The loss of the pulse was such a blow that neither Volemak nor Elemak made any effort to keep the situation calm—not until it was already almost out of control. There lay the pieces of the pulse, spread out on a cloth; nearby were the two water-damaged pulses that Elemak had saved. Zdorab sat by them, the Index in his lap, reading out the numbers of the broken parts. Almost everyone else stood—few were calm enough to sit—waiting, watching, pacing, grumbling as he tried to find out if one whole pulse could be salvaged from the parts.
"It's no use," said Zdorab. "Even if we had all the parts, the Index says that we don't have the tools that would be needed, and no way of making them without spending fifty years achieving the appropriate level of technology."
"What a brilliant plan the Oversoul had," said Elemak. "Keep all of humanity at a low level of technology—so low that even though we can manufacture pulses, we don't understand how they work and can't repair them if they break."
"It wasn't the Oversoul's plan," said Issib.
"Does it matter?" said Mebbekew. "We're going to die out here now."
Dol burst into tears, and for once they sounded real.
"I'm sorry," said Nafai.
"Yes, well, how glad we all are that you're remorseful," said Elemak. "What were you doing in a dangerous place like that anyway? You had the sole surviving pulse, and that's what you do with it?"
"That's where the animal was," said Nafai.
"If your quarry had leapt from the cliff, would you have followed?" asked Volemak.
Nafai was devastated that Father had joined in with Elemak's tongue-lashing. And Elemak himself was far from finished. "Let me put it to you plainly, my dear little brother: If you could have chosen whether you or the pulse would land on the ledge instead of bouncing down to destruction, it would have been more convenient to everybody if you had arranged for it to be the pulse!"
The unfairness of it was almost unbearable. "I'm not the one who lost the first three."
"But when we lost the first three, we still had a pulse left, so it wasn't quite as serious," said Father. "You knew it was the last pulse, and still took such a chance."
"Enough!" said Rasa. "We all agree, including Nafai, that it was a horrible mistake to put the pulse at risk. But now the pulse is gone, it can't be repaired, and here we are in this strange place with no way to kill meat. Perhaps one of you has thought of what we're going to do now, besides heaping blame on Nafai's shoulders."
Thank you, Mother, said Nafai silently.
"Isn't it obvious?" said Vas. "The expedition is over."
"No, it isn't obvious," Volemak answered sharply. "The Oversoul's purpose is nothing less than saving Harmony from the same destruction that came to Earth forty million years ago. Are we going to give that up because we lost a weapon?"
"It's not the weapon," said Eiadh. "It's the meat. We need to find meat."
"And it isn't just a matter of having a balanced diet," added Shedemei. "Even if we made camp right here and planted crops immediately—and it's not the season for it, so we couldn't anyway—but even if we did, we'd have no harvest of basic protein crops until long after we suffered from serious malnutrition."
"What do you mean by serious malnutrition?" asked Volemak.
"Some deaths by starvation, primarily among the children," said Shedemei.
"That's awful!" wailed Kokor. "You've practically killed my baby!"
Her cry set off a chorus of whining. In the din, Nafai silently spoke to the Oversouclass="underline" Is there some other way?
(Do you have a suggestion?)
Nafai tried to think of a hunting weapon that could be made from materials at hand. He remembered that the Gorayni soldiers had been armed with spears, with bows and arrows. Would either of those do for hunting, or were they only useful in war?
The thought came into his head: (Anything that will kill a man will probably kill any other animal. To hunt with a spear requires a group of hunters to drive the prey—otherwise it's rare to get close enough for the kill, even with an atlatl to extend your throw.)
Then what about the bow and arrow?
(A good bow has a range four times that of the pulse. But they're very hard to make.)
What about a second-rate bow, with a range only about the same as a pulse? Could you teach me how to make one of those?
(Yes.)
And do you think I could find prey with it, or does it take too long to learn the skill?
(It takes as long as it takes.)
That was probably as good an answer as he was likely to get from the Oversoul, and it wasn't a bad answer at that. There was a hope, at least.
When Nafai's attention returned to the others, they had apparently goaded Volemak beyond his patience. "Do you think I planned all this?" he asked. "Do you think I asked the Oversoul to lead us to this hideous place, to have babies in the desert and wander aimlessly through wilderness without enough to eat? Do you think I wouldn't rather be in a house? With a bed?"
Nafai could see that Volemak had surprised everyone by joining his own complaints to theirs. But it hardly reassured them—some looked frightened indeed, to have their pillar of strength show a crack. And Elemak's face barely concealed his contempt for Father. It was not Volemak's proudest moment, Nafai could see that—and it was so unnecessary. If he had only asked the Oversoul the questions Nafai had asked, he would have been reassured. There was a way.
Vas spoke up again. "I tell you, all of this is completely unnecessary. Nafai and I found a fairly easy way down the mountain. We may not be able to bring the camels, but then, if we're simply walking around the bay to get to Dorova, all we need to carry is a day's provisions and water."
"Abandon the camels?" said Elemak. "The tents?"
"The coldboxes and dryboxes?" asked Shedemei.
"Some of you stay here then," said Mebbekew, "and lead the camels around the long way. Without the women and babies it won't take more than a week, and in the meantime the rest of us will be in the city. Give us a couple of months and we'll be back in Basilica. Or wherever the rest of you decide to go."
There was a murmur of assent.
"No," said Nafai. "This isn't about us, this is about Harmony, about the Oversoul."
"Nobody asked if I wanted to volunteer for this noble cause," said Obring, "and I for one am sick of hearing about it."
"The city's right over there," said Sevet. "We could be there so quickly."
"Fools," said Elemak. "Just because you can see the city, just because you can see the beach you'd walk along to reach it, that doesn't mean you could walk it easily. In a single day? Laughable. You've got stronger in the past year, yes, but none of you are in fit condition to walk that far carrying a baby, let alone the liters of water you'd need, and the food. Walking in sand is hard work, and slow, and the more heavily burdened you are the more slowly you go, which means that you have to carry more provisions to last you through the longer journey, which means you'll be more heavily burdened and travel even more sluggishly."
"Then we're trapped here till we die?" wailed Kokor.
"Oh, shut up," said Sevet.
"We're not trapped here," said Nafai, "and we don't have to abandon the expedition. Before there were ever pulses, human beings were able to kill meat. There are other weapons."
"What, will you strangle them?" asked Mebbekew. "Or use that wire of Gaballufix's, to cut off their heads?"
Nafai steeled himself to resist his own anger at Mebbekew's taunting. "A bow. Arrows. The Oversoul knows how they're made."
"Then let the Oversoul make them," said Obring. "That doesn't mean that any of us know how to use them."