Indira gasped. “You can’t be serious!”
He shrugged. “I’m not saying that’s what’s happening here. I’m just suggesting we not jump to conclusions.”
At the council meeting that night, it was decided that another expedition would be sent to the big valley. A larger expedition—a full platoon, in fact. But the size of the expedition was simply to protect Indira. Julius was unhappy at the idea of her going. But it was a fact, which he admitted, that she was still the best linguist in the colony. Her owoc accent would never be as good as that of the younger generation, but she was far better trained and equipped than they were to learn a new language.
It was also agreed that the colonists would attempt to convince one or two of the owoc to accompany them on their journey. The presence of owoc would, hopefully, reassure the inhabitants of the other valley. They would also make it possible to extend the length of the trip. One or even two owoc could not, of course, feed an entire platoon. (The colonists had found from experience that one owoc could feed three humans.) But they could enable the expedition to stay out for a few extra days.
To Indira’s surprise, the owoc agreed readily to the trip. She had thought the timid beings would be fearful of undertaking such a journey. But it seemed that they had developed a mystical confidence in the ability of humans to protect them. It was, as always, difficult to understand the owoc. But she knew that the beings had, over the years, woven the existence of humans into their concept of the Coil of Beauty. The term which the giant creatures used for humans was “the Shell of Beauty.” The term had not made much sense to her before. But now she understood.
For a mollusc, a shell is that which protects. So help me, we’ve become the guardian angels of their quasi-religion.
The real problem, in fact, turned out to be that all the owoc wanted to come. Oddly enough, Kupu was particularly adamant. She seemed quite upset (judging by the mottled blue and brown of her mantle) when Indira insisted that she could not accompany the expedition. It would be hard enough for any of the owoc to manage the trek through high country, much less the huge and bulky mother.
“Why in the world would she want to come?” Indira asked Julius later. “Kupu usually never leaves her oruc grove. What’s so funny?”
Julius was howling.
“Don’t you get it?” he gasped. “The other owoc want to come because they think it would be nice to pay a social call on their neighbors. But Kupu—”
He stopped speaking, choked with laughter. Indira waited impatiently.
“But Kupu wants to come because—” Wheeze, wheeze. “Because she’s a swinger.”
Indira was not amused, until the next morning, when Julius’ little joke came to life. More than anything else, it was the dumbfounded expression on his face when she told Julius that the owoc were now insisting that Kupu had to come along.
“You mean—?” His rubbery face twisted into a befuddled scowl. “It’s not possible! They’re primitives. They can’t possibly understand the dangers of inbreeding.”
Indira was grinning from ear to ear. As much as she loved Julius, she often found him excessively opinionated.
“Don’t ask me, O great biologist. But the owoc are quite clear on the matter—much clearer than usual, in fact. Kupu has to come along because, and I quote, `the clan needs to twine itself further into the Coil.’ Sounds like a clear argument for exogamy to me. But what do I know? I’m just a lowly historian.”
Julius’ glare was a joy to behold.
The trip was long and difficult. Not arduous, for the humans. Joseph had found that the mountain valleys were all interconnected by passes and gullies which posed no more than a mild challenge for humans in as good a physical condition as the colonists were. But it was hard for the four owoc who accompanied them, especially Kupu. Seeing how terribly the trip strained the ungainly mother, Indira was amazed at her stoic determination to continue.
I never fully realized just how ill-suited the owoc are to live in the mountains.
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