'I am sorry,' said Pumpkin. 'I should not speak further to you now. It is the wish of Radish.'
'Why not?' I asked.
'Waniyanpi are supposed to be loving, accommodating and pleasing,' said Pumpkin. 'Waniyanpi' is a Kaiila expression. It means 'tame cattle.'
'And is Radish loving, accommodating and pleasing?' I asked.
'Not really,' said Pumpkin. 'That is an interesting thought,' He looked at me. 'We are leaving in the morning,' he said.
'I told you not to talk to him,' said Radish, from a few feet away.
'Please be quiet, Radish,' said Pumpkin. She turned away, angrily.
'Sweetness be unto you,' said Pumpkin.
'How far away is your compound?' I asked.
'Some one hundred pasangs from here,' said Pumpkin.
'I di dnot know you had kaiila,' I said.
'We do not,' said Pumpkin. 'We came afoot, dragging travois, laden with our produce, in the charge of a boy.'
'I thought Radish was the leader of the expedition,' I said.
'She is the Waniyanpi leader,' he said. 'We all, of course, must take our orders from our red masters.'
'How is she who was the Lady Mira, of Venna?' I asked. The Lady Mira, of Venna, had been an agent of Kurii. She had been in political command, under Kog and Sardak, of a force of approximately a thousand mercenaries, the human contingent accompanying Kog and Sardak, and their death squad, into the Barrens. The military command of these mercenaries, also under Kog and Sardak, who would have retained supreme command, had been in the hands of Alfred, a mercenary captain from Port Olni. The chain of command, then, for most proacitcal purposes, except tactical situations, would have been Kurii, then the Lady Mira, and then Alfred, the captain from Port Olni. After the joint attack and massacure of a few weeks ago, the Lad Mira had been captured and, presumably because she had been found with soldiers, sent to a Waniyanpi compound. Alfred had managed to escape with a mounted force of perhaps some four hundred riders. He, presumably, had, by now, made his way back to the Ihanke, to civilization and safety. Small bands of warriors, the sorts which make up common war parties, would not be likely to attack a force of that size.
'The Lady Mira, of Venna?' asked Pumpkin.
'The blond woman, given to you by the red savages after the battle,' I said. 'I think you were going to call her 'Turnip. »
'Trunip, of course,' said Pumpkin.
'How is she doing?' I asked.
'She is fitting in very nicely,' he said. 'She has embraced the teaching zealously. She is now a happy and confirmed Same.'
'And what if she were not?' I asked.
'Then,' said Pumpkin, 'regrettably, we would have to put her out of the compound, into the Barrens, without food and water.'
'You would kill her?' I said.
'No, no!' said Pumpkin. 'Waniyanpi are not permitted to kill. We would only have to put her out.'
'You would, then, let the Barrens do your killing for you,' I said.
'She might survive,' he said.
'Possibly,' I said.
'It always makes us sad to have to put someone out,' he said.
'I can imagine,' I said.
'Surely you cannot expect us to permit the existence of false ideas in the compound?' he asked.
'Why not?' I asked.
'I do not know,' he said.
'Perhaps you fear your beliefs, if presented with plausible alternatives, might fare badly?'
'No, no,' he said. 'Truth does not need to be afraid of falsity. Truth is not fearful and weak.'
'I am glad to hear it,' I said. 'So what is wrong with having a few false ideas around?'
'It is against the teaching,' said Pumpkin.
'Perhaps it is feared someone might believe one,' I said.
'How could anyone do that?' he scoffed.
'Perhaps some depraved or benighted individual,' I suggested.
'Perhaps,' he said.
'Thus,' I said, 'ignorance is the bulwark of truth.'
'Perhaps,' granted Pumpkin.
'But here is an interesting thought,' I said. 'What if your beliefs are not true, but false. How would you ever find out about it?'
'I suppose we might not,' said Pumpkin. 'Thus, it is fortunate for us that our beliefs are true.'
'How do you know?' I asked.
'It is one of our beliefs,' he said.
'Sameness is a lie,' I said. 'And it is not even a subtle or plausible lie. It is obviously and patently a lie.'
'It is not to be questioned,' said Pumpkin. 'Even if it is a lie it is a lie which lies at the very foundation of our society. It is the premise of our world. All worlds have their myths. The alternative to the myth is chaos.'
'The alternative of falsehood,' I said, 'is not chaos, but truth.'
'One must belive something,' said Pumpkin.
'Try truth,' I said.
'Would you like to see Trunip?' he asked.
'Is she here?' I asked.
'Yes,' he said. 'We did not wish to bring her, but the oy who was in charge of us picked her out to come along, thus giving us, appropriately, an exactly equal number of males and females.'
'Why 'appropriately'?' I asked. 'If you are all the same, what difference should it make? Why not all males or all females, or any ratio?'
'I suppose you are right,' said Pumpkin. 'We ourselves do not distinguish between males and females.'
'That, at least, if peculiar, is consistent,' I said. 'But you have noticed, surely, that there seem to be some differences between males and females.'
'We try not to notice that,' said Pumpkin.
'Have you noticed,' I asked, 'that males are better at dragging heavy weights across the prairie than women?'
'We notice, of course,' said Pumpkin, 'that not all Sames are of equal size or strength.'
'And have you noticed, further,' I asked, 'that there seems to be a correlations between the stronger Sames and those the red savages regard as males, and between the slighter, weaker Sames and those the red savages regard as females?'
'I try not to notice such things,' said Pumpkin.
'Were you harnessed to a travois?' I asked.
'Yes,' said Pumpkin.
'How many pulled it with you?' I asked.
'I, alone, drew it,' he said.
'And what of some of the other travois,' I asked, 'those drawn by the smaller, slighter Sames. How were they harnessed?'
'Five to a travois,' shrugged Pumpkin. 'But the trek is long, and the weight is heavy.'
'I see,' I said. 'Where is Turnip?'
'I will show you,' said Pumpkin. 'She is with one of the groups. You will be pleased to see how she turned out.'
I followed Pumpkin through, and behind, several lodges. Then, in a few moments, we came to a place where a low, sloping shelter, of travois poles, sticks and canvas, had been erected. I could see some similar shelters in the nearby vicinity.
