Furtig took the box. The picture of Eu-La had vanished in the fog. Should he try to see an unpeopled place—or one with people? He tried to fasten on the prison room in which he had found Foskatt, but the box remained dark.
“It will not show me a place without people,” he reported.
Gammage did not seem in the least disappointed.
“Then your ability must tie with a living thing. Well, can you think of a person in the lairs—“
Furtig chewed his lower lip and thought. Then an idea flashed into his mind. It would be the clearest test of his ability. He summoned to mind the picture of the second Ratton guard he had seen before the prisoners’ cell.
To his surprise and delight the fog gathered. The picture which emerged was blurred, but not so much that he could not distinguish part of it. And small sounds from two of those with him indicated that they saw also.
There was the Ratton. But he lay on the floor of the guard room. A piece of rubble, probably dislodged by the battering of the servant, pinned his leg to the floor. However, he still lived, for reddish eyes glinted and Furtig saw his mouth open as if he called for some help that would never come. Perhaps his fellows had left him to die because he was now useless.
“The Ratton guard!” Foskatt cried out. “Him I have seen! And that place—“
The blurring was complete, the scene vanished.
“That was one of the guards who held me!”
“So it would seem you can pick up other than our own people!” Gammage was excited. “Yes, these boxes, if others can learn to use them so, will become far more than just something to amuse younglings.
Lohanna, would it not be well to check immediately on all those who have used them idly to see whether they were thinking of anything when they did so, or if they had any control over their viewing? If they can control it—or only a small number can control it—“
“Scouts,” the warrior broke in. “Send scouts and turn this on them—you could have instant warning of what they viewed. We could prepare for attacks in good time.”
He raised his false hand and used its harsh talon tips to scratch his chin.
Lohanna was already at the door. “You shall have the answer as soon as possible. Elder,” she assured Gammage.
“Lohanna knows very much about the learning machines,” the Ancestor told Furtig. “I only wish we had more of the ancient records—“
Foskatt stirred. But Gammage was continuing:
“Do not take those words of mine as a complaint of your failure to find such records. We had no idea the Rattons had invaded that section of the lairs in force. It is a great danger that they have. We dare not underestimate them in any way. They breed in greater numbers than we do. Though the same illness which changed us in the beginning also cut the numbers of our litters, the Ratton females have many offspring in a single season.
“And among the Rattons are those whose cunning has greatly advanced, so that they have their own seekers of Demon knowledge. Being small, they can slink along ways we cannot follow. It would be very difficult to seal off any part of the lairs so that they could not find their way in. Also, they have their traps.
“We have certain Demon weapons. But, like the servants, those are uncertain as to performance and to depend upon them in time of need and then have them fail—“ He shook his head. “But still, the records we have found reference to—they must lie in the very territory the Rattons have invaded. Should they find them first—and I am firm in the conviction that they have among them those who are able to put Demon learning to use—then we may be in a very dangerous position. Time—we have so little time!”
There is only one thing to do,” Foskatt said slowly. “I shall try again. Though this time, being warned, I do not think I shall be entrapped.” There was dour determination in his voice.
Grammage shook his head. “Remember, younger brother, you are but fresh out of the place of healing. Your wound may seem closed, but if you were put to some severe test this might not hold. Do you not remember what happened under similar circumstances to Tor-To?”
For a moment Furtig thought Foskatt would pro-test. Then his tribesman gave a sigh. “But who then can go? And if the Rations have taken over that part of the lairs, will we ever be able to reach the records if we wait longer?”
“He is right,” the deeper half-growl of Dolar rumbled. “Were I but able—“ His speech became a full growl, and he brought his metal hand down upon the edge of a table with such force that the claws left deep indentations in its surface.
“Dolar, my close-brother, were you able, yes. But this needs youth and quickness of body such as we have both long since lost.”
To his inner astonishment, some other seemed to take over Furtig’s voice then, for he heard himself saying:
“I am warrior trained and skilled. Elder. Also I have the homing sense which before led me through unknown ways. Let me know just what to search for and—“
“No!” Gammage was emphatic. “We must have you here, to work with the box, to learn how you are able to do this. Can you not see that is of the greatest importance?”
“More,” Dolar asked, “than saving records from the Rattons? We have but six now of the warrior Out-World breed, and the other four are abroad on missions to contact tribes. If Foskatt cannot go, dare we send an Inborn? They cannot learn the ways without many journeys under guidance. Those we cannot give them. But now this matter of boxes—let Foskatt and this young warrior try between them such sendings. If they find they can use it, as a scout might, then there may be a way out of this difficulty.”
His sensible suggestion carried, and so for the rest of that day and part of the night, taking only short rests and eating the trail rations they carried with them, the two played a hunt and search game through the echoing corridors of the above-ground lairs. When Furtig set off to wander, Foskatt sought him with the box. At first they were defeated over and over again, Foskatt seemingly unable to pick up any clear picture. Though once or twice the mist formed, enough to encourage Foskatt to keep on trying.
Just as they were ready to surrender to disappointment, Furtig, returning to the point where he had left his partner, discovered Foskatt wildly elated.
“You stood in a room where there were shining strips on the walls!” he cried out hoarsely. “And then you went and put your hands against one of the strips. On its surface was a second you who also put forth his hand to meet you palm to palm!”
“That is right.” Furtig slumped against the wall. “That is what I did just before I started back. Then it works for you, too!”
When they returned with the news of this small success, they were greeted with a disturbing report from another scout. He had tried to reach one of the tribes of the People reputed to have hunting grounds to the north, only to be cut off by a pack of Barkers who, it appeared, were settling in.
Gammage paced up and down as if his thoughts would not let him sit still. His tail switched and his ears were a little flattened. Had not Furtig known that in the lairs Trials were forbidden, he would have believed the Ancestor was preparing to offer challenge.
“In the records there is proof that the Barkers were, even more than we, the slaves of the Demons, licking the ground before their feet—which the People, owned though they were, never did! I had hoped — But that is another matter. If the Barkers now ingather about the lairs, can we believe that is a sign pointing to Demon return? Perhaps the Demons have in some secret manner signalled the Barkers to them.
Though if the Barkers remembered the Demon end here as well as we do, they would not be so quick to answer such a call.”
“The Barkers,” offered Dolar, “are rovers, not liking settled lairs. Other times they have come near, but they never stayed for any length of time.”
“Hunting parties, yes,” Gammage agreed. “But this time they bring their females and young. Ask of Fy-Yan, who has been three suns watching them. We must have knowledge—“
“Which perhaps we can gain for you. Ancestor,” Foskatt said. “We can use the box. I have seen Furtig afar in it.”
Ganimage turned with the quick grace of one seasons younger. His yellow eyes glowed.