He was lucky. Within the lairs there was much to be done. If he could not equal the Inborn with then-learning and their mastery of the Demon machines, there was always exploring and fighting the Rattons. Yes, he was lucky to have so much, and ought not, even in his thoughts, reach for that which he could never win. Foskatt—Eu-La—if it came to that if might be very well. But these were days to think not of Choosing and the beginnings of new clans and families, but of what was going to happen to those already in existence.
Eu-La proved right. In the end the Choosers’ decision was that the move to the lairs was better than a life in the wilds, where younglings might be taken as had those of the Tuskers. Their answer to the threat of Rations and Demons was that four Demons with their own weapons turned against them were not formidable. As for Rations—from the earliest legends of the People such had been their natural prey. Therefore Gammage might expect these clans to come to him before the moon overhead vanished into the Nights of Dark.
But Eu-La wished to return with the messengers. So four rather than three set out again by night to re-turn to the lairs.
There was no sign of the flyer, though they never felt safe from it. And when they met again the Tusker patrols, they learned it had not been seen.
The Tuskers had another message. One of their scouts had witnessed at the far end of their territory a strange thing. A truce flag had been set up. And, left by it with food and water to hand, a Barker who seemed to be recovering from ill treatment. Those who left him were a part of People from the lairs. He had been claimed by his own kind before nightfall, and the Barkers had not torn away the flag.
Rather they were now gathering, with more of their scouts arriving all the time. And there were signs they planned to camp nearby in the woods.
“So we freed that Barker from the Rations,” Furtig ! said. “But that may have been by far the easier part. To get the People and the Barkers under a common truce flag is a thing unheard of.”
“Yet,” pointed out Liliha, “the Barkers did not tear down the flag. It still stands. Thus they have not yet refused to talk. They summon their own clans to speak together, even as we have gone to argue with those of the caves. But whether—“
“We cannot trust Barkers!” Furtig broke in. “Even if the Demons are all the legends say they were, we cannot trust Barkers.”
“Barkers lived with the Demons,” Eu-La said. “That is where they first learned evil ways.” She was repeating the old legend of their own kind.
“But so did our people once,” Liliha reminded her. “The First Ancestors fled from the lairs only when the Demons turned against them in their last madness and cruelty. But you are right in this—Gammage must have a powerful argument to make the Barkers listen. Saving one of them from the Rattons is not enough. But it is a beginning.”
Furtig thought of the truce flag. Even though the Barkers had not thrown it contemptuously to earth, refusing contact, it would take great courage for any warrior of the People to go to it unarmed, trusting in the good will of his enemies. Who would Gammage choose—or who would volunteer to do that? And how would he who went know that it was the proper time? Would the Barkers advance a flag of their own in answer?
Furtig was suddenly more eager than ever to get back to the lairs, to know what had happened since they had left. Had the Demons been reinforced? But a quick question to the Tuskers reassured them as to that—no second sky-ship had come down.
Broken Nose and his people would keep guard here, and, being informed of the coming of the cave clans, they would provide an alarm system to let those travel in such safety as could be devised.
Ahead lay the lairs and what might await them there. They slipped into the open with all the stealth and craft they possessed.
Ayana stripped off the sterile gloves, and crumpled them into a small ball, since they could not be used again. Jacel lay with beads of pain sweat still plain on his face. His eyes were closed, and she knew that the pain reliever had taken effect. Also the wound was not so bad as she had first feared. If they could now get him to the ship and under a renewer, in a day’s time he would have no more to show for that gash than a well-closed seam.
But she was more than a little puzzled. There was a med-kit at Jacel’s own belt. Tan wore another. And such a gash as this was easily handled by the materials they carried. Why had they sent out that panicked call for her?
She had asked no questions until now, being intent on the patient. Tan, standing against the wall, had volunteered nothing. Nor had Jacel. In fact he had appeared to be affected out of all proportion to the seriousness of the wound itself. Perhaps—Ayana glanced around the bare chamber—there had been some poisonous substance feared—but instant anti-spray would have handled such. Now that she had time to think—Ayana did not look at Tan squarely, but as if she did not want him to see she noticed him. But Tan was not watching her; he was staring on through the other door in the room, seemingly so absorbed that he must see or hear something—or be waiting for something to happen.
“What is it?” Her words sounded too loud, even echoed a little.
Now he turned his head. And in his eyes Ayana saw that queer gleam which frightened her. She shivered. Cold as this place was, the protect suit should have kept her warm; but Tan now had the ability to chill her through when he looked like that.
“You will have another patient, a very important one. We have had wonderful luck, Ayana, we have made contact—“
“Contact with whom—or what?” she demanded when he paused.
“With those who live here. Do you know, Ayana, this is a storehouse of information. They have shown us tapes, machines— What we learned from the First Ships is nothing, nothing at all to what we can learn here! If we have time—“
“What do you mean?”
“Well, our friends are not the only ones trying to get this information. There are others—and they may be closer. There was a war here in the old days. And do you know what kind of a war?” He came away from the wall to stand over her.
Ayana rose quickly, not liking to have him towering above her so.
“A war between men and animals—animals, mind you! Things with fur and claws and fangs that dared to think they were equal with man—dared!” He was breathing fast, his face flushed. “But there were others. Men in their last days here were few, they had to have friends, helpers—and they found them. Then, when man was gone those others were left, left to defend everything man had fought for, all the knowledge he had won through his own efforts, defended against the animals. They are still fighting that battle, but now it is our fight, too!
“They need you, Ayana. There is a place of medical information—think of it—a storage of all the wealth of knowledge of man’s time on this world! They have been trying to hold that against the enemy. They need our help so badly. One of their leaders, a genius among them, one who has been able to untangle many of the old records, was badly injured in fighting the animals. He has been taken to this center, and now they need your aid.
“Think of it, Ayana—such devices of healing as were just hinted at in our records! You can see them, learn to use them—you can help this leader. It is such a chance as only luck could have given us.”
He was in one of his exultant moods, but to a degree she had never seen before.
“Tan’s luck—“ she said before she thought.
He nodded vigorously. “Tan’s luck! And it is going to help us—help us win a whole world for man again! But they’re coming—listen!”
She could hear Jacel’s heavy breathing, and then something else, a light pattering. There was a gleam of light beyond the door, and those Tan expected ar-rived. Ayana gasped and shrank back.
These were not the furred creatures of the bridge which she had half expected, but something she instinctively found repulsive.
They scuttled on their hind feet, but they had naked tails at the ends of their spines. And they were small, the largest standing a little above her knee at its full height. Fur grew on them in ragged patches, with naked skin between. On some, the smaller, that fur was a dirty gray; on the two largest it was white. Their heads had the long, narrow muzzles of animals showing sharp teeth. Against the domes of their skulls their ears were pointed.