Dark Universe

Then he jolted erect. Now he remembered what the round object in the broken end of the tube reminded him of! It was a miniature version of the Holy Bulb used during religious services!

And he shook his head in bewilderment. What sense did that fool paradox make? Wasn’t the Holy Bulb associated with Light — with goodness and virtue — rather than with hideous, evil monsters?

His remaining periods in the Upper Level were uneventful to the point of monotony. He found the people not at all friendly. Their experience with the monsters had left them apprehensive and distant. More than once his words had gone unheard while quickened heartbeats reflected lingering fear.

If it hadn’t been for Della’s presence, he might have returned home before his scheduled departure. As it was, though, the girl was a challenging enigma.

She stuck close by all the while. And the friendship she extended was so profuse that he often felt her hand slipping into his as she took him about the world acquainting him with the people.

On one occasion Della added to the mystery when she paused and whispered, “Jared, are you hiding something?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I’m a pretty good marksman myself, don’t you think?”

“With rocks — yes.” He decided to nudge her on.

“And I’m the one who found that thing the monsters left behind.”

“So?”

Her face was turned eagerly toward his and be studied her in the sound of the central caster. When he said nothing more, he heard her breathing become heavy with exasperation.

She turned to walk away but be caught her arm. “What do you think I’m biding, Della?”

But her mood had changed. “Whether or not you’ve decided to Declare Unification Intentions.”

That she was lying had been obvious.

Yet, throughout the final two periods she seemed to hang onto everything he said, as though his next words might be the very ones she wanted to hear. Even up to the moment of his departure her disposition was one of restrained expectancy.

They were standing by the ma

“Jared, it isn’t fair to hold anything back.”

“Like what?”

“Like why you can — hear so well.”

“The Prime Survivor spent all his time training me to—”

“You’ve told me all about that,” she reminded impatiently. “Jared, if we’re of the same mind after Withdrawal and Contemplation, we’ll be Unified. It wouldn’t be right to keep secrets then.”

Just when he was at the point of demanding to know what she was driving at, Lorenz walked up with a bow slung over his shoulder.

“Before you leave,” he said, “I thought you might give me a few pointers on archery.”

Jared accepted the bow and quiver, wondering why Lorenz should suddenly want to improve his marksmanship. “Very well, I don’t hear anybody over on the range.”

“Oh, but the children will be playing there in a few beats,” the Adviser dissented. “Listen at the orchard. Can you hear that tall ma

“I hear it.”

“There’s a fruit shell on the highest stalk. It ought to make a good enough target.”

Backing well away from the vapors of the nearest boiling pit, Jared rattled a pair of clickstones. “With a stationary target,” he explained, “you first have to sound it out clearly. The central caster doesn’t give a precise impression.”

He strung an arrow. “Then it’s important not to move your feet, since you’re oriented only in your original position.”

Releasing the bowstring, he listened to the arrow pass more than two arm lengths above the shell.

Surprised that he should miss by that much, he sounded the stones again. But from the corner of his hearing he caught Lorenz’s reaction. The Adviser’s expression was one of nearly irrepressible excitement. Della, too, wore an almost ecstatic tone on her face.

Why should they be overjoyed because he had failed to hit the shell? Bewildered, he strung another arrow and let it fly.

It went astray by the same distance.

Now the Adviser and the girl sounded even more jubilant. But Lorenz exuded triumph, whereas Della seemed intenseiy gratified.

He missed with two more shots before he wearied of their incomprehensible game. A

Then he stopped short. Abruptly he heard everything clearly. He knew why Lorenz had reacted as he had when the arrows missed — even why the archery exhibition had been arranged in the first place.

In order to protect his status as Adviser, Lorenz was intent on disqualifying him from Unification with Della. What better way than to prove him a Zivver?

The Adviser must have known Zivvers couldn’t ziv in the heat of an orchard-hot springs area. And, since Jared had consistently missed the target there, Lorenz must now be certain he was a Zivver.

But what was the girl’s interest? Evidently she also knew of the Zivvers’ limitation. And she had recognized what the test might prove, even though she may not have known it was contrived specifically for that purpose.

But, then, she had actually been elated over his failure to hit the shell. Why?

“Jared! Jared!”

He listened to Della ru

She caught his arm. “You don’t have to tell me now. I know. Oh, Jared, Jared! I never dreamed anything like this would happen!”

She drew his head down and kissed him.

“You know — what?” he asked, drawing her out.

She went on effusively, “Don’t you hear I suspected it all along — from the moment you threw the spears? And when I brought you that tube the monster dropped I all but said I had found it by its heat. I couldn’t make the first move, though — not until I was certain you were a Zivver too.”

From the depths of his astonishment, he managed to ask, “Too?”

“Yes, Jared. I’m a Zivver — just like you.”

The Captain of the Official Escort came over from the entrance. “We’re ready whenever you are.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Rigid self-discipline was customary in Withdrawal and Contemplation. So crucial a decision called for searching introspection. For Unification automatically meant full Survivorship — a double measure of responsibility. Then too, one so dedicated also had to concern himself with the demanding obligations of Procreating and Familiarization of Progeny.

These considerations were far from Jared’s mind over the next few periods, however, as he meditated in the silence of his heavily curtained grotto. He thought of Della — yes. But certainly not in the sound of normal Unification. Rather, his speculation centered on the significance of her being a Zivver. How had she managed to conceal that fact? And what were her intentions?

At that, though, the situation was not without humor. There was Lorenz — on a Zivver hunt. And all the while he had one right beside his ear! As far as Jared was concerned, the girl would be conveniently available for counteraccusation should the Adviser ever decide to accuse him of being a Zivver.

If he so chose, he could expose her any time he wanted. But what would he gain? Anyway, the fact that she thought he was a Zivver made for an interesting situation and he was anxious to hear what would come of it.

This line of thought invariably led to conjecture on the nature of zivving. What magical power was it that permitted one to know where things were in total silence and in the absence of odors? Or, like his imaginary Little Listener, did Zivvers hear some sort of soundless noise made by all things, animate and inanimate alike? Then he remembered it wasn’t sound at all, but heat that they zivved.