Just relax and don’t call out, he said in his accented English. I wish no one
to get hurt, but there are others in the bushes and trees over there who are
covering me.
The pair looked appalled. Who the hell are you? the young man asked. We have
permission from the treaty holders to be here.
I am obviously not with the treaty holders, Hawks responded, and I have very
little time. This is a robbery, but a limited and civilized one if you just
relax and keep back.
He’s bluffing, the woman said toughly. He has no one in the trees.
Hawks made the gesture, and an arrow flew, landing within half a meter of the
young man’s left foot.
Who are you, and what do you want? the young man asked him.
Who I am is irrelevant. Let’s just say that Council would like to talk to me
right now, and I am in no mood to talk with them. I will not disturb your dig or
your findings. Take care just to stand there and do or say no more. I do not
need warriors in the woods to threaten you. All I need do is tell you a simple
fact that I know, and you and everyone here will be killed by Council.
Understand?
They understood. They knew the way the rules worked and probably why he was now
on the run. Forbidden knowledge. It was a sore point among all the scholars
working in the undercouncils.
Hawks went over to the big tepee, unzipped it, and stepped inside. There was a
small battery light just inside the doorway, and he switched it on.
The place was a mess, that was for sure. What he wanted was a weatherproof box
about a meter deep and fifty centimeters high, probably with a handle on it and
weighing about twenty kilograms. Not light but very well balanced. He had no
trouble finding it, since it was one of those items that were used often enough
that they were never pushed away in storage. In another pack were a dozen
cartridges, each labeled in black marker. He then located the small emergency
communications pack and made short work of it—he didn’t want them calling in
until he was well away. The machines could be easily traced when used, but he
intended to be finished with them before somebody was told to look.
He went back out and was pleased to see that there was no surprise welcoming
committee and that the pair were just standing there, still staring, not quite
knowing what to do. Their eyes widened when they saw what he was taking. This
was unprecedented, unheard of. Field expeditions had found themselves under
siege, even looted and their members killed, but the systematic theft of a
portable mindprint machine was something that simply had never occurred to
either of them, nor could they understand it.
Hawks was not, however, particularly single-minded. Where’s the liquor
cabinet? he asked them.
‘The what?
Come on—I’m running out of time and patience! Where does he keep the booze?
There was something in his tone that convinced them. Never argue with a
desperate and dangerous man, that was the rule. Just get the law after him.
In there, the woman replied, gesturing. A case in Dr. Kakukua’s tepee.
He beckoned for Silent Woman and gave her directions. The two young people
watched, fascinated and horrified by the strange, silent, naked woman with the
garish tattoos, although both made a note that it would make descriptions of the
criminals rather easy. The doctor, Hawks saw, had only high-quality stuff, none
of that rot-gut brewed by the Illinois. He wished he could take it all, but
Silent Woman was limited by the boxes to about twenty half-liter bottles. That
was good enough.
All right—now you remain here for a while, he told them. I’m leaving someone
over there to make sure we are well away before you go running off to bring the
others here. They’ll shoot a lone arrow into the dirt as they leave and run for
it. You count to five hundred after that and we’ll be gone.
He and Silent Woman ran back into the bush. Stay here a couple of minutes, he
told Cloud Dancer. If they make an early break, give them a real scare.
Otherwise, give us a few minutes, then run for the canoe. We have to be out of
here and hopefully out of range before they get their wits.
She nodded, and he and Silent Woman made for the canoe, then waited nervously
for Cloud Dancer. She finally arrived and jumped in as he pushed off.
I thought you weren’t going to come, he said, relieved. I was about to come
and rescue you.
She laughed. The woman got really brave and decided that no one was left. I
sent an arrow so close to her that I believe they will be standing as still as
carvings many years from now!
They sailed by the dig and then continued on as far south as they dared. He
decided that they would make camp on the east shore that evening. That way, any
search parties would have to cross the river into lands held by other nations.
However, he decided first to make temporary camp, use the machine, then leave it
there and continue on as far as they could until dark.
He found a good landing where there was no sign of human habitation and good
cover, then proceeded to unpack and set up the machine. Both women stared at it
nervously. Neither had ever before seen a true independently powered machine,
and such things were spoken of as having the darkest magic.
Most of the cartridges were of local languages or the languages of some of the
members of the dig, obviously chosen so they could get to know each other
better. There also were reference recordings on the culture and the site itself
and on uniform excavation procedures, essential for that kind of tedious work.
Hawks wanted the two standards, labeled eng-x and espan-x. These would give a
basic overlay, causing the brain to associate words, terms, and phrases it
already knew with the proper English or Spanish terms. It was not a cram course
in the nuances of the languages; nobody using them would lose an accent or know
words and terms without cross-references no matter what the size of the basic
dictionary, but it would allow for communication.
He picked English simply because it had the largest vocabulary of all the known
languages and as such was bound to have the best matches for esoteric languages.
He knew it worked well in translation from Hyiakutt; he had no idea what
language Silent Woman had used.
Cloud Dancer looked suspiciously at the box. What does it do?
It will teach you the tongue I used with the students. A tongue harsh to the
ear but useful, since it is used so much. We cannot use it to teach Silent Woman
Hyiakutt, so we must use this language so all three of us can communicate. It
will also be useful should we come up against anyone from Council or in the camp
of the Mud Runner and beyond. Please. You must do this, for me and for her
sake.
She was dubious. Can you not just run it on Silent Woman and translate?
Come on! It is a simple device. You saw what cooperation it brought from the
digger camp. Besides, look at Silent Woman. If you do not do it, she certainly
will not. He suddenly found another cartridge on which was written in English,
survival.
This one, too, is useful, he told her. I believe it teaches how to survive in
the wilderness with nothing at all. Emergency training. We may all need this.
Please— sit. It does not hurt. You feel a little sleepy, and then you know it
all.
She looked nervously at Silent Woman, then at him, and sighed. Very well. What
do I do?
Just lie down here and get as comfortable as you can. I put this thing on your
head, so, so that the small points here contact all around. There.
He inserted the cartridge, then turned the power on. There was no real noise,
but three small lights blinked on. Silent Woman stared as if suddenly faced with
a three-headed cat.
He punched the feed button, then sat back to wait the few minutes this program
took to run. Silent Woman just sat and stared, suspicious but not really afraid.
When the machine clicked off, Cloud Dancer was asleep. Taking advantage of that,
Hawks withdrew eng-x and inserted survival. To run it on all three did not
present much of a risk, he decided, and it might just be useful.
She was still asleep when survival clicked off, and he roused her. She opened
her eyes, looked into his, smiled, got up, then settled back down a meter or two
away.
Silent Woman was more difficult to persuade, but she certainly trusted them by
now, and she had seen no terrible effects on Cloud Dancer. She knew that the man
would not do anything to harm his woman, so she accepted the mantle with a
little nervousness.
Eng-x ran its course, and he ran survival once again. She, too, fell asleep and
had to be coaxed to move away. He certainly intended to run survival on himself.
He needed it more than either of the women.
Survival was everything he had hoped for and more— perhaps too much more. He
found himself able to know instantly if berries were edible or poisonous, which
water was safe and which was not, how to find shelter or make it under almost
any conditions, how to keep from drowning, how to fashion weapons from the
crudest materials found on the forest floor, and how to use them. It was also,
however, a conditioning program that attacked inhibition. The concept of eating
raw frog or a huge accumulation of crushed insects, for example, was no longer
at all disgusting, and the concept of modesty was thrown out entirely.
The program was intended to be taken in the field while surrounded by friends
and co-workers who would quickly reintroduce reality and perspective. It then
remained as a silent rider to the consciousness, ready if needed but otherwise
not evident. It was a way of grafting the survival skills of the most primitive
savage onto the most civilized of personalities so that if they got into
trouble, they would have a chance to survive until they could be rescued. It was
not intended to be used by someone who already needed it and was mostly in the
uncivilized condition it assumed.
He awoke first and looked over at the sleeping women. He knew who he was and who
they were; all his memories were intact, along with his sense of purpose. He was
acutely aware of danger, and he wanted to act fast. His tattered loincloth
caught on a bush as he got up warily, and he reached down, snapped the thin rope
in two, and threw the garment away. It was an encumbrance. Clothing for
protection against the elements would have been practical; he could not even
conceive of why he’d clung to that thing so long. Better under these conditions
to toughen the skin.
They had all been so tired that they’d slept much longer than they should have.
The alarm had surely been raised by now. He took the small mindprint machine and
the cartridges down to the river and threw them in. When both did not sink
immediately, he jumped in, and with a little help they filled and went down.
Cloud Dancer was awake when he returned, and she looked at him approvingly. It
was the nature of things now that he didn’t even notice that she, too, had shed
her modesty cloths. He switched to English to see if it all had worked. How do
you feel?
Different, she answered, her accent rather exotic but understandable. Yet I
cannot say how.
Awake, Silent Woman, he ordered curtly. We have all slept too long, and we
must be well away from here before our enemies are upon us.
None of them could really comprehend the difference, but it was major. They no
longer felt loyalty or longing for tribe and nation or even much kinship with
it. Their tribe consisted only of the three of them. The first priority was the
survival of the tribe, and then the individuals, no matter what the cost. The
land was full of enemies: only the tribe could be trusted. As the only male of
the tribe, Hawks was chief by default, and that was simply accepted by them all.
Silent Woman was almost ecstatic to discover she could understand their speech.
It was a kind of wondrous magic that reestablished her in the World.
Hereafter we will use only this speech, he told Cloud Dancer. It was always a
tongue used to unite tribes; let it serve to unite us. Silent Woman, I see that
you understand us now.
She nodded, mouth still open in wonder.
Let us get far away from here, as far as we can. We do not know if the
transmission from the machine was picked up, but we must assume that our enemies
will be upon us at any moment.
They went back down to the canoe, which, in their new mind-set, seemed a real
luxury to them. They crossed the river before the light failed and continued
south, slowly and very near shore, looking for a proper camp. Then, working as a
team, they left the river, methodically covered or disguised all traces that
anyone had ever landed there, and carried the canoe well inland.
Academically and from old experience, Hawks understood what was going on—what