citizen for a very short time.”
“If you are in the city you are of the city. You may speak to me because I am Vainte and I am Eistaa. Your loyalty is to me. Take your time and think of the significance of that. It is from me that authority flows. It is to me that all problems will be brought. It is from me that all decisions will radiate. So now you know your responsibilities. You will speak and answer my questions truthfully.”
“I will answer as you command, Eistaa,” Inlenat said with assurance, already settling herself into the new order of things.
Bit by bit, by careful and patient questioning, Vainte began to build a picture of events in the city. The guard was of too low a station to have knowledge of what had happened in the higher reaches of command — but she was well aware of the results. They were not pleasing.
Deeste had not been popular, that was obvious. She had apparently surrounded herself with a group of cronies who did little or no work. There was every chance that these were the ones who had forgotten their responsibilities, had not taken the other roads of satisfaction when egg-time came, who had instead used the males despite the fact the birth beach was not ready. If this were true, and the truth could be found out easily enough, there would be no waste of a public trial. The criminals would be put to work outside the city, that was all, would work until they fell or were killed or were eaten by the wild creatures. They deserved little else.
The news wasn’t all bad though. The first fields had been cleared, while the city itself was over half grown and going according to plan. Since the fever had been countered there had been no medical problems other than normal injuries caused by the heavy work. By the time the boat had entered the river Vainte had a clear picture of what must be done. She would check on Inlenat’s stories of course, that was natural, but her instincts told her that what the simple creature had told her held the essence of the city’s problems.
Some of her tales would be just gossip, but the body of her facts would surely stand.
The sun was setting behind a bank of clouds as the boat pulled in between the water roots of the city, where they stretched out into the harbor. Vainte automatically pulled one of the cloaks around her as she felt the chill. The cloak was well-fed and warm. It also concealed her identity — and there was nothing wrong with that. Had it not been for the slaughter on the beach she would have insisted on a formal welcome when the uruketo had arrived. That would be unseemly to do now. She would make her way quietly into Alpeasak, so that when the news of the killing reached the city she would be there to guide them. The deaths would not be forgotten, but they would be remembered as the end of the bad period, the beginning of the good. She made solemn promise to herself that everything would be very, very different from now on.
CHAPTER FOUR
Vainte’s arrival did not go unnoticed. As the boat drew up at the dock she saw that someone was standing there, tight-wrapped in a cloak and obviously waiting for her. arrival. “Who is that?” Vainte asked. Inlenat followed her gaze.
“I have heard her called Vanalpe. Her rank is the highest. She has never spoken to me.”
Vainte knew her, at least knew her reports. Business-like and formal with never a word about personalities or difficulties. She was the esekaksopa, literally she-who-changed-the-shape-of-things, for she was one of the very few who knew the art of breeding plants and beasts into new and useful forms. Now she was the one with responsibility for the design and actual growth of the city. While Vainte was Eistaa, the leader of the new city and its inhabitants, Vanalpe had the ultimate responsibility for the physical shape of the city itself. Vainte tried not let the sudden tension show: this first meeting was of vital importance for it could shape their entire relationship. And upon that relationship depended the fate and the future of Alpeasak itself.
“I am Vainte,” she said as she stepped out onto the raw wood of the dock.
“I greet you and I welcome you to Alpeasak. One of the fargi saw the uruketo and the approach of this boat and reported to me. It was my greatest wish that it be you. My name is Vanalpe, one who serves,” she said formally, making the sign of submission to a superior. She did it in the old-fashioned way, the full double-hand motion, not in the usual and more modern shortened way. After that she stood square-legged and solid, waiting for orders. Vainte warmed to her at once and on impulse seized her hand in a gesture of friendship.
“I have read your reports. You have worked hard for Alpeasak. Did the fargi tell you anything else… did she speak of the beach?”
“No, just of your arrival. What of the beach?”
Vainte opened her mouth to speak — and realized that she could not. Since that single scream of pain she had kept her feelings under perfect control. But she felt that now, if she spoke of the slaughter of the males and the young, that her anger and horror would push through. That would not be politic nor help the image of cold efficiency that she always maintained in public.
“Inlenat,” she ordered. “Tell Vanalpe what we found on the beach.”
Vainte paced down the length of the dock and back, not listening to the voices, planning the order of all the things that she must do. When the voices fell still she looked up and found them both waiting for her to speak.
“Now you understand,” she said.
“Monstrous. The creatures who did this must be found and destroyed.”
“Do you know what they possibly can be?”
“No, but I know one who does. Stallan, who works with me.”
“She is named huntress by design?”
“She is truly named. She alone has ventured into the jungle and forests that surround the city. She knows what is to be found there. Knowing this I have made modifications of the city design that I must give you details…”
“Later. Though I am now Eistaa the less pressing duties can wait until something is done about the killings. The city goes well — there are no immediate problems?”
“None that cannot wait. It goes as it should. The fever has been stopped. A few died.”
“Deeste died. Will she be missed?”
Vanalpe was silent, eyes lowered in thought. When she did speak it was obvious that she had considered her responsibilities and weighed her words carefully. “There has been bad-feeling in this city and many say that Deeste was responsible for that. I agree with that opinion. Very few will miss her.”
“Those few…?”
“Personal associates. You will quickly discover who they are.”
“I understand. Now send for Stallan and order her to attend me. While we wait show me your city.”
Vanalpe led the way between the high roots, then pushed aside a hanging curtain that shivered at her touch. It was warmer inside and they dropped their cloaks onto the pile beside the door. The cloaks extruded slow tentacles that probed the wall until they smelled the sweetness of the saptree and attached themselves to it.
They passed through the temporary structures close to the waterfront, translucent sheets fastened to skeletal, fast-growing trees. “This technique is new,” Vanalpe explained. “This is the first city to be founded in a very long time. Since the last founding the days were used wisely and great improvements have been made in design.” She was animated now, smiling as she slapped her hand against the brittle sheets. “I developed these myself. A modified insect pupa greatly enlarged. As long as the pupae are well fed in the larval stage they will produce large numbers of these sheets. They are peeled off and joined together while they are still soft. They harden with exposure. Nor is this resource wasted. See, we come to the city tree now.”
She pointed to the network of heavy roots that now formed the walls, where they wrapped and engulfed the translucent sheets. “The sheets are pure carbohydrate. They are absorbed by the tree and form a valuable energy input.”
“Excellent.” Vainte stopped under a light that huddled next to a heater which had spread its membranous wings. She looked about in unfeigned admiration. “I cannot tell you how pleased I am. I have read all of your reports, I knew what you were accomplishing here, but seeing the solidity of the growth itself is a different matter. It is impressive impressive impressive.” She indicated a repetition and enlargement of the last word. “My first report to Entoban* will say just that.”
