Dark Universe (8 page)

"Are you feeling Him?"

"I feel Him," Jared admitted weakly.

"I didn't expect you would," the other said, somewhat disappointed.

"But I'm glad to hear there's still hope for you."

He went over and sat on a ledge below the Holy Bulb niche and his voice lost some of its sharpness. "We haven't heard too much of you over here, Jared. Your father's been concerned about that and I can understand why. Some period the destiny of this world will be in your hands. Will they be _good_ hands?"

Jared lowered himself on the ledge and sat there with his head bowed. "I _felt_ Him," he mumbled. "I _felt_ Him."

"Of course you did, son." The Guardian laid a sympathetic hand on his arm. "You could have felt Him sooner than this, you know. And things would have been different for you--different, perhaps, for the whole world."

"Did _I_ cause the hot springs to dry up?'

"I can think of nothing that would enrage the Almighty more than violation of the Barrier taboo."

Jared's hands clutched each other in distress. "What can I do?"

"You can atone. Then we'll hear what happens afterward."

"But you don't understand. It may be more than just violating the Barrier! I've thought Light might not be Almighty, that He-"

"I do understand, son. You've had your doubts, like other Survivors from time to time. But remember--in the long run, one isn't to be judged by his skepticism. The true measure of a reconverted Survivor is the sincerity with which he renounces his disbeliefs."

"Do you think I can find the right amount of sincerity?"

"I'm sure you can--now that we've had this talk. And I've no doubt that should promised Reunion with Light come during your time, you'll be prepared for it."

The Guardian trained his ears on infinity. "What a beautiful period that will be, Jared--Light all around us, touching everything, a Constant Communion, with the Almighty bringing man total knowledge of all things about him. And Darkness will be erased completely."

Jared spent the rest of that period in the seclusion of his grotto.

Unification, however, was not the subject of his Contemplation. Instead, he reviewed his new persuasions, careful not to entertain any thoughts that might be offensive to the Almighty.

In that single quarter period he renounced his dedicated search for Darkness and Light, denying himself any regret over having done so. And he resolved he would never again go beyond the Barrier.

New convictions firmly implanted, he relaxed in the assurance that everything would be all right--spiritually and physically. So certain did it seem he had done the proper thing that he wouldn't have been at all surprised to hear the twelve dry springs had begun running again. It was as though he had entered into a covenant with Light.

He was still reaffirming his resolution when the Prime Survivor entered. "The Guardian just told me you'd heard the sound, son."

"I hear a lot of things I didn't hear before." The earnest words bathed his father's face and carried back with them the outline of a smile that was warm with approval and pride.

"I've been waiting for you to speak like this for a long time, Jared. It means I can now go ahead with my plans."

"What

plans?"

"This world should have young, vital leadership. It lacked that even _before_ the springs went dry. With this challenge facing us, we need the imagination of a youthful leader all the more."

"You want me to become Prime Survivor?"

"As soon as possible. It'll take plenty of preparation. But I'll give you all the help I can."

A half-dozen periods earlier, Jared would have had no part of this development. But now it seemed only a minor enlargement of the life of dedicated purpose to which he had pledged himself.

"I don't hear any arguments," the Prime Survivor said gratefully.

"You won't. Not if this is the way you want it."

"Good! Over the next couple of periods I'll tell you some of the things that have to be done. Then, when you get back from the Upper Level, we'll start our formal training."

"How are the Elders going to take this?"

"After they heard what went on between you and Guardian Philar, they didn't have any objections at all."

Early the next period--even before the central echo caster had been turned on--Jared was shaken roughly from his sleep.

"Wake up! Something's happened!"

It was Elder Averyman. And whatever had happened must have been serious, indeed, for him to have burst into a private grotto.

Jared bounded to his feet, conscious of his brother's restless stirring on the next ledge. "What is it?" he demanded.

"The Prime Survivor!" Averyman broke for the exit. "Come--quick!"

Jared raced off after him, hearing both that Romel was awakening and that his father's ledge was empty. He overtook the Elder near the entrance to the world. "Where are we going?"

But Averyman only huffed more erratically. And the rush of air into and out of his lungs was chopped into discontinuous sound by the motion of the hair that hung down over his face.

That something was seriously amiss was evidenced by more than the Elder's behavior. Indistinct voices, muffled in apprehension, could be heard in small, scattered groups. And Jared listened to several other persons, who had evidently been up and about soon enough to hear what had happened, racing toward the entrance.

"It's the Prime Survivor!" Averyman managed between gasps. "We were out for our early walk. And he was saying how he was going to let you take over. When we passed by the entrance--" He stumbled and Jared crashed into his flailing form.

Someone turned on the central caster and Jared oriented himself as the details of his world sprang into audibility all around him. Among the impressions came that of Romel plodding along after them.

Elder Averyman brought his breathing under control. "It was awful!

This thing came rushing from the passage, all fluttering and foul smelling!

Your father and I could only stand there terrified--"

The smell of the monster still clung to the air. Detecting it, Jared raced ahead.

"Then there was this hissing sound," Averyman's laboring voice receded. "And the Prime Survivor fell where he stood. He didn't move-not even when the thing came for him!"

Jared reached the entrance and elbowed his way past several Survivors who were asking one another what had happened.

The odor was even more offensive in the Passageway, growing stronger in the direction of the Original World. Mingled with it was the familiar scent of the Prime Survivor. There seemed to be an accumulation of the stench a short distance away. Jared followed his nose to the spot, reaching down to pick up something soft and limp.

About twice the size of his hand, it felt like manna cloth. Only, the texture was incomparably finer. And from each corner dangled a ribbon of the same material.

It was something that certainly required further study. But, as long as it reeked with the smell of the monster, he couldn't bring it into the world without causing commotion. So he put it down and scraped dirt over it, fixing the location of the spot in his mind.

On the way back he almost collided with his brother, who was groping along the passageway.

"It sounds like you'll be Prime Survivor sooner than you expected,"

Romel said, not without a trace of envy in his voice.

". . . We therefore humbly invoke the guidance of Light Almighty as we rededicate ourselves under new leadership."

Survivor Averyman, as Senior Elder, was bringing his speech to a close. He paused and listened out over the Assembly.

Standing behind him, Jared too heard the silence, relieved only by the soft flow of many tense breaths. It was an anxious stillness, rather than one that bore respect for the Investiture Ceremonies.

Nor could he himself muster much attention for the Elder's words.

His thoughts were overburdened with bitterness. It wasn't as much that Light had broken the covenant as it was that He had decided on so ruthless a means of making that fact clear.

That the Prime Survivor was gone forever from the worlds of man was, for Jared, a tragedy. On several occasions over the past two periods he would have gone charging defiantly up the passageway had it not been for the remote possibility that the loss of his father was only temporary, to test the sincerity of his repentance. A more practical reason he hadn't tried to track down the monster was that Protectors had been stationed at the entrance.

He sneezed and sniffled, evoking a disdainful pause in Survivor Averyman's speech. After a moment, the Elder resumed:

"We must not expect from our new Prime Survivor the forehearing and wisdom that we came to associate with his late father. For what _could_ compare with an understanding deep enough to hear ahead to the imminent necessity of preparing his successor?"

Jared listened impatiently over toward the guarded entrance. There was yet another reason he couldn't go plunging beyond the Barrier in search of his father. That would only call the wrath of the Elders down on his head and they would make Romel the Prime Survivor--a development which could bring only chaos to the world.

Someone nudged him forward and he found himself standing in front of the Guardian of the Way.

"Repeat after me," Philar said solemnly, "'I swear that I will bend all effort to the Challenge of Survival, not only for myself but in behalf of every individual in the Lower Level."

Struggling through the vow, Jared interrupted his flow of words with a sniffle.

"'I dedicate myself,'" the Guardian went on, "'to the needs of all who depend upon me and I will do whatever I can to draw aside the Curtain of Darkness--so help me Light!'"

Jared punctuated the final word with a sneeze.

Investiture over, he remained in front of the Official Grotto receiving perfunctory handshakes.

Romel was the last to approach. "Now the fun begins," he said facetiously. The words were not as relaxed as they might have been, though, and they offered no clue as to what expression was silenced by the obscuring veil of hair.

"I'll need a lot of help," Jared admitted. "It won't be easy."

"I didn't think it would." Romel wasn't successfully concealing his envy. "Of course, the first thing will be to finish the hearing."

Interrupted by Investiture, the hearing wasn't Jared's concern, however. It was being conducted by the Elders, who were even now ffling back into the Official Grotto. And there was no doubt that its mention had been subtly intended to lead to something else. For a moment Jared could almost hear the familiar _hiss_ of the swish-rope.

"Do you suppose," Romel continued, unnecessarily loud, "that the monster that got the Prime Survivor was anything like the one you heard in the Original World?"

There it was--the tightening of the coils around his ankles. Romel wasn't going to let anyone forget Jared had violated the Barrier taboo.

Slack was being taken on the rope. The violent tug would come later.

"I wouldn't know," he rapped out, following the last of the witnesses into the Official Grotto.

A portable caster had been set in operation and Jared, taking his place at the meeting slab, concentrated on its _clicks_ as modified by the persons in the recess. All the Elders were in their places while the witnesses were grouped off to one side.

"I believe we were listening to Survivor Metcalf," Elder Averyman said. "He was telling us what he heard."

A lean, nervous man came forward and stood beside the slab. Quite audibly, his fingers enmeshed, squirmed against one another, freed themselves and locked again.

"I couldn't catch its sound too clearly," he apologized. "I was just coming from the orchard when I heard you and the Prime Survivor shouting. I picked my impression of the thing off the echoes from your voices."

"And what did it sound like?"

"I don't know. Something about the size of a man, I suppose."

It was disconcerting the way the witness kept moving his head from side to side. He was a fuzzy-face and the rippling motion of the hair streaming down in front reminded Jared of the fluttering flesh of the Original World monster.

"Did you hear its face?" Averyman asked.

"No. I was too far away."

"What about an--uncanny sound?"

"I don't recall anything like a _silent_ sound, like some of the others heard."

Metcalf was a fuzzy-face. So was Averyman, as were two others who had testified. And not one of those four had gotten psychic impressions of a roaring silence, Jared remembered. Even in the Upper Level none of the fuzzy-faces had heard the incredible, inaudible noise made by the monsters.

Jared cleared his throat, and swallowed painfully, coughed several times and gripped his neck. He'd never felt like _this_ before.

Averyman dismissed the witness and called another.

By now, the two periods of hearings had become tedious. After all, there were really only two categories of witnesses-- those who had heard the supernatural sound and those who hadn't.

More important, as far as Jared was concerned, was the personal matter of his growing uncertainty. He wasn't so sure now that the monsters were a punishment for his defiance of the Barrier. That the horrible menace had _not_ ended with his sincere atonement could mean only one of two things: Light would accept _no_ degree of repentance, or his visit to the Original World had not, after all, aggravated the monsters.

Then he drew attentively erect as a third possibility suggested itself: Suppose he was right about Light and Darkness being _physical_ things.

Suppose, in his search for the two, he had almost uncovered a significant truth. And suppose the monsters, assuming that they were opposed to his success, were aware of how close he had come. Wouldn't they do everything possible to discourage him?"

A violent sneeze snapped his head back and elicited a reproving silence from Averyman, who had been in the middle of a question.

The new witness was a young boy whose excited account left no doubt that _he_ had heard the impossible sounds.