gutted Five, performed the journey again and again, leaping parsecs instantly, not even feeling the vast power which defied every known physical law. Emboldened by the ease of it, he calculated an extended course and in the same wink of time blasted past the distant globular cluster into intergalactic space, there to see, for the first time, the wheels of the colliding galaxies small in the viewer’s magnification.
From afar, they were an object of mere astronomical beauty, cold, distant. It was difficult to think that twenty-four billion minds had perished there on the Delanian worlds, almost impossible to leave the triumph of deep space for the sorrow and turmoil of the home worlds. In a wink, he could be there, in a far galaxy. He could leave it all behind and be the first Artonuee to explore the vast deeps of the universe.
But he was Bertt, builder, and he had built the ultimate vehicle, and he would share his joy with them, his people, and with his friends, the Artonuee,
The fusion-powered journey from the orbit of Five to New World and then down to Government Quad at Nirrar consumed enough time for Bertt to circumnavigate the known universe.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Miaree lived a nightmare. For the first time in the history of the
Artonuee, the dwelling of the Mother was under armed guard. And the guards were powerful, uniformed Delanians. Although, on the surface, nothing had changed, she felt undercurrents of threat, felt fur-tingling moments of dread.
'Lady.' Rei had assured her, 'it is for your own protection. Many of our people have seen the Fires. Many left the home worlds just ahead of destruction. They had to bid farewell to friends and sons, knowing that they would never see them again. Now they are told that the tragedy must be repeated. True, it will be on a smaller scale, but those who have experienced the terror, who were lucky enough to be given space on a ship once, fear with knowledge that they might be selected out this second time.'
'Does this, then, justify the wanton slaughter of Artonuee on Outworld?' Miaree asked, shaking her head tiredly.
'An isolated incident. We moved the Army in as soon as reports of the violence reached us.'
'The Army,' she said. 'There is not even such a word in our language.'
Rei turned from her, paced to a viewer, looked down moodily onto the Quad below.
'The evacuation from Five continues to be orderly and effective,' he said at last.
'So it begins,' she said. She was thinking of the females of Five, torn from the arms of the lovers who had become their lives. And a future of infinite sadness loomed before her.
'There is much to consider.' Rei said. 'The Light Twenty Scouts in the second arm have made astronomical findings which are encouraging. Their scannings have located no less than five stars whose orbital movements indicate the presence of planets.'
She would grow old without him. She would seek her iffling in the confines of a metal ship and not under the warm sun of the Artonuee. Never again would she walk the Great Bloom. Five Hatchings, and she had yet to look on the beauty of a living egg.
On Outworld, the planet of art and beauty, Delanian women had first torn the wings from and then killed a female caught in a love merge with a Delanian man. And the violence had spread to terrorize an entire dwelling area. Now the star ships were converging on Outworld to move those who loved it most forever, first to The World, then—
'Old Bertt has been asking for an audience,' Rei said. 'Have you yet seen Kim?'
'I have not been informed.' So, at last, he was homecoming. She did not want to see him, did not want to have to face that last bit of sadness. Yet, she had invited. 'Will you have him called?'
He was aged and stooped. When she saw him last, he showed his maturity, and she had not suspected that homecoming was so near for him; but with a male, especially, the end, once upon him, approached with astounding suddenness. 'Dear Bertt,' she said, rising, touching his shaking arm. 'We will provide you with transportation. The fleet lies, half loaded, off The World. The ifflings crunch happily in the lighted holds. There you will seed the life which will fly with us.'
'I have waited for five days, Lady,' Bertt said.
'Here?' She was puzzled.
'First the Delanian guards. Then, when I was passed, the Delanians below, in the lower levels. Has the Mother, then, been relegated to a small office in an upper floor, there to consort with her man,' he spat the word, 'and forget the greatness of our race?'
'Discourtesy does not become you,' she said, saddened. 'I accept your censure, however, as mine. The duties of the office.' She paused, for there was a vacant look on Bertt’s face. Was there so little time for him?
'I could have stayed,' he said, his lips scarcely moving. 'I could have traveled like the wings of thought to see the heart of the universe, to search out the nooks and hiding places of creation itself.'
God, she thought, he is already rambling. Then, as she reached out to him, he straightened, became for a moment the Bertt of old. Pride gleamed in his eyes. 'Let it be recorded,' he said, 'that an Artonuee male made it. That Bertt, the builder, did it.'
'Bertt?'
'You once gave me a month, Lady, to change the known universe. It took longer, I fear.' He chuckled. 'But I, Bertt, have flown—no, not flown, for it is more than that. I have been moved by a power which dwarfs the fusion engines of the Delanians. I have traveled a hundred parsecs in the wink of an eye, My Lady.'
There was a feeling about him. She shared it, felt his triumph, believed him. 'Bertt,' she whispered. 'It works?'
He nodded, his shoulders slumping. 'May I sit, Lady?'
'Of course,' she said, taking his arm to lead him to a chair.
To share the news, she called a hasty conference. When it was convened, there were only her Artonuee officials and advisors present.
'The Delanians sent word that they had more important things,' said Lady Caee.
'Rei, too?' Miaree asked.
'He, at least, was more polite,' Caee answered. 'He begged to be excused for an hour, until the council of the Delanian chiefs is ended.'
'Perhaps,' Miaree said, with a shiver of dread, 'it is best that we first share the joy of Bertt, the builder, among ourselves.'
Bertt stood proudly. His words brought a hush over the gathered Artonuee.
When he had finished, it was the priest, Ceelen, who spoke. 'God has indeed forgiven us.'
'Where was God,' asked Lady Belle, 'when the Delanian women pulled the wings from dozens of our females?' Belle had changed. Her eyes brooded purple, her face showed the harsh lines of tension. 'Lady Mother, I respectfully suggest that we consider keeping this an Artonuee secret.' There was a gasp around the table. 'Over two hundred Artonuee died on Outworld, Lady. More will die. I feel it. There is talk in the streets that it will be Artonuee who face the Fires, not Delanians, as we now believe.'
'That is nonsense,' Miaree said.
'Is it nonsense, Lady,' asked Bertt, 'to see the Government Quad swarm with armed Delanians, to see Artonuee excluded from their own seat of government?'
'Already, they have struck at the heart of our life, at our most basic beliefs,' said Diere, Overlady of Research. 'The order to cut the juplee-carrying ships by half their number was issued without consultation with us.'
'Millions of sacred things will perish,' said Caee. 'If the Delanians are capable of that, of what else are they capable?'
'We have worked together, my children,' the priest Ceelen said, 'but at what cost?'
'It is possible, Lady,' Bertt said. 'The fleets will be segregated. We will be alone. The necessary hardware can be produced in the ships’ shops, and the installation can be made while in flight. Then, at the appointed time, the Delanians will merely see nothing. The Artonuee fleet will disappear into deep space in the wink of a lash, and
