Part 22 (2/2)
Tomm was unconcerned. ”So old One-eye treated himself to a party last night.”
”That isn't like Momo.” He was a habitual early riser, like Bayle himself a relic from military days, it seemed.
”He won't be the only one ”
”That isn't like him!” Enna snapped, growing impatient. When Tomm treated her like a foolish child, Enna had some sympathy for her father's view of him. ”Look, this is a strange city which we barely explored before splitting up. You can help me find Momo, or use the hot air you're spouting to go blow up the balloon yourself.”
He was crestfallen, but she stalked off to search, and Tomm, embarra.s.sed, hurried after her.
She thought she remembered the building Momo had chosen as his shelter. She headed that way now. But something was wrong. As she followed the unpaved alleys, the layout of the buildings didn't quite match her memory of the night before. Of course she had only had a quick glimpse of the city, and the light of morning, playing over these crisp, creamy walls, was quite different. But even so, she wouldn't have expected to get so lost as this.
And when she came to the place where she thought Momo's building should have been, there was only a blank s.p.a.ce. She walked back and forth over the bare ground, disoriented, dread gathering in her soul.
”You must be mistaken,” Tomm insisted.
”I'm good at direction-finding, Tomm. You know that.”
Playfully he said, ”You found your way to my bed well enough ”
”Oh, shut up. This is serious. This is where Momo's shelter was, I'm sure of it. Something has changed. I can feel it.”
Tomm said defensively, ”That doesn't sound very scientific.”
”Then help me, cartographer. Did any of you make a map last night?”
”Of course not. The light was poor. We knew there would be time enough today.”
She glared at him. But she was being unfair; it was a perfectly reasonable a.s.sumption that a city like this wouldn't change overnight.
But the fact of the matter was, Momo was still missing.
Growing increasingly disturbed, she went to her father's room. That at least was just where it had been last night. But her father wouldn't see her; a busybody junior Philosopher barred her from even entering the door. Bayle was still deep in discussion with Sila, the ragged city woman, and he had left strict instructions to be disturbed by n.o.body not even Enna, who had grown up in her father's shadow.
Tomm, apologetically, said he had to go get on with his work, Momo or no Momo. Distracted, Enna kissed him goodbye, and continued her search.
In the hours that followed, she walked the length and breadth of the city. She didn't find Momo. But she did learn that he wasn't the only missing person; two others had vanished, both servants. Though a few people were troubled, most seemed sure it was just a case of getting lost in a strange city. And as for the uncertain geography, she saw doubt in a few eyes. But the Philosophers, far better educated than she was, had no room in their heads for such strange and confusing notions.
Tomm went sailing over the city in his balloon, a junior pilot at his side, and she dutifully wore the red cap. Time-accelerated, he waved like a jerky puppet. But she didn't find Momo, or dispel her feeling of disquiet.
That evening, to her astonishment, her father let it be known that he was hosting a dinner and Sila, the ragged city woman, was to be guest of honor. Enna couldn't remember her father showing such cra.s.s misjudgment before, and she wondered if he had somehow been seduced by this exotic city of the Lowland, or, worse, by the woman, Sila, of whom Enna still knew nothing at all. But still Bayle's entourage would not let her near him.
She made the best of it. She put on the finest dress in her luggage, and decorated her hair with her best jewelry, including the pretty piece her mother had given her when they bade their tearful goodbyes. But as she brushed her hair by the light of her spindling-fat lamp, the blank walls of the city building seemed to press down over her.
She clambered out to meet Tomm. He was still in his traveling clothes; he had not been invited to the dinner.
”You look wonderful,” he said.
She knew he meant it, and her heart softened. ”Thanks.” She let him kiss her.
”Do you suppose I'm allowed to walk you over?”
”I'd like that. But, Tomm ” She glanced back at the building, the gaping unglazed windows like eye sockets. ”Put my luggage back in one of our wagons. I don't care which one. I'm not spending another night in one of these boxes.”
”Ah. Not even with me?”
”Not even with you. I'm sorry, Tomm.”
”Don't be. As long as you let me share your wagon.”
She was stunned by the sight that awaited her in her father's building. Three long trestle-tables had been set up and laid with cloths and the best cutlery and china. Candles glowed on the tables, where finely dressed guests had already taken their seats. At the head table sat Bayle himself, with his closest confidantes and his guest of honor, Sila, dressed now in a fine flowing black robe. From a smaller building co-opted as a kitchen, a steamy smell of vegetables emanated, while five fat runner-chicks slowly roasted on spits.
Enna had grown up in a world shaped by her father's organizational skills, of which the Expedition was perhaps the crowning glory. But even she was impressed by the speed and skill with which this event had been a.s.sembled. After all, the party had only reached this mysterious Lowland city a day before.
When he saw Enna, Bayle stood up and waved her forward. Led by Nool, Bayle's sleek manservant, Enna took her place at her father's right hand side. Sila sat on his left.
Enna leaned close to her father. ”I've got to talk to you. I've been trying all day.”
”I know you have. Priorities, my dear.”
That was a word she had heard all her life. But she insisted, ”Something isn't right here. People are missing. The geography ”
He looked at her, briefly concerned. ”I know you're no fool, my dear, and I will hear you out. But not now. We'll make time at the end of the dinner.”
She wasn't going to get any more from him. But as her father sat back, she caught the eye of the city woman, Sila. She imagined there was a calculation in Sila's deep gaze as it met her own. She wondered what Sila truly wanted and what it would cost them all if she achieved it.
The food was good, of course; her father would have allowed nothing less, and the wine flowed voluminously, though Enna refused to touch a drop. She longed for the meal to be over, so she could talk to Bayle before another night fell. At last the final dish was cleared away, the gla.s.ses refilled for the final time.
And, to Enna's intense frustration, Bayle got to his feet and began to make a speech.
He had spent the night and much of the day in conversation with Sila, he said, and a remarkable experience it had been.
Everybody had expected to find people, down here on the Lowland. For generations the judges of Foro had used ”time pits” as a punishment measure. The logic was simple. The deeper you fell, the slower time pa.s.sed for you. So by being hurled into the time pits you were banished to the future. n.o.body had ever climbed back up. But as time had gone by rumors wafted up to the Shelf that some, at least, of the criminals of the past had survived, down there in their reds.h.i.+fted prison.
”The time pits have long been stopped up,” Bayle said now, ”and we look back on such methods with shame. We long to discover what has become of our exiled citizens, and their offspring and we long to reach out the hand of rationality and hope to them. Our consciences would permit nothing less.
”And now we have found those lost souls in the person of Sila. She is the daughter of an exile, whose crime was political. Sila grew up almost in isolation with her mother, her only society a drifting transient collection of refugees from many ages. And yet she is educated and articulate, with a sound moral compa.s.s; it would take very little grooming indeed for her to pa.s.s as a citizen of Foro.
”There may be no society as we know it here, no government, no community. But the inhabitants of the Lowland are not animals, but people, as we are. In her person Sila demonstrates the fundamental goodness of human nature, whatever its environment and I for one applaud her for that.”
This was greeted by murmured appreciation and bangs of the tables. Sila looked out at the Philosophers, a small smile barely dissipating the coldness of her expression.
Now Bayle came to the emotional climax of his speech. ”We all knew when we embarked from Foro that this would not just be an Expedition to the Lowland, but into time. We are all of us lost in the future, and with every day that pa.s.ses here, the further that awful distance from home grows.” He glanced at Enna, and she knew he was thinking of her mother, his wife, who had been too ill to travel with them on this journey and who, as a consequence, Enna would never see again. ”All of you made a sacrifice for knowledge, a sacrifice without precedent in the history of our civilization.
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