The 20th Golden Age of Science Fiction MEGAPACK ™: Evelyn E. Smith Page 30

“Of course — mistress, feminine of master! I should have realized that before." Then Clarey laughed, too. “I'm a real all-round alien. I can't even understand my own language." On the way back home he couldn't help thinking that Han Vollard might be right. It could be the best thing for him to disappear now; the best thing for himself, the best thing for Embelsira. He could pretend to desert her — better yet, Blynn could fake some kind of accident, so her feelings wouldn't be hurt.

  A pension of some kind would be arranged. She could marry again, have the children she wanted so much. If he waited the full ten years, she might never be able to have them. He had no idea at what age Damorlant females ceased to be fertile.

  But she wasn't just a Damorlant female — she was his wife. He didn't want to leave her. Maybe he never would have to. Hadn't Spano said that when his term was over he could pick his planet? He would pick Damorlan.

  When Clarey came home from Barshwat, Embelsira said nothing more about her suspicions, but greeted him affectionately and prepared a special supper for him. Afterward, he wondered if making love to an Earth girl could be as pleasant. He wondered how it would be to make love to Han Vollard.

  The days passed and he forgot about Han Vollard. After much persuasion, he agreed to give a series of concerts at Zrig, but only on condition that Rini played with him and had one solo each performance. He was embarrassed at having so far outstripped his teacher, but Rini seemed unperturbed.

  “My technique's still better than yours will ever be," he said. “It's this new style of yours that gets 'em. I understand it's spreading; it's reached as far as Barshwat. You should see the angry letters Irik writes about it!" Rini chuckled. “And he hasn't the least idea it started right here in his own home village that he's always sneered at for being so backward!"

  Clarey smiled and clapped the boy on the neck. If it made Rini feel better to think Clarey had a new style rather than that Clarey played better than he did, Clarey had no objection.

  Clarey was offered the post of head librarian at Zrig, but Embelsira didn't want to leave Katund, and, when he thought about it, he really didn't want to either. So he refused the job and didn't bother mentioning the matter to Headquarters.

  As he grew more sure of himself and his position, he allowed his wealth to show. He and Embelsira moved into a larger dome. Instead of sending to Zrig or even Barshwat for the furnishings, they hired local talent. Tavan, the carpenter, made them some exquisite blackwood pieces inlaid with opalescent stone that everyone said was the equal of anything in Barshwat. A talented nephew of Hanxi's painted glowing murals; Embelsira's mother wove rugs and draperies in muted water-tones. The dome became the district showplace.

  Clarey realized he now had a position to keep up, but sometimes it annoyed him when perfect strangers asked to see the place.

  He was invited to run against Malesor as headman but declined. He didn't want to be brought into undue prominence. Trouble was, as he became popular, he also aroused animosity. There were the girls who felt he should have married them instead of Embelsira, and their mothers and subsequent husbands. A lot of people resented Clarey because they felt he should have decorated his house differently, dressed differently, spent his money differently.

  A man can live ignored by everyone, he discovered, but he can't be liked by some without finding himself disliked by others.

  * * * *

  Matters came to a head in his fourth spring there. He thought of it as spring, although on Damorlan the seasons had no separate identities; they blended into one another, without its ever being very hot or very cold, very rainy or very dry. The reason he called this time of the year spring was that it seemed closest to perfection.

  It was less perfect that year. Because it was then that Rini's brother Irik came back from Barshwat, after a six years absence. He was very much the city man, far more so than anyone Clarey had seen in Barshwat itself. His tunics were shorter than his fellow villagers', and his cloaks iridesced restlessly from one vivid color to another. He wore a great deal of jewelry and perfume, neither of the best quality, and the toes of his boots were divided.

  Clarey described this in detail to Embelsira the night Irik put in his first appearance at the Furbush. “You should have seen the little horror!"

  “That's the way city men dress," Embelsira told him. “It's fashionable."

  “But, dear, I've been to Barshwat."

  “You don't have an eye for clothes. You never notice when I put on anything new. And I think it's unfair to take a dislike to Irik just because you don't care for the way he dresses."

  “It's more than that, Belsira." And yet how could he explain to her what he couldn't quite understand himself, that Irik was vain, stupid, hostile; hence, dangerous?

  “I swear to you, Balt," Embelsira said demurely, “that whatever there was between me and Irik, it all ended six years ago."

  Clarey gave a start and then held back a smile. “I believe you, dear." And he kissed her nose.

  * * * *

  Irik held forth in the Furbush every evening of his stay in Katund. He had grievances and he aired them generously. He hated everything — the government, taxes, modern music, and Earthmen, whom he seemed to consider in some way responsible for the modern music, or at least its popularization. “Barbarians — slept completely through my concerts."

  “But people are always falling asleep during concerts, Irik," Malesor pointed out reasonably. “And how could you expect barbarians to appreciate good music? What do you care for Earthmen's opinions as long as your own people like your music?"

  Irik hesitated. “But the Earth-men have taken up the new kind of music; they stay awake during that. And — a lot of people seem to think that whatever's strange is good, so whatever the Earth-men like eventually becomes fashionable."

  Hanxi wiggled his ears. “Fashions change. Well, who's ready to have his mug refilled?"

  “But the Earthmen will keep on setting the fashions," Irik snarled. “Many people think the Earthmen know everything, just because they're aloof and have sky cars."

  “Well," Malesor said, “the sky cars certainly prove they know something we don't. Better stick to your music, boy."

  The smoky little bar-parlor resounded with laughter and Irik's face turned a nasty red. “They don't know anything about music and they don't know everything about machinery. We might surprise them yet. A friend of mine knows Guhak, the fellow who invented that new brake for the track car a few years ago."

  “We know about that brake," Piq observed. “It stops a car so good, the chains are twice as late nowadays as they used to be, and you couldn't strictly say they were ever on time."

  Everybody laughed again. Irik quivered with anger. “Guhak has invented a car that doesn't need to go on tracks. It can run whenever it wants wherever it wants. And one car will be able to go faster than three hax teams."

  “That I'll believe when I've ridden on it," Kuqal grinned. “Even the chains aren't that fast." The others bit their thumbs and nodded — except Clarey, who was rigidly keeping out of the conversation. He forced squfur down his tightening throat and said nothing.

  “You're backward clods!" Irik raged. “If the Earthmen can have cars that go through the sky without tracks why shouldn't we have cars that run on the ground the same way? Have we tried?"

  “Doesn't seem to me it's worth the effort," Malesor said. “Our cars can get us where we're going as fast as we need to go already, why bother?"

  “Whatever an Earthman can do, we can do better! Soon Guhak will get his ground cars on the road. After that, it'll only be a short step to cars that go in the sky. Then we'll find out where the Earthmen come from and why they're here. We'll be as powerful as they are. We'll get rid of them and their rotten music."

  The bar parlor was silent, except for the clink as Clarey put his mug on the table. If he held it an instant longer, he was afraid he would spill it. One or two of the men looked at him uneasily out of the corners of their eyes. Malesor spoke: “In the fir
st place, you don't know how powerful Earthmen are. In the second place, who wants to be powerful, anyway? The Earthmen haven't done us any harm and they're a good thing for the economy. My cousin in Zrig tells me one of 'em come into his store a coupla months ago and bought out his whole stock, every bolt of cloth. Paid twice what it was worth, too. Live and let live, I say."

  The others murmured restlessly-

  “If there are ways of doing things better," Rini suggested, “why shouldn't we have them, too?" His eyes darted quickly toward Clarey's and then as quickly away.

  Irik turned his head and looked directly at Clarey for the first time. “You're silent, stranger. What do you think of the Earth-men?"

  * * * *

  Clarey picked up his drink, finished the squfur and set the mug back down on the table. “I don't know much about Earth-men. An ugly-looking lot, true, but there doesn't seem to be any harm in them. Of course, living in Barshwat, you probably know a lot more about them than I do."

  “I doubt that," Irik said. “You have an aunt in Barshwat." Clarey allowed himself to look surprised before he said courteously, “I'm glad you find me and my family so interesting. Yes, it so happens I do have an aunt there, but she's rather advanced in years and doesn't enjoy hanging around the starship field the way the children do."

  Irik's face darkened. “What is your aunt's name?"

  This time everyone looked surprised. The question itself was not too out-of-the-way, but his tone decidedly was.

  “She's a great-grandmother," Clarey said. “She would be too old for you. And I assure you it's difficult to part her from her money. I've tried."

  Everybody laughed. Irik was furious. “I understand that your aunt lives very close to Earth Headquarters!"

  Somebody must have followed him on one or more of his trips to Barshwat, Clarey realized. “If the Earthmen chose to establish themselves in the best residential section of Barshwat, then probably my aunt does live near them. She's not the type to leave a comfortable dome simply because foreigners move into the neighborhood."

  “Perhaps she has more than neighborhood in common with Earthmen."

  The room was suddenly very quiet again.

  “She does sometimes go to sleep at concerts," Clarey conceded.

  Irik opened his mouth. Male-sor held up a hand. “Before you say anything more against the Earthmen, Irik," he advised, “you oughta find out more about them. Their cars move faster and higher than ours. Maybe their catapults do, too."

  No one looked at Clarey. Male-sor had averted a showdown, he knew, but this was the beginning of the end. And he had a suspicion who was responsible—innocently perhaps, perhaps not. Love does not always imply trust. And when he told Embelsira what had happened in the Furbush, she, too, couldn't meet his eye. “That Irik," she said, “I never liked him."

  “I wonder how he knows so much about me."

  “Rini writes him very often," she babbled. “He must have told him you were responsible for the new music. That would make him hate you. Rini likes to irritate Irik, because he's always been jealous of him. But the whole thing's silly. How could you possibly make over the world's music, even if you were — " Her voice ran down.

  “An Earthman?" he finished coldly. “I suppose you went around telling everybody your suspicions, and Rini wrote that to Irik, too?"

  * * * *

  I didn't tell anybody!" she protested indignantly. “Not a soul!" She met his eye. “Except Mother, of course."

  “Your mother! You might as well have published it in the District Bulletin!"

  “You have no right to speak of Mother like that, even if it's true!" Embelsira began to sob. “I had to tell her, Balt — she kept asking why there weren't any young ones."

  “You could've told her to mind her own business!" he snapped, before he could catch himself. Five years, and he still made slips. It was her business. On Damorlan, it was a woman's duty not only to have children but to see that her children had children and their children had children.

  He made himself look grave and self-reproachful. “I have a confession to make, Belsir. I should have told you when I married you. I can't have children."

  “I never heard of such a thing! Everybody has children — unless they're not married, of course," she added primly.

  “It's an affliction sent by the gods."

  “The gods would never do anything like that!" she declared confidently.

  How primitive she is, he thought, and, then, angrily, how provincial I am! He had never stopped to think about it, but he knew of no married couple who had not at least one offspring; he and Embelsira were the only ones. It hadn't occurred to the X-T specialists that a species whose biological assets were roughly the same might have different handicaps. Apparently there was no such thing as sterility on Damorlan.

  “Are you really an Earthman, then, Balt?" she asked timidly.

  She had spread the news around, ruined him, ruined the work Earth had been doing, perhaps ruined even more than that — and she hadn't even been sure to begin with. But it was too late for recriminations. He had to salvage what little he could — time, maybe; that was all.

  “Are you going to tell?" he asked.

  She hesitated. “Do you swear you don't mean my people any harm?"

  “I swear," he said.

  “Then I swear not to tell," she said.

  He kissed her. After all, he thought, it isn't a lie. I don't mean her people any harm. Besides, sooner or later, her mother will get it out of her, so she won't be keeping her part of the bargain.

  * * * *

  The next time he went to Barshwat he knew he would be followed. He tried to shake the follower or followers off, but he couldn't be sure he'd succeeded.

  He found the colonel looking out of the window with an expression of quiet melancholy. If there had been any Earthwomen on Damorlan, Clarey would have thought he'd been crossed in love.

  “Things are taking a bad turn, Clarey," Blynn said. “There have been certain manifestations of hostility from the natives. Get any hint of it?"

  “No," Clarey said, taking his usual chair, “not a whisper."

  The colonel sat down heavily.

  “Katund's too out' of the way. We should've moved you to a city once you'd got the feel of things. But you do go to Zrig occasionally. Haven't you heard anything there?"

  “Only that an Earthman bought out a cloth merchant's entire stock at one blow."

  Blynn grinned weakly. “Maybe it was rather an ostentatious thing to do, but the fabric's beautiful stuff."

  He rubbed his nose reflectively. “Fact is, I've been hearing disturbing rumors. They say some fellow named Kuhak's invented a ground car that can run without tracks."

  Clarey almost said “Guhak," but caught himself in time. “Nonsense," he scoffed. “The more I know of them, the more surprised I am they ever got as far as inventing the chains."

  “But they did, no getting around that. This is what Earth's afraid of, you know," he reminded Clarey — unnecessarily. “This is why you were sent here. And, if the rumor's true, it looks as if you weren't needed at all. I got the bad news by myself."

  “But why should it be that upsetting?" Clarey tried to laugh. “You look as if it were the end of the world."

  The colonel gave him a long, level look. “I consider that remark in the worst of taste."

  Clarey stopped laughing.

  “Remember," the colonel reminded Clarey, again unnecessarily, “this is the way we ourselves got started."

  “But the Damorlanti don't have to move in the same direction. They may look human and even act human, but they don't think human."

  The colonel clasped his hands behind his head and sighed. “There have been articles against us in the paper, and whenever we go out in the street people — natives, I mean — make nasty remarks and sometimes even faces at us. And what have we done to them? Carefully minded our own business, avoided all cultural contacts except for trade purposes, paid them much more than th
e going price for their goods, and gave them one or two tips on health and sanitation. As a result, they're beginning to hate us."

  “But if you send a report, it'll bring the staff ship in ahead of time. Maybe the whole thing'll blow over. This way, you're not giving it a chance to."

  The colonel chewed his lip. “Well," he finally said, “I might as well wait and see if the rumor's verified before I report it."

  * * * *

  Clarey went back to Katund.The months went by. The friendly atmosphere in the Furbush had vanished, and not as many people stopped and chatted when they came to the library. But there wasn't any actual incident until the evening Clarey was walking home after late night at the library and a stone struck him between the shoulder-blades. “Dirty Earthman!" a voice called, and several pairs of feet scuttled off.

  He didn't mention the incident to Embelsira, not wanting to worry her, but the next morning he went to the Village Dome and informed Malesor. “Very bad," the headman muttered. “Very bad. Whoever did it will be punished."

  “You won't be able to catch them," Clarey said, “and there'd be no point in punishment, anyway. Look at it like this, Mai. Suppose I had been an Earth-man, don't you see how dangerous this would be, not for me but for you? Can't you imagine the inevitable results?"

  Malesor nodded. “The Earth-men's catapults do go farther and faster, then?"

  “And maybe deeper," Clarey agreed, pretending not to notice that it had been a question. “After the way Irik talked, I couldn't help drifting over to the star-field when I was in Barshwat and watching an Earth ship come. You've no idea how incredibly powerful a thing it was. Anyone who has power in one direction is likely to have it in another."

  “I wonder if the Earthmen always had power," Malesor mused, “if they weren't like us once. If, given time, we couldn't be like them ..."

  Clarey didn't say anything. Malesor's pale face turned gray “You mean we might not be given time?"

  Clarey wiggled his ears. “Who can tell what's in the mind of an Earthman?"

  Malesor looked directly at him. “Why do you tell me this?" “Because I'm one of you," Clarey said stoutly.