The Bromeliad 2 - Diggers

Chapter 3

I. And they Sought for a Better Sign from ArnoldBros. (est. 1905), and there was a Sign; II. And some spake up saying. Well, all right, butit is really nothing but a Coincidence; III. But others said, Even a Coincidence can be aSign.

-From the Book of Nome, Signs II, v. I-III Masklin had always kept an open mind on the subject of Arnold Bros.

(est. 1905). After all, the Store had been pretty impressive, what withthe escalators and so on, and if Arnold Bros. (est. 1905) hadn'tcreated it, who had? After all, that only left humans. Not that heconsidered humans were as stupid as most nomes thought. They might be bigand slow but there was a sort of mindless unstoppability about them.

They could certainly be taught to do simple tasks.

On the other hand, the world was miles across and full of complicatedthings. It seemed to be asking a lot of Arnold Bros. (est. 1905) tocreate the whole thing.

So Masklin had decided not to decide anything about Arnold Bros. (est.

1905), in the hope that if there was an Arnold Bros. (est. 1905) and hefound out about Masklin, he wouldn't mind much.

The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people willinsist on coming along and trying to put things in it.

The faded newspaper from the sky had been carefully spread out on thefloor of one of the old sheds.

It was covered in words. Most of them even Masklin could understand, but even Grimma had to admit she couldn't guess at what they were supposed to mean when you read them all in one go. SCHOOL SLAMS SHOCK PROBE, for example, was a mystery. SO Was FURY OVER TAXES REBEL. So WBS PLAY

SUPER BINGO IN YOUR SOARAWAY BLACKBURY EVENING

POST & GAZETTE. But they were mysteries that would have to wait.

What all eyes were staring at was the quite small area of words, aboutnome-sized, under the word PEOPLE.

"That means people," said Grimma.

"Really?" said Masklin.

"And the lettering underneath it says: 'Fun-loving, globetrottingmillionaire playboy Richard Arnold will be jetting to the Floridasunshine next week to witness the launch of Arnsat 1, the firstcommuni"-she hesitated-"cations sat ... ellite built by the Arnco Inter ... national Group. This leap into the future comes only a few monthsafter the dest ... ruction by fire of-"

The nomes, who'd been silently reading along with her, shivered.

"-Arnold Bros., the store here in Blackbury which was the first of theArnold chain and the basis of the multimillion-pound trad ... inggroup. It was founded in 1905 by Alderman Frank W. Arnold and his brotherArthur. Grand ... son Richard, 39, who will ..." Her voice faded to awhisper.

"Grandson Richard, 39," repeated Gurder, his face bright with triumph.

"What d'you think of that, eh?"

"What does globe-trotting mean?" said Masklin.

"Well, globe means ball, and trotting is a sort of slow running," saidGrimma. "So he runs slowly on a ball. Globe-trotting."

"This is a message from Arnold Bros.," said Gurder ponderously. "It'sbeen sent to us. A message."

"A message meant, um, for us!" said Nisodemus, who was standing justbehind Gurder. He held up his hands. "Yea, all the way from-"

"Yes, yes, Nisodemus," said Gurder. "Do be quiet, there's a good chap."

He gave Masklin an embarrassed look.

"Doesn't sound very likely, running slowly. I mean, you'd fall off. If itwas a ball, is what I'm saying," said Masklin.

They stared at the Picture again. It was made up of tiny dots. Theyshowed a smiling face. It had teeth and a beard.

"It stands to reason," said Gurder, more confidently. "Arnold Bros.

(est. 1905) has sent Grandson Richard, 39, to ... to .. ."

"And these two names who founded the Store," said Masklin. "I don'tunderstand that. I thought Arnold Bros. (est. 1905) created the Store."

"Then these two founded it," said Gurder. "That makes sense. It was a bigStore. It'd be easy to find, even if you weren't looking for it." Helooked slightly uneasy. "Losted and founded," he said, half to himself.

"That makes sense. Yes."

"O-kay," said Dorcas. "So let's just see where we've got to. The message is, is it, is that Grandson Richard, 39, is in Florida, wherever thatis-"

"Going to be in Florida," said Grimma.

"It's a type of colored juice," volunteered a nome. "I know, 'cause oneday when we went over to the garbage dump, there was this old carton, andit said Florida Orange Juice. I read it," he added proudly.

"Going to be in this orange-colored juice, so I'm given to understand," said Dorcas doubtfully. "Running slowly on a ball and jetting, whateverthat is. And liking it, apparently."

The nomes fell silent while they thought about this.

"Holy utterances are often difficult to understand," said Gurdergravely.

"This must be a powerful holy one," said Dorcas.

"I think it's just a coincidence," said Angalo loftily. "This is just astory about a human being, like in some of the books we read."

"And how many humans could even stand on a ball, let alone run slowly onit?" demanded Gurder.

"All right, " said Angalo, "But what are we going to do, then?"

Gurder's mouth opened and shut a few times. "Why, it's obvious," he saiduncertainly.

"Tell us, then." said Angalo sourly.

"Well, er. It's, er, obvious. We must go to, er, the place where theorange juice is ..."

"Yes?" said Angalo.

"And, er, and find Grandson Richard, 39, which should be easy, you see, because we've got this picture." Gurder scratched his chin. "I mean, how many humans can there be in the world?" he said. "Not more than a fewhundred. And when we've found him ..."

"Yes?" said Angalo.

Gurder have him a haughty look. "Remember the commandment that ArnoldBros. (est. 1905) put up in the Store," he said. "Did it not say 'If youdo not see what you require, please ask'?"

The nomes nodded. Many of them had seen it. And the other commandments:

"Everything Must Go," and, by the escalators, "Dogs and Strollers Must BeCarried." They were the words of Arnold firos. (est. 1905). You couldn'treally argue with them... . But on the other hand, well, that had beenthe Store, and this was here.

"And?" said Angalo.

Gurder began to sweat. "Well, er, and then we ask him to let us be leftalone in the quarry."

There was an awkward silence.

Then Angalo said, "That sounds about the most half-baked-"

"What does jetting mean?" said Grimma. "Is it anything to do with jet?"

"A jet is a kind of aircraft," said Angalo, the transport expert.

"So jetting means to go like an aircraft. Or in an aircraft?" said Grimma. Everyone turned to Masklin, whose fascination with the airport was well known to one and all.

He wasn't there.

Masklin pulled the Thing from its niche in the wall and padded back out into the open. The Thing didn't have to be attached to any wires. It was enough to put it near them.

There was electricity in the old manager's office. He ran across the empty alley between the tumble-down buildings and squeezed his way in through a crack in the sagging door. Then he placed the box in the middle of the floor and waited.

It always took some while for the Thing to wake up. Its lights flickered at random and it made odd beeping noises. Masklin supposed it was the machine's equivalent of a nome getting up in the morning.

Eventually it said, "Who is there?"

"It's me," said Masklin, "Masklin. Look, I need to know what the words 'communications satellite' mean. I've heard you use the word 'satellite' before. You said the Moon is one, didn't you?"

"Yes. But communications satellites are artificial moons. They are used for communications. Communications means the transferring of information. In this case, by radio and television." "What's television?" said Masklin.

"A means of sending pictures through the air."

"Does this happen a lot?"

"All the time."

Masklin made a mental note to look out for any pictures in the air.

"I see," he lied. "So these satellites-where are they, exactly?"

"In the sky."

"I don't think I've ever seen one," said Masklin doubtfully. There was an idea forming in his mind. He wasn't quite sure yet. Bits and pieces ofthings he'd read and heard were coming together. The important thingwas to let them take their own time, and not frighten them away.

"They are in orbit, many miles up. There are a great many above thisplanet, " said the Thing.

"How do you know that?"

"I can detect them."

"Oh."

Masklin stared at the flickering lights.

"If they are artificial, does that mean they're not real?" he said.

"They are machines. They are usually built on the planet and then launched into space."

The idea was nearly there. It was rising like a bubble.

"Space is where our ship is, you said."

"That is correct."

Masklin felt the idea explode quietly, like a dandelion. "If we knew where one of these things was going to be flown into space," he said, speaking quickly before the words had time to escape, "and we could sortof hang on to the sides or whatever, or maybe drive it like the Truck, and we took you with us, then we could jump off when we got up there andgo and find this ship of ours, couldn't we?"

The lights on top of the Thing moved oddly, into patterns Masklin hadnever seen before. This went on for quite a while before it spoke again.

When it did, it sounded almost sad.

"Do you know how big space is?" it said.

"No," said Masklin politely. "It's pretty big, is it?"

"Yes. However, it may be possible for me to detect and summon the ship if I were taken above the atmosphere. But do you know what the words 'oxygen supply' mean?"

"No."

" 'Space suit'?"

"No." "It is very cold in space."

"Well, couldn't we sort of jump around a bit to keep warm?" said Masklin desperately. "I think you do not appreciate what it is that space contains."

"What's that, then?"

"Nothing. It contains nothing. And everything. But there is very little everything and more nothing than you could imagine."

"It's still worth a try, though, isn't it?"

"What you are proposing is an extremely unwise endeavor, " said the Thing.

"Yes, but, you see," said Masklin firmly, "if I don't try, then it'salways going to be like this. We're always going to escape, and findsomewhere new, and just when we're getting the hang of it all, we'll haveto go again. Sooner or later we must find somewhere that we can knowreally belongs to us. Dorcas is right. Humans get everywhere. Anyway, youwere the one who told me that our home was ... up there somewhere."

"This is not the right time. You are ill-prepared."

Masklin clenched his fists. "I'll never be well prepared! I was born ina hole, Thing! A muddy hole in the ground! How can I ever be wellprepared for anything? That's what being alive is, Thing! It's beingbadly prepared for everything! Because you only get one chance, Thing!

You only get one chance and then you die and they don't let you go aroundagain after you've got the hang of it! Do you understand, Thing! So we'lltry it now! I order you to help! You're a machine and you must do whatyou're told!"

The lights formed a spiral.

"You 're learning fast," said the Thing.