He had known such worlds where men of thirty were still regarded as boys denied marriage and the chance of fatherhood. Others where girls were kept in seclusion until equally old then to lose their virgin status in an erotic ceremony. And yet others where boys became men as soon as they had killed and womanhood was determined by the swelling of a belly.
"Earl?"
"I was thinking." He smiled and took another bite of cake and felt the sickly sweetness fill his mouth. "Have you explored? Tried to find other lands?"
"What's the point?" She busied herself pouring tea. "Everywhere is the same. I took a raft once and went on and on and on and ended nowhere."
And had gone nowhere but he didn't mention that. She, as the oldest resident of the Tau, could teach him what he needed to know.
"Did you ever try to go back? To the palace, I mean. To your mother."
"No!"
"Your father, then?" The denial had been too sharp, too savage. A hate relationship? Such things were common between a neglected daughter and an ambitious mother. "You liked your father, didn't you? He played with you and showed you his things. Tell me some of the games you played. Did you ever hide in his study and spring out at him when he didn't expect it? Did he have friends call and talk and did you sit and listen?" He handed her the plate of cakes. "These are good."
"I know. I made them."
"You must teach me."
"Why? Don't you know how to cook? That's silly. All men can cook." Her disgust was genuine. "How are you ever going to hold a wife unless you can prepare her meals?"
"On Earth women do the cooking."
"Then Earth must be a funny place." She made no attempt to hide her lack of interest. "Can't you think of a new game we could play? Perhaps-" Her eyes veiled, became secretive. "Are you married?"
"No."
"Do you have a woman? I know many men have women they aren't married to. I've heard the servants talking. Are you a woman's lover?"
"No."
"Then are you one of-" Again she broke off, frowning before continuing, "You'd rather be with a man?"
"No. It's just that I'm here and you are the only female around and we aren't married and we certainly aren't lovers so how could I have either?"
"But there are other women here, Earl. You've seen some of them. Shamarre, Lydia, Wendy-lots of women. They come when you want them." Then, with a giggle, she added, "Men too. All kinds of men."
Toys for an erotic eleven-year-old child-but Iduna was no longer that age. Dumarest remembered the body he had seen. One belonging to a nubile young woman and she had spent years in the Tau where time need not match the pace of that outside. A day here could be an hour on Esslin. Time for imagination to develop and ancient needs to make themselves known. Time and the power to experiment free of the hampering restrictions of watching adults.
The face he saw now no longer belonged to a child.
"Men," she said again. "Such funny creatures, Earl. They come and they play as you want them to and then they go away. But you, you're different. You're not going away, are you? You're going to stay and play with me."
"I'll keep you company."
"Company? Is that the way you say it? Is that what you do when you play games?"
"There are other things than games."
"Such as?"
"We can talk and walk and examine things together. We can plan and discuss and find out about each other. We can explore. Did you and your father ever go exploring together?"
"Yes, sometimes when he could get away. We'd take a raft and go into the mountains and we'd find flowers and he'd tell me about them. And about other worlds too and the ways the people lived on them. At times he would hold me and that was good because he was so gentle and strong and I felt so safe. And he used to give me things. Tamiras said he spoiled me but I don't think I was spoiled."
"Tamiras?"
"A friend." She dismissed the subject. "What can we do together, Earl?"
"Explore. You mentioned Katanga and the Juntinian Sea. Where do they lie?"
"To the south. I made it that way. And the Burning Mountains lie to the north and the Eldrach Jungles to the west."
"And the east? What lies to the east?"
"Deserts," she said. "And the Place."
"The Place?" He frowned. "Just that? The Place?"
"Yes. I-yes, Earl. But that doesn't matter now. We can forget all about that. And forget the glaciers and the pits and the things I saw when… when…"
"When you first came here?"
"Earl, it was horrible! I don't want to talk about it. I don't even want to think about it and you mustn't make me. Hold me, Earl. Hold me!"
And she was in his arms, clutching him tight as she buried her face against his chest, her shoulders quivering with remembered fears as she clung to the one real thing in her universe.
Chapter Eight
In the shadows a woman was moaning, her voice a gasping threnody of pain, thick, liquid, the gurgle of blood in laboring lungs turning the sounds into the mewing of a tormented beast. Kathryn turned toward it, feeling the tug and constriction of the transparent envelope she wore. A prophylactic measure the physicians had insisted she take and one she had not argued about. Hnaudifida was not a pleasant disease.
"Seven more cases in this area alone since the end of the storm, my lady." Sarah Magill gestured with an upraised arm. Her voice, muffled by the envelope she wore, was only slightly distorted by the diaphragms. "Another dozen suspected but we won't be certain until the end of the week. However all precautions have been taken as regards isolation."
"Separate quarters?"
"Of course."
"And full medical supervision?" If the unfortunates had the disease there was no hope but they should be given their chance. As the woman nodded Kathryn said, "How? How did they contract the disease? I ordered a total state of immobility. No movement between one estate and another and yet you have more cases here, others have been reported from previously clear areas, and there's talk of it even reaching the city itself."
"No slaves have left their work areas." Sarah was defiant. "And no overseers have left this estate. I can vouch for my own."
"But not for others, eh?" Kathryn met the other's eyes. "You've had visits? From whom?" Her voice hardened as the other hesitated. "I need to know, woman! This is an emergency!"
Outside the light was dying, strands of cloud drifting high against the emerald, thin wisps which formed moving patterns of changing complexity. Kathryn stared at them, glad to be out of the gloom, away from the scenes of pain and disrupted bodily functions. She had been a fool, perhaps, to have made the personal visit but anything was better than just waiting and it did no harm to demonstrate her closeness to the people and her interest in their troubles.
But it had not been pleasant to see the afflicted slaves writhing on their cots, skins burning, lips cracked, fevered eyes staring at her with the mute appeal of a stricken beast What had the monk said?
There, but for the grace of God, go I!
And, but for an accident of birth, she too could have been a slave, born to serve without question, living the span of her days in a manner chosen by others. A bad thought which she dismissed as a technician sprayed the envelope with sterilizing fluids and later helped her out of it when they were safely high and on their way back to the palace.
Gustav was waiting and anxiety made him sharp.
"You were stupid, Kathryn. You should not have gone to visit the sick. The risk was too great."