“The inhabitants of this level have requested privacy from casual observers. To this end they have opaqued the tubes which pass through their domain. This is within their rights. They must still, however, provide open access to all who take the trouble to enter.”
Next we passed through an area filled with reddish fog. The aliens living there looked like they had their insides on the outside. Nauseating.
The next sector seemed to be one big city, or at least that was what I guessed its function was. It spread out over ten kilometers, an interconnected maze of ramps and what seemed to be walkways. What I took to be buildings were large round structures joined by the ramps. From up high it looked like one of those models they use to teach molecular science. I didn’t see what the aliens who lived there looked like. Probably just as well; I was getting overloaded with sensations totally different from anything I’d ever encountered. It would take a while to sort them all out.
In that respect, it was a relief to pass through another opaque area. It was followed by a waterworld that teemed with life of all sorts, most of it big, ugly and full of teeth.
Then we entered Earth, an Earth that probably hadn’t existed for several hundred years. The first thing that hit me as I gazed down from the top of the sky was how cool and peaceful everything looked. Green was the predominant color, from the forests to the fields. A river cascaded from the distant hills to a central valley below us. Where the tube hit the ground, there was a small city, modern and clean. What this sector cost in terms of energy was staggering to think about. Multiply this by all the other habitats in Construct and you have some idea of the massive expenses involved.
We came to a smooth, soundless halt at a loading platform. Somehow I felt a sense of relief, almost a feeling of being home, although this imitation Earth had no resemblance at all to Springworld. What was familiar was form and function. Everything was built to human scale and human needs. I could tell what almost everything was meant to do, unlike all those alien worlds where I could only guess.
We left the tube and gathered in a large room overlooking the loading dock. Other groups from Starschool were arriving now, each with their accompanying Linguist. From there we took a lift to the upper level of the building where the dorms were. The room they gave us looked comfortable, spacious in comparison to what we were used to on the ship, with an impressive view of the city and tube, with the fields and forests beyond. So much green.
“You are free to come and go as you please during your stay here,” said Guide. “There are no restrictions save those you choose to impose upon yourselves.”
“How do we get around?” asked Miko, anxious as always.
“Everything on Construct is at your disposal. This is true for all the beings on this planet, regardless of their intentions.”
I waited for him to explain, but he didn’t. “Do we use the sleds?” I asked.
“You may,” he said. “If you desire.”
“Do you drive us around?”
“If you desire.”
He wasn’t giving us any direct answers. I thought of something else.
“Can we drive ourselves?” I asked.
“If you desire,” he said. I felt like I was caught in a computer loop.
“How do we operate the sleds?” I asked. It seemed like a pretty direct question to me.
“Like everyone else,” he said and left it at that. I was beginning to understand how the humans could have been here so many years and still not know much about the Linguists.
“It is preferable to form small groups in order to experience as much as possible,” said Guide. “Your time here is limited and should be utilized to the fullest extent. Impressions can be shared, but time cannot be expanded.”
We talked it over and decided it would be a good idea to split up. Pancho was going with me, B’oosa and Alegria would go together, and Guide would go with the Dean and Miko. Mio seemed to be impressed that the Dean had chosen to stick with us, but I was a little chagrined. It seemed like he was keeping a close eye on us.
I felt a little old to be carrying around my own personal babysitter.
III
Pancho and I started out by checking out the Earth sector. Even though the city was fairly small, it looked like it could easily hold five or six times the number of people stationed there. Everyone wanted to talk with us, catch up on the latest gossip from Earth and the other planets. I hadn’t seen much of Earth outside the stadium walls, but that didn’t seem to matter much. I think they were glad just to see a few new faces.
We were sitting with Carlos, an engineer from Earth, on a veranda overlooking the river. He’d been on Construct two years. The view was fantastic.
“How do we get around to the other sectors?” I asked. We were pumping him for information as much as he was pumping us.
“Didn’t they tell you kids anything?” He looked amused.
“Our Linguist wasn’t what you would call full of facts,” said Pancho.
“That explains it,” said Carlos. “I should have guessed. Most of what I’ve picked up around here has come from other people. Hard to get anything at all out of one of those Linguists.”
I nodded. That was an understatement for sure.
“You use the sleds,” said Carlos, leaning back and putting his feet on the table between us. “Just insert your key into the slot at the front of the sled. This activates it and programs the right atmosphere. Single stick by the front seat controls it. Push it forward to go, pull it back to stop. Simple.”
“What’s the key and where do we get one?” asked Pancho.
Carlos just shook his head and tapped the slender metal rectangle dangling from his necklace. “Key,” he said. Pancho and I were both wearing one.
“They didn’t tell us,” I said.
“Wouldn’t have expected them to,” he said. “I gather you’re supposed to fish around and find out everything the hard way. That’s the way it was with all of us.”
“We don’t have much time,” said Pancho.
“I can help you some, but not a whole lot. Construct has more questions than answers. Did your Linguist explain anything about the necklaces?”
“Not much,” I said. “Just about using it to check before entering a level.”
“That’s only one of its uses; activating the sleds is another. The key is also a kind of communication device. It will connect you with your Linguist, if your Linguist happens to be nearby. Otherwise, it’s kind of a simple computer. You can ask it questions and it’ll answer as best it can. They’re kind of dumb, though, I wouldn’t —“
He was interrupted by the arrival of an alien — a short, multi-armed creature covered with loose folds of brown and white spotted skin. Carlos seemed glad to see him, and as the creature settled into a chair, he introduced us.
The alien’s name was roughly One-Who-Looks-And-Finds. He was from the planet Savrot and occupied a sector in the one-gee level adjacent to Earth’s. He had been on Construct fifty Earth years — a short time by Savrotian standards — and could speak passable Pan-swahili, though his voice was rough and hollow, like a dog barking.
“We know more about Look/Find’s culture than anyone else’s,” said Carlos. “Our atmospheres are pretty similar, which helps a lot.”
“We also do not look at each other as food items,” said Look/Find. “That too helps.” He made a noise like a drawn-out growl. I took it to be an expression of humor since Carlos was laughing.
“What can we do for you, Look/Find?” asked Carlos. “I know you too well to think you came over just for the pleasure of my company.”
“I am looking and I have found. We heard about the students and are curious. Can you lend us some?”
“Students aren’t the kind of thing we lend,” said Carlos. “They can go with you if they want to.”
The alien turned to us. “Will you go with me?” he asked. “We are interested in students.”
I looked at Pancho. Seemed as good a place to
start as any. “Sure,” I said.
We went down to the loading dock and took the first sled in line. Look/Find showed us how to activate them. There really wasn’t much to it. When the sled was ready, the top flipped open and we climbed in. Since Look/Find had used my key — in what appeared to be a matter of courtesy on his part — the atmosphere was Earth-normal.
“We take a transverse pathway,” he said, starting the sled in motion. “They run underneath every level and connect with the vertical tubes.”
Once we left the loading dock, there wasn’t much to see, just a lot of metal struts and braces. Tubes, ducts and wires ran in every direction. It was like being inside some giant, complicated machine. I had to really concentrate to realize that the ground of Earth was just above my head and someone else’s sky was right below us. Soon the light became brighter and we entered another loading area. A vertical tube ran at right angles to our path. The docking area was different, much simpler than the one at the Earth sector. We left the sled and started for the entrance, an airlock arrangement not too different from those I was used to. We started to follow Look/Find through, but he stopped us.
“Even though this level is safe for you, it is good to obtain the habit of inserting your key before entering anyplace.” He showed us the slot.
I inserted my key and when I removed it, it was flashing green. It spoke to me and I was so surprised I nearly dropped it.
“The physiological constraints of your species allow you to remain in this sector for an unlimited period of time without irreversible damage.” It spoke a clearer Pan-swahili than Look/Find.
I grinned sheepishly at Pancho, who inserted his key after mine. He looked so superior and smug when it talked to him — like he’d expected it to do that all along — that I almost broke out laughing. We followed Look/Find through the airlock and into his sector.
I don’t know what I’d expected to find in the Savrotian sector; a city maybe, a village. I’d tried to keep an open mind about that. But nothing prepared me for what we walked into.
It was a steaming jungle, hot and humid, with a thick atmosphere that smelled like yesterday’s garbage. I started sweating immediately. There were no signs of civilization at all, just plants and trees. Lots of them, all strangely shaped. They completed surrounded the small clearing we were standing in, intertwined so tightly they seemed to be a solid wall.
“Welcome to Savrot,” said Look/Find. “This is not quite like our home planet, but a very close approximation.”
“It looks … uh … pleasant,” said Pancho, not believing any such thing. I wondered if Savrotians could read human facial expressions.
“We find it accommodating,” said Look/Find. “You will please to follow me.” Making good use of his multiple arms he scampered into a tree and disappeared into the dense vegetation.
“How are you at climbing trees?” I asked Pancho.
“I think we’re about to find out,” he said, walking to the nearest tree. Its bark was smooth, not much to grab at. “Give me a boost, will you?” he said.
Standing on my shoulders he could just barely reach the lowest limb. With a great deal of commotion he pulled himself up. About that time Look/Find reappeared and dropped a vine down to me.
“Apologies are mine,” he said as I climbed up. “I had forgotten you are not used to our ways.” We awkwardly made our way balanced on interlocking tree limbs into the jungle. It was like being on another world.
“At home we are more comfortable in the trees,” explained Look/Find. “You will please to make allowances.”
I could see what he meant. The tree limbs formed a huge maze above the ground. It wasn’t too difficult to get around, provided you had lots of hands to steady yourself. Look/Find moved easily, even gracefully, his arms in constant motion.
Below us the jungle floor was a twisted mass of dangerous-looking plants. Everything seemed to be covered with an assortment of brambles, thorns and barbs. Needle-sharp spines stuck up everywhere. No wonder they kept to the trees.
Something in the brambles caught my eyes. It was grey, half-hidden in the undergrowth. I stopped, tried to get a better look in the dim light. As I watched, it moved.
“What’s that?” I said. “It looks dangerous.”
Look/Find stopped, hanging by three arms from a sturdy branch.
“There is nothing dangerous on our planet,” he said. “What is it that you see?”
I pointed out the creature to him. It had moved into sight now. It had a hard, chitinous shell and several complicated, multi-jointed arms, some of them coming to points like claws. If it wasn’t dangerous, I sure didn’t want to meet anything that was. Several bulbs I took to be eyes peered out from armored projections in its carapace.
“We call them Hardshells,” said Look/Find. “They live on another level. Your friend Carlos-From-Earth calls them Lobsters. Only the Linguists can pronounce what is assumed to be their actual name. It involves the clacking of mandibles and is most difficult to reproduce. Nothing is known of them.”
“Nothing at all?” asked Pancho.
“Nothing. They do not communicate, at least not in a way that has been determined. They seem to be content to sit and watch. Every level has one or more of them. They do nothing. They say nothing. Nothing is known of them except that physically they are very weak. They are easily immobilized by falling limbs or trapped in the tangles of our plants. We free them when this occurs. How they exist in so many varied conditions on all the levels is unknown. They have never been seen to eat. This one has been on this level for ten of your years.”
“They give me the creeps,” said Pancho.
“What are creeps?” asked Look/Find. “That is not a word I know.”
“Creeps. Shivers. They frighten me.”
Look/Find gave that silly growl of his. Seemed to find something funny about that.
“You humans have many strange words and concepts. To be frightened you must have fear. To have fear in that way implies what you call ‘conflict’ or ‘strife’. A terribly confusing concept. We have no understanding of that.”
“I thought conflict was pretty basic,” said Pancho.
“Perhaps it is to you humans, but not to all species. We have no ‘enemies’ on Savrot. We are vegetarians; all our food comes from the trees. We have never had what you would call ‘opposition’, therefore we have had no ‘strife’. I hope I have used these words in a correct fashion. Their definitions are not clear to me.”
“I’m not sure they’re clear to any of us,” I said, thinking of the many times in my life that enemies had become friends and friends had become enemies. Not to mention all the times that strife and conflict had existed only in my head.
He looked at us for a moment. I tried to read his expression and failed. There was very little human about this creature in spite of his ability with our language.
“We proceed in an upward direction from here,” he said, lifting himself up.
Actually, moving up was no harder than moving sideways. We were always surrounded by the branching tree limbs. All we needed were a couple of extra arms. A tail wouldn’t have hurt, either. The ground dropped far below us. There seemed to be no end to the towering jungle.
I lost track of how far we climbed. My muscles ached and I could imagine what it felt like to Pancho with his shorter arms and legs. He didn’t complain, though. He was probably as curious as I was, maybe more so. Getting used to the air was another matter entirely. It still smelled like rotting garbage.
“We’re almost there,” said Look/Find from five or six meters above us. As I looked upward to him I could see the bottom of a large platform. It seemed to be made out of tree limbs lashed together. Primitive, but substantial. It didn’t take us long to get there.
I was surprised at how large the platform actually was. The end of it was lost in the branching tree limbs, but the part I could see as we reached it covered an area more than twice the size of Starschool’s gym.
Up clos
e it was even more primitive than I had imagined. There was nothing metallic in sight; everything was made of wood of one kind or another. Vines lashed together oddly shaped tables and chairs, formed flimsy partitions to set off rooms. There was no roof. Several Savrotians were waiting for us. Look/Find went over to them and spoke rapidly in what I assumed was their native language. He came back to us.
“These are Elders. Most of them are also Teachers. Although my job is finished — I have looked for you and I have found you — I will remain to translate. The Elders do not have much contact with humans and are not comfortable with your language.” Several of the Savrotians started talking at once, an unintelligible clatter of sounds. Look/Find cocked his head, a remarkably human gesture. “They have many questions,” said Look/Find. “I am sure that you have some. A balance will be sought for exchange of information.”
I did have a lot of questions, and I’m sure Pancho had some, but we didn’t get a chance at first.
“Since they are Teachers and you are Students, they are naturally curious about you. They want to know when you will Change.”
“Change?” asked Pancho.
“When will you stop being Students and Change into something else? They hope it will be soon. They would like to watch.”
“I don’t think we ever really quit being students,” said Pancho.
“I do not understand,” said Look/Find. “The concept of a perpetual Student is contradictory.”
“I think that what Pancho means is that we never stop learning.”
“But what does that have to do with being a Student? Surely you must undergo the Change.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by change,” I said. “And I don’t think you understand students.”
“I understand Students,” said Look/Find. “I was once a Student, though of course I don’t remember that time of my life. I couldn’t be a Seeker if I hadn’t been a Student first.”
“Maybe we should talk to a student,” said Pancho.
Look/Find did his growl laugh and translated for the other aliens. Soon everyone was laughing except Pancho and me. He shrugged his shoulders, as confused as I was. It sounded like feeding time at the kennels.