And Raoul, sitting in that dim hut in the delta clearing, was aware that there was metal all around him; on the floor, on the walls, even hanging from the ceiling — and that this place was alien and terrible. A short corridor led from the room to another place, probably the engineer’s workshop; and as the daylight began to fade it was replaced by an eerie glow from this other place.
In that place, someone had kindled the Wrath of Agni.
So he shivered a little as he sat back and listened, and he thought of his mother, who told stories with a point; stories he could understand.
But the gaunt engineer with the ruined body told him a story which made no moral sense whatever.…
«The jungle up beyond Palhoa is dense and I was a fool to leave the sailway track. But work was finished for the day and I was young and adventurous, and something in the forest seemed to call me. There was plenty of daylight left and talk during supper turned to witchcraft, and the bruja whom the Palhoa people had warned us about, who lived in those parts. I was young and I laughed. The mountain people are always nervous — they shy away from sudden noises like guanacos.
«An older man dared me to go and look for the bruja.
“‘She’s pretty,’ he said. ‘About your age too, so they tell me. Lives all alone. Go and find her, Maquinista. Ask her to grant you a wish.’” The engineer mimicked this voice in a bitter falsetto.
«I climbed a ridge where the trees thinned out, and it was much lighter here. There was time to take a walk into the valley below. I started off, and suddenly things were different.…»
«Different?» Tonio’s question was a sudden, startling bark. He was staring at the engineer. «I … I know those parts,” he said lamely.
It had been a long time ago. The young girl had come up to him saying, «Here, take this child. I have brought it for you. ”
He’d held the baby. It was light and warm. Somehow it was not in his mind to question why; not at that moment. «What’s its name?» he asked.
«You will give him a name. The name is unimportant, although it is written in the If along as Manuel, Joao, and Raoul. His son, however, will be called John in every happentrack in which he lives. John will be the most important human of his time. ”
Maquinista said, «It was very quiet. No birds sang — although birds were there, I knew. They seemed to be watching me. All different kinds, all together. Animals too — I knew they were there, even though I couldn’t see them. It was as though I was being escorted into the valley. They were on three sides of me, so that it seemed I could only go forwards. I walked on until the nature of the forest changed and the ground became spongy underfoot. I wanted to turn back, but I didn’t seem to be able to. I walked beside small lakes, and crossed streams. When I started to climb a path away from the water, a tapir stood before me, barring the way. It didn’t run. It just stood there, and I knew it wouldn’t let me pass. The other animals were all around me, waiting — and I could smell jaguar.
«By Agni, I was scared!
«I stood there, and after a while the birds and animals went. Then, at last, I heard a sound.
«It was a woman singing.
«She sang a song I’d never heard before — a song of old times, like the Pegman sings. But as I listened, the song became something different, and the words changed and became strange, and somehow I knew the things she sang of were not old happenings any more. She sang of the future, of all of Time and the Greataway, and the place of the world in all this vastness. It was a song about everything we ever knew and ever will know. A song of Earth.
«Then she stopped singing, and spoke. She didn’t say much, but I’ll never forget those words. Her voice was queer and flat and dead, quite unlike the song. And all she said was,
“‘Hungry, Bantus?’
«And something sighed.
«It was a huge sound, like stormwater blasting from a blowhole. And I was alone on the path. I took out my knife. It was a good knife with a keen blade chipped from the hardest stone. The handle was mahogany, bound to the blade with horsehair twine. It was a strong knife, and yet when I heard — felt — the creature moving down the path towards me, I knew it wasn’t enough.
«I turned and ran. I ran so fast my legs couldn’t keep up with my body, and I fell. I fell into soft wet ground and I lay there, too frightened to rise, screaming into the grass. The creature came for me. I felt the earth shake to its footsteps, then I felt its breath on my neck. I couldn’t turn. I couldn’t look at it. It touched my hip. Hard, sharp claws; I felt them. My eyes were shut. It rolled me over and began a huge sniffing, and at last I dared to look at it.
«I could only see its muzzle, a handsbreadth from my face. Warm fluid dripped on me. I’ve never seen jaws that size before or since — far bigger than the greatest crocodile. Then the muzzle tilted and I saw the eyes of the beast. They were quite small, and all the more frightening because they were not savage. They were curious, inquisitive like a bear looking at a hole in a tree. The face of this beast was hairy, but it wasn’t warm. Wherever it touched me, I felt coolness. It looked at me as though I was a plate of food, not a living man. And I found the knife was still in my hand.
«I drove it upwards into the brute’s throat.
«And I felt the blade snap like a stick.
«The animal didn’t even blink. It sniffed its way down my chest, straddling me, seeking out the softest parts.
«Then it began to eat me.»
There was a moment’s silence in the hut. The air was keen and cool, blowing through the open doorway, and bore with it the sad singing of the little Specialists who were mourning the loss of their comrade. Maquinista regarded Tonio and Raoul, then turned away and disappeared into the dark recesses of the hut.
When he returned, he brought light.
It flashed from his hand, brightening the hut and glittering from the metal things on the walls. It dazzled Raoul and filled him with fear. He heard his father groan, saw him cover his eyes so that a black shadow fell over his face. But Raoul couldn’t shut out the terrible sight. He had to look. The light held a dreadful fascination as it swung and flickered from Maquinista’s hand. It was hot and fierce, like the eye of a cyclops. It stared at him, burning away his will to resist.
It was the Wrath of Agni.
«You’ll kill us all,” Tonio groaned.
And the engineer laughed. He set the little fire on a shelf, and it showed no sign of consuming the hut. It blazed alone there like the evening star. Unbelievably, the engineer seemed to have controlled it.
«That’s your answer to the felinos,” said Maquinista. «Fire. They’re scared of it, even more than you are. It’s the animal blood in them — a race memory of forest fires. If it wasn’t for the damned Examples, the True Humans would rule the world, instead of going in fear of every Species they live with.»
Raoul spoke. «But it’s wrong to rule the world. We must live in accord with the world and the creatures in it.»
«Tell that to the creatures.… No. Just forget about the Examples and take a fresh look at things as they really are. Explain it to me, Raoul. Explain to me why I was better off with a stone knife which broke, when I could have had a metal knife like this! ”
And he snatched something from the wall and threw it. It struck the floor beside Raoul and stuck there, quivering.
Raoul flinched, pressing himself against the wall and shivering.
Maquinista turned, and the light fell across his stomach, and the scars were like rose petals, and Raoul thought he could see the outline of the spine in there.