The Power of Gnaris (14 page)

So it happened
that Leila’s party did not see Barrow and Elena escape from the
cave, the pair taking a more direct route to the stream that the
others had just left. Leila did not scan again with her gnaris,
being more intent on the pursuit of the Prehistoric. Their paths
took them within a few hundred metres, but neither party saw the
other.

The
Prehistoric led the Karavec up towards a range of hills that looked
down on the cave where his people dwelt. He expected to find a
group of his men hunting krowy, a buffalo-like creature, in the
plains on the far side of the hill. The Prehistoric, who was
accustomed to living in these harsh conditions, reached the crest
of the hill with very little physical exertion. He could have run
even faster, but he did not want his pursuers to lose sight of him.
The Karavec, who were unaccustomed to this hostile environment and
less fit than the Prehistoric, followed at a slower pace.

The
Prehistoric looked down with satisfaction when he saw his tribal
mates had created a krowy jump, a trap that employed a hunting
technique that forced the krowy to jump to their deaths. At its far
end, the plain terminated in a near vertical cliff. His companions
had concealed themselves behind rock piles near the top of the
cliff, waiting for the krowy.

The
Prehistoric who the Karavec were pursuing ran down the slope,
waving wildly to his companions and sending them a message of
grunts. They hid behind the rock piles and waited for the
Karavec.

The Karavec
were not quite as stupid as the krowy, and soon realised that the
Prehistoric intended to lead them into a trap. Kuthrow instructed
his troops to halt on the top of the ridge.

“Why are we
stopping?” Leila asked. “Look he’s escaping.”

“It’s a trap,”
said Kuthrow. “There are more of those Prehistorics down there just
waiting for us to deliver ourselves into their clutches.”

“How do you
know?”

“Why else
would he be leading us this way? He has persistently waited for us
to follow him. He must know his friends are down there. They are
waiting for us now to fall into their trap.”

“So, what now?
How will we find Barrow?”

“I don’t know.
I think we should return to the ship.”

“We cannot let
a bunch of Prehistorics get the better of us. Wait, I have a plan.”
Leila smiled.

“Yes, what is
it?”

“I will go
down alone and draw them out of their hiding places; then you and
your men can shoot them with your ray guns. Are we within
range?”

“Yes, of
course; but they might kill you before we have a chance to fell
them?”

“That’s a
chance I’ll have to take. But I have every faith in your men.
However, do not kill them all. We need at least one of them to lead
us to Barrow.”

“It would have
been so much easier if we’d kept that prisoner in the first
place.”

“Yes, my
mistake captain. The Prehistoric was not as stupid as I
thought.”

“Quite an
admission, doctor. Perhaps you’re not a psychologist after
all.”

“I’m clearly
not able to understand the psyche of these primitives. They are
very different from any alien race I have previously studied.”

The operation
went without a hitch. Once they saw Leila approaching, the
Prehistorics came out from behind their rocks. They raised their
spears and aimed them at Leila, but their movements were slow and
their weapons primitive. They proved to be sitting targets for the
Karavec ray guns. Most of them died instantly, but Kuthrow himself
spared one of them by setting his gun to stun mode. When he and his
men joined Leila on the plain below, they found the one who had not
been killed already beginning to stir. They bound him, just as they
had done with the first prisoner.

“Now, what can
we do to make him cooperate?” Leila asked.

At that
moment, the ground began to shake violently.

“Is it an
earthquake?” she asked.

One of
Kuthrow’s men pointed towards the north. The others followed his
gaze, where they saw a cloud of dust.

“No, it’s not
an earthquake,” Kuthrow said. “It’s a large group of creatures,
stampeding

and they’re coming straight at
us.”

The krowy
charged with their heads down at full speed towards the valley
where the Karavec were still deliberating about what to do with
their prisoner. The Karavec had never seen such a spectacle before,
and had no idea what the unpredictable animals would do.

“Quick, behind
those rocks,” shouted Kuthrow to his men and Leila.

They raced to
conceal themselves behind the same rocks that the Prehistorics had
been hiding behind just a few minutes earlier. Most of the soldiers
and the doctor reached the rocks just in time, but four of them
were too late. Realising that they didn’t have enough time to
escape, the four warriors stood their ground, petrified, and raised
their ray guns. Some of the beasts fell in a heap, but there were
too many of them, and they kept charging towards the unfortunate
soldiers. The soldiers fired their ray guns again, but this proved
useless. All the sophistication of a highly advanced race proved to
be fruitless against an unknown breed of wild creature that was not
even their enemy.

Leila watched
in horror from the safety of the rocks while the manic beasts
thundered past, and tried to cover her ears from the screams of the
four Karavec and the Prehistoric who, being tied up, could not
escape. After the animals had passed, the only sign of the four
Karavec soldiers were green stains on the hard rock surface. These
were intermingled with puddles of red blood from the Prehistorics,
the one who had just been killed and the others who had died
earlier, all trampled under the hooves of the krowy.

Not being
constrained by the funnel trap that the Prehistorics had prepared
that led to the krowy jump, the herd passed on and raced instead
down a narrow track that led to the foot of the valley.

When she was
convinced that the herd would not return, Leila came out from her
hiding place behind a rock, and ambled in a daze towards the place
where the fallen Karavec had stood. She wept when she saw that
there was nothing to show for the four brave warriors except pools
of green blood.

“We came to
Ziemia in search of the murderers of our Karavec embryos, but now
yet more Karavec blood has been spilled today on this forsaken
planet; and it’s all my fault.”

By this time,
Kuthrow stood by her side. “It’s not just your fault, doctor,” he
said. “The three of us made the decision to look for the Great
Savant.”

“And all for
nothing. What are we to do now? All the Prehistorics are
dead

”

“Not all of
them, there will be others. We must continue to search. Can you try
your gnaris again?”

Leila
concentrated her mind, and scanned once more for Karavec.

“I can still
pick up Lolena far away to the east,” she said, “but

wait, I’ve picked up something else towards the
south-west. Yes, there are two of them. The gnaris is strong. It
must be Barrow and Elena.” Her voice rose in excitement.

“How far
away?” asked Kuthrow.

‘Not too far,
but they’re moving away from us.”

“Let’s go,” he
said.

“What about
the dead?”

“Look, there’s
nothing left to bury. We must go at once if we are to catch up with
our people.”

“You are
right; but we must farewell them. We must say a prayer to the
gods.”

“Make it
quick,” said Kuthrow. “We cannot afford to lose the track we have
on Barrow.”

“Oh, mighty
gods,” she said, “hear us from across the great darkness. You dwell
far away in another galaxy, which is our home. We are waiting for
the day you come to claim the Milky Way. Our main purpose, our only
purpose is to establish an empire in the Milky Way ready for your
arrival. Today four of your loyal warriors have fallen. We pray
that you will accept their souls, and that they will eternally
abide in your presence.”

Chapter 12 –
Washington

“
Sacrifice
is a necessary ritual for the appeasement of the gods, but murder
and annihilation are abominations.”

 The Book of
Karavec (32, 16)

Forster and
Lolena, together with Jesse’s party, arrived at the top of a ridge.
They looked down on a river that meandered its way from the north.
Beyond the river, which widened at this point, Forster observed a
strange sight; one he had not expected to see.

“That there is
the city we call Washington,” said Jesse.

Forster stared
in disbelief. “Why did these people of such an advanced
civilization build a city in the midst of a vast area of
undeveloped bush land?” he asked.

“Beats me,”
said Jesse. “But I know where I prefer to live.”

Forster was
amazed to see what appeared to be a planned metropolis, a low
sprawling city with wide streets and avenues, and with large open
spaces and parks. It had been divided into four quadrants radiating
out from a grand white building standing on a low-lying hill at its
centre.

“What’s that
tall obelisk just over the other side of the river?” he asked. “It
looks like a giant needle.”

“That there’s
the Washington Monument. It’s the tallest structure in the
city.”

“Who is
Washington?”

“George
Washington was the first president of the United States. There are
many buildings and roads in the city named after presidents.
There’s Lincoln Memorial, Madison Drive, Jefferson
Drive

”

“The United
States? I don’t understand. The United States was a country on
Earth, the planet in the Milky Way where I come from. But the
United States and its capital, Washington, no longer exist. They
were destroyed many centuries ago. This is Ziemia; how can this
city exist on this planet in a different part of the galaxy?”

Jesse’s craggy
brow furrowed. “You’ll have to ask them that,” he said, pointing
towards the city.

“Them?”

“The
Technocrats who live in the city; they that control Ziemia; them in
the White House.”

“The city
seems so planned. What’s that wide avenue running eastwards from
the memorial?”

“That’s called
the National Mall.”

“And the
building at the centre of the city?”

“That’s the
Capitol Building. It’s where the Congress meets.”

“Congress?”

“It’s the
legislative chamber. They that makes the laws and runs the place
meet there. And that other white building over there

” He pointed towards the north. “

is the White House. That’s where President Kowalski
lives. He’s the real leader.”

At that
moment, another building on the southern bank of the river caught
Forster’s eye. The building had five sides.

“That’s the
Pentagon,” said Jesse. “It’s the defense headquarters for
Ziemia.”

Forster
surmised that the city resembled many cities he had seen during his
travels throughout the Milky Way, but he noticed one important
difference.

“Why is the
city surrounded by a high barbed wire fence?”

“The
Technocrats built it to keep us out, and the Prehistorics and
Ancients, of course. It’s the same with the other cities.”

“Are there
many other cities?”

“There are
many others, both here and on continents in other parts of the
planet, across the oceans. But they all have to be protected from
outsiders

those, like us, who have not
learned the technology yet.”

“Don’t you
want the advances and the advantages that technology would bring
you?”

“No, Sir, we
like things just the way they are.”

Lolena
interrupted and spoke to Forster. “It’s time we entered the city,”
she said. “The shadows are lengthening. It will serve us well to
enter the city at a time when the eyes of the city-dwelling
humanoids struggle to see in the twilight. There are many
unanswered questions; and it seems that we will not get the answers
to most of them from Jesse and his friends.”

“You’re right
there, Ma’am,” said Jesse after Forster had translated. “I’ve told
you about all I know. My men and I cannot risk hanging around here
any longer. If we get caught, we may be taken inside the city and
imprisoned; or, worse still, we may become like them. There’s the
West Gate.” He pointed to a gate in the perimeter fence.

“I suggest you
sleep under the bridge tonight with the homeless. The friars often
visit them to distribute food and pray with them. They even sleep
there some nights.”

“Homeless?”

“Yes, these
folks have no home, no job, and no family to care for them.”

Forster
translated, and Lolena gasped. “How can this be? Karavec always
look after each other, even though we do not have families like the
humans do. How can these people neglect each other? How do they
survive?”

“They rely on
the charity of others, like the Franciscan Friars,” said Jesse.

“But we don’t
have any food,” said Forster.

Jesse reached
into the back of the wagon. “Take this,” he said, passing them
three loaves of bread and some fruit.

“In the
morning, cross the bridge, follow 14
^th
Street until you
come to Pennsylvania Avenue. Then you should be able to see the
White House.”