“Do you think I can find the right amount of sincerity?”
“I’m sure you can — now that we’ve had this talk. And I’ve no doubt that should promised Reunion with Light come during your time, you’ll be prepared for it.”
The Guardian trained his ears on infinity. “What a beautiful period that will be, Jared — Light all around us, touching everything, a Constant Communion, with the Almighty bringing man total knowledge of all things about him. And Darkness will be erased completely.”
Jared spent the rest of that period in the seclusion of his grotto. Unification, however, was not the subject of his Contemplation. Instead, he reviewed his new persuasions, careful not to entertain any thoughts that might be offensive to the Almighty.
In that single quarter period he renounced his dedicated search for Darkness and Light, denying himself any regret over having done so. And he resolved he would never again go beyond the Barrier.
New convictions firmly implanted, he relaxed in the assurance that everything would be all right — spiritually and physically. So certain did it seem he had done the proper thing that he wouldn’t have been at all surprised to hear the twelve dry springs had begun running again. It was as though he had entered into a covenant with Light.
He was still reaffirming his resolution when the Prime Survivor entered. “The Guardian just told me you’d heard the sound, son.”
“I hear a lot of things I didn’t hear before.” The earnest words bathed his father’s face and carried back with them the outline of a smile that was warm with approval and pride.
“I’ve been waiting for you to speak like this for a long time, Jared. It means I can now go ahead with my plans.”
“What plans?”
“This world should have young, vital leadership. It lacked that even before the springs went dry. With this challenge facing us, we need the imagination of a youthful leader all the more.”
“You want me to become Prime Survivor?”
“As soon as possible. It’ll take plenty of preparation. But I’ll give you all the help I can.”
A half-dozen periods earlier, Jared would have had no part of this development. But now it seemed only a minor enlargement of the life of dedicated purpose to which he had pledged himself.
“I don’t hear any arguments,” the Prime Survivor said gratefully.
“You won’t. Not if this is the way you want it.”
“Good! Over the next couple of periods I’ll tell you some of the things that have to be done. Then, when you get back from the Upper Level, we’ll start our formal training.”
“How are the Elders going to take this?”
“After they heard what went on between you and Guardian Philar, they didn’t have any objections at all.”
Early the next period — even before the central echo caster had been turned on — Jared was shaken roughly from his sleep.
“Wake up! Something’s happened!”
It was Elder Averyman. And whatever had happened must have been serious, indeed, for him to have burst into a private grotto.
Jared bounded to his feet, conscious of his brother’s restless stirring on the next ledge. “What is it?” he demanded.
“The Prime Survivor!” Averyman broke for the exit. “Come — quick!”
Jared raced off after him, hearing both that Romel was awakening and that his father’s ledge was empty. He overtook the Elder near the entrance to the world. “Where are we going?”
But Averyman only huffed more erratically. And the rush of air into and out of his lungs was chopped into discontinuous sound by the motion of the hair that hung down over his face.
That something was seriously amiss was evidenced by more than the Elder’s behavior. Indistinct voices, muffled in apprehension, could be heard in small, scattered groups. And Jared listened to several other persons, who had evidently been up and about soon enough to hear what had happened, racing toward the entrance.
“It’s the Prime Survivor!” Averyman managed between gasps. “We were out for our early walk. And he was saying how he was going to let you take over. When we passed by the entrance—” He stumbled and Jared crashed into his flailing form.
Someone turned on the central caster and Jared oriented himself as the details of his world sprang into audibility all around him. Among the impressions came that of Romel plodding along after them.
Elder Averyman brought his breathing under control. “It was awful! This thing came rushing from the passage, all fluttering and foul smelling! Your father and I could only stand there terrified—”
The smell of the monster still clung to the air. Detecting it, Jared raced ahead.
“Then there was this hissing sound,” Averyman’s laboring voice receded. “And the Prime Survivor fell where he stood. He didn’t move-not even when the thing came for him!”
Jared reached the entrance and elbowed his way past several Survivors who were asking one another what had happened.
The odor was even more offensive in the Passageway, growing stronger in the direction of the Original World. Mingled with it was the familiar scent of the Prime Survivor. There seemed to be an accumulation of the stench a short distance away. Jared followed his nose to the spot, reaching down to pick up something soft and limp.
About twice the size of his hand, it felt like manna cloth. Only, the texture was incomparably finer. And from each corner dangled a ribbon of the same material.
It was something that certainly required further study. But, as long as it reeked with the smell of the monster, he couldn’t bring it into the world without causing commotion. So he put it down and scraped dirt over it, fixing the location of the spot in his mind.
On the way back he almost collided with his brother, who was groping along the passageway.
“It sounds like you’ll be Prime Survivor sooner than you expected,” Romel said, not without a trace of envy in his voice.
CHAPTER SIX
“…We therefore humbly invoke the guidance of Light Almighty as we rededicate ourselves under new leadership.”
Survivor Averyman, as Senior Elder, was bringing his speech to a close. He paused and listened out over the Assembly.
Standing behind him, Jared too heard the silence, relieved only by the soft flow of many tense breaths. It was an anxious stillness, rather than one that bore respect for the Investiture Ceremonies.
Nor could he himself muster much attention for the Elder’s words. His thoughts were overburdened with bitterness. It wasn’t as much that Light had broken the covenant as it was that He had decided on so ruthless a means of making that fact clear.
That the Prime Survivor was gone forever from the worlds of man was, for Jared, a tragedy. On several occasions over the past two periods he would have gone charging defiantly up the passageway had it not been for the remote possibility that the loss of his father was only temporary, to test the sincerity of his repentance. A more practical reason he hadn’t tried to track down the monster was that Protectors had been stationed at the entrance.
He sneezed and sniffled, evoking a disdainful pause in Survivor Averyman’s speech. After a moment, the Elder resumed:
“We must not expect from our new Prime Survivor the forehearing and wisdom that we came to associate with his late father. For what could compare with an understanding deep enough to hear ahead to the imminent necessity of preparing his successor?”
Jared listened impatiently over toward the guarded entrance. There was yet another reason he couldn’t go plunging beyond the Barrier in search of his father. That would only call the wrath of the Elders down on his head and they would make Romel the Prime Survivor — a development which could bring only chaos to the world.