Down to a Sunless Sea - Cordwainer ...

• Indeks
• Doris Day,
• Brat 2,

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Down To A Sunless Sea
High, oh, high, oh, they jingle in the sky oh!
Bright how bright the light of those twin moons of Xanadu, Xanadu the
lost, Xanadu the lovely, Xanadu the seat of pleasure. Pleasure of the
senses, body, mind, soul. Soul? Who said anything about soul?
Where they were standing the wind whispered softly. From time to time
Madu in an ageless feminine gesture tugged at her tiny silver skirt or
adjusted her equally nominal open sleeveless jacket. Not that she was
cold. Her abbreviated costume was appropriate to Xanadu's equable
climate.
She thought: "I wonder what he will be like, this Lord of the
Instrumentality? Will he be old or young, fair or dark, wise or
foolish?" She did not think "handsome or ugly." Xanadu was noted for
the physical perfection of its inhabitants, and Madu was too young to
expect anything less.
Lari, waiting beside her, was not thinking of the Space Lord.
His mind was seeing again the video tapes of the dancing, the intricate
steps and beautiful frenzy of movement of the group from ancient days
of Manhome, the group labeled
"Bawl-shoy."
"Someday," he thought, "oh, perhaps someday I too can dance like that.
.."
Kuat thought: "Who do they think they're fooling? In all the years
I've been governor of Xanadu this is the first time a Lord has been
here. War hero of the battle of Styron IV indeed! Why, that's been
over substantive months ago. . . . He's had plenty of time to recover
if it's really true he was wounded. No, there's something more . . .
they know or suspect something . . . Well, we'll keep him busy.
Shouldn't be hard to do here with all the pleasures Xanadu has to offer
. . . and there's Madu. No, he can't complain or he'll blow his cover.
. . ."
And all the while, as the ornithopter
neared, their destiny was approaching. He did not know that he was to
be their destiny; he did not intend to be their destiny, and their
destiny had not been predetermined.
The passenger in the descending ornithopter reached out with his mind
to try to perceive the place, to sense it. It was hard, terribly hard
. . . there seemed to be a thick cloud-like cover a mist between his
mind and the minds he tried to feel. Was it himself, his mind damage
from the war? Or was it something more, the atmosphere of the planet
something to deter or prevent telepathy?
Lord bin Permaiswari shook his head. He was so full of self-doubt, so
confused. Ever since the battle . . . the mind scarring probes of the
fear machines... how much permanent damage had they done? Perhaps here
on Xanadu he could rest and forget.
As he stepped from the ornithopter Lord bin Permaiswari felt an even
greater sense of bewilderment. He had known that Xanadu had no sun,
but he was unprepared for the soft shadowless light which greeted him.
 The twin moons hung, seemingly, side by side, while their light was
reflected by millions of mirrors. In the near distance li after li of
white sand beaches stretched, while farther on stood chalk cliffs with
the jet-black sea foaming on their bases. Black, white, silver, the
colors of Xanadu.
Kuat approached him without delay. Kuat's sense of apprehension had
diminished appreciably at the first glimpse of the Space Lord. The
visitor did indeed look ill and confused; correspondingly, Kuat's
amiability increased without conscious effort on his part.
"Xanadu extends you welcome, oh Lord bin Permaiswari.
Xanadu and all that Xanadu contains is yours." The traditional
greeting sounded strange in his rough tones. The Space Lord saw before
him a huge man, tall and correspondingly heavy, muscles gleaming, his
longish reddish hair and beard showing magenta in the light of the
moons and mirrors.
"It gives me pleasure. Governor Kuat, merely to be in Xanadu, and I
return the planet and its contents to you," replied Lord Kemal bin
Permaiswari.
Kuat turned and gestured toward his two companions.
"This is Madu, a distant relative, and so my ward. And this is Lari,
my brother, son of my father's fourth wife she who drowned herself in
the Sunless Sea." The Space Lord winced at Kuat's laugh, but the young
people appeared not to notice it.
Gentle Madu hid her disappointment and greeted the Lord with becoming
modesty. She had expected (hoped for?) a shining figure, a blazing
armor, or perhaps simply an aura which proclaimed
"I am a hero." Instead she saw an intellectual-looking man, tired,
looking somehow older than his substantive thirty years. She wondered
what he had done, how this
man could be the talk of the Instrumentality as the savior of human
culture in the battle of Styron IV.
Lari, because he was a male, knew more of the facts of the battle than
Madu, and he greeted Lord bin Permaiswari with grave respect. In his
dream world, second only to dancers and runners of easy grace, Lari
looked up to intelligence. This was the man who had dared to pit
himself, his living mind, his intellect against the dread fear machines
... and won! The price was evident in his face, but he had WON. Lari
placed his hands together and held them to his forehead in a gesture of
homage.
The Lord reached out in a gesture which won Lari's heart forever. He
touched Lari's hand and said,
"My friends call me Kemal." Then he turned to include Madu and, almost
as an afterthought, Kuat.
Kuat did not notice the near omission. He had turned and was walking
toward what appeared to be a huge lump of yellow and black striped fur.
He made a peculiar hissing sound, and at once the lump separated into
four enormous cats.
 Each cat was saddled, and each saddle was equipped with a holding ring,
but there was no apparent means of guiding the cats.
Kuat answered Kemal's question.
"No, of course there's no way to guide them. They're pure cat, you
know, unmodified except for size. No under people here! I think we're
the only planet in the Instrumentality that doesn't have under people
except for Norstrilia, of course. But the reasons for Norstrilia and
Xanadu are at the opposite ends of the spectrum. We enjoy our senses .
. . none of that nonsense about hard work building character like the
Norstrilians believe. We don't believe in austerity and all that
malarkey. We just get more sensual pleasure out of our unmodified
animals. We have robots to do the dirty work."
Kemal nodded. After all, wasn't that what he was here for?
To allow his senses to repair his damaged mind?
Nonetheless, the man who had faced the fear machines with scarcely a
tremble did not know how to approach the cat which was designated as
his.
Madu saw his hesitation.
"Griselda is perfectly friendly,"
she said.
"Just wait a minute till I scratch her ears; she'll lie down and you
can mount."
Kemal glanced up and caught an expression of disgust in Kuat's eyes. It
did not help in his search for self-mending.
Madu, oblivious to Kuat's displeasure, had coaxed the great cat to
kneeling position and smiled up at Kemal.
Kemal felt something like pain stab him at her glance. She was so
beautiful and so innocent; her vulnerability wrenched at his heart. He
remembered the Lady Ru's quotation of an ancient sage: "Innocence
within is armor without," but a web of fear settled on his mind. He
brushed it aside and mounted the cat.
The As he lay dying nearly three centuries later, he remembered that
ride. It was as thrilling as his first space jump. The leap into
nothingness and then the sudden realization that he was traveling,
traveling, traveling without volition, with no personal control over
the direction his body might take. Before fear had the opportunity to
assert itself it was converted into a visceral, almost orgasmic
excitement, a gush of pleasure almost too strong to bear.
Lank dark hair flying in his face, the Lord bin Permaiswari would have
been unrecognizable to the Lords and Ladies who gathered at the Bell on
Old Earth in time of crisis. They would not have recognized the boyish
glee in a face which they were accustomed to seeing as grave and
preoccupied. He laughed in the wind and tightened his knees against
Griselda's flanks, holding the saddle ring with one hand as he turned
 back to wave at the others who were somewhat behind.
Griselda seemed to sense his pleasure at her long effortless bounds.
Suddenly the ride took on a new proportion. Overhead the ornithopter
which had brought the Space Lord to Xanadu passed by on its way back to
the spaceport. At once Griselda left the pride and leapt futilely
after the ascending ornithopter.
As she attempted to bat at it, Kemal was forced to use both hands on
the holding ring in order not to fall off ignominiously.
She continued to leap and bat hopelessly in its direction until it
disappeared from sight. Then she sat down to lick herself and,
inadvertently, her passenger.
Lord Kemal found her sandpaper tongue not unpleasant, but he winced as
her fang brushed his leg. At some distance Kuat sat laughing. Madu's
face, even in the distance, showed concern, however, which cleared as
the Lord waved to her.
Lari, confident in the powers of the hero of Styron IV, was gazing
dreamily at the distant city.
Slowly now, Griselda joined the rest of the pride, her attitude
apparently one of some embarrassment at having performed such a
kittenish prank when she had been entrusted with the welfare of the
distinguished visitor.
In the distance the domes and towers of the city gleamed nacreous in
the soft shadowless light of the moons and mirrors.
Lord Kemal had his sense of unreality reinforced. The city looked so
beautiful and so unreal that he had the feeling it might vanish as they
approached. He was to learn that the city and all it stood for were
all too real.
As they neared the city walls, Kemal could see that the stark whiteness
of the city from afar was an illusion. The shimmering white walls of
the buildings were set with gemstones in intricate patterns, flowers,
leaves, and geometric designs all heightening the beauty of the
incredible architecture. In all the worlds he had visited Lord Kemal
had seen nothing to equal this city; Philip's palace on the Gem Planet
was a hovel compared to these buildings.
Formal gardens with fountains and artificial pools separated the
buildings. Shrubbery in an artful plan which gave the appearance of
being natural was planted here and there.
Suddenly the Space Lord realized another strange aspect of the planet:
he had seen no trees.
Dogs yipped at them from safe distances as they entered the city, but
this time Griselda refused to be tempted. Now that she was in the city
she had assumed a certain dignity; it was if she wanted to forget her
previous dereliction. She headed straight for the palace steps.
Lord Kemal could feel the muscles of Griselda's haunches tighten as she
prepared to hurdle up the steps and through the open door. It would be
a tight squeeze for the two of them.
 Fortunately Kuat reached the steps first and hissed his command to her.
Kemal could feel her reluctance. She would much have preferred
bounding up the steps, but she obeyed.
She lay belly down, back feet crouched, front feet stretched forward;
the Lord Kemal dismounted easily but with reluctance, a regret almost
as great as Griselda's that the ride was over. He reached over to
scratch the cat's ears.
Madu smiled approvingly.
"That's right. When you make friends with your cat, she'll obey you
much more readily."
Kuat grunted.
"I have my own way for making them obey if they get too many ideas of
their own." For the first time the Space Lord noticed a small barbed
whip tucked into Kuat's belt, to which Kuat pointed now.
"Kuat, you wouldn't," Madu protested.
"You never have . .
."
"You haven't seen me," he said. Then as her face clouded he added as
if reassuringly "Up to now I haven't needed to. But don't think I
wouldn't."
Kemal noticed that Kuat's reassurance was not quite adequate. A gauze
of doubt or wonder seemed to obscure the open brightness of Madu's
face. Once more the Lord Kemal felt a stab of fear for her and once
more dismissed it.
It was her innocence he feared for. He found that her eyes reminded
him of D'irena from the ancient days of his true youth before he had
been made wise in the ways of mankind, before he had been made to know
that under persons and true men could not mix as equals. D'irena with
the fawn like grace, the soft gentle mouth, the innocent eyes of the
doe she was derived from. What had happened to her after he left? Did
her eyes still hold that candid ingenuousness which he saw mirrored in
Madu's eyes? Or had she mated with some gross stag and had some of his
grossness transferred itself to her?
He hoped, remembering her fondly, that she had mated with a fine
The buck who had given her does as gentle and as graceful as she
was in his memory. He shook his head. The fear machines had stirred
up all kinds of strange memories and feelings. Absently, he petted the
cat.
Servants came forward to unsaddle the cats. With a renewed start the
Space Lord realized that these were true men, not under persons doing
work, and he remembered Kuat's statement about enjoying the sensuality
of animals. There was something else, something he had almost thought
of, but he could not quite think... it was as if he tried to catch the
tail of an elusive animal as it disappeared around the corner.
Led by Kuat and trailed by Madu and Lari, the Lord Kemal threaded his
  [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]