THE CRISIS
At his master’s approach Krif departed, still buzzing bale-fully. In the silence that followed Theon stood looking at the robot for a while. Then he smiled.
“I’m glad you’ve come back. Or are you still in Diaspar?”
Not for the first time Alvin felt a twinge of envy as he realized how much quicker Theon’s mind was than his own.
“No,” he said, wondering as he did so how clearly the robot echoed his voice. “I’m in Airlee, not very far away. But I’m staying here for the present.”
Theon laughed heartily.
“I think that’s just as well,” he said. “Mother’s forgiven you, but the Central Council hasn’t. There’s a conference going on indoors now: I have to keep out of the way.”
“What are they talking about?”
“I’m not supposed to know, but they asked me all sorts of questions about you. I had to tell them what happened in Shalmirane.”
“That doesn’t matter very much,” replied Alvin. “A good many other things have happened since then. I’d like to have a talk with this Central Council of yours.”
“Oh, the whole Council isn’t here, naturally. But three of its members have been making enquiries ever since you left.”
Alvin smiled. He could well believe it: wherever he went now he seemed to be leaving a trail of consternation behind him.
The comfort and security of the spaceship gave him a confidence he had seldom known before, and he felt complete master of the situation as he followed Theon into the house. The door of the conference room was locked and it was some time before Theon could attract attention. Then the walls slid reluctantly apart, and Alvin moved his robot swiftly forward into the chamber.
The room was the familiar one in which he had had his last interview with Seranis. Overhead the stars were twinkling as if there were no ceiling or upper floor, and once again Alvin wondered how the illusion was achieved. The three councillors froze in their seats as he floated towards them, but only the slightest flicker of surprise crossed Seranis’ face.
“Good evening,” he said politely, as if this vicarious entry were the most natural thing in the world. “I’ve decided to come back.”
Their surprise exceeded his expectations. One of the councillors, a young man with greying hair, was the first to recover.
“How did you get here?” he gasped.
Alvin thought it wise to evade the question: the way in which it was asked made him suspicious and he wondered if the underground transport system had been put out of action.
“Why, just as I did last time,” he lied.
Two of the councillors looked fixedly at the third, who spread his hands in a gesture of baffled resignation. Then the young man who had addressed him before spoke again.
“Didn’t you have any-difficulty?”
“None at all,” said Alvin, determined to increase their confusion. He saw that he had succeeded.
“I’ve come back,” he continued, “under my own free will, but in view of our previous disagreement I’m remaining out of sight for the moment. If I appear personally, will you promise not to try and restrict my movements again?”
No one said anything for a while and Alvin wondered what thoughts were being exchanged. Then Seranis spoke for them all.
“I imagine that there is little purpose in doing so. Di-aspar must know all about us by now.”
Alvin flushed slightly at the reproach in her voice.
“Yes, Diaspar knows,” he replied. “And Diaspar will have nothing to do with you. It wishes to avoid contamination with an inferior culture.”
It was most satisfying to watch the councillors’ reactions, and even Seranis colored slightly at his words. If he could make Lys and Diaspar sufficiently annoyed with each other, Alvin realized that his problem would be more than half solved. He was learning, still unconsciously, the lost art of politics.
“But I don’t want to stay out here all night,” he continued. “Have I your promise?”
Seranis sighed, and a faint smile played about her lips.
“Yes,” she said, “We won’t attempt to control you again. Though I don’t think we were very successful before.”
Alvin waited until the robot had returned. Very carefully he gave the machine its instructions and made it repeat them back. Then he left the ship, and the airlock closed silently behind him.
There was a faint whisper of air but no other sound. For a moment a dark shadow blotted out the stars: then the ship was gone. Not until it had vanished did Alvin realize his miscalculation. He had forgotten that the robot’s senses were very different from his own, and the night was far darker than he had expected. More than once he lost the path completely, and several times he barely avoided colliding with trees. It was blackest of all in the forest, and once something quite large came towards him through the undergrowth. There was the faintest crackling of twigs, and two emerald eyes were looking steadfastly at him from the level of his waist. He called softly, and an incredibly long tongue rasped across his hand. A moment later a powerful body rubbed affectionately against him and departed without a sound. He had no idea what it could be.
Presently the lights of the village were shining through the trees ahead, but he no longer needed their guidance, for the path beneath his feet had now become a river of dim blue fire. The moss upon which he was walking was luminous and his footprints left dark patches which slowly disappeared behind him. It was a beautiful and entrancing sight, and when Alvin stooped to pluck some of the strange moss it glowed for minutes in his cupped hands before its radiance died.
Theon was waiting for him outside the house, and for the second time he was introduced to the three councillors. He noticed with some annoyance their barely concealed surprise: not appreciating the unfair advantages it gave him, he never cared to be reminded of his youth.
They said little while he refreshed himself, and Alvin wondered what mental notes were being compared. He kept his mind as empty as he could until he had finished: then he began to talk as he had never talked before.
His theme was Diaspar. He painted the city as he had last seen it, dreaming on the breast of the desert, its towers glowing like captive rainbows against the sky. From the treasure-house of memory he recalled the songs that the poets of old had written in praise of Diaspar, and he spoke of the countless men who had burnt away their lives to increase its beauty. No one now, he told them, could ever exhaust a hundredth of the city’s treasures, however long they lived. For a while he described some of the wonders which the men of Diaspar had wrought: he tried to make them catch a glimpse at least of the loveliness which such artists as Shervane and Perildor had created for men’s eternal admiration. And he spoke also of Loronei, whose name he bore, and wondered a little wistfully if it were indeed true that his music was the last sound Earth had ever broadcast to the stars.
They heard him to the end without interruption or questioning. When he had finished it was very late and Alvin felt more tired than he could ever remember. The strain and excitement of the long day had told on him at last, and quite suddenly he fell asleep.
* * *
Alvin was still tired when they left the village not long after dawn. Early though it was, they were not the first upon the road. By the lake they overtook the three councillors, and both parties exchanged slightly self-conscious greetings. Alvin knew perfectly well where the Committee of Investigation was going, and thought it would be appreciated if he saved it some trouble. He stopped when they reached the foot of the hill and turned towards his companions.
“I’m afraid I misled you last night,” he said cheerfully. “I didn’t come to Lys by the old route, so your attempt to close it wasn’t really necessary.”
The councillors’ faces were a study in relief and increased perplexity.
“Then how did you get here?” The leader of the Committee spoke, and Alvin could tell that he at least had begun to guess the truth. He wondered if he had intercepted the command his mind had just sent winging across the mountains. But he said nothing, and merely pointed in silence to the northern sky.
Too swift for the eye to follow, a needle of silver light arced across the mountains, leaving a mile-long trail of incandescence. Twenty thousand feet above Lys, it stopped. There was no deceleration, no slow braking of its colossal speed. It came to a halt instantly, so that the eye that had been following it moved on across a quarter of the heavens before the brain could arrest its motion. Down from the skies crashed a mighty peal of thunder, the sound of air battered and smashed by the violence of the ship’s passage. A little later the ship itself, gleaming splendidly in the sunlight, came to rest upon the hillside a hundred yards away.
It was difficult to say who was the most surprised, but Alvin was the first to recover. As they walked-very nearly running-towards the spaceship, he wondered if it normally travelled in this abrupt fashion. The thought was disconcerting, although there had been no sensation of movement on his first voyage. Considerably more puzzling, however, was the fact that the day before this resplendent creature had been hidden beneath a thick layer of iron-hard rock. Not until Alvin had reached the ship, and burnt his fingers by incautiously resting them on the hull, did he understand what had happened. Near the stern there were still traces of earth, but it had been fused into lava. All the rest had been swept away, leaving uncovered the stubborn metal which neither time nor any natural force could ever touch.
With Theon by his side, Alvin stood in the open door and looked back at the three silent councillors. He wondered what they were thinking, but their expressions gave no hint of their thoughts.
“I have a debt to pay in Shalmirane,” he said. “Please tell Seranis we’ll be back by noon.”
The councillors watched until the ship, now moving quite slowly-for it had only a little way to go-had disappeared into the south. Then the young man who led the group shrugged his shoulders philosophically.
“You’ve always opposed us for wanting change,” he said, “and so far you’ve won. But I don’t think the future lies with either of our parties now. Lys and Diaspar have both come to the end of an era, and we must make the best of it.”
There was silence for a little while. Then one of his companions spoke in a very thoughtful voice.
“I know nothing of archaeology, but surely that machine was too large to be an ordinary flyer. Do you think it could possibly have been-”
“A spaceship? If so, this is a crisis!”
The third man had also been thinking deeply.
“The disappearance of both flyers and spaceships is one of the greatest mysteries of the Interregnum. That machine may be either: for the moment we had better assume the worst. If it is in fact a spaceship, we must at all costs prevent that boy from leaving Earth. There is the danger that he may attract the Invaders again. That would be the end.”
A gloomy silence settled over the company until the leader spoke again.
“That machine came from Diaspar,” he said slowly. “Someone there must know the truth. I think we had better get in touch with our cousins-if they’ll condescend to speak to us.”
Sooner than he had any right to expect, the seed that Alvin had planted was beginning to flower.
* * *
The mountains were still swimming in shadow when they reached Shalmirane. From their height the great bowl of the fortress looked very small: it seemed impossible that the fate of Earth had once depended on that tiny ebon disc.
When Alvin brought the ship to rest among the ruins, the desolation crowded upon him, chilling his soul. There was no sign of the old man or his machines, and they had some difficulty in finding the entrance to the tunnel. At the top of the stairway Alvin shouted to give warning of their arrival: there was no reply and they moved quietly forward, in case he was asleep.
Sleeping he was, his hands folded peacefully upon his breast. His eyes were open, staring sightlessly up at the massive roof, as if they could see through to the stars beyond. There was a slight smile upon his lips: Death had not come to him as an enemy.