Venus of Shadows (63 page)

Yet Amina was willing to risk honesty with a man she hardly knew. She might become a friend if he were equally honest with her. His fears had ruled him for too long; perhaps his visit to Oberg had finally shown him that. He had carried his prison inside himself to a place where he could have been free.

"I went to Turing," he said, "because I also wanted to be in a place where I didn't have to see people wearing that damned sash." He motioned toward the pilots. "I loathe everything Ishtar stands for."

"The Guide does have a way about her," Amina said. "I looked at a couple of her talks on the screen once — I even felt a little moved myself. I can imagine the impression she must make in the flesh. That beautiful face, those eyes so entranced by her vision, that voice so resonant with strength as she demands your love and then almost singing as she pleads for it and tells you how perfect we can all be. It makes you want to surrender to her and comfort her at the same time."

"She repels me."

"Well, I guess I know where you stand, Dyami. It must be an embarrassment for her, having a brother in Turing."

"Perhaps less of an embarrassment than having me in Oberg, where her followers can see the brother who refuses to join. She thinks I'll eventually see how hateful the Habbers are and admit that she was right about them. I'm content to let her believe that she'll have her triumph over me in time, as long as she leaves me alone. I'd rather not talk about Chimene."

Amina straightened in her seat. "Seems our trip is nearly over."

He looked up at the large screen. The two domes were already visible; he could dimly see the high cliffs that surrounded Turing. Lights secured against the escarpment illuminated the dark rock; diggers moved over a wide, flat surface at the top of the cliffs to the east, uncovering the iron and copper ores that lay under the rock. Carts carrying the mined materials rolled toward the edge of the cliff and onto the vast platforms that would lower them to the ground below. There, other carts carrying ore moved past the airship bay in the south to a smaller bay on the east side of the main dome. Empty carts were leaving the bay, rolling on their sturdy treads back to the platforms awaiting them.

The mining was automatic, although a few people monitored the operation in case human intervention was required or a quake forced them to halt the machines temporarily. Inside, the ore would be refined and the slag broken down into its constituent elements, some of which were used to feed the dome's power plants. This undertaking had been far more demanding than the small-scale mining that went on around the other settlements, and the Habbers had helped make it possible.

The roof of the airship bay was opening; the airship slowly began to drop toward the cradles. Other domes should have risen around the two now there; other mines and settlements should have been built in the mountains beyond.

Dyami suddenly sensed how temporary this refuge might be. He had lived here clinging to his hope that whatever happened outside, life in Turing would go on much as before. Ishtar might hate the Habbers, but he had thought removing them from the Maxwell Mountain settlements was enough to placate the fellowship. Now he recalled Teo's warning and the wild, mad look he had seen in Chimene's eyes. He might lose what he could have here before he even had a chance to seize it. He had imprisoned himself for too long.

*  *  *

Suleiman Khan and Allen Sirit were in the bay, standing next to a cart. Dyami waved at them as he descended the ramp behind the pilots.

"Welcome back," Suleiman called out. "As you can see, we have the privilege of loading this stuff into the cart today." He gestured at the crates rolling down another ramp. "On the other hand, we won't have to walk to the north dome." The dark young man pulled at his worn gray shirt. "I'm looking forward to some new clothes."

Dyami turned toward Amina and introduced her to the two men. "Amina Astarte," Allen said as he rubbed his short brown beard. "I must admit that name gave me pause when I first heard you'd be joining us."

"No jokes, please." Amina smiled as she raised one hand. "I've heard them all, believe me."

The pilots stood to one side, near another cradled airship, pointedly ignoring the group. They would stay in the pilots' dormitory just outside the bay with any others who were here and avoid Turing's residents as much as possible. There were usually no more than ten pilots in Turing at any one time, and all of them had permanent residences elsewhere. If these pilots were like the others, they would keep to the area around the dormitory while impatiently awaiting the day they could leave.

Dyami adjusted his duffel. "Need any help?"

Suleiman shook his head. "You go ahead and show Amina around."

The woman lifted her duffel to her shoulder. "Good to have you with us," Allen said before bending down to pick up a crate.

The main dome was already darkening as Dyami and Amina left the bay. A wide road bisected the settlement; the land was so flat that the entrance to the tunnel on the other side was dimly visible. The refinery, a long, low, thick-walled metallic structure, stood on the right side of the road; to the left was the large glassy dome that housed the ceramics plant. The two buildings dominated the landscape, dwarfing the people who were leaving them and making their way to the main road.

"I've seen images of those buildings," Amina said, "but they seem a lot more impressive when you're actually standing in front of them. We ought to get someone to make a mind-tour of this place."

Dyami gazed to his right, where a door in the wall below the dome was opening; carts began to roll out of the small bay up a ramp toward the refinery. He pointed at a square structure just beyond the door. "External operations," he said. "We've got a couple of teams who tend to that, but a lot of us have learned enough to take over once in a while."

A small wilderness of trees covered the land behind the ceramics plant. A cat scurried across the path, moving toward the forest. Dyami took a breath. He had begun to take Turing's spaciousness for granted before his return to the more crowded environs of Oberg; he welcomed the scent of grass and the silence broken only by the distant twittering of birds.

"We all live in the north dome," he told Amina. "Originally, the idea was to leave this dome for industrial installations and build houses elsewhere."

"So I heard."

"No passenger carts here. We can wait for Allen and Suleiman, or we can walk."

"Let's walk."

They strolled the long distance between the refinery and the ceramics plant. Amina studied the buildings in silence as they passed, then said, "No one told me where I was to live, and I don't know anyone here. I asked if I should bring a tent, but was told there'd be room for me somewhere."

"We're kind of informal about arrangements," he responded. "You can use one of the tents here until you find something else, or you can go to the women's shelter — they'll have at least a couple of empty rooms. You'll be meeting people in the dining hall, though — maybe one of them will offer you another place to stay."

"I see." She sounded a little worried. He looked down at her; Amina's pretty face was set in a frown. Maybe she shared some of his shyness, in spite of her open manner during their journey. He recalled how he had felt when he first arrived in Turing. The people he met had been friendly enough, but he had sensed that they wanted to assess him before offering him a place in one of their residences. He had lived in a tent for a while; in the end, he had decided it might be best to live alone.

"Maybe you can stay with me, just until you decide where to go," he said. "It isn't much — just a small room where I sleep and a slightly larger one to entertain any visitors. But I don't have many guests, so you can have that room to yourself."

Her steps slowed. "I'd better make one thing clear," she murmured. "I'm an affront to Ishtar. I've tried to offend the Spirit whenever I've been lucky enough to have the opportunity. I'm not interested in men — that's another reason I came here. I was told people here don't care about that, whether they share my inclinations or not, and that Habbers are indifferent to such things."

"You're being very honest."

"If I can't be honest here, there's no hope. If this is just another place where I have to sneak around and lie, then there's no freedom for Cytherians anywhere. I can't live that way anymore — I'd rather not live at all. I have to believe there are some sane people left who can reclaim our world when this madness is past."

Dyami was silent.

"I'm not wrong, am I?" she asked. "It
is
different here, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's different." He stepped in front of her, forcing her to halt. "You don't have to lie, and you don't have to worry about me. I'm an offender against Ishtar myself. Women are friends to me — no more."

He felt as if a weight had been lifted from him, one he had carried for so long that he had forgotten it was there. Even his fear had receded; he would live as he wanted to, for as long as he could remain here.

Amina gaped at him, then threw back her head and laughed. "And you the Guide's brother! No wonder you came here. But I shouldn't laugh." She hooked her arm around his as they walked on. "It must have been even worse for you."

"It was. Until right now I couldn't have said that to you." He lifted his head, inhaling the clean air of Turing.

"No patrols!" she said, and laughed again. "No sashes, no meetings, no obnoxious believers trying to convince you of the truth!" They went down a slope and entered the tunnel.

*  *  *

Dyami was home. This was his home — not Oberg, not the house where he had grown up and had learned to be wary and distrustful. Here the land sloped gently, flattening out around the large lake in the center of the dome. Ahead of him, in a wide hollow between two small hills, a few tents and several tidy square structures that were little more than shacks were clustered around the large dining hall. The men's and women's dormitories lay a little to the east, on flatter grassland bordering a creek; a pale gray building near them housed a lavatory.

He pointed them all out to Amina. "You can't see it, but there's a smaller lavatory just past those tents, behind the hill."

"I guess they weren't exaggerating when they called this place primitive."

"Sorry you came?" he asked.

"Of course not."

A group of people entered the dining hall; he heard a snatch of music before the door closed. "What was that sound?" Amina asked.

"Music. A few people set up a system so we could enjoy music during meals. Some of it's composed by people here. We use the wall screen in the hall to display landscapes or for the more artistic among us to show off their graphic designs. That's the only wall screen we've got over here — the others are in the main dome's buildings. A lot of the shacks don't have toilets, and the doors don't have palm-print locks or any locks at all, and the rooms in the shelters won't hold much more than a mat, but we have music and graphics in the dining hall. Never let it be said that we don't take care of the necessities."

He led her toward the creek, past the dormitories and the lavatory. A few more shacks had been built just above the creek, near a flat wooden bridge that led to the other side. Dyami gestured at two large buildings that sat above the opposite bank. "The Habbers live there."

"They look the same as your dormitories."

"They are, and we all share the dining hall. The Habbers take their turns preparing meals, working in the greenhouse, and cleaning the lavatories just like the rest of us."

"Seems to me Ishtar might profit by your example."

They walked along the creek until they had reached the last shack. Dyami lifted the latch and pushed the door open. "My home." The term came to him easily now. "I've put in a toilet, and a pipe brings water up to my sink from the creek, but you'll have to shower in one of the lavatories — the Habbers won't mind if you use one of theirs. You can clean your clothes in the laundry of the women's dorm."

"You might have provided yourselves with a few more conveniences."

"We do have our priorities," he said. "Music for the dining hall and setting aside time to discuss stellar evolution are clearly more important."

Amina entered the shack. He followed, leaving the door open, then knelt to turn on the small light resting on the floor. The globe illuminated a space not much larger than his old room in Oberg; a curtain concealed his toilet and sink. Another curtain hung in front of the space where he slept; a rolled-up mat was near the door. "You can use the mat if you like," Dyami said, "but now that you've seen this, you may prefer the dormitory."

"It looks roomy to me. I had to share a room with my sister for quite a few years." Amina looked toward one corner. "What's this?" She sat down, leaned over, and picked up a small metal bust that showed the head of a man. His cheekbones were a sharp ridge below his wide-set eyes; his short hair curled softly over his forehead. She touched the narrow nose lightly. "Where did you get it?"

"I made it," he replied. "I made the mold and cast it over at the refinery after a shift. It's a hobby I took up after I came here — a couple of friends showed me how — but it was months before I could manage anything that looked the way it was supposed to. I've done a few, but I gave the others away."

"Is he someone you know?"

He looked down. "A Habber named Balin."

"Dyami!" Luinne Mitsuo was standing in the doorway, holding a light wand; he beckoned the small woman inside. "And you must be Amina Astarte."

"Greetings," Amina said as she set the bust down.

"I'm Luinne Mitsuo — I'm one of the geologists. Are you going to be staying here?"

"For a while — at least as long as Dyami wants to put up with me."

"I'd offer you a place in my shack, but he's got more room than I do. I was just on my way to the dining hall — I assume you two haven't had time to eat yet."

"No." Amina stood up, leaving her duffel on the floor. "And I'm starving."

"You two go ahead," Dyami said. "My mother and her housemate Kolya insisted on plying me with a feast before I left. If I get hungry, I'll go to the hall later."