Maybe that nardy captain was right! And the whole Siwannese mess was a travesty, perpetrated by cowards moral and physical, on an apathetic, indolent majority.
Spacedep had made a mistake. Maybe Codep could force them to – no, Alreldep was also involved. Was there any chance that Alreldep could be made to bargain? There was that other continent. We could go there and let the Hrrubans keep this one.
His eyes, sweeping desperately across the valley he coveted, stopped at the Bridge. The Bridge – his shoulders sagged in resignation, aware of the futility of his hopes and his position.
History had taught too many lessons in which man-imposed boundaries were broken; solemnly sworn treaties were abrogated and the honest intentions of one generation put aside by the exigencies of the next.
A groan, the inadvertent protest welling from the bottom of his soul, escaped him. He felt the velvety touch of Hrrula's hand on his arm and turned, puzzled.
“Oh, here, I'll take Todd. He must be heavy,” he said quickly, only just aware that Todd was riding Hrrula pickaback.
Hrrula backed off, shaking his head.
“The child is not heavy. Not as heavy as your spirit, Rrev,” the Hrruban said. “Is it because the ship is gone and you will see no more of your fellows?”
“We will see our fellows again when we leave Doona.”
“Leave Doona? Oh, Rrala, you mean. But why must you leave?”
“You are here,” Reeve repeated wearily. He eased himself to the ground, propping his rifle against a convenient boulder.
Hrrula, curling his tail around Todd's leg, hunkered down and waited. Todd watched his father solemnly over the furry shoulder.
“Believe me, Hrrula, our people saw no trace of yours. You have no idea what a shock you gave us.”
Delicately extending one arching claw, Hrrula scratched behind his ear thoughtfully. When Hrrula looked around again, Ken was sure he was chuckling, the wheeze of his mirth barely audible.
“'You have no idea, Rrev, the shock you gave us when you entered our village,” and Hrrula shook with his amusement. “After all,” he added with curious haste, “we've been here long enough to know the world has no bareskins.”
“I don't wish to offend you but there are many things that puzzle me,” Ken went on, hoping to catch Hrrula in a non-evasive mood. “We have wondered if your people sleep through the long winter in some protected place. That would explain why we saw no sign of you. But how did you take your homes with you?”
“If we do not object to your presence here, why do your elders?” Hrrula countered.
Evasion again, Reeve sighed to himself. «Because of the nature and history of my race,» he said aloud and waved toward the colony across the river. «Look at that bridge. We have all we need on the other side – right now.» Reeve paused, trying to explain abstract philosophy in his still limited Hrruban vocabulary. «But soon, because we are inherently greedy, we will want something that can be found only on your side and we will cross that bridge.»
“The bridge was built by Hrruban and Hayuman,” Hrrula remarked, looking at Reeve through half-closed eyes. “At Hrruban insistence. Yes, even then I understood that you did not want the bridge. We,” and his furry thumb jabbed at his sleek chest, “wanted the bridge. Far better than the little boat, particularly when the river runs fast and full.”
Reeve shook his head vehemently. “How can you understand why I am against the bridge? I don't have the words to tell you.”
Hrrula's jaw dropped into a grin and this time he pointed to the oddly silent boy draped on his back. “I will listen very carefully, as Zodd does, if you will explain.”
“All right,” and Reeve sat determinedly forward. “Our people are very old. We have kept records of what has happened between our tribes. When one tribe has something another one wishes, and the first tribe has many strong young men with long knives, they attack the other village and take the things they want.”
“That's silly,” Todd remarked. “Everyone gets the same as anybody else; even in Codep Block.”
"That wasn't always the case, Todd, and don't interrupt," Ken ordered. He tempered his reproof with the knowledge that these Hrrubans found Todd unusual and it might be politic not to reprimand the boy too forcefully in front of Hrrula. "We've made an effort on Earth to be sure everyone gets the necessities of life: food, shelter, clothes – " he ignored Todd's contemptuous monosyllable. "Once we found a lovely world, with a gentle people on it who welcomed us. But we did not understand their language completely – we didn't listen," and in spite of himself Ken grinned at Todd. "We had much they lacked and tried to impose our wealth on them. We didn't understand that they felt they had all they needed for a good life. And then, through no conscious design of ours, the people all – died. All of them. Every one of them. So, with terrible guilt and shame, our elders made it a first rule that this must not happen again on any other world among the stars.
«So – we do not stay on a world which already has its own people.» Ken found that he could not continue. It was a pain in his chest, this wanting to stay on Doona, all the time knowing that he had to go.
“But you do not want anything in our village,” Hrrula was saying, as he absently stroked Todd's arm. “Every day we learn to understand each other better. We have eaten bread together, worked shoulder to shoulder on a bridge. Our women have met and liked your women. We both raise our young to respect traditions. Why then should you have to leave? It is not our wish that you go.”
«No! We must go!» and Ken forced the words out. «Today I killed a mda with this,» and he brandished the rifle. «Tomorrow, or a hundred tomorrow's from now, something might happen to make me kill – you. I prefer to leave before such an occasion arises.»
Hrrula's jaw dropped. “Forgive me, Rrev, but the mda was already struck to the heart by my spear.”
There was a certain cockiness in the Hrruban's humorous assertion that drew a chuckle from Ken. Well, these Hrrubans had more than once demonstrated a ready humor.
“You have said to me what is in your heart, Rrev,” Hrrula went on, his voice little more than a purr. He didn't look at the colonist, apparently more interested in the pattern he was drawing with one claw in the dust, a series of lines and circles. “I will keep your words in my heart for it is honorable not to covet what belongs to another. Rules are made to protect, not restrict.” Hrrula looked up from his pattern, saw that Ken was watching him. He let the design stay for another long moment and then erased it with a decisive sweep. “There are many things to be considered.”
He rose abruptly, hitching Todd to a more comfortable position. He struck out down the hill, leaving Reeve no option but to follow.
Pat had obviously been watching, for as they came down the last rise to the bridge, she raced across to meet them. Dutifully she tried to relieve Hrrula of Todd but the Hrruban backed away from her, and Todd clung tightly to his neck. She stepped back, blinking, uncertain what to do.
“What has he done now?” she asked in a sad, soft voice.
“He wanted to see Hrriss,” Ken replied laconically. “What's all that about?” and he indicated the waiting groups.
Pat caught at her lip and leaned into Ken for comfort. He readily embraced her, taking delight in the feel of her body against his. Hrrula passed them, striding across the bridge.
“The message capsule came in and Hu Shih and Lee are closeted with it. They want you to join them.”
“When did the ship leave? Did the message . . .”
Pat flushed and grinned. “No, the ship left just before the approach alarm went off.”
“What's funny?”
"Well, the captain was trying to pry more of the local leaf out of Abe Dautrish's stores when a crewman rushed in and garbled off a series of numbers. Kiachif got the crew rounded up and into that ship before you could say 'acceleration.' " Pat stifled a giggle. "The ship's radar has a longer reach than the alarm." She giggled again. "I believe the captain's last words to Abe Dautrish were to the effect that cold sober he couldn't take another ninety days of that child."