“Yes—down the valley. You can see them from here.”
“I’d be interested to take a look at them. You know, somebody warned me to beware of those who have only two, of those who become three—”
“Of that which becomes many,” Lee finished for him. “Well, I’ve warned you again to beware of those who become three. Heed me. They are much more dangerous than those who have only two—and you’ve just learned by experience to beware of them.”
“The Creedos? What do they have only two of?”
“They have only two dimensions, so the barbarians assume. Strictly speaking, that’s not quite so. They have three dimensions. But their thickness is almost non-existent. When they present themselves edge on—and they always try to—in a poorish light you just can’t see them. But they can see you. They have hundreds of microscopic eyes all over their body—some along the edges. Hundreds of mouths, too—far larger mouths. Greedy, ever-hungry mouths. They live mostly on the juices of vegetation, but they especially relish a drop of animal blood, if they can find it, which isn’t often.”
Sherret licked his lips, which had become dry.
“I presume their feeding technique is to slice through you, sucking in blood as they pass?”
“That’s it—just as they absorb the sap in trees or the juice in roots. They spend most of their time browsing on roots just below ground. But sometimes they surface in patches of rich vegetation, particularly forests—for a change of diet.”
“But, damn it, Lee, surely their internal organs must be too narrow to allow moisture to flow?”
“Why so? How thick is the average tree-leaf? And they’re not even as complicated as a leaf. They’re not thinking animals; they’re as simple as a sponge. The difference is that by a quirk of nature the organic matter of their bodies has been compressed much as the inorganic matter of this shield has been compressed. That doesn’t lessen their mass, and it increases their rigidity. It makes them one enormous, terribly sharp cutting edge. Of course, their flanks are vulnerable, to modern weapons. But they won’t let you get at their flanks; they swing around, like lightning, keeping themselves edge on.”
“How do they do that? How do they move at all? They don’t seem to have legs.”
“Frankly, Earthman, I don’t know. As a boy, I assumed it was some inborn faculty of balance. It is, I suppose, but it also makes use of the lines of force in the gravitational field of the Three Suns. Now that is complicated—too much so for my kind of mind. I’m no physicist.”
“I guess they’re quite a doodle. Not quite up to the Melas tree standard, though.”
“Ah—that which becomes many. So you’ve encountered the Melas tree, Earthman?”
“Yes. We’ve met. I’ve yet to make the acquaintance of those who become three. Have you met any Three-people yet?”
It was a leading question, and Sherret tried to make it sound casual. Lee made no answer. He brooded. Presently, he said, “Maybe I should never have met you, Earthman. I could have avoided it. Looking down from here, I saw the smoke of your fire. I wondered what kind of fool would camp in the woods where the Creedos roam. I went down there to save you from your ignorance or your own folly. Maybe I should have left you to them.”
“Why? Merely because I ask awkward questions?”
Lee regarded him thoughtfully. “You’ve come from the south. Meet anyone on the way?”
“One or two crazy birds, a few crazy creatures. I’m on my way to Na-Abiza.”
“You know whom I mean.”
“Yes, Lee, I met Rosala. She, too, saved my life. I make a habit of going around getting my life saved. Only now I’m beginning to wonder whether it’s worth saving. But I was grateful at the time. I lived with her for a spell. Then I left her. I know why you came here. I guess I came for a pretty similar reason. But there’s another reason, too—I wanted to tell you to go back to Rosala. She still loves you, and she needs you desperately.”
“What about you, Earthman? Do you still love her?”
“Damn it, yes. I wish I didn’t.”
“I know what you mean. I still love her, too. But I can’t go back to her yet. Not until after I’ve faced the Three-people. Unfortunately, I’m a coward. I’ve been skulking in this cave for longer than I care to remember, trying to rustle up enough courage to walk through the pass.”
“That’s hard to believe. I may be a coward but you’re not. Hell, you took on both those Creedos together—just to help a complete stranger.”
Lee smiled bitterly. “Maybe I was hoping they’d kill me, Earthman. That would solve my problem. I’ve never felt so low. I haven’t the courage either to face the Three-people or to go back to Rosala and so admit I’m a coward. The Creedos?
They’re nothing much. They’re not cruel nor malicious—just plain and simple bundles of survival reflexes. Like the Melas tree. I was never frightened of them; I’ve known what they are since I was a child. No, it’s the things you know nothing about—except that they’re evil and they certainly exist—that really scare you. This shield couldn’t protect me against the Three-people. I know that, because it couldn’t protect my father.”
“Your father?”
“Yes. This was my father’s shield. He brought it with him to this same pass, maybe to this very cave. And then he brought it back home with him. He had been a brave, strong man. All right, a bit of an exhibitionist, but he had humor and he was kind. He come home to us, dragging this useless shield, broken in spirit, wrecked in mind. I think he had been frightened nearly to death. He did die soon afterwards—of melancholia the quacks said.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Lee. But it shows there’s good reason for you to feel scared.”
“Scared, yes, but not downright paralyzed. Which I am. I’ve let myself down, let Rosala down, and—perhaps worst—let my father down. He promised me he’d leave me his shield, you know. I told him I’d be proud to bear it. When he died I resolved to bear it to the place where, in effect, he’d really died. And there face what he had faced, and, if possible, destroy it.”
Sherret mused, pulling gently at his beard.
Then he said, “I don’t quite get this. You said your people can observe this side of Amara and destroy its inhabitants without actually troubling to come here. Then why, for Pete’s sake, haven’t they destroyed the evil Three-people?”
Lee said, bitterly, “It may sound strange to you, Earth-man, but it’s a matter of ethics. The Three-people have never stirred out of this valley. They’ve never harmed anyone who didn’t intrude on them. For my people tolerance is the chief virtue. The Three-people had made it clear that they wanted to keep to themselves. Therefore, my people didn’t approve of men like my father, who liked to go banging at the doors of strangers.”
“How did the Three-people make their position clear?”
Lee shrugged. “Apparently they resent being observed by our instruments. On our screens this valley always appears to be in darkness. Our people assumed that to be a deliberate jamming of reception. But I think it may be only a local electrical phenomenon. Still, it’s clear that visitors are anything but welcome, for the Three-people either kill them or drive them insane.”
“I see. So what you’re seeking to prove is that you’re as brave as your father. As I see it, you’re even braver, for you’re aware of what could happen to you.”
“You’re mistaken, Earthman, My father went with his eyes open—he’d seen what happened to two of his friends. And yet he went all the way. He didn’t lose his confidence, like I have. Oh, he and his friends were different from the rest of my people. They’ve become decadent through too much ease, too much ingrowing philosophizing. They can reason their way out of making even the smallest decisions. They’ve lost all initiative. I know; I’m contaminated by the same spiritual disease. The difference is that I’m aware of it. I tell you, unless more characters like my father are born, the true adventurers, my race will presently die away through sheer inertia.”