called, wherever they went. Thirg swept a finger slowly across the chart. “That
is the distance which separates our world from the world of Lumians, Morayak—the
distance they have traveled to come to Robia.”
Morayak stared at him incredulously. “It cannot be!” Thirg nodded. Morayak
looked at the chart again, then back at Thirg. “But such a journey would surely
require many twelves of twelves of lifetimes.”
“One twelve-bright was sufficient, we are assured. The large dragon that circles
beyond the sky is swifter, seemingly, than even the smaller ones which cross
above the city in moments.” Thirg studied Morayak’s face for a few seconds and
gave a satisfied nod. “Now, methinks, you understand better the wondrousness of
the beings you are soon to meet,” he said.
Morayak stared back at Thirg for a moment longer as if unsure of whether or not
to take his words seriously, and then looked slowly back at the chart, this time
with a new respect. Thirg and Lofbayel were due to leave shortly for Kleippur’s
residence to join the Carthogian leaders in more discussions with the Lumians,
and Morayak had eventually succeeded in pestering his father into allowing him
to go along too. He had been to see the strange growths that the Lumians lived
in just outside the city, of course—his father said that the Lumians had created
them—and he had caught glimpses from a distance of the cumbersome, domeheaded
figures, which apparently weren’t the Lumians at all but an outer casing that
they had to wear on Robia because they needed to be bathed in hot, highly
corrosive gas all the time; but that wasn’t the same—he wouldn’t be able to
boast to his friends about that. “I wonder what kind of a world it is,” he
murmured distantly, still staring at the chart.
“Amazing beyond your wildest dreams,” Thirg replied. “Its sky is filled with
worlds too numerous to count, extending away as far as it is possible to see,
for there is no permanent cover of cloud above Lumia to limit vision. It is so
hot that the surface is covered by oceans of liquid ice. Methane can exist only
as a vapor. Your body would be much heavier than it is on Robia.”
“What of the countryside?” Morayak asked. “Does it have mountains and forests?
Do the Lumians keep herds of bearing-bush formers, and hunt platemelters out on
the flatlands? Do they have children who go gasket-collecting among the
head-assembly transfer lines, or baiting traps with copper wire to catch
coil-winders?”
Thirg frowned, not knowing quite how to explain the differences. “The children
there are assembled in miniature form,” he said. “They grow larger by taking in
substances which are distributed internally as liquid solutions.”
Morayak stared at him in astonishment. “But how could the substances know where
to be deposited?” he objected. “All form would surely be lost.”
“The process is beyond my understanding,” Thirg admitted. “Perhaps that is why
the Lumians exist as jelly and must remain inside outer casings to preserve
their shape. But natural assembly is impossible on Lumia because there aren’t
any machines . . . save for a few which aren’t alive, but were created by the
Lumians.”
“It’s true then—the Lumians really can make artificial machines?”
“Oh yes—those are the only machines they know. They do have animals and forests,
but they’re not machines. They’re made of, well . . . the best way I can find to
describe it is ‘naturally occurring organics’—very like the Lumians themselves.”
Morayak looked perplexed. “But artisans must exist to create organics. How can
there be ‘natural organics’?”
“I too am learning,” Thirg reminded him. “We both have many questions that will
tax our patience for a while yet.”
“But organic forests and animals … a whole world full of such unsightliness?”
Morayak made a face. “It sounds so ugly, so unnatural . . . How could anyone
live there? Is that why they have come to Robia—to escape? But how—”
Lofbayel’s wife, Kersenia, came in. “Ah, I thought I’d find you two here,” she
said. “Lofbayel has hitched up the cart and is waiting before the house for you
now.” Morayak got up, and followed with Thirg behind as Kersenia went back to