The Bromeliad 2 - Diggers

Chapter 6

I. For in the hill was a Beast, from the days whenthe World was made.

II. But it was old and broken and dying.

III. And the mark of its name was on it.

IV. And the mark was the mark of the Cat.

-From the Book of Nome, Cat I, v. I-IV

The Cat.

The Cat was his. His little secret. His big secret, really. No one elseknew about the Cat, not even Dorcas's assistants.

He'd been pottering around in the big old half-ruined sheds on the otherside of the quarry, one day back in the summer. He hadn't really got anyaim in mind, except perhaps the possibility of finding a useful bit ofwire or something.

So he'd rummaged around in the shadows, straightened up, glanced abovehim and there the Cat was.

With its mouth open.

It had been a terrible few seconds until Dorcas's eyes adjusted to thedistance.

After that he'd spent a lot of time with the Cat, poking around, findingout about him. Or it. The Cat was too big to be a him or a her, it had tobe an it. A terrible it, perhaps, and old and wounded, like a dragon thathad come here for one last final sleep. Or perhaps it was like one ofthose big animals Grimma had showed him in a book once. Diner soars.

Dorcas had never seen a cat before, but he'd heard from Masklin that theywere dangerous, and Dorcas wasn't about to argue.

But this cat was kind of peaceful to have around. It didn't grumble, andit didn't keep on asking Dorcas why he hadn't got around to inventingradio yet. Dorcas had spent many a peaceful hour getting to know the Cat.

It was someone to talk to. It was the best kind of person to talk to, infact, because you didn't have to listen back at it.

Dorcas shook his head. There was no time for that sort of thing now.

Everything was going wrong.

Instead, he went to find Grimma. She seemed to have her head screwed onright, even if she was a girl.

The schoolhole was under the floor of the old shed with CANTEEN on the door. It was Grimma's personal world. She'd invented schools for children, on the idea that since reading and writing were quite difficult itwas best to get them over with early, The library was also kept there.

In those last hectic hours the nomes had managed to rescue about thirtybooks from the Store. Some were very useful-Gardening All the Year Roundwas well thumbed, and Dorcas knew Essential Theory for the AmateurEngineer almost by heart -but some were, well, difficult, and not openedmuch.

Grimma was standing in front of one of these when he wandered in. She wasbiting her thumb, which she always did when she was concentrating.

He had to admire the way she read. Not only was Grimma the best readeramong the nomes, she also had an amazing ability to understand what shewas reading.

"Nisodemus is causing trouble," he said, sitting down on a bench.

"I know," said Grimma vaguely. "I've heard." She grabbed the edge of thepage in both hands, and turned it over with a grunt of effort.

"I don't know what he's got to gain," said Dorcas.

"Power," said Grimma. "We've got a power vacuum, you see."

"I don't think we have," said Dorcas uncertainly. "I've never seen onehere. There were plenty in the store. 'Ninety-Nine Ninety-Five with Range of Attachments for Around-the-House Cleanliness,' " he added, remembering with a sigh the familiar signs.

"No, it's not a thing like that," said Grimma, "It's what you get when no one's in charge. I've been reading about them." "I'm in charge, aren't I?" said Dorcas plaintively.

"No," said Grimma. "Because no one really listens to you."

"Oh. Thank you very much."

"It's not your fault. People like Masklin and Angalo and Gurder can make people listen to them, but you don't seem to keep their attention."

"Oh."

"But you can make nuts and bolts listen to you. Not everyone can do that." Dorcas thought about this. He would never have put it like that himself.

Was it a compliment? He decided it probably was.

"When people are faced with lots of troubles and they don't know what to do, there's always someone ready to say anything, just to get some power," said Grimma.

"Never mind. When the others get back I'm sure they'll sort it all out," said Dorcas, more cheerfully than he felt. "Yes, they'll ..." Grimma began, and then stopped. After a while Dorcas realized that her shoulders were shaking. "Is there anything the matter?" he said.

"It's been more than three whole days!" sobbed Grimma. "No one's ever been away that long before! Something must have happened to them!" 'Er," said Dorcas. "Well, they were going to look for Grandson Richard, 39, and we can't be sure that-"

"And I was so nasty to him before he went! I told him about the frogs and all he could think of was socks!" Dorcas couldn't quite see how frogs had got involved. When he sat and talked to the Cat, frogs were never dragged into the conversation.

"Er?" he said. Grimma, in between sobs, told him about the frogs.

"And I'm sure he didn't even begin to understand what I meant," she mumbled. "And you won't either." "Oh, I don't know," said Dorcas. "You mean that the world was once so simple, and suddenly it's full of amazingly interesting things that you'll never ever get to the end of as long as you live. Like biology.

Or climatology. I mean, before all you Outsiders came, I was just tinkering with things and I really didn't know anything about the world." He stared at his feet. "I'm still very ignorant," he said, "but at least I'm ignorant about really important things. Like what the sun is, andwhy it rains. That's what you're talking about."

She sniffed, and smiled a bit, but not too much because if there is onething worse than someone who doesn't understand you it's someone who understands perfectly, before you've had a chance to have a good pout aboutnot being understood.

"The thing is, " she said, "that he still thinks I'm the person he usedto know when we all lived in the old hole in the bank. You know, runningaround. Cooking things. Bandaging up people when they'd beenhur-hur-hur-"

"Now then, now then," said Dorcas. He was always at a loss when peopleacted like this. When machines went funny you just oiled them or prodded them or, if nothing else worked, hit them with a hammer. Nomes didn'trespond well to this treatment.

"Supposing he never comes back?" she said, dabbing at her eyes.

"Of course he'll come back," said Dorcas reassuringly. "What could havehappened to him, after all?"

"He could have been eaten or run over or trodden on or blown away orfallen down a hole or trapped," said Grimma.

"Er, yes," said Dorcas. "Apart from that, I meant."

"But I shall pull myself together," said Grimma, sticking out her chin.

"When he does come back, he won't be able to say, 'Oh, I see everything'sgone to pieces while I've been away.' "

"Jolly good," said Dorcas. "That's the spirit. Keep yourself occupied, that's what I always say. What's the book called?"

"It's A Treasury of Proverbs and Quotations," said Grimma.

"Oh. Anything useful in it?"

"That," said Grimma distantly, "depends."

"Oh. What's proverbs mean?"

"Not sure. Some of them don't make much sense. Do you know, humans thinkthe world was made by a sort of big human?"

"No! Are you sure?"

"It took a week."

"I expect it had some help, then," said Dorcas. "You know. With the heavystuff." Dorcas thought of the Cat. You could do a lot in a week, with theCat helping.

"No. All by itself, apparently."

"Hmm." Dorcas considered this. Certainly bits of the world were rough, and things like grass seemed simple enough. But from what he'd heard itall broke down every year and had to be started up again in the spring, and ... "I don't know," he said. "Only humans could believe somethinglike that. I think you'd need more than one week. There's a good few months work, if I'm any judge."

Grimma turned the page. "Masklin used to believe-I mean, Masklinbelieves-that humans are much brighter than we think." She lookedthoughtful. "I really wish we could study them properly," she said.

"I'm sure we could learn a-"

For the second time, the alarm bell rang out across the quarry.

This time, the hand on the switch belonged to Nisodemus.