One could have heard a snowflake fall, it was so still. He thought they hadn't understood him. He opened his mouth to repeat. And this orderly throng became totally disorderly. Forgotten were manners. They surged forward; they pressed so tightly close to him he had to stand up.
Only one eager question was being roared at him now in at least three tongues. “How? How can we help?”
These beaten people, these ragged, starved remnants of once-great nations had not really dreamed they could be of value. That they could assist. That they might have a role to play besides to hide and starve. It was a mind-shattering thought. To help.
The Coordinators and chiefs somehow got them back in their places around the fire but they couldn't sit down. They were too excited.
When Jonnie could speak again, it was into a new stillness. But he suddenly realized he might have more audience than he intended. Could the visitors upstairs monitor this? Probably. He held a hurried consultation, low-voiced, with a senior Coordinator. Yes, the man whispered back. There was a large hall beneath the palace. It had been cleaned out.
Jonnie spoke to Chief Monk Ananda. Wild-eyed with excitement, the Buddhists went into the hall. Jonnie got a mine light from the plane. He closed the door. This was an atmosphere they loved.
Jonnie spoke to them very quietly. They spoke Psychlo. They spoke Pali, a dead language. They also spoke some tongue known as Tibetan. Yes! they whispered back. Jonnie told them he would see their library was flown out to a safe place. They could have a deep section of the Russian base for it and their temple. But were they afraid of heights? They laughed; that was a silly question to ask mountain people. Did they mind being scattered all over the globe and living with other tribes? No, no. That was fine. They were not really withdrawn from the world just because they lived in a monastery. They had to live in the caves because of danger.
He told them what a communicator was. If people gave them a message in Psychlo, they could put it on the radio in Pali and the Buddhist at the other end could put it back into Psychlo. And the enemies upstairs would never understand. They thought it was
marvelous. A whole worldwide Pali-speaking network. Yes, yes, yes!
But now there was a sobering thought. At some time one of them might be captured and made to give messages. And if so they would give the message in Tibetan, and that was their secret. It was dangerous.
All life was dangerous. They accepted, every man, woman, and child of them and accepted for the ones at home too! Jonnie tried to tell them their pay would be a credit a day, which was fair pay in most tribes, but he didn't get a chance. They would go and that was that. And they knew it was secret and they would tell nobody. They even tiptoed out the door.
The next were the Sherpas. There was a lot of hunting to be done; there were even occasional peaks to climb elsewhere. There were huge plains in Russia, teeming with sheep and cattle.
There was an awful lot of meat drying and preserving to be done. Could they, all of them, go to Russia and help stock that base with food? Food? They themselves were starving. Yes, indeed, they would hunt and stock the base with food.
Then Chief Chong-won brought in his people. Secrecy was a breath of life to them. Jonnie began by telling them there was a place that was not too healthy, that had a fly that carried a sickness, but proper precautions and nets could handle it. There were also savage beasts but there would be armed guards and they too could learn to shoot. Insects? Beasts? They didn't care about those! Where was this place? What did he want them to do? They would leave right away. Was it a far walk?
Jonnie told them they would go by plane. But there was another thing. Although the place was a mile high, it could be hot there.
Hot? A place that was hot? How marvelous! How absolutely marvelous! Who cared how hot?
Jonnie asked them whether they could build things. They proudly told him they had kept up their studies. Some of them were engineers. They could build anything.
Now all this was very secret, said
Jonnie, but he had a place near a large power dam that had to be cleared up and cleaned out and the hills dug into and bunkers made. They would get technical assistance. They would even get machines and operators and could themselves learn-
They had eight trainees over in America right now learning about machines! Why were they delaying here talking? Where was this place?
Jonnie told them they would get a credit a day each and bonuses for completions. And they could have land afterward.
Chief Chong-won asked the people whether they agreed. And they thought he was just delaying things. Of course they agreed!
Jonnie returned to the celebration. But it was not a celebration now. Little groups had their heads together working it all out but whispering and in incomprehensible tongues. Jonnie told them good night and they all faced him and bowed and he bowed back.
En route to pass the night in his plane, just in case, he stopped by the ore carrier where the Tolnep lay. He had an impulse to call Half-Captain Rogodeter Snowl and chew on him. But he didn't. Let the half-captain stew. That was a future battle.
Chapter 5
In Scotland, Jonnie delayed a meeting with the Chiefs as long as he could. He was expecting discs and further progress from America. But Glencannon had not arrived.
Finally Robert the Fox, who had come up for the meeting from Africa, told him the Chiefs were getting restless so Jonnie accompanied him.
The house Chrissie had found was just by Castle Rock and it was only a short walk. They didn't talk en route, eyeing the overcast sky above them.
Two gillies armed with lochaber axes and blast rifles let them into the entrance of an underground passage. The Chiefs had found the remains of powder magazines and air-raid shelters from some ancient wars and had suspended reconstruction of their parliament house and had refurbished the deep caverns instead. Mine lights burned in niches and cast the shadows of clan banners upon the domed roof.
The Chiefs were all there. They had been there for hours. But they gathered around and shook Jonnie's hand and clapped him on the back. Finally the Chief of Clanfearghus brought the meeting to order.
Robert the Fox played them some discs of the radio telescope intercepts.
Aside from other items in them, the Chiefs were amazed at the dissimilarity of faces in the combined force. They were also very interested in a game these creatures were playing by viewscreen: one of Robert's prisoners had identified it as "klepp." Each player had a board of six sides and six different sets of pieces, and when one of them made a move, the other players would make the same move on their boards. The pieces were little spaceships and tanks and marines and soldiers, and they had different movements and were held down magnetically to a board of six-hundred-sixteen hexagons. It wasn't the game that interested the Chiefs but the fact that the announced stakes were different items of loot from this planet. It sobered them.
Then Robert told them about infrabeams and that it would be unwise to discuss things out in the open. Sir Robert had gotten a full description of them from a Hockner prisoner. If you had to talk in the open you should turn on an “interference generator,” but they didn't have those.
The Chiefs tried to pass a motion to forbid talking in the open air or telling people things they would then discuss in the open. It was also proposed that they begin a campaign with the slogan “The Enemy Has Long Ears.” But the Chief of the Argylls took the floor and informed them that they could not pass legislation affecting all tribes because they were not the government of all tribes– that was located over in America, even though they would be at war with it eventually. What they proposed was usurpation of the powers of state.