Ulysses inquired about the history of the humans, but Ghlikh professed ignorance on this.
Ulysses decided that he knew less about this world than he had when he opened his eyes in the burning hall of the Wufea. Well, not really. But he was far more confused. There were all the many genera and species of sentients, many of whom could not be accounted for by the theory of evolution, and now there were the human beings who had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. He had been thrilled for days by the prospect of seeing a human face again, of hearing human voices, of touching human skin. And they were gone.
The dirt road wound through the country and eventually led them to a stockaded village by the sea. There was a harbor here with most of the vessels, ranging from dugouts to single-masted ships like Viking craft, wrecked on the shore. Apparently, a storm had swept most from the anchorage and deposited them on the beach.
The village looked as if everybody had decided to get up during the noonday meal and walk out. About a quarter of the houses had been burned down, but this could be attributed to lack of attendance of cooking fires.
There was only one thing to mar the picture of a whole population voluntarily deserting. That was a tall wooden pole in the center of the main square. Its top bore a carved wooden head. The head was hairless and had very big fan-like nonhuman ears, a long snakish nose and an open mouth from which projected elephantine tusks about four inches long. The head was painted a dark gray.
“Neshgai!” Ghlikh said. “That is the head of a Neshgai. They have left this behind as a sign of conquest.”
“If they took this country by assault, where are the signs of violence?” Ulysses said. “Where are the skeletons?”
“Obviously, the Neshgai cleaned up afterward,” Ghlikh said. “They are a very neat people. They like order and cleanliness.”
Ulysses looked for evidences of mass burials and found several large graves. He dug into one and uncovered a pile of about a hundred skeletons. All were human.
“The Neshgai would take their own dead back to their country,” Ghlikh said. “All Neshgai are buried in one place, a very sacred place.”
“How long have the Vroomaw been here? Surely you know that much about them?”
“Oh, about twenty generations, I would say,” Ghlikh said, screwing up his face.
“That would be about four hundred years,” Ulysses said.
Why couldn’t he have been depetrified a hundred years ago? he thought. Then he could have found his own kind and settled down among them and had children. And with his knowledge of technology, the humans would not have been conquered by the Neshgai. It probably would have been the other way around.
Of course, he would be dead now, buried with a pole above his grave and the skull of some beast on the end of a pole. HERE LIES ULYSSES SINGING BEAR, 1952 A.D.-10,000,000 A.D.
For a little while, he was depressed. Since the grave would be his inevitable end, why concern himself about anything? Why not go back to the Wufea village and settle down there among people who worshiped him? As for the mate he needed so strongly…
Inside an hour, he had shucked off the black mood. It was the essence of life to disbelieve in death for one’s self, to act as if life would continue forever. And life had to act also as if little issues were big ones. To take a realistic attitude toward life and death meant that one lapsed into unreality. Into insanity. It was ironic that the only way to keep one’s sanity was to ignore that one was in an insane world or to act as if the world were sane.
He explored the houses and the temples and then went down to the beach. There was a ship, still riding at anchor, which had not been damaged too badly. Its hull was fouled and several of the boards needed replacing, but it could be fixed up with material from storage sheds in the docks. He explained to his chiefs what he wanted done. They nodded as if they understood, but they also looked doubtful. Scared, perhaps.
It occurred to him then that they knew nothing about sailing. Indeed, for all of them except himself and the batpeople, it was their first sight of the sea.
“Sailing will be strange and perhaps frightening for you at first,” he said. “But you can learn. You may even delight in it, once you know what you can and cannot do on the sea.”
They still looked dubious, but they hastened to carry out his orders. He studied the masts and the sails available. All the boats and ships used the square rig. Apparently, the Vroomaw did not know about fore-and-aft rigs. Which meant that they probably did not know about tacking or sailing close-hauled. He could not understand this. It was true that man had put out to sea for many thousands of years before he invented sails to enable him to tack back and forth. But, once the fore-and-aft sail had been invented, it should have remained forever in man’s technology. It had not, which meant that there had been a catastrophic gap in the continuity of man’s knowledge. There must have been a total fall into savagery with no contact with the seas for at least several generations. And no lore handed down, not even by word of mouth.
He picked a large house to live in and moved in Awina and the chiefs, letting the others stay in three separate houses with their subchiefs. Guards were stationed at the main gate and told to beat the huge drums in the house over the gate if they saw anything suspicious.
Three weeks later, the ship was ready. It was launched from its drydock and Ulysses took the entire force out on its maiden cruise. Its sailors had been given verbal instructions. Now they tried to put their hazy knowledge into effect. They almost capsized the boat several times. But, after a week of steady schooling, they were ready for an extended coastwise voyage. Ulysses, besides building and installing a fore-and-aft rig, had also built and installed a rudder. The Vroomaw boats had used big oars or sweeps to steer.
He christened the boat the New Hope, and one fine dawn they set out for the land of the Neshgai.
The coast was flat with many good beaches and only a few cliffs here and there. The water was comparatively shallow to about two miles off the coast and free of shoals or large rocks. The trees, large oaks, sycamores, fir, pine and several unknown to the Earth of his time, came down close to the beach. There were plenty of animals: deer, antelope, the long-necked giant horse, which he called a girse when he thought in English (which was not often anymore), buffalo, huge wolf-like animals, seals, and porpoises.
He asked Ghlikh why the land between the Neshgai and the Vroomaw was empty of sentients.
“I can only speculate,” the little winged man said. “But I would say that it is because all sentients along the coast had gone to live with The Tree.”
Ulysses noted the with. Why not on? Ghlikh talked as if there had been an invitation, and the sentients had moved into a house with others.
“Living is easier with The Tree,” Ghlikh said. “There one can hide from one’s enemies. Food is plentiful and easy to get.”
“And snoligosters and hipporats to eat the unwary fisher,” Ulysses said. “And if The Tree abounds with game, it also abounds with fierce flesh-eaters, a number of which are not averse to eating man. And if a tribe can hide easier, it can also be approached easier after it’s found. That thick vegetation has disadvantages as well as advantages.” Ghlikh shrugged and smiled with an air of superiority. “True. But it is well that a few die now and then, otherwise the tribes would increase to such numbers that there would be no room and all the food would be eaten. Some must suffer for the good of the many. Moreover, there is no war among the peoples of The Tree. Not as you or the peoples of the plains know it. The Tree counts its tribes, and when a tribe has too many people, then The Tree notifies its neighbors that they may war on it. It also warns the tribe to be attacked. Then the young warriors of the two tribes arrange to meet in combat. Or, sometimes, during short periods, attacks on the dwelling places themselves are allowed. And it is permissible to kill the females and the children. But this does not happen too often. And when it does, it is welcome. The little wars add excitement—and value—to life.”
“I wonder
why the Neshgai and Vroomaw did not go to live with The Tree?” Ulysses said.
“The Neshgai think they are better than The Tree!” Ghlikh said angrily. “Those ponderous big-bellied long-noses were once savages, like the Wuggrud and the Khrauszmiddum. But then they dug up the buried city of Shabawzing and found many things in it that enabled them to go from savagery to civilization in three generations. Also, they are so big and clumsy, they cannot live comfortably in The Tree nor climb very far.”
“And the Vroomaw?”
“They did live with The Tree—once. But they left, despite the commands of The Tree to stay where they were. They are a very contrary, troublesome, obnoxious people, as you will find if you come across them. They moved to the seashore and built their houses there. Some say that they first allied themselves with the Neshgai, who treacherously enslaved them. And then a number of Vroomaw escaped and came here to build a nation, planning some day to march against their former masters. But it is evident that the Neshgai struck first.”
Ghlikh seemed to be very happy about the fate of the humans.
He added, “The Neshgai’s turn is next. But their death will come from The Tree, which never forgets nor forgives. The Neshgai are beset now with attacks from the Fishnoom, brothers to the Wuggrad, and from the Glassim, brothers to the Khrauszmiddum. The Tree has sent them out from his bosom to bedevil the Neshgai and, eventually, to exterminate them.”
He added, even more viciously, “And the same fate will come to the peoples of the plains in the north if they do not go to live with The Tree. Eventually, The Tree will grow over the plains, over all the land except for a narrow strip on the coasts. And The Tree will not endure any sentients on the coast. He will kill them, one way or another.”
“The Tree?” Ulysses said. “Or the Dhulhulikh, who use The Tree to bend all the others to their will? Who pretend to be servants of The Tree but are, in reality, its masters?”
“What?” Ghlikh said. He shook his head. “You surely do not believe that? You must be crazy!”
Yet he had such a barely concealed, smiling expression that Ulysses wondered if he had not hit upon the truth.
If his theory was more than a theory, it would explain much. But it would still leave much to be explained. How had The Tree originated? He could not believe that The Tree had naturally evolved from any of the plants living in his day.
And then there was the mystery of the origin of all the unrelated types of sentients.
The boat sailed on along the coast, putting in close to shore and anchoring when the skies were too cloudy to give light for safe navigation. When the moon was visible, the boat sailed all night. Ghlikh and Khyuks provided information from time to time about the Neshgai. Mostly, they sat huddled on a platform before the base of the mast, their wings almost brushing the creaking wood, blankets over their shoulders, and their heads close together. Though they hated each other, they now talked to each other. They were too lonely, miserable and scared not to take refuge in their native speech from time to time.
Ulysses did not know what to do with them. They had given him most of the information he wanted. He was sure that there was other information he could get, if only he knew the right questions. But he was worried that they would escape some day and would bring back a horde of their fellows. Every day that passed increased the probabilities of their getting away.
He did not want to kill them, though that was the only logical thing to do. However, it was true that they still had not revealed the location of their base city. Only in the air, so they claimed, could they find their way back home.
He used this rationalization for not killing them. They might be able someday to point out the way to their base. If they must do it from the air, so be it. Apparently, no one knew about balloons or dirigibles, and so the bat-men were very smug in thinking that their secret was safe.
The sixth day, Ulysses saw his first porpoise-men. He had taken the ship away from the coast because a great rock stood in their way. Before the ship was within two hundred yards of the rock, he saw the curious animals on a shelf of the rock a few feet above the surface of the sea. He took the New Hope as close to the rock as he dared—the leadsman was singing out four fathoms—and he and his crew stared at the four creatures sunning themselves on the ledge. They looked more like the legendary mermen of his time than the porpoise-centaurs described by Ghlikh. From the breasts down, they were fish-like. Rather, porpoise-like, since the fins were horizontal, not vertical. The skin of the lower body was the same light bronze as the upper. The genitals of both male and female were hidden within folds of the lower body. The bodies from the breasts up were quite human, and the fingers, contrary to what he had expected, were not webbed. The noses were very thin; Ghlikh said the nostrils could be closed tightly with muscular action. The eyeballs could be covered by a rigid transparent sheath which came down from under the eyelids. The hair on their heads was very short and sleek, looking from this distance more like seal fur than hair. Two had black hair, one was an ash-blond, and the fourth had auburn hair.
Ulysses waved at them and smiled. A woman and a man waved back at him. Ghlikh, who had come upon the poop-deck, said, “That is well done. It is not good to be unfriendly with the Sea-Folk. They can take the bottom right out of a boat if they wish.”
“How friendly do they get?”
“They sometimes trade with the Neshgai and the humans. They bring in strange sea stones or fish or goods from sunken ships and exchange these for wine or beer.”
Ulysses wondered if they could become allies in his war against the Neshgai, that is, if he had a war against the Neshgai. Ghlikh did not think they would take sides, unless one side gravely offended them. But even the arrogant Neshgai treated them with courtesy and occasional gifts. The Neshgai had a large fleet which they did not want to see on the bottom of the ocean.
The rock and its strange burden dropped behind them. Ghlikh said, “Another day at this rate, and you will be along the coast ruled by the Neshgai. Then what?”
“We shall see,” Ulysses said. “You are fluent in their speech?”
“Very fluent,” Ghlikh said. “Moreover, many of them can speak Ayrata.”
“I hope they’re not too astonished when they see me and my crew. I would not want them to attack just because they panicked.”
An hour after dawn of the following day, they passed an enormous symbol carved out of stone. It was a great X inside a broken circle. This was the symbol of Nesh, the ancestral eponymous god of the Neshgai, Ghlikh said. This carving, which could be seen for many miles out to sea, marked the western boundary of their country.
“You will see a good harbor soon,” Ghlikh said. “And a town and a garrison of troops. And some merchant ships and some swift naval vessels.”
“Merchant ships?” Ulysses said, ignoring the threat in his tone. “With whom do they trade?”
“With each other mainly. But some of their great ships sail far around the coast to the north and trade with the peoples there along the coast.”
Ulysses began to feel excited. This was not so much from the danger of confronting the unknown as from a new idea. Perhaps the Neshgai did not have to be his enemy. Perhaps they would be friendly, and they would help him. They certainly had a common interest in combating the great Tree or whoever was using The Tree. And possibly they might be working with the humans, not making the humans work for them. Who knew what lies the bat-people had fed him?
Presently the shore curved deeply inward, and then he saw a breakwater to his left. It was composed of huge blocks of stone which extended for several miles. More than just a breakwater, it was a high wall to protect the harbor and the town within from hostile ships. On the tops of the cliff he could see some huge gray buildings and then, as he went by the first of the entrances, a number of ships and a town on the slope of the hill behind.
They had passed a tower on top of the breakwater and seen figures behind some of the narrow slits of windows. Something roared, and
he looked back to see a giant form on top of the tower. It was holding an immense trumpet to its great mouth. The elephantine proboscis was lifted above the instrument as if it, not the instrument, were trumpeting. Ulysses decided that it would look better if he went in to meet them instead of them coming out. Surely they would not believe that this small ship would be entering to attack. He took the ship in between the wide gates of the breakwater, underneath the two towers on each side of the entrance. He waved at the people in the tower and was surprised to see that most of them were humans. They wore leather helmets and carried shields which he supposed were of wood. They brandished spears—stone-tipped, of course—or held bows and arrows on him. Behind them towered the gray-skinned figures of the Neshgai. Presumably, the giants were the officers.
There was no fire from the towers. They must have thought as he did, that one small ship could not be entering with belligerent intent.
He was not so sure a moment later when he saw a large vessel, a long low galley-type craft, moving swiftly toward him. It was manned with many soldiers, two-thirds of them humans, and it was steered by a rudder. It had no sails. It also had no oarsmen.
His eyes widened then, and he had the sickening feeling that he had just stuck his head into a guillotine. He had seen or heard nothing to indicate that the Neshgai were so advanced technologically.