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Emerald and said that a severe shock could be expected soon.
"Maybe," Deyv said. "By the way, your Emerald didn't do any good predicting when Hoozisst would steal your bag."
"It can operate only on the information I give it," she said, looking down at him from under long-lashed silvery eyelids. "It did say that the Yawtl would try to steal the bag—"
"I didn't need the Emerald to know that."
"Don't interrupt The, lesser one. I didn't need it either. Nor did I have to have it tell me that he would be getting ready to steal the bag when he departed from his usual behavior pattern. That. departure was his offering to cook our supper. Unfortunately, I was so involved in a philosophical discussion with Sloosh that I failed to take note of his deviation."
"Ah!" Deyv said, gri
"Don't get smart with me," she said, but she smiled. "As for the Emerald, you mistake its nature. It's not a magical device. It's scientific, and it is only as useful as its operator makes it. It's chiefly valuable for analyzing a large amount of data, which even my mind can't handle. Not so swiftly, anyway."
Not long after lunch, they were shaken by a series of quakes. They would have been thrown to the ground if they hadn't happened to be riding Phemropit. At this place, the highway ran through a narrow valley, and avalanches from both slopes almost reached them. One boulder rolled to within a foot of the stone-metal creature.
They went on, and shortly before suppertime, they Came to a very narrow part of the valley. Before them was a pile of rocks, trees, and mud, hurled down by the temblors they'd experienced earlier.
"The quake was even more severe here," Slposh said.
He walked up to the edge of the great tangle and pointed into it.
"Hoozisst's trail ends there."
It took much digging by them and some bulldozing by Phemropit to uncover the Yawtl. He was lying face down under four feet of mud, his arms crossed on his chest. Bone stuck out from one crushed leg, and the right side of his jaw was shattered.
Though they dug here and there for the bag, they failed to find it.
"It's no use," The Shemibob said. "We could work here for a long, long time and still not find it. And yet... I could be standing right above it now."
She finally decided that they would have to go on without the bag.
"Hoozisst didn't mean to do us a service, but he did. If we hadn't been slowed up by having to recover from the effects of the drug and to bury the witch, we would have been here. And we'd have been killed, too. It wasn't such a bad trade, my treasures for our lives."
After covering the Yawtl again, they pushed on over the rubble. This extended for about a mile, and then they were back on the highway. Phemropit rayed a deer, which was a quarter of a mile ahead of them, and they dined. It began to rain heavily then, so they went into the vessel. While they slept, Phemropit rolled ahead on the highway.
Deyv was awakened by Vana.
"What's the matter?" he mumbled.
"Phemropit has stopped."
They opened the door and looked out cautiously. Seeing nothing alarming, they got down and went in front of the creature. The Shemibob signaled, "What is wrong?"
"I'm almost out of food. If I keep moving I'll use it all up. I must now do what you call going to sleep.
Unless you can find more ore for me."
"I'll be frank with you," The Shemibob said. "There is very little chance that we can locate the ore."
"Then I'll have to shut down. That is too bad. I have enjoyed being on this strange world and knowing you. I've also learned much. If it hadn't been for you and the others, I would have been very lonely. As it is, I've learned new concepts, things which I would never have known if I'd been on my world. So, thank you and good-bye."
"Wait!" she signaled. "I'm sure the others would like to make their farewells."
That didn't take long. One by one they flashed a few words. And then Phemropit's light-hole became dark.
Vana wept and patted the hard nose. Deyv had not felt much sorrow, just regret that their mighty transporter and protector was no longer available. Vana's tears, however, evoked some sorrow from him.
They put the folded vessel on Sloosh's back and seated the baby by it. Deyv didn't look back until he was a quarter of a mile down the road. The huge dark creature was motionless, waiting. No one would come to help it, though. It would sit there until some cataclysm dislodged it or buried it. Now and then it would rouse from its "sleep," stirred by some mechanism which Deyv did not understand, and it would
"look" for salvation from some passer-by. It would never get it.
Vana, who'd also turned to look, said, "We've lost three of our party in a very short time. Do you think that omens ill for all of us?"
"I was trying not to think about that," he said.
Ten sleep-times later, they came to a junction. Sloosh called them to a halt.
"This is where we part. That is, if you insist on looking for your soul eggs. That road will take you into the area of Hoozisst's village and the cave. But you may never find the cave. As for The Shemibob and me, we'll keep on. Now that she no longer has her detector-sphere, we will have a hard time finding the gateway. But we'll succeed."
Deyv felt desolate and lonely. He would miss the two very much, not only for their protection but for their comnrmionship and their knowledge. Also, he and Vana would have to take turns carrying the baby. And they'd no longer have the vessel to take refuge in.
Vana's face showed that she was thinking the same thoughts.
"If the Yawtl had stolen our eggs, there'd be no doubt about what we'd do," she said slowly. "But—"
"That's tme," Deyv said. "So ..."
They looked at each other, and Deyv said, "We'll go with you!"
The Shemibob, fingering her Emerald, said, "I thought so. This stone predicted that you would. But I reallv didn't have to consult it."
Deyv didn't like I-told-you-so's, even from one of the higher beings. He was too happv about the decision to resent The Shemibob very long, however. The only shadow in his joy was the thought that this was only putting off the inevitable. When they got near their homeland, they'd have to make up their minds again. No, they wouldn't. There couldn't be any doubt that they would have to say good-bye then.
Or was there?
42
THERE it is," The Shemibob said. "The gateway." Sloosh did not comment that that was an obvious remark. He never said that to her, though he was quick enough to say it when a human uttered one.
They were in a thick part of the jungle, halfway up a high hill. Here, perhaps a hundred feet above and close to a thick branch of a giant tree, was the swelling, shrinking, dazzling bright and dread-making circle. They had located it after much questioning of many tribes in a wide area. These would not have given answers to the two humans if they'd been alone. These would have, instead, killed them. But the
Archkerri and The Shemibob frightened them. The tribes thought they were either gods or demons, and they usually ran when they saw the two. Then the strangers would just stay in the village or House until the tribespeople decided that perhaps the two terrible beings were not intent on destroying their homes.
Seeing that the three humans associated on familiar terms with these creatures also helped reassure them.
One or two of the braver would venture timidly near them. The Shemibob and Sloosh would make signs of peace, and eventually most of the tribe would straggle in. The snake-centaur would draw a picture of the gateway in the muds and would try, through sign language, to make them understand what she was seeking. For a long time, the tribespeople didn't comprehend her.