I had taught her a great deal, but not enough to overcome her fear of
the tabooed ground. She was willing to wait for me at the edge of the
forest, just outside the sacrificial grove, but I hated to leave her
alone and relatively unprotected. With some misgiving, I gave her my
Hayden.
"My Lord!" Dayhan's almond eyes widened as she fingered the weapon. It
was the first time I had allowed any of the tribe to touch an energized
Hayden.
"Do you trust a woman's hand with the brother-of-the-sun?" she asked.
"Can I hope to understand the bark of your great god?"
"It is only a weapon, like your spear or arrow."
"So my Lord has taught me."
"It will burn any animal that threatens you while you wait."
"As I have seen when you go hunting. I point this small end at the
beast, and then call upon the sun god for--"
"No, Dayhan. Aim well and push the small handle. It is not a god that
makes the power, but the skill of man. Do not change the nozzle dial,
or you will blast the whole forest into flame."
"Enough sun-fire to burn the forest! Yet you say he is no god. I am
truly your mate, my Lord, when you share such power with me."
I left the forest and walked across the ice-covered meadow toward the
glacier. Three miles away, nestled like a black beetle at the foot of
the ice wall, lay the smashed cylinder of the _Olympus_, already nearly
covered with ice and snow. A thin ribbon of smoke curled up from the
open furnace.
Baiel met me at the door of the control room. Over his fraying
officer's uniform he wore a clumsy cloak of animal skins, as I did
myself. Particles of ice were frozen into his black beard, transforming
it into a jutting blade of ebony. I was suddenly aware how much he
had changed since our crash-landing. Always thin, he now appeared
emaciated. His youth was gone. Only the blaze in his blue eyes remained
the same--glittering, self-confident, determined. Denied the dress,
the grooming, the daily ritual of shaving, both Baiel and I had become
bearded, stoop-shouldered patriarchs, imposing hulks in our animal
cloaks.
"I expected you would follow me," Baiel said.
"Why did you come?" For a moment, I felt a peculiar warmth and pity for
him. "It's insubordination. I'll have to take disciplinary action when
we go back."
"I'm only trying to help, Captain." The words seemed right, but the
voice was mocking.
Baiel turned to the viewscreen and dialed the focus on the area of the
planet south of the volcanic mountains. I saw rolling hills and rich
forests, green plains watered by a network of streams; the land was a
broad peninsula surrounded by the calm, blue water of an immense sea.
There was no indication of human inhabitants.
"I know you've been trying to encourage the tribe to move," Baiel
explained. "I came up here to see if I could locate a place for us to
migrate. This peninsula is ideal, Captain. It's far enough from the
glacier for agriculture to be practical, and--"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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