This was not becoming any more intelligible! "I have just arrived from—from another planet. I am an only child, unmarried."
Her pretty brow furrowed. "I hadn't realized another ship had arrived. You had better hide before you get us all in trouble."
"I don't even know where I am or what is wrong!"
She considered him speculatively. "Look, this is somewhat sudden, but maybe a break for us both. I just had a fight with my brothub, so I snuck out alone, but I'm afraid a Nath will spot me. How about filling in with you?"
Brother Paul could not make sense of this. "Brothub? Nath? What do these terms mean?"
She stepped forward and took his arm. "No time to explain," she said. "Look, there's one now!"
He followed her gaze. There, sliding along the edge of the snowbank was something like a shag rug—but it was flowing uphill. "That—can it be alive?" he whispered, amazed.
"Just fake it," she whispered back. "Let me do the talking."
He seemed to have no alternative.
The rug slid up to them and paused two meters away. Brother Paul saw that it moved by shooting out myriad tiny burrs on threads, then hauled itself forward by winching them in. Truly alien locomotion! "Pull-hook, Sol," the thing said. It spoke strangely in a kind of staccato. Brother Paul conjectured that it was tapping the ground with hundreds of miniature hammers in such a manner as to create a human-sounding pattern of sonics.
"The same to you, Nath," the girl replied.
"What entity-pair are you?" Nath inquired.
"I—we—" She faltered, not knowing Brother Paul's name.
"I am Brother Paul," he filled in. "Of the Holy—"
"And I am Sister Ruby," she interjected. Then she turned to Brother Paul and flung herself into his arms, pressing one winterized and one summerized breast against his torso and planting a passionate kiss on his lips.
"It is good to perceive such sibling love," Nath said. "May the Wheel turn well for your regeneration." Then the creature heaved itself smoothly up over the snow and on around them.
"Xe Ba Va Ra enhance you, Nath," Ruby called after it.
"All right, now," Brother Paul said. He had identified her, of course: Amaranth in a new part. As sexy as ever. But now he wondered who had played the part of Buddha in the prior scene. The man had been too small to be either Lee or Amaranth. "Will you explain what—"
"Yes, yes, everything," she said. "Come with me to the Temple of Tarot, and I'll explain on the way." She walked down the ledge-path, weaving smoothly around the foliage, and he had to follow. He couldn't remain here; it was impossible to be comfortable in this arctic tropic.
"First," he said as he caught up, momentarily distracted by the way his expelled breath fogged on the frigid side and by her bare buttock flexing on the hot side, "What world is this?"
"We're a human colony in the Hyades cluster," she said. "We were founded three hundred years ago by mattermission, but then it turned out we were actually inside Sphere Nath, so we were subject to their government. Since our supply line had broken down and the Naths were well established, this really was better. All we had to do was obey their laws and honor their customs, and they treated us just as well as Sol would have. Better, maybe. That's part of the Intersphere Covenant, you see. I don't think Sol ever established diplomatic relations with Nath, but at the fringes of the Spheres it is Galactic custom to work these things out—"
"Wait, wait!" Brother Paul cried. "You mean to say human beings are being governed by alien creatures that look like—that rug?"
"Yes, of course. The Naths are really rather nice. We had some trouble at first, but once the Wheel of Tarot was established everything was fine. Now we worship our Saints, and they don't know the difference."
"The Wheel of Tarot," he repeated. "Would that be related to the Wheel of Life and Death, or the Wheel of Becoming?"
"Yes, it is also called that. It—"
"With five spokes? Each section representing—"
"Yes, the Naths call these sections Energy, Gas, Liquid, Solid, and Plasma. You know, the five states of matter, each one phasing into the other, completing the circle. Each with its representative Deity, that we call—"
"You worship alien Gods?" he asked, dismayed.
She paused momentarily in the path. "Look, Brother—if we didn't honor their religion, their missionaries would be push-hooked, and then their government might decide not to expend good resources maintaining an alien squatter-colony. We need Nath equipment and material and knowhow and communications, and if we don't get them we'll—well, can you imagine scrounging a living from this terrain, alone?" She gestured up and down the slope, taking in the lava and ice. "So we follow their religion. They don't demand that of us, but we really have to."
As the Blacks and Reds of Latin America had to follow Christianity, overtly. Now it was coming clear. "So you merged your Saints with their Spirits, so that they would believe you were honoring their religion?"
"That's correct. It was easy, in four sections of the Wheel. Their God of Gas, Xe Kwi Stofr, is our Saint Christopher, and—"
"I don't quite see the connection. Gas would equate to the element of Air, which is the Tarot suit of Swords, generally associated with intellect or science or trouble, while St. Christopher—"
The path debouched into a small valley sheltered under an overhanging cliff. Here there was a building in the shape of a roofed wheel, complete with five sections. Massive dikes diverted the lava flow, causing it to pass on either side of the Wheel, burning back the ice. A fringe of trees of diverse species surrounded the island Wheel. Evidently this was a permanent lava flow—truly alien to Earthly experience and enough to interrupt anyone's chain of thought. A narrow bridge, fashioned of wedges of stone, passed over one of the lava streams to the island. The whole thing would have been difficult for human beings to assemble without the machines of an advanced technology—and the colonists obviously lacked those. So it had to be the beneficial handiwork of the alien civilization: the Naths.
Actually, it made sense that there be more sapient aliens in space than just the protoplasmic entities of Antares. He had no reason to be surprised. Man would inevitably encounter these aliens, and it was best that mechanisms for peaceful interaction exist.
"Let me tell you about St. Christopher," Ruby said. "He was a huge man who chose to work for the most powerful king on Earth. When he saw that the strongest king feared the Devil, Christopher went to work for the Devil. But then the Devil flinched at the Cross, so Christopher sought the one who was associated—"
"Yes, of course," Brother Paul said. "That was Jesus—"
"Don't say that name!" she cried, cutting him off. "The Naths know our origin-religion, and if they thought we were backsliding—"
Brother Paul nodded. "So the Sword of Tarot becomes the Cross that St. Christopher sought. And the Wand suit becomes—"
"Saint Barbara, locked in the tower because she would not marry a rich pagan," she said. "The bolt of lightning that avenged her martyrdom becomes the symbol of energy of the Nath Nature Spirit Xe Ba Va Ra. And the suit of Coins stands for Nath's Solid, the Spirit of Trade, Xe Jun Olm Nar, whom we call Saint John the Almoner, so generous in his alms. Their Spirit of Art, Xe Gul Yia Na, is our Saint Juliana, who tied up the Devil. The only real problem is—"
"You seem to have it worked out pretty well," he said. "I'm surprised that the mere exchange of names persuades the Naths you are converts to their religion." Yet that same device had been effective for the Voodoo adherents in Christian countries. When a man kneeled before a statue of St. Barbara, spoke her name reverently, and left an offering, who could say for sure whether it was the Catholic Saint he prayed to in his heart or Xango, the Voodoo God of lightning? Who could say which entity answered that prayer? Did it really matter?
"The Naths do not separate religion and morality," she said. "They believe that if we profess belief in their spirits, we must necessarily follow their cultural code. So they do not inquire too
closely, so long as we do not violate it in any obvious manner. Still—"
"The Naths seem like good creatures," he said. Now they were crossing the bridge. He flinched away from the hot fumes rising from it. "I hardly begrudge you your original religion, for it is my own, though perhaps I indulge in an earlier variant of Chris—of that faith."
"Three hundred years earlier," she said.
"Oh? How would you know that?" He had expected some kind of objection from the role-player, who was not a Christian. She must be seething!
"That's how long it takes a freezer-ship to reach here from Sol at half-light speed or less. So you are a man of twenty or twenty first century Earth, thawed out after a sleep that seemed to you just a moment."
Freezer-ship? Suspended animation for three centuries? Well, it was a natural conclusion for a native girl. But how would Amaranth have known of such things, assuming they were valid details of future history? There were nuances to these Animations that seemed to defy rational explanation.
"At any rate," he continued as she showed him into a section marked with a picture of jolly Santa Claus in his fat red suit and spreading white beard, "I don't really see that such subterfuge is necessary here. Why not simply inform the Naths that you worship similar Gods to theirs, though they go by different names? I'm sure the aliens would understand."
"They would," she agreed. "They do. In four aspects of the Wheel. But in the fifth—"
"That would be the suit of—" He broke off, startled. "Wait! We already have four suits! A five-sectioned wheel can not be matched to—"
"We are now in the Re-Fissioning aspect of the Wheel, the problematical one," she said, stripping away her one-sided snow suit. Now she was naked, and though no more of her showed than would have appeared in a mirror reflection of her nude half, she seemed much barer than before. "Governed by the state of Liquid, or the Spirit of Faith, the key to this whole compromise. Xe Ni Qolz, whom we call—"
"Saint Nicholas!" he exclaimed, making the connection to the artwork of this chamber. "Old Santa Claus!"
"Yes, the Saint for the Children. Father Christmas." She took his hand and led him to a broad couch. It was amazing how an inconsequential act of disrobing assumed quite consequential implications. Before, he had oriented on her clothed half; now— "The Naths do not spy on us, precisely, but the walls are translucent to their perception. They don't use sound, exactly; it's more like infrasonics. So the Nath governor is aware of everything that goes on here."
"Well, we have nothing to hide," he said uncomfortably. Certainly she was hiding nothing, physically. She was very free with her body, as he remembered from a prior Animation—except that he could not be sure it was her body that he—"
He stifled that thought. At any rate, he had every intention of leaving her alone this time. All he wanted was information.
"We have one thing to hide," she said. "The one thing we could not do to accommodate Nath, as colonists." She began to remove his clothing.
"Hey, stop!" he protested.
She leaned over and kissed him. "Don't make a commotion. Just relax and enjoy it. Remember, we told the Nath we were siblings. They have very good communications. They will be instantly aware if we do not act the part."
"I am a Brother of the Holy Order of Vision," he said, determined not to let his survey of religions go the same way as his first Animation sequence. She might be determined to give one of her samples; he was determined not to take it. "That's a kind of title, indicating my status. It hardly means I am your biologic brother—and in any event, this is no sisterly approach you are making to me."
"Shut up and listen," she said, continuing to work on his clothing despite his resistance. "The Naths expect us to maintain proper sexual morality; that is how they know we are true converts. To violate their standards—" She spread her hands appealingly. "We just couldn't survive as a colony without Nath support. You've seen what this planet is like—and this is just the habitable portion! I think the close proximity of so many neighboring stars evokes crustal unrest, causing continuous volcanic action—not that I object to volcanoes, but—"
"All right," he said. He knew she liked volcanoes in symbol and reality, just as she liked serpents. "You need Nath support; I believe that. But I think it is fine that the Naths insist on sexual morality. So do I! But you—"
"The Naths do not reproduce quite the way we do," she said. "Each Nath is bipart; it has a male section and a female section. The one we talked to was actually a married couple."
"I see. When Naths tie the knot, they really do tie it! But surely they can appreciate that human beings, uh, merge that closely only for procreative purpose. They can't expect us to go about tied together physically—"
"They understand. But they do expect married couples to stay reasonably close together and to merge often. So we display much more continuous affection than you may have been accustomed to back on Earth. We don't really mind. It does seem to make for more successful unions."
"For married couples, that's fine. But you and I are, if we accept your description to the Nath, brother and sister. So—"
"Oh be quiet," she said. "I had to tell the Nath that because single people just don't go about. Half an entity can't make it on its own, by the Nath rationale. The whole colony would have been in trouble, not just you and me. You can't believe how sensitive they are about this one thing. It is their religion, damn it! I was a fool to go out there alone, and you should have stayed aboard your ship until you got a proper briefing and escort."
"Sorry," he murmured apologetically. "If you'll just stop undressing me, I'll listen better."
"Well, maybe we can fake it for a while," she agreed reluctantly. She pushed him down on the couch and stretched out beside him in a most provocative manner. "When the Naths want to reproduce, they fission. They split apart into their male and female halves. That's one of the two times in their lives they aren't locked together. Then each half regenerates—do Earthworms still do that?"
"They do," Brother Paul assured her.
"Except that a male Nath—half can't regenerate the opposite sex, or vice versa. So male regenerates male tissue, and female regenerates female tissue—am I embarrassing you?"
"You are talking about alien reproduction," he reminded her. "Why should I be embarrassed?" He was embarrassed, but by her body and actions, not her discussion.
"That's right, you're fresh from Earth. The local pornography doesn't bother you, yet. Anyway, a unisex composite is inherently unstable."
"I should think so," Brother Paul agreed. "It would be like homosexuality, lesbianism—"
"Except it is a necessary part of their reproduction," she said. "The unisex sets quickly re-fission. Then there are four sub-Naths, and two females. Actually, male-original and male-regenerate, and the same for the females. Then they recombine, forming—"
"I see," Brother Paul said. "But that's really like a human family. The parent-couple produces two children, a boy and a girl. Nath mechanism differs in detail, but—"
"That detail is a hell of a difference," she said. "Some of the fragments have to go out and merge with other family fragments, to keep the genetic pool circulating—"
"Yes, of course. That's why human beings are exogamous, marrying outside their immediate family. Otherwise the species would quickly splinter into dissimilar species. There has to be interbreeding among the members of—"
"But it is not the children, the regenerates, that are exogamous," Ruby said. "They are too new to handle it properly. So it is the old individuals who split up, and re-merge elsewhere. They—"
"They have to divorce after procreating?" Brother Paul asked, startled. "That's not my idea of a stable marriage! Who takes care of the children?"
"The children take care of themselves with general help from the larger Nath community. They merge into a Nath couple, and—"
Brother Paul was shocked. "But that's incest!"
"Now you begin to understand the problem," she said. "By th
eir standards and their religion, it is immoral for siblings not to mate with each other and for parents not to separate and remarry other divorcees. So if we want Nath support for our human enclave—"
"We have to commit incest and break up families," Brother Paul finished. "At last I get your drift. As a colony, you are torn between your economic needs for survival, and your human sexual morality, with a dual-aspect religion papering over the dichotomy. Yet if you explained this basic difference to the Naths—"
"Our ancestors tried," she said. "The Nath missionaries explained their position to us. They said we had been living, as a species, in intolerable sin, and they could not support it. It was their duty to lead us into the light despite ourselves. Naths are very accommodating creatures, but on this point they are inflexible."
"Just like missionaries," Brother Paul said with a sigh. "But how do you get around it?"
"The Nath biologists probably know, but the missionaries don't know or profess not to know, that human couples do not generally produce twins, and more seldom are there male-female twins. So when we have babies we meet here in the Children's aspect of the wheel and surreptitiously exchange them, making up exogamous pairs that we then raise as siblings. All humans look more or less alike to Naths, so they don't catch on. They can track a particular family if they choose, as they may have done with us two, but when there is a crowd of us they don't bother. Thus our children grow up and reproduce without damage to the human genetic pool. Then, with Nath blessing, they divorce and seek partners of their choice."
Brother Paul shook his head. "I appreciate the necessity, but I am appalled at the means!"
"Now we'd better mate," she said. "They will get suspicious if we stall any longer or if we leave without doing it. If they decide to make a general investigation, they could discover the truth, and that would wipe us all out. The colony cannot afford even the suggestion of suspicion!"
"But casual sex—"
"Casual, hell! This is serious."
"Politically or economically motivated—this is against my religion!" he protested.