“Oh, where I come from there’s never any shortage of new ideas! Our only problem is finding time to put them all into practice. Are you going anywhere, or would you like to talk awhile? I’m Nemora of the Guild of Couriers, in case you hadn’t guessed. And you are—?”
“Tenthag,” he answered, feeling his courage grow. “And … Well, yes, I’d love to talk to you!”
“Then make yourself comfortable,” she invited. “You’ve eaten, drunk, and so on?”
“Thank you, yes. We feed well here, and all the better”—he thought of the compliment barely in time—”because of the Bowockers who bring us deepwater fish.”
“Yes, normally you only work the shallows, I believe. Well, here’s something from my homeland which may tempt you even if you’re not hungry. Try some yelg; it’s standard courier ration, but I have more than enough for this trip because my lovely Scudder is so quick through the water.”
What she offered was unfamiliar but delicious, and within moments he felt all temptation to slip into dreamness leave him. He was in full possession of himself.
“I hope I’m not keeping you from your friends,” he said.
“Friends? Oh, you mean the archeologists! No, I don’t know them. Anyhow, they’re too busy to be bothered with a mere courier. They hadn’t finished preparing their reports and packaging what they’ve found, because they figured I wouldn’t be here until tomorrow. But, like I said, Scudder is the record-breaking type … Oh, there goes a beauty!”
A wide and brilliant streak had crossed the sky, to vanish behind low cloud on the eastern horizon. For a moment it even outshone the Major Cluster, let alone the Arc of Heaven.
“There isn’t much to do when you’re a courier,” she said musingly, “except to watch the weather and the sky. Yet I wouldn’t trade my job for anyone’s.”
“I don’t believe I ever heard of the Guild of Couriers before,” Tenthag admitted.
“Really?” She turned to him in surprise. “I thought we’d pretty well covered the globe by now—but come to think of it they did warn me I was going to a very isolated area. Well, essentially what we do is keep people in touch with one another over distances that nervograps can’t span, and transport bulky items which briq and junq trade would delay or damage. That’s why I’m here, of course: they found what they were looking for, and the relics are extremely fragile. But you must know about that.”
“I’m afraid they don’t talk to us about what they’re doing,” Tenthag muttered. “Not even to the old’uns, let alone someone of my age.”
“Oh, that’s absurd! I’ll have to mention it when I get home. We couriers have strict instructions from the Order of the Jingfired to maximize trade in information. The Guild was originally founded to spread news of the musculator … but I sense you aren’t following my meaning.”
By now Tenthag was emitting such a pheromone-load of incomprehension he was embarrassed. Nemora, in contrast, exuded perfect self-confidence and, impressed by her tact, he was shortly able to respond.
“The word is new to me,” he confessed. “Same as—what was it you said?—nervograp?”
“Hmm! No wonder you still only hunt the shallows! But you must have seen the musculators working here, and you could trade something for a brood-stock. They say you make good glass, and—Oh. Never tell me these ‘friends’ of mine have bought your entire supply for much less useful goods!”
“I believe,” Tenthag answered, quoting what he had heard from Fifthorch, “they’ve commissioned a whole summer’s output.”
“For supposedly dedicated students of the past, they’re far too mercenary, then. I’ll report that, definitely. Well, a musculator is what you get when you breed a particular type of shore-living creature for nothing but strength—not even mobility, nothing else except the power to contract when one end is in fresh water and the other in salt. You feed it a few scraps, you can breed from it in turn, and you use it for—oh—pumping water where it’s needed, lifting heavy weights, hauling a load across a mountain gorge where mounts can’t go, and things like that. And a nervograp … But there’s one in operation between here and the mainland, isn’t there?”