show results with those shoonoon, Mr.Gilbert?" the general asked. "You said from twenty-five to thirty hours.Can you cut that any? In twenty-five hours, all hell could be loose allover the continent."
Miles shook his head. "So far, I haven't accomplished anythingpositive," he said. "All I did with this trip around the world wasconvince them that I was telling the truth when I told them there was noDark Place under the World, where Alpha and Beta go at night." Hehastened, as the general began swearing, to add: "I know, that doesn'tsound like much. But it was necessary. I have to convince them thatthere will be no Last Hot Time, and then--"
The shoonoon, on their drum-shaped cushions, stared at him in silence,aghast. All the happiness over the wonderful trip in the ship, when theyhad chased the Sky Fire around the World and caught it over Bluelake,and even their pleasure in the frozen delicacies they had just eaten,was gone.
_"No--Last--Hot--Time?"_
"Mailsh Heelbare, this is not real! It cannot be!"
"The Gone Ones--"
"The Always-Cool Time, when there will be no more hunger or hard work ordeath; it cannot be real that this will never come!"
He rose, holding up his hands; his action stopped the clamor.
"Why should the Gone Ones want to return to this poor world that theyhave gladly left?" he asked. "Have they not a better place in the middleof the Sky Fire, where it is always cool? And why should you want themto come back to this world? Will not each one of you pass, sooner orlater, to the middle of the Sky Fire; will you not there be given newbodies and join the Gone Ones? There is the Always-Cool; there the cropsgrow without planting and without the work of women; there the game comeinto the villages to be killed in the gathering-places, without hunting.There you will talk with the other Gone Ones, your fathers and yourfathers' fathers, as I talk with you. Why do you think this must come tothe World of People? Can you not wait to join the Gone Ones in the SkyFire?"
Then he sat down and folded his arms. They were looking at him inamazement; evidently they all saw the logic, but none of them had everthought of it before. Now they would have to turn it over in their mindsand accustom themselves to the new viewpoint. They began whooshing amongthemselves. At length, old Shatresh, who had seen the Hot Time before,spoke:
"Mailsh Heelbare, we trust you," he said. "You have told us of wonders,and you have shown us that they were real. But do you know this forreal?"
"Do you tell me that you do not?" he demanded in surprise. "You have hadfathers, and fathers' fathers. They have gone to join the Gone Ones. Whyshould you not, also? And why should the Gone Ones come back and destroythe World of People? Then your children will have no more children, andyour children's children will never be. It is in the World of Peoplethat the People are born; it is in the World that they grow and gainwisdom to fit themselves to live in the Place of the Gone Ones when theyare through with the bodies they use in the World. You should be happythat there will be no Last Hot Time, and that the line of yourbegettings will go on and not be cut short."
There were murmurs of agreement with this. Most of them were beginningto be relieved that there wouldn't be a Last Hot Time, after all. Thenone of the class asked:
"Do the Terrans also go to the Place of the Gone Ones, or have they aplace of their own?"
He was silent for a long time, looking down at the floor. Then he raisedhis head.
"I had hoped that I would not have to speak of this," he said. "But,since you have asked, it is right that I should tell you." He hesitatedagain, until the Kwanns in front of him had begun to fidget. Then heasked old Shatresh: "Speak of the beliefs of the People about how theWorld was made."
"The great Spirit made the world." He held up his carven obscenity. "Hemade the World out of himself. This is a make-like to show it."
"The Great Spirit made many worlds. The stars which you see in dark-timeare all worlds, each with many smaller worlds around it. The GreatSpirit made them all at one time, and made people on many of them. TheGreat Spirit made the World of People, and made the Always-Same and theSky Fire, and inside the Sky Fire he made the Place of the Gone Ones.And when he made the Place of the Gone Ones, he put an Oomphel-Motherinside it, to bring forth oomphel."
This created a brief sensation. An Oomphel-Mother was something they hadnever thought of before, but now they were wondering why they hadn't. Ofcourse there'd be an Oomphel-Mother; how else would there be oomphel?
"The World of the Terrans is far away from the World of People, as wehave always told you. When the Great Spirit made it He gave it only anAlways-Same, and no Sky Fire. Since there was no Sky Fire, there was noplace to put a Place of the Gone Ones, so the Great Spirit made theTerrans so that they would not die, but live forever in their ownbodies. The Oomphel-Mother for the World of the Terrans the Great Spirithid in a cave under a great mountain.
"The Terrans whom the Great Spirit made lived for a long time, and then,one day, a man and a woman found a crack in a rock, and went inside, andthey found the cave of the Oomphel-Mother, and the Oomphel-Mother in it.So they called all the other Terrans, and they brought theOomphel-Mother out, and the Oomphel-Mother began to bring forth Oomphel.The Oomphel-Mother brought forth metal, and cloth, and glass, andplastic; knives, and axes and guns and clothing--" He went on,cataloguing the products of human technology, the shoonoon staring moreand more wide-eyed at him. "And oomphel to make oomphel, and oomphel toteach wisdom," he finished. "They became very wise and very rich.
"Then the Great Spirit saw what the Terrans had done, and became angry,for it was not meant for the Terrans to do this, and the Great Spiritcursed the Terrans with a curse of death. It was not death as you knowit. Because the Terrans had sinned by laying hands on theOomphel-Mother, not only their bodies must die, but their spirits also.A Terran has a short life in the body, after that no life."
"This, then, is the Oomphel Secret. The last skin of the fooshkoot hasbeen peeled away; behold the bitter nut, upon which we Terrans havechewed for more time than anybody can count. Happy people! When you dieor are slain, you go to the Place of the Gone Ones, to join your fathersand your fathers' fathers and to await your children and children'schildren. When we die or are slain, that is the end of us."
"But you have brought your oomphel into this world; have you not broughtthe curse with it?" somebody asked, frightened.
"No. The People did not sin against the Great Spirit; they have not laidhands on an Oomphel-Mother as we did. The oomphel we bring you will dono harm; do you think we would be so wicked as to bring the curse uponyou? It will be good for you to learn about oomphel here; in your Placeof the Gone Ones there is much oomphel."
"Why did your people come to this world, Mailsh Heelbare?" old Shatreshasked. "Was it to try to hide from the curse?"
"There is no hiding from the curse of the Great Spirit, but we Terransare not a people who submit without strife to any fate. From the time ofthe Curse of Death on, we have been trying to make spirits forourselves."
"But how can you do that?"
"We do not know. The oomphel will not teach us that, though it teacheseverything else. We have only learned many ways in which it cannot bedone. It cannot be done with oomphel, or with anything that is in ourown world. But the Oomphel-Mother made us ships to go to other worlds,and we have gone to many of them, this one among them, seeking thingsfrom which we try to make spirits. We are trying to make spirits forourselves from the crystals that grow in the klooba plants; we may failwith them, too. But I say this; I may die, and all the other Terrans nowliving may die, and be as though they had never been, but someday wewill not fail. Someday our children, or our children's children, willmake spirits for themselves and live forever, as you do."
"Why were we not told this before, Mailsh Heelbare?"
"We were ashamed to have you know it. We are ashamed to be peoplewithout spirits."
"Can we help you and your people? Maybe our magic might help."
"It well might. It would be worth trying. But first, you must helpyourselves. You and your peop
le are sinning against the Great Spirit asgrievously as did the Terrans of old. Be warned in time, lest you answerit as grievously."
"What do you mean, Mailsh Heelbare?" Old Shatresh was frightened.
"You are making magic to bring the Sky Fire to the World. Do you knowwhat will happen? The World of People will pass whole into the place ofthe Gone Ones, and both will be destroyed. The World of People is aworld of death; everything that lives on it must die. The Place of theGone Ones is a world of life; everything in it lives forever. The twowill strive against each other, and will destroy one another, and therewill be nothing in the Sky Fire or the World but fire. This is wisdomwhich