the Story Shop

  Now is the time ... the time ...

  I could not speak. I was choking. I saw Andrew pointing his finger at me. He was speaking, his eyes flashing ... and he was smiling.

  "The trials are over," he said. "We erred and we recognized our error, yet there are still witches among us."

  The crowd looked to where Andrew pointed. They looked at me! I fell to my knees. I was not able to move.

  Now I sit in a room without a window. I cannot speak. Iron bars constrain me. The trial is over and I have been declared the last witch of Bedford. The hanging will take place at the old Gallows Hill. I understand that the town is excited about the prospect of another hanging.

  They all laughed at me.

  They were soft and golden and fuzzy and I was not.

  I do not know how I got to be among them.

  I did not belong among them.

  As we grew up, together, I got bigger and uglier.

  They got cuter, more beautiful and nastier.

  Why must they tease me?

  Why must they laugh and heckle and giggle.

  Not behind my back but right before my eyes.

  Because I was so different? Was that reason enough?

  Were they proud of their behaviour?

  I grew up to be a vulture ... and I ate them all.

 

  The way of the galaxy can now be seen, it runs to here from where we've been.

  And all the stars shall wink their last when here is now and now is past.

  Carmichael, A.D. 2207

  I read the poem as though for the first time. Now, in retrospect, it seemed almost prophetic. Although my memory isn't what it was, I can recall the events quite well. Indeed, it seems like only yesterday.

  At first it appeared as though the stellar scanner had broken down -- again. It was the third time in less than six months. I called Gry, gave him hell without listening to his explanations (he always began a sentence with "...uh ..." and, now that I think of it, I gave him little opportunity to continue). I insisted that he drop everything and fix it or replace it, then I punched the comtab and leaned heavily into my chair and stared out the port at the Barrens.

  As First Citizen of the Dome community I felt it was my duty to monitor the devices which made life possible on this inhospitable planet. There was little else to do. Yet I felt strangely uncomfortable. Gry was a friend. Perhaps I had taken advantage of this friendship. Indeed, I had insisted that he give up his job in algae processing and learn the technical aspects of the dome automatons. He hadn't been too happy with this change in duties. He loved to fiddle with reconstituted and refurbished algae and had invented some very popular foodstuffs.

  I was about to open the comline again, to apologize, to explain that the duties of office were getting to me, perhaps to suggest that he and his good wife, Lori, would join me on a trip to the Dolom Mountains. I'd ask Sal, since my brother had little to keep him tied to the Science Labs. We'd taken such trips before and the opportunity to inhale non-processed air, to eat something other than processed algae, to recall common adventures over an open fire ... it seemed almost too good to pass up.

  As I reached for the comtab, DOC's voice boomed:

  MASTER KEVN, THE STELLAR SCANNER REPORTS A LOSS OF ...

  I couldn't believe that I had discovered the malfunction even before the Dome Omniscient Computer and it made me angry.

  "DOC, forget it! I've already arranged to have it fixed!"

  There was only a momentary pause before DOC continued, ignoring my remark.

  ... LOSS OF STELLAR MATTER IN THE PHRINENE SECTOR AND THE LOCUS OF NULL SPACE HAS NOW EXTENDED TO ...

  "What are you taking about? The scanner's broken! Gry'll fix it or replace it. In the meantime you can identify the malfunction ... "

  WE MONITOR SCANNER FUNCTION CONTINUOUSLY AND THE SCANNER IS FULLY OPERATIONAL

  I was a bit surprised that DOC would interrupt me and was about to say something when the door to my office dissolved and Gry walked in with Sal at his side.

  "Kevn," my brother began, "there's nothing wrong with the scanner. There is something wrong in Phrinene. Stars are vanishing. There is a dark ribbon without stellar matter and the projected path of this anomaly is too close to Home Planet to ignore any longer."

  There was a long pause. Any longer?I can recall becoming angry that I hadn't been informed of this earlier. I rose from my chair, leaned on the desk and glowered, both at Sal and at Gry. Sal began to smile.

  "Big brother, you need a rest. I've never seen you in such a foul mood. Office too big for your boots? Inundated by trivia? How about a week in Dolom Mountains? It'll do you good and, as you might expect, nobody around here will even know you're gone."

  Then Sal began to laugh. Gry hesitated, then joined him and I collapsed again into my chair.

  WE CONCUR

  Then I laughed. What the hell. Life was too short. The job was getting to me. My life had been idyllic, travelling with Gry, collecting phonarite crystals to regrow the dome automatons. Idyllic --- until I became First Citizen.

  When Gravic died I should never have let the citizens of the Dome talk me into replacing him. He had been the first First Citizen, commanding the fleet of transworld vessels after the Settlers fled the wretched planet Earth to establish a new society in this domed city on these barren plains. The settlers were elated and named the planet Home ... all except the meteorologist, Dolom, who refused to live in the Dome and vanished into the mountains.

  "Kevn ... uh ... are you still with us?"

  Gry parted his long and unruly black hair, pulled at the ring hanging brilliant from his ear and shifted from foot to foot.

  "Dolom Mountains," I mumbled, coming out of my reverie. "Yes. A good idea. A great idea. Maybe next month. Maybe ..."

  Sal grunted. "Day after tomorrow, big brother. We have it all arranged. K-47 is even now being packed with provisions. Lori has spent the last two days making algae cakes and we'll eat off the land and Gry has donated his last bottle of Extron brandy. Just be at the vessel by sunrise. TOM will be ready to leave as soon as you get there."

  When I think back, I realize that the spatial anomaly that was devouring stars had temporarily lost its importance. What was more important was getting out of the sterile atmosphere of the Dome. In fact I spent the following night in K-47, hardly able to contain my enthusiasm for the trip. LIZ wasn't the least bit surprised when I showed up; she had been in touch with DOC and knew I was coming early. TOM, however, was taken aback.

  "Master Kevn," the android began, "we are very pleased that you are spending the night here, but I am of the opinion that a lengthy trip to the Dolom Mountains will simply delay making an informed decision concerning the extrapolated locus ..."

  "TOM is worried about the spatial anomaly," LIZ interjected. The ship computer had a way of coming to the point.

  "LIZ, sweetheart, I need to get away. I know you can understand that." I turned to the android. "TOM, don't worry. While we're away we'll be discussing this ... this ..."

  "Star eater," suggested LIZ.

  "Yes, very good ... the star eater." LIZ was a delight. "TOM, please keep in touch with DOC. He'll be monitoring the scanners and will report if anything changes in the projected locus. He's already calculated that it will be months, perhaps years, before this ... this star eater will be anywhere near Home planet."

  TOM pulled himself to his full two meter height.

  "I have little need of DOC's input," he grunted in very human fashion. "And as for the calculations, I disagree with his assumptions. The behavior of this ... this spatial anomaly does not conform to known dynamical equations and must be imputed from historical ..."

  "Oh TOM, don't be silly," LIZ interjected. "You know very well that DOC has modified the parameters to reflect the historical trajectory. His analysis is based upon the best-fit PDE."

  I stared at the console, amused. Somehow it seemed natural to stare at the console even though
LIZ's voice didn't originate there. I looked again at TOM. He ran his hand over his smooth grey head and looked somewhat flustered. He had never said so --- not in so many words --- but he was clearly jealous. LIZ spent too much time in communication with DOC. TOM had told me just that, saying that the shipcomp should spend more time looking after the control systems of K-47 and he would provide external communications. I left it to them to allocate their time. It's now obvious that LIZ won the debate.

  Evening in Dolom Mountains had fallen rather quickly and the air grew cooler. Gry spent an inordinate amount of time fussing over the fire, Lori passed around her cakes and Sal spoke between mouthfuls.

  "... so I think it's best if we take K-47 to a point just behind the anomaly. If it's really eating stars," Sal continued, smiling at LIZ's words, "then we can verify that directly, track its progress more precisely and make predictions concerning its future course."

  "And if it is eating stars, and if it is heading our way, then what will you do?" Lori sat beside Gry, pushing a small cake into his mouth. "I should think you'd want to be prepared for the worst, don't you? If it devours our suns then we must move on, to another Home, to another Dome ... and that takes time, to prepare the citizens, to build more transworld vessels."

  Sal and I both stared at Lori. She was right, of course. What would we do? I was about to make some foolish suggestion, thinking that the First Citizen held that responsibility, when Lori continued.

  "If you'd like my advice, and I know you would, then I think you should contact Runr."

  She just stopped there, a little smile barely visible in the dim light, her eyes glinting in the ruddy glow of the fire. There was perhaps no need to say any more.

  Gry and I had found the small black boy on C-phon3 and named him Runr. It was a 3-letter corruption of "runner", consistent with the Dome's tendency to give children 3- or 4-letter names. Gry and I had been clawing phonarite crystals from that planet, one of a string of three C-phon planets which had large deposits of the crystal, and we brought Runr back to the Dome knowing Gravic would be pleased with an addition to the gene pool. That was something that always worried the First Citizen: although he had chosen the settlers carefully, the Dome community was still limited in its complement of genetic material.

  Runr spoke in grunts during the trip back from C-phon3 and I had tried in vain to teach him English. Then, one morning, he greeted me with the prophetic poem by Carmichael. Runr recited flawlessly:

  The way of the galaxy can now be seen, it runs to here from where we've been.

  And all the stars shall wink their last when here is now and now is past.

  That was when we learned that this small boy could communicate with the phonarite crystals on C-phon3, hence with the phonarite computers on K-47 and, in particular, with LIZ who taught Runr English in one night. Lori and Gry adopted the boy.

  We subsequently learned that Runr was an Afrian, a race of blacks who had left Earth to colonize a planet they called Afria, and that all Afrians had such powers of communication with these crystals, to some degree. Indeed, the Afrian planet, covered in phonarite, was sentient and eventually turned upon the Afrians, destroying much of their community in a holocaust of hurricane and quakes. When Runr learned of the fate of his people he left Lori and Gry and Home planet, returned to the devastated Earth, found a band of Afrians who had survived the planet's violence, and lead them back to Afria to rebuild their community on that angry planet.

  That was some eighteen years ago. We had heard little of Runr since then, except that Afria had been tamed and was apparently some sort of paradise. Runr, I understand, had powers heightened by his close contact with the crystals on C-phon3. While living with us on Home planet, Runr had demonstrated his ability to foresee future events --- in the form of dreams which he could only vaguely interpret --- yet he could not see into the past. Indeed, he had no idea how he came to be on C-phon3, alone, far from those of his people who had survived the Afrian violence.

  Now Lori seemed almost eager for us to contact Runr. You could see it in her eyes.

  "What could Runr do?" I asked, almost apologetically. I didn't want to discourage Lori nor did I want to dim the fire in her eyes.

  "He could ... uh, eat the star-eater!" Gry had stopped poking the fire and held Lori close to his side. "He could ... uh, he could ..."

  "Only Runr can say what he can do," Lori whispered. "I think it's worth a try. We could travel to Afria. We could speak with him. I ... I would like to come."

  From the corner of my eye I could see Sal beaming. Lori's eyes glowed and Gry was hugging her tightly with one hand and nervously pulling his earring with the other. I felt like an ogre. I would have to quash this mad idea before it got out of hand.

  "Look, I know how much you'd like to see Runr. I would, too. We all watched him grow from a boy to a man. Watched him become the Keeper of his people. We all ..."

  "Big brother," Sal interrupted, "this is an adventure I don't want to miss. As Chief of the Science Research Lab I'd like to officially request a ten week leave of absence to investigate the star-eater and to visit Afria and consult with the Keeper and to plot a course of action and ..."

  "And ... uh, I want to go too!" shouted Gry, jumping to his feet.

  "Me too!" Lori cried, holding Gry's hand tightly.

  I stared at them, one at a time. There was no way I could refuse. As First Citizen I didn't really have that much influence on the Chief of Research. As his older brother, I had even less.

  "Great Mother Earth," I said limply, "I don't see how I can stop you. I think you're crazy ... but I really don't see how ..."

  Lori nearly bowled me over as she threw herself into my arms. She had said very little after Runr left Home planet. Now she would see her boy again.

  I remember suddenly feeling ten feet tall. Somehow I felt it was now my duty to encourage this rendezvous. Somehow I felt that the office of First Citizen had dulled my senses, deadened my enthusiasm, siphoned my zest for life. I made a decision right then and there.

  "Me too," I said weakly.

  Lori kissed me violently on the cheek.

  It was LIZ who first announced the change in trajectory of the star-eater. Sal, Gry and Lori were in their quarters and I was half asleep at the console in the command room. I was barely aware of the conversation between the android and the shipcomp.

  "LIZ, please enlarge the solid angle scan. Please superimpose the starmap on the viewscreen so I might identify those stars which have vanished, and please ..."

  I had asked TOM to say "please" when speaking to LIZ, but he tended to overuse the word. It was quite amusing.

  "LIZ, I would like to see the thing in sixteen-color graphics, the colors identifying with the time of first departure of stellar matter ..."

  "I beg your pardon, TOM?"

  "Oh, sorry LIZ, please."

  "I wasn't speaking of your omission of the please-word. I just don't understand your reference to a thing."

  "Ah ... the word thing," said TOM with delight. "It is a substitute for any noun in the human vocabulary. Its meaning is obtained from the context of the phrase in which it is embedded. For example, if I say -"

  "TOM! Do you intend to investigate the star-eater or do you wish to impress me with your knowledge of the human tongue?" said LIZ, somewhat annoyed. "Besides, you may be interested to know that the thing has changed course."

  I opened my eyes and stared at the console.

  "Say that again, LIZ," I asked.

  TOM jumped. "Master Kevn," he said, "the star- ... the spatial anomaly has apparently modified its trajectory so as to deviate from predictions based upon historical parameters and ..."

  "The star-eater is heading for the Afrian sun," LIZ said. "Early analysis suggests that it will reach and consume that star within the next month. Further, there appear to be gravitational anomalies which precede the star-eater, precursors which search the space before it."

  When I
think back, I distinctly remember being relieved. It was not heading toward the Gemini suns of Home planet. We were safe. Now it was Runr's problem. Then I felt like an asshole. Had I really become so insensitive that I couldn't feel anxiety for the new Afrian community?

  "LIZ, contact Afria. Try to get Runr. Tell him what's happening. Tell him to get his people off the planet. Tell him we're on our way and will help."

  Then I ran from the command room to inform Sal. We needed to discuss strategy, work on a plan to remove some 1300 citizens from Afria, decide where to put them. Would the Dome accommodate them all? It would almost double our population. No, the algae ponds wouldn't provide for such an expansion. There must be another solution. Perhaps we should return them to Earth. Perhaps to C-phon2, although that phonarite planet had a reputation for being violent. Perhaps to C-phon3 which, after all, was Runr's childhood planet and was also covered in phonarite crystals. Perhaps they could there recreate their community, enlisting the aid of that planet as they had done on Afria.

  It had taken perhaps five weeks to reach Afria, taking advantage of subspace shortcuts when the opportunities arose, but now we had the Afrian sun on our viewscreen. Lori was beside herself with excitement.

  "I wonder how he's been," she whispered. "Has he married? He does have a daughter, doesn't he? Will he remember us with affection?"

  "Can ... uh, can he do anything about the star-eater?" groaned her husband.

  The console crackled and LIZ announced that voice communication had been established. I leaned forward and saw that Sal was doing the same. We both stared at the console, waiting. It was customary for a host planet to make first contact.

  "Vessel, identify yourself." The voice was not friendly. I could feel a certain resentment, a wary and cautious tremor in the words.

  "I am Kevn, master of this transworld vessel from Home planet and I seek the man named Runr." I wasn't certain that he would go by that name, so I appended: "-- your Keeper."