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Dew found that he could see the whole village. It was arranged like most such places, with a shaman's house in the center. There were, however, large wooden tanks containing water. He supposed that these were reserves to be used if an enemy besieged them. There were also many roofed bins containing the pods.
In one corner was a soul-egg tree.
This explained whv the tribe had located in such an inconvenient place. Rather than live in an advantageous site and make sure that their precious tree was well hidden, they'd chosen to erect houses and a stockade around it.
By then the hunters and plant gatherers and fruit gatherers were coming in. He made another count, getting two hundred and fifty.
The cooking began. The shaman came out of his house bearing a wooden table at each end of which were affixed small reproductions of the idol. He set the table down before the god. After a dance the villagers swarmed around it, throwing pieces of cooked meat and fruit on the table. The shaman danced again around the table, apparently blessing the food or making an offering of it to the god. A hare was brought out of a cage. The shaman cut its throat and carried it by its legs over the food, its blood dripping over it.
After this, the shaman ate a piece of the bloodied meat, and the villagers, in a single file, came around the table. The adult males ate the meat, and the women and children the fruit. After that they departed for their own huts and supper.
Deyv left. He got lost once but found his way after some searching and after a long while was back at the vessel. The others were relieved to see him; they'd been afraid that something bad had happened. He told them his story while he ate.
"I doubt they'll come around here," Sloosh said. "They must know about the gateway, but they'd be afraid of it. This place is probably taboo."
After breakfast, they set to work to build the bridge to the gateway. Deyv climbed up to the branch by the abomination and let down the rope of The Shemibob to haul up bamboo logs. As long as he kept his back to the shimmering, he could work. But when he accidentally glimpsed it, he had to stop until his fear and nausea passed.
They didn't have many flint tools with which to cut the bamboo. However, Deyv's sword and the
Yawtl's, which they'd taken from his body, and Sloosh's axe could hack wood all day without the edges becoming dulled. Eventually, they had a structure from the ground to the branch above that near the gateway. This enclosed a lift. A pulley arrangement on roughly carved wheels and spindles allowed them to haul themselves up, though only one at a time.
The Shemibob did most of the work building the bridge out to the gateway. She was better able to withstand the effects than the others.
"A good solid engineering tool," Sloosh said. "Now, if only an earthquake doesn't shake it down."
He and the snake-centaur went up with poles and probed the shimmering. They lost some poles, though they were aware that they could not withdraw them the tiniest bit without their being severed.
When they came back down, The Shemibob said, "There's a solid floor about fifteen feet below the gateway. It's probably earth or sand. We could push the poles in an inch or so after they met resistance.
We don't know, of course, how far the floor extends in any direction."
"Also, of course," Sloosh said, "we can't know how hot or cold it is there. It might be on top of a mountain from which it'll be impossible to climb down. Or it might be a very small island far away from a large land mass and without any wood with which to build a boat. Or it might be snow on top of an ice pack. If it's a very young planet, the air might be poisonous. Then-"
"Shut up!" Deyv said.
"Why are you so fearful?" the plant-man asked. "You're not going there." He paused, then said, "Or is it possible that you do have some faint desire to get out of this doomed world?"
"None at all," Deyv said. He wasn't sure that he wasn't lying, though.
During sleep-time, Deyv's grandmother came to him out of the dark mists of his dream.
Deyv said, "It is pleasant to see you again, Grandmother. You haven't visited me for a long time."
"It's not for pleasure that I come to you," she said.
"The dead have no pleasure. I have come to help you with your problem. You want to take Vana to your tribe as your wife, and she wants to take you to hers as her husband. You are both very stubborn. Neither will give in. You won't even accept the sensible suggestion of the plant-man that you throw a pointed stick up in the air and let its fall decide which path to take.
"So I have come to tell you what you must do. The dead have no pleasure, but they do have wisdom.
You must obey me."
"I will do what you say, Grandmother," Deyv said. "Only ... I hope that you remember that I am of your flesh and blood, of your tribe, and that you favor me."
"Vana has borne a child which is of my flesh, and she will soon bear another. I can't favor you over her.
Here is what you must do to satisfy yourself and her. Also, to save your people and hers."
He woke Vana after his grandmother had floated backward into the mists. He insisted they they go into another room of the vessel, where their talking would not disturb anybody. There he told her of his dream.
"So, you see that she has found the solution. We will tell our tribes that there is a way out from the death that grows closer with each circuit of The Dark Beast. We will tell them that our two tribes must become one. That way, we have no troublesome dispute, and we save our people and our children for generations to come. We will lead them here and pass through to a better world."
"You're crazy!" Vana said. "They would never listen to us!"
Sloosh, hearing about this during breakfast, had a similar reaction. After thinking about it for some time, though, he said that perhaps the idea wasn't so bad after all.
"You two alone ca
"Why should you do that? It'll be a long, hard, and dangerous journey."
"I have nothing else to do except wait for my people. In fact, I don't even have to do that. They're capable of going through the gateway without my aid. However, I do plan on trying to get the locals to go through it, too."
"I still don't understand," Vana said. "Why are you so intent on saving humans? They're a danger to you here. And if they go to that other world, they will be dangerous there. They might even try to exterminate the Archkerri."
"True. I'm acting on something you don't understand because you're a tribal creature. I have a much broader and more humane attitude. Humans are sentients. Therefore, however inferior they may be to us
Archkerri, they are still our brothers. I will try to save even the Yawtl people if I get a chance.
"Also, let's say that I'm paying a debt. It was the humans who made us vegetable sentients. It was done when humans had a great civilization and were, in many ways, as wise and humane as we. If it hadn't been for them, we would never have existed. So ... I'm acting out of gratitude. Can you understand that?"
"No," Deyv said. "But I'm glad that you feel that way."
"I will teach you and your kind how to feel as I do."