Decision at Doona Read online

  Gripping his rifle in both hands, Reeve wove rapidly through the trees at a lope. He broke through the forest, onto the rocky edge of the river which foamed and tumbled over the boulders in its bed. Where the river started to turn back again toward the village, a moving speck caught his eye. Hastily adjusting the binoculars, Reeve saw the shaggy brown body of a huge mda, pacing up and down the verge, snarling and coughing. The animal paused, started to step out onto an upthrust boulder, but the distance was too great and the current too swift. Snarling with frustration, the mda resumed its nervous pacing. The object of its interest was a small figure, crouched on a boulder some ten feet out in the stream. It was Todd, hugging his knees up under his chin, evidently hoping that if he made himself small enough he would he rendered invisible.

  Frantic, Reeve checked the range. It was too great for an accurate shot and he couldn't risk a wounded mda loose in the forest so close to the Hrruban village. Todd seemed safe enough, although how he had made it to the rock was beyond Ken.

  Ducking and dodging, stumbling over decayed limbs and rocks, Reeve closed the distance between himself and his son. The snarling cough of the hungry mda became louder. Reeve was grateful that he was downwind from the beast and that the rushing river covered the sound of his hell-bent advance. He paused to catch his breath, because he realized he was panting with fear and exertion. The sinking feeling, cold and heavy in his guts, constantly overrode discretion, urging him to greater speed.

  He could see the mda clearly now. Again the animal put out a tentative paw, settling his hindquarters as if to spring. With a coughing snarl, he ducked his head, swaying back and forth from side to side, still undecided. Ken could now see the fallen tree trunk half-caught between the first stone and the one on which Todd crouched. God, the child had had sense enough to dislodge the log after he'd crossed it.

  Suddenly the mda froze, turned his wide skull upriver. The snarling stopped. Something else was approaching from the village side and the bear had caught the smell. The predator crouched and began to slink from the edge of the river. Reeve trained his glasses on the forest but he could see nothing. Disregarding the necessity for quiet, Reeve plunged on, taking the safety off his rifle as he ran. The village could not be far away and the Hrrubans had only rudimentary weapons. Hrrula had told him they always hunted in small groups, leaving the mdas and another carnivore they called ssorasos alone. They did not, apparently, hunt for sport. A single person, a woman perhaps, coming to the river edge for water unsuspecting, would be easy, quick prey for the hungry, angry mda. Reeve, struggling for a second wind, broke out of the forest onto the ledge opposite Todd. The boy sprang to his feet with a sobbing cry of relief. Reeve waved reassurance and plunged on just as he heard the mda's charging roar. A terrible scream broke the stillness of the morning. Reeve, bursting into a small glade, took the scene in at a glance. The mda lay, writhing on the forest floor, trying to dislodge the spear in its shoulder. Just beyond it, Hrrula stood, a second spear raised and ready.

  Reeve, shooting as he moved forward, emptied the rifle into the mda in a wild fit of relief, anger and fear.

  Hrrula and he stood looking down at the twitching corpse, the one with spear poised, the other with a smoking rifle.

  “I heard the beast coughing and knew he had something trapped,” Hrrula said. “It filled me with concern to see it was Zodd.”

  Reeve, trembling with reaction, nodded weakly.

  “It was a deed of great bravery,” he managed to say, a tremor in his voice he couldn't control, “for certainly your life is worth more than that of a child.”

  Reeve was amazed at the savagery in his tone when he spoke of Todd. Hrrula looked at him with an expression akin to dismay.

  “Is it not true in your world that a leader is known early by even his childish actions?”

  “Leader? Todd? No! Troublemaker, yes!”

  Hrrula smiled, leaning against the spear he had grounded.

  “The father of my mother's mate, Hrral, and Hrrestan, spoke most highly of your youngest.”

  Reeve snorted, annoyed that these natives could see something in his child that he did not.

  A thin cry of “Daddy,” uncertain and frightened, came from the direction of the river. As one, the two moved off to rescue the child of whom the Hrrabans thought so highly.

  Chapter XIII. RED LETTER DAY

  BY THE TIME Ken and Hrrula had found a log and thrust it out across the supporting boulders to Todd, Hrrestan and other catmen had joined them, roused by the cries of the mda and the shots.

  White-faced, Todd scrambled across the log, his rope tail dangling into the river. Reeve gripped the small shoulders tightly and gave the child a fierce shake, the urge to beat him soundly postponed by the presence of an audience.

  “You're lucky you weren't killed, you little fool,” Reeve said between clenched teeth.

  “I was all right out there,” Todd replied stoutly. “But I got scareded that Hrrula'd get killed. He only had a spear.”

  "If he had been killed, young man," and Reeve broke off significantly, shaking Todd. "Can you understand what would happen?" Can you?"

  “We'd have to leave Doona?” Todd cried, tears unexpectedly starting down his cheeks.

  “We'd have to leave,” Reeve reaffirmed, expressionlessly. How could he explain to a six-year-old the colonists' dilemma.

  “I only wanted to see Hrriss,” Todd cried with plaintive snuffling.

  God give me patience, thought Reeve, he is only a child!

  Todd sneezed, looking cold and small with the tall men of both races towering over him. Reeve's mood switched from frustrated resentment to concern.

  “The child is cold and must be warmed. Come now to our fire and eat with us,” Hrrestan offered them graciously.

  Todd planted himself squarely in front of Hrrula, looking up at the young Hrruban, tugging at his hand for attention.

  “Hrrula, please forgive me for nearly getting you killed. Don't make us leave Doona,” he said earnestly although his teeth were chattering.

  Hrrula hunkered down to Todd's eye level, one hand under the boy's chin. “First, promise never to walk in the woods alone again,” he demanded.

  “I promise, oh, I promise,” Todd agreed fervently, his eyes wide and solemn.

  “Good,” purred Hrrula, releasing the square little chin and standing up.

  When they had started off toward the village, Todd wrapped in his jacket and cradled in his arms, Reeve realized that the Hrruban had made his demand to the child in good Terran. Before he could pursue this, the women had rushed out with much purring and hissing over Todd.

  Reeve was glad enough to sit in front of a warm fire and let its warmth ease the tension in his body. He didn't protest the delay when the women insisted that Todd be given a warm bath and be dressed in a furry robe. He enjoyed the thick soupy beverage that was served him, delighting in its aromatic vapor and the feeling of well-being it spread through his system.

  Then there was the matter of skinning and gutting the mda. Ken tried to mask the revulsion he felt during the process, particularly since the business was done under Todd's fascinated eyes. At first pleased that the boy did not disgrace them by becoming ill, Reeve turned mildly surprised at Todd's detachment as the carcass of his former hunter was butchered and hung.

  Todd grinned at Hrriss with pleasure when Hrrula told him, in Hrruban now, that the skin would be cured for Todd's use.

  At least, Ken thought grimly, the skin would provide enough credit to soundproof a room for Todd back on Earth.

  Hrrula then cut thick steaks from the flank, rolling them up in the wide leaves of a river plant for Reeve to bring home.

  Reluctant to leave this pleasant scene, Reeve was finally roused by the unmistakable roar of a blast-off. He grinned to himself in sudden relief and self-awareness; by God, he'd been procrastinating in an unconscious desire not to be jerked away from Doona a moment sooner than necessary. And now that Hu Shih hadn't been able to persuade Ki
achif to remain until the Codep reply arrived, they had another reprieve.

  “Todd, we've got to get home. That was Kiachif's ship leaving.”

  Todd nodded solemnly but clung to Hrriss's tail. As if looking for a cue, Hrriss turned to Hrrestan. The Hrruban growled a brief spate of sound at the cub, who hung his head sadly. Gently but firmly he uncurled Todd's fingers from his tail and put the hand down at Todd's side. He flipped his tail straight out behind him.

  “Tomorrow?” asked Todd with plaintive resignation.

  Hrriss's eyes flicked back to his father, saw the assent and his jaw dropped in a smile. Todd's face lit up beatifically and he moved to his father's side.

  “I have promised the big one (the Hrruban description of Ben) to help with the hrrsses,” Hrrula said to Reeve as he accompanied them out of the village after the farewells required by Hrruban etiquette.

  Reeve grinned back at the Hrruban, amused by the catman's obsession with horses. Since they'd probably have to leave the beasts here, they'd be well cared-for. Maybe, even – Ken cut off that half-formed thought. He set a pace easy enough for Todd to follow and the three moved along in a companionable silence.

  The moment they reached Saddle Ridge, Reeve sensed something else must have happened down at the colony. There was no activity in the clearing by the river or among the houses. He held up his binoculars and, training them on the Common, brought into focus the colonists sitting in small groups at the tables, obviously waiting.

  He tried to tell himself that perhaps Hu Shih had ordered a day of rest for everyone to recuperate from yesterday's feverish unloading and last night's festivities. But these people weren't laughing or enjoying themselves. They were waiting anxiously.

  “The sky ship has left,” Hrrula said at Ken's shoulder.

  “Yes, thank God,” Reeve sighed, lowering his glasses. But, he told himself, it is only a reprieve by any stretch of the imagination, won by a conniving captain. But Ken was grateful.

  If the message capsule had arrived before the ship had left . . .

  Reeve swung around to look back at the hills. Christ, he and his could live comfortably in those hills. Caves had been found. It'd be hard, dangerous, but anything was better than a return to the constrictions of over-crowded earth. Let those who liked that sort of semi-existence, regimented, regulated, restricted, have it. His eyes had had to learn to see distances. He could no longer entertain the thought of shortening his vision to the confines of the standard 10 x 12 room in an apartment warren or the straight, short horizon of a Corridor or Hall. He lengthened his stride, an unconscious revolt against a return to a planet where a free-swinging stride was a social insult.

  Christ, social insult? The whole structure on Earth was one social indignity after another heaped on its members. And to what end?

  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,” Hrrul
a 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.