“There are many strange things about Grass,” Marjorie agreed, looking away from a screaming face. “Dr. Bergrem, in the town, has written about some things that make the planet unique. There is something our cells use, some long name I forget, which exists in a unique form here on Grass. She’s been studying it.”
“On any other world, the doctor would be renowned,” Brother Mainoa said. “Her reputation is greater than the people here know.”
“She could probably explain these sounds,” Marjorie remarked, fighting down an overwhelming terror and despair, trying to convince herself she did not hear murmured conversation in wholly unhuman voices, musical voices with a burbling, liquid sound. “Have you asked her?”
“I have reported the effects,” Brother Mainoa said. “I think the authorities believe I imagine them. So far no one has come to see whether I imagine them or not.”
Father Sandoval, seeing Marjorie’s distress, decided to warn her off. “Such places as this occasion superstitious awe in the unwary. We must be alert to protect ourselves from such, Marjorie. These were merely creatures, now extinct. There must have been some central business or supply area. These houses seem almost rural. They lack an urban feeling.”
“So it is with all Arbai cities or towns,” said Brother Mainoa. “Though we diggers know they traveled through space—perhaps in ships as we do, though we have found none, or by some other means—we know also they chose not to live in great aggregations as we humans often do. We have found no town capable of holding more than a few thousand or so of them. On most worlds there are several towns of that size, but never many.”
“And here?” Marjorie asked.
“This is the only one we have found on Grass.”
Father Sandoval frowned. “It is not a subject I know much about. Is it known where their home world was?”
Brother Mainoa shook his head. “Some think Repentance because there are several such cities on Repentance. I have not heard that anyone knows for sure.”
“Somewhere there could be Arbai still living, then?” Father James mused, kicking at a bit of protruding stone.
The Brother shrugged. “Some believe these dead towns were only outposts, that their cities will yet be found elsewhere. I don’t know. You asked about a business or market section in this town. What we assume is the market section is down this street to the left. At least, the structures there do not seem to be dwellings.”
“Shops?” Father Sandoval asked. “Storerooms?”
Mainoa shrugged. “There is an open space, a plaza. With three-sided structures that could have been booths for a market. There is a building full of jars of many sizes and shapes. A building full of baskets. A central dais in the plaza, surmounted with something that could be a machine, a sculpture, a place for posting notices. Perhaps it was an altar, or a place for a herald to stand, or a place to sit while watching the stars. Or even a stage for acrobatic display. Who knows? Who can say? One building is full of their books, books which look very much as our own did, a century or so ago, before we had scanners and decks and screens.”
“Bound volumes?” Marjorie asked.
“Yes. I have a team of penitents taking images of each page. I should say I have them intermittently. When there is nothing better for them to do. Though I am here much of the time, I have a crew at work only now and again. Copying the books is dull work, and lonely, but necessary. Eventually, a full set of copies will be available at Sanctity and at some major schools, like the University at Semling Prime.”
“But no translation.” Marjorie stared through an open door at the carnage within, willing it to be otherwise.
“None. Line after line, page after page, signs made of curving lines, intertwined. If there were something we could call a church, we could look for a repeated sequence and hope it meant ‘God.’ If there were a throne, we could look for the word ‘King.’ If there were words on the door carvings, we could feed the context into our computers, which might make sense of them. If there were even pictures in the books … I will show you some of the books before you leave.”