John Racham (13 page)

it
hard, coming close to smile radiantly at him. "I never thought to see you
again. I'm so glad you're all right
You
look very
well!"

"We
were sick, you know, Query. Sick, damned near died, both of us. But these
people took care of us, saved our lives. Good people!"

"I
must say you both look very well now. Full of beans!" Query was groping
for words, aware of their banality yet shaken by the nearness of Christine, and
the tremendous vitality that emanated from her presence. It was a totally
different feeling from the fire that
Azul
stirred in
him, but almost as powerful in its way. "This life seems to agree with
you," he said.

"Damned little choice, Query.
Thought it over.
You were right. No hope of rescue at
alL
So
we had to make the best of it."

"Yes."
Christine nodded. "There was nothing else to do. And there have been some
compensations
.
The primitive!"
She smiled thoughtfully. "We talked about that, remember? But you look
different, too. Where have you been all this time? Have you come back for good?
And who's that?" Her voice fell to a whisper as she glanced furtively over
his shoulder.

"You
see her, too?" Evans muttered. "I thought she was some kind of spook!
You get to seeing things like that here."

"No
spook!" Query said hurriedly. "I haven't the time now to explain it
all. She's one of the rulers, the upper-people . . . something like that.
Anyway, we've come to collect you. There is going to be a meeting, some kind of
council of the rulers. And all three of us have to be there. I don't know a
lot about it myself, frankly. But come and meet her anyway." He turned and
went back to where she stood, quiet and patient.

"
Azul
of the
Helsee
.
This is Gareth Evans.
And Christine Evans."
They came uncertainly near, made no attempt to put out their hands in any
formal greeting, and he couldn't blame them. He had grown accustomed to her
transcendent beauty, her statuesque presence, but now, just for a moment, he
saw her afresh, as they must be seeing her, and it was no wonder they were
awed. Her radiance grew stronger, her yellow gold eyes afire.

91

"You
will stand on either side of him," she said quietly, "and hold hands.
Have no fear.
Now!"

Query
grasped their hands firmly and whispered, "It's all right, there's nothing
to worry about
You
just hold on to me."

Azul
moved now, came to stand before him, her
golden eyes steady on his. Then she raised her hands and placed one on each
shoulder, grasping him firmly. "It is time!" she said.

Query
felt that familiar sensation of inflowing lightness, as if his veins ran with
air, but this time there was no lifting up, no flight,
nor
any swooping. There was just a moment of strain, of spinning vertigo, and then
she nodded and took her hands away and stepped back clear from him. Then she
turned away and lifted her chin to look up.

"They are here, oh
Helsee
! Will you now hear me?"

Her
voice rang out like a silver trumpet, stirring pinpoints of rich color all
around, and Query gaped in astonishment as he took in the scene. The three
humans stood in a natural clearing, a glade, on soft turf, and all around
reared the giant columns of mighty trees, a ring of giants that stood up into
the mist, far above into the dark. There was a sense of being in an immense
cathedral. And the trees were full of angels.

The
simile came into his mind without thought. A moment of reason told him that
this was nothing more than a vast concourse of
Helsee
,
Azul's
fellows, but the manner of their presence, the
way they hung and perched up there, decorating all the nearer branches, and
each and every one of them radiant with white light—they were angels.
Or demons?

"My God!"
Evans breathed. "They are spooks!
Millions of them up there.
What the hell is this, Query?
What's it all about?"

"I
don't know any more about it than you do, nor did I have any more choice than
you. Except that I know this. We're going to get told."

"Stephen!" Christine huddled close,
gripping his hand. "I'm scared. What's going to happen?
Who
are
...
all those?"

"Grand assembly of all the
Helsee
," he muttered. "I'm

92 scared, too.
Azul
said something about a judgment.
Feels more like a trial to
me!"

He
was aware of a vast whispering chorus of minds touching his, of to-and-fro
argument, of decision . . . that
Azul
should proceed.

"My
people," she began, and still her voice rang out but not so loudly now.
"You know me as I think and feel, as I know you, but so that these three
may also know and understand, I will speak as they speak, the which I have
learned to do from that one of the three who is very much akin to us in mind.
And with your patience, I must first explain."

She turned again to face her human audience.
"You need to know that we
Helsee
have lived here
on this planet long. It is our home. It is our way, we of the
Helsee
, to live on the high ground in and with trees, and
the trees bear us and house us and we live in them. The other ones, those you
know of and have lived with, are kin to us and
we
to
them, and we care for them and protect them, and they live down there in the
jungle. We are all one kind, sharing life in peace.
Until you
came.

"Then,
out of the darkness beyond the sky there came a great noise and a great light
and a great consuming heat such as we have never seen before. And everything
that was in its way, that was struck by that heat, shriveled and withered and
died in great pain and hurt. And that was on a high place where the tree stood
that was my home, where I lived. By chance I was distant from my home, caring
for some of my people. By chance only, or I would not now be here speaking to
you. Is this understood?"

Query made an urgent step forward, staring at
her. "We all understand," he said, "what you've just explained.
Quite clearly.
What you do not know, and what you have to
believe, is that we didn't
know .
..
we
had . .
."

"Hold
it!" Evans spoke up gruffly, sounding
like
a man
awakening from a daze. "Hold on there, Query." He came forward now to
push past and confront
Azul
; and then to throw his
head back and stare up at the host of radiant
Helsee
.
"I don't properly understand what this is all about yet, but I know this.
If anybody was responsible, it wasn't him. It was me!"

"You have no need to shout,"
Azul
corrected him gently. "Just speak to me and they
will know what is said."

Query
stepped back wryly. Old Gravel Guts, who claimed he was a fair man, a just man.
And here he was, determined to prove it. And his shoulders were square, his
back straight as he eyed
Azul
.

"All
right, ma'am, I'll say it again. It happened as you say, but I was the one
responsible. I gave the order."

She
was quite calm and not angry, as she had some right to be. Query couldn't touch
her at all. It was as if she had retired inside some barrier that insulated off
her emotions.

"Is
it true, as he said, that you did not know you were creating great damage and
pain and death?"

"It's
the truth. According to the best of our scientific knowledge, it's impossible
for any kind of life as we know it to exist on this planet of yours. I know
that's all wrong now, but I didn't know it at the time."

Her
eyes flicked to Query and there was an unspoken but crystal clear question in
them. He nodded and spoke aloud for the benefit of the others.

"That's
quite true,
Azul
. According to the best we knew, life
of any advanced nature is impossible here. Stupid, but there it is."

"Very well, but that calls the next question.
If you knew, or you believed, that there was
no intelligent life here, why did you attack us so violently, so savagely?
Why?"

"It
was no attack, ma'am.
Nothing like that at all."
Evans shook his
head,
turned in appeal to Query.
"Does she understand what a war is?"

"I
think so, sir. I've told her quite a bit about us, how we go on, the things we
do."

"All right."
The old man turned back to her. "We are fighting a war, ma'am.
Earth, the planet we live on, is a long way from here, a very long way. And the
people we are fighting live on a planet of another star that is even further away
in the opposite direction. And all we needed was a place where we could stop
off and rest and do repairs on the journey. That's all it was. And we picked
this planet on purpose, because we were sure there was nothing here that
anybody could want, nothing here to be

94
upset or disturbed.
Just a place to stop over.
And I'm
responsible. I'm the one who gave the order. And that's it, ma'am. If anybody
has to take the knock for it, I'm the one."

"That
was direct," she said, "and, I believe, true. But those were only
words. For my people, there must be more. Stephen . . ." her eyes came to
Query again, ". . . will you come to me, please?"

He
went forward to her and she reached out and took his hand. There was a slight
smile on her lips.

"Do
not be afraid, Stephen. You have allowed me to share your mind many times. I
know what is there, very well. Now, I ask you, open your mind to me . . . and
to the
others, that
they may see and be sure. Will
you, hiding nothing, fearing nothing?"

It
cost him a moment of terror, but the grip of her hand was a great strength, and
he nodded, at last. "Whatever you ask,
Azul
."

She
smiled again, turned away, still holding his hand, to look up at her fellows.
"This one I know. From him I have learned much. He is so much like us, that
he is like the other half of
myself
. Look now into his
mind as I have done and see
..."
and Query shivered as there came the uncanny tickling touch of thousands of
minds peering into his. The sweat started out on his flesh, but her hand held
fast and was firm.

"Now," she said, "I will ask
him, and you shall read for yourselves. Stephen, it was true that your kind did
not know of us, meant us no harm."

"True.
No one suspected there was intelligent life here. In fact, if it was possible
for me to tell anyone, our scientists, right now . . . they wouldn't believe
me!"

"Very well.
And it was true then, that this one here was
responsible for all of it? That he is, or was, a person with great power and
authority, who could give such a command?" "Go on, tell her!"
Evans growled, as Query hesitated. "It was true. That is the way we do.
I've told you about that. We have organizations and people with power and
people in charge of others. He was the man in power, at the top.
But. . .
Azul
...
he didn't know!"

"It is enough." She turned away
from him again. "You have heard and seen. What say you?"

Query waited in grim despair, trying to sense
the concourse of thought, wondering what the verdict would be, feeling a
Judas. Invisible lightning flickered in and about his head. And then there came
a question, one he couldn't quite catch until
Azul
put it into words for him, although she spoke now to Evans.

"You
were in authority. You had power. Would you still hold that power, now, if we
were to return you to your own kind?"

XII

"I
don't see why
not
I
" Evans declared promptly. "They
might have written me off as dead by now, but that . . . what did you
say?" His tone altered dramatically as the impact of her words got
through. "You mean . . . you can return us
...
to where we came from?" The shaking eagerness in his
voice made Query ache inside, as, too, the way Christine suddenly started
forward, her eyes shining, her whole body quivering in hope.

"Oh!" she gasped.
"Can you? Will you?"

"We have that
power."

"To get back to civilization!"
Evans muttered. "That would be . . .
they will have written all of us off as dead long ago, but we can soon put that
right. I'm not dead,
damnit
! I'd soon convince
them!" But then his attitude altered subtly, and he stared at
Azul
. "You say you have the power to return us. You
didn't say that without reason,
111
bet. What's on the other end of that string? What do you want me to do?"

Query
felt her fingers twitch, but her face was calm, still. She eyed Evans steadily.
"We know a little of your human ways, by now. We are not vengeful as you
are. What you did, you did in error and ignorance. We know that now. So we do
not seek to punish. But we want you gone! We would have it that you go, as soon
as possible, away from our home.
To go and leave us alone.
Leave our planet.
Never more to return.
Have you the
power to achieve that?"