DARK IS THE SUN

Deyv said, "We released Be'nyar to show our good faith."

"She is of no importance," Diknirdik said.

"Very well then," Deyv said. "I'll come in alone and talk to you. This shouting is wearing my throat out

And my neck hurts from looking up."

Vana said, "You shouldn't! Once they have you in their power—"

"That's all right," The Shemibob said. "If he dares that, then they'll think he's not the least bit worried about them."

The shaman said, "No, you stay out there. The gate will be opened a little, and we can talk to each other from each side of it."

There was, however, a long delay. Finally, the sound of a massive wooden bar being pulled came to

Deyv. Slowly, the gate swung open. When there was a gap of two feet, the shaman appeared in it. Deyv could see the shamans from the other tribes behind him and many men with spears and blowguns.

Beyond them was the head of the statue of Tsi'kzheep, and ranged in line on both sides of it were the wooden heads of the great founders of the other tribes. Be'nyar had said that these were brought along to the host village during the Trading Season.

A stench of unwashed bodies and unburied excrement floated through the gap. The Shemibob was right.

Conditions were so bad in the overcrowded place that sheer desperation would soon drive them out.

The Shemibob came up behind Deyv. Diknirdik backed quickly, saying, "Tell her to get awayl"

The snake-centaur laughed, causing the shaman to jump. She retired while Deyv asked, "Is it all right for the woman and the baby to stand with me? They can't hurt you!"

Stung by the sarcasm, the shaman bit his lip, but he said, "Yes. Why do you need her, though?"

"She speaks your language better than I do. She can tell me the right word if I forget it"

When Vana stood by Deyv, the shaman looked thoughtful. Was he pla

Deyv said, "Listen," and he went into his prepared speech. He told them about the inevitable destruction of their planet and explained how the gateway might be a means of escape. During this there were many gasps and cries of wonder and sometimes of dubiety from those behind the gate. He still had to shout to make himself understood above the voices of the interpreters, mostly the shamans, who were translating to the non-Chaufi'ng.

When he'd finished, he drank from the gourd handed him by Vana. Then he said, "You must have many questions. I'll answer those which are relevant. I am tired of standing, however. Bring stools for me and my woman."

This was done speedily. The stools were handed through by a warrior, Diknirdik being above such menial work. Deyv decided that it would be carrying arrogance too far if he didn't say thanks. Besides, that might make his listeners more at ease.

"That is a very interesting tale," the shaman said, "though I understand little of it. I won't say that you are lying, since I don't want to offend you. But this thing about The Shimmering Demon is hard to believe. We know that it is not an entrance to another world, unless you call the stomach of the demon another world, and it may well be. It is not, however, a world where we would care to be.

"Could it be that you've been sent by the demon to lure us into its mouth?"

"Would we go into the shimmering if it was the mouth of a demon?"

"You would if you were its friends and it used you to get people to eat."

Sloosh buzzed, "The shaman is very logical within his own framework of thought."

Deyv said, "We've come here because we want to save at least some human beings. We don't want mankind to die out. That is our only reason. My woman and I would like to join your tribe, be of your people, since our own tribes are gone."

Diknirdik swallowed and said, "There is another reason why we can't go with you. The hill where the demon lives is forbidden ground."

"Then break the taboo!" Deyv said. "It was based on the wrong assumption, on your ignorance. There is no demon there!"

The shaman looked around as if he were drawing courage from those near him.

"Oh, we couldn't do that. It would anger our ancestors. They would haunt us forever; they would do bad things to us in this life and the next. Be'nyar disobeyed their will, so we had to punish her. She was killed while you were in your—uh, thing. And her body was eaten by the dogs."

45

DEYV awoke once and went outside for a look around. The contrast between the silence in the vessel and the din outside was startling. The villagers were certainly not sleeping. Drums beat, flutes shrilled, and chanting in six tongues soared upward and fell down the hill. Smoke from a large fire rose from the center of the stockade. The gate was closed; the only observer was a man on top of the bamboo tower.

He must have seen Deyv step out of the vessel. He would, however, have difficulty making himself heard above the uproar.

"I hope your ancestors tell you the right thing to do," Deyv muttered. He went inside, closing the door after him, and he lay down. After some tossing and turning, he slipped into a dreamless sleep.

Some time afterward, he felt the floor lift and fall. He was safe, however, unless the earth opened wide enough to swallow the craft. He closed his eyes but quickly opened them. There had been only one movement. What kind of a temblor was that?

By then The Shemibob was out of her room.

"Did you feel it?"

"Yes."

He got up and swung the door out a few inches. A yell from many throats greeted him. A spear shot over his shoulder and thudded against the wall behind him.

He caught a look at a dozen fierce faces near him and beyond them a horde digging a deep wide hole in the side of the hill. He shut the door and turned wide-eyed toward The Shemibob.

"I think they're going to bury usl"

By then the others were awake. The baby began crying. Deyv told Vana to take her where she wouldn't be disturbed.

"Not until I know what's going on!"

He told her what he'd seen.

She said, "I'll be back as soon as I've fed and changed Keem."

The Shemibob picked up the spear. "They mean business. They must have worked themselves into a frenzy to attack us, though."

Sloosh buzzed the equivalent of the human snort.

"Ancestors? Their ancestors are themselves telling themselves what they want to hear! It's my opinion that they also drugged themselves, all of them, so they could get their courage up."

"It doesn't matter why now," the snake-centaur said. "It's what they're doing that counts. Also, what we do."

There seemed to be only two choices. They could stay inside and be buried. Eventually, since the power supply was low, the air-making machine would quit, and they'd be asphyxiated. Or they could storm out, hoping to scare the people into taking refuge in the stockade again.

"I think we'd be dead before they had a chance to get frightened," Deyv said.

The plant-man said that there was only one way to test that speculation.

"We have to do something quick," Deyv said. "That hole looked like if s about half-done. All six tribes must be working on it. It's mud, easy to dig."

"Ah, well," Sloosh said. "This is what I deserve for trying to save the unsavable."

There was silence for a while. Sloosh was leaning up against a wall, his eyes shut. The Shemibob stood on her forty feet, swaying slightly, silvery eyelids half-closed, her fingers steepled. Deyv was sitting with his back against the wall, a physical simile of the situation they were in.

What to do? What to do?

He could put hiiriself into a sleep and try to summon his grandmother again. However, she had said she would come no more, and she might be angry if he summoned her. If he was to get a good idea, he would have to do it by himself. The Shemibob and the Archkerri, the higher beings, were as empty of fruitful thought as he.