A Simple Truth (26 page)

"I analysed the air, and it's just that, pure fresh air.  Then I saw these people, and what with the appearance of everything being so
earth
-
like
there's no other conclusion.  Is there?"

Sharma's penetrating gaze made him begin to feel a little less sure.

"The other conclusion is that we are still on the vessel, and that the appearance of distance and height are illusions."

"But how
?"
began Knight, "and these people?"

"I don't know how they got
here;
perhaps they came with the ship."

"Oh surely not
,"
replied Knight dismissively, the suggestion striking him as patently ridiculous.

Sharma walked over to the group of tribespeople and eyed them critically.  They stood still, though clearly ill at ease and wondering why they were being subjected to such scrutiny.  He looked down at their hands and saw the surgical dressings but did not remark on them.  Then he looked back at Knight.

"I didn't pick up your beacon
,"
he said.

"No
,"
replied Knight
,
"
o
ddly enough I was just setting it up when I detected yours and then you appeared from the cliff."  Knight didn't care for the tone of Sharma's
question
or for the stony look on his face.

"Why didn't you energise it before that
?"
he asked.

"It didn't occur to me until just now, things were happening so fast."

"Mmm
,"
muttered Sharma in apparent disapproval.  "Were these people here when you arrived?"

Knight explained what had happened
earlier;
about the attack and about how he had turned the tables on them with his torch.  He warmed to his story as he described their new found respect for him and explained how they had offered him the awful smelling meat.  He laughed as he recalled the dilemma he had been faced with and how he had nearly been sick as he ate it.  At that point Sharma's attitude, which had been thawing a little, returned to outright hostility.

"You ate it
?"
he exclaimed in disbelief.

"I had to
,"
said Knight defensively.  "It was necessary to maintain their co-operation.  I gave them the surgical patches in return and since then we've got along famously."

When Sharma spoke his voice was quiet, menacing in its forced calmness.

"Number one: you don't bother to transmit a tracker signal.  Number two: you eat
an
unidentified substance, and n
umber three: you give away half of your surgical supplies."  The calmness vanished as his voice rose sharply.  "What the hell is your head full of?  You WSA people haven't a
shred
of common sense or discipline between the lot of you."

Knight was almost purple by this time.  He knew that Sharma's criticism of his actions was justified and that didn't help, but he bitterly resented the unjust reference to 'WSA people'.

"It's all right for you to criticise
,"
he shouted back, "standing there without a care in the world.  I was
very
nearly killed when I was brought here.  But for my presence of mind I'd be dead, and so would you have been soon afterwards."  He could have said more but restrained himself with an effort.

The tribespeople had been backing off steadily during this exchange, and it was easy to see their point of view.  A fight between two gods was too dangerous a spectacle to witness at close hand.

Sharma regretted his anger immediately he had given vent to it.  He liked and respected Knight and there had been no need to condemn him in that way.

"I'm sorry
,"
he said quietly, "there was no need for that.  I blamed myself for your capture.  I guess the worry and tension have got to me more that I thought."

Knight was grateful for the
climb-down
.  "No, you were
right;
I should have taken more care."

Sharma came over and put a hand on Knight's shoulder.  "To tell you the truth there have been a few blunders all round.  We could all see the alien getting close to you but not one of us realised the danger you were in.  Then when I descended exactly the same thing happened to me, except that I was still in the skin when the creature unclipped me.  Nobod
y foresaw that happening either, s
o no-one's in a position to criticise you, least of all me."

"Thanks
,"
said Knight with feeling, and then putting the incident behind him asked
,
"
So
what did the programme advise for this eventuality?"

Sharma turned to see if Knight was being sarcastic, but his face showed that it had been a sincere question.

"If contact with the ferry and earth is lost then everything must be done to re-establish it consistent with reasonable diplomacy and safety
,"
quoted Sharma.

"So we set up a lost beacon
?"
queried Knight.

"No, first we try to find a way out and make a positive contact from outside."

"So you think we're still inside the vessel?"

"I do.  Illusions are easier to produce than magic."

Knight was unconvinced but willing to go along with Sharma's plans.  Suiting up was a tedious business, but eventually the pair set off back into the cliff face.  Sharma led the way and Knight, sorry to leave his new friends, gave them a cheery wave.

They retraced their steps to the tunnel easily enough and stood at the entrance.  "Which way
?"
asked Knight via his suit radio.

"Heads or tails
?"
asked Sharma in response.  "If we could judge whether the ground outside had been concave or convex then we would have known which direction to take.  As it is one way is as good as the other.  Come on let's try this way
,"
he suggested, moving away in the 'up' direction relative to the ground outside.

As they moved along inside the tunnel they found that the gravitational field decreased steadily in intensity.

"Great
,"
remarked Knight, "we can move a lot faster in zero gee."

"True
,"
agreed Sharma, "but how do we avoid the vehicles?"  Knight had no suggestions to offer.  Sharma had a
point;
while there was gravity at least they could press flat against the side if they had enough warning.  About forty metres along the field began to increase again.

"Another opening coming up
,"
said Knight.  And sure enough another identical opening appeared a few metres further along.

"Let's try to get some bearings
,"
suggested Sharma as he began to climb through.  Knight was amused to see that Sharma's method was every bit as ungraceful as his own had been.

It was another cave, similar to the first one.  "It's just the same
,"
observed Sharma, disappointed.  "Not quite the same
,"
countered Knight.  This one is upside down."

"Yes you're right
,"
agreed Sharma in surprise, "the gravitational field is in the opposite direction."

Neither could see how that revelation helped so they set about working along the walls to find the illusory curtain.

"Here
,"
said Knight suddenly as his hand went through the rock.  He put his head through slowly and then entered fully when he could see there was no danger.  It was another cave like the one at the other tunnel exit, even the sunlight was coming through the outer opening in the same way.

Cautiously they stepped out expecting to find a similar scene outside.  And they were not disappointed.  There was a similar grassy plain and similar mountains in the distance.

"If I didn't know better I'd say they were the same mountains as before
,"
said Knight.

"They certainly looked the same, perhaps there are a whole series of identical mountains
,"
suggested Sharma.  Then he pointed along the cliff edge.  "Look
,"
he said, "another tribe."

There was indeed another tribe, just like the last one and busily engaged in some task or other about half a kilometre away.  One of the group must have seen them because as they watched they all stopped what they were doing and began to run towards them.

"Better get out while there's still time
,"
said Knight.  He had no wish to repeat his earlier experience.

"No, wait
,"
said Sharma, "let them get a bit nearer first."  So they waited, Sharma puzzled and Knight nervous.  In a little over a
minute they were only about a
hundred metres away.

"They can certainly run
,"
said Sharma in admiration.  "Yes and I'm leaving
,"
replied Knight as he edged back into the cliff.

"I thought so
,"
exclaimed Sharma sharply, "
t
hey're the same people!"

"What
?"
said Knight stopping short.  "How can they be?"  But as he looked he could clearly see the dressings he had applied earlier.  He could also recognise their leader, well out in front as usual.

There was no need to escape now.  The tribespeople were overjoyed to see them again.  They danced around shouting and laughing.

"They must think we're playing tricks on them
,"
decided Sharma, "disappearing at one point and reappearing at another."  But Knight did not answer, he was deep in thought.

"Come on, no point in hanging around
,"
added Sharma making his way back to the tunnel.  Knight followed, waving farewell once again.

The next opening was only a few metres further along, and Sharma would have ignored it but for Knight who insisted on finding out where it emerged.  "It's bound to be close to the other one
,"
he insisted, impatient to make more headway.  It was no use though, Knight wanted to check so he had to make the best of it.  "All right, but let's be quick about it
,"
he grumbled.

The cave here was different to the earlier ones, it was smaller and the rock lighter in colour.  The arrangement was similar though, a concealed inner cave leading to an outer one.

"Upside down again
,"
observed Knight.

"So what
?"
retorted Sharma
,
unimpressed.

Outside the scene had changed dramatically.  They were on a steep mountainous slope that led down to a valley a few hundred metres below.  In the valley ran a wide sparkling river that wound along like a si
lver thread
.  A herd of what appeared to be bison grazed contentedly on the grassy plain below them.  Sharma was mystified.

"This is ridiculous, we've only moved about ten metres from the last place.  How can it be so different?"

"We're on the other side of the ground
,"
explained Kn
ight excitedly.  "Don't you see?  Y
ou were right, all this is an
illusion.
  It appears flat but in reality it must be corrugated, folded back on itself over and over, the gravity is always made to be straight down and somehow light rays are also bent to follow the corrugations."

Sharma was no wiser.  "Look over there, beyond the river, see that line of cliffs?  That's where we were before."  Sharma strained his eyes, he could just make out a wavy line in the distance that certainly looked like cliffs, but how could they be only ten metres away?  "Never
,"
was his terse reply.

It was fruitless arguing the matter further so they returned to the tunnel and continued at a swift pace.  "Let's keep going until the last opening before a long gap.  Then we should be at the outer level
,
"
s
uggested
Sharma. 

"OK
,"
replied Knight.  T
hey needed to gain some ground so there was no point exploring every opening.  "I just hope we've chosen the quickest route
,"
he added as an afterthought.

Progress was easier now.  Knight was becoming accustomed to the varying gravity.  The trick was to accelerate where the field was strong and glide where it was weak.  Sharma had quickly picked up the technique and the pair successively ran, leapt and flew their way along
.  It was when they were in mid-
flight with only three more openings to pass before the next stop when they heard the warning.  It was a verbal message; brief, clear, to the point, and loud enough to shock.