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'Then I suggest that you curb your emotions and work harder,' Gribardsun said. 'Now, I prescribe a tranquilizer for you, but not while you're on the way home. You'll need to be as alert as possible.
Drummond agreed to take the pill when he got back to home camp. He also promised to radio the camp every five minutes so his progress could be checked. And he set out across the deep snow.
Silverstein did not get to the Wota'shaimg camp until late that afternoon. Gribardsun received from von Billma
Von Billma
By the time Gribardsun arrived, late that evening, Drummond seemed to be out of physical danger. But it was evident next morning that he was suffering from more than physical shock. He did not recognize anybody; he seemed to have gone back to the age of twelve. He was a youth on the third level of Budapest, and his mother was dying. He spoke much in Mandarin Chinese, which his mother had taught him. She was half Chinese and had been born in Lin Shiang and lived there thirteen years before her family went to Budapest in one of those massive interchanges of population which took place during the early part of the twenty-first century and still occurred to a lesser extent.
'Here's another obligation for you,' Rachel said as she led him into the conical hut.
All Gribardsun could do at that time was to examine him and commend Robert von Billma
Since Drummond could not be moved yet, Gribardsun returned in two days to the other tribe, the Shluwg, as they called themselves. He supervised the care of Drummond through the transceiver at various times of the day. The rest of the time, he studied the Shluwg language and also worked out a means of communicating by signs. He succeeded in putting across his intentions and then, leaving them to think things over, he went back to the Wota'shaimg camp. There he performed several operations on Drummond; he replaced the destroyed bone with plastic so that the shoulder would be almost as good as new. When they returned to their time, the plastic could be replaced with bone.
Drummond was sitting up and walking by then. But he was still withdrawn.
The day came when the Shluwg tribe marched into the area next to the Wota'shaimg camp. The Bear People were prepared for this and so, though they were not friendly, they were not hostile either. They did not approve of Gribardsun's idea of amalgamation of the two groups. But they would do as he suggested and try to get along with the strangers.
To do this it was necessary to set up cha
Seven
One fine su
The blood taken from the Gibraltar tribes was heavily B and slightly A, with four individuals who were O. This presented a puzzling picture. The answer, if it would ever be found, would probably come after all data was brought back to the twenty-first century.
The two tribes marched on across the land bridge which, at that time, was over six miles wide. They entered North Africa and continued along the coast eastward. The coast was about four to five hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean as the twenty-first century knew it. The group moved slowly, because the three scientists were busy taking specimens and measurements. As the scientific collection increased, more people had to be detailed to carry the growing bulk of information. And that meant that the work of the bearers had to be parceled out among the others. As a result, Gribardsun had to spend more time hunting with the rifle to feed the mob. But he also had to devote extra time to the scientific work, since Silverstein was incapable of performing his duties.
The total range of duties kept Gribardsun working from dawn or before until far past supper. But he was an excellent administrator, in that he knew the value of letting his inferiors share the burden.
'I learned that in His Majesty's Service,' he told Rachel.
'His? But...
'I meant Her Majesty's, of course.'
'Even so,' Rachel said, 'that would make you born...'
It was just a matter of speaking,' he said. 'One of the archaic phrases of which I'm so fond. I meant, in the government service, of course. But I learned that if you don't want to kill yourself with work and worry, you delegate responsibility.'
'You should be exhausted,' she said. 'But you took fresh as ever. I'm the one who's dying of overwork and lack of sleep, and yet my duties are as nothing compared to yours.'
'You're worried about Drummond.'
'Yes. It's all over between us. And he may even have tried to - well, he did try to kill me, and I believe he tried to kill you. But he was mentally ill. He couldn't help himself. I don't hate him. I just don't love him any more. Yet, I feel responsible for him. Sorry for him, I suppose. I can understand him. I sometimes feel that I'm going insane myself. I just can't get a strong grip on reality. If this is reality. It all seems so dreamlike and too often nightmarish. Sometimes I think I'll scream if I don't see something familiar. I know it's blasphemy, from a scientific viewpoint, but I wish that we could return to our time tomorrow. I'd chuck all that has to be learned for a chance to climb aboard and know that in a few minutes I'd be back in the twenty-first century.'
'This reaction - this temporal shock - is just as valuable a datum as anything we'll bring back,' he said. 'I hope it won't cause time travel to be abandoned. I doubt it, since only one of us is very much incapacitated, and we can't prove that that happened because of temporal dislocation. In any event, you can be sure that those chosen for future expeditions will be much more deeply tested. But,' he added, smiling, 'it will be too late for anybody on this expedition.'
'Why do you smile?'
'I'll tell you some day.'
The two tribes moved on along the coast of Morocco. Though it was cold, often below freezing, and snow fell, the climate was not as rigorous as in Iberia. They marched more swiftly, but their halts were longer, since the three scientists had enough to do to keep them in each area for six months. They took thousands of photographs, made maps of the coastal areas, took samples of the soil and the water and specimens of flora and fauna, from local bacteria and amoeba and earthworms up to the elephants. They could not take the elephant bodies with them, of course, but Gribardsun and Rachel Silverstein did random dissections and preserved tissue slides. They made Carbon-14 and xenonargon datings on the spot with their equipment. They fished and then studied specimens before giving them over to the cooks.