"Do you know how many of the Tal Tahir lived down there?"
Selmer pursed his lips. "About two hundred thousand, I think. Karyn says that's what the Vanguard archaeologists came up with." Paul made another rough calculation. If the arkies were right, that meant each dome housed about seven individuals. Big families.
Then Paul moved the binoculars over the temple again and realized something else. The temple was situated in the center of one of the quadrants. "Are you sure the temple was a Tal Tahir building?"
"That's what Karyn says."
Paul looked more closely at the adjoining
squares. None of the other clusters had a building with the white spire. That seemed odd: the Tal Tahir had obviously placed a lot of emphasis on symmetry when they built their city. Why would only one of the quadrant sections have a building
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83
like the temple? Then he remembered something Selmer had said earlier.
"There used to be other buildings with the white spires?"
"A long time ago. Before Sabastian was bom. Karyn says the Holy Order tore them down."
"Any idea why?"
Selmer shrugged. "I've never given it much thought. Why all the interest? It's just an old city. Hardly anything left."
"This is the first nonhuman city I've ever seen."
"Really?" He seemed genuinely surprised. "I had the impression you've traveled all over." Paul realized Selmer would have no way of
knowing how rare were signs of intelligents. When he explained that, Selmer shrugged.
"Guess we're just used to it." A thin black insect with broad wings circled Selmer's head once and settled in his hair. He pulled it out carefully and released it, then reached into a pocket of his coveralls and brought out a small flask. He offered it to Paul. Paul hesitated. The container was clear, and the liquid was dark. He sniffed tentatively, then tipped the flask and let the warm, fumy liquor run into his mouth. He swallowed, grimaced, swallowed again. The flavor was faintly familiar. He handed the flask back to Selmer. "What is it?"
"Home brew," Selmer answered with a grin.
"Can't you guess what's in it?"
Paul thought about that faintly familiar flavor. Then he groaned. "Poca."
Selmer laughed. "And a few other things. It isn't too strong, but it dulls the pain. Sabastian puts up with it as long as we don't overdo it. Of course, drinking spirits is a capital offense as far as the Holy Order is concerned."
They both took another drink; then Selmer put the flask away. They sat for a while listening to the varied sounds of insects all around them.
84 William Greenleaf
A rebel camp, Paul thought. There was a certain dramatic ring to it: Five Brave Souls Against an Alien God and his Human Servants.
Five brave souls . . .
"Why is Karyn here?" he asked. "She's too young to be involved in something like this."
"Her brother was initiated into the Sons a couple of years ago," Selmer answered. "He was killed a few months later by one of the deacons when he broke a rule. She came to us and said she wanted to do whatever she could to help."
"He was killed for breaking a rule?"
"That's part of being in the Sons of God," Selmer said. "Obedience, and Elder Jacowicz wields a heavy hand."
Chapter Eight
THEY SPENT THE NIGHT FAR BACK IN THE CAVE.
Paul slept fitfully on a mat of blankets, with another one o.ver him.
The next morning was clear and cold. They made their plans for the trip to the temple over a breakfast of baked poca and several other unmemorable vegetables. Karyn seemed to be the informal leader when it came to strategy, and it was clear that she was most familiar with the Tal Tahir city. Sabastian spoke little, offering only a suggestion now and then. He and Olaf Blackburn would remain at the camp.
Jacque Hakim selected and checked over the
handmade knives and the single burp gun they would take. Paul reluctantly strapped a sheathed knife around his waist, fervently hoping he would never face the prospect of using it. Dorland refused to carry a weapon.
Karyn impressed on them that timing was important. They would have to reach the temple after nightfall in order to get Dorland inside under cover of darkness, so they wouldn't leave the camp 86 William Greenleuf
until late afternoon.
In order to keep in touch with Sabastian
and Olaf, Karyn carried a small device called a fartalker in her belt pouch. Curious, Paul had asked to see the palm-sized box before they left the camp, and found that it was an ancient but recognizable version of an intraship communicator. According to Selmer, several hundred of the devices had been salvaged from Vanguard. Energy charges had diminished to the point that the fartalker range was only about seven kilometers, but that would be enough to stretch the distance between the temple and the mountain camp.
The air was still crisp when they left. They all wore dark coveralls, and jackets made of heavy, durable cloth. The going was rough as they made their way down the slope with Karyn and Jacque leading. Doriand and Paul followed, and Selmer Ogram brought up the rear. Several times they had to clamber over outcroppings of splintered rock. Paul noticed that Karyn always kept her eyes on the area ahead, and paused several times to survey the slope below them.
"What's she looking for?" Paul asked Selmer at one such halt.
"Deacons," Selmer answered. "Or Sons of God. She doesn't want to cross paths with them."
"I thought you said they aren't allowed up this way."
"They aren't. But I also said Lord Tern changes the rules from time to time."
They continued down the slope toward the valley in the face of a chill wind. At last the ground leveled and the rocks gave way to spongy soil and waisthigh plants with flat leaves that were blue and shiny. The area was still heavily wooded, but the trees were not,as tall or as thickly foliaged as those of the higher slopes.
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They paused again at the edge of the forest. Fifty meters away a large, silver-gray tube crossed high above the vegetation. Under it Paul could see the crumbled remains of pink domes.
"That's Number One tube," Karyn said. "We'll turn left and follow it."
"I thought we'd be traveling inside the tube," Paul said.
"We have to find an access point. First one we'll come to is at the intersection with David's Tube." Paul drew a blank on that. "David's Tube?" But she had already turned away to look in the direction they would travel.
"That's Tube D," Selmer explained. He pointed off to the right. "It's part of our system. We start in the corner closest to our camp. Tube One is the first tube that runs right to the left along the edge of the city. The next one is Tube Two, and so on. Tube A is the first tube that runs the other way, straight out across to the far side of the city. That's Alyx. Then Tube B—Barth—and so on."
Paul could see how the ordering of the tubes could make sense. But one aspect of the system puzzled him. "Why give names to them?"
"Our power cells are old and weak," Selmer explained. "We get a lot of static over the fartalker. Names are easier to understand than letters."
"Will the David tube take us to the temple?" Paul tried to remember the layout he had seen from the slope the day before.
"Not quite." Selmer squatted down and brushed away some leaves, then began to draw a diagram with his finger in the soft ground. "The temple's farther east, over here by Cassie's Tube." He made a depression in the dirt. "But Cassie has fallen down between here and the temple." He rubbed out part of the line he'd drawn to represent the C