Part 26 (1/2)
The tentacle extended, and tilted down.
”You don't want to play?” she asked, concerned. If the BEM changed its mind now, her chance would be gone. The tentacle made its rotary motion.
”Turn around?” she asked blankly.
It turned around.
”Something else? That turning motion means neither yes nor no?”
It turned up.
She was getting better at interpreting the signals. ”You are playing, but not the way I said?”
The tentacle whirled.
Well, she had thought she was getting better! What was the creature getting at?
”Maybe it wants to go ahead and play now,” Sirel suggested.
The tentacle pointed to Sirel, tilted up.
”You mean I should take my turn, and you'll learn from that?” Nepe asked. ”If I explain as I do it?”
The tentacle turned up.
This must be one smart monster! It figured to catch on to the whole set of rules, with one example. That was a chilling signal of its confidence!
Nepe addressed the diagram. ”Oops, I forgot the markers! We need one for each of us.” She looked around. ”A stone, or chip of wood, or a bag of sand-maybe those b.a.l.l.s of moss.” She went to fetch a selection. ”Something that you can throw accurately, so it doesn't bounce or slide away, because if it winds up outside the box or on a fine, you lose your turn.” She laid the objects out in a line. ”Choose one.”
The tentacle pointed to her.
”Okay, I'll choose first.” She picked up a bit of bark with moss covering it, as though it had sprouted hair.
The Hectare picked up a bit of twisted root, whose rootlets resembled tentacles.
She cleared away the other fragments, then addressed the diagram again. She stepped into the EARTH square. ”This is where you start. You have to stand inside it. Then you toss your marker into Block One.” She did so, dropping it into the center of the right side. ”Then you hop there, pick it up, and hop back.” She did so. ”Only in Earth-or later in Heaven-can you stand on both feet and rest. That's the basic game, but it gets more difficult as it goes.”
She stood again in the EARTH square and threw her marker into Block Two. Then she hopped to it, picked up the marker, and hopped back. ”You keep going until you make a mistake; then it's the other player's turn.”
She played to Block Three, then to Block Four, the first of the paired blocks. ”Once you pa.s.s these two, you can put both feet down as you pa.s.s,” she said. ”But only in Blocks Four and Five, and in Seven and Eight, and only when you're traveling past them. When your marker's there, you have to hop as usual.”
She played on, concentrating harder as the tosses got longer. When she aimed for Block Nine, her marker bounced into h.e.l.l. ”h.e.l.l!” she exclaimed. ”That means not only does my turn end, I have to start over from the beginning next time. If I had missed anywhere else, I could have picked up next time where I left off.” She walked around the diagram, picked up her marker, and set it in a corner of EARTH, showing her place in the game. ”Your turn, Hectare.”
The Hectare stepped into the EARTH box, hefted its marker on a tentacle, and flipped it into Block One. It lifted its left foot-tentacle-tread, and hopped lumberingly into the box. It extended the tentacle to pick up the marker. Then it hopped back to EARTH, not turning; to it, any direction was forward.
Nepe quickly saw that the creature had unerring aim, but was relatively clumsy on the hopping. She, in contrast, might miss her throw but never her hop. It seemed to be an even game, so far.
The Hectare proceeded smoothly through Block Five, then lost coordination as it tried to put down both treads on the way to Block Six. It had gotten balanced for one, and the attempt to put down two, then return to one was too much; it recovered balance, but one tread nudged over a line.
The Hectare left the marker, stepped out of the diagram, and waited for Nepe to resume her turn. She had not challenged the error; it had acted on its own. She had to respect the creature for being a fair player. Lysander had said that honor was a BEM specialty; evidently it was.
She went quickly through the opening squares, and concentrated intently as she reached the Nine. This time her marker landed in the center. She hopped to it, picked it up, and returned to EARTH.
”This is just the first and easiest course,” she said. ”Now I must toss my marker into HEAVEN, go there, and use it as the base to play the squares in reverse order.”
She tossed her marker, having less trouble with the larger square. Then she hopped to it. When she was in HEAVEN, she picked up her marker and tossed it into Block Nine. She continued to play in that direction.
She made it through, and started on the next sequence: shoving the marker with her lifted foot as she hopped from EARTH to HEAVEN, and from HEAVEN to EARTH.
”Next I have to balance it on one foot,” she said. ”If I make it through this, the next is balancing it on my head.”
But she didn't make it through. She lost it as she picked it up on Block Six and tried to put both feet down on Four and Five; the shock of the contact with the ground jogged it loose. ”I'll have to pick up at Block Six next time,” she said with regret. ”You have to do it right, all the way, before you can go on.”
Now the monster took its turn. Starting on the same Block Six, but with a simpler exercise, it proceeded on through the course. It had learned how to hop better, from practice or from watching her, and was much smoother now.
Indeed, it went on past her, having no trouble shoving the marker while hopping. It also was able to balance it on the lifted fool. The rate at which the creature gained skill was disheartening; Nepe was very much afraid she was going to lose. She would not be able to cry foul, because it was her choice of games and the Hectare was playing fair. She would have to betray her society, and perhaps the last hope of saving her world from destructive exploitation.
The Hectare proceeded to the next course. It set the marker on the top of its head. But this was awkward, because its head was composed entirely of eye facets. It evidently did not like having something sitting directly on an eye, understandably, but the facet was gla.s.sy, and the marker did not seem to hurt it. However, that same gla.s.siness posed a problem. When the Hectare hopped, the marker slid, and only with a special effort did the creature retain it. And hopped into a line. Its turn had ended.
Now Nepe's hope revived. She played on from the Six, and with inspired balancing got through. Then she started on the head. Her eyes were not on top, so that did not disturb her; indeed, her wild hair helped hold the marker in place.
To a degree. The Six Block caught her again, because she had to put both feet down on Four and Five, and it changed her orientation. The marker slid off.
The Hectare resumed at Block One, with its marker on its eye facet. It hopped-but again the marker slid off. It was evident that when the monster's sight was obstructed, in however minor a manner, its equilibrium suffered, ruining its concentration.
Nepe stepped up to take her turn. Now she had a real chance, for the monster had not pa.s.sed her by in its turn!
The Hectare stepped forward, barring her play.
”But it's my turn!” Nepe protested.
The Hectare picked up its marker and dropped it at her feet. Then it walked away from the diagram-and the West Pole.
”It's conceding!” Alien cried. ”Thou didst win, Nepe!”
Nepe, amazed, realized that it was so. The Hectare had realized that she had a decisive advantage at this stage. Only it knew how difficult this course was for it. Rather than continue to flub turns, it had yielded the victory.
”It's true?” Nepe asked the Hectare, who had taken a stance a short distance apart from them. ”You will let us go to the Pole, and you won't interfere or report us?”
The tentacle extended and turned up. The BEM was one good loser!
”Then I want you to know that you played a good game, and I thought I was going to lose,” she said. ”I didn't know you would have that trouble with the marker on your head. I would have served you if I had lost, and I am glad to see that you are honoring our deal too.”
The tentacle tilted up. That was all. The Hectare watched, but made no other motion.
Nepe was coming to respect the BEMs. They did have honor, as well as intelligence and skill.