Breed to Come (10 page)

"Where got you all these?"

"When I go seeking new trails I bring back thingssmall enough to carry. Sometimes I can see their useat once. Other times I turn them over to others forstudy. Now here—"

Another box. This time at his touch no picture appeared on the wall, but a portion of its lid rolled backand within—!

Furtig did not muffle his hiss of astonishment.

It was as if he were very tall, taller than the lairs,and stood looking down into a part of the countrynear the caves. Animals moved there, he recognizeddeer. But they were not moving as the wall picturesmoved, rather as if they lived as very tiny creatureswithin the box. Furtig put out a finger—there was aninvisible cover, he could not touch.

"They are—alive?" He could not believe that thiswas so. Yet the illusion of reality was so great he stillhad doubts that such a thing could be if it were notreal.

"No, they do not live. And sometimes the picturechanges and becomes— Watch!" Foskatt's explanation ended in a sudden exclamation.

The world within the box was hidden in a gatheringfog. Then that cleared and — Furtig began to shout:

"The caves! There is Fal-Kan and San-Lo. It is thecaves!"

When Furtig glanced around Foskatt was not watching him, but staring at the cave scene as if he, too,1 found it astounding. Then Foskatt's hand shot out, his fingers tightened about Furtig's arm."Think,"

was his order. "Think of some particularplace—or person—and look at this while you do so!"

Just what he meant Furtig could not understand.But when he heard the urgent tone in the other's voice he did not mistake its importance. Obedientlyhe looked at the box—though what he should "think"

about momentarily baffled him.

The scene of the tiny world was again obscuredwith the fog, the caves hidden. Then—just why hedid not know—a mind picture of Eu-La as she hadwatched him leave on this venture came to him from memory.

Mist cleared, revealing a small rise north of thecaves. But that was not quite the scene he remembered. Somehow small differences were vivid: moreleaves had drifted from the trees, a patch of silver frost was on the grasses.

Then a figure climbed to stand, facing him. Eu-La,but not as he had seen her last. Again certain subtledifferences marked the passage of time. Furtig had ajog of guilty memory when he thought of how she hadasked him to speak for her to the Ancestor and ofhow, until now, he had forgotten. He must do that for her as soon as possible.

She shaded her eyes with her hands as if she stoodin the full glare of the sun. No, this was no memorypicture that Furtig was in some manner projectinginto the box. It was independent of any memory of his.

"Who is she?" Foskatt demanded.

"Eu-La, who is of the Ancestor's cave kin. She isdaughter to the sister of my mother, but much younger than I. At the next Trial of Skill she may goforth to another cave. Alone among the People she wished me well when I came to Gammage."

Mist once again, hiding Eu-La. When it faded,there was nothing inside, only empty dark. Furtig turned almost savagely upon his companion. He feltnow as if he had been made the butt of some game in which he did not know the rules and so appeared stupid.

"What is this thing? Why does it make me see Eu-La and the caves when we are far off?"

Again Foskatt paced up and down, his tail swinging, his whole attitude that of a warrior disturbed in his mind.

"You have again proved, brother, that you have something new to our knowledge, though these lairsare full of things always new to us. That box hasshown many pictures from time to time. At other times it is dark and empty as you now see it. I havelooked upon the caves through it, seen distant kin of mine as I remember them. Only now you were able tosummon, yes, summon, one person and see her perhaps as she lives and moves at this very hour! This isperhaps allied to that talent which guided you to theAncestor. Do you understand? If we can use these"—he gestured to the box—"and see by only thinkingof a person or thing we would look upon—"

He paused, his eyes agleam, and Furtig thoughtthat now he was caught by a new idea.

"Listen, brother—look now at this and think oflearning disks!"

Furtig thought of such disks as he had seen fed intothe learning machines.

Straightaway a small picture, though dim, blurred,and fuzzed, came into view. There was the learningroom in which Furtig had spent such weary hours.Two of the younglings were wearing the head bands,and Liliha tended the machine into which the diskswere fed.

They saw the room for only a moment or two. Thenit blurred and was gone. Nor could Furtig bring itback.

He said as much. But Foskatt did not appear too disappointed.

"It does not matter. Perhaps you are not so familiar with the disks. But what does matter is that youcould do this. Do you not see? If we can learn your secret, such boxes as these will keep us in contact withone another though we are apart. What would scoutsnet o to have such devices!"

What it would mean as an aid in hunting was immediately plain. If the caves could be so equipped,one would never have to fear a surprise attack from aBarker. Scouts in the field could send in early alarms.Or perhaps the boxes could even be hidden andwatched from the caves without the need to usescouts! Furtig's thoughts leaped from one possibilityto the next, and his excitement grew.

"It may be that only you have such a talent, brother," Foskatt said, interrupting Furtig's line of thought. "Unless this is a thing which can be learned.But the Ancestor must know of it—come!"

Seizing the box, Foskatt herded his companionout of the chamber. They tramped along corridors Furtig remembered from his first tour, coming to oneof those shafts where air could so remarkably carry one up or down. Liliha had earlier admitted that thePeople had never been able to discover what particular device of the Demons governed this. But theirworkings had been discovered by Gammage on hisfirst penetration of the lairs when he had fallen intoone. And they were now accepted by his clan as matter-of-factly as the cave people would accept atrail.

So borne aloft, they went past three more levels,emerging in a place which startled Furtig, though with all he had seen in the past few days his ability tobe surprised should by now have been dulled. They appeared now to be standing on a ledge with one sideopen to the sky. There was such a sensation of height as to make Furtig crowd back against the stone wall,avoiding that open space.

"There is a wall there, though it cannot be seen."Foskatt must have sensed his unease. "See here, brother." He walked calmly to the far edge, raised onehand, and rapped against an unseen surface.

As Furtig observed more closely, he sighted hereand there smears on that transparent covering.

Morethan a little abashed at his display of timidity, hemade himself join Foskatt and look out, fighting the strong feeling that he was standing on the edge of adrop.

They were far above the ground level here. A strongmorning sun, which awoke points of glitter from thesides of many of the upward-shooting towers, beamedwarmly at them. Furtig stared in wonder.

From theground level he had marveled at the height of thelairs. But from this vantage point he could see evenmore. He had had little idea of the extent of thebuildings before. They seemed to go on and on forever. Even in the far distance there was a hint of more.Had the Demons covered most of this part of theworld with their buildings?

"Come—later you can climb higher if you wish, seemore. But now is the time to tell Gammage this newthing."

Foskatt set off at a bold stride. In spite of hisknowledge of the invisible wall, Furtig kept a path closer to the building. They rounded a curve. Fromthis angle he could see a green shading which could only be trees at a distance. It was as if in that direction the lairs narrowed and one could sight open country beyond.

The corridor ended in a bridge connecting two ofthe towers. Foskatt trotted out on this as one who hasmade the journey-many times. Furtig, in spite of hisdiscomfort, paced close behind, keeping his attentionfocused strictly on the path ahead, glancing neitherright nor left.

He had always thought that heights did not botherhim—nor had they in the cave world. But this wasnot that natural world, and now, his body tense, hehurried until he was almost treading on his companion's heels in his eagerness to get to the solid securityof the building ahead.

This time their way was not invisibly walled; instead they were in the lair chambers. Here the wallswere lighted with a brilliance that ran in swirls andloops, patterns that Furtig found he did not care to examine too closely.

Also, here the floor was soft under his feet, beingcovered with a material, which yielded to pressurewhen he stepped. Without being asked, Foskatt offered explanations as they went.

"This is the manner of all those rooms where theDemons once lived. They have many unusual things—springs of hot and cold water which flow at thetouch. Sounds—listen, now!"

But he need not have given that order. Furtig wasalready listening to a sound, or a series of sounds,such as he had never heard before. They certainlycame from no living creature, but apparently from theair about them. Low sounds, lulling in a way. At themoment he could not have said whether he liked whathe heard or not; he only listened and wondered.

"What makes it?" he asked at last.

"We do not know. It does not come regularly.Sometimes we walk into a room and sounds begin, stopping when we leave. Sometimes they start withthe coming of dark, just as certain lights come onthen.

There is so much we do not know! It would—will—take the lifetimes of five times five of such long living Ancestors as Gammage to learn only a few ofthe mysteries."

"But Gammage does not believe we will have suchtime undisturbed?"

"He is increasingly fearful of the Demons' return.Though just why he fears this so strongly he has nottold us. If there were more of us— You see, brother,Gammage believes one thing. When our people fledfrom the lairs and the torments of the Demons, theywere not all alike. Oh, I do not mean different in colorand length of fur, shape of head—the usual ways onediffers from a litter brother. No, we differed inside. Some were closer to the old Ancestors who wereborn for generations here in the lairs, whom the Demons controlled and used as they pleased.

"But others had the change working more stronglyin them. And so their children, and children's childrendiffered also. Though all the People grew in knowledge and were different from their older kin, still theywere so in varying degrees.

"Gammage himself differed greatly, so greatly hewas almost' cast out as a youngling from the caves—until he proved his worth. But he believed early thatthere was a way to learn more and that that lay hidden in the very place of horrors his people shunned.So he came back. And to him from time to time camethose who also had seeking minds, who were restless,unhappy for one reason or another in the life of theouter tribes. It was this very restlessness that he putto service here. And those who settled, took mates,who absorbed more and more of what the lairs had tooffer, and produced the In-born, still more changed. Itis Gammage's belief that no warrior is drawn to thelairs unless he has that within him that reaches forwhat is hidden here.

"It is his hope, his need, to bring all the Peoplehere, to make open to all the ways of learning, of healing"—Foskatt's hand went to the wound seal on hisleg—"so that we can be as much masters here andelsewhere in this land as the Demons were. But mainly so that we can stand firm and safe when the Demons return, and not be hunted for their pleasure.For that was how they served our Ancestors."

As he talked they went from the chamber with thetwisting lights on the walls through a series of furtherrooms. These were furnished with more than justbeds and tables. There were hangings on the wallswith pictures on them, many seats, and even largepads, as if someone had heaped up five or six thicknesses of bed pallets to make soft puffs. And crowdedin among these were a great medley of things—boxes,containers, other objects Furtig did not know.

It reminded him of the crowded state of Foskatt'squarters. Here, too, there had been an ingathering ofthings found throughout the lairs.

Among these moved several of the In-born, thoughnone of them paid any attention to the two newcomers threading a path here. These workers were females. Some sat on the chairs or puffs intent on bitsand pieces laid out on low tables before them. Othersstood over devices which purred or clinked or madeoutlandish noises.

"All small strange devices are brought here." Foskatt needlessly informed him. "First Gammage andhis Elders, those who have worked the longest andknow best the dangers which might exist, inspect them. In the early days there were accidents. Dolarhas no hand on one wrist because of an incautious examination of a new find. So each is tested. When theyare sure that it is not dangerous, it is given to thosewho try to unravel its secrets. For these gathered herehave the best hands for that."

Furtig saw what his companion meant. The fingersof those at work here were indeed as unlike his ownstubby ones as Liliha's—longer, less clumsy in movement.

It was Liliha herself who stood in the doorway ofthe third room. She folded, with quick, graceful turnsof hands and wrists, a long strip of material thatseemed bulky until she dealt with it firmly. Then it made a neat and surprisingly small pack.

To Furtig’s surprise she gave them the customarygreeting of the cave people:

"Fair morning and smooth trail, warriors."

"And a fair morning to you, One-Who-Chooses," hereplied.

"One-Who-Chooses," she repeated. "Yes, of thatcustom I have heard, warrior. Though we do not altogether follow it here. If you seek the Ancestor, he iswithin. A new find, Foskatt?" She looked to the box.

"No. Just perhaps a new use for an old one. Yousee, Liliha, even we who are not seekers-in-depth maymake discoveries also."

Did Foskatt then sound defensive, as if he had aneed to outdo the In-born in some way? If he did,Furtig could well understand that emotion.

"All knowledge is three times welcome," was Liliha's answer. Once more she was industriously nippingthe fabric into those smooth, much deflated folds.