Gama and Hest: An Ahsenthe Cycle companion novella (The Ahsenthe Cycle) (11 page)

Gama’s hand flew to her throat. These females would leave. They would go — where? They had dwellings, but no wall, no protection from the night beasts or from whatever it was that had taken Frarm and the soumyo of Trontin.

Reln
, she sent, but he didn’t reply.
Reln
.
These
are
our
sisters
.
What
will
happen
to
them
if
they
leave
the
protection
of
Reev
?
You
can
still
stop
this
.
Please
.

She’d seen the thought-grains float to Reln and be absorbed. Gama knew he’d heard her. He gave silence as his reply.

A female in the crowd stepped into the open way and joined the procession, her head high, and her back as stiff as frozen water.

Another joined.

And another.

Until nearly all the females of Reev were moving together toward the gate.

Despair welled up in her. This was wrong. Females shouldn’t leave Reev any more than the males should. They were corenta-kin, female and male together.

Her heart beat against her ribs at a new thought. What would happen to the females who stayed? Would the males throw them out, too — make them
doumanas
— females without males — whether they wanted to be or not?

She huffed out a shaky breath and looked up. The sky shimmered. It was beautiful, as hypnotic as sunlight on moving water. Her sorrow drained away. She wanted to fill her being with that shimmering sky — wanted Hest beside her, so it could fill him too.

This is a day of beauty, she thought. And then realized it wasn’t her thought at all — it was a voice so deep inside that it seemed like her own thought.

All her brothers and sisters stood still, some with heads cocked to the side. Gama knew they heard it too, the voice that seemed like thought. The voice she’d heard in the darkness and then again today telling her that all their troubles were the males’ fault.

Don’t
listen
, she sent to her corenta-kin, the thought-grains speeding in all directions.

Her thought-grains reached a sister standing near, came as close to her sister’s skin as possible without passing through, then slid away like sand down a hillside. They couldn’t hear her.

Thoughts streamed into her head — ideas of a better way of living, a picture in her mind of a giant corenta that didn’t move. The deep, peaceful feeling flooded her again. She could see herself living in this new place with her old sisters and with new sisters from other corentas, in tall, just-made dwellings, their every need met. They’d have the chance to do exciting, different sorts of work. Everyone in harmony, content, with no males to disrupt their happiness.

Gama shoved the thought away. It wasn’t her thought.

Mahn, Du, Prill, and most of the other females of Reev stood very close together, Du talking fast. The sisters were nodding. Smiles spread on the faces Gama could see.

Prill walked over to her as if in a dream. She reached out and stroked Gama’s throat. “Sister,” she said, “Du has had a wonderful idea. We females can no longer live in this corenta. We will leave Reev and start a new community, one that’s set-placed, in the Gertupa wilderness, far away from the corrupting influences of the males. We’d like you to join us.”

Gama saw it clearly in her mind again, the giant corenta with structures taller than any in Reev, gleaming in the sun.

Du and the sisters standing with her eyed Gama with curiosity. She felt heat rising up her breastbone. Had they thought Prill need only stroke her throat and she would follow blindly?

“Prill. This ‘thought.’ Did it come only to Du, or did all of you think of it at the same time?”

Prill’s voice was sure and confident. “The moment Du began to speak, we were in such close harmony we knew what she would say.”

Gama rubbed her hands on her thighs, the heat in her chest growing hotter. “What if it wasn’t Du’s idea at all? What if the thought was fed to her? To all of you. To all of us in Reev.”

One of Prill’s spots lit with the orange-yellow of confusion. “What do you mean?”

Gama felt her neck warm in response. She was as confused as Prill, trying to pick truth from seemed truth — not sure she knew the difference.

“No matter how close in harmony we are, a whole corenta, females and males, wouldn’t have the same thought at the same time unless something was giving us the thought. It’s not real. These aren’t our visions. They — ” She struggled with how to explain what she felt.

Prill’s jumped in before she could find the words. “Then whose visions are they?”

“I’m not sure. I just know something is false here. I think something is feeding these thoughts to us, making us do its bidding.”

Prill’s throat turned nearly all brown-black with anger. “This is the first day in a long time that I haven’t been frightened. Today I know I’m going somewhere where life will be good again, peaceful — somewhere I’ll be safe.”

“But you don’t know — ”

“Du said you’d be resistant.” The dark-brown of disappointment replaced several of the brown-black spots on her throat. “You’re tied to Hest. He doesn’t want to be your kin anymore. He wants his own life with the males. Making things up and telling tales won’t change that.”

Her words cut like ice into Gama’s heart. There was truth to them, but not whole truth. She was tied to Hest, but her love for him hadn’t caused the feeling of wrongness she couldn’t shake.

A new vision came to her, of living not in a giant corenta, but in a place where structures stood alone without a wall to embrace them. Gama saw sisters in meadows and fields, gathering crops that offered themselves happily to be food. The same rush of peace she’d felt before filled her again. It was harder to push it away this time. She forced her gaze to the sky, to break the vision.

Gama grabbed Prill’s arm. “Look up. That sparkling sky isn’t natural. It has something to do with the new thoughts in our minds. We’re being led, not traveling in a new direction by free will.”

Prill stared at her. Gama kept her face bland. The spots on Prill’s neck showed clearly that she feared there was truth in what Gama had said — and that Prill resented her for it. Gama’s neck warmed, but it wasn’t Prill who caused her anger. She threw her head back.

“Show yourself,” she screamed at the sky. “You put words in our minds. Come say them to our faces.”

Ten

The sudden and absolute silence stunned her. No whooshing of structures arguing. No voices of her sisters or brothers. She felt the eyes of her kin on her, the heat of her spots warming. The sound of her swallow seemed loud in the silence.

Not complete silence, though — a dim hum vibrated in the background.

Maybe she’d gone mad, but her heart felt true. Her neck erupted with the colors of anger and determination. She turned her gaze back toward the sky, daring whatever was there to show itself. The shimmer shrank in size, then grew dense and brighter.

Du ran toward Prill and Gama, her steps fast and loud. Gama caught Du’s movement in the corner of her eye, her focus still on the sky. The glittering bits began to slowly turn. Du grabbed Gama’s shoulder and opened her mouth to speak, but Gama shook her head and pointed up. “Look.”

The shimmering had formed into wavering bands of gleaming light floating toward them as slowly as leaves through water. The hum grew louder.

Gama’s heart pounded like rocks down a hillside. Du’s fingers dug into her shoulders.

A voice sounded deep inside her — a thrum that filled her whole body.

We
have
come
not
to
frighten
you
, something thought-talked, and she saw that all her kin heard and were listening.
We
have
come
to
be
new
with
you
and
better
.

She shot a glance at Reln, expecting him to think-talk back — to speak up for them. He must have realized as she had that the source of this voice and the source of their sorrows was the same. The two had to be connected. The coincidence would be too great if they were not. And there was the hum.

Reln seemed frozen, only the spots on his neck alive with the colors of confusion and fear. Du loosened her grip on Gama’s shoulder and hugged her arms over her chest. Gama’s glance sped from face to face. All her kin seemed struck dumb and frozen where they stood, except Prill, who looked ready to run. Gama touched her throat gently, worried that if Prill panicked, everyone would.

Who
are
you
? Gama sent.

Prill pulled away, but stood still, listening now, the corner of her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

A sparkling band wavered in front them. Du reached out to touch the thing. Gama grabbed her hand and pulled it back. Du looked at her, a bit wild-eyed. The band grew bright — brighter.

I
,
in
particular
,
am
called
Weast
, the voice said.
I
speak
for
the
us
.
We
all
together
are
the
lumani
.
Our
home
is
far
from
here
.
We
have
traveled
and
seen
you
and
watched
.
We
apologize
for
confusion
we
may
have
caused
through
no
fault
of
us
.

Prill blinked, as if just waking from a deep sleep and surprised to find herself standing there.

Other bands floated above their heads. Gama tried to count them, but the shapes shifted and moved so much that it was impossible. Around them the sky was a vivid blue and cloudless.

Gama glared at Reln again, wanting him to act, to communicate with whatever this was hanging before them in the air. Her heart pounded. She put her hand over her throat to hide the fear colors there, in case these sparkling things could read them and see how deep her fear ran.

Why
have
you
come
? she sent to the sparkling thing that named itself Weast.
What
do
you
want
?

To
improve
you
and
watch
, it sent.
To
be
not
kin
,
but
friends
with
kind
gifts
of
a
better
life
.

The
giant
corenta
, she sent, sure now that these things — these lumani — had delivered the pictures to the soumyo’s minds. What did Weast mean by
to
improve
you
?

Prill stood next to Gama, her eyes darting from side to side as she listened. Gama touched her neck again and gave her a thin smile. Prill smiled back, but the smile was strained. Color flared on Prill’s throat as panic rose in her again.

The picture came once more, the giant corenta, filling Gama’s mind. The sense of peace the picture brought chilled her. It worked on Prill. Her smile broadened and became real. Her muscles relaxed. The colors on her throat changed from muddy-brown to the pale-green of contentment.

Gama gave up covering her throat — if the lumani could read the colors, they already knew what each soumyo felt. She put her hand to her forehead instead, to shade her eyes from the brightness of the glittering bands.

What
sort
of
better
life
are
you
offering
? she asked Weast.

A
pleasant
one
.
Open
space
for
making
food
so
there
will
never
be
hunger
.
Places
for
processing
a
mineral
we
have
seen
here
that
will
give
new
ease
to
your
living
.
Places
for
males
and
places
for
females
,
where
each
may
find
joy
.
We
have
many
gifts
for
you
.

Again the mind-pictures came, a corenta without a wall, set down by a verdant meadow. And again, the rush of peace.

The pale-green of contentment grew brighter on Prill’s throat, joined by the silver-blue of gratitude. Du’s throat showed the same.

Pale-green and silver-blue in various intensities and combinations glowed on nearly every throat Gama could see. Here and there the pale-yellow-blue of acceptance, or the brown-black of anger, or the muddy-brown of fear. She felt her own fear rising — fear of this feeling of peace. Fear of the lumani.

Her gaze stopped again at Reln. Why didn’t he speak up? Interrupt her think-talk with his own and take over? He was their guide. This was his duty.

Their eyes met. Reln looked away — and Gama saw the reason as clearly as sand through clean water. All that had happened, the vanishings, the corenta that wouldn’t let him in, disharmony in Reev, Prill leaving to be with her sisters — it had shattered his heart and left him broken.

Her mind spun. She wanted Hest beside her — Hest, whose presence made her feel smarter and more capable. Hest, who had walked away, leaving her alone. She wanted Hest but didn’t need him. Didn’t need anyone but herself.

This sparkling thing was an intelligence, she was sure. Different, but no more different from the soumyo than the structures or the plants. Unless what they saw was not the intelligence itself, but its agent. Did that matter? Somewhere an intelligence, a life force, had come into the world and created chaos. Now it offered a solution — a new way of living.

Why?

She thought-talked the question publically. Prill sent her a sharp look, as though afraid questions might drive away the lumani and the promised peaceful life.

We
wish
to
learn
, Weast sent.
You
have
much
to
teach
us
.

What could they possibly teach these creatures that came from the sky and could plant thoughts in their minds? She could come back to that. There was another question that bothered her more.
When
will
you
leave
?

The band that was Weast drew in on itself, contracting to a small ball of light.

Of
sorrow
, Weast sent,
we
came
but
cannot
leave
again
.
Our
corentas
—
as
you
would
name
them
—
are
destroyed
and
cannot
move
.
We
will
never
be
among
those
we
love
again
.
Today
we
seek
to
give
gifts
and
live
among
those
of
this
place
forever
more
.

Sometimes a seed blows away from the plant and grows in a new place. Sometimes that new plant blocks out the sun from what grew there before. Gama didn’t like the thought that these lumani were here for good. Who could say if Weast was telling the truth about being stuck here, or if it was a convenient lie? Du and Prill seemed delighted with the idea of the lumani staying, to judge by the colors on their necks.

Reln suddenly found his voice.
Came
from
where
? he thought-talked.

Weast gave no answer. The glittering ball slowly rotated, then stretched out again into a band. Prill hugged her arms across her stomach, but the colors on her throat didn’t change.

We
wish
to
speak
with
only
one
, Weast finally sent,
as
we
speak
through
only
one
.
This
makes
for
clarity
.

Relief was in Reln’s voice when he spoke. “Gama, please continue.”

A privilege she didn’t particularly want. She swallowed hard, and found herself looking for Hest — again wanting him beside her. He was there, somewhere in the crowd, but she couldn’t find him. Gama turned her attention back to Weast.
Where
is
the
place
you
came
from
?

The glimmering bits contracted into a straight line that angled west of the sun.
Our
place
is
there
,
but
past
the
sky
.

Her hands felt sweaty. She rubbed them against her hipwrap. Creatures from the sky, wanting to change the way the way the soumyo lived, calling it a gift. The soumyo had no word for what Gama feared: that these creatures would take more than they gave. Why didn’t the corenta-kin see the danger, the falseness of Weast’s words?

“Tell them,” Reln said, breaking into her thoughts, “‘You’ve given us much to think and talk about. We need time alone to discuss it.’”

She stared at him a moment, her heart shaking in her chest, then sent,
Did
you
take
our
kin
?
The
beasts
,
and
birds
,
and
structures
,
and
our
kin
—
it
was
you
?