The Call of Earth: 2 (Homecoming) (15 page)

“Ah,” said Moozh.

“May I ask—what they are—how your men were able to hang them? I see no ropes and there are no— apparatuses for hanging men in the streets.”

“I’m not sure,” said Moozh. “Let’s take the cloak off one of them and see.”

Gingerly Bitanke reached up and tugged on the cloak of the nearest dangling corpse. When it came away, the holograph faded instantly and it was easy to see that the body had been pinned to the wall by a heavy knife through its neck. “His own knife, do you think?” asked Moozh.

“I think so,” said Bitanke.

“Not a very secure job,” said Moozh, pushing at the body a bit. “I daresay if we have any wind tonight most of these will be down by morning. We’ll want to clean them up as quickly as possible, or we’ll have quite a problem with the dogs.”

“Yes sir,” said Bitanke.

“Never seen a dead body?” asked Moozh. “You look a little ill.”

“Oh, I’ve seen dead bodies, sir,” said Bitanke. “I’ve just never heard if. . . treating them this way . . . I wish your men wouldn’t . . .”

“Nonsense. These dangling bodies are like reinforcements. Any rioters that my soldiers happen to overlook—there are bound to be some using the toilet, don’t you think?—they’ll come out, see how quiet things are, notice the bodies, and most of the fight will go right out of them.”

Bitanke chuckled a little. “I imagine so.”

“You see?” said Moozh. “It’s a way of letting these boys make up for a bit of the mischief they’ve caused, by policing the streets for us all night. Correct me if I’m wrong, Captain Bitanke, but no one is going to shed many tears for them, right?”

Within the hour Moozh was meeting with the city council. In the meantime, the hundred soldiers who had been tending the bonfires were moving into position
at every gate of the city, standing alongside the guard in those few cases where they were at the gate. There was no quarrel between them; no soldier of the Gorayni came to blows with any of the city guard.

Moozh’s meeting with the city council was peaceful, and they concluded a firm agreement that Moozh would have full access to all the boroughs of the city— even those that normally were restricted to women only, since that was where the worst of the fires were burning and the marauders had been most out of control—but that after two and a half days, Moozh would withdraw his men to quarters outside the city, where they would be amply supplied and rewarded from the treasury of the city. It was a wonderful alliance, full of many compliments and much heartfelt gratitude.

Few in Basilica would realize it for several days, but by the time Moozh left the meeting his conquest of the city was complete.

Nafai said as little as possible to Elya and Meb as they set out on their journey back to Basilica. His silence did not make them any more cheerful toward him, but it meant that he didn’t have to quarrel with them, or do some verbal dance to avoid quarreling. He could keep his own thoughts.

He could talk to the Oversoul.

As if it mattered what he said to the old computer. For a few days he had fancied that he and the Oversoul were working together. The Oversoul had shown him its memory of Earth, had explained its purpose in the world, to try to keep the planet Harmony from repeating the miserable, self-destructive history of Earth. Nafai had agreed to serve that purpose. Nafai had stood over a drunken man in the street—his enemy—and it never would have come to his own mind to kill the man
as he lay there, helpless. But the Oversoul had told him to do it and Nafai had complied. Not because Gaballufix was a murderer himself who deserved to die. Why, then? Because Nafai believed the Oversoul, agreed with the Oversoul that by killing this one man, he could help preserve the whole world.

And, having done the crime, having put blood on his own hands for the sake of the Oversoul’s cause, where was the Oversoul now? Nafai had imagined that there was now a special relationship between the Oversoul and himself. Hadn’t there been that moment when the Index first spoke to him and Father and Issib? Father and Issib had only partly understood the Oversoul’s message—they grasped the idea that the Oversoul meant to lead them on a long journey to a wonderful place where Issib could use his floats again and not be confined to his chair. But only Nafai had understood that the place the Oversoul meant to take them was not on the planet Harmony—that the Oversoul meant to take them back to Earth. After forty million years, home to Earth.

Since then, though, the Index had been nothing but a guide to a vast memory bank. Father and Issib studied, and Nafai with them, but all the time Nafai kept waiting for some word—to all of them, or perhaps to him alone. Perhaps some special private message, some word of encouragement. Something to fulfill the promise made that time when the Oversoul, speaking through Issib’s chair, had said that it had chosen Nafai to lead his brothers.

Am
I chosen, Oversoul? Why can’t I see the results of your favor, then? I have made myself a murderer for you, and yet your vision of our wives came to Elemak. And what did he see? That you had chosen Eiadh for
him!
What has your favor brought me, then? Now you
speak to Elemak, who plotted with Gaballufix, who tried to kill me; now you give
him
the woman that
I
have so long desired—why did
he
receive that dream, and not me? I have been humiliated now in front of all of them. I will have to eat dust, I will have to submit to Elya’s orders and serve at his pleasure, I will have to watch Elya take that sweet and beautiful girl who has so long inhabited
my
dreams. Why do you hate me, Oversoul? What have I done, except to serve you and obey you?

The camels clambered with lazy strength up a slope, and Elemak led them along the edge of a precipice. Nafai looked out over the landscape and saw the savage knife-edged rocks and crags, with only here and there a bit of grey-green desert foliage. The Oversoul promised me life, promised me greatness and glory and joy, and here I am, in this desert, following my brothers, who plotted with Father’s enemy and, wittingly or not, set Father up to be killed. I helped the Oversoul to save Father’s life, and now here I am.

Yes, here you are.

It took a moment to realize that this was the voice of the Oversoul, for it spoke in Nafai’s mind as if it were his own thought. But he knew, from his few experiences, that this thought was coming from outside himself, if only because it seemed to answer him.

In turn, he answered the Oversoul—and not with any particular respect. Oh, here
you
are, he said silently, sarcastically. Noticed me again? Hope I wasn’t a bother.

I bother a great deal for you.

Like choosing Eiadh for my brother instead of me.

Eiadh is not for you.

Thanks for your help, said Nafai silently. Thanks for dealing me such a miserable hand in this game with my brothers.

I’m not doing too badly for you, Nafai.

Maybe I don’t give you the same high marks you give yourself. I killed a man for you.

And every moment of this journey, I am saving your life.

The thought startled Nafai. Inadvertently he sat up straighter, looked around him.

Every moment of this journey, I am turning their thoughts away from their decision to kill you.

Fear and hatred, both at once, clawed their way down Nafai’s throat and deep into his belly. He could feel them churning there, like small animals dwelling inside him.

It’s good that you’ve been silent, said the Oversoul. It’s good that you haven’t provoked them, or even reminded them that you’re along with them on this journey. For my influence in their minds, while strong, is not irresistible. If their anger flowed hotly against you, how would I stop them? I don’t have Issib’s chair to act through now.

Nafai was filled with fear, with a longing to go back to Father’s tent. At the same time, he was hurt and angry at his brothers. Why do they still hate me? How have I harmed them?

Foolish boy. Only a moment ago you were longing for me to reward you for your loyalty to me by giving you power over your brothers. Do you think they don’t see your ambition? Every time I speak to you, they hate you more. Every time your father’s face is filled with delight at your quick mind, at your goodness of heart, they hate you more. And when they see that you desire to have the privileges of the eldest son . . .

I don’t! cried Nafai silently. I don’t want to displace Elemak . . . I want him to love me, I want him to be a
true
older brother to me, and not this monster who wants me dead.

Yes, you want him to love you . . .
and
you want him to respect you . . .
and
you want to take his place. Do you think you are immune to the primate instincts within you? You are born to be an alpha male in a tribe of clever beasts, and so is he. But he is ruled by that hunger, while you, Nafai, can’t you be civilized, can’t you suppress the animal part of yourself, and work to help me achieve a far higher purpose than determining who will be the leading male in a troop of erect baboons?

Nafai felt as if he had been stripped naked in front of his enemies. If I am no better than Elemak, no better than any of the troop of baboons downstream from Father’s tent, then why did you choose me?

Because you
are
better, and because you
want
to be better still.

Help me, then. Help me curb my own dark desires. And while you’re at it, help Elemak, too. I remember him when he was younger. Playful, loving, kind. He’s more than an ambitious animal, I know he is, even if he’s forgotten it himself.

I know it, answered the Oversoul. Why do you think I gave that dream of Elemak? So he might have a chance to waken to my voice. He has much of the same sensitivity
you
have. But he has long chosen to hate me, to thwart my purposes if he can. So my voice has been nothing to him. This time, though, I could tell him something he wanted to hear. My purpose coincided with his own. What do you think your life would be worth, if I had shown
you
who his wife should be? Do you think he would have taken Eiadh at
your
hand?

I wouldn’t have given him Eiadh.

So. You would have ignored me. You would have
rebelled against me. You tell yourself that you killed Gaballufix only because you serve me and my noble purpose . . . but then you are willing to rebel against me and thwart my purpose, because you want a woman who would ruin your life.

You don’t know that. You may be a very clever computer, Oversoul, but you can’t tell the future.

I know her, as I know you, from the inside. And if you ever know her, you will understand that she could never be your wife.

Are you saying she’s bad at heart?

I’m saying she lives in a world whose center of gravity is herself. She has no purpose higher than her own desires. But you, Nafai, will never be content unless your life is accomplishing something that will change the world. I am giving you that, if you have the patience to trust me until it comes to you. I will also give you a wife who will share the same dreams, who will help you instead of distracting you.

Who
is
my wife, then?

The face of Luet came into his mind.

Nafai shuddered. Luet. She had helped him escape, and saved his life at great risk to herself. She had taken him down to the lake of women and brought him through rituals that only women were allowed by law to receive. For bringing him there she might have been killed, right along with him; instead she faced down the women and persuaded them that the Oversoul had commanded it. He had floated with her in the mists at the boundary between the hot and cold waters of the lake, and she had brought him through Trackless Wood, beyond the private gate in the wall of Basilica that, until now, only women had known about.

And earlier, Luet had come in the middle of the night to Father’s house far outside the city—had come at
some risk to herself—solely to warn that Father’s enemies planned to murder him. She had precipitated their departure into the wilderness.

Nafai owed her much. And he liked her, she was a good person, simple and sweet. So why couldn’t he think of her as a wife? Why did he recoil at the thought?

Because she is the waterseer.

The waterseer—that’s why he didn’t want to marry her. Because she had been having visions from the Oversoul for far longer than he; because she had strength and wisdom that he couldn’t even hope to have. Because she was better than Nafai in every way he could think of. Because if they became partners in this journey back to Earth, she would hear the voice of the Oversoul better than he; she would know the way when he knew nothing at all. When all was silent for him, she would hear music; when he was blind, she would have light. I can’t bear it, to be tied to a woman who will have no reason to respect me, because whatever I do, she has done it first, she can do it better.

So . . . you didn’t want a wife, after all. You wanted a worshipper.

This realization made him flush with self-contempt. Is that who I am? A boy who is so weak that he can’t imagine loving a woman who is strong?

The faces of Rasa and Wetchik, his mother and father, came into his mind. Mother was a strong woman— perhaps the strongest in Basilica, though she had never tried to use her prestige and influence to win power for herself. Did it weaken Father because Mother was at least—at
least—
his equal? Perhaps that was why they had not renewed their marriage after Issib’s birth. Perhaps that was why Mother had married Gaballufix for a few years, because Father had not been able to swallow
his pride enough to remain happily married to a woman who was so powerful and wise.

And yet she returned to Father, and Father returned to her. Nafai was the child she bore to seal their remarriage. And ever since then, they had renewed each other every year, not even questioning their commitment to each other. What had changed? Nothing— Mother did not have to diminish herself to be part of Father’s life, and he did not have to dominate her in order to be part of
her
life. Nor did domination flow the other way; the Wetchik had always been his own man, and Rasa had never felt a need to rule over him.