The canyon floor, in contrast to the light brown sand of the desert around them, was a patchwork of vibrant green. Plants of some sort, probably crops. Along both sides of the canyon floor, the areas farthest from the river, were numerous clusters of trees.
I need to see more to the right.
Jack winced. Draycos should know better than to talk to him in such close confines.
But if the Golvins pressed against him on either side had heard the K'da's murmur, they gave no sign. Carefully, Jack turned his torso a little to the right.
He felt the subtle movement as Draycos eased along his skin to where he could look through the open shirt collar. Jack looked that direction, too, wondering what exactly the dragon was looking at. Aside from the canyon, all of the desert looked pretty much the same.
"We have returned," the driver said, pointing at the canyon below. "You will be ready to begin at once?"
"Let's first see what kind of accommodations you have for me," Jack improvised.
"We will provide the best," the Golvin seated beside the driver assured him. "Low down by the river, near to the Great Assembly Hall and the Seat of Decision."
"Ah," Jack said, a sinking sensation in his stomach. Low down in the canyon and surrounded by all that rock would severely limit the range of the spare comm clip in his shoe. Alison and Uncle Virge would pretty much have to fly directly over the place in order to pick up his signal.
And flying over it was the best they were going to manage, too. With all the archways and guy wires connecting the rock pillars, there was no way a ship the size of the Essenay would be putting down inside the canyon itself anytime soon.
In fact, the shuttle driver himself nearly didn't manage it. With the shifting wind currents along the canyon's edges buffeting the shuttle, Jack had a few very bad moments as they worked their way through the guy wires toward the landing pit by the river a couple hundred yards south of the big building.
But they made it, the engines sending ripples through the tall plants surrounding the landing pit as the pilot shut them down. More Golvins were starting to gather, Jack saw, all of them wearing the same long, pocketed vests as his kidnappers. Some of the outfits were differently cut, though, while others had colorful bits of decoration sewn onto them. By the time Jack maneuvered his way out of the shuttle there were at least fifty of the creatures standing silently watching him.
"I don't suppose it would do any good to tell them I'm not this Jupa you're looking for, would it?" Jack suggested as the driver and the other front-seat passenger joined him.
"You are the Jupa," the driver said firmly. "As indeed they can now tell for themselves."
Jack looked back at his audience. Sure enough, the entire crowd had that fluttering-nose thing going. Something about him apparently smelled really tasty.
He just hoped it wasn't going to be in the culinary sense.
"You wished to see your accommodations," the driver continued. "Come. I will show you."
"And I need to talk to your leaders, too," Jack added as the Golvin started along a path leading from the landing pit toward one of the taller stone pillars a hundred yards away. Aside from the various paths and the landing pit itself, Jack noted, the entire canyon floor seemed devoted to cropland. The trees along both sides, he suspected, probably produced fruit or nuts as well as wood.
"The One will see you shortly," the Golvin assured him. "Come."
Jack followed, the other Golvins from the shuttle coming behind him like an honor guard. There was a doorway in the base of the pillar, he could see, leading into a shadowy room or series of rooms. The doorway itself was decorated with multicolored streamers on both sides and a long colored fringe hanging from the top most of the way to the ground. Twenty feet above the opening, offset a little to the right, was another doorway, a little less lavishly decorated. Above it were more doorways, extending nearly to the pillar's top, most of these with only a sheet of plain cloth covering them. The other pillars were similarly honeycombed with doorways. Apparently, the Golvins liked to live up off the ground.
He was still looking around when his guide reached their destination. Without pausing, the alien spread his hands out onto the stone and started to climb.
"Whoa," Jack said. "Excuse me?"
The Golvin paused five feet up and looked quizzically back over his shoulder. "Yes?"
"I can't do that," Jack told him. "I'll need another way to get up."
"Strange," one of the other Golvins said. "The other Jupas had no problem climbing the grasses."
The grasses? "I already told you I wasn't a Jupa," Jack reminded him, looking more closely at the pillar. Sure enough, there was a crisscrossed mesh of ivylike plants growing out of the rock. Was that what the Golvins' sticky hands were holding onto? "How about giving me the ground-level room instead?" he suggested.
"Impossible," the Golvin beside him said, the skin of his face suddenly wrinkling all over. "That is the dwelling of the One."
"Then you'll need to find me a ladder," Jack said. "I can't climb the way you can."
"Who is this you have brought?" a new voice demanded from behind him.
Jack turned to find an older Golvin striding toward him. His vest was the most elaborately decorated yet, with streamers like those of the ground-floor doorway attached to both shoulders and a matching fringe along the vest's bottom. The implication was obvious. "I gather you're the One?" Jack hazarded.
A ripple of excited murmuring ran through the crowd at Jack's deduction. The leader himself, however, didn't join in. Silently, he continued forward until he was only a couple of feet away from Jack. Then, with a double flick of his wrist, he gestured to the three Golvins still standing beside Jack. Hastily, they backed up a half-dozen paces. "I am the One Among Many," the leader said, his voice stiff and formal as he studied Jack's face. "You claim to be the Jupa?"
Jack looked over the One's shoulder at the crowd. They'd gone silent again, their faces intent as they watched the confrontation. "To be honest, I have no idea what they're talking about," Jack admitted, lowering his voice. "But I can't seem to convince them of that."
For a moment the One eyed him. Then, leaning forward a little, he gave Jack a gingerly sniff. "You do smell like the Jupa Stuart," he admitted with clear reluctance as he leaned back again. "But he is dead."
"As is the other Jupa, I hear," Jack agreed. "Look, I know you're not crazy about me being here. Me, neither. So let's see if we can find a way to make me quietly go away."
The One's face wrinkled. "Go away?" he repeated, his voice suddenly sounding strange.
"I mean leave and go home," Jack said, frowning at the other's reaction. "So how about you give me another sniff, tell them that I'm close but no holiday prize, and they can take me back to the spaceport."
"But you are here," the One said thoughtfully. "And they are right, you do smell like Jupa Stuart. And there is much work to be done."
"You wouldn't like the quality of my work," Jack warned, a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"You are a Jupa," the One said, all the hesitation gone from his voice. "You are the Jupa."
And before Jack could say anything, the One turned toward the crowd and lifted his arms. "The Jupa Stuart will not return," he called, his voice echoing across the canyon. "But he has sent another Jupa. The Jupa—" He turned a quizzical look toward Jack.
Jack sighed. "I'm Jack," he said.
"The Jupa Jack," the One intoned, turning back to the crowd. "Welcome him to your lives and his duty."