Binder1, p.10
Binder1, page 10
He could have shot Hehog at point-blank range during the moment he had spent staring frozenly at the spear in Hehog’s hand and at the great-eyed, grinning ;head within the helmet. Hehog had to have seen the ;gun. And that would have been why he had not tried to ;throw the spear.
Kiev cursed blackly. He was still cursing when the others slid down the loose rock of the slope to surround ;him.
“What happened?” demanded Shant.
“He—” Kiev discovered that his intercom was still off. He tongued it on. “He got away.”
“We know he got away,” said Wadjik. “What we want to know is how come?”
“You saw,” Kiev snapped. “I fell. He had me. You scared him off.”
“He had you? I thought you had him, damn it!”
“All right, he’s gone,” Johnson said. “That’s the main thing. Leave the other bodies for whoever wants to eat ;them. We’ve had a good drive. We’ll split up, now.” He ;looked at Wadjik and Shant. “See you back in civilization.”
Wadjik cursed cheerfully.
“Team with the heaviest load buys the drinks,” he said. “Come on, Shanny.”
The two of them turned away, dragging their loaded grav-sled through the air behind them.
Kiev, Willy and Johnson reached Dead City a good two hours before dawn. They had time to pick out one ;of the empty, windowless houses, half-cave, half-building, ;to use as permanent headquarters. Tomorrow night ;they would cut stone to fill the open doorway but for ;today the shelter, fitted double-thick into the opening, ;would do well enough.
No singing came from the surrounding cliffs. Johnson crawled in. Kiev lingered to speak to Willy.
“You don’t have to worry.” The words were not what he had planned to say. “The Udbahr are scared of this ;place. ”
“I know.” She did not look at him. “Of course. I know more about this city and the Udbahrs than even ;Mr. Johnson does. There’s a taboo on this place for them.”
“Yes.” Kiev looked down at his gloved right hand and spread the fingers, still feeling the hard butt of his ;sidearm clamped inside them. "About earlier tonight, ;with Hehog—”
“It’s all right,” she said softly, looking unexpectedly up at him. Her intercom was off and her voice came to ;him through her helmet. In the combination of the ;low-angled moonlight and the first horizon glow of the ;dawn, her face seemed luminescent. “I know you did it ;for me—after all.”
He stared at her.
“Did what?”
She still spoke softly: “I know why you let that
Udbahr male live. It was because of what I’d said, wasn’t it? But you need to be ashamed of nothing. You ;simply haven’t gone bad inside, like the others. Don’t ;worry—I won’t tell anyone.”
She took his arm gently with both hands, and lifted her head as if—had they been unhelmeted—she might ;have kissed his cheek. Then she turned and disappeared into the cave.
He followed her after some moments. A small filter panel in the shelter had let a little of the terrible ;daylight through the illumination. Here artificial lighting had to be on. Kiev saw by it that she had piled ;stores and opened some of her own gear to set up a ;four-foot wall that gave her individual privacy.
He laid out his own thermal bag. The heat was quite bearable behind the insulation of the thick-walled building as the day began. Kiev fell into a deep, exhausted ;sleep that seemed completely dreamless.
He awoke without warning. Instantly alert, he rose to an elbow.
The light was turned down. He heard no sound from Willy. Johnson snored.
Kiev remained stiffly propped on one elbow. A feeling of danger prickled his skin. He found his ears were straining for some noise that did not belong here.
He listened.
For a long moment he heard only the snoring and beyond it silence. Then he heard what had awakened ;him. It came again, like the voice of some imprisoned ;spirit—not from beyond the wall but from under the ;stone floor on which he lay.
Man with a head-and-a-half, ;
come and get your half-head.
Man with a head-and-a-half,
Come, so I can kill you.
Ancient, my enemy.
Ancient, my enemy.
The singing broke off suddenly. Kiev jerked bolt upright and the thermal bag fell down around his waist. ;Suddenly more loudly through the rock, and nearer, ;the voice echoed in the dim interior of the stone building:
Only for ourselves is the killing ;
of each other!
Man with a head-and-a-half, ;
come and get your half-head.
Man with a head-and-a-half. . .
The singing continued. Fury uprushed like vomit in Kiev. He swore, tearing off his thermal bag and pawing ;through his piled outerwear. His fingers closed on the ;butt of the weapon. He jerked it clear, aimed it at the ;section of the floor from which the singing was coming ;and pressed the trigger.
Light, heat and thunder shredded the sleeping quiet of the dimly lit room. Kiev held the beam steady, a ;hotter rage inside him than he could express with the ;rock-rending gun. He felt his arm seized. The sidearm ;was torn from his grip. He whirled to find Johnson ;holding the weapon out of reach.
“Give me that,” Kiev said thickly.
“Wake up,” Johnson said, low-voiced. “What’s got into you?”
“Didn’t you hear?” Kiev shouted at him. “That was Hehog—Hehog! Down there!”
He pointed at the hole with its melted sides, half a meter deep into the floor of the building.
“I heard,” said Johnson. “It was Hehog, all right. There must be tunnels under some of these buildings.”
Willy chimed in.
“But Udbahrs don’t—”
Kiev and Johnson turned to see her staring at them over the top of her barricade. Kiev became suddenly ;conscious that, like Johnson, he was completely without ;clothes.
Willy’s face disappeared abruptly. Kiev turned back to look at the hole his gun had burned in the stone. It ;showed no breakthrough into further darkness at the ;bottom.
“All right,” he said shakily. “I’m sorry. I woke up hearing him and just jumped—that’s all. We can shift to ;another building tomorrow. And sound for tunnels before we move in.”
Johnson turned and returned to his thermal bag. Kiev resumed his cocoon. He lay on his back, hands ;behind his head, staring up at the shadowy ceiling.
. . . Ancient, my enemy . . . ancient, my enemy . . .
The memory of Hehog’s chant continued to run through his head.
You and me, Hehog. I’ll show you, Udbahr . . .
And some time he fell asleep.
They moved camp the next night, as soon as the sun was down. Kiev and Johnson quarried large chunks of ;rock from the wall on an adjoining building, melted ;them into place to fill up the new door opening, except ;for the entrance unit, which was set up double as a heat ;lock and fitted into place.
Now the shelter air conditioner could keep the whole interior of the new building comfortable all day long. ;The night was half over by the time they finished.
Kiev and Johnson had some four hours left to trek to their prospecting area. The gold ore deposits in the ;neighborhood of Dead City were almost always in pipes ;and easily worked out in a few days by men with the ;proper equipment.
Kiev hesitated.
“I’ll stay,” he said. “With Hehog around, someone’s got to stay with Miss Fairchild.”
Johnson regarded him thoughtfully.
“You’re right. If we leave her here alone Hehog’s sure to get her. And who would sell us gear for our next ;trip if word got out about how we left her to be killed?” ;He hesitated. “Tell you what—we’ll draw straws.”
Kiev said, “I’ll stay. Drop back in a week. I’ll tell you then if I need you to take over.”
Johnson nodded. He turned away and began his packing—food, weapons, equipment, a water drill for ;tapping the moonflower root systems. Also, a breathing ;membrane for sealing the caves they would be denning ;up in by day. Kiev, squatting, making a final check of ;the seal around the entrance, saw a shadow fall across a ;seam he was examining.
He stood up, turned and saw Willy down the street, taking solidographs of one of the buildings. Johnson ;stood just behind him, equipment already on his ;backpack.
“We haven’t had a chance to talk,” Johnson said. “No.”
“Let me say now what I’ve wanted to say. Why don’t you pack up and go back—and take the girl with you?”
“I’ve got my stake to make out here—like everybody else.”
“You know there’s more to the situation. Hehog’s changed everything. Also, there’s the girl—we both ;know what I mean. And there’s something else—something I don’t think you’re aware of.”
“What?”
“You’ve heard how sometimes the males—if they’ve just fed so they aren’t hungry and there’s only one of ;them around—will come into your camp and sit down ;to talk?”
Kiev frowned at him.
“I’ve heard of it,” he said. “It’s never happened to me.
“It’s happened to me,” said Johnson. “They ask you things that’d surprise you. Surprise you what they tell ;you, too. You know why Hehog’s broken taboo and ;come right into Dead City?”
“Do you?”
Johnson nodded.
“There’s a thing the Udbahrs believe in,” Johnson said. “They figure that when they eat someone they eat ;his soul, too?”
“Sure,” said Kiev. “And that soul stays inside them until they’re killed. Then, when they die, if no one else ;eats them right away, all the souls of all the bodies ;they’ve eaten in their lives fly loose and take over the ;bodies of pups too young to have strong souls of their ;own. ”
Johnson nodded. He tilted his head at the distant figure of Willy.
“You’ve been learning from her,” he said.
“Her? As a matter of fact, I have,” said Kiev. “But you were the one who told me about Udbahr cannibalism—a ;year or more ago.”
“Did I?” Johnson looked at him. “Did I tell you about Ancient Enemies?”
Kiev shook his head.
“Once in a while a couple of males get a real feud going. It’s not an ordinary hate. It’s almost a noble ;thing—if you follow me. And from then on the feud ;never stops, no matter how many times they both die. ;Every time one is killed and born again—when he ;grows up it’s turn to kill the other one. The next time ;the roles are reversed. You follow me?”
Kiev frowned.
“No.”
“Figure both souls live forever through any number of bodies. They take turns killing each other physically.” Johnson looked strangely at Kiev. “The only ;thing is that no soul ever remembers from one body ;to the next—they never know whose turn it is to be ;killed and which one’s to be the killer. So they just ;keep running into each other until the soul of one of ;them tells him, ‘Go!’ Then he kills the other and goes off ;to wait to die.”
Johnson stopped speaking. Kiev stared.
“You mean Hehog thinks he and I—he thinks we’re these Ancient Enemies?”
“Night before last,” said Johnson, “you and he were face to face, both armed—and neither one of you killed ;the other. Yesterday—while we were denned up—he ;showed up here in the Dead City where it’s taboo for ;him to be. Being Ancient Enemies is the only thing ;that’d set him free of a taboo like that. What do you ;think?”
Kiev turned for a second look down the street at Willy.
“Hehog’s not going to leave you alone if I’m right,” said Johnson. “And he’s smart. He might even get away ;with killing one or two of us so he could stay close to ;you. And the easiest one for him to kill would be that ;girl. And it’s true what I said. We lose a human woman ;out here and no supplier’s going to touch us with a ;ten-foot pole.”
“Yeah,” said Kiev.
“I’m not afraid of Hehog, myself. But I’ve got no place else to go. I plan to die out here some day—but ;not yet for a few trips. Take the girl and head back. ;Give up the mountains while you still can. Kiev—I ;mean it.”
“You can’t make us leave,” Kiev said slowly.
“No,” said Johnson. His face looked old and dark as weather-stained oak. “But you keep that girl here and ;Hehog’ll get her. She doesn’t know anything but books ;and she doesn’t understand someone like Hehog. She ;doesn’t even understand us.” He took a step back. “So ;long, partner,” he said. “See you in three nights—maybe.”
He turned and walked away slowly, leaning forward against the weight of the pack, until he was lost among ;the rocks of the western cliffs.
Kiev turned and saw the small shape of Willy even farther down the street, still taking pictures.
He continued to think for the next two days and nights, which were quiet. He spent most of his time ;studying the aerial maps near Dead City he had planned ;to work during this trip. Actually he was getting his ;ideas in order for explanation to Willy, who seemed to ;be having the time of her life. She was measuring and ;photographing Dead City inch by inch, as excited over ;it as if it were one large Christmas present. She had ;changed towards him, too, teasing him and doing for ;him, by turns.
Hehog did not sing from underground in the new building.
On the third night Kiev invited himself along on her work with the City.
He realized now that what Johnson had told him was true. Johnson’s words had been the final shove he had ;needed to make up his mind. The fact that he and Willy ;had met less than a week ago meant nothing. Out here ;things were different.
He had worried about how he would bring up the subject of his future—and hers. But it turned out that ;he had no need to bring it up. It was already there. ;Almost before he knew it they were talking as if certain ;things were understood and taken for granted.
He said, “I’ve got at least five more trips to make to get the stake I need for a move back to the Old Worlds. ;You’d have to wait.”
“But you don’t need to keep coming back here,” she said. “I know how you can make the rest of the money ;you need without even one more trip. I know because a ;publishing company talked to me about doing something like it. There’s a steady market for information ;about humanoids like the Udbahrs. Books, lectures. ;Acting as industrial and economic consultant—”
He stared at her.
“I couldn’t do anything like that,” he said. “I’m no good with words and theories—”
“You don’t have to be. All you have to do is tell what you’ve seen and done on these trips of yours. You’ll ;collect enough on advance bookings alone for us to go ;back to any Old World you want—after I get my doctorate, of course—and settle down there. Don’t forget I’ve ;got my work, too. I’ll be teaching.” She stared at him ;eagerly. “And think of what you’ll be achieving. Intelligent natives are being killed off or exploited on new ;worlds like this one simply because there’s no local ;concern over them and because our civilization hasn’t ;understood them enough to make the necessary concessions for them to accept it. You could be the one to get ;the ball rolling that could save the Udbahrs from being ;hunted down and killed off—”
“By people like me, you mean,” he said, a little sourly.
“Not you. You haven’t yet been infected with the sort of killing lust Wadjik and Shant—and even Johnson ;—have.”
“It isn’t a lust. Out here you have to kill the Udbahrs to keep them from killing you.”
She looked at him sharply.
“Yes—if you’re a savage,” she said. “As the Udbahrs are savages. I couldn’t love an Udbahr. I could only ;love a man who was civilized—able to keep the savage ;part inside him chained up. That Ancient Enemy business Hehog sang to you—that’s the way a savage thinks. ;I don’t expect you not to have the psychological capacity to lust for killing—but if you’re a healthy-minded ;man you can keep that sort of Ancient Enemy locked ;up inside you. You don’t have to let him take you ;over.”
He opened his mouth to. make one more stubborn effort to explain himself to her, then closed it again ;rather helplessly. He found a certain uncomfortable ;rightness in part of what she was saying. Although from ;that rightness she went off into left field somewhere to ;an area where he was sure she was wrong. While he ;groped for words to express himself the still air around ;him was suddenly torn by the sound of a gun-bolt ;explosion.
He found himself running towards the building they had set up as their headquarters, sidearm in his hand, ;the sound of Willy’s voice and footsteps following him. ;The distance was not great and he did not slow down for ;her. Better if he made it first—or if she did not come at ;all until he knew what had happened.
He rounded the corner of the building and saw the shelter entrance hanging in blackened tatters. He dove ;past it. By some miracle the light was still burning ;against the ceiling but the interior it illuminated was a ;scene of wreckage. Concussion and heat from the bolt ;had torn apart or scorched everything in the place.
With a wild coldness inside him, he pawed swiftly through the rubble for whatever was usable. Two thermal sleeping bags were still in working condition, though ;their outer covering was charred in spots and stinking ;of burned plastic. Food containers were ripped open ;and their contents destroyed. The water drill was workable and most of one air membrane was untouched.
“What happened? Who did it? Kiev—”
He awoke to the fact that Willy was with him again, literally pulling at him to get his attention. He came ;erect wearily.
“I don’t know,” he said, dully. “Maybe some prospector has gone out of his head entirely. Or—”
He hesitated.
“Or what?”
He looked at her.
“Or an Udbahr male has gotten hold of the gun of a dead prospector.”
