Decision at Doona

Chapter XIII. RED LETTER DAY

BY THE TIME Ken and Hrrula had found a log and thrust it out across the supporting boulders to Todd, Hrrestan and other catmen had joined them, roused by the cries of the mda and the shots.

White-faced, Todd scrambled across the log, his rope tail dangling into the river. Reeve gripped the small shoulders tightly and gave the child a fierce shake, the urge to beat him soundly postponed by the presence of an audience.

“You're lucky you weren't killed, you little fool,” Reeve said between clenched teeth.

“I was all right out there,” Todd replied stoutly. “But I got scareded that Hrrula'd get killed. He only had a spear.”

"If he had been killed, young man," and Reeve broke off significantly, shaking Todd. "Can you understand what would happen?" Can you?"

“We'd have to leave Doona?” Todd cried, tears unexpectedly starting down his cheeks.

“We'd have to leave,” Reeve reaffirmed, expressionlessly. How could he explain to a six-year-old the colonists' dilemma.

“I only wanted to see Hrriss,” Todd cried with plaintive snuffling.

God give me patience, thought Reeve, he is only a child!

Todd sneezed, looking cold and small with the tall men of both races towering over him. Reeve's mood switched from frustrated resentment to concern.

“The child is cold and must be warmed. Come now to our fire and eat with us,” Hrrestan offered them graciously.

Todd planted himself squarely in front of Hrrula, looking up at the young Hrruban, tugging at his hand for attention.

“Hrrula, please forgive me for nearly getting you killed. Don't make us leave Doona,” he said earnestly although his teeth were chattering.

Hrrula hunkered down to Todd's eye level, one hand under the boy's chin. “First, promise never to walk in the woods alone again,” he demanded.

“I promise, oh, I promise,” Todd agreed fervently, his eyes wide and solemn.

“Good,” purred Hrrula, releasing the square little chin and standing up.

When they had started off toward the village, Todd wrapped in his jacket and cradled in his arms, Reeve realized that the Hrruban had made his demand to the child in good Terran. Before he could pursue this, the women had rushed out with much purring and hissing over Todd.

Reeve was glad enough to sit in front of a warm fire and let its warmth ease the tension in his body. He didn't protest the delay when the women insisted that Todd be given a warm bath and be dressed in a furry robe. He enjoyed the thick soupy beverage that was served him, delighting in its aromatic vapor and the feeling of well-being it spread through his system.

Then there was the matter of skinning and gutting the mda. Ken tried to mask the revulsion he felt during the process, particularly since the business was done under Todd's fascinated eyes. At first pleased that the boy did not disgrace them by becoming ill, Reeve turned mildly surprised at Todd's detachment as the carcass of his former hunter was butchered and hung.

Todd grinned at Hrriss with pleasure when Hrrula told him, in Hrruban now, that the skin would be cured for Todd's use.

At least, Ken thought grimly, the skin would provide enough credit to soundproof a room for Todd back on Earth.

Hrrula then cut thick steaks from the flank, rolling them up in the wide leaves of a river plant for Reeve to bring home.

Reluctant to leave this pleasant scene, Reeve was finally roused by the unmistakable roar of a blast-off. He grinned to himself in sudden relief and self-awareness; by God, he'd been procrastinating in an unconscious desire not to be jerked away from Doona a moment sooner than necessary. And now that Hu Shih hadn't been able to persuade Kiachif to remain until the Codep reply arrived, they had another reprieve.

“Todd, we've got to get home. That was Kiachif's ship leaving.”

Todd nodded solemnly but clung to Hrriss's tail. As if looking for a cue, Hrriss turned to Hrrestan. The Hrruban growled a brief spate of sound at the cub, who hung his head sadly. Gently but firmly he uncurled Todd's fingers from his tail and put the hand down at Todd's side. He flipped his tail straight out behind him.

“Tomorrow?” asked Todd with plaintive resignation.

Hrriss's eyes flicked back to his father, saw the assent and his jaw dropped in a smile. Todd's face lit up beatifically and he moved to his father's side.

“I have promised the big one (the Hrruban description of Ben) to help with the hrrsses,” Hrrula said to Reeve as he accompanied them out of the village after the farewells required by Hrruban etiquette.

Reeve grinned back at the Hrruban, amused by the catman's obsession with horses. Since they'd probably have to leave the beasts here, they'd be well cared-for. Maybe, even – Ken cut off that half-formed thought. He set a pace easy enough for Todd to follow and the three moved along in a companionable silence.

The moment they reached Saddle Ridge, Reeve sensed something else must have happened down at the colony. There was no activity in the clearing by the river or among the houses. He held up his binoculars and, training them on the Common, brought into focus the colonists sitting in small groups at the tables, obviously waiting.

He tried to tell himself that perhaps Hu Shih had ordered a day of rest for everyone to recuperate from yesterday's feverish unloading and last night's festivities. But these people weren't laughing or enjoying themselves. They were waiting anxiously.

“The sky ship has left,” Hrrula said at Ken's shoulder.

“Yes, thank God,” Reeve sighed, lowering his glasses. But, he told himself, it is only a reprieve by any stretch of the imagination, won by a conniving captain. But Ken was grateful.

If the message capsule had arrived before the ship had left . . .

Reeve swung around to look back at the hills. Christ, he and his could live comfortably in those hills. Caves had been found. It'd be hard, dangerous, but anything was better than a return to the constrictions of over-crowded earth. Let those who liked that sort of semi-existence, regimented, regulated, restricted, have it. His eyes had had to learn to see distances. He could no longer entertain the thought of shortening his vision to the confines of the standard 10 x 12 room in an apartment warren or the straight, short horizon of a Corridor or Hall. He lengthened his stride, an unconscious revolt against a return to a planet where a free-swinging stride was a social insult.

Christ, social insult? The whole structure on Earth was one social indignity after another heaped on its members. And to what end?

Maybe that nardy captain was right! And the whole Siwannese mess was a travesty, perpetrated by cowards moral and physical, on an apathetic, indolent majority.

Spacedep had made a mistake. Maybe Codep could force them to – no, Alreldep was also involved. Was there any chance that Alreldep could be made to bargain? There was that other continent. We could go there and let the Hrrubans keep this one.

His eyes, sweeping desperately across the valley he coveted, stopped at the Bridge. The Bridge – his shoulders sagged in resignation, aware of the futility of his hopes and his position.

History had taught too many lessons in which man-imposed boundaries were broken; solemnly sworn treaties were abrogated and the honest intentions of one generation put aside by the exigencies of the next.

A groan, the inadvertent protest welling from the bottom of his soul, escaped him. He felt the velvety touch of Hrrula's hand on his arm and turned, puzzled.

“Oh, here, I'll take Todd. He must be heavy,” he said quickly, only just aware that Todd was riding Hrrula pickaback.

Hrrula backed off, shaking his head.

“The child is not heavy. Not as heavy as your spirit, Rrev,” the Hrruban said. “Is it because the ship is gone and you will see no more of your fellows?”

“We will see our fellows again when we leave Doona.”

“Leave Doona? Oh, Rrala, you mean. But why must you leave?”

“You are here,” Reeve repeated wearily. He eased himself to the ground, propping his rifle against a convenient boulder.

Hrrula, curling his tail around Todd's leg, hunkered down and waited. Todd watched his father solemnly over the furry shoulder.

“Believe me, Hrrula, our people saw no trace of yours. You have no idea what a shock you gave us.”

Delicately extending one arching claw, Hrrula scratched behind his ear thoughtfully. When Hrrula looked around again, Ken was sure he was chuckling, the wheeze of his mirth barely audible.

“'You have no idea, Rrev, the shock you gave us when you entered our village,” and Hrrula shook with his amusement. “After all,” he added with curious haste, “we've been here long enough to know the world has no bareskins.”

“I don't wish to offend you but there are many things that puzzle me,” Ken went on, hoping to catch Hrrula in a non-evasive mood. “We have wondered if your people sleep through the long winter in some protected place. That would explain why we saw no sign of you. But how did you take your homes with you?”

“If we do not object to your presence here, why do your elders?” Hrrula countered.

Evasion again, Reeve sighed to himself. «Because of the nature and history of my race,» he said aloud and waved toward the colony across the river. «Look at that bridge. We have all we need on the other side – right now.» Reeve paused, trying to explain abstract philosophy in his still limited Hrruban vocabulary. «But soon, because we are inherently greedy, we will want something that can be found only on your side and we will cross that bridge.»

“The bridge was built by Hrruban and Hayuman,” Hrrula remarked, looking at Reeve through half-closed eyes. “At Hrruban insistence. Yes, even then I understood that you did not want the bridge. We,” and his furry thumb jabbed at his sleek chest, “wanted the bridge. Far better than the little boat, particularly when the river runs fast and full.”

Reeve shook his head vehemently. “How can you understand why I am against the bridge? I don't have the words to tell you.”

Hrrula's jaw dropped into a grin and this time he pointed to the oddly silent boy draped on his back. “I will listen very carefully, as Zodd does, if you will explain.”

“All right,” and Reeve sat determinedly forward. “Our people are very old. We have kept records of what has happened between our tribes. When one tribe has something another one wishes, and the first tribe has many strong young men with long knives, they attack the other village and take the things they want.”

“That's silly,” Todd remarked. “Everyone gets the same as anybody else; even in Codep Block.”

"That wasn't always the case, Todd, and don't interrupt," Ken ordered. He tempered his reproof with the knowledge that these Hrrubans found Todd unusual and it might be politic not to reprimand the boy too forcefully in front of Hrrula. "We've made an effort on Earth to be sure everyone gets the necessities of life: food, shelter, clothes – " he ignored Todd's contemptuous monosyllable. "Once we found a lovely world, with a gentle people on it who welcomed us. But we did not understand their language completely – we didn't listen," and in spite of himself Ken grinned at Todd. "We had much they lacked and tried to impose our wealth on them. We didn't understand that they felt they had all they needed for a good life. And then, through no conscious design of ours, the people all – died. All of them. Every one of them. So, with terrible guilt and shame, our elders made it a first rule that this must not happen again on any other world among the stars.

«So – we do not stay on a world which already has its own people.» Ken found that he could not continue. It was a pain in his chest, this wanting to stay on Doona, all the time knowing that he had to go.

“But you do not want anything in our village,” Hrrula was saying, as he absently stroked Todd's arm. “Every day we learn to understand each other better. We have eaten bread together, worked shoulder to shoulder on a bridge. Our women have met and liked your women. We both raise our young to respect traditions. Why then should you have to leave? It is not our wish that you go.”

«No! We must go!» and Ken forced the words out. «Today I killed a mda with this,» and he brandished the rifle. «Tomorrow, or a hundred tomorrow's from now, something might happen to make me kill – you. I prefer to leave before such an occasion arises.»

Hrrula's jaw dropped. “Forgive me, Rrev, but the mda was already struck to the heart by my spear.”

There was a certain cockiness in the Hrruban's humorous assertion that drew a chuckle from Ken. Well, these Hrrubans had more than once demonstrated a ready humor.

“You have said to me what is in your heart, Rrev,” Hrrula went on, his voice little more than a purr. He didn't look at the colonist, apparently more interested in the pattern he was drawing with one claw in the dust, a series of lines and circles. “I will keep your words in my heart for it is honorable not to covet what belongs to another. Rules are made to protect, not restrict.” Hrrula looked up from his pattern, saw that Ken was watching him. He let the design stay for another long moment and then erased it with a decisive sweep. “There are many things to be considered.”

He rose abruptly, hitching Todd to a more comfortable position. He struck out down the hill, leaving Reeve no option but to follow.

Pat had obviously been watching, for as they came down the last rise to the bridge, she raced across to meet them. Dutifully she tried to relieve Hrrula of Todd but the Hrruban backed away from her, and Todd clung tightly to his neck. She stepped back, blinking, uncertain what to do.

“What has he done now?” she asked in a sad, soft voice.

“He wanted to see Hrriss,” Ken replied laconically. “What's all that about?” and he indicated the waiting groups.

Pat caught at her lip and leaned into Ken for comfort. He readily embraced her, taking delight in the feel of her body against his. Hrrula passed them, striding across the bridge.

“The message capsule came in and Hu Shih and Lee are closeted with it. They want you to join them.”

“When did the ship leave? Did the message . . .”

Pat flushed and grinned. “No, the ship left just before the approach alarm went off.”

“What's funny?”

"Well, the captain was trying to pry more of the local leaf out of Abe Dautrish's stores when a crewman rushed in and garbled off a series of numbers. Kiachif got the crew rounded up and into that ship before you could say 'acceleration.' " Pat stifled a giggle. "The ship's radar has a longer reach than the alarm." She giggled again. "I believe the captain's last words to Abe Dautrish were to the effect that cold sober he couldn't take another ninety days of that child."

«You mean – Todd?» Reeve spluttered, caught between indignation and amusement.

Pat nodded as solemnly as she could, trying to conquer the desire to laugh aloud at the look on her husband's face.

"The capsule came five minutes after their exhaust trail dissipated." Pat gave up the effort and grinned broadly as she added, "Macy said the captain cut it awful fine.

Pat's laugh had a contagious quality and Ken found himself unable to resist joining in.

“I never thought I'd be grateful to Todd for anything,” Pat sighed, her face abruptly twisted with perplexity. “You'd better get along to the office.”

They had crossed the bridge by then and she gave him a loving kiss and a gentle shove toward the building.

Hu Shih and Lee Lawrence were sitting at the metropologist's desk when Ken entered. They were looking at each other in a dazed stare, the microfilm reader on the table in front of them.

“Thank God, Ken, maybe you can make some sense out of this,” Lee said, jumping to his feet and shoving the reader to him.

The message film was from Codep and Ken scanned it quickly. Then he reread it slowly, word for word.

“Are they serious?” he demanded.

"You see?" Lawrence crowed triumphantly. "He's confused, too.

Hu Shih shook his head slowly,

"They say," Lawrence began in a mocking singsong, "this planet cannot possibly be populated. They say, the most thorough search was carried out according to strict Spacedep and Alreldep exploratory techniques. They say, see appendix." Lee paced up and down the room, swatting a closed fist into the palm of the other hand. "They say, make no effort to communicate with natives until trained personnel can be transported to the affected area. I love that, 'affected area.' What does he think natives are? A disease?

“Oh, and do you appreciate the next paragraph in this epitome of departmentalese?” Lawrence asked sarcastically, leaning his hands on the desk and rocking back and forth. “They say, compile language tapes for semanticizing. How'n'ell can you do that without contacting natives whom they insist cannot be here in the first place?”

Ken ran the message a third time and came to the final, thoroughly ridiculous section.

“I also notice that they wish us to retain the colony ship when it arrives and depart, bag, baggage and live-stock, to avoid premature culture penetration with these same non-existent natives.”

«Oh, how – how shall I explain? What can I say to justify our actions?» murmured Hu Shih. «What we have done seemed so logical considering our position.»

«Shih,» and Lawrence gave the conscience stricken metropologist a gentle shake on the shoulder, «you did what any sensible man would do. And you can't tell me that the men – if they are thinking men – who wrote this contradictory garbage are sensible. They sound like dithering idiots, scared silly and looking for somewhere to hide. No,» and Lawrence stalked around the room again. «We have made an impact on a sentient species, but in all my studies of cultures, e.t. and Terran, I have never heard of a race that absorbed that impact with less outward effect. They have met us as equals, and they had succeeded in counting coup – if I may inject an old Amerind simile – on us several times for all our culturally advanced level. No, Doctor, put away the sack cloth and ashes. Don't beat your breast or commit ceremonial suicide with remorse. The fault lies with Space-dep, or Alreldep or Codep; not with us. And I'll be damned if I'll take the blame for it – or if I will try to act on orders filmed on such a screw-up, illogical, inconsistent wisp of mylar. Besides,» he said in an abrupt change, «the fat's already in the fire. We've done everything they said not to do and not done practically everything they said to do.»

“Captain Kiachif should have waited,” Hu Shih said to himself in an anxious tone. “I knew he should have waited.”

Lawrence shot a glance at Ken.

“I doubt any of us could have persuaded him, short of physical restraint, once his radar screen showed the approach of the capsule.”

A low hum filled the room, emanating from the equipment which controlled the homing device of the message capsules.

“Another one?” Lawrence demanded and leaned out the door, shading his eyes to watch the homing tower at the center of the landing field. Reeve joined him, scanning the sky with his binoculars until he caught the flash of metal in the sun.

“Sure is!”

This message was from the Alien Relations Department. It was more coherent than Codep's burble, but it too warned against the heinous crime of too premature an introduction of Terran culture to a less advanced race, with a list of the penalties attached to such illegal intercourse. It also demanded in official requestese that a detailed report on the 'observed' natives be forwarded by return capsule.

«In other words, we should never have so much as exposed a fingernail within their sight – which is long range,» Lawrence snapped. «I'm not an alien relations expert but I am a sociologist and these people – well they're people,» he ended lamely. «Say, did we ever mention that we saw them first?» he asked.

“Well, as a matter of fact,” Reeve answered after a moment's rapid consideration, “they advanced on me, not me on them,” and he grinned, remembering the headlong dash of the two cubs in pursuit of their ball.

“All right then,” Lawrence said briskly. “They found us. Particularly if this puts a different complexion on our culpability.”

“Yes, yes, it does. Or does it?” asked Hu Shih, rising briefly to hope before plunging back into despair, washing his hands. “Oh, why, why?” he cried, rising wearily from his chair. “We had made a good beginning here in spite of that terrible long winter.” He crossed to the window to gaze wistfully out at the vividly green Common, down to the river with its backdrop of the great mountain range. A prospect, a sweeping view no longer to be found on Earth even in the dozen carefully preserved Square Miles. “We must leave. And it would have been a better, cleaner break to have left this morning. Now, each day will make it harder.”

He saw the rebellious expressions of his aides and shook his head sadly.

“And we must leave, gentlemen. If we cannot, in this difficult situation, uphold principles we have sworn to respect, then we are not one jot better than those barbaric, genocidal ancestors whose action toward minorities we have always deplored. We solved our own inter-racial problems only by Amalgamation. We solved the domination and destruction of alien species by the Principle of Non-Cohabitation. This is the first time that Principle has come to the test. This is the first time since the Siwannese Tragedy that we have come face to face with another sentient species. And our decision here on Doona is critical. We cannot fail this test.”

Reeve and Lawrence stood silently before the little colony chief. Never in their three years of association with him had they doubted his qualities of leadership or disregarded his gently given orders. But that had been as much due to conditioned respect for authority as for the man himself. Now they saw the inner firmness of moral rectitude that unmistakably marked him both man and leader.

''It has been said,'' Hu Shih continued, ''that there is always a solution to every problem but not necessarily an agreeable one. One asks for wisdom and courage to accept the difficult solutions. For us, that is to return to Earth, stifling vain regrets, terrible disappointment, wrapping ourselves in the knowledge that, by our fortitude, we are redeeming the noblest aspirations of all mankind."

The metropologist took his aides by the arms.

"I look to both of you to support me as you always have done. We shall have trying days ahead of us. Both among ourselves and," he nodded toward the two messages, "with the departments that interest themselves in us.

Lawrence grunted but he gripped the metropologist's hand firmly. “Yeah, but I don't have to like it.”

Reeve managed to nod and Hu Shih smiled wanly just as the air whistle blew the call to a belated breakfast. Silently the three went to join their peers.