Cat Karina

The World of Karina

Instantly, Karina knew her leg was broken.

Her body swung downwards and she grabbed the log with her right arm, checking her fall. As she hung there, the pain began. The dark night brightened with her pain, so that for a moment she could see nothing except a blinding redness, flaring like a furnace from a core of agony just below her knee.

She made no sound. Felinas don’t cry.

So they were tears of pain in her eyes, not weakness. She blinked and her vision cleared, and she wriggled carefully, working her way onto the log until she lay along it, her foot trapped in the supporting crutch, her legs outstretched. She saw the moon reflected from the long, smooth timber rail of the sailway and, far in the distance on top of a hill, the bright glow of a signal tower. As she watched, the signal blinked with moonlight.

That meant there was a sailcar coming.

For a moment she visualized the great car, white sails spread to catch the night breeze, trundling down the track while she lay helpless. She tried to tug her foot free, but the movement sent a screaming current of pain through her body and, for a moment, she blacked out.

She came to with a sense of great loneliness. Her alpaca tunic was wrapped around her waist, the ground was three meters below, and the wind blew coldly over her as she lay exposed to the night’s silence. She was lonely for her sisters but they were some distance down the track, far out of earshot, preparing a harmless ambush for the Pegman. A joke which would cost Karina her life. Lying there in pain, she did something which only she could.

She concentrated all her thoughts on her leg and she said, «Please don’t hurt so much. Pain, please go away. Little Friends, wherever you are, please make my leg not hurt so much.…»

And her Little Friends helped her, whispering through the cells of her body, gathering about the wounded nerve endings and the torn flesh and bone, and soothing. Not mending, because this was beyond their power, but soothing so that the pain faded and Karina could think straight again.…

The sailway track consisted of three parallel rows of trimmed logs forming a simple monorail system linking the coastal towns. The middle rail was the thickest and supported the weight of the cars. The other two rails were placed higher, one on either side, and the lateral guidewheels of the sailcars pressed against these. The whole structure marched along the coastal plains on X-shaped gantries; the running rail resting in the crutch of the X and the guiderails pegged to the upper arms.

Karina’s foot was jammed between the running rail and the crutch. She pulled at it and twisted it until warning twinges told her that even the Little Friends could not perform miracles. She lay back in despair. Even if she had been able to free her foot, she could still die. She was a felina, and felino bones do not heal readily.

So Karina the cat-girl lay on the sailway track and waited to die. She was eighteen years old and, by human standards, very beautiful. She had the long supple limbs, the oval face and the slanting amber eyes of her people. Only her hair was different, a startling rarity among felinos; red-gold, it fell about her shoulders like fire. Karina, concentrating on her Little Friends to dull the pain, waited.

Then she felt measured footsteps pacing along the rail towards her.

«Karina? You are Karina, daughter of El Tigre?»

Karina sat up, staring at the tall figure which seemed to float towards her dressed all in black so that for one fanciful moment she thought it was Death come to get her. It was a woman’s voice, soft yet with a strangely lifeless quality as though the speaker had seen all the sadness of the Universe, and had been unable to help.

«Yes, I’m Karina.»

As the woman stepped forward, the moonlight fell upon her face — and Karina flinched with horror. The pallid flesh was seared and puckered with the Mark of Agni, the Fire-God.

«Give me your hand.»

But Karina jerked away, her stomach churning at the awful, unnatural evil of that face. The woman was Cursed. Agni only touched those who sinned, and he made sure they stayed touched. So ran the Kikihuahua Examples.… «No.… Get away from me,” she said. The woman was a True Human. She could tell. There was an imperiousness about her manner.

«You’re trapped on a sailway track and you’ll die unless you can get free — and you won’t let me help you.» The woman’s tone was wondering. «Do I frighten you that much?»

«I’m not afraid of anything!»

«Is it my face? It’s only a burn, you know. You see much stranger things in the jungle.»

«Go away!»

«So it’s because I’m a True Human.»

«All right — so it is! I’m a Specialist and you’re a True Human. There’s nothing we can do for each other. Nothing we can say.»

«That’s your father speaking.»

«True Humans killed my mother!»

Now the woman said an odd thing. «It is beyond our powers to change the facts of the present, and even the possibilities of the Ifalong can seldom be affected. But Karina — on certain happentracks of the Ifalong you will be famous, and the minstrels will sing of you.»

The suggestion was ridiculous. «You mean, like the Pegman and his songs?» said Karina sarcastically.

«Don’t laugh about the Pegman’s songs. They’re important too, and in the distant future they’ll be a part of the Song of Earth. All of human history will be told in songs like the Pegman’s.»

«How do you know this? Can you see into the future?»

«No, of course not. No normal human can. But the Dedo — my mistress — can foretell the Ifalong. It’s no coincidence I’m here. Your accident was foreseen.»

A thread of fear ran down Karina’s spine. «You mean you could have prevented it?»

«No doubt I could, and on certain happentracks I did.» Cold eyes looked down at the cat-girl. «Just as on certain happentracks you will live, and on others you will die.»

«H … happentracks? Like sailway tracks?»

«Different possibilities all existing at the same time.»

«Oh.» The rumbling was closer. Karina had a vision of her crushed body lying in the wake of a speeding sailcar. Her arm would be swinging limply. «I … I can hear a sailcar coming. Can’t you do something?»

«That depends on you, Karina.»

«For God’s sake, what do you want?»

«Your word.»

One leg would be lying on the ground below, severed. «You have it!» cried Karina.

«Karina, we live in a difficult year. It is a year of unpredictable, whirling happentracks. The Dedo foresees this as the year when her great Purpose could come to nothing. You alone can ensure that the Purpose will be fulfilled.»

«How? Just tell me, and I’ll do it!»

«You must do several things. At intervals before the end of the year you’ll be faced with difficult decisions. It is essential to the Purpose that you take the right step every time.»

«How will I know?»

«I’ll be there to guide you. It won’t be easy for you, though.»

«I’ll do it!» shouted Karina frantically.

«Give me your solemn word, Karina.»

Karina composed herself and uttered the most sacred words a Specialist can utter; more sacred even than the Kikihuahua Examples.

«I, Karina, swear by the bones of Mordecai N. Whirst that I will obey the commands of this True Human.… Until the end of the year,” she added quickly. «Now, get me out of this!»

And suddenly, just for a moment, the woman was transformed and the humanity shone through. «You poor child — I’m so sorry.» She placed a hand gently on Karina’s leg. «Just keep still, will you.» And she reached inside her robe and took out a smooth, dark stone. It was shot with red flecks and totally ordinary in appearance; and she held Karina’s leg straight, so that the bones were set.

Karina concentrated on the Little Friends, and felt nothing.

The woman drew the stone down Karina’s leg like a cold caress, and said, «You can move it, now.»

«That’s it?» Karina flexed her leg and was astonished to find the break appeared to be mended. Cautiously she withdrew the Little Friends and they retreated into the recesses of her body, their work done. There was no pain. It was as though the wound had never been. Now, with her new strength and the handmaiden’s help, she was able to twist her foot free of the crutch. The skin was broken and it bled slightly. «Can you use the stone again?» she asked.

«No. Your foot must bleed for a while to remind you not to do a stupid thing like this again. You’re precious to the world, Karina.»

Karina asked, «What’s the Purpose you talked about?»

«You can’t know the details. If you did, you could destroy it. You are that important, Karina. But as for the overall Purpose, it is directed towards ending the imprisonment of the greatest person the Earth has ever known: Starquin, the Almighty Five‑in-One.»

«Oh, just another religion.» Karina was disappointed.

They swung to the ground. Karina took a deep breath and looked around. Everything looked fresh and new. For a moment something the woman had said touched her mind, and she wondered if she had stepped into a brand-new happentrack, leaving her old self dying on the sailway.…

«I feel so good ,” she said happily.

«How do you like your world, Karina?»

«I like it fine. I like the sun and the ocean, and the cars’ sails against the trees, and the mountains.… And the felino camp, and,” her face glowed suddenly with anticipation, «the Tortuga Festival, and all the fun.»

«Have you ever thought there was anything else? Haven’t you ever wondered what might be outside all that?»

«Well, the fishermen tell of queer folk who live on rafts of weed out in the sea.… And the mountain people talk about monsters in the jungle.…»

«No, I mean really outside. Outside this little space and time. Imagine this, Karina. Imagine a million worlds spinning in space, some with people just like us, some with people who don’t know what evil means, some with people so evil that folk are scared even to give their planet a name — and all of those people human. And imagine other creatures too, not human, with different customs.…»

«Like the kikihuahuas, you mean?»

«Yes, and more besides.»

«It’s all in the Examples.» Karina was suddenly impatient. A whole world was waiting for her. Maybe a narrow world by this queer woman’s standards, but a world full of fun and excitement all the same.

«All right, I won’t keep you. Just remember, Karina. Every so often, I want you to look up at the stars and to think of the Greataway, which is all the dimensions of Time and Space — which Mankind used to travel through, thirty thousand years ago before he lost the will and the ability. The Greataway will be rediscovered, and you may play your part. Always remember Starquin, and your promise.»

And the warmth faded from the woman’s voice, and her expression faded too; her face became hard and the Mark of Agni showed again in mottled, livid scars.

«What’s your name?» asked Karina. «You didn’t tell me.»

The handmaiden didn’t reply.

«Who is the Dedo?»

«She is the flesh of Starquin — a part of his body in human form.»

«Wait! You haven’t —”

But the Dedo’s handmaiden was gone, gliding away into the night. For a moment Karina stood there, shaken by the transformation; it was as though she’d been talking to two different women. Her mood of exaltation faded and she shivered, and suddenly the night was cold and the stars hard and threatening, bright terrible little eyes. The Greataway.…

So Karina summoned the Little Friends without quite realizing it; and this time they entered her mind and soothed her. She began to walk north towards the distant black mound of Camelback, the wooded hill where the ambush was to take place. Above her, the sailway track was silent. The approaching car had stopped.

The man who wanted to change the past

The Pegman — Enriques de Jaia’a, called Enri — was indulging in a curious private ritual. Balanced precariously on the guiderail some six meters from the ground, he was flapping his single arm like a bird and uttering screeches. There was no logical reason for him to do this. The idea had occurred to him a few moments ago, so he had stopped the sailcar, climbed onto the rail, and surrendered himself to irrationality.

«Har! Har! Har!» he shouted, and the cry was borne by the winds across the coastal plain and into the foothills and the forest where the howler monkeys, hearing a faint strange sound, paused and looked up.

But the world didn’t change.

Enri climbed down, kicked his toe against the side of the sailcar fourteen times, took off the brake, picked up the ropes and pulled in the boom. The Estrella del Oeste began to move, jerkily. Enri grimaced, squeezing up his eyes and sucking his teeth, and began to think of the Tigre grupo — the name which people gave the headstrong sisterhood consisting of Karina, Runa, Teressa and, what was the name of the quiet one? Saba.

Charming, vicious, lovely young inhuman girls who, he suspected, would ambush him tonight. Pity they didn’t have a mother to keep them in check, or a brother to lend a little finesse to their outlandish behavior.

But life would be dull without them.…

«I am the captain of the sailcar Estrella del Oeste! ” Enri shouted suddenly to a group of rheas feeding harmlessly below the track. «I sail for distant cantons with a cargo of ripe tortuga which I will sell for enough money to buy the moon. Or at least, the Sister of the Moon,” he conceded, his mind wandering to a strange, gigantic dome-thing he’d once seen down the coast; a thing almost as big as a mountain, its top lost in the clouds. «One day I will be rich!» he shouted. «I’ll buy my own sailcar! I’ll have a fleet of sailcars!»

But the Estrella del Oeste didn’t even belong to him. It was an ancient Canton car, its days of fast passenger work long over, a broken‑down hulk with patched sails and frayed ropes eking out its last years as a track maintenance vehicle. In its time it had held twenty passengers in its cylindrical hull, but now the seats were gone, and the drapes and the luxuries, leaving only a bare cavern some ten meters long filled with the tools of Enri’s trade: wooden pegs, mallets, rope, bone needles and thread, a shovel, a flint spokeshave, and several barrels of stinking tumpfat for greasing the rails and bearings. Enri’s living quarters were there too; a tiny cabin with a bed, a table and a few possessions.

Enri rode on deck, behind the car’s single mast, gripping the mainsheet — the rope which controlled the angle of the sail to the wind — like any crewman on one of the prestigious Company craft, controlling the sailcar’s speed by the tension of the rope and by occasional judicious application of the brake. The wind was light tonight, and he didn’t have to use the brake much.

The Estrella del Oeste lumbered on while the Pegman dreamed of changing the course of history, and a small part of his mind — the professional part — gauged the state of the track by the feel of the deck’s motion through the seat of his pants. Soon the car slowed. He had reached the long climb past Camelback.

The wind chose that moment to slacken.

«Huff! Huff!» He shouted the traditional crewman’s cry and blew pointlessly into the limp sail. The wind dropped altogether.

The car was rolling to a halt.

He stood, a tall, thin figure in the moonlight, and shook the boom, inviting the wind. His mood of elation had evaporated. Now he saw himself as a broken‑down True Human in a broken‑down car. «God damn everything to hell!» he yelled. It would be morning before he reached Rangua at this rate.

The car stopped. He swung one-handed to the running rail and jammed a chock under the rear wheel to prevent the car rolling back down the grade and losing him what little ground he’d gained. Walking back to a crutch, he swung his mallet to check the security of the fastenings.

The mallet struck the crutch with a solid thunk. In the distance, the moon reflected pale silver on the sea.

«Sabotage!» he suddenly shouted, driving his fist at the sky. «I’m a saboteur and I’m going to remove a couple of pegs from this crutch, so that it will collapse when the dawn car from Torres hits it. Ten important people will die in the splintered wreckage. The southbound track will be damaged too, and the next car from Rangua will pile into the mess. More people will die!»

Obsessed by his vision of destruction he sat down, his imagination racing. The Canton Lord would be on the Torres car. Enri would be waiting near and would pull the Lord free, the instant before Agni struck the wreck into flames. The Lord would give him land and Specialists, whom he would set to building cars. Monkey-Specialists, with deft fingers and tiny minds.

And then.… And then he would search the whole world for Corriente, his love. And he would find her, and she would cling to him, and they would live happily ever —

The wind was blowing.

He walked slowly back to the Estrella del Oeste. There was no hurry, and he was lingering over the dream.

The rail trembled. A dry bearing squeaked like a rat.

Corriente, so warm, so loving.…

The Estrella del Oeste was moving!

It was impossible — yet the dark bulk of the old car was receding from him, wheels rumbling on the running rail, rigging straining to the fresh breeze. He began to run, awkwardly, one-armed and unbalanced on the narrow rail slippery with tumpfat.

«Yaah!» he shouted, like a felino trying to halt a shruglegger.

A burst of clear, feminine laughter answered him. Now he shouted at himself, calling himself a fool. The Tigre grupo had outwitted him again. He could see them now — four girls, leaning on the after-rail, waving. They had sheeted the sail in tight and now, for all he knew, were going to take the Estrella all the way to Rangua South Stage. «Stop!» he yelled.

«Not for a man who dreams of sabotage!» came the cry. «You ought to be ashamed of yourself — and you a pegman, too!»

Damned felinas! He ran on, muttering. Teressa was at the bottom of this. She’d put them up to it, the little bitch. Saba was too timid and Runa would see the consequences, and Karina … Karina was too nice. But Teressa could sway them all. She would grow up to be a bandida, that girl.

Somebody must have touched the brake — Karina probably — because he heard a scraping sound and the sailcar slowed. He reached the door and swung himself inside, blundered through the tools and stink and climbed the short ladder to the deck.

«Hello, Pegman!»

The four girls lay about the deck in attitudes of innocence, and Teressa was even mending a frayed rope. Helplessly he regarded them: cat-girls, descendants of some ancient genetic experiment, come back to haunt Man in the person of him, Enriques de Jai’a, pegman for the Rangua Canton. «I am human!» he suddenly shouted. «I am Mankind!»

«Of course you are, Enri,” said Karina. «So are we.» There was a slight reproach in her tone.

He’d meant no harm; he’d hardly been aware of his own outburst. «You’re goddamned jaguar girls,” he muttered.

«But you love us,” said Teressa, not even looking up from her work.

«Aah, what the hell!» To his intense embarrassment he found tears in his eyes and he turned away, facing north. The wind was strengthening with every moment and he must pull himself together. There was some difficult sailing between here and Rangua; the sailway turned inland for a short distance and cars had been known to jib in the sudden shift of wind. Last year, the Reine de la Plata had had her mast carried away and a crewman killed. Felinos and shrugleggers had towed the disgraced craft into Rangua, laughing derisively.

No, the Camelback Funnel, as it was called, was a difficult stretch for a man with one arm.

«And you couldn’t do without us,” said Runa seriously. «Not in this wind.» She handled the sheets, slackening them off while Saba eased the halliard and Karina, climbing to the lookout post, jerked the sail downwards. Teressa threaded a line through the cringles and in no time the sail was neatly reefed — a manoeuver he was totally unable to carry out himself. The car rode more steadily as the pressure on the lee guiderail eased.

«They shouldn’t expect you to do it all yourself,” said Karina.

«It’s this or no job at all.»

«Then don’t work. Plenty of people in South Stage don’t work. Other people look after them.»

«Listen!» he was suddenly bellowing, placing his hands at the side of his head like mules’ ears. «You’re talking about a felino camp! You people are different! You go around in grupos! True humans aren’t like that. We’re more.… solitary. The weak ones die. It’s good for the species.»

Karina said quietly, «Tonight a True Human helped me.»

«Huh?»

«I broke my leg. I was lying trapped on the rail. She came and mended my leg, and set me free.»

«If you broke your leg you wouldn’t be able to stand on it now.»

«She healed it right away, with a stone.»

«Ah, what the hell.» He wasn’t going to argue.

But her sisters had already descended on Karina and the four girls had become a struggling, fighting mass on the deck; half-play, half-serious. «Broken leg, eh?» Teressa was shouting, twisting viciously at Karina’s ankle. Meanwhile Runa was dragging Karina’s alpaca tunic over her head and Saba, safe now Karina was effectively trussed and blinded, was pounding away at her body with her fists. The Estrella del Oeste rolled on through the night. Enriques de Jai’a turned away, checking the set of the sail. Felinas had no sense of decency, and Karina wore no pants, and how much was a man supposed to take?

«Har! Har! Haaaar!» he roared into the wind, acutely embarrassed by his own emotions.

The struggling mass rolled across the deck and brought up with a crash against the after rail. He stole a glance and saw that Karina, freed from the tunic and naked, was fighting back. She’d thrown an arm around Teressa’s neck from behind and was throttling her, meanwhile getting a devastating kick into Runa’s stomach. Saba, smaller than her sisters and weaker, left the battle and joined him on the foredeck. She was panting and her colour was not good. Enri put an arm around her.

«Too rough for you, sweetheart?»

«I just get tired so quickly, that’s all. I wish I was like Teressa, I really do.»

It had been a multiple birth, a normal occurence among felinos. More unusually, the babies had all been girls. Although male felino children generally leave the grupos at puberty, either to squire an unrelated grupo or to join the bachelors at the other end of the camp, their presence in the childhood grupo provides a steadying influence in the formative years. The death of the mother had not helped and, with the formidable El Tigre too involved with his revolutionary plotting to guide the four wild daughters of one of his five wives, the girls had gone their own way.

Now Runa was vomiting over the side, Teressa was leaning against the mast, mauve-faced and gagging, and Karina was getting dressed.

«Teressa doesn’t look very happy,” said the Pegman.

Saba looked round, smiled and said, «I’d change places with her even now. She’s strong.»

Karina joined them. The wind had freshened and her hair streamed like flames. «Aren’t you glad we’re here, Pegman? What would you do without us? That last gust would have taken the mast right out of this old tub, if we hadn’t reefed for you.» She made no mention of the fight. It was an everyday occurrence in the grupo, a part of growing up.

But Enri asked, curious, «Why do you always win, Karina?»

«Because nothing hurts her,” said Saba.

«No, I’m just better than them, that’s all,” said Karina. She had never told anyone about the Little Friends. That was her secret, and instinctively she knew she’d better keep it. Felinos with real peculiarities — as distinct from Saba who was simply not strong — had a habit of being found dead.

The sailcar reached the downgrade and roared through Camelback Funnel with the speed of a galloping horse, and the girls shouted and laughed with excitement as the craft bucked from side to side and the guiderails screamed a warning. Teressa stood guard over the brake lever, daring Enri to approach, knowing that this strange True Human friend of theirs would never get involved in a physical struggle with them.

«Karina — just go and put that brake on, will you?» Enri pleaded, hanging onto a stanchion with his one hand.

But Karina was yelling with the fun of it, standing on the prow of the Estrella del Oeste like a beautiful figurehead, braced against the handrails. «No way!» she shouted back against the bedlam screeching of tortured wood. Enri sniffed, smelling hot bearings.

Then he thought: what the hell. Just for a few moments he’d forgotten his need to rearrange the world’s history.

Too soon they reached Rangua South Stage, the shanty-town of vampiro tents at the foot of the hill on which stood Rangua Town. Teressa surrendered the brake, laughing at him with slanting eyes as he hauled on the handle and managed to bring the runaway car to a halt. The girls climbed down, calling to the felinos and showing their legs. The felinos, mostly bachelors but with a few fathers among them, muttered disapprovingly at the association between the girls and a True Human.

«He’ll kiss you while he stabs you in the back, Teressa!» one of them shouted, repeating the traditional saying about True Humans, although in expurgated form out of deference to her age.

Then they hitched up the shrugleggers for the two-kilometer climb to the town. The running rail descended to ground level for this purpose; the gradient was too steep for any sailcar to climb unassisted in anything but gale-force winds. Ten shrugleggers sufficed for the job, and with oaths and yells from the felinos the Estrella del Oeste was soon moving again.

Enri slackened off the halliard and furled the sail. Now that the girls were gone and the exhilarating ride over, he felt let down. A surly felino sat on deck, another led the shrugleggers. The wheels creaked, the car felt heavy and dead. The felino on deck had his back to him, sitting on the prow where the lovely Karina had stood, his legs dangling and his head bowed, half asleep, his neck vulnerable to an ax blow.…

Now that would change history.

That would be just the kind of open clash between True Human and felino which was needed to spark off the present tinder-box of relations.

There was an ax hanging from the shrouds for use in an emergency. Enri took it down and hefted it in his hand. It was heavy but well-balanced, and the blade was the keenest flaked stone. Enri often did illogical, crazy things.…

But the felino would bleed, and maybe hurt.

Enri put the ax back and stared at the eastern sky which was brightening with dawn.

«Haaaar!» he cried. «Har! Har! Har!» And he slapped his hand against the mast, again and again.

The felino looked round; a quick askance look.

Then Enri heard a noise below, a clatter and thump against the squeaking and rumbling of Estrella. Somebody was down there. An intruder, in his private domain. Somebody fooling with his things, robbing him, most likely — maybe even a bandido.

He took up the ax again and, yelling, descended the ladder into the cabin.

«I’m going to kill you!» he shouted, staring around the dark interior. «I can see you.» But he couldn’t. He was shouting to cover his own nervousness. A felini, however — with those catlike eyes — could see him.

«You wouldn’t kill me, would you, Pegman?» said a soft voice.

He dropped the ax. «Where are you, Karina?»

«Sitting on your bed.»

«Why?» He forced his mind away from the mental image of warm limbs, a slim body dressed in alpaca, and said, «I don’t need to kill you. Your father will do it for me, when he finds out where you’ve been. Now — what do you want?»

The car moved out of the trees and a pale glimmer of early daylight came through the porthole. Karina was a dark silhouette. She said, «Tonight I met a queer woman. She said she was the handmaiden of a bruja called the Dedo. You’re a wise man, Enri. You know more about the world than I do — and you’re a True Human too. You know the legends, and you sing songs of the past. Why would that woman have said I would become famous? And she did heal my leg; she really did.»

The Dedo.…

The word struck a chord in Enri’s memory.

.… There was a dense jungle and the harsh screaming of birds, and he’d left the other trackmen and gone exploring.…

And a monster had charged him, bursting out of a thicket.

Huge it was, and terrible, carrying an aura of unspeakable evil. Not jaguar, nor bear nor cai‑man, yet possessing the most fearful characteristics of all three, and bigger than any of them, bigger even than the mythical thylacosmilus, about which he’d sometimes sung songs. But he never sang songs of this monster, in the years which followed.

So he ran until he collapsed sobbing with fear and exhaustion beside a stream, and while he lay there a girl came to him — a girl beautiful beyond measure, more beautiful even than Corriente, his love; but cold.

In a voice without expression she had said, «Don’t be alarmed. Bantus will not harm you now. You are outside the valley, you see.…» And they had talked for a while, of Time and happentracks.

I am the Dedo, the beautiful girl had said. You will never forget me.

«What else did she say? Can you remember the exact words?»

Surprised at the tenseness in his voice, Karina said, «I didn’t understand a lot of it. She used strange words. The Greataway — that was her word for the sky, I think. Ifalong.… Other words. That’s it — she said, ‘In certain tracks of the Ifalong you will be famous.’ Me, famous? What do you make of that, Enri?»

«If the Dedo’s handmaiden said you will be famous,” said Enri carefully, «then I think you will. I met the Dedo myself once, and I believe her.» He tried to smile. «People will write songs about you. Maybe I should write one, to be first.»

«But what are tracks of the Ifalong?»

«The Dedo says that Time consists of happentracks, all branching out from the present. So that at any moment your future might go one way or the other, depending on what you do. The Ifalong is the total of all these happentracks in the future, when there are a billion different ways things might have happened. One thing the Dedo can do, is to see all these happentracks in the Ifalong, and work out the course people ought to take.»

Karina caught a glimpse of immensity. «Ought to take, why? What’s the purpose? Why not just live?»

«I think she thinks there’s more to life than that. But she didn’t tell me what.»

Karina was thinking deeply. «I wonder.… Do you think it might be possible to change things, by jumping onto another happentrack which had branched off some time before? Suddenly find yourself in a different world, where.…» Her voice trailed away. She was going to say: where my mother is still alive.… «No,” she said. «You’d have to do something so strange that it was completely out of place in your happentrack, something which simply didn’t fit in with the way things are, something —”

«Yes, you would,” said the man who thought coolly of murder, and was given to meaningless bursts of shouting, and who perched on rails flapping like a bird.

On Urubu’s deck

The southbound dawn sailcar was captained by the infamous Herrero so Karina hung about the station for a while, drawing curious glances from True Humans who wondered why she hadn’t returned to South Stage with the other felinos.

She knew her father would be waiting for her and she couldn’t face his rage, not yet. It was daylight now, and in the distance the sun was coming up over the rim of the sea. Rangua sat on a shoulder of the coastal mountains. Inland, the jungle crawled up the slopes and there were great cleared meadows where slow‑moving tumps could be seen: huge mounds of flesh eating their way across the landscape in the care of the tumpiers.

The town was small, bright and neat, and the signs of wealth were everywhere. The stores were full of exotic goods and bright woven fabrics from the great southern plains, and the people, mostly True Humans, were well-fed and clean, busily getting the town ready for the day. West, in the distant foothills, stood the white Palace of the Canton Lord, with his private sailway winding through the tumpfields.

«Hey there, cat girl!» The greeting came from a grimy individual leaning against a wall; even in Rangua Town there were derelicts. Karina grinned at him with some malice, toyed with the idea of teasing, then realized that the slatting noise of the car’s sails had ceased. The crew had hauled them tight and the car was about to depart. She ran along the dusty street pursued by the ribald shouts of the bum, reached the trackside and, timing her moment, seized the guide-arm of the sailcar Urubu as it rumbled past. In one fluid movement she hauled herself up onto the arm, laughed into the amazed face of an elderly passenger who stared out of a nearby porthole, and swung herself to the deck above.

The Urubu was a two‑master and the crew of four were busy. The wind was light and it needed all their skill to keep the car moving; they hauled on the sheets to the instructions barking out of a voicepipe on the foredeck.

Then the car reached the downgrade and began to accelerate, and the men relaxed and turned their attention to the young girl leaning on the after-rail.

«Captain Herrero will kill you,” one of them said. «You know what he thinks of felinos.»

«He’ll never know,” answered Karina. The captain controlled the craft from a tiny cabin in the nose of the car, under the foredeck.

«He will if I tell him.»

«But you won’t.» She stared at him in some contempt.

He grinned, embarrassed by the certainty in her tone, at her knowledge that he couldn’t bring himself to harm her. «You’re one of El Tigre’s grupo, aren’t you?» Although deck crews were True Humans, they had a good knowledge of felinos and their ways and were often used as mediators in disputes.

But Karinas’s attention had been caught by a shiny object, one of six set in a row of holes in a deck‑coaming. «What …?» She pulled one out and stared at it. «What are these?»

«Knives, of course.»

«But.…» That smooth, shiny surface, cold to the touch.… «They’re metal! They.… Why do you have metal knives?» Suddenly the thing seemed to sear her hand and she dropped it to the deck. Touched by Agni. The metal was cursed by the Wrath of Agni. All metal was.

Now a larger man spoke, slow and deep. «We have metal knives to protect ourselves against bandit gangs of felinas.»

«But it’s illegal. It’s heresy!»

«Let’s just say that Captain Herrero’s religion involves keeping his crew safe, and we like it that way.»

«But … there’s only one religion — the Kikihuahua Examples. And the Examples say that metal is cursed by Agni the Fire-God, and that people are happier without it.» She was staring at the knife. «And that thing proves the Examples are right. The knife is for killing.»

Now the first man said, «The knives were found in an old dwelling. They were not wrought by any Ranguan man. They’re used in an emergency if a sheet jams in a gale and the car is in danger.»

And the big man added, «And they’re used in defense.» He moved close to Karina. «How is your father, girl? Is he still plotting rebellion? Does he still think the felinos could run the sailways better themselves? Tell him this.» He reached out and gathered up a handful of her tunic and, his fingers biting into her breast, he pulled her close. «Tell him we’re ready. Tell him about the knives. Tell him we don’t fight any fairer than he does.» His face was a centimeter from hers and she could smell his breath, and feel the mist of saliva which accompanied his speech.

“ Little Friends,” she said to herself, blanking out her reaction to the man’s presence, “ don’t let me lose my temper.»

«Let her go, Antrez,” said one of the crew unhappily.

«And I tell you another thing, cat-girl,” said the big man. «If there’s any trouble from you people at the Tortuga Festival this year, why, me and my friends have arranged a little surprise. I suppose you and your kind think you’re the only ones who hunt in packs? Well, now, the next time you take it into your heads to attack a True Human, you’ll be making one hell of a mistake. This time, cat-girl, you’ll find us ready and waiting.»

«Me?» said Karina, while the Little Friends held her in check. “ Meattack a True Human?» Her eyes stared into his.

Her eyes like hummingbirds, amber and alive.…

«You people.…» Now he was unsure of himself. «You eat meat. That’s your problem. You use the Examples when they suit you, but you eat meat.» His expression changed as he watched her, and he blinked. He realized he was holding her breast and he let go, ashamed. Suddenly she was a girl — a very lovely young girl, whom he was bullying. He wondered what had got into him; whether some of Captain Herrero was rubbing off on him.

He turned away and left her standing there. As he went, he mumbled something that sounded very much like sorry.… The Urubu rumbled on down the slope. Karina stood trembling with rage and disgust while the morning sun began to warm the deck. Another crewman approached her and said, «Don’t mind Antrez — he takes his responsibilities seriously. He’s in charge up here. And let’s face it, girl, your father has no love for True Humans. And a lot of sailcars have been raided recently.»

«The good ones are never attacked.» But the Little Friends were soothing her and this True Human meant well. She tried to smile.

«That’s better.» He grinned at her. «Friends?»

Then the voice of Captain Herrero rasped from the pipe.

«Stand by for South Stage — and if any of those animals try to steal a ride kick them right off the deck. Pay out the mizzen sheet and brake for the curve — now! Watch out for that brute to starboard — looks like he has a rock in his hand. By Agni — it’s El Tigre! Right — haul in all sheets now and away we go!»

Karina leaped from the deck, rolled in the dirt, and stood.

The Urubu gathered speed, sailing rapidly away across the coastal plain in the bright morning sunlight.

«And just where in hell have you been, girl?»

El Tigre towered above Karina. In one hand he clutched a rock. In the other he held a mule whip, which he slapped ominously against his thigh.

Meeting of the revolutionaries

It was a bad morning for El Tigre and it had been a bad night before. He’d called a meeting for sundown in the big community hut at the north end of the camp near the bachelor vampiros. It had not been well attended. He’d suspected this would happen, because people had been avoiding his eyes during the day.

At sundown he stood alone in the hut, waiting for the others. It was quiet outside, and the last wisps of cooking smoke faded away; nobody can cook in the evening, when the sun is gone. It was a moment of peace which the anticipation of the coming meeting could not destroy. As he stood there. El Tigre thought: I love this place. I love the people and the things, the bright sun and the ever‑cooling winds. I love the tall, slow men and the noisy vicious bands of fighting girls. I love the sounds and the peace, the day and the night. I love the women.… His mind dwelt kindly for a moment on the women he’d known; the grupos he’d fathered. There had been Belleza and Tanaril, Amora and Serena.… And others. His musings slowed. Serena, the mother of Teressa, Karina, Runa and Saba. Serena, who was gentle in an unusual way, and very loving, and strangely devoted. Serena, who was dead.…

And his whole being rose up in a moment of supreme, overpowering hatred for the True Humans, who had killed Serena.

«El Tigre! Is anything the matter?»

His lieutenant. Torch, had arrived and was regarding him in concern. El Tigre’s face was corded with veins and his fists were clenched in the air. He looked murderous, and somehow doomed.

«No, I’m fine.» The voice, after a moment’s pause, was deep and slow. «Where is everybody?»

«I saw Ligero and Manoso on their way, and others. Maybe,” suggested Torch with deference, «maybe it’s not the best time for meetings. El Tigre. The Festival is near. People have other things to think of.»

In the end there were about a dozen men in the hut. Big broad men, bigger than most True Humans, heavy of shoulder and haunch, with a slow, graceful way of moving. They were uneasy in one another’s company; felinos are solitary creatures. Only the powerful presence of El Tigre could bind them together; and tonight, even he was to have his difficulties. As Torch had said, it was not the best time. The sky darkened outside and the female grupos moved silently about their business, some of them slipping away into the bush, others gathering around the cooling sun-ovens to tell stories.

The grupo which bore El Tigre’s name because it had no mother passed by the door of the community hut, and Teressa called, «See you later, father!»

El Tigre growled, feeling embarrassed yet proud that his daughter had called to him, and began to address the meeting.

«Friends! I speak of revolution!»

«What, again?» came the audible comment and El Tigre, with that excellent night vision of his race, saw the lips of Dozo moving. Dozo, the elder sage, the fat bachelor who had never sired a grupo; the witty, lazy cynic who always seemed to be laughing at the ways of men.

Torch supported his leader, advancing on Dozo. «If you don’t want to hear of revolution, then get back to your quarters where the young bachelors are. You might find it more interesting!» This was a reference to Dozo’s rumored sexual preferences — a rumor which had never been proved. Or disproved, for that matter, since Dozo had an infuriating way of suggesting that the affairs of men were of little significance and that sex was possibly at the bottom of the list.

«I wouldn’t miss the sight of El Tigre making a fool of himself for all the tortugas in Rangua,” said Dozo, folding his arms across his ample paunch and lying back against the wall.

«Well, just be quiet, will you,” said El Tigre. Then he raised his voice again. «I have called you together to hear some important news which was brought over the hill today by one of our people from North Stage. He told me about developments in the delta which are a threat to us all. It seems — and our informant was sure of his facts — that a secret establishment has been set up. Now, this place is as closely guarded as the tortuga compounds themselves and the North Stage felinos have not been able to get through. However —”

«They have it on the word of certain howler monkeys,” interjected Dozo, mimicking El Tigre’s style perfectly.

«They had it from the tortuga guards — Specialists like ourselves —”

«What!» Dozo scrambled to his feet, seriously annoyed. «You compare us with the tortuga guards? Do you know what they are, El Tigre? Have you ever actually seen them, yourself?»

«Of course I have. They’re Specialists. All Specialists are brothers. We are all human beings of the Third Species, the Children of Mordecai.»

«They’re crocodiles, for God’s sake,” snapped Dozo. «They have crocodile genes in their make-up and by God, it shows. They’re untrustworthy, stupid and vicious. They lie instinctively. If you’re calling this meeting on the word of a crocodile, then I suggest you save your breath. Me, I’ve heard enough.»

Saying this, he lumbered out of the door and into the night. He left a silence behind him. His abrupt departure had had far more effect than any of his usual sly asides.

«Was it really the crocodiles who told your informant, El Tigre?» asked the tall, stooping Diferir.

El Tigre spoke with barely-suppressed rage. «They are not crocodiles. They are cai‑men. It is contrary to the Examples to refer to human beings by animal names. It is as bad,” he said slowly, «as calling us jaguars.»

«But that’s exactly what they call you ,” murmured Manoso, the tricky one. «El Tigre. The jaguar.»

«That’s different!» roared El Tigre, aware that he was losing his audience. «Listen to me! While we’re arguing trivialities the True Humans are massing to attack!»

«Attack?»

«Yes, attack! And what better time than the Tortuga Festival, when our women are drunk and copulating and unable to fight!» Now he had their attention again. He continued in tones of quiet menace. «In the delta the True Humans are constructing sailcars. But this is not the usual spate of building we see before the Festival, when the Cantons and the Companies compete to supply their captains with the biggest and swiftest cars. That’s happening as well, of course. The tortuga loading yard is buzzing with True Humans and their apish carpenters. It’s no secret.

«But deep in the mangroves of the delta they’re building a different type of car — lighter and carrying more sail than anything we’ve ever seen. The first of this new breed has already been tested. My spy tells me it flew down the rails like the wind itself. He said he’d never seen such speed — and mark this, my friends. He said the car was virtually soundless. It flitted past him like a white ghost. It was a moonlit night, and he got a good look at the captain and crew. The captain was Tonio. The name of the car is Rayo — the Thunderbolt!»

Now Arrojo spoke excitedly. «Let’s send the grupos in! I can raise three — that’s fourteen women — for this kind of fight. It’s a time for cooperation!»

«It’s too late tonight,” said Diferir. «The grupos are scattered all over the place. Anyway, a thing like this needs careful planning. We must define our objectives: what, after all, are we trying to achieve?»

«I may be stupid,” said Torpe, a lolling felino, slow of speech, whose mouth tended to gape like a yawning llama and who was, in fact, stupid, «but surely El Tigre made it plain that our objective is the destruction of this Rayo .»

«But I’m not stupid.» The voice came from the doorway and El Tigre groaned. It was Dozo, who’d been unable to follow through with his grand exit and who’d hovered about outside, listening. «And I need to know a bit more. What exactly is the threat in this Rayo, El Tigre? Why do you say the humans are massing to attack? Surely the Rayo — if it exists — is just one more fast car. If it’s faster than the others, this means Captain Tonio will reach the southern markets before the other cars, and will get the best prices for his tortugas, and earn a bonus. And since he’s employed by Rangua Canton, the Lord will profit too. It’s an affair of True Humans. Why should we care?»

«Because Rayo can travel faster than a man on galloping horseback,” said El Tigre quietly. «Just think about that for a moment, Dozo.»

And Dozo said, «Oh.»

The others, standing and sitting around in the darkened hut, chewed this over. Nobody spoke. In a short while, even Torpe had worked out the significance of the True Humans’ technological advance.…

«So now,” said El Tigre heavily, rubbing it in, «a car full of soldiers can be transported anywhere on the coast before warning of its approach can be given. We would know nothing until the car appeared and unloaded. All our work — the scouting system we’ve built up over the years — will be useless.»

«But the Signalmen …?»

«They’ve never been on our side. Don’t kid yourself.»

«But we are not at war,” said Diferir mildly.

«We’ve always been at war. Ever since the great Mordecai created the first Specialist, we’ve been at war with the True Humans.»

«This is quite a moment in history,” said Dozo in calm tones. «Do you realize, it’s probably thousands of years since humans have been able to travel faster than a galloping horse? I’d hate to think that war was the only purpose of this step forward. Perhaps we should make sure of our facts before we do anything foolish. If True Humans had wanted to attack us, they’d have found ways of doing it before now. Sometimes I think you’re blinded by your hatred, El Tigre.»

«Make sure of our facts,” echoed Diferir the cautious.

«There are better ways of finding things out than talking to crocodiles,” said Manoso. «This Captain Tonio, for instance. He passes by most days. While I’m sure he would tell us nothing, he often has his son with him in the car. Now a young boy, gullible, engaged in conversation on the long pull up to the Town, well.… Need I say more?»

«True Humans are frightened of felinos,” Ligero objected. «We’re too big for them.»

«Who said anything about men?» Manoso chuckled. «I had in mind a young girl from the camp — beautiful, sexual.… True Humans are not scared of solitary women.»

«So long as there was no suggestion of a grupo.» Now Ligero laughed. «Even I am scared of grupos.»

«A solitary girl, in innocent conversation with Captain Tonio’s boy Raoul.…» Manoso’s insinuating tones whispered through the hut, firing their imaginations. «A girl about his own age, pretty, friendly.…»

«Who are you suggesting, Manoso?» asked El Tigre in ominous tones.

«I’m sure you’ll think of someone, El Tigre.»

The meeting degenerated into idle chatter. El Tigre stood silent and sombre. Nothing had changed. He doubted that the felinos would ever take concerted action against the True Humans. Feline males are solitary and independent, and that factor alone meant that the True Humans would always stay on top. And yet the felinos had what ought to be the deciding weapon, in the grupos. Nobody fights so bravely, so skilfully, so cohesively as a grupo of felinas. Yet if a weapon cannot be coordinated and properly deployed, its value is limited.…

El Tigre’s dream

The True Humans came like locusts, pouring out of an endless succession of fast sailcars and swarming into the camp, consuming everything and leaving only the bones of vampiro tents behind like corn stubble. The grupos fought to the death while the big males roared orders from strategic points until, themselves beset by enemies, they seized their ironwood swords and laid about them. But the True Humans came on, irresistible, superior, well-organized. The grupos fought in little knots of snarling fury and went under, one by one. The males were beaten back to the bachelor quarters and in the end, acknowledging defeat, melted away into the bush.…

El Tigre stirred in his sleep.

.… Yes, there had been talk of a raid, but it had been a small thing; just a few drunken True Humans stumbling down from Town, seventeen years ago. Chuckling, whispering, out for mischief, nothing more. The felina dwelling they chose was a vampiro tent right on the edge of camp. Inside was the newest mother and her four infants, all asleep. In time they would have been a matriarchal grupo to be reckoned with. Apart from one sickly baby they were unusually big children and the mother had been unusual too — with beauty, grace, swiftness and courage which had set her apart and destined her for mating with the finest man in camp.…

El Tigre, rolling over, uttered a small cry.

She’d taken three True Humans with her. Their bodies lay disembowelled, almost dismembered, nearby. Serena had paid for their lives. She was only marked on breast and thigh, but she had paid heavily, because after the remaining True Humans had had their fun they’d taken her sword — a fine thing of stone‑chiselled iron-wood — and they’d driven it up her, killing her that way.

El Tigre awakened to a nightmare vision and spent a moment staring around the interior of his dwelling, reorienting himself in the first glow of daylight, telling himself that the horror had been a long time ago.

Now he arose and dressed, and walked out into the morning. People were stirring, turning the sun-ovens to catch the first rays. An aroma of broiled tumpmeat lay on the breeze. El Tigre, his stomach rebelling, strode towards the sailway track. Here was a scene of activity and in the shouts of felinos and the rattling of harness he hoped to lose the night’s memories.

Serena, transfixed.…

The southbound dawn car came into view, rumbling down the hill from Rangua Town. A carload of humans.… Almost without thinking, he’d bent down and picked up a large, jagged rock. The car drew level and he saw the saturnine Captain Herrero — certainly the least popular of the captains — eyeing him from the forecabin. Somehow El Tigre restrained himself and the car was past, lumbering away across the plain.

And his daughter Karina was rolling in the dirt, then standing and making a playful gesture to the receding deck crew.

Dropping the rock he seized her arm, jerking her towards him. Their eyes met, and a thrill of fear went through Karina; she’d never seen her father look so … mad, in an animal way, like a wounded jaguar finally taunted into attacking. And he, El Tigre — he saw in her face all the betrayal of years; all the timid deals made between felinos and True Humans, all the selling-out, lies and mistrust; the broken treaties, the skirmishes, the haggling over prices, the cheating and stealing. So long as people pretended to this sham truce, it would always be like this.…

Karina’s smile was gone, but her fear had faded quickly too, because she understood this huge person before her. He was not loco. Things had gone wrong for him again, that was all — and if he was going to beat her because of it, she couldn’t stop him. Her muscles tensed, she regained her balance and stood foursquare, prepared to do her best. Her hands were open, her fingers hooked.

El Tigre saw her expression change, and felt her weight shift into a fighting stance. He was looking into her eyes as her fear faded, and he’d seen that fear replaced by an understanding which, for an instant, caused rage to throb even more violently in his brain.

The girl is pitying me.…

Others arrived, moving into the perimeter of his rage. Idle spectators. And — not so idle — Teressa, Runa and Saba. They stood near, waiting for him to make his move, waiting to move themselves. They would not allow a member of their grupo to be beaten, not even by their father. So it was going to be a full-scale fight. Now he, too, moved into position. He would feint towards Karina and then take Teressa as she came in. Karina would be last, because she couldn’t be hurt, so she never knew when to stop fighting.

Karina, her eyes.…

And suddenly he found his mind dwelling on something which had happened long ago, up in the mountains. He was lying on the forest floor and didn’t know where he was, or how he’d got there. A girl had come up to him and said, «I am the Dedo. Don’t be frightened. You’ve come a long way, and you’ve been sick. You will never remember anything which happened before this moment. Now, come with me and meet the woman who will be your mate, and remember her. ”

She’d taken his hand and led him among a system of interconnecting lakes and there, lying on the bank of the broadest lake, they’d found a girl with auburn hair. Although her eyes were open she seemed to be asleep. He’d looked a long time into those eyes, seeing something living behind them — not just a human mind, but something else — something … alien. «Go and make your life in the felino camp,” the Dedo had said, «and always remember this sleeping woman, whose name is Serena. Get out of this valley as quickly as you can, because your very presence unbalances the scales of nature here, and may result in your death.»

So he’d run, hearing a great crashing in the bush behind him. He’d lived in the felino camp, sired children there and become leader of his people. And when, some years later, Serena arrived, he’d loved her.…

Karina, her eyes.… They watched him with a life of their own.

They were Serena’s eyes, reborn in the daughter.

El Tigre’s own eyes filled with tears and he turned away, saddened and awed. He began to walk back towards the camp. Teressa, Runa and Saba moved away among the shrugleggers who shied and watched them with rolling eyes.

Karina ran to catch her father, and took his hand.

The morning meat car had stopped nearby and the crewmen had watched the incident with interest. One of them said,

«That’s a good‑looking girl. And just look at the size of that male!»

«El Tigre and his daughter,” said another, knowledgably. «For a moment I thought there’d be a fight. She’s quite a girl, but she hates our guts. Funny, though — felinos hardly ever fight among themselves. They’re as vicious as all Agni, and yet they leave one another alone. They hardly ever challenge their own pecking order.»

«Like animals,” said the first speaker.…

So the two humans of the Third Species walked away holding hands, and there had been no victory, no defeat. They knew the strengths and weaknesses of each other, and they each had an inner knowledge of the value of each other to their people — and, possibly, to some other great Purpose .…

«I met a funny woman last night,” said Karina. «She told me some strange things. She was a True Human, and I needed to talk to the Pegman about her. I’m sorry, father.»

The lion of a man beside her, his temper soothed by her presence, growled, «I love you, Karina — always remember that. There is not much real love in the world. True Humans are murdering bastards, and it shames me in front of our people when you’re friendly with them. I don’t need to remind you what happened to your mother.»

Karina said quietly, «Don’t ever worry about my feelings for True Humans.»

They passed vampiros where women cooked, laying strips of tumpmeat on the blackened rocks of the sun-ovens, then aligning the concave hemitrexes so that they caught the sun’s rays and focussed them on the raw flesh. The felinas were slow and lazy, and they talked sleepily to one another as they worked, recounting stories of the night’s prowling and hunting-games. Soon they would eat, then drowse the rest of the day away.

El Tigre sat on the ground outside Karina’s vampiro while she cooked meat for him. Later the other members of the grupo joined them and, after a while, Torch. The young felino’s eyes burned with excitement.

«Last night, we told them, El Tigre!»

«Dozo told us, I thought.»

«No — all we need now is for Karina here to.…» His voice trailed away as he remembered it was El Tigre’s job to brief Karina on the seduction of Raoul, and maybe El Tigre had not seen fit to broach the question yet. He watched the girls with his hot eyes: Teressa, Runa, Karina and, well, Saba. It would be fun to mate with them. They lay around lazy and replete, and Karina’s tunic barely covered her hips. They were a prime grupo — suitable mates for the future leader of the camp.…

«Manoso doesn’t tell me what to do,” El Tigre growled.

«Eh?» Torch dragged his thoughts away from warm flesh. «Of course not, El Tigre!»

«Neither does Karina consort with True Humans.»

«What’s this?» asked Karina.

«Of course not, El Tigre! I just thought —”

«It’s a degrading thing to suggest of a girl such as Karina. A woman’s job is hunting and fighting, not wheedling secrets out of True Humans!»

Karina was fidgeting with impatience. «Hunting? The Examples forbid real hunting with a kill at the end of it. We only play. And fighting? We play at that, too.» She was now thoroughly awake again. «Father — let me wheedle secrets out of a True Human! It sounds like fun.»

«Ah, by the Sword of Agni,” grumbled El Tigre. «No!»

«But I want —”

«No!» Real anger flashed in El Tigre’s eyes, and Teressa’s and Runa’s eyelids cracked open in curiosity. Saba slept, snoring gently. «I will not have you associating with True Humans, neither with that crazy Pegman, nor with Captain Tonio or his son Raoul, nor with any other of that damned breed. You may think they’re weak, and you may hate and despise them now, Karina — but they’re crafty and you know little of their ways. Any kind of association could be dangerous for you. So long as I’m chief of this camp, you’ll stay away from them until the day comes when I give the word to attack!»

Princess Swift Current

Raoul held onto the forestay and watched the sun burn off the coastal mist. He was a big boy for his age, and he had a grace and economy of movement — unusual in True Humans — which caused some people to regard him oddly, and to speculate behind his parents’ backs. And he was a dreamer, given to long solitary rambles in the foothills.

The Cadalla rumbled across the plain. She was a heavy car holding some forty passengers, heading north for Rangua, sails full of the morning breeze. The crewmen adjusted the lines in accordance with the cupped commands issuing from below, but there was little real work to do in this steady wind. In the distance Raoul could see a car approaching on the southbound track.

He indulged in one of his frequent daydreams, picturing himself in charge of the Cadalla in his father’s place, barking orders. He saw the leaves in a grove of trees brighten suddenly, as a gust of wind took them.

“ Ease the sheets,” he whispered.

And the voice snapped from the pipe nearby, «Ease the sheets!» as his father, the alert Captain Tonio, anticipated the gust from his vantage-point in the car’s nose.

Raoul smiled to himself. He’d given the right order and saved the car from harm. The gust hit the car. There was a slight lurch and the lee wheels screamed against the guiderails, but the sails had been let out a fraction and the strain on the masts was eased. Nodding to the crew, Raoul descended the ladder to the main cabin. The passengers sat in two rows down each side of the tubular, planked hull. Some dozed, some stared out of the ports, others glanced at him. They all rocked to the rhythm of the car.

“ All is well,” said Raoul to himself. “ We hope to be in Rangua by noon, given a fair wind.» He ducked under the beam which supported the mainmast and entered the forecabin.

Captain Tonio sat there, eyes flickering over the scene through the open nose port. The wind blew in, swallowed by the Cadalla’s speed, ruffling his hair. A tall, austere man, he sat with knees bent to his chest, crouching forward, eyes slitted with concentration. He sensed rather than saw Raoul. «Everything in order on deck?»

«Fine, father.» Leaning against the bulkhead, swaying to the motion of the car, Raoul indulged in one of his favourite fantasies: The Rescue of Princess Swift Current.

The stories and legends of the sailways are many, dealing with every conceivable type of disaster. Simple songs were often woven around such incidents which would later be incorporated into the Song of Earth: that great History of Mankind which came into gradual being through the songs of the minstrels during the Dying Years. The story of Princess Swift Current would begin thus:

«The Cavaquinho flew away beyond her crew’s reclaim.

Her sails were stitched with cinders and her hull was forged of flame.»

The Cavaquinho was a small craft, but fast. Built a quarter of a century before Raoul was born, she was an elite Company-owned car specializing in swift transport of wealthy and important people. She had an unusual privilege: the signalmen flashed a special signal to other traffic when Cavaquinho was on the track, warning them to pull off into the next siding to allow the faster car to get by. Signalmen also flashed codes to each other, up and down the line, warning that Cavaquinho was in the vicinity.

As an added luxury the craft carried guards; huge decorated Specialists of uncertain genetic origin chosen from a remote mountain tribe, who swaggered about the deck with ironwood swords to deter any bandit grupo.

The minstrels sing of Cavaquinho’s last voyage, when she sailed south to Cassino Canton carrying the Lord of Green Forests, ruler of Portina Canton, and his daughter the Princess Swift Current, who was to be married to Lord Avalancha of Cassino.

The legend also mentions that the Princess Swift Current was already in love with a humble minstrel from Jai’a, although this detail is omitted from the later Song of Earth.

The car approached the Rio Pele estuary, passing through a heavily-wooded region. Without being told, the crew sheeted in the sails. This was standard practice in order to maintain speed in the more sheltered airs of the forest. Far above the car, the treetops danced in a fierce gale.

A heavy bough, falling end over end from a lofty tree, struck the Cavaquinho on the foredeck.

Two guards were swept over the side. One was hit by the guidewheel arm and died instantly, the other fell five meters into the mud of the estuary and, stunned, died more slowly as the crocodiles moved in. The branch then slid along the deck, tipped, and one end jammed between the guidewheel and the rail. The other end whipped around. One crewman was flung from the deck and crushed by the guidewheel, the other fell into the river and was never seen again.

The full force of the wind hit the Cavaquinho as she ran onto the bridge. Normally the crew would have eased the sails out — but there was nobody on deck. Neither was the main brake manned. Unable to spill wind, out of control, the Cavaquinho gathered speed as the gale came roaring up the estuary.

The bridge was about a kilometer long and rickety, because the water had attacked the pilings. Worse, there was a sharp bend about three-quarters of the way across where the track turned to follow the shore to Pele North Stage. The felines saw the sails of Cavaquinho racing across the estuary. Afterwards, they said she sped ‘swifter than a stooping eagle.’

Captain Cuiva applied the brakes from his cabin, but without avail; indeed, the small emergency forward brake caught fire within seconds and flames spread into the forecabin.

The Cavaquinho hit the curve. The guiderail split and collapsed. The sailcar left the track and leaped out across the water. The jagged end of the rail tore away the lath and fabric nose of the forecabin. Captain Cuiva was pitched into the river, suffering a broken leg and a broken back. He was picked up by the felinos but died within the week.

The main cabin of the Cavaquinho together with the deck, mast and sails, by now a streaming comet of flames, skipped some distance across the water before settling. The sail remained full and the craft, aided by the incoming tide, drifted rapidly upstream until it disappeared into the mangroves, where a pillar of smoke marked its presence for some moments.

The search for survivors was delayed. The felinos refused to enter the mangroves due to a local superstition concerning a bruja. That evening the wreckage drifted past the Stage on a falling tide and was pulled ashore. There was no sign of bodies, but later the same evening The Lord of the Green Forest’s body came ashore, mutilated by cai‑mans. The remains of Princess Swift Current were never found.…

In Raoul’s imagination she had escaped, and lived on as his wife, a delicate creature with porcelain skin who sat quietly in the beautiful house he’d built for her. Like a lovely painting she was, never speaking of her ordeal, in fact never speaking at all. Having saved her, Raoul’s mission in life was to look after her.

How did Raoul save the Princess Swift Current?

He swung from a tree and snatched her out of a porthole, like an ape kidnapping a baby. He dropped to the deck, beat off the guards, knocked out Captain Cuiva and led her to where he had two white horses waiting. He’d hidden himself under the car, clinging to the running wheel struts, and at the right moment he appeared in the cabin and.… He emerged dripping from the river, fighting off crocodiles as he.…

Such was the imagination of Raoul. The sailcar rumbled on, slow, prosaic, with a cargo of uninteresting True Humans on their way to meaningless destinations. Was the age of excitement dead?

«How fast will this car go?» he asked his father. Swifter than a stooping eagle.

«It would take a good horse to outrun us,” replied Captain Tonio.

«You call that fast?»

«I can’t understand why you kids are so impressed by speed.» The journey was nearly over; Rangua Stage was in sight. The southbound car went by. Soon Tonio would be home; Astrud would be waiting, and she’d mentioned early tortugas for supper. Tortugas.… Content, Tonio felt he could indulge the boy. «Maybe one night I’ll show you a really fast car.»

«As fast as the Cavaquinho? ”

«That was forty years ago. I’d like to think we’ve progressed since then.»

He began to bark commands into the voice pipe, and Raoul heard the crew running on deck. The car lurched, and a rasping squeal announced that the brakes had been applied for Rangua South Stage.

The brawl on Cadalla

The shrugleggers were creatures of little consequence. In the year 83,426 Cyclic Mankind was still lumbering about the Galaxy in his three‑dimensional spaceships and although he’d already met the kikihuahuas and absorbed some of their culture, their mode of travel was too slow for him, and the Outer Think was over a thousand years in the Ifalong. So he rode his metal ships and he suffered the unaccountable accidents to which such crude transport was prone.

The tender from Spacehawk crash‑landed on Ilos III.

Ilos III was known as the Mud Planet because much of its surface was covered with a suppurating volcanic ooze much prized for its cosmetic properties. Its only inhabitant of any consequence was a human-sized armless biped with gigantic thighs which spent its time foraging in the ooze and had been ignored by exobiologists, until the crash.

The tender’s commander, his ship gradually sinking in the mud, watched by open‑mouthed shrugleggers, was struck by an idea. Using morsels of reconstituted fish as bait he tempted the shrugleggers near, then slipped ropes around them, harnessing them to the ship. Twenty shrugleggers were enough. They had enormous strength in their legs, and soon the tender began to glide towards dry land.

The Captain of Spacehawk was interested in his commander’s report. It represented a co-operation between Man and beast very much in accordance with the spirit of the Kikihuahua Examples which were becoming popular back on Earth. Those days, the spaceships with their prodigious energy consumption were attracting adverse publicity. The Captain saw a chance to show that space captains, too, were working towards the eventual partnership of Man and Nature.

In the name of the Examples he shipped a hundred shrugleggers back to Earth for use as beasts of burden in rural areas. The experiment was a failure — Earth’s civilizations were not ready to embrace the Examples quite so readily — and the shrugleggers were banished to a remote corner of Lake Titicaca where they strode the shallows in peace for almost forty thousand years, until the coming of the sailways.

Then, at last, their value was realized.

The bargaining was over. Grumbling, Captain Tonio returned to his cabin. «Damned bandits,” he was muttering.

Raoul watched from the foredeck as the shrugleggers were hitched on. The head felino was a large young man who seemed to have a good opinion of himself; Raoul heard the others call him Torch. He was competent, Raoul allowed that — conscious of a twinge of jealousy that this Specialist, little older than himself, held a position of some authority among his own people.

Whereas he, Raoul, was regarded as a child.…

Torch yelled, the felinos cracked their whips, and the car began its slow ascent to Rangua Town. Raoul sat on the rail, dreaming, watching the plodding movement of the shrugleggers’ haunches, when an astonishing thing happened.

A felina swung onto the car and sat on the foredeck.

He stared at her, resenting her intrusion into his domain. She was about the same age as he, with wide slanting eyes and, like all felinas, an air of barely-suppressed violence.

«You’re not allowed up here,” he said.

«Then throw me off,” she answered, looking directly into his eyes in a way which caused a sudden emptiness in his stomach.

«Listen,” he said after a moment during which nothing happened. «Get off here, will you?»

«I know your name,” she said. «You’re Raoul. You’re Captain Tonic’s son.»

He thought he’d seen her before; but then, all felinas looked alike. He glanced behind him, but the crew were immersed in a game of Rebellion on an improvised board scratched into the deck; they muttered together, clicking counters. His father and the passengers were all below. The girl was cleaner than most of her kind, and quite beautiful in an animal way.

Cautiously he asked, «What’s your name?»

«It’s Karina. El Tigre is my father.» Now she smiled, and something of the sun entered Raoul’s body.

«El Tigre? He’s a bandido. ”

Karina tensed and her fingers curled instinctively, and the nails itched for action. Just in time she recalled the reason for her presence here on this goddamned sailcar with this goddamned True Human brat. She was going to discover the secrets of the delta, and prove to her father that she was capable of looking after herself among True Humans. She was going to kill two rheas with one rock.

She would captivate this kid. True Humans couldn’t resist felinas. And then, when he was crazy for her, he would tell her about the delta, the Rayo, his father Tonio, his mother, what he ate for breakfast, everything.

She glanced at him slyly, smiled, and wriggled where she sat so that her tunic rose up towards her hips. Then she stretched catlike, arching her back and clasping her hands behind her neck. She tilted her head back, relishing the sun on her face and his eyes on her body.

«What in hell are you doing here, Karina?»

It was Torch. His face dark with fury, he swung himself onto the deck. He stood scowling down at her, not unnaturally misunderstanding what he saw.

Karina swiftly assumed a demure attitude, hands folded in her lap, sliding backwards so that her tunic was stretched down to her ankles. Unfortunately this had the effect of exposing most of her breasts. Raoul was still staring at her, hardly aware of Torch’s intrusion.

«Just taking a ride, Torch,” she said sweetly.

«Well, get off and get back to the camp! This is directly against El Tigre’s orders!»

«I’m happy where I am, thanks.»

«I can see that! You’ll be in big trouble when your father hears about this, Karina!» His eyes were hot with rage and lust. «By the Sword of Agni, you need to be taught a lesson!»

«You’re not my father, Torch.»

«Maybe not, but I’ll be squiring your grupo before long!»

Karina gave a short laugh of incredulity. “ Yousquire our grupo? You? ”

«Your father is in agreement.»

«Yes, because you suck up to him, agreeing with everything he says. But what about me? Do I agree? What about Runa and Saba? What about Teressa, Torch? She’d claw the face off you, and more besides. Think about Teressa, Torch, before you start getting ideas about our grupo!»

«When the squire is ordained, all grupo members must concur,” said Torch loftily, his desire temporarily forgotten in the niceties of cultural argument. «Your grupo has no mother, therefore your squire will be ordained by El Tigre. It is the custom.»

«Piss on the custom,” said Karina.

«What did you say, Karina?» Torch could hardly believe his ears. Karina’s contempt for felino culture had genuinely shocked him. «Did you say piss on the custom, Karina?»

Raoul gave a shout of laughter. Torch glanced at him, hardly seeing him.

«That’s what I said,” said Karina. «Those were my exact words.»

«Would you care to explain them further?» Torch took refuge in his dignity.

Karina opened her mouth, Raoul regarding her with respect and delight, and was about to expound her views on customs in general and Torch’s sexual desires in particular when there was an unwelcome interruption.

«Just what in hell are these felinos doing on my deck, Raoul?» said Captain Tonio grimly, emerging from below.

«Come on out of here,” snapped Torch, dragging Karina to her feet.

Furious, she aimed a swift kick at his crotch. Torch saw it coming, sidestepped, grabbed her foot and heaved. Karina turned a rapid midair somersault and landed lightly on all fours. Snarling with rage, she hurled herself at Torch’s throat. He seized the ratlines above his head and met Karina’s leap with the full force of both feet.

«Animals …!» Tonio was shouting. «Where in hell are my crew?»

Karina rolled end over end and fetched up against the deck railing with a crash. Torch dropped into a crouch and awaited her next attack.

Raoul kicked Torch violently in the buttocks.

Now Torch, caught completely by surprise, pitched forward onto the deck. Karina pounced on him, threw an arm around his neck and began to drag his head back. He uttered one strangled grunt, then began to fight grimly for his life. Unable to shake Karina off, he rose unsteadily to his feet, lurched across the deck popeyed and throttled, and began to climb the ratlines with Karina affixed to his back like some infant primate. When he judged he had enough height he let go.

They hit the deck with a crash, Karina underneath.

The crew, appearing belatedly, saw their chance and moved in. The contestants were pried apart and pinioned. Karina was gulping for air, hardly able to stand. Reaction hit her and she urinated uncontrollably, wetness streaming hotly down her legs.

«Get her off my deck!» shouted Captain Tonio, outraged. «There are passengers below!»

Torch was in little better shape, but he was able to shake himself free from his captors. He took Karina by the elbow. «Come on,” he said. Leading her to the rail, he bent down, seized her thigh, and pitched her unceremoniously over the edge. Then he turned to face the True Humans and, summoning the tattered remains of his dignity, said, «I must apologize for her behavior, Captain Tonio. It will not happen again, I can assure you. You must understand, there is no mother to teach discretion to her grupo. All this will change when I am ordained as their squire.…»

He was already bigger than any of the True Human crew despite his youth, and the figure he cut hovered uncertainly between strength and pathos.

«That’s all right,” said Tonio unhappily. «Forget it, forget it.»

«All the same,” said Torch slowly as though the words were forced out of him by the pressure of his own pride, «If I hear you refer to me as an animal again, Captain Tonio, I will kill you.»

With a final venomous glance at Raoul he vaulted over the rail and was gone.

Astrud

«He’s such a big boy,” said Astrud. «It’s difficult to discipline him. This felina — how friendly was she? What was she like?»

«Like any other felina,” said Tonio. «Pretty and aggressive, and she fought like a tiger. Red-haired, though. That’s unusual. Her father’s El Tigre.»

“ TheEl Tigre?» Astrud regarded her husband in some alarm. «He’s the revolutionary, isn’t he?»

«He’d like to be a revolutionary, but there simply isn’t going to be a revolution.» Tonio felt the need to explain. «Right now, True Humans and felinos are dependent on each other — we have this mutual interest, the sailways. From Portina right down the coast to Rio de la Plata we and the felinos operate the sailways together — that’s nearly a thousand kilometers of track covering eight Cantons. If it wasn’t for the sailways, we’d be a string of warring coastal tribes, the way we were centuries ago. But the sailways have joined us together so now we have trade instead of wars, and everyone’s better for it.

«And now, a few of the felinos are saying they want their share of the trade. They say they’re not satisfied with the fees they earn from towing. They want their own sailcars. And we can’t let that happen.»

«Why not?» Up here in Rangua hill country she was sheltered from politics — and Tonio rarely discussed his work.

Tonio walked to the window. He could see the Atlantic bright in the sun, with the grassy downs rolling to the beach, and the guanacos grazing. The sailway ran across the downs and a car was passing, sail brilliant with sunshine and bearing the emblem of its owner: the whale of Rio Pele. Squat, powerful crewmen were hauling on ropes and Tonio cocked a practiced eye at the wind indicators relative to the sails; and he decided the captain knew his business. To the south he could see the lower boundaries of the tumpfields, and one of the gigantic tumps was in view, like a great gray slug with the tiny figure of the tumpier perched on its back. This was his life; this was his place in the hill country and he wouldn’t want anything to change.

He said, «The felinos control the hills. There are over thirty hills on the coast which are too steep for the cars to climb unassisted, so we have to use shrugleggers. Only felinos can make shrugleggers work. Why? Because the shrugleggers are scared of the felinos.» He checked off the points on his fingers. «Because the felinos have jaguar genes in their make-up and by Agni the shrugleggers can sense it!

«Now, just imagine if the felinos could operate their own cars. For a start, they wouldn’t have to pay towing fees, which is one of the biggest items in any voyage, believe me. So they’d be able to undercut the Canton and Company rates, and get a big share of the trade. Not only that, but there are certain prestige runs where they could block our craft.»

«Like the Tortuga Races?»

«Exactly. They’d make a killing on the tortugas. Our craft would never get past Rangua North Stage. They’d hold them up while they let their own cars through, and they’d get all the best prices while our own cargoes went rotten and started exploding. No. The one thing we can’t let happen, is for the felinos to get their own sailcars.» He sighed. «The felinos think we don’t like them — and God forgive me I called them animals today. But it’s not that. It’s simply a matter of survival. We can both survive if we stay apart and stick to our separate jobs. But if we let the felinos in on our job when we don’t have the physical characteristics to do theirs, then we cut our own throats.»

Astrud made her way slowly up the stairs towards the bedroom of Raoul, her son the stranger. Her mind was in the past, remembering that bewildering, hurtful day when Tonio had mocked her barrenness by bringing a baby into the house and assuming, without question or explanation, that she would bring it up as if it were her own.

She’d tried, as a devout follower of the Examples must try, and as the years went by she’d learned to love Raoul because, after all, the situation was no fault of his. But she could never understand Tonio’s attitude, or give any credence to his ridiculous story that some woman had given him the child one day. It was like a legend told by an old man at the inn, or one of those odd songs the Pegman sang. No — she was morally certain the baby was Tonio’s, and she felt he ought to have the decency to tell him who the mother was.

And yet Raoul bore no resemblance to Tonio and sometimes, when some trick of the light threw his cheekbones into relief and shaded in the hollows of his eyes, he didn’t look like a True Human at all. Even his hair was a strange color, and she regularly anointed it with a dark resinous oil to tone it down.

Thrusting the disturbing image aside, she knocked on Raoul’s door.

He opened it and smiled at her. He looked the way he always did, and she reprimanded herself for her fancies.

«How’s father?» he asked. «Has he come down from the trees yet?»

«Your father is understandably upset by your behaviour, Raoul,” she heard herself say woodenly. «And there’s no call to compare him to some monkeyish Specialist. Sit down. We have to talk, you and I.»

«Oh?» He put aside a model he was carving with a shell knife; a fine replica of a sailcar of the historic Cavaquinho type. He was clever with his hands, she had to allow him that. Like a monkey.… He smiled again, divining her hesitation. «What do you want to talk about, mother?»

«Oh …!» She uttered a small noise of exasperation and sat down on the bed. «You know very well what, Raoul. That Specialist girl. El Tigre’s daughter. You were talking to her.»

«Nobody said there was anything wrong with talking to Specialists. The Examples say we share the same world. They say we’re all humans.»

She watched this boy, knowing that he was playing with her, wondering how she could beat him at his own game. In the end he could always shock her, she knew; because she was a devout Believer. She decided to get her shock in first.

«Karina was showing her body to you, Raoul — inviting you to have sex when she knew perfectly well you wouldn’t be able to do that on the deck of a sailcar in broad daylight. So she wasn’t being fair to you.»

He looked away. She’d got through to him. She thought he even flushed at hearing those words come from his saintly mother. «It’s just her way,” he said. «The Kikihuahua Examples say —”

«Raoul, don’t keep throwing the Examples in my face just because I’m a better Believer than you. The Examples say that people shouldn’t eat meat, but the felinos eat meat. They’ve built up a whole bartering system with the tumpiers over the centuries, just to satisfy their craving.»

«Only because it’s been proved they get sick if they don’t have meat. They’re naturally carnivorous, mother — like the jaguar.»

«Raoul! I will not have you calling human beings naturally carnivorous!» And now she was shocked, as he’d known she would be, and he was winning again.

He said quickly, not wanting to hurt, «But it’s not the same thing as eating meat which has been hunted and killed. The tumps feel no pain. The meat’s taken from the parts of their body which can spare it, by skilled flensers. I’ve seen it. They’re really big walking vegetables, mother. They were bred that way, thousands of years ago.»

«They’re unnatural creatures, Raoul. They can’t breed.»

«But they don’t get old and die.»

She was sidetracked onto a subject which had given her much cause for thought during her lifetime; an ethical problem to which she could see no answer. «But they get sick and die occasionally. And they commit suicide. There are only fifty-four tumps left in Rangua, Raoul. The stories say there were hundreds of them at one time. In the future there will be none. What will the felinos do then, if they’re truly carnivorous? What will they eat, Raoul?»

The First Kikihuahua Allegory

Astrud believed in the kikihuahuas and their Examples although, by now, they were only a legend. They dated back to an encounter in Space in the days of the three‑dimensional spaceships — which is to say forty thousand years before Astrud was born, before the Age of Regression began and Mankind retreated into himself. The true story of the first encounter is in the Rainbow.

The real story is known as the First Kikihuahua Allegory, and it is a legend, and it runs like this:

It seems there was once a space captain named Watt, and he was a True Human because this was nine thousand years before the Specialists were created by Mordecai N. Whirst. So Watt had no tiger genes, no extraordinary reactions like the legendary Captain Spring who drank from the river of bor. He was just an ordinary man who made an ordinary error of judgement, and he crashed on an uncharted planet.

He got clear from his ship just before it exploded into flames. The fire spread, and consumed a large tract of virgin forest.

Agni, the God of Fire, saw this and was offended. He appeared as a small devil, red and immensely strong, and he strapped Watt to a rock and left him to die in the burning sun.

No matter how Watt struggled and twisted, he could not free himself because the bonds were tight, and worse, there were no knots. Agni had fashioned the entire length from a continuous thong, so that they could not be loosened although Watt’s hands were free.

The days were hot and the nights cold, and soon Watt was weak with hunger and thirst. He could not struggle any more, but lay back and waited to die. His senses began to slip away.

Then he heard a sound.

He opened his eyes. A small cavy sat nearby, eating a leaf. Carefully, slowly, Watt slid his hand across the ground until it lay beside the animal. The cavy didn’t stir. It watched him with bright beady eyes, and it never stopped munching.

Watt grabbed it.

He killed it, and he drank the blood and ate the flesh. The food nourished him, and for a few hours he felt better. He fought his bonds again, but couldn’t loosen them. He shouted aloud, and prayed to Agni to release him. But Agni cannot undo what he does — such is the way of the demon of fire.

The next morning another cavy came by.

Watt killed it and ate it.

The next morning the same thing happened again.

And so it went on for twenty days. A cavy would appear and Watt would eat it, and thereby gain just sufficient strength to lament his predicament, struggle with his bonds and pray to Agni.

On the twenty-first day a small furry alien came by.

«Release me!» shouted Watt.

«I cannot,” said the kikihuahua. «There are no knots in your bonds for me to untie.»

«Then cut them!»

The kikihuahua said, «We do not have knives, nor chisels, nor saws, nor any other thing which is bent .»

«But I’ll die if you don’t help me!»

«I cannot help you. Help weakens the species. If you cannot help yourself, you deserve to die. I will give you advice, however. The next time a cavy approaches, remember that you both have the same enemy — Death — and that you should perhaps respect his fears as well as your own.» And with this, the kikihuahua went away.

Watt sat against the rock and thought. The day went by and no cavy came, and his hunger seemed to consume his very soul, but he remembered what the kikihuahua had said. And when in the morning a cavy came, Watt had gathered nearby leaves and set them in a pile for the cavy to nibble.

So the cavy ate and Watt watched it and his mouth watered at the sight of the plump flesh, but he kept his hands to himself. By the time the cavy had eaten, its fear had gone and it stayed with him for much of the day. The next day it came closer, and on the third morning it sat right beside him, eating leaves from his hand, unafraid.

During the night Watt wrapped the last remaining leaves around his bonds.

And the cavy came in the morning, and nibbled with strong teeth.

The bonds parted, and Watt was free.

He stood, very weak with hunger, and looked down at the cavy.

Suddenly the cavy trembled, and was afraid.

«Don’t be frightened,” said Watt. «I’ll go and find food elsewhere. You don’t want to die any more than I do, but there are other things around which don’t have the sense to fear death, so I’ll seek them out and eat them instead.»

So he ate fruit and yams and milk, and even the eggs of birds which had laid too many to raise. But he never again ate flesh.

The kikihuahua, watching from afar, was pleased. It seemed that humans were beginning to understand.

Raoul had smiled at her when she finished the story, but it was a smile of love and tolerance; there was no belief in it.

«You tell the story better than a priest,” he said.

«The kikihuahuas are real. They were here on Earth once, and they’ll come again.»

Above Raoul’s bed hung a small hardwood board, and into the wood someone had laboriously scratched characters with a sharp stone. The writing was in the imprecise, abbreviated hieroglyphics of those times, and roughly translated it said:

THE EXAMPLES OF THE KIKIHUAHUAS

«The kikihuahuas do not command or even instruct, for that is not their way. Rather, they set an example and leave others to follow or not follow as they think fit. The Kikihuahua Examples are great and complex and involve many creatures throughout the Greataway. They are a way of life and death, and it is the Will of God that human beings of all Species and Varieties work towards achieving their state; in particular the Prime Examples:

I will not kill any mortal creature

I will not work any malleable substance

I will not kindle the Wrath of Agni.

In this way you will take a step towards living in accord with your world and the creatures in it, which will be a step nearer to the Example of the kikihuahuas, and the Will of God.»

In more simple terms, the Examples were translated by the irreverent as ‘don’t bash, bend or burn.’ Naturally, it was the humans of the first variety of the Second Species — the True Humans — who had appointed themselves keepers of the faith. Periodically they sent priests into the felino camps and onto the tumpfields, and even into the mountains, to ensure that the Word was kept.

So Astrud stood, ruffled Raoul’s hair — a thing he wished she wouldn’t do — and went downstairs to prepare the supper.

Tonight they were having early tortugas, baked.

The grupo without Karina

The El Tigre grupo, minus Karina, had stalked Iolande’s grupo into the foothills. The huge sighing of the tumps hid any sound they might make. Above, the tumpiers dozed on their mounts; tiny human figures against the night sky.

«They went south, I think,” said Runa.

«I really think I heard them heading west,” ventured Saba breathlessly. She was having trouble keeping up, as usual.

«What can they be doing?» asked Runa.

«Poaching tumpmeat,” Teressa stated positively. «There’s been talk about this at the camp. Somebody’s been creeping into the fields at night and stealing slices from the tumps. The tumps can’t feel it and the tumpiers are asleep. Then in the morning they find fresh wounds.»

«I’m hungry,” said Runa. The talk of flesh was getting to her.

«Forget it, sister. We’re going to catch them in the act, so you’d better make up your mind whose side you’re on.»

«But raw …?» Saba was disgusted.

«It’s better that way,” said Runa with relish. «Haven’t you ever tried it? Cold and juicy and full of flavor.»

«Runa!»

«They frown on it at the camp, of course. They think if the True Humans ever saw us eating raw flesh, it would really convince them we’re animals. But so what? If it tastes good, eat it, that’s what I say.» Runa’s eyes shone in the moonlight.

«I think I can smell blood,” said Teressa. She sniffed the air and smacked her lips. «The wind’s from the east. That’s where they are — they must have circled behind us.» She swallowed. Her mouth was watering.

«Raw.…» said Saba thoughtfully.

«Hold it!» Teressa decided this had gone far enough. «Tonight we’re on the side of law and order, for a change. We suspect Iolande’s grupo is guilty of antisocial behavior, and we’re going to confront them.»

«Confront them?»

«Sneak up on them —” A vast sigh like the exhalation of a whale sounded from almost overhead, interrupting her “— and confront them. Point out how they’re cheating the whole camp — in fact how they’re cheating felinos everywhere, giving them a bad reputation with True Humans.»

«Personally I don’t give a shit what True Humans think of us,” said Runa.

«Well, no. But it makes us look good in front of our own people. I mean.… Torch will probably put in a good word for us at the next meeting. We have a few things to live down, you know.»

«Torch? To hell with Torch!»

The scene was set for one of those frequent clashes between Runa and Teressa.

«You’d better not say that when he’s heading up our grupo!»

«He’ll never head any grupo I’m a member of!» snapped Runa.

«You won’t have any choice in the matter, sister!»

«Who’s going to make me? You? Are you sweet on that swaggering goon, Teressa?»

«By Agni, I’m going to kill you, Runa!»

Runa sprang. Teressa sidestepped and Runa found herself clawing uselessly at the tough hide of the tump. As she turned, Teressa’s kick caught her full in the stomach and she dropped, the air whistling out of her.

«You’ll have to be quicker than that!» Teressa taunted her. «Torch is a big man. He’ll kill you on the first night!»

«Stop it! Stop it! shouted Saba. «I wish Karina was here!»

«What’s going on down there?» came a sudden shout from above.

«Now you’ve done it, you two,” Saba whispered. «The tumpier’s woken up.»

«Let’s get out of here.»

They crept away, Teressa supporting the staggering Runa who was having difficulty breathing; and headed east, downhill. Far below them the sea glittered coldly and the polished hardwood of the sailway showed as a silver thread across the plain. The wind was cold, and bore the strengthening scent of blood.

Suddenly, Runa fell.

Instantly Teressa was kneeling beside her. «Are you all right?»

«I’m … fine.» She tried to struggle up.

«No, lie there a moment. Saba! Go and scout out that smell. Don’t let anyone see you. Just keep your head down and find out what’s going on.» When Saba was out of earshot, Teressa said, «I wanted to say I’m very sorry I hurt you, and I’ll try not to let it happen again.»

«I … I.…» Runa gulped, snuggling her head against Teressa’s breasts.

«Tell me.»

«It’s so hard. The other grupos often have mothers or boys leading them and they know so much, and they just seem to run rings round us. I want us to mate well but Torch drives me insane, always creeping round father.… But he’s well thought of in the camp. I don’t know what to think.»

«Well, we’re well thought of too — you know that. We’re pretty much the top grupo of our generation.»

«A lot of that is due to Karina,” said Runa.

«So where is she now?» It had been annoying Teressa for hours. «A grupo should be together. That’s what grupos are all about. Suddenly she keeps going off on her own.»

«We all need one another, I think,” said Runa pacifically.

When Saba returned, she found Runa and Teressa curled up together like kittens, half asleep. «I’m glad you’ve settled your differences,” Saba said with some asperity, «because Iolande’s grupo’s down there feasting on a tump like they haven’t eaten for months, and if we don’t hurry up they’ll strip it to the bone and start in on the lumpier.»

Teressa stood, «Right. Runa, you circle south around that knoll. Saba, north through the gully. I’ll take them from the front — you’ll have to keep your head down; the moon will be in our faces. Don’t move in until you hear me yell.»

Saba said, «I wish Karina was here.»

The Purpose

Many years before, the handmaiden, then a young girl, had asked the Dedo, «What is the Purpose?»

The Dedo walked across the bare floor of the cottage and laid her palm against the Rock. Since the Rock gave access to most areas of the Greataway, it followed that much of the knowledge of the Rainbow could be tapped into. After a moment the Dedo nodded.

«You will need to know,” she said. And she told the handmaiden the story of Starquin, the Five‑in-One.…

«Starquin passed near Earth a long time ago and, sensing that interesting events were going to happen, he decided to stay for a while. Life had begun on this planet, and life is always fascinating to an itinerant scientist such as Starquin. The small creatures walked on Earth, and the great land‑mass of Pangaea was beginning to split into the smaller continents we know today. Starquin watched.

«Then he sent down extensions of himself — fingers, or Dedos‑in the form which is now known as the First Variety of the Second Species of homo sapiens. The Dedos had two purposes: to keep Starquin informed of happenings on Earth, and to attend to the Rocks, which are used for Greataway travel.

«So the Dedos watched Mankind develop. Civilizations came and went and finally a crude three‑dimensional space travel was achieved, and humanity began to colonize the stars. Then, in the Cyclic year 91,702, over 250 million years after Starquin’s arrival, a crucial event occurred.

«A certain Captain Spring became host to an alien parasite, which she brought back to Earth. The details are unimportant, but as a result of this and other factors Mankind discovered the Greataway. He could travel in all dimensions now, even unknowingly stealing rides on the broad-band routes established by the Dedo’s Rocks. They called this the Outer Think. By this means, humans spread throughout the Greataway — and inevitably met their match. They came into conflict with the inhabitants of the Red Planet.

«The Red Planet had a Weapon against which humanity was almost defenseless — you don’t need to concern yourself with the nature of that weapon. But its existence forced Man back into his own corner of the Galaxy, and to protect himself he created a frightening group of pseudo-humans who became known as the Three Madmen of Munich. These creatures seeded the Greataway with the so‑called Hate Bombs — an effective defense, because the Greataway is very fragile and travel depends upon emotions as much as dimensions.

«This kept the Red Planet’s warriors out. But it cut humans off from many of their colonies, too.

«And worse, it imprisoned Starquin in a small area some sixty light-years across.…»

The cabin was silent. The Dedo gazed at the play of light on the Rock. Outside, a coughing roar signalled the presence of a huge beast. It was getting cold. The Dedo walked over to the fireplace and did something; flames trickled over the surface of a small pile of kindling, smoke disappeared up the blackened chimney.

«That was almost thirty thousand years ago,” said the Dedo. «Starquin is out there still.

«Our Purpose is to work towards freeing him. To aid us in this Purpose, we have the resources of Earth. That’s all. It’s not much. But our knowledge of the Ifalong tells us it can be done.»

A quarter of a century later, the Dedo said to the handmaiden, «You saw her, then. She is prepared?»

«She is a willful girl, like all young felinas. But she has a strong sense of loyalty towards her race, and she will suit the Purpose.»

The Dedo said, «I hope so. She is the only chance Starquin has. I’ve monitored all the Ifalong and on just one happentrack I see a slender thread running through Time, carrying the seeds of bor through a thousand generations without a break, until a young man named Manuel is born. That is the happentrack we must bring about. That is the happentrack on which Starquin is freed.»

«What must I do?» asked the handmaiden.

«You must prevent Karina being killed by the caimen,” said the Dedo, whose name was Leitha.

«For how long must I guide her?»

«There will be a time when the conception and birth of John is inevitable,” said the Dedo. «Our work will be finished, then.»