Todd, we've got to get home. That was Kiachif's ship leaving.
Todd nodded solemnly but clung to Hrriss's tail. As if looking for a cue, Hrriss turned to Hrrestan. The Hrruban growled a brief spate of sound at the cub, who hung his head sadly. Gently but firmly he uncurled Todd's fingers from his tail and put the hand down at Todd's side. He flipped his tail straight out behind him.
Tomorrow? asked Todd with plaintive resignation.
Hrriss's eyes flicked back to his father, saw the assent and his jaw dropped in a smile. Todd's face lit up beatifically and he moved to his father's side.
I have promised the big one (the Hrruban description of Ben) to help with the hrrsses, Hrrula said to Reeve as he accompanied them out of the village after the farewells required by Hrruban etiquette.
Reeve grinned back at the Hrruban, amused by the catman's obsession with horses. Since they'd probably have to leave the beasts here, they'd be well cared-for. Maybe, even Ken cut off that half-formed thought. He set a pace easy enough for Todd to follow and the three moved along in a companionable silence.
The moment they reached Saddle Ridge, Reeve sensed something else must have happened down at the colony. There was no activity in the clearing by the river or among the houses. He held up his binoculars and, training them on the Common, brought into focus the colonists sitting in small groups at the tables, obviously waiting.
He tried to tell himself that perhaps Hu Shih had ordered a day of rest for everyone to recuperate from yesterday's feverish unloading and last night's festivities. But these people weren't laughing or enjoying themselves. They were waiting anxiously.
The sky ship has left, Hrrula said at Ken's shoulder.
Yes, thank God, Reeve sighed, lowering his glasses. But, he told himself, it is only a reprieve by any stretch of the imagination, won by a conniving captain. But Ken was grateful.
If the message capsule had arrived before the ship had left . . .
Reeve swung around to look back at the hills. Christ, he and his could live comfortably in those hills. Caves had been found. It'd be hard, dangerous, but anything was better than a return to the constrictions of over-crowded earth. Let those who liked that sort of semi-existence, regimented, regulated, restricted, have it. His eyes had had to learn to see distances. He could no longer entertain the thought of shortening his vision to the confines of the standard 10 x 12 room in an apartment warren or the straight, short horizon of a Corridor or Hall. He lengthened his stride, an unconscious revolt against a return to a planet where a free-swinging stride was a social insult.
Christ, social insult? The whole structure on Earth was one social indignity after another heaped on its members. And to what end?
Maybe that nardy captain was right! And the whole Siwannese mess was a travesty, perpetrated by cowards moral and physical, on an apathetic, indolent majority.
Spacedep had made a mistake. Maybe Codep could force them to no, Alreldep was also involved. Was there any chance that Alreldep could be made to bargain? There was that other continent. We could go there and let the Hrrubans keep this one.
His eyes, sweeping desperately across the valley he coveted, stopped at the Bridge. The Bridge his shoulders sagged in resignation, aware of the futility of his hopes and his position.
History had taught too many lessons in which man-imposed boundaries were broken; solemnly sworn treaties were abrogated and the honest intentions of one generation put aside by the exigencies of the next.
A groan, the inadvertent protest welling from the bottom of his soul, escaped him. He felt the velvety touch of Hrrula's hand on his arm and turned, puzzled.
Oh, here, I'll take Todd. He must be heavy, he said quickly, only just aware that Todd was riding Hrrula pickaback.
Hrrula backed off, shaking his head.
The child is not heavy. Not as heavy as your spirit, Rrev, the Hrruban said. Is it because the ship is gone and you will see no more of your fellows?
We will see our fellows again when we leave Doona.
Leave Doona? Oh, Rrala, you mean. But why must you leave?
You are here, Reeve repeated wearily. He eased himself to the ground, propping his rifle against a convenient boulder.
Hrrula, curling his tail around Todd's leg, hunkered down and waited. Todd watched his father solemnly over the furry shoulder.
Believe me, Hrrula, our people saw no trace of yours. You have no idea what a shock you gave us.
Delicately extending one arching claw, Hrrula scratched behind his ear thoughtfully. When Hrrula looked around again, Ken was sure he was chuckling, the wheeze of his mirth barely audible.
'You have no idea, Rrev, the shock you gave us when you entered our village, and Hrrula shook with his amusement. After all, he added with curious haste, we've been here long enough to know the world has no bareskins.
I don't wish to offend you but there are many things that puzzle me, Ken went on, hoping to catch Hrrula in a non-evasive mood. We have wondered if your people sleep through the long winter in some protected place. That would explain why we saw no sign of you. But how did you take your homes with you?
If we do not object to your presence here, why do your elders? Hrrula countered.
Evasion again, Reeve sighed to himself. Because of the nature and history of my race, he said aloud and waved toward the colony across the river. Look at that bridge. We have all we need on the other side right now. Reeve paused, trying to explain abstract philosophy in his still limited Hrruban vocabulary. But soon, because we are inherently greedy, we will want something that can be found only on your side and we will cross that bridge.
The bridge was built by Hrruban and Hayuman, Hrrula remarked, looking at Reeve through half-closed eyes. At Hrruban insistence. Yes, even then I understood that you did not want the bridge. We, and his furry thumb jabbed at his sleek chest, wanted the bridge. Far better than the little boat, particularly when the river runs fast and full.
Reeve shook his head vehemently. How can you understand why I am against the bridge? I don't have the words to tell you.
Hrrula's jaw dropped into a grin and this time he pointed to the oddly silent boy draped on his back. I will listen very carefully, as Zodd does, if you will explain.
All right, and Reeve sat determinedly forward. Our people are very old. We have kept records of what has happened between our tribes. When one tribe has something another one wishes, and the first tribe has many strong young men with long knives, they attack the other village and take the things they want.
That's silly, Todd remarked. Everyone gets the same as anybody else; even in Codep Block.
"That wasn't always the case, Todd, and don't interrupt," Ken ordered. He tempered his reproof with the knowledge that these Hrrubans found Todd unusual and it might be politic not to reprimand the boy too forcefully in front of Hrrula. "We've made an effort on Earth to be sure everyone gets the necessities of life: food, shelter, clothes " he ignored Todd's contemptuous monosyllable. "Once we found a lovely world, with a gentle people on it who welcomed us. But we did not understand their language completely we didn't listen," and in spite of himself Ken grinned at Todd. "We had much they lacked and tried to impose our wealth on them. We didn't understand that they felt they had all they needed for a good life. And then, through no conscious design of ours, the people all died. All of them. Every one of them. So, with terrible guilt and shame, our elders made it a first rule that this must not happen again on any other world among the stars.