Conquest Over Time
hands, you maggoty slob, and I'llspeak your bloody--" he went on at great length, but the man ignoredhim.
"Truly, he speaks as with a full mouth. But this is not Bilken talk."
"Nor is he, of clarity and also profundity, a hill man," the girlobserved.
"Poot. Pootpoot," the young man stuttered, "the light! He is of_Them_!"
It took the other two a moment to understand what he meant, but Traviscaught on immediately. May the Saints preserve us, he thought, theyfigured I was from Mert. He chuckled happily to himself. A naturalmistake. Only one Earthman on this whole blinking planet, puts up at agood hotel, best in town, these boys put the snatch on me thinking I'ma visiting VIP, loaded, have no idea I'm just poor common trash likethe rest of us Earthmen. Haw! His face split in a wide grin. Hegathered his words from the Langkit and began to speak in Mert.
"Exactly, friends. With clarity one sees that you have been misled. Iam not of Mert. I am from a far world, come here to deal with yourSenate in peace. Untie me, then, and let us erase this sad buteraseable mistake with a good handshake all around, and a speedyfarewell."
It did not have the effect he desired. The girl stepped back fromhim, a dark frown on her face, and the large man above him spokemournfully.
"Where now is the ransom?"
"And the risk," the girl said. "Was not there great risk?"
"Unhappily," the tall man observed. "One risks. One should be repaid.It is in the nature of things that one is repaid."
"Well now, boys," Travis put in from the floor, "you see ityourselves. I'm flat as a--" he paused. Apparently the Merts had noword for pancake. "My pockets are--windy. No money is held therein."
"Still," the tall man mused absently, "this must have friends. On thegreat ships lie things of value. Doubt?"
"Not," the girl said firmly. "But I see over the hills coming aproblem."
"How does it appear?"
"In the shape of disposal. See thee. Such as will come from the greatships, of value though it be, can it not be clarifiably identified bysuch pootian authorities as presently seek our intestines?"
"Ha!" the tall man snorted in anger. "So. Truth shapes itself."
"Will we not, then," continued the girl, "risk sunlight on ourintestines in pursuing this affair?"
"We will," the young man spoke up emphatically. "We will ofinevitability. Navel. Our risk is unpaid. So passes the cloud."
"But in freedom for this," the girl warily indicated Travis, "liesrisk in great measure. Which way lie his ribs? Can we with profitslice his binds? He is of Them. What coils in his head? What strikes?"
They were all silent. Travis, having caught but not deciphered most ofthe conversation, glanced quickly from face to face. The girl hadbacked out into the light and he could see her now clearly, and hismouth fell open. She was thickly coated with dirt but she wasabsolutely beautiful. The features were perfect, lovely, the mouth waspromising and full. Under the ragged skirt and the torn sooty blouseroamed surfaces of imaginable perfection. He had difficulty gettingback to the question at hand. All the while he was thinking othervoices inside him were whispering. "By jing, by jing, she'sabsolutely...."
The two men were completely unlike. One was huge, from this angle hewas enormous. He had what looked like a dirty scarf on his head,madonna-like, which would have been ridiculous except for themountainous shoulders below it and the glittering knife stuck in hiswide leather belt. The shaft of the knife flickered wickedly in thelight. It was the only clean thing about him.
The other man was young, probably still in his teens. Curly-haired andblond and much cleaner than the other two, with a softness in his facethe others lacked. But in his belt he carried what appeared tobe--what was, a well-oiled and yawning barreled blunderbuss.
So they sat for a long moment of silence. He had time to observe thatwhat they were sitting in was in all likelihood a sewer. It ran offinto darkness but there was a dim light in the distance and othervoices far away, and he gathered that this was not all ofthe--gang--that had abducted him. But it was beginning to penetrate,now, as he began to understand their words, that they were unhappyabout letting him go. He was about to argue the point when the big manstepped suddenly forward and knelt beside him. He shut out the light,Travis could not see. The last thing he heard was the big man gruntingas he threw the blow, like a rooting pig.
* * * * *
When he awoke this time the pain had moved over to the side of hisneck. There was no light at all and he lay wearily for a long while inthe blackness. He had no idea how much time had passed. He could tellfrom the brick wet below him that he was still in the sewer, or atleast some other part of it, and, considering the last turn of theconversation, he thought he could call himself lucky to be alive.
But as his strength returned so did his anger. He began to strugglewith his bonds. There was still the problem of the contract. Heregarded that bitterly. He could just possibly die down here, but hismain worry was still the contract. Allspace would be proud of him--butAllspace might never know.
He did nothing with the bonds, which he discovered unhappily were rawleather thongs. Eventually he saw a light coming down the corridor. Hesaw with a thrill of real pleasure that it was the girl. The young manwas tagging along behind her but the big man was absent. The girlknelt down by him and regarded him quizically.
"Do you possess pain?"
"Maiden, I possess and possess unto the limits of capacity."
"My thought is sorrow. But this passes. Consider: your blood remainswet."
Travis caught her meaning. He swore feebly.
"It was very nearly let dry," the girl said. "But solutions conjoined.It was noted at the last, even as the blade descended, that suchfriends as yours could no doubt barter for Mertian coin, untraceable,thus restoring your value."
"Clever, clever. Oh, clever," Travis said drily.
To his surprise, the girl blushed.
"Overgracious. Overkind. Speed thanks awry of this windy head, aim atyon Lappy"--she indicated the boy who stood smiling shyly behindher--"it was he who thought you alive, he my brother."
"Ah," Travis said. "Well, bless you, boy." He nodded at the boy, whovery nearly collapsed with embarrassment. Travis wondered about this'brother' bit. Brother in crime? The Langkit did not clarify. But thegirl turned back on him a smile as glowing as a tiny nova. He gazedcheerfully back.
"Tude and the others sit now composing your note. A matter of weight,confounded in darkness." She lowered her eyes becomingly. "Few of us,"she apologized, "have facility in letters."
"A ransom note," Travis growled. "Great Gods and Little--Tude? Who isTude?"
"The large man who, admittedly hastening before the horse, did plantpain in your head."
"Ah," Travis said, smiling grimly. "We shall presently plow hisfield--"
"Ho!" the girl cried, agitated. "Speak not in darkness. Tude extendsboth north and south, a man of dimension as well as choler. He boastsFors in the tenth in good aspect to Bonken, giving prowess at combat,and Lyndal in the fourth bespeaks a fair ending. Avoid, odd man,foreordained disaster."
In his urge to say a great many things Travis stammered. The girl laida cool grimy hand lightly on his arm and tried to soothe him.
"With passivity and endurance. The night shall see you free. Tudecomes in close moment with the note. Quarrel not at the price, sign,and there will be a conclusion to the matter. We are not retrogradehere. As we set our tongues, so lie our deeds."
"Yes, well, all right," Travis grumbled. "But there will come--allright all right. My name shall be inscribed, let your note containwhat it will. But I would have speed. There are matters of gravitylying heavily ahead."
The girl cocked her head oddly to one side.
"You sit on points. A rare thing. Lies your horoscope in suchconfusion that you know not the drift of the coming hours?"
Travis blinked.
"Horoscope?" he said.
"Surely," the girl said, "the astrologers of your planet did pr
eachwarning to you of the danger of this day, and whether, in the motionsof your system, lay success or failure. Or is it a question of varyinginterpretations? Did one say you good while the other--"
Travis grinned broadly. Then he sobered. It would quite logicallyfollow that these people, primitive as they were, might not be able toconceive of a land where astrology was not Lord over all. A humantrait. But he saw dangerous ground ahead. He began very cautiously anddiplomatically to explain himself, saying that while astrology waspracticed among his own people, it had not yet become as exact an artas it was on Mert, and only a few had as yet learned to trust it.
The effect on the girl was startling. She seemed for a moment actuallyterrified when it was finally made clear to her. She abruptlyretreated into a corner with her brother and mumbled low franticsounds. Travis grinned to himself but kept his face stoically calm.But now the girl was out in the light and he could examine her clearlyfor the first time, and he forgot about astrology entirely.
She was probably in her early twenties. She was dirtier than awell-digger's shoes. She ran with a pack of cutthroats and thieves inwhat was undoubtedly the lowest possible level of Mertian society. Butthere was something about her, something Travis responded to verystrongly, which he could not define. Possibly something about the setof her hair, which was dark and very long, or perhaps in themouth--yes the mouth, now observe the mouth--and also maybe in thefigure.... But he could not puzzle it out. A girl from the gutter.But--perhaps that was it, there seemed to be no gutter about her.There was real grace in her movements, a definite style in the way sheheld her head, something gentle and very fine.
Now watch that, Travis boy, he told himself sharply, watch that. Apsychological thing, certainly. She probably reminds you of a longforgotten view of your mother.
The girl arose and came back, followed this time by the young man. Shehad become suddenly and intensely interested in his world--she hadapparently taken it for granted that it was exactly like hers, onlywith space ships--and Travis obliged her by giving a brief sketch ofselected subjects: speeds, wonders, what women wore, and so on.Gradually he worked the conversation back around to her, and she beganto tell him about herself.
Her name was, euphonically, Navel. This was not particularly startlingto Travis. Navel is a pretty word and the people of Mert had chosenanother, uglier sound for use when they meant 'belly button,' whichwas their right. Travis accepted it, and then listened to her story.
She had not always been a criminal, run with the sewer packs. She hadcome, as a matter of proud record, from an extremely well-to-do familywhich featured two Senators, one Horary Astrologer, and a mercantiletycoon--which accounted, Travis thought, for her air of breeding. Thegreat tragedy of her life, however, the thing that had brought her toher present pass, was her abysmally foul horoscope. She had not been aplanned baby. Her parents felt great guilt about it, but the deed wasdone and there was no help for it. She had been born with Huckretrograde in the tenth house, opposing Fors retrograde in the fourth,and so on, and so on, so that even the most amateur astrologer couldsee right at her birth that she was born for no good, destined forsome shameful end.
She told about it with an air of resigned cheerfulness, saying thatafter all her parents had really done more than could be expected ofthem. Both with her and her similarly accidental brother Lappy--now_there_, Travis thought, was a careless couple--whose horoscope, shesaid dolefully, was even worse than her own. The parents had sent heroff to school up through the first few years, and had given her ahandsome dowry when they disowned her, and they did the same withLappy a few years later.
But Navel held no bitterness. She was a girl born inevitably fortrouble--her horoscope forecast that she would be a shame to herparents, would spend much of her life in obscure, dangerous places,and would reflect no credit on anyone who befriended her. So, for achild like this, what reasonable citizen would waste time and moneyand love, when it was certain beforehand that the child grown up wouldbe as likely as not to end up a murderess? No, the schools werereserved for the children of promise, as were the jobs and the partiesand the respect later on. The only logical course, the habitualcustom, was for the parents to disown their evilly aspected children,hoping only that such tragedies as lay in the future would not be toosevere, and at least would not be connected with the family name.
And Navel was not bitter. But there was only one place for her,following her exile from her parents' home. A career in business wasof course impossible. Prospective employers took one look at yourhoroscope and--zoom, the door. The only work she could find was menialin the extreme--dish-washing, street cleaning, and so on. So sheturned, and Lappy turned, as thousands of their ill-starred kind hadturned before them for generations, to the wild gangs of the sewers.
And it was not nearly so bad as it might have seemed. The sewer gangswere composed of thousands of people just like herself, homeless, castout, and they came from all levels of society to found a society oftheir own. They offered each other what none of them could have foundanywhere else on Mert: appreciation, companionship, and even if lifein the sewers was filthy, it was also tolerable, and many even marriedand had children--the luckiest of whom quickly disowned their parentsand were adopted by wealthy families.
But the thing which impressed Travis most of all was that none ofthese people were bitter at their fate. Navel could not recall everhearing of any organized attempt at rebellion. Indeed, most of thesewer people believed more strongly in the astrology of Mert than didthe business men on the outside. For each day every one of them couldlook at the dirt of himself, at the disease of his surroundings, andcould see that the message of his horoscope was true: he was born tono good end. And since it had been drummed into these people fromtheir earliest childhood that only the worst could be expected ofthem, they gave in, quite humanly, to the predictions, and wentphilosophically forth to live up to them. They watched the dailyhoroscopes intently for the Bad Days, realizing that what was bad forthe normal people must be a field day for themselves, and they issuedout of the sewers periodically on binges of robbery, kidnapping, andworse. In this way they lived up to the promise of their stars,fulfilled themselves, and also managed to eat. And few if any everquestioned the justice of their position.
Travis sat listening, stunned. For a long while the contract and howto get out of here and all the rest of it was forgotten. He satwatching the girl and her shy brother as they spoke self-consciouslyto him, and began to understand what they must be feeling. Travis wasfrom outside the sewers, he had stayed at the grand hotel--hishoroscope, whether he believed it or not, must be very fine. And sothey did him unconscious homage, much in the manner of low casteHindus speaking to a Bramin. It was unnerving.
Gradually the boy Lappy began to speak also, and Travis realized withsurprise that the boy was in many ways remarkable. As Navel'sbrother--Navel, Travis gathered with a twinge of deep regret, was thebig Tude's 'friend', and Tude was the leader of this particulargang--young Lappy had a restful position. He was kept out of most ofthe rough work end allowed to pursue what he shamelessly called his'studies', and he guessed proudly that he must have stolen nearlyevery book in the Consul's library. His particular hobbies, it turnedout, were math and physics. He had a startling command of both, andsome of the questions he asked Travis were embarrassing. But the boywas leaning forward, breathlessly drinking in the answers, when Tudecame back.
The big man loomed over them suddenly on his quiet rag-bound feet,frightening the boy and causing the girl to flinch. He made a numberof singularly impolite remarks, but Travis said nothing and bided histime. He regarded the big man with patient joy, considering withdelight such bloodthirsty effects as judo could produce on thisone--Fors and Bonken be damned--if they ever untied his hands.
Eventually, unable to get a rise out of him, the big man shoved apaper down before his nose and told him to sign it. He pulled out thatwickedly clean knife and freed Travis' hand just enough for him tomove his wrist. Hoping for the best, Travis signed. Tud
e chuckled,said something nastily to the girl, the girl said something chillingin return, and the big man cuffed her playfully on the shoulder. Thenhe lumbered away.
Travis sat glaring after him. The contract, the need to escape floodedback into his mind. The eclipse might be ending even now. Unico wouldalready be here, probably one or two others as well. And this ransombusiness might take a week. He swore to himself. Pat Travis, theterror of the skies, held captive by a bunch of third rate musicalcomedy pirates while millions lay in wait in the city above. And oh myLord, he thought, stricken, what will people say when they hear--hehad to get out.
He glanced cautiously at the girl and the boy, who were gazing at himingenuously. He saw instantly that the way, if there was a way, laythrough them. But the plan had not yet formed when the boy leanedforward and spoke.
"I have an odd thing in my head," Lappy said bashfully, "thatnevertheless radiates joy to my mind. In my reading I have seen thingsleap together from many books, forming a whole, and the whole is rare.Can you, in your wisdom, confirm or deny what I have seen? It isthis--"
He spoke a short series of sentences. Navel tried to shush him,embarrassed, but he doggedly went on. And Travis, stricken, foundhimself suddenly paying close attention.
For the words Lappy said, with minor variations, were Isaac Newton'sLaws of Motion.
* * * * *
"There are the seven planets," Navel was saying gravely, "and the twolights--that is, the sun and the moon. The first planet, that nearestthe sun, is