The Space Between (28 page)

He rose to his feet to watch, but a moment
later turned away in horror as Keyman Kuwisa pulled forth a little
stick with tails and started to beat the man's bare back.

Tuki turned to look again, as if drawn, and
saw the blood striping the man's skin. The Keyman hit him again,
and again. Ten lashes, the Councilor had said, but to Tuki the
beating seemed to last forever.

If they would do this to
one of their own,
he thought,
what would they have done to me if Sha Yukima had
not intervened?

He did not want to stay with these people.
The previous evening he had thought the only thing keeping him in
the city was that Nasinwa had the skyglass. But now he had the
'glass himself and was still there.

Now it was only the will of
Poti that held him.
Can I ignore the
wishes of the Goddess?
Tuki ran his fingers
over the smooth surface of the skyglass, gazing into it as he
thought.

Remembering some of the
things he had learned about the skyglass, Tuki centered the view on
Kiva and shifted back slightly. Almost immediately, he
smiled.
I followed the meteor to get
here,
he thought, though he no longer
believed that it was truly a shooting star,
but there are no meteors here now.
A
hundred and twelve yellow comets were clustered at various points
around the world, but the sky above Payota was clear. If the
Goddess had led him to this spot, then She was now leading him on
to somewhere else.
And if She did not lead
me here?
Then it did not matter.

Without another thought he turned on his
heel and started away from the river, the cool, smooth globe back
in the sack at his waist.

Once he found a main road, Tuki checked the
skyglass, holding it up to the bright, angled light. He wanted to
go south, back to the desert, but there were no bats at all in that
direction. If he was doing the Goddess' work he had to keep going.
If he was not doing the Goddess' work then he was all alone in the
world of man. Sighing, he decided to continue in the general
direction he had been travelling before being waylaid in Payota. He
set off towards the north, happy to be running again. To be under
the sky and moving. He smiled as he ran.

Apparently the drawing of blood was great
entertainment for humans, for he saw none of them as he made his
way between what remained of the buildings. Beyond the city,
farmers worked their fields as if nothing had changed. An old man
tied sacks of grain before someone younger heaved them into the
back of a wagon. A boy sat on a rock watching over a herd of docile
beasts. A woman was stuffing straw into to the breeches of a straw
man on a stick. On the hill, the city still smoldered.

Tuki passed by all these people and none
made comment. They continued about their work as if they saw giants
every day or trolls did not scare them. Or perhaps they merely did
not care anymore. Their lives had been hard before and were set to
get all the harder now.

Sometime later, after trotting for several
kilometers without sight of another living creature besides roving
beasts from the town, Tuki started to run quicker. Councilor
Nasinwa and Keyman Kuwisa would have noticed his absence, and he
doubted they would be pleased. The thought of the tailed stick
lashing his back pushed him to speeds he would have thought unwise
at any other time. The beauty of the landscape meant nothing to him
now. Just more fields to run past, more hills to run over, more
lakes to run around. Tuki saw nothing except the road beneath his
sandals and the tails in his mind.

Tuki was exhausted when night finally came.
He stumbled to a halt where the main road curved away to the east
and a lesser way continued north.

As he hunched over, breathing deeply, he
examined the two paths, wondering which way to go. In the end he
decided that it did not matter: one way was as unlikely as the
other. So he went north again.

Almost immediately the lesser path started
to rise, and over the top of the hill a forest cast its protective
shadow in the gathering gloom. He walked down the slope and into
the darkness. His feet and legs were hurting. He was more used to
running on the shifting sands of the desert than unforgiving solid
ground. He stopped to rest again. Sitting in the middle of the
path, he rubbed his feet and waited for his eyes to adjust. Soon he
could see the outline of the trees but not much more.

He pulled the skyglass out into the open. In
the soft radiance of the Goddess's attention he could make out the
packed earth of the road and the grassy edges. He stood with a
grunt and strode forward with renewed confidence but little
energy.

Before long, the road
turned abruptly and dipped down into a small hollow where a
farmer's hovel crouched beside a narrow, frothing stream. Tuki
stood where the road ended and bare earth started. He could see a
candle burning within the shack, and movement. He dared not go
closer. The beast herder and the sack sewer could inform everyone
that they had indeed seen the
troll
, but their testimony would not
help as much as that of the owner of the hovel.

Tuki climbed back out of the hollow and
turned away from the road. A narrow path led up the side of the
hill and through a saddle. Beyond, true darkness gathered in a long
narrow valley. Tuki sighed as he started forward and held the
skyglass aloft to light his way.

“
[Stop where you
are.]”

Tuki continued for several steps before he
even realized that he had heard a voice in the darkness. He did not
know the words, but the tone was similar to that of Keyman Kuwisa.
He stopped.

“
[Jesus, he's bloody
huge,]” somebody whispered.

“
[Shut up, private. And
stay down.]”

“
[Sorry, sir.]”

Tuki looked back over his
shoulder, wondering if he should run. Wondering if he
could
run. Wondering how
far he would get. His legs ached, and he felt ready to fall asleep
where he stood.

“
[Can you understand
me?]”

Tuki still held the skyglass above his head.
It seemed he could see everything apart from the men who spoke. The
meaning of their words eluded him.

“
[Where's Dongoske? He's in
the thick of the action, isn't he?]”

The sound of someone approaching, quickly
but quietly.

“
[Here, sir.]”

“
[See if you can talk to
this guy.]”

“
[Big dude, isn't he! Looks
a bit Polynesian with those tattoos.]”

“
[Airman!]”

“
[Sorry, sir.]” A pause.
"Can you understand me?"

Tuki nodded his head slowly. "Yes."

"What is your name? What are you doing
here?"

"My name is Tuki. I am running." He did not
understand every word the stranger said but he understood
enough.

“
[He speaks... well, it is
a mixture of several languages, sir. Mainly Shoshone, I think, with
a lot of other stuff thrown in.]”

“
[Don't talk to me, Airman.
Talk to him.]”

“
[Yes, sir. Of course.]”
The unseen stranger cleared his throat. "Why are you running,
brother? Where do you run to?"

"I run because it is quicker than walking,
and I do not know where I run to."

“
[What did he say,
Airman?]”

Tuki heard the man sigh before speaking to
the other, unseen man.

“
[He says he is running to
a place he doesn't know, sir.]”

“
[Shit, that's all we need.
Forest bloody Gump.]”

“
[At least we haven't shot
him yet, sir.]”

“
[Shut up,
Dongoske.]"

“
[Sir.]”

“
[Ask him if he'll follow
us.]”

"Tuki, I am called Ben Dongoske. I am a
Senior Airman in my nation's army. Will you come with me to our
camp?"

"Where is your camp? And why would I want to
go there?"

"It is down in the valley, in a cave. We
have food and water there. You can rest."

"I can rest here."

"We can't let you. You must come down into
our camp, or you must turn around and go back the way you
came."

Tuki looked over his shoulder, as if Keyman
Kuwisa and his men might rush out of the darkness at that very
moment to take the skyglass away. The bruises on his face and body
still throbbed.

"You have food and water?"

"We do."

"Do you eat the flesh of beasts?"

"We do, but we have fruit as well, if you
would prefer."

"And I can continue on my way tomorrow after
I have rested?"

The man paused. "If you wish it, we will
take you to the other end of the valley."

Tuki looked behind again. He thought he was
safe from the people of Payota, but he was not sure. These
strangers hadn't accused him of being a troll or threatened him in
any way. Or perhaps they were the fearsome trolls, themselves, and
not so fearsome after all. Perhaps these were the people the Mother
Blower was leading him to.

"I will come."

"Good. Good." The man stepped into the soft
light of the skyglass. He was dark skinned and dressed from head to
toe in multihued green clothes, allowing him to blend with the
forest and the night. He wore a glass screen over his eyes. His
mouth was covered as well. "Come on then. Let's get you some food,
hey."

Tuki followed the man down into the valley.
He did not see anyone else beside the trail.

* * *

Tuki didn't move. He examined the doorway
then turned his attention to the room.

The small chamber had humans carved on the
walls in relief. Bright lights stood on tall poles.

A dozen men, all clothed in strange noisy
white suits and with clear screens covering their faces, worked
around him. He couldn't begin to guess what they were doing.
Glowing windows looked onto nothing, but showed rows of little
symbols. They reminded him of the squares in the skyglass. There
were boxes that talked with voices that crackled and hissed, and
other boxes that steamed when they were opened. Men adjusted knobs
and stared through tubes. Some babbled to each other, or muttered
under their breath.

Standing on his own, Tuki watched as
everyone cast furtive glances in his direction. Every time he
turned their way, the men turned back to continue with their work.
It seemed a long time before anyone spoke to him again. A man,
large for a human, came through the silvery doorway, shifting
uncomfortably in his white suit. Ben Dongoske was with him.

"This is General Hilliard," Dongoske said.
"He is our leader here."

“
[Hello,]” General Hilliard
held out his hand, and Tuki looked at it until it was lowered
again. “[We'll be able to let you through the door in about five
minutes, and after that we will have to do some tests. Medical
stuff.]”

Dongoske translated, but it
made little difference to Tuki.
Medical
tests?
He shrugged his shoulders and
waited. General Hilliard moved purposefully away to speak to a man
holding a talking box.

"Where do you live, Tuki? Close by?"

"No. I live many days to the south. It is
many years since any moai has visited the lands of man. It is much
different than what I expected."

Dongoske laughed. "I'm sure the lands of man
on your world are not normally like this," he said.

A third person joined them. Though clad head
to toe like everyone else, the newcomer was unmistakably female
behind the helmet's transparent faceplate.

“
[We're ready for him
now.]”

"Okay then. Tuki, we're going through."

"Very well." He followed his companions.
"What is that?" he asked as he stepped through the silver sheen.
"What is it for?"

"We don't really know the answer to either
of those questions, Tuki. Maybe the two worlds need to be divided,
or something."

"The two worlds?"

"I'm sorry, I should explain. This door
leads between worlds. Between your world and the world of my
people."

Tuki gasped. "You come from another world?"
Beyond the shimmering doorway was a tiny room with reflective walls
made mainly from wonderful glass. Beyond that, a large room with
stone shelters in the corners. They went quickly through another
door and entered a room with polished walls and a big bed in the
middle. More of the windowed boxes lined the walls.

I am on another
world?
He tried to look at everything, as
if something in the cave would reveal to him his new location. But
of course it was just stone, and a dozen more strangers gathered
around a dozen more strange objects. "What is your world called?"
He took a little step forward and quickly turned his eyes to the
skyglass.

"Earth."

Tuki raised the skyglass. It was still
glowing softly.

General Hilliard, nearby once more, took an
involuntary step backward. Another man, larger than any other but
still not as large as Tuki, stepped forward. Somebody gasped.
Everyone was watching.

“
[Is it a weapon,
Airman?]”

“
[I don't think so... How
the hell should I know? Jesus... Watch him.]”

Tuki ignored them. "Earth," he said.

Nothing happened.

"Your world has no other name?"

Dongoske shook his head.

So Tuki said the word that would center the
view on his location. In the glass the colors shifted, transformed,
until a new globe was showing. Huge oceans dominated strange
landmasses.