“That great ordeal exhausted mankind: one by one the cities died and the desert rolled over them. As the population fell, humanity began the migration which was to make Diaspar the last and greatest of all cities.
“Most of these changes passed us by, but we had our own battle to fight-the battle against the desert. The natural barrier of the mountains was not enough, and many thousands of years passed before we had made our land secure. Far beneath Lys are machines which will give us water as long as the world remains, for the old oceans are still there, miles down in the Earth’s crust.
“That, very briefly, is our history. You will see that even in the Dawn Ages we had little to do with the cities, though their people often came into our land. We never hindered them, for many of our greatest men came from Outside, but when the cities were dying we did not wish to be involved in their downfall. With the ending of air transport, there was only one way into Lys-the carrier system from Diaspar. Four hundred million years ago that was closed by mutual agreement. But we have remembered Diaspar, and I do not know why you have forgotten Lys.”
Seranis smiled, a little wryly.
“Diaspar has surprised us. We expected it to go the way of all other cities, but instead it has achieved a stable culture that may last as long as Earth. It is not a culture we admire, yet we are glad that those who wish to escape have been able to do so. More than you might think have made the journey, and they have almost all been outstanding men.”
Alvin wondered how Seranis could be so sure of her facts, and he did not approve of her attitude towards Diaspar. He had hardly “escaped”-yet, after all, the word was not altogether inaccurate.
Somewhere a great bell vibrated with a throbbing boom that ebbed and died in the still air. Six times it struck, and as the last note faded into silence Alvin realized that the sun was low on the horizon and the eastern sky already held a hint of night.
“I must return to Diaspar,” he said. “Rorden is expecting me.”
6
THE LAST NIAGARA
Seranis looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. Then she rose to her feet and walked towards the stairway.
“Please wait a little while,” she said. “I have some business to settle, and Theon, I know, has many questions to ask you.”
Then she was gone, and for the next few minutes Theon’s barrage of questions drove any other thoughts from his mind. Theon had heard of Diaspar, and had seen records of the cities as they were at the height of their glory, but he could not imagine how their inhabitants had passed their lives. Alvin was amused at many of his questions-until he realized that his own ignorance of Lys was even greater.
Seranis was gone for many minutes, but her expression revealed nothing when she returned.
“We have been talking about you,” she said-not explaining who “we” might be: “If you return to Diaspar, the whole city will know about us. Whatever promises you make, the secret could not be kept.”
A feeling of slight panic began to creep over Alvin. Seranis must have known his thoughts, for her next words were more reassuring.
“We don’t wish to keep you here against your wishes, but if you return to Diaspar we will have to erase all memories of Lys from your mind.” She hesitated for a moment. “This has never arisen before: all your predecessors came here to stay.”
Alvin was thinking deeply.
“Why should it matter,” he said, “if Diaspar does learn about you again? Surely it would be a good thing for both our peoples?”
Seranis looked displeased.
“We don’t think so,” she said. “If the gates were opened, our land would be flooded with sensation-seekers and the idly curious. As things are now, only the best of your people have ever reached us.”
Alvin felt himself becoming steadily more annoyed, but he realized that Seranis’ attitude was quite unconscious.
“That isn’t true,” he said flatly. “Very few of us would ever leave Diaspar. If you let me return, it would make no difference to Lys.”
“The decision is not in my hands,” replied Seranis, “but I will put it to the Council when it meets three days from now. Until then, you can remain as my guest, and Theon will show you our country.”
“I would like to do that,” said Alvin, “but Rorden will be waiting for me. He knows where I am, and if I don’t come back at once anything may happen.”
Seranis smiled slightly.
“We have given that a good deal of thought,” she admitted. “There are men working on the problem now- we will see if they have been successful.”
Alvin was annoyed at having overlooked something so obvious. He knew that the engineers of the past had built for eternity-his journey to Lys had been proof of that. Yet it gave him a shock when the chromatic mist on the visiphone screen drifted aside to show the familiar outlines of Rorden’s room.
The Keeper of the Records looked up from his desk. His eyes lit when he saw Alvin.
“I never expected you to be early,” he said-though there was relief behind the jesting words. “Shall I come to meet you?”
While Alvin hesitated, Seranis stepped forward, and Rorden saw her for the first time. His eyes widened and he leaned forward as if to obtain a better view. The movement was as useless as it was automatic: Man had not lost it even though he had used the visiphone for a thousand million years.
Seranis laid her hands on Alvin’s shoulders and began to speak. When she had finished Rorden was silent for a while.
“I’ll do my best,” he said at length. “As I understand it, the choice lies between sending Alvin back to us under some form of hypnosis-or returning him with no restrictions at all. But I think I can promise that even if it learns of your existence, Diaspar will continue to ignore you.”
“We won’t overlook that possibility,” Seranis replied with just a trace of pique. Rorden detected it instantly.
“And what of myself?” he asked with a smile. “I know as much as Alvin now.”
“Alvin is a boy,” replied Seranis quickly, “but you hold an office as ancient as Diaspar. This is not the first time Lys has spoken to the Keeper of the Records, and he has never betrayed our secret yet.”
Rorden made no comment: he merely said: “How long do you wish to keep Alvin?”
“At the most, five days. The Council meets three days from now.”
“Very welclass="underline" for the next five days, then, Alvin is extremely busy on some historical research with me. This won’t be the first time it’s happened-but we’ll have to be out if Jeserac calls.”
Alvin laughed.
“Poor Jeserac! I seem to spend half my life hiding things from him.”
“You’ve been much less successful than you think,” replied Rorden, somewhat disconcertingly. “However I don’t expect any trouble. But don’t be longer than the five days!”
When the picture had faded, Rorden sat for a while staring at the darkened screen. He had always suspected that the world communication network might still be in existence, but the keys to its operation had been lost and the billions of circuits could never be traced by Man. It was strange to reflect that even now visiphones might be called vainly in the lost cities. Perhaps the time would come when his own receiver would do the same, and there would be no Keeper of the Records to answer the unknown caller…
He began to feel afraid. The immensity of what had happened was slowly dawning upon him. Until now, Rorden had given little thought to the consequences of his actions. His own historical interests, and his affection for Alvin, had been sufficient motive for what he had done. Though he had humored and encouraged Alvin, he had never believed that anything like this could possibly happen.