Reward for Retief (20 page)

            "There isn't any loot,
remember?" Retief reminded the frightened fellow, who was whimpering and
tugging at Retief s grip.

            "Take it easy,
Red," Retief said soothingly. "We're going. Nobody's after you,
except us, and we've already made friends with you, remember?"

            The redhead was still
shaking his head as if to dislodge foreign matter and the corners of his mouth
went down like an infant about to bellow. He continued to mutter, as if
disputing with himself.

            "But I don't
wanna
go
topside," he wailed, at the same time starting up the steep slope. Retief
pulled him back.

            Magnan spoke up abruptly:
"It won't do, it simply won't do!" He broke off and stared about him,
an expression of deep puzzlement on his narrow features. "Curious,
Jim," he said. "These gnats don't seem to bite. One wonders—"

            "Say, Mr. Retief,"
Bill said, ignoring Magnan's remarks. "Didn't that little gal say
something about voices inside yer head?" He shook that member vigorously.
"I got 'em," he added. "Says to 'just come in the front way like
a good chap' is what it's saying. What should I do?"

            "Ignore it for the
moment," Retief replied, as Magnan simultaneously yelped, "Get it
out, get it out! No! I'm not going, so there!" Then he fell to his knees
and looked up at Retief in desperation. Behind him, Red was on the ground,
openly weeping, knuckling his eyes, but doggedly trying to creep uphill.
"Feller's gotta do it," he explained, aggrievedly. "Heard
stories about fellers went nuts," he added. "Why we come up here, get
ridda the damn thing. Never bleeved them stories, but looks like—all right, I'm
coming, ain't I? Or I would be if this here dumbjohn'd leave go my leg!"

            Magnan had scrambled up
beside Retief. "Hurry!" he urged. "We have to do as it says!
Otherwise ..."

            "Mr. Retief," Bill
blurted. "Don't
you
hear it, too? Looks like Mr. Magnan and this
slime-ball can hear it same as me."

            "I didn't hear anything
to scare a Marine," Retief told the excited lad. "Now be calm, Bill,
and tell me exactly what's happening."

            Magnan clutched at his arm.
"It's telling us to come around and enter by the front," he gobbled.
"We're to deal with some ruffians, too, and above all, save the eaters!
Then ... then ... I'm not sure," he broke off uncertainly, and forged past
Retief and scrambled up the slope. "Hurry," he called over his
shoulder. Then: "Don't you understand the urgency?" he scolded.

            "Nope," Retief
said. "I suggest you sneak up on Eddie and his friends a little more
cautiously, sir—"

            "Who in the world are
Eddie and his friends?" Magnan yelped as he halted and slid back
downslope.

            "My pals, up
there," Red contributed. "Prolly in a bad mood counta no pickings
after all, plus that monster got 'em treed on a rock spire. Sounded mad last
time I seen 'em. Better not get caught sticking the old nostrils in, Mister,
prolly get 'em stuffed fulla lint."

            "Retief!" Magnan
barked, stepping over Red to confront his subordinate. "Am I to understand
these Eddie people have intimidated you?"

            "Never met 'em,"
Retief replied. "Excepting Eddie, of course. But at four or five to one,
you're taking on too much to chew, single-handed."

            " 'Single-handed'!"
Magnan spat. "You intend to let Bill and me, and—this Red person, too, if
you'll release him—confront the enemy alone?"

            "There's no need for a
confrontation just yet," Retief corrected. "There's a cave here that
needs investigating."

            Magnan stared at the dark,
smoke-leaking orifice in dismay.
"It
might be in there—" he
started, and broke off. "Yes, Mother, I'm coming," he added in a
conversational tone, and again began the ascent of the steep escarpment.
"Coming, sergeant?" he called. Bill grunted and followed. Retief
released Red's ankle, and the scruffy fellow hesitated, looking puzzled for
only a moment before trailing along, muttering, "I'm doin my best, ain't
I?"

            Retief was scanning the
crest of the slope above, noting the overhanging cornice, when the Voice spoke
quite clearly, impinging not on his ears but thrusting in among his thoughts.

           
... there's a good fellow! I was beginning to think you'd never
lower that impressive shield of yours! now, if you'll just come along with the
others, I want to explain certain matters to you, before disaster overtakes us
all, even the inoffensive eaters! quickly, now!

           
Retief went to
the black opening amid the crumbling strata, from which a brisk draft was
issuing. He sniffed, detected no poison, and entered the dank, chill chamber.
As he did, Bill uttered a hoarse yell from above, and came sliding down an icy
chute to arrive in a cascade of rubble.

            "Mr. Retief!" the
lad yelled. "Whatever you do, don't go up there—that's where
they're
at!
Look out—" he broke off, and dashed out of the cave. Retief heard a sound
from ahead, and turned quickly to see a carpet of wriggling foot-long creatures
with large glowing eyes advancing toward him in an undulating wave; then a
silent impact behind his eyes, and blackness closed in.

3

           
Cutting across
the lightless void, a crystalline pattern appeared, like a glowing meander of
infinite intricacy, which quickly resolved into silent speech:

           
... dear little eaters,
the words took form in Retief s head
like his own thoughts.
but climb above them
and they'll forget you. at this stage of development they have little or no
intellect.

           
Light returned.
Retief looked ahead. As the wormlike creatures, each with gaping jaws
formidably armed with oversized teeth were about to reach him, Retief stepped
up on a low ice-ledge, then climbed higher as the living blanket of eaters
rolled past, thrusting on until they reached the sunlit entry, at which point
they recoiled, surging back across their siblings, returning whence they came
as relentlessly as they had come, and Retief stepped down.

           
thank you,
the pattern said clearly. I
do appreciate your consideration. now, that
red fellow, not an ally of yours, I see— he'd have tried to trample them and
been stripped of his soft parts in a moment. bad for the eaters, you see, a
blood meal at this stage; and they grow up to be insatiable carnivores. but
now, please come along away from that aperture by which you entered. why don't
your companions join us?

           
"They seem
to think that there's something dangerous in here," Retief explained.
"Maybe it's the eaters Red had in mind."

           
but how silly,
the pattern shifted to communicate mild mirth,
as if i'd let them—never mind, your
friends are easy of access, unlike yourself, but lacking in subtlety. as for
the charming eaters, it is of course quite natural that they should eat, eh?

           
"No
doubt," Retief agreed, "but somehow I got the impression they would
have eaten
me.
I'd be against that."

           
why, of course you would. but never mind; to understand all is to
forgive all.'

           
'That's gracious
of you," Retief commented. "What do they eat when there are no
Terries sticking their noses in here?"

           
oh, no such time has yet come, not since dear captain goldblatt
first offered himself, thereby averting—but never mind. all that was long ago;
one's recollections grow dim
. The pattern communicated nostalgia,
still, I remember his cries of joy as he made his
noble sacrifice of his own petty existence in favor of the young, with their
lives still ahead ...

           
"Altruistic,
indeed," Retief commented. "Unfortunately, all the history books have
to say is that Captain Goldblatt was lost in space."

           
but I found him, and guided him in to a safe landing here
,
the pattern affirmed. I
even helped him
file his discovery report.

           
"That was
the last that was heard of him," Retief pointed out. He had found that it
was unnecessary to voice his remarks: they were communicated unerringly as soon
as they formed in his mind.

            "Red and his bunch had
an idea there was a lot of salable merchandise stored here in the cave,"
Retief remarked, looking around at the bare rock walls and the porous layer of
rotten ice from which water trickled.

           
oh, yes, the troublesome fellows I was obliged to chase, but now
,
the reply came as clearly as if printed out.

            "The fire didn't bother
you?" Retief inquired.
gracious no
,
the pattern reassured him.
actually, I rather
enjoyed the bath, and of course I ingested the energies: I abhor waste.

           
"You
consider a hundred-and-fifty octane fire just a bath?" Retief asked.

           
too long exposure
COULD
damage one's zang-template
, was the reply,
but a brief immersion clears away the ergnits.

           
"Oh, the
erg-nits," Retief repeated, unenlightened.

            "Now that you know what
Eddie and the others tried, what will you do with them?"

           
'do?
the pattern echoed in turn.
they're quite at liberty to work out their own shabby destinies. I shall
of course provide some small guidance, no more. in the moment of emergency, I was
concerned only to prevent their interference here. too large a meal would give
my little eaters indigestion.

           
"What about
the supply of goodies?" Retief persisted. "If there really are any,
where do you keep them?"
they
remain latent until evoked by the yearning of a deprived psyche
, the
pattern stated in a matter-of-fact way.
what
a pity this eddie and his friends have never paused to conceptualize just what
it is they genuinely desire.

           
Just then Red
burst in through the triangular entry, stared about blindly, and blundered away
into the darkness, whimpering.

            "What do their desires
have to do with anything?" Retief wanted to know, ignoring the
interruption.

           
but, you see,
for the first time the silent Voice seemed
uncertain,
the habit of displacement is
so deeply ingrained, its victims are unable directly to perceive their own
deepest yearnings
. This as if clarifying the obvious.

            "Eddie and his friends
deeply yearn to give everybody a hard time," Retief pointed out. "And
they also like the idea of accumulating cash, especially if in the process, they
gain power over people."

           
those trivialities are of course, the surface motivations
,
the thought spelled itself out a bit severely.
but one must probe deeper to find the true generative level.

           
"Oh,"
Retief commented. "By the way, Jacinthe said you were responsible for
Jitty's reformation. Anything in it?"

           
hardly a re-formation,
the pattern corrected. I
only exposed and revealed the true form.

           
"Why?"
Retief asked.

           
because it is my nature
to
do so,
the pattern spelled out patiently.