Fish Tails (79 page)

Arakny rode ahead with the outrider and walked out to meet the others as they approached. “It does look like a good place. No sign that anybody's been around here, no Edger mess. You want to check it out so we can use the
camp-­creator thing
?”

The place was level and shaded. They spent a few moments walking through and around it to be sure no current four-­legged resident would be displaced, Arakny and Grandma exchanged a few words, then Grandma murmured to the glassy cube she had carried in a bag at her waist. They heard a vague tinkling sound as a door opened into the forest before them. The door hummed to itself. A beam of light came through it from somewhere to stroke the horses, the wagons. The door became larger. They drove the wagons inside. Grandma murmured to the device again. Another door opened into human quarters, a large room furnished with chairs, benches, tables, a kitchen along one wall with utensils hanging above shelves. A flight of stairs led to several dormitory rooms, with beds, and two large bathrooms—­multiple showers, basins, and toilet cubicles. When Abasio and Xulai came up, carrying the babies, another bedroom sprouted at the end of the hall, this one containing a large bed and two small cribs for babies.

Seeing this, Abasio said, “How in . . . well, how could they pipe water in here?”

Grandma murmured, “Wormhole, Abasio. This camp is only one of a number of gadgets the Oracles have . . . well . . .” She shook her head, determined to be truthful. “ . . . gadgets the Oracles claim they've made. After they gave us the gadget, I went back inside and used the library machine.” She flushed, remembering. It had seemed like a transgression to check up on them. And the result had made her angry at herself, as much as at the Oracles. “This camp gadget is listed along with its manufacturer, which is definitely not the Oracles. It seems, if I understand it correctly, the universe is full of tiny, squirmy, short-lived micro-­wormholes, and if you have the right technology, you can grab one, anchor one end of it in water—­a river, an ocean, or a subterranean aquifer—­and the other end almost anywhere. Or you can tie the ends of a wormhole together and put a camp inside, like this one, with one door to the nearest real-­space place. Clever, no? The information I read said there's a galactic requirement to replace an equal amount of whatever substances are used up each time. It seems ­people who travel can make arrangements beforehand with a water bank or air bank or whatever they may be using.”

“Galactic requirement, Grandma?”

“That was what I read. There are evidently galactic officials that oversee certain aspects of interaction among worlds. Sometimes I get the impression the . . . the Oracles may not be . . . in compliance with some of the regulations.” She frowned. She had decided to be honest with herself and others. “Sometimes I think they don't know much about the regulations!”

“They prob'ly don't and aren't in compliance,” said Needly. “They give me a squirmy feeling, you know? Grandma. Like when you step on a snake, all unaware.”

“Well, they do tend to be . . . evasive,” mused Grandma, as yet unwilling to disillusion either herself or Needly completely. “They do, but I always just put that down to their being strange, you know. In a strange world?”

“They're not a bit in a strange world,” argued Needly. “They never leave that cave they live in, and inside that cavern of theirs, wherever the part is where they actually live, I'll bet it's just like their home. Wherever their home is.”

On the lower floor of the camp, the horses had been unhitched and the stable area had sprouted a water trough and two long mangers full of hay. Grandma said, “This device no doubt accessed some kind of database in order to identify horses and what horses need. Most of the species living in the galaxy are in the Oracle database. So they say. Billions of species of living things.”

“
Oracle
database, Grandma?” Needly allowed herself to sound slightly chiding.

“You know, I doubt it, Needly. I'm beginning to doubt my own name. My own face in a mirror.”

Needly thought the database probably existed, but thought it unlikely that the name “Oracle” was attached to it in any way. Of course, as she admitted to herself, she was unlikely to give the Oracles credit for anything at all. They hadn't helped Willum; she had been depending upon them to help Willum; so as far as she was concerned, they were useless. Being angry at them kept her from grieving, even though she knew she couldn't stay furious forever.

Someone sat down on a very comfortable chair, saying, “I wish we could see the area they're working on from in here.” Immediately, to squeals of surprise, the living area produced several observation screens with code boxes below them. The screens could show any direction outside, close or at some distance. Arakny and Precious Wind began moving the view screens south, along the shore of the river-­that-­had-­become-­a-­lake. It was a considerable body of water, but the only evidence of Edger use lay along the short stretch of shoreline just over the low hill south of them. That sandy stretch, between the Cow's rump and the widening lake, was messily cluttered with vehicle tracks, cans of fuel, and machines of one kind or another. Whoever had been here wasn't orderly; whoever had been here was very probably coming back.

­“People,” said Arakny, beckoning for them to gather around. “Listen please. The Oracles have lent us this camp device. It comes with a menu and an explanation, if any of you are interested. Ask for it, and it appears on the nearest wall in whatever language you've used. It's a self-­contained wormhole that bends space around us. When we're in here we're invisible and we can't be heard. I'm setting a code word, which is my name followed by Needly's name separated by ‘oops.' Arakny-­oops-­Needly. It's not something anyone is likely to say by accident. If you are outside fairly close to this location, you can say the code word and the door will open for you. I don't know exactly how close you need to be, so find landmarks you can rely on before you wander off. The door from outside opens into the stable, and it makes sense to leave it that way. If anyone besides us happens into this area, they will walk right through the area without noticing us. We are, so to speak, removed from the space. You will need to check the surroundings before going out; be sure to use one of those surveillance screens to be sure there's no trespassers out there before you open the door.

“Will someone please volunteer for horse maintenance? Beaver, thank you, pick someone to help you. Decide tomorrow whether you want the horses loafing in here all day or want to take them somewhere else. We passed some bits of pasture right along the river within a mile of here that might keep them happy, but we may need to leave in a hurry, so do not plan to put them very far.
Do not
unpack the wagons. Take what you need from them and put things back after use, so we're ready to leave at any time. Don't scatter your personal stuff around, keep your pack ready to go. The code for emergency departure is our usual one.

“A few of us are going out in a moment to look over the territory. We'll take a close look at that construction site while there's nobody there. We can't tell from in here whether something important may be hidden behind something else, so the screens in here can't see it. Once we get a better idea of the layout and what's going on, maybe we can rely on the screens.

”Now listen carefully: We do not want to make any contact with the Edgers, assuming that's who made the mess out there. We do not want them to be aware we know about this place. Nonetheless, we want to get all information about what they're doing here that we can, so regard this as an F and O mission . . . oh, for our guests, that's ‘Follow and Observe.' If we need to leave in a hurry, we'll go straight back to Wide Mountain Plaza, so if any of you are tracking anyone or sitting up on the mountain observing their camp, wherever it is, be sure you're carrying whatever you need in the way of food and water to get home if you get stranded. The best rule is, do not leave this place without three days' food and water and a pack of sanitary leaves. If we do cut out of here in a hurry
, and if we're not being pursued,
we'll stop a mile or so east on the Wide Mountain track and find out whether we're missing anyone. If we are, we'll leave someone there with provisions and a horse for each missing person. I repeat, that'll be a mile or two along the track back to Wide Mountain. If you're finding out something important, stay with it; someone'll be waiting for you along the trail. If we
are
pursued, you'll find the usual trail sign indicating food and water caches if we've had time to leave any. If not, you'll have to live off the land. Everything will be easiest and safest for everyone if
you'll have with you what you will need
. Anyone who's tracking, please leave our usual trail signs just in case we have to come looking for you. At this stage, any information we can get will be welcome.

“I say again, if you use something out of the wagons, put it back when you're finished with it, because we may need to leave in a hurry. Don't scatter stuff about, because if we collapse the camp, our stuff will probably not be there when we open it up again. It is not an actual place! Each time we open it, it's a temporary construction! I have no idea what memory capacity it has; could be inclusive, could be none. Keep your belongings in your packs where you can grab them. If you go out, either take your pack with you or put it in a wagon. We are very unlikely to leave without the wagons.

“We assume whoever's been here making that mess along the shore will be back in the morning. In the morning, we intend to be waiting for them. Remember. If you go out, go out quiet and stay quiet. Kitchen crew for tonight will be Silver Plume, Squash Blossom, and two men. Blossom, you pick two. We'll appoint somebody else for tomorrow if we're still here tomorrow. Any questions?”

“How long will the provisions guy wait?” someone asked.

There was a brief give-­and-­take before they decided on three days before a rescue party would be dispatched from Wide Mountain.

And with that, they settled for the evening. Horses lay down and sighed. ­People ate many-­eater stew and sighed. ­People, amazed, took hot showers and sighed pleasurably. The kitchen crew had almost nothing to do but heat the food. Empty bowls set down on tables were miraculously washed and returned to cupboards. One of the men reported that horse droppings and urine disappeared before they hit the ground. Silver Plume, experimenting, found that bringing food had been unnecessary. The camp would provide whatever food was asked for, she told them, gleefully hoisting a fancily decorated cake to illustrate the point.

Before it became completely dark, Arakny, Precious Wind, Deer Runner, Xulai, and Abasio sneaked out to look over the territory. Whatever was being done was happening down on the “beach” next to the extended water. Abasio took off his clothes and slipped into the lake, his body making the change as soon as he was completely below the surface.

After climbing out and changing back, he reported: “It fits what the rider reported. I can't see down there; I get some echoes. It's so deep that there must have been a series of caverns running more or less parallel to the river but below it. In some places the bottom of the river was evidently the roof of the cavern. There's a kind of ridge around the edge where that floor was. I imagine some water has been leaking down into the cavern for a very long time; the bottom finally weakened, collapsed, and the whole cavern system filled up with water. It's very, very deep in there, and something way, way down there is making a strange noise.” It had been what Abasio would call a purposeful noise, but he'd been unable to locate the source. Considering the depth and the darkness, he had not gone far; he had been uncertain about being able to find his way out if he got lost under a stone roof.

Arakny, meantime, had sought an observation post they could use on the following morning without being observed, a place that would let them see all of the roughly rectangular space the Edgers had strewn with one mess or another, limited by the lakeshore on the west; the line of dunes on the south; and the low forest now around them on the north. East was Cow Bluff, with a long narrow trough along its bottom between mountain and a parallel ridge known as the Cow's Tail: as though a huge plowshare had been dragged along the foot of the mountain. The ridge was partly rounded, some parts of it topped with scattered outcroppings of stone; the trough between rump and tail was the only clean and uncluttered place on the site; it offered the best view and the least danger of discovery. Arakny pointed to the area and told her group to be ready to go there at first light. Everyone else was cautioned to stay out of sight and hearing.

When it was fully dark, Abasio whispered in Grandma's ear. He found Xulai, whispered in her ear, and they both went out, leaving Grandma as babysitter. They did not return until well after dark, and well after moonrise. They had taken the crystal cube with them to record the situation along the shore and the extent of the inundation, presuming there would be a way to download that information.

(Actually, the cube recorded
everything
that occurred in or near the water, and sent that information to a receiver at the House of the Oracles, including a passionate interlude on the shore. After watching this without comprehension, the Oracles decided to store what they had seen and keep it secret. Galactic inspectors had a lot of rules and were fussy about what they called “intruding on other ­people,” and sometimes actually removed such things. With their customary efficiency, they put Abasio and Xulai's lovemaking in a secure file and pushed a certain button labeled
ERASE
, which their experience had taught them meant “hide.” Since they had never yet remembered wanting something they had hidden, the word “erase” had never inconvenienced them in the least.)