there, with unlimited mobility, we can seek new worlds. The universe will be open to us. No longer will we be faced with the Fires of God, for we can leave these doomed galaxies. We can seek over numberless parsecs, and in the vast universe find homes which will see the continuation of Artonuee life for an eternity.'’
'And leave the Delanians to roam empty space at light-times-twenty for, perhaps, centuries?' She shook her head. 'Have you no shame, any of you?'
'I have merely to look at our worlds,' Caee said. 'I have merely to remember how a young female, wings plucked from her, wept not for her pain but for the loss of her man. Those of us who are free of the Delanians'—she cast a meaningful glance toward Miaree—'know that our relationship with them was a terrible drug which distracted us from our purpose in life. It is said, among some of our people, that the universal attempt to bed our Artonuee females was indeed a plot to love us out of existence. I, for one, do not know whether there was a plot, but there might as well have been: Delanian-induced sterility in our females was a fact. No female, on her own, had the will power to sunder herself from her lover long enough to produce fertile eggs. In a generation, had not the
threat of the Fires forced the Delanians to take more direct action, we would have been extinct.'
'Nonsense,' Miaree said heatedly. 'Don’t you see, all of you, that dear Bertt’s invention has solved all our problems? We have been allowed a bit more time, thanks to God. It is enough. If the conversion is so simple, then it can be accomplished in months. The first ships can be operating on Bertt’s principle within weeks. At speeds which shrink the galaxy to insignificance, our ships can explore millions of stars. And before it is too late, before a single Delanian or a single Artonuee dies in the Fire, we can have located habitable planets. At Bertt’s speeds, we can make many trips to and from those planets. We can move everyone. We can move the entire juplee forest. We can move the art treasures from Outworld. No one will die. Don’t you see?'
'Yes.' said Ceelen. 'It is God’s will.'
Chapter Twenty-Five
Rei himself almost came to think of it as God’s will. Soon, he chuckled, as he watched the production lines pour out the altered circuits and hardware for the Bertt Engine, I’ll be praying to the God of the Artonuee. For he had flown in Bertt’s own ship, had seen the universe dwindle, had felt an exultation which filled him even now, as he pursued his new task of seeing to the installation of the new expanders on all of the fleet.
But, if the God of the Artonuee was great, that made old Bertt greater, didn’t it? Bertt had beat God at Her own game.
There was a light in Miaree’s eyes. She bloomed. The cares of the past years seemed to fall from her, leaving her as he had known her first, there on Outworld. Nor was he the only one to see the light of love and joy in Artonuee eyes. Quietly, privately, Delanian officials, who had obeyed their own edict to leave off their delightful activities with the daughters of the Artonuee, were reclaiming their mistresses. Argun, bellowing with pleasure, had immediately summoned his favorite.
The news had been spread. The sense of fear and doom which had hung
over the five worlds was lessened to an almost carnival atmosphere. The evacuation of Artonuee from Outworld and New World, under way, was proceeding in a spirit of good will and the lines of boarding Artonuee could be heard to sing.
No one was happier than Rei. A terrible burden had been lifted from him. No longer would he be forced to hide his true feelings from Miaree.
In short weeks, they would embark together on the greatest of all adventures. Together, they would explore the universe.
At the end of a rewarding day, he made his way to her rooms and there, in a glow of love, idled away the evening, resenting it with all his heart when the communication room allowed a call from Argun to be put through. He was a Delanian, and when he was called by his President, he went.
He found Argun with his female, nude, sated. The female was dismissed, and she smiled back at them as she stepped lightly from the room. Argun shrugged into a robe and drank. 'Damn.' he said, 'I’m glad I found that one. She’s a freak. Two sets of those incredible muscles.' He laughed with gusto. 'She’s pleased as hell that she’s going on the ship with me.'
'Oh?' Rei asked. 'I’ve seen no indication that the segregation order has been rescinded.'
'Damn, man, you’ve had it good. While the rest of us were going without Artonuee cunt for the sake of appearances, you were warming the bed of one of the best-looking bugs I’ve seen.'
Rei hid his displeasure.
'Sure,' Argun said. 'I’m taking her. She’s young. Just off The World. Just finished her education. She’ll last me the rest of my life before she fades.'
'Will others be granted this same privilege?' Rei asked. For the question of his being with Miaree on the flight was still unresolved. As Mother of all the Artonuee she could order him to be with her, but he knew she would not do so unless the same was allowed for all her sisters.
'We’ll have room for almost a million of them,' Argun said. 'Mostly
female, although some of the higher placed women might want to take along a little male pet.'
Rei felt his neck tingle. He felt cold. 'That’s changed, sir. That’s all changed.'
Argun roared. 'Damn, boy, I told you long ago that you’re too soft. You’ve let this female-dominated society get to you.' He looked directly into Rei’s eye. 'Nothing has changed. From the time you submitted your first report to me, outlining your plan to fuck the Artonuee out of existence by loving hell out of all the females, it hasn’t changed. Damn, man, our women won’t stand still for this type of crap forever. We’ve got the universe open to us. You want to throw away the chance to populate it with Delanians because of a sweet little bug with an active cunt?'
Chapter Twenty-Six
'Lady,' said Diere, Overlady of Research, 'it is a curious thing, this. I have been checking the reports of the Light Twenty Scout ships which have for years past been searching the near stars for habitable planets. I discover that all of the scouts now on station are manned by our people, by Artonuee males. And it has struck me that times have changed. In years past, we females were the daring ones, the flyers. Males plodded on the earth and, at best, worked the mining drivers and operated the slow, ponderous shuttle craft.'
'It is for the best,' Miaree said wearily. 'We have learned well from the Delanians. Now male and female work side by side in our society as in theirs.' Then she paused, mused. 'All scouts on station are flown by Artonuee?'
'Here is the list,' Diere said.
She took the duppaper copies and ran her eyes down. The most distant scouts were years of travel time from the home worlds. All of the small ships were flown by Artonuee. A terrible thought came to her, a thought which she would not, could not accept. Instead, she tossed her head and smiled. 'We must send orders for all of them to return. Their slow progress through the stars is no longer necessary. See to it, Diere.' On second thought. 'Make a memo to Rei to suggest that during their scouting runs the new Bertt ships rendezvous with the most distant scouts and pick them up.'
'It will be done.' Diere said.
The evacuation of Outworld was complete. A full half of the total number of Artonuee were back home. The shuttles were at work all over New World, lifting the remaining Artonuee to the waiting star ships for the short trip to the home planet. In Government Quad, thousands of clerks were transferring the records of the Artonuee to microtape so that history would ride with the race on the journey into the distant stars. The seat of Artonuee government would soon be abandoned, the Mother herself taking her place with her people on The World.
Rei was absent, with the fleet at Five. Although she missed him with all her heart, she was proud that her man was taking such a vital part in this moment of history. Rei would plan and dispatch the Bertt ships to move
