The Asutra (14 page)

A ramp led down to a central hold, and here lay the captives from Caraz, drugged and torpid, on shelves which radiated from the walls like the spokes of a wheel. Karazan had killed one of the lumpish gray attendants; two more stood submissively to the side. None of the three carried asutras. In all, two hundred men, women, and children lay stacked like billets of timber and among them Karazan stood in the center of the room, scowling uncertainly from the gray host-creatures to the captives, at a loss, perhaps for the first time in his life.

"These people are well enough as they are," Etzwane told Karazan. "Let them sleep. Another matter is more urgent. The asutra have small passages where at least one has taken refuge. We must search the ship, taking great precautions, for the creatures carry energy weapons; already they have killed one man. Our best advantage is to block off the passages as we come to them, until we learn the plan of the ship."

Karazan said, "It is smaller than I had expected; not a comfortable or easy place to be."

"The asutra have built as close to their own scale as possible. With luck we shall soon be back down on the surface. Until then we can only wait and hope that the asutra can't call for help."

Karazan blinked. "How could they do that?"

"The advanced races talk through empty space, using the power of lightning."

"Preposterous," muttered Karazan, looking around the chamber. "Why, in the first place, should they go to such lengths for slaves? They have the toad-things, the black monsters like your captive, the red demons, arid who knows how many other servants?"

"Nothing about the asutra is certain," said Etzwane. "One guess is as good as another. Perhaps each of their hosts serves a special function. Perhaps they simply enjoy a variety of hosts."

"No matter," growled Karazan, "we must dig them out of their crannies. " He called instructions to his men and sent them off in pairs. Declaring himself too cumbersome to aid in the search, he took the gray creatures to the observation dome and tried to persuade them to take the ship down to Durdane, without success. Etzwane went off to examine the lift car, still in its socket, and could discover no means to control it. He next searched for food and water, which he found in bins and tanks under the slave hold. The atmosphere seemed fresh; somewhere aboard the ship an automatic renewal system was at work, and Etzwane hoped that if asutra were alive and in hiding they would not think to stifle the intruders. What, in a similar position, would he do himself? If a transfer ship were due from the home-world, he would do nothing, but allow the problem to be solved by exterior means. . . . Two by two the Alula warriors came to report. They had discovered the drive system, the energy generators, the air-purification system. They had surprised and killed one asutra riding the neck of his gray host, but had encountered no others; in a dozen areas they had blocked off asutra passages. Etzwane, now with nothing better to do, made a slow exploration of the ship, trying to learn the location of the asutra refuge. In this work he was assisted by the Alula, who had gained a measure of confidence.

For hours the group studied the ship, estimating distances and volumes, and finally concluded that the private refuge of the asutra lay directly under the control dome, in a space about ten feet square and four feet high. Etzwane and Karazan examined the outside of this space and wondered if they could break in. The walls showed no seams and were formed of a material unknown to Etzwane: neither glass nor metal. The space, Etzwane theorized, constituted the private quarters of the asutra, and he wondered how long they could survive without nourishment—though of course there might be nutriment within the space. Dawn approached. Durdane was a great black-purple disk surrounded by stars, with a pulsing magenta flare in the east. Blue Etta swung over the horizon, then came pink Sasetta, and finally white Zael, and the face of Durdane awoke to the light.

The ship hung above Caraz, at a distance which Etzwane estimated to be about two hundred miles. Below would be Shagfe village, too inconsequential to be noticed. From south to north extended the Caraz rivers, enormous silver-purple snakes, languid on crumpled plush. In the far southwest was Lake Nior and a line of smaller lakes. Etzwane speculated as to the force which held the depot ship in place, and how long it might take to fall to the surface if the asutra cut off the power. Etzwane winced, imagining the last few seconds. . . . Still, the asutra had nothing to gain by destroying their ship. Etzwane reflected upon the curious similarities among creatures as disparate as man, asutra, Roguskhoi, and Ka. All needed sustenance and shelter, all used light to locate themselves spatially ... To communicate all used sound, rather than light or touch or odor, for simple and universal reasons. Sound pervaded and filled an area; sound could be produced with minimal energy; sound was infinitely flexible. Telepathy? A faculty unevenly useful to a man but perhaps employed more consistently by other species; indeed, to regard a faculty so basic as restricted to the human race would be irrational. The study and comparison of intelligent life-forms must be a fascinating endeavor, thought Etzwane. . . . He scanned the sky in all directions, which was dead black and blazing with stars. Much too early to expect Ifness and an Earth ship. But not too early to fear the coming of an asutra vessel. The depot ship itself was a squat cylinder, studded at twenty-foot intervals with thick cones ending in white-metal radiants. The skin, Etzwane noted, was not the copper of the ships he had previously seen, but a burnished gray-black, on which shone oily lusters of crimson, dark blue, and green. Etzwane went once more to study the controls. No doubt but that these were in principal similar to the controls of an Earth ship, and he suspected that Ifness, had he been allowed the opportunity, might have puzzled out the functions of the odd little fingers and knobs and tanks of gray jelly. . . . Karazan appeared from below. Claustrophobia had made him edgy and irritable; only in the observation dome, with unobstructed space surrounding him, did he tend to relax. "I cannot break the wall. Our knives and clubs are unequal to the task, and I cannot understand the asutra tools."

"I don't see how they can menace us," Etzwane reflected, "provided that all the passages are blocked. If they became desperate they could possibly burn their way out and attack us with their guns. ... If they would lower us to the ground they could go their way, in spite of Ifness' yearning for a spaceship, which he can procure at some other time."

I agree in every respect," said Karazan. "I dislike this hanging in mid-air like a bird in a cage. If we could make the creatures understand us, no doubt an accommodation could be arranged. Why not try once more with the toad-men? We have nothing better to do."

They went down to the slave hold, where the toad-men crouched in apathy. Etzwane led one of them to the observation dome, and by dint of gestures toward the controls and down at the surface, indicated that the creature should lower the vessel to the ground—but to no avail; the gray thing stood staring in all directions, the palps rising and falling at its breathing orifices in evidence of some unknowable emotion.

Etzwane went so far as to push the creature toward the controls; it became rigid and exuded a foul-smelling slime from glands down its dorsal ridge. Etzwane desisted from his efforts.

After a half hour of cogitation he went to the blocked-off asutra passage and cautiously removed the sacks of cereal cake stopping the aperture. He hissed and whistled in as conciliatory a manner as he could contrive, then listened. No sound, no response. He tried again, and waited. Again without success. Etzwane closed off the hole once more, irritated and disappointed. The asutra, with intelligence at least equivalent to the human, ought to have recognized that Etzwane was offering a truce.

Etzwane went to look down at Durdane, now fully exposed to the sunlight. Lake Nior had become obscured under a swirl of cirrus; the ground directly below was likewise hidden. . . . The asutra's refusal to respond suggested an inability to compromise or cooperate. The creature seemed to expect no quarter and assuredly would give none. Etzwane remembered the Roguskhoi and the horrors they had worked upon the folk of Shant. According to previous assumptions, the Roguskhoi had been an experimental weapon designed for use against the Earth worlds, but now it seemed likely that the asutra had the creatures of the black globe-ships in mind. . . . Etzwane scowled down at Durdane. A situation which became ever more mysterious and contradictory. He mustered in his mind those questions which at one time or another had caused him perplexity. Why did the asutra trouble with human slaves when the Ka were equally deft, strong, and agile? Why had the Ka destroyed Hozman's asutra with such passion? How could the asutra hope to match the Roguskhoi against a technically proficient race? And another matter: when the Ka had been trapped in the wrecked spaceship, why had not the asutra escaped, as it easily could have done? Curious matters! Which might or might not at some time be illuminated.

The day dragged past. The men ate rations of the dried meat they had carried with them and cautiously Sampled the asutra cereal cake, which proved bland but not unpleasant. The sooner Ifness arrived with a rescue ship the better. Ifness would come, of this Etzwane felt certain. Ifness had never failed in any undertaking; Ifness was too proud a man to tolerate failure. . . . Etzwane went down to the slave hold and looked along the pale, still faces. He found Rune the Willow Wand and stood for several minutes examining the even features. He touched her neck, feeling for a pulse, but was confused by the throb of his own heart. It would be pleasant indeed to ride the plains of Caraz alone with Rune. Slowly, reluctantly, he turned away. He wandered around the ship, marveling at the precise workmanship and the expert engineering. What a miracle was a spaceship, which effortlessly could take thinking creatures such vast distances!

Etzwane went back to the dome and gazed in helpless fascination at the controls. . . . The suns sank; night concealed the world below.

Night passed; day came, to reveal Hozman Sore-throat sprawled face down at the back of the slave racks, a cord tight around his neck and his tongue lolling forth. Karazan muttered in disapproval but made no effort to discover the murderers; Hozman's death seemed a matter almost trivial.

The day proceeded. A mood of doubt and uncertainty infected the ship. The zest of victory was gone; the Alula were dispirited. . . . Once more Etzwane whistled down the passage for the asutra, with no more success than before. He began to wonder if all the asutra were dead. He had seen one enter the passage, but subsequently an asutra riding on the neck of a toad-thing had been killed; it might have been the same asutra.

The day passed; then another and another. Durdane daily showed a different pattern of clouds; otherwise the scene was static. Etzwane assured the Alula that the very lack of event was a good omen, but Karazan retorted, "I cannot follow your reasoning. Suppose Ifness were killed on his way to Shillinsk? What if he were unable to communicate with his colleagues? Or assume that they refused to listen to him. What then? Our wait here would feel the same as it does now, and would represent no omen whatever."

Etzwane tried to explain Ifness' peculiar and perverse personality, but Karazan only made an impatient gesture. "He is a man, and nothing is certain."

At this moment a cry came from the lookouts, who stood night and day in the observation dome. "A spacecraft moves through the sky! "

Etzwane jumped up, heart in his mouth. The time was too early, far too early, to expect Ifness. He peered through the dome to where the lookout pointed. . . . High above, a bronze disk-ship slid lazily across the sky, the suns' light reflecting from its skin.

It is an asutra ship," said Etzwane. Karazan said, somewhat heavily, "We have only one option, and that is to fight. Surprise is once again our ally, for they cannot expect to find the ship in enemy hands."

Etzwane glanced at the console. Lights blinked and flickered, signifying what, he did not know. If the disk-ship were attempting to communicate and raised no response, it would approach with caution. Surprise was not so great an ally as Karazan had hoped.

The disk curved north, sank at a slant, and halted, to hang quietly a mile away. Then it flickered suddenly green and disappeared. The sky was empty.

From a dozen throats came the hiss of released breath. "Now why is that?'' Karazan demanded of the company in general. "I am not the man for this sort of business; I detest puzzlement."

Etzwane shook his head. "I can only say that I prefer the ship's absence to its company."

It realizes our presence and plans to catch us napping," Karazan grumbled. "We will be ready."

For the rest of the day all hands crowded the observation dome, save those sent forth to patrol the ship. The bronze disk did not reappear, and presently the group relaxed and conditions were as before.

Four days dragged past. The Alula lapsed into surly
taciturnity and the patrols began to lack crispness.
Etzwane complained to Karazan, who gave back an
inarticulate mutter.
   
-,

"If discipline deteriorates, we're in trouble," Etzwane observed. "We must maintain morale. After all, everybody understood the circumstances before they left Durdane."

Karazan made no reply, but a short time later he called his men together and issued a set of instructions. "We are Alula," he said. "We are famed for our fortitude. We must demonstrate this quality now. After all, we are suffering nothing more serious than boredom and cramped quarters. The situation might be worse."