"All right, you two," he said. "Well done. Get back on watch. Thank you."
He watched them go off hand in hand, and then he wandered away across thequarry, heading for j the old manager's office.
I've seen Christmas Fayre come around six times, he thought. That's sixwhatd'youcall'ems, years. And almost one more, I think, although it'shard to j be sure out here. No one puts up any signs to say what'shappening, the heating just gets turned down. Seven years old. Just aboutthe time when a nome ought to be taking it easy. And I'm out here, wherethere aren't any proper walls to the world, and the water goes cold andhard as glass some mornings, and the ventilation and heating systems arequite shockingly out of control. Of course-he pulled himself together abit-as a scientist I find all these phenomena extremely interesting. Itwould just be nicer to find them extremely interesting from somewherenice and snug, inside.
Ah, inside. That was the place to be. Most of the older nomes sufferedfrom the fear of the Outside, but no one liked to talk about it much. Itwasn't too bad in the quarry, with its great walls of rock. If you didn'tlook up too much, or look toward the fourth side with its terribly hugeviews across the countryside, you could almost believe you were back inthe Store. Even so, most of the older nomes preferred to stay in thesheds, or in the cozy gloom under the floorboards. That way you avoidedthis horrible exposed feeling, the dreadful sensation that the sky waswatching you.
The children seemed to quite like the Outside, though. They weren'treally used to anything else. They could just about remember the Store, but it didn't mean much to them. They belonged Outside. They were usedto it. And the young men who went out hunting and gathering ... well, young men liked to show how brave they were, didn't they? Especially infront of other young men. And young women.
Of course, Dorcas thought, as a scientist and rational-thinking nome Iknow we weren't really intended to live under floorboards the wholetime. It's just that, as a nome who is probably seven years old andfeeling a bit creaky, I've got to admit I'd find it sort of comforting tohave a few of the good old signs around the place. "Amazing Reductions," perhaps, or just a little sign saying, "Mammoth Sales Start Tomorrow." Itwouldn't hurt, and I'm sure I'd feel happier. Which is of course totallyridiculous, when you look at it rationally.
It'd just be like Arnold Bros. (est. 1905), he thought sadly. I'm prettysure he doesn't exist in the way I was taught he does, when I was young.
But when you saw things like "If you do not see what you require, pleaseask" on the walls, you felt that everything was somehow all right.
He thought: These are very wrong thoughts for a rational thinking nome.
There was a crack in the woodwork by the door of the manager's office.
Dorcas slipped into the familiar gloom under the floor and padded alonguntil he found the switch.
He was rather proud of this idea. There was a big red bell on the outsidewall of the office, presumably so that humans could hear the telephonering when the quarry was noisy. Dorcas had changed the wiring so that hecould make it ringj whenever he liked.
He pressed the switch.
Nomes came running from all corners of the quarry. Dorcas waited as the underfloor space filled up, and then dragged up an empty matchbox to stand on.
"The human has been back," he announced. "It didn't get in, but it'll keep trying."
"What about your wire?" said one of the nomes.
"I'm afraid there are such things as wire cutters."
"So much for your theory about, um, humans being intelligent. A intelligent human would know enough not to go, um, where it wasn't wanted," said Nisodemus sourly.
Dorcas liked to see eagerness in a young nome, but Nisodemus vibrated with a peculiarly hungry kind of eagerness that was unpleasant to see. He gave him as sharp a look as he dared. "Humans out here might be different from the ones in the Store," he snapped. "Anyway-" "Order must have sent it," said Nisodemus. "It's a judgment, um, on us!"
"None of that. It's just a human," said Dorcas. Nisodemus glared at him as he went on, "Now, we really should be sending some of the women and children to the-" There was the sound of running feet outside and the gate guards piled in through the crack.
"It's back! It's back!" panted Sacco. "The human's back!" "All right, all right," said Dorcas. "Don't worry about it, it can't-"
"No! No! No!" yelled Sacco, jumping up and down. "It's got a pair of cutter things! It's cut the wire and the chain that holds the gates shut and it-" They didn't hear the rest of it.
They didn't need to.
The sound of an engine coming closer said it all.
It grew so loud that the shed shook, and then it stopped suddenly, leaving a nasty kind of silence that was worse than the noise. There wasthe crump of a metal door slamming. Then the rattle and squeak of theshed door.
Then footsteps. The boards overhead buckled and dropped little clouds ofdust as the great thumping steps wandered around the office.
The nomes stood in absolute silence. They moved nothing except theireyes, but they moved in perfect time to the footsteps, marking theposition, flicking backward and forward as the human crossed the roomabove. A baby started to whimper.
There was some clicking, and then the muffled sound of a human voicemaking its usual incomprehensible noises. This went on for some time.
Then the footsteps left the office again. The nomes could hear themcrunching around outside, and then more noises. Nasty, clinking metalnoises.
A small nome said, "Mom, I want to go, Mom-"
"Shh!"
"I really mean it, Mom!"
"Will you be quiet!"
All the nomes stood stock-still as the noises went on around them. Well, nearly all. One small nome hopped from one foot to the other, going veryred in the face.
Eventually the noise stopped. There was the thunk of a truck doorclosing, the growl of its engine, and the motor noise died away.
Dorcas said, very quietly, "I think perhaps we can relax now."
Hundreds of nomes breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mom!"
"Yes, all right, off you go."
And after the sigh of relief, the outbreak of babble. One voice roseabove the rest.
"It was never like this in the Store!" said Nisodemus, climbing onto halfa brick. "I ask you, fellow nomes, is this what we were led, um, to expect?" There was a mumbled chorus of "nos" and "yesses" as Nisodemus went on.
"A year ago we were safe in the Store. Do you remember what it was likeat Christmas Fayre? Do you remember what it was like in the Food Hall?
Anyone remember, um, roast beef and turkey?"
There were one or two embarrassed cheers. Nisodemus looked triumphant.
"And here we are at the same time of year-well, they tell us it's thesame time of year," he said sarcastically, "and what we're expected toeat are knobbly things actually grown in dirt! Um. And the meat isn'tproper meat at all, it's just dead animals cut up! Actual dead animals, actually cut up! Is this what you want your, um, children to get used to?
Digging up their food? And now they tell us we might even have to go tosome barn that hasn't got proper floorboards for us to live under asArnold Bros. (est. 1905) intended. Where next? we ask ourselves. Out ina field somewhere? Um. And do you know what is the worst thing about allof this? I'll tell you." He pointed a finger at Dorcas. "The people whoseem to be giving us all the orders now are the very people who, um, got us into this trouble in the first place!"
"Now, just you hold on-" Dorcas began.
"You all know I'm right!" shouted Nisodemus. "Think about it, nomes! Whyin the name of Arnold Bros. (est. 1905) did we have to leave theStore?"
There were a few more vague cheers and several arguments broke out amongthe audience.