ Deyv asked.
‘To the foothills of the island, where it collects in pools and then into hardening clumps. These eventually form into the young of tharakorm, those creatures which generate a levitating gas from dead flesh and plants and which sail the winds. That object in the sky you saw a little while ago was one of the young. Ah! See! There is another!’
Sloosh was silent for a moment as they watched the white thing rise and float towards the pass. Then he said, ‘The Yawtl is on that one. I can just make out the thin reddish line trailing from him.’
Deyv was in despair. Even if they could get on a tharakorm and take off into the air, how could they ever trail the thief? The winds would change, and the Yawtl’s ship-creature would go on a different path from theirs. Their situation was hopeless.
Vana looked pale, and her features were drawn. But she said, ‘Well, let’s get busy.’
They set to work and by sleep-time almost had their work done. This time, they were using a single large boat.
When they woke, they saw a great flock of birds flying upwind towards the island.
‘More food for the pot,’ Sloosh said.
‘I would think the valley would be empty of birds in a short time,’ Deyv observed.
‘The odour is strong and doesn’t disappear entirely for hundreds of miles. And sometimes the supply of birds is low. When that happens the viri become inactive. There are long periods when there is no odour emitted. During that time, the birds breed and flourish. Moreover, for some reason, not all birds of each species are attracted, and those that are are usually males. There is a very complicated balance of nature in this, which I hope to study some time. Meanwhile, don’t you think we should launch our craft?’
They paddled upwind along the bank for a long time. Then they set out directly towards the opposite bank. They knew that the current would be strong and that it would carry them at an angle downward. They hoped the angle would end on the island. According to Sloosh, the Yawtl had done the same thing as they. Its trail went along the shore and when it turned, they turned too.
Despite the group’s fears, the giant fish didn’t attack them. Once, one fish chasing a somewhat smaller one, though still large enough to engulf their boat, came up alongside them. An eye, as large as Deyv’s head, looked coldly at them. Then it dived, causing a small whirlpool to rock the boat.
As the craft came closer to the island, its occupants could hear the screaming of the birds. A short time later, they smelled the odour. Deyv thought he was going to vomit. Vana looked as if she’d like to. Though they didn’t seem sick, the animals were uneasy. Jum whined, and Aejip growled deep in her throat.
The Archkerri said, ‘From your reactions I’d say that lacking a sense of smell has advantages in certain situations. But then anything that has its advantages also has its disadvantages.’
Some of the white stuff had failed to collect in the hollows and was running off into the lake. Birds were swarming on the rocky beaches and diving into the water. Fish made the offshore water boil as they fought with each other and the birds for the stuff.
The group beached the boat and advanced through thousands of screaming, cawing, shrieking birds. These hopped or ran out of their way but immediately closed in behind them. Carcasses lay around by the hundreds, many of them covered with birds tearing at their flesh. Now and then one of the feeders staggered around in circles, then fell, its wings flopping, its eyes glazing.
The stench of decaying flesh was horrible, but it was not as bad as the viri perfume. Feathers swirled and fell on or in front of the group. Now and then dung spattered on their hair or skin. Deyv and Vana were in terror that these droppings might infect them.
Sloosh, however, said, ‘As far as I know, the viri can’t attack humans. Of course, I could be wrong.’
‘Thanks for your reassurance,’ Deyv said.
At last they got to the hills. Here they roamed around looking for the hollows. They saw some young tharakorm being formed in the pools, a fascinating sight. Apparently, first the keel was shaped by an uncountable number of viri. Then the hull was formed as the things lined up row upon row, each virus attached to its neighbours.
‘I think the viri go into a sort of suspended animation when they’re in place,’ Sloosh said. ‘It’s a wonderful thing, this organization of mindless nerveless half-alive units. I believe that something that might be called a mind even forms deep in the hull. And lines of them form analogues of nerves. Of course, the brain, if it can be called such, is unconscious. But by the time the tharakorm, the ship-creature, is complete, it is ready to take on its symbionts, the khratikl.’
Deyv looked around nervously. ‘Where are they?’
‘Don’t worry. Not yet anyway.’
A number of the pools contained only the unformed sticky-looking liquid, in which lay many birds, dead and alive. Some pools had half-laid – half-formed, rather – keels. Others held almost complete tharakorm, which now did not emit the stink. Not until they reached to the foot of the mountain, where the odour choked the two humans and brought tears to their eyes, did they find what they sought.
It stood at the bottom of a deep wide hollow supported by buttresses of the hard stuff. These, Sloosh said, would separate from the hull when it was time for flight. The creature had a long and rather wide hull. Its front was shaped like a ship’s, but the back part was flared out to make a nearly square stern.
‘So it’ll give the wind plenty of area to push against,’ Sloosh said.
Deyv estimated that it was about one hundred and twenty feet long, thirty feet high, not counting the masts, and forty feet across, not counting the flared stern. It had three mastlike projections about ten feet high. On each side, at right angles, thin arms extended for about fifty feet. The sails, so thin that light shone through them, were furled on the bottom arm. Threads ran down the arms to the sails. The whole ship was composed of very thin material which was semi-opaque.
Going closer to look, because the birds swarming over it were obstructing his view, Deyv saw knob-like swellings on the masts and arms. These, Sloosh said, were mechanisms for hoisting or lowering the sails. They also allowed the arms to swing out to a limited degree.
‘It can sail against the wind if it’s not more than a gentle breeze.’
‘How can it do that?’ Deyv said. ‘It doesn’t have the resistance against the hull that a water boat does.’
‘It creates a magnetic field which operates with or against the currents of the Earth. But that requires some power, so I suppose the tharakorm seldom does anything but go where the wind pushes it. It does, however, have sensors which detect both the strength of the wind and the alignment of earth currents. In for
mer times, I believe, it could tack against stronger winds. But now that the Earth has a more feeble magnetic field, it lacks the power.’
There were also round openings on the sides. Deyv could not see those on the bottom, but he knew they would be there.
From the top of the hill, he could see that there were three large openings on the deck.
‘Observe,’ Sloosh said. The birds are disappearing into the hull. They’re being tempted by a perfume even stronger, hence more enticing, than that emitted by the liquid.’
It was true. The avians were fighting to get through the openings.
‘They’ll be trapped and eaten below decks. The tharakorm then uses their bodies to generate the gas.’
They waited until sleep-time. Sloosh told them they must appoint watches.
‘Notice that more birds are settling on it. But a time will come when the birds will suddenly avoid it. You’ll smell another type of perfume then. This will drive the birds away. When this happens, the watch must wake everybody up. I can’t smell that perfume, of course, but if I’m on watch then, I’ll see the birds are staying away from it.’
Deyv didn’t ask why this happened. He had worked out that the thing would repulse the birds so that it could lift up. If it were covered by hundreds of them, it would never be able to get off the ground.
When all were awake they saw that the time had not yet come for levitation. They sat under the bright hot sky or took short walks. The fruit and berries they’d brought in baskets were eaten, Jum and Aejip devoured some of the newly dead birds. When they wanted water, they went down to the shore and looked for relatively unpolluted water.
‘What’ll we do for food and water when we’re aboard?’ Deyv asked.
‘We’ll suffer until we can endure it no longer,’ the Archkerri said complacently. ‘Then we’ll punch a hole in the gas containers of the tharakorm. It’ll sink, and we’ll get off when it grounds. That, I imagine, is what the Yawtl will do.’