Simeon brushed aside the implied criticism.
“One of the first rules of science is: never build a theory on insufficient evidence.”
Niall said: “But this morning you told me that viperweeds grow far bigger in the Delta. Wouldn’t you count that as evidence?”
“Of what? It could be due to the soil or the heat or the moisture, or a mixture of all three.” He added grudgingly: “Although I have to admit that your underground force could explain a great many puzzling things.”
Niall said: “For example, a force that makes plants grow bigger could also make insects grow bigger.”
Simeon shook his head. “Insects don’t have roots.”
“How do you know roots are necessary? The squid funguses don’t have roots either.”
“Squid funguses?” Simeon looked at him blankly.
Doggins said: “Did you know that when spiders die, they change into squid funguses?”
Simeon regarded him suspiciously. “What is this — some kind of fairy-tale?”
“No. It really happens. If you don’t believe me, go and look at the dead spiders out near the quarry.”
Simeon thought about it. “It’s more likely, surely, that the squids attack the spiders when they’re dead?”
Doggins said emphatically: “No. The spiders really turn into funguses. We’ve been watching them this afternoon.”
As they were speaking, Niall reached inside his tunic and turned the thought mirror. It brought an instant sensation of calm and relief; the almost painful excitement suddenly vanished, to be replaced by a new sense of comprehension and control. He turned to Simeon.
“Don’t you see what this means? You were saying the other day that you couldn’t believe that spiders had ever been tiny creatures. This explains it. The force that made the plants of the Delta grow bigger also affected the spiders. That’s why the spiders regard the Delta as sacred. That’s why they call the Delta goddess the river of life. She is a river of life. She makes things grow.”
“Then why doesn’t she turn human beings into giants?”
“I think I know the answer to that. Because we can’t pick up the vibration. We’ve lost touch with our instincts — we use our minds too much.”
Milo asked: “And where do you think this force comes from?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps it has always been on earth. Perhaps it is the force that makes all living things grow, but it just happens to be more concentrated in the area of the Delta.”
Ulic smiled. “Perhaps it was riding on the tail of the comet.”
Simeon ignored this. He asked Niall: “If the spiders have evolved so recently, why is their will-power so much stronger than ours?”
“I believe it’s because the spiders have always known about will-power. They spend their lives sitting in their webs, waiting for insects to fly in. And when an insect comes close, they try to will it to enter the web. Human beings have never needed that kind of will. We learned to use our hands and minds instead.” A new insight came to him as he spoke. “And I can tell you something else. That’s why human beings will eventually conquer the spiders. The spiders have no imagination, and will-power is no use without imagination. Because only imagination can tell us what to will. After all, what use do the spiders make of their will-power? They just sit in their webs all day long. They haven’t even built their own city — they’ve merely taken over an old human city. Their chief aim seems to be to enslave human beings and prevent us from making proper use of our own powers. They aren’t fit to be masters of the earth. That’s why we have to fight them.”
Doggins nodded with approval. “Well said!”
Simeon asked Niall: “Do you think this force is intelligent?”
“Not in our sense. As far as I can see, its single purpose is to produce more life. And it does that by making things struggle. That’s the chief problem with living things — they reach a certain point of discouragement, then they give up. This force stops them from giving up so easily. . .”
Milo said: “So it’s really the enemy of the human race?”
The comment puzzled Niall. “Enemy?”
“Well, if it helps the less intelligent forms of life against the more intelligent. . .”
Niall shook his head doubtfully.
Doggins leaned forward. “In other words, if we want to destroy the spiders, we have to destroy this force.”
Niall looked at him in surprise. “Destroy it? I don’t think you can destroy a force.” For some reason, the idea give him a disagreeable sensation.
Simeon said: “Why not? If it could be paralyzed by lightning, it could be destroyed by a Reaper.”
“That’s right.” Doggins was suddenly excited. “If the centre of the force lies in the Delta, then we ought to be able to locate it.”
Niall asked: “But how? It could be anywhere.”
Simeon was smiling. “I think I can answer that.” They all looked at him. “I didn’t quite finish my story about the Delta. A few days after we got back, I spoke to the captain in charge of a squad of slaves. She told me something very strange — that a spider had fallen out of its web outside the officers’ quarters, and been killed. Now you know how unlikely that is — a spider falling out of its web. When Valda and I worked it out, we decided it must have happened at the same time as the storm in the Delta.”
Doggins asked: “What time was the storm?”
“About two hours before dark, on a summer day.”
“In other words, the human beings would all have been back in their own quarters?” Simeon nodded. “So it could have affected all the spiders?”
“That’s right.”
There was a silence, as they absorbed the implications. Doggins said finally:
“I think we may have found our solution.” He looked at Niall. “Don’t you think so?”
Niall shook his head; there was something about Doggins’ attitude that deeply disturbed him.
“But how would you find the centre?”
“We don’t have to. You’ve seen the power of the Reaper. We could destroy the whole Delta in half an hour.”
Simeon said: “That may not be necessary. The storm was almost directly overheard when the flash of lightning came. That means the centre must have been fairly close.”
“Can you describe exactly where you were?”
“I could draw you a map.”
Doggins went to a cupboard, and came back with a piece of charcoal. He pointed to the white tablecloth. “Draw on that.”
Simeon sketched two wavery lines, which joined to form a V. “This is the junction of the two great rivers running from the south. They spread out into this area between them — which, as you know, is swamp and rain forest. The forest is also here, round the sides of the basin. The best ortis plants grow here, on the edge of the forest and the swamp. Back here” — he indicated the area to the south of the junction — “the forest is almost impenetrable. We were roughly here,” he made a cross at a point to the west of the junction, “so I would guess that the centre of the force is somewhere within this area of rain forest.”
Doggins stood behind Simeon, looking down at the map.
“To get into the rain forest, we’d have to cross one of the two rivers?”
“Yes, and that could be dangerous. There are giant water spiders, as big as octopuses, and they hide below the surface.”
Doggins frowned. “I didn’t realise there were spiders in the Delta.”
“They’re nothing like the death spiders. As far as I can tell, they’re not particularly intelligent. And they don’t possess the same will-power.” He looked at Niall. “That seems to confirm your theory about the spiders. The water spiders hunt their prey like crocodiles. So presumably they’ve never developed the same willforce. But they’ve got jaws like a mantrap.”
Manetho said: “Another thing you have to watch out for is the red leech.” Simeon nodded agreement. “One of my men waded into the water, trying to spear a giant prawn. He ran out a few minutes later, his legs covered in these huge red things, like big shiny slugs. We couldn’t pull them off, but luckily somebody thought of fire — we were burning driftwood from the beach. As soon as the slugs were touched with a flame, they dropped off. But they’d eaten big holes in the man’s flesh, right through to the bone. He almost died on the way home.”
Milo looked at Simeon with wonderment. “And you went into this place just to gather medicine?”
“Very powerful medicine. You could collect enough in a day to last this whole city for a year. Besides, we never ventured into the really dangerous part. The ortis plant grows on the edge of the hill forest. I doubt whether anyone could venture into this part” — his finger indicated the area between the rivers — “and stay alive for more than a few hours.”