Part 2

In the hours that followed, I came to know the soft footsteps of Vauna. The caverns in which she and her father and all these Benzendella people lived were pleasantly warm and fragrant. My misty impressions of their life about me were like the first impressions of a child learning about the world into which he has been born.

Sometimes I would hear Vauna and her attendant Omosla talking together. Often when Campbell would stop in this part of the cavern to inquire about me, Omosla would drop in also. She and Campbell were learning to converse in simple words. And Vauna and I--yes. If I could only avoid blacking out.

I wanted to see her.

So often my eyes would refuse to open. A thousand nightmares. Space ships shooting through meteor swarms. Stars like eyes. Eyes like stars. The eyes of Vauna, the daughter of Tomboldo. The sensitive stroke of Vauna's fingers, brushing my forehead, pressing my hand.

I regained my health gradually.

"Are you quite awake?" Vauna would ask me in her musical Benzendella words. "You speak better today. Your friend Campbell has brought you more recordings of our language, so you can learn to speak more. My father is eager to talk with you. But you must sleep more. You are still weak."

It gave me a weird sensation to awaken in the night, trying to adjust myself to my surroundings. The Benzendellas were sleep-singers. By night they murmured mysterious little songs through their sleep. Strange harmonies whispered through the caves.

And if I stirred restlessly, the footsteps of Vauna might come to me through the darkness. In her sleeping garments she would come to me, faintly visible in the pink light that filtered through from some corridor. She would whisper melodious Benzendella words and tell me to go back to sleep, and I would drift into the darkness of my endless dreams.

The day came when I awakened to see both Vauna and her father standing before me. Stern old Tomboldo, with his chalk-smooth face and not a hint of an eyebrow or eyelash, rapped his hand against my ribs, shook the fiber bed lightly, and smiled. From a pocket concealed in his flowing cape, he drew forth the musical watch, touched the button, and played, "Trail of Stars."

"I have learned to talk," I said.

"You have had a long sleep."

"I am well again. See, I can almost walk." But as I started to rise, the wave of blackness warned me, and I restrained my ambition. "I will walk soon."

"We will have much to talk about. Your friend has pointed to the stars and told me a strange story of your coming. We have walked around the ship. He has told me how it rides through the sky. I can hardly make myself believe." Tomboldo's eyes cast upward under the strong ridge of forehead where the eyebrows should have been. He was evidently trying to visualize the flight of a space ship. "We will have much to tell each other."

"I hope so," I said. "Campbell and I came to learn about the _serpent river_." I resorted to my own language for the last two words, not knowing the Benzendella equivalent. _I_ made an eel-like motion with my arm. But they didn't understand. And before I could explain, the footsteps of other Benzendellas approached, and presently I looked around to see that quite an audience had gathered. The most prominent figure of the new group was the big muscular guard of the black and green diamond markings--Gravgak.

"You get well?" Gravgak said to me. His eyes drilled me closely.

"I get well," I said.

"The blow on the head," he said, "was not meant."

I looked at him. Everyone was looking at him, and I knew this was meant to be an occasion of apology. But the light of fire in Vauna's eyes told me that she did not believe. He saw her look, and his own eyes flashed darts of defiance. With an abrupt word to me, he wheeled and started off. "Get well!"

The crowd of men and women made way for him. But in the arched doorway he turned. "Vauna. I am ready to speak to you alone."

She started. I reached and barely touched her hand. She stopped. "I will talk with you later, Gravgak."

"Now!" he shouted. "Alone."

He stalked off. A moment later Vauna, after exchanging a word with her father, excused herself from the crowd and followed Gravgak.

From the way those in the room looked, I knew this must be a dramatic moment. It was as if she had acknowledged Gravgak as her master--or her lover. He had called for her. She had followed.

But her old father was still the master. He stepped toward the door. "Vauna!... Gravgak!... Come back."

(I will always wonder what might have happened if he hadn't called them! Was my distrust of Gravgak justified? Had I become merely a jealous lover--or was I right in my hunch that the tall muscular guard was a potential traitor?)

Vauna reappeared at once. I believe she was glad that she had been called back.

Gravgak came sullenly. At the edge of the crowd in the arched doorway he stood scowling.

"While we are together," old Tomboldo said quietly, looking around at the assemblage, "I must tell you the decision of the council. Soon we will move back to the other part of the world."

There were low murmurs of approval through the chamber.

"We will wait a few days," Tomboldo went on, "until our new friend--" he pointed to me--"is well enough to travel. We would never leave him here to the mercy of the savage ones. He and his helper came through the sky in time to save us from being destroyed. We must never forget this kindness. When we ascend the _Kao-Wagwattl_, the ever moving _rope of life_, these friends shall come with us. On the back of the Kao-Wagwattl _they shall ride with us across the land_."

5.

From that moment on, there was more buzzing around the caverns than a hive of bees. It was like a spaceport before the blastoff of a big interplanetary liner. The excitement was enough to cause a sick man to have a relapse--or get well in a hurry to join in on the commotion. I did my best to get well quick!

"Where is Campbell? Bring me my friend Campbell, please."

Omosla, the pretty attendant and companion of Vauna, was always glad, I noticed, to be sent on an errand to Split Campbell, wherever he was.

From all reports he was reinforcing the defenses at one point or another where these caverns led up to the surface. They told me he was a busy man. The attacks of the savage ones had grown more vicious. They had evidently learned that the Benzendellas intended to move back to other lands; so they had grown bold in their raids, attempting to steal not only the Benzendellas' treasurers but also their women. They had not been successful. My good lieutenant, navigator and scientist, equipped with capsule explosives, had blown one group of them into a fountain of dismembered arms and legs. I could just picture him hurling those miniature bombs at the split-second when they would create the most panic.

The Benzendellas had been quick to recognize a good thing. They only wished he were quadruplets or better, to stand guard continuously at many entrances. They brought him their rare foods, and furnished him with a comfortable couch; they offered him gifts. In short, they loved him for his efficiency, and for himself. Especially (according to the rumors that reached my ears) Omosla.

Pretty little Omosla, I fear, loved him with a love that might have overwhelmed a lesser man. But I knew that Split Campbell would not be swerved. He was devoted to duty, dignity, and the Code. The Code forbade intermarriage with the natives.

Why did I keep thinking of the Code? It shouldn't have crossed my thoughts so often. I hardly dared stop to ask myself what continually brought it to mind. But I knew. The flare of jealously I had felt when Gravgak had tried to call Vauna away from the crowd....

"You are feeling better, Captain?" Vauna said to me as she watched me pace the floor. "You find that you can walk, so you keep walking?"

"I need to walk so I can think."

"If you wish to think, you should sit out on the hillside at the time of sunset. You understand my words?"

"I understand," I smiled. Then, rashly, I added, "I understand your words. I don't always understand you."

"And you wish to understand me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

I could think of more answers than my vocabulary could handle. I said simply, "When I go back to my own world I should be able to say that I understand the people of this world."

"But you _do_ understand us. You see how we live. You hear how we talk. There." She pressed my hand. "That is all you need to understand, isn't it? I am the one who does not understand you."

"How do you mean?"

"I do not see how you live. I do not hear how you talk." She gave a little laugh. "Only see how you walk when you think, but I do not know what you think."

"I think about you," I said.

"That is very nice. I think about you, too, Jim. Since the night you saved us from the savage ones, I have thought about you."

I stopped walking in circles and looked at her. The soft light from the luminous rock walls gave an ivory tint to her bare shoulders. She wore a dress of soft woven material, designed with a diagonal line of little hand-painted sponge-trees. From the curve of her breasts to the lithe gracefulness of her thighs, the close-fitting garment accentuated her beauty.

She was backing away from me, smiling as if wondering if I would follow her. Her arms were bare except for the ornaments of fur around her elbows. These were evidently an insignia of Benzendella womanhood, for no woman of this realm was to be seen without them.

"Come," Vauna said, beckoning me. "Put your ear against the wall. What do you hear?"

She pressed her head against the wall and I did the same. Finally I made out the faint vibrations of some distant rumbling. I asked, "What is it?"

"Kao-Wagwattl."

"The round river that moves like a serpent?"

"It is an endless rope," she said. "It is life."

"Life?"

"It gathers water and food within itself. It gives life to those who seek life. It gives life--"

She stopped, and her pretty poetic expression vanished. My hands touched her hands, my fingers moved gently along her wrists, her forearms--then as my touch neared her fur-covered elbows, a look of shock came into her eyes. "Jim!"

"Yes, Vauna?"

"I was trying to tell you--"

"_What?_"

For a moment she only looked at me, searching my eyes. "We _don't_ understand each other, do we?"

Finally I said, "Then why don't we ask each other questions?"

"Yes.... Yes, ask me questions."

"All right." I had an impulse to start pacing again. I walked about for a moment. "Tell me, Vauna. When your friend Gravgak demanded that you come and talk with him alone, what would have happened if your father hadn't called you back?"

She smiled faintly. "I will tell you a secret, Jim. I had already made my father promise to call me back. I whispered to him, 'Call me back.'"

"Why?"

She gave an evasive little laugh. "You understand enough already. Now it is my question. Tell me, Captain Jim, why do you keep saying that you are going back to another world?"

"Because I am. That's my duty."

"When you ride with us on the Kao-Wagwattl you will come with us to another part of this world. It is more beautiful than here. We are only a few. Our race lives in the other part. My father came here only to study, but soon the Kao-Wagwattl will take us all back. And you and your friend Campbell will go with us and belong to us."

The self-discipline of an EGGWE agent is supposed to be his defense against any natives' invitations, no matter how beautiful or charming the native. All I could say was, "You don't understand us, do you, Vauna?"

"Don't I?"

"Your people I love. And you, Vauna. But our orders are to return. I must not think of disobeying my orders. And I assure you Campbell is one who would never disobey."

"The big silver shell will take you away from us?"

"Yes."

"You will remember me?"

"Yes, always."

"Thank you, Jim." She was weeping. I started to take her in my arms, but thought better of it. She dried her eyes. "I will remember you too. When I see Campbell and Omosla, I will have a dream of this hour, and how we didn't understand."

I was quick to make a correction. "You'll not be seeing Campbell. I'll have to take him back with me, you know."

"No, he will be here. It is our rule that he should stay."

"Why?"

"Because he has become the mate of our girl, Omosla."

I looked at her, not believing I had heard her words correctly. A fever swept my brain. In my own language I said harshly, "It's a lie! Campbell would never violate--"

"I do not understand your words," Vauna said softly.

Then in my broken Benzendella accents I asserted, calmly but decisively, "I don't believe what you say. I don't believe that Campbell has become the mate of Omosla."

"You will believe," Vauna said, "when Omosla's baby is born."

6.

I had already sent for Campbell. Mentally I chastized myself for having sent Omosla. For if what I had been told was true, his life had become complicated enough already. (I must admit that for the moment I had something less than proper consideration for _her_.)

Omosla didn't return from the errand for Campbell. Maybe the news of my concern for him had frightened her away. One of her friends told me that Campbell was out on the surface somewhere; that he couldn't be located just now. When he returned they would send him to _me_.

I then sought the counsel of Tomboldo.

"It can't be true, this story about Campbell," I said. "There's been some mistake."

Tomboldo's answer was soft spoken. "Much has happened. You have been ill for many weeks. You must take our word. Do you find the news not to your liking? Omosla is a devoted girl. And if our hero Campbell became her husband, all of us would be proud."

There was no use talking of the EGGWE Code to him, that was plain. All I could say at the moment was, "I'll talk with Campbell."

For the next few nights, after the whole cavern city seemed to be asleep, I would walk forth a little distance. This was more than pacing. It was a test of my strength and my wits, and most of all my confidence that I would not black out. It was proof to myself that I was a well man again. It was a willful act of striking out on my own purposes. I would find Campbell.

Each night I ventured a little farther. The artificial lights burned low. All was quiet. The luminous rock walls stared out from among the cavern furnishings. I walked steadily. I was getting used to the planet's stronger gravity. I was learning to like the sandals they had given me to wear, cushioned with shreds of sponge-tree vegetation.

Tonight as always I walked to the right from the arch, through one of Tomboldo's rooms, and on past the storage rooms. The way opened into a long amber-lighted tunnel. The city branched off in little tunneled avenues from this passageway. Would Campbell be found on guard tonight--this way--or this way--or--

I heard light footsteps, sounds of two persons somewhere in the distance. I moved back toward Tomboldo's part of the cave to wait until the ways had cleared.

Two men were coming through the corridor, conversing in low whispers.

I moved back into the shadows, scarcely breathing.

The glow of amber light from the corridor revealed them, silhouetted. The taller man was driving the smaller one ahead of him, threatening him with a short-bladed knife.

They slowed their steps. Their low whispers were audible.

"If you breathe a word I'll rip you." The agitated words of the tall guard, Gravgak. The light revealed the lines of green-and-black diamonds painted on his thighs.

The smaller man, also a guard, muttered, "Have I ever told anything?"

"You understand, then," said Gravgak. "If anything happens, you'll swear there was an intruder--one of the savages."

"I'll swear it. I'll say that I--"

"Say that he knocked you down and forced his way in. Like this!" Gravgak struck him with his fist. The guard tumbled in a heap against the cavern wall. He lay there, eyes closed. Gravgak tiptoed past my hiding place. His eyes glinted with purpose. He paused at Tomboldo's door, weighed the knife in his hand, then sheathed it. He went on toward Vauna's room.

I skipped to one side of the storage room where I had seen my equipment coat hanging. Without it I could have been no match for this man. My fingers caught it off the wall, I got into it as I hurried back. Automatically my hands checked the contents, everything in place--

Gravgak was conversing with Vauna through the partly opened door. "I told you I would come."

"You have no right. I told you--" There was strength, not fear, in Vauna's low voice.

"Your father means for me to win you, if necessary by force."

"You lie. Go or I'll sound the alarm."

"You are in love with that stranger." His voice trembled with rage. "See, you don't answer. If you want him to live, get rid of him. Send him back in his silver shell."

"You threaten my father's guest?"

"The great Tomboldo will not live long. I have heard the savages plan to come in some night soon and murder him."

At that instant old Tomboldo's voice sounded from the next room. "Who's there, Vauna?"

"Gravgak!" It was Gravgak himself who answered. "I came to protect you, Tomboldo. There's danger--"

Tomboldo's voice thundered with anger at this unaccountable intrusion. "What do you mean?"

"They mean to kill you, and if they do--"

"Who?"

"The savages. And if they succeed, I am your successor. Tell your daughter it's so. Tell her that if a knife blade descends from some dark corner--_look out_! Someone behind you!"

It was a ruse to cause old Tomboldo to whirl about and turn his back to Gravgak. Tomboldo didn't whirl. But he must have seen what I saw, glittering in the dim light--the knife in Gravgak's hand. It flashed up--

I flung a capsule bomb at the arch. Fire flashed, and the voices were swallowed up in the concussion.

7.

The swirl of yellow dust sifted through the cavern passages. Coughing and puffing hard, I fought my way into the heap--in time to catch sight of Gravgak staggering off toward an exit tunnel.

The three of us stood together. A strange trio. Two Benzendellas, one Earth man. Bound together in an allegiance that all the space in the universe could never divide. Vauna was weeping softly, holding her arms tight about herself, her hands cupped over the fur wrappings of her elbows.

She said she could not understand Gravgak's behavior. Once he had had a chance to become the leader. Was it all because he was insane with jealousy--because she loved me?

Her father thought it was more than this. He had evidently read signs of disloyalty in Gravgak, even before my coming. Too many plans had filtered out to the savage enemies. For a long time Gravgak had been impatient for a chance to succeed Tomboldo; my coming had thwarted the original plan--the murderous attack on the sunset meeting. Yes, Gravgak had been twisting the sponge-tree bands into his own schemes even then.

The fine boldness showed in Tomboldo's eyes as he talked. People had gathered, and they saw clearly the truth of his charges.

But now there were delays in getting ready to go to the better land on another side of this planet. Part of the delay was caution. Gravgak would probably lie in waiting for the Benzendella migration to the serpent river. He would plan an attack. Some waiting, some scouting and much preparation would be a matter of wisdom. Meanwhile, if Gravgak could be found, let him be killed on sight.

Several weeks passed. Secret preparations for the twenty mile migration were completed. I was pleased to hear that Campbell had had a share in these plans. He had made several night hikes back to the ship, and had kept watch through the telescope by day, and made valuable observations by means of infra-red photography by night. He knew where the nests of the savage bands were located. Moreover, I learned that he and a few of Tomboldo's choice scouts, under cover of darkness, crossed through the sponge-tree area to examine the Serpent River at close range and determine upon a suitable place for getting the Benzendella tribe aboard.

For these observations, and for an abundance of scientific data which he picked up about the Serpent River itself, I was deeply grateful. If this expedition succeeded in its purposes, the success would be to his credit, not mine.

Nevertheless, when I was at last conducted to his quarters at the end of one of the tunnels--my long awaited visit--I did not spend all my time complimenting him for his fine achievements.

"You're going to be ready to make the trip with the tribe, I presume?" I asked, when we got around to the plans for the migration.

"And leave the ship here? I shall follow orders, Captain, but I should prefer to stay with the ship, and to proceed with the remainder of the scientific assignments."

He handed his field glasses over to one of the relief guards, and led me to a bench in his primitive quarters. A slice of sunlight knifed through from the out-of-doors, the first I had seen for a long time.

"A little sunlight's not a bad thing," I said casually. "I've been needing a little light."

He looked up at me as if he knew what was coming. "If you've been hearing a rumor, don't believe it."

"You've heard it too?"

"They say I'm supposed to become the husband of Omosla."

"All I want is your word, Lieutenant Campbell," I said.

"My word. Captain." Split said dryly. "You know I wouldn't break the Code."

"I believe you.... Okay, we're in a spot. The fact is, the girl's going to have a baby. When she does, she'll declare you her mate. And the tribe will be proud. Have you thought this through?"

"I've tried to."

I began to pace. "You know we can't afford to offend the tribe. If you bluntly deny that you've had anything to do with the girl, they'll be insulted. They're ready to believe her, not you."

"How soon will the child be born?"

"Within a few days."

"How long have we been here?"

"Long enough."

"Why doesn't her true mate speak up, whoever he is?"

I said, "That's one of the strange circumstances. I haven't heard them mention any other man but you. You see, Split, you're the hero of the hour. You're the one they want."

"I hope you're not suggesting that _I_ marry this girl."

"I _haven't_ suggested it, have _I_? But I will ask this: Do you like the girl?... Love her??... Enough to marry her?"

"Under more favorable conditions--yes. I've never loved anybody before. But Omosla--from the first time I saw her, that evening, in the sunset--"

"All right, Split. But you still tell me you haven't made love to her?"

"Absolutely, _no_. You may not know it, Jim, but I was with you almost constantly for days and nights after your knockout. You came through the operation--the riskiest thing I ever tried in my life. When you began to pull out of it, I could have gladly taken you back to the ship and blasted off for home. But they were giving you care--Vauna and Omosla--and damned intelligent care, according to my orders. By that time the savages were knocking on our doors again, and I went onto the defense job with my pockets full of scare bombs, and the other kind too. From then on, I couldn't have held to tighter discipline if I'd been in a planetary war, I swear it."

I beat my fist lightly on Split's shoulder. The fellow was great, no doubt about it, and I felt like a fool asking him questions about matters outside the bounds of duty. "You're okay, Split. You could violate a hundred codes, as far as I'm concerned, and I'd swear before any court in the world that you're tops. But we've still got a problem with this tribe--and this girl."

"I'm not asking for compliments," Split said. "For the record I'm telling you what _did_ happen, and what didn't. And here's what did." Now it was his turn to pace twice around the bench. "How do I begin?"

"With Omosla."