Little Specialists began to arrive on ponies, galloping across the short grass, leaping from their mounts, plunging into the bush. As they ran, the uttered small cries of desolation. Were they mourning the injured, or the loss of Rayo? Raoul couldn’t guess.
He wondered how he’d reached this branch. It was much higher than Rayo’s deck had been, and quite a way from the trackside too. He examined the trunk below him.
He saw a series of deep scratches in the bark, where his fingernails had stabbed into the wood. He’d climbed almost five vertical meters with fingers and toes alone. He examined his fingers. The nails had always been thick, but.…
Not for the first time, he began to wonder about himself.
Karina wondered, too.
She watched from the trees; first in astonishment as Rayo accelerated, then in anxiety as it rocketed towards the end of the track. She saw Raoul hauling on the brake, and she saw the smoke.
She saw Raoul jump.
He ran to the rail and leaped sideways and upwards, arms outstretched and fingers hooked like claws, and smacked into the trunk of the great tree. As he hit, he was already climbing, and he almost ran up the trunk into the crook of a branch. The toppling mast, swinging, slashed past his back, missing him by a centimeter.
At least he has some sense of self-preservation, thought Karina. True Humans were notorious for dying in the face of danger. Rayo raised a fountain of broken branches and flying leaves as she ploughed into the jungle. For a moment there was silence, then people began picking themselves up, crawling out of the bush, yelling; and a mob of wailing monkey-people leaped onto their tiny mounts and galloped towards the scene of the accident.
It occurred to Karina that Raoul had probably died on many happentracks; his escape had been nothing short of miraculous and she glanced around, half-expecting to catch sight of the handmaiden. But the jungle was empty, and after a while a procession began to move back to the huts; the injured limping, some being carried on stretchers, one motionless form laid over the back of a mule.
Karina sighed, then caught herself in some surprise. Why did she feel sad because the True Humans’ fast car was wrecked? Her own father had said that Rayo could be used as a weapon against the felinos.
But the car had been a beautiful thing.…
She began to work her way around towards the village. She would find out more about this secret place in the delta, carry the news back to El Tigre, and bask in the admiration of the felinos.
The beast in the valley of lakes
«When will you be able to let me know?» asked Tonio.
«Let you know what?»
«I have arrangements to make. I’m going to need a fast car for the Races — the Lord gave his orders.» His expression was stony. A bandage was wrapped around his head; blood already showed through. He sat in a rough chair in the Engineer’s hut. The walls were hung with antique mechanical devices — and the nature of some of those devices did nothing to improve Tonio’s temper.
Raoul had rarely seen his father so furious. Maquinista stood in the centre of the room, arms dangling limply by his sides, eyes blank and dazed, his shirt hanging in rags around his waist so that the cavern of his stomach was clearly visible.
«Oh … that. I’ll see what I can do. Right now I have other matters to attend to. You’d better go.»
«Go? I want to hear your intentions first.»
Maquinista walked to the doorway, looked out, walked back. «Give it a rest, will you? One of my men was killed. I have to make arrangements.»
«One of your men? ” Now Tonio was standing too, white with rage. «You have the impudence to call those Specialists men? You’ve been living in the delta too long, Maquinista. It wouldn’t surprise me to find you were friendly with the felinos, too!»
«The felinos?»
«We’ve had word they’re aware of developments here. They’ve had spies in the trees — probably your own mechanics. They know about Rayo, Maquinista!»
«There are no spies among my people.»
«God, man, you talk as though you’re some kind of father to them! They’re Specialists, just like the felinos! Can’t you see that? You can’t trust them. They have different values!»
The engineer shook his head slowly. «You can’t class all Specialists together. My mechanics will do anything for me. They’re loyal and they’re trustworthy. But maybe you wouldn’t understand that, living up in Rangua.»
«Have the felinos approached you? Have you seen any of them sniffing around?»
«Probably. I don’t know. Does it matter?» The engineer rubbed his eyes. He looked exhausted.
«It sure as hell matters if they find you’re building cars which can climb hills without felino help!»
Raoul stared at his father. Cars which didn’t need felinos? Rayo, certainly, had moved fast enough to climb most hills. So the felinos would be obsolete. What would they do? Would they run wild, hunting meat in order to survive? Would they sabotage the sailways? Would they march into Rangua?
«I obey the Lord’s commands,” said Maquinista quietly. «The felinos will find out eventually.»
And now the real reason for Tonio’s rage boiled up, boiled out. «The Lord didn’t tell you to use metal. Rayohas metal axles and metal bearings. She’s an offence against the Examples! You’ve sought out metal from old dwellings, you’ve kindled the Wrath of Agni and you’ve worked the metal. Why didn’t you tell me? You tricked me into piloting that abomination. How in hell do you think you could have got away with it? Did you fail, was that it? Did you find you couldn’t build a proper car fast enough, so you had to resort to this? ” He strode across the room, snatched something from the wall and flung it to the floor.
It made a sharp ringing noise, startling to the ears.
It was metal. There was metal all over the place.
Raoul huddled nervously back in his chair, staring fascinated at the thing on the floor.
«You wanted a fast ship.»
«Not at the expense of our beliefs!»
«Are you quite sure of that?»
«What in hell are you trying to say, Maquinista?»
«I’m saying we all bend the Examples when it suits us.»
«I’m damned sure I don’t.»
«And how about your colleague Herrera?»
«Herrera is wrong. I know that, and so do you, Maquinista!»
«But I don’t know that, Captain Tonio.» Suddenly the engineer’s voice was quiet, intense. «I was taught that, certainly. When I was a child, and lacked the experience to argue back. But I know differently. I know the Examples are wrong, for me. What may make very good sense to a kikihuahua flying through space in the pouch of a marsupial bat, may make nonsense when applied here in the jungle.
«Look at this.» He picked up the curious article from the floor, hefted it in his hand, selected a rod from a shelf, pushed it into the cross-shaped object and pulled a lever.
Then he pointed the thing at the wall.
Wang-whack!
The cross jerked, the rod quivered in the wall. Raoul stared. He hadn’t seen the rod move. One moment it had been sticking from the end of the cross, the next moment it was embedded in the wall. Tonio tried to pull it out, but he couldn’t.
«My God,” he muttered.
«No,” said Maquinista. “ MyGod. Yours is a God of stupidity. My God is practical. I’d like to tell you a story, Tonio. It won’t take a moment. It might help explain a few things to you.»