Toth Read online

  “A routine precaution, Counselor. There are often many dangers when landing on an unknown planet, and we must be prepared for everything. Our armed personnel are present only for defensive purposes, and it is our faith in your hospitality that has prevented them from accompanying us today. Please notice that those of us here are unarmed.”

  “That is good, Leader Queal. Allow me, please, to anticipate a positive reply from your superior. Before you leave, let me introduce you to the families whose homes are open to you. As I call your names, please come down before me to greet each other. For you, Leader Queal, we have the family Grigaytes.”

  Michael stood up and stepped down the shelves of the amphitheatre to its center, was intercepted there by a man his height, perhaps fifty, bulky, face burned from a life at sea. “I am Davos Grigaytes, Leader Queal, and you are welcome in my home.” He reached out a gnarled hand, sliding it up to grasp Michael’s wrist when they shook hands. “My family also welcomes you,” he said, and stepped aside at the approach of three women in single file, their heads bowed. “My wife, Leah, and the mother of my children,” he said formally, and with pride. A tall, slender woman with pleasant features managed a faint smile, and bowed to him.

  Michael bowed back. “My pleasure,” he said, smiling.

  “My youngest child, Deena,” said Davos, and a lovely young woman with huge, brown eyes bowed without looking at him.

  “Deena,” said Michael, and then he held his breath, for behind her was the woman whose eyes had locked with his across the amphitheatre. Even now she looked directly at him, squeezing the hand of the little boy clinging to her robe.

  “This is Gini, our first child, and our grandson Uhel. This family welcomes you to our home, Leader Queal, and will tend to your needs.”

  When Gini and Michael bowed to each other, their eyes never lost contact. For an instant he was speechless, but then managed to say “Hello, Uhel,” and the little boy turned fearfully away from him. His mother said nothing.

  “Thank you so much for your offer, Davos. It’s my hope that my superior will allow us to visit together.”

  “Our home is there, near the shore,” said Davos, pointing. “I’m a fisherman, and we live close to the boats. It is fishermen who live in these dwellings by the House of Toth. If you wish, I will take you on my boat and show you our ways at sea.”

  “I would like that very much. It is many years since I’ve been on a boat.” Michael forced himself to look at Davos, with Gini just out of his field of view. Names had been called out while they were talking, and now people were milling around them, even those who had not been called as host families, coming down for a closer look at the strangers from the stars.

  Diego came down from his podium to join them, nodding sagely, and smiling as if he were directing the entire affair. He towered above all of them, dark eyes constantly moving, but when he neared Michael his gaze fixed on someone. He walked to her, and stopped.

  It was Kari. She looked up, startled, but recovered quickly and bowed. “Sir,” she said. Diego reached out to the pendant hanging from her neck and took it between thumb and fingers, turning it over in his hand. “How do you come to have this?” he asked pleasantly.

  “I’ve had it since childhood, sir,” said Kari, turning on her charm with a smile, “from when I was confirmed in the New Christian Church. I see the same symbol on your robe, sir, from when the first colonists came—”

  “Toth has spoken to us about this,” said Diego, so loudly that all conversations stopped to hear his words. “He has told us of his travels to other worlds, bringing harmony and goodness to others before choosing a few to be his people. Now you see the truth of this; his symbol, hanging from the neck of a visitor from the stars.” As he said this, his other hand reached out, long fingers sliding across the back of Kari’s neck and pulling her forward so that she was looking straight up at him. “Yet only a few have been chosen, and only those baptized may enter the House of Toth.”

  “I’m baptized a New Christian, sir,” said Kari.

  Diego shook his head sadly. “It is not the same. There are differences between us, but Toth has visited your people in the past and bids us to welcome you as brethren.” He released Kari’s neck, but she remained where she was, looking up at him with an expression crafted to melt the most stolid of male countenances. Diego showed no reaction, though he was slow to move away from her.

  “Hurry, now. Our visitors must return to their camp, and all the Children of Toth to their homes for a day of rest. There will be more time for talk.” He clapped his hands, and the villagers began to drift away. Davos shook Michael’s hand once more, and his family followed him away towards a house near the shore without looking back.

  Diego turned to Michael. “Tomorrow, then. I will meet you here at sunrise. In the meantime, I ask that you and your party remain close to your camp, and that you remove the armed observers from the top of the hill. We should trust each other, Leader Queal. There is nothing for either of us to fear here.”

  “I’ll carry your message to my superior,” said Michael.

  Diego bowed, turned, and climbed out of the amphitheatre and up the steps into the darkness of the obelisk’s interior. As he disappeared, the doors closed slowly behind him.

  Michael spoke softly, his back to the obelisk. “Okay, let’s march out of here. I don’t think our host is alone in there.”

  They climbed the switchback trail and across the skree by the cliff, breathing heavy by the time they’d reached the trees again. Vilas Compagno strode up beside Michael and Kari at the head of the line, huffing and puffing. “So, what do you think? Is Diego for real, or is he putting on a show for us?”

  “Some things don’t fit, that’s for sure. He says there’s no technology, but has radio and scanning capability. The village seems too small, maybe a hundred or so people there and—”

  “About two hundred in the amphitheatre area,” said Vilas, “but a lot of people were watching us from the edge of the trees up the hill. Could be several hundred people here, Major, and we only met selected families.”

  “I think there were others inside the church, and did you notice how few children or young men were there? The age mixture isn’t normal. And he made a big show about Kari’s pendant, as if he had to explain how a visitor from the stars could be wearing the symbol of his church.”

  “He cut me off about that,” said Kari.

  “I think he liked you,” said Vilas.

  Kari rubbed the back of her neck. “When he touched me, I was a little scared, Mike. It wasn’t just a friendly touch, his fingers were moving around back there, feeling and probing around, and all I could do was stand there.”

  “You did well,” said Michael.

  “He is one big man,” she said. “His presence is intimidating. It’s no wonder the villagers are so sober around him. They seemed to warm up when I was talking to them, but when Diego came up to me, they—well, they looked frightened.”

  “You sound awed, Kari,” said Michael.

  “Oh, get off it, Mike. He scared me.”

  “Sorry. He bothers me, too.”

  “So, are we going back?”

  “Probably. I’ll brief the Commander when we get to camp, but I don’t like the idea of us being separated.”

  Emerson’s sun was near its zenith when they saw the camp and its perimeter of scattered sentries. An earthmover was pushing sod up against the sides of the cargo pod, which now sported a spider-like antenna on its roof, and there was a small gathering of people at the edge of the cliff beyond it. Krisha came out to meet them beyond the perimeter. Her helmet was on, but she’d stripped down to undershirt and khaki pants, her assault rifle cradled in one arm. “We didn’t expect you back so soon, sir. How’d it go?”

  Michael briefed her as they walked, Kari a step behind them. “Do you want me to pull my people from the knoll, sir? I think we need to keep up the surveillance.”

  “Let me talk to Mootry first, but if Diego mak
es a big issue of it we’ll have to pull back.”

  “How could they have spotted them, sir? They’re dug in under trees up there.”

  “IR sensors, probably. There’s technology here, despite what Diego says. Anything happen while we were gone?”

  “Haven’t seen anyone, but we found something on the beach that you need to take a look at. Some of the scientists have gone down to inspect the thing, some kind of animal that washed up overnight. They seem pretty excited about it.”

  “I’ll take a look,” said Michael. “Carry on, Captain.” He changed direction and left Krisha to commiserate with Kari about her experience with Diego, walked to cliff edge where a small group of marines was looking down at the beach. When he got there, Osen was right behind him.

  There were four people on the beach, standing and kneeling around what looked like a shark or small whale glistening gray and white in the sunlight. “How do I get down there?” he said to a private who stood next to him.

  “We’ve rigged a drop line, sir, over here. One at a time, sir.”

  Michael walked a few steps to a taut, motor driven double-cable angling down steeply to the beach from a tee-bar placed at cliff edge. A seat harness dangled from the cable. He strapped himself in tightly and said, “Going down, please.” Behind him a motor whined, and he was dangling in air, the beach far below him but coming up fast, as he was swept down to land hard on the sand. Ending up on his knees, he struggled to get out of the harness.

  Chelli Ganeff, a botanist, came over to help him up. “We’ve got something Utaki needs to look at, Major. I know a little zoology, but this is something I’ve never seen or read about.”

  They went over for a look and the first thing Michael saw were rows and rows of sharp, serrated teeth in the open mouth of a dead creature laying on its side. “A shark,” he said.

  “Definitely not, Major,” said Chelli. “It’s a mammal of some kind. See the blowhole over here? And the skin is smooth all over, the tail horizontal, and a tiny dorsal, swept back. This thing is built for speed. If I didn’t see the head I’d say it was a small whale or a large porpoise. But the head’s all-wrong: blunt-nosed, eyes right in front, and all those teeth. It’s a predator, a very fast predator big enough to tear up a small boat.”

  Michael examined the creature from head to tail. There was indeed life, and sudden death in Emerson’s seas. A mammal that looked like a shark grafted onto a whale. “I wonder if it’s native?” he said.

  “Probably,” said Chelli. “It’d take a lot of imaginative bioengineering to come up with something like this.” Chelli looked out to sea. “Uh-oh, Major, better inspect it quick. We have visitors coming in.”

  Michael looked up and saw a sailboat coming towards them, now moving parallel to shore just beyond the surf. Even at a distance he could see two, white-robed men standing at the bow of the craft. “Get any photographs?” he asked Chelli.

  “Several, sir.”

  “Then hide your camera and quick dig a couple of samples out of the hide of this thing for Utaki to look at. The rest of you sling your rifles, and keep ’em slung.”

  The little boat tacked in the wind and swung towards shore, catching a small wave and riding it in smoothly to shallow. There were four men on the boat, all robed, two of them staying behind to deploy anchors fore and aft while their companions in the bow jumped into the water and slogged to shore.

  They came close, and Michael studied their faces. He’d not seen either of them at his meeting in the village.

  “Hello,” he called out. “We’ve found a dead animal here. Can you tell us what it is?”

  The two men came up on the sand, faces grim, and their eyes on the armed marines at Michael’s side. “It is a Charni, and we have come to take it away before it begins to stink,” said the taller of the two. They stopped a few paces from Michael, looking nervous. Both kept looking up towards the top of the cliff, and Michael suppressed an urge to turn around and see what was bothering them.

  “Do you know if this animal is native to your seas?” said Michael.

  The two men looked at each other, and the taller one said, “The Charni have always been with us. They attack our boats if we go out too far, and lately it seems they grow in numbers and come closer to shore. There have been two deaths from these things, and the fish are migrating further out each year. We must dare the Charni, according to the will of Toth. He has told us this.”

  “You’ve talked to Toth? You’ve seen him?”

  “He appears to us from time to time. Please, we have been instructed to remove the Charni. Let us do so.” The man looked up at the cliff again.

  “Our scientists would like to study this animal. Maybe we can find a way to help you get rid of them,” said Michael. “Could you let us keep this dead one for a while?”

  “Please,” said the man, and now there was fear in his eyes. “This is Toth’s creature, and we must do as we’re told. We want no trouble with you. We’re only fishermen sent to get the Charni.”

  “Major, maybe if we—” Chelli started to say, but Michael waved him into silence.

  “Well, then, you may take it from here. My people can help you.”

  “That isn’t necessary,” said the tall man. “There are two of us.” They stepped forward timidly and Michael motioned for his people to move back from the carcass. “I didn’t see you in the village this morning. Maybe we’ll meet again tomorrow.”

  “You are mistaken,” said the tall man, grabbing hold of the creature’s great tail. “We were there, and heard your words. We hope you do not make difficulties for us.”

  The two men dragged the bloated carcass into the surf with great effort until it floated there, and then they pushed it gently to their boat where the others joined in with a mechanical winch and heaved the thing aboard. In a minute they had turned-to and broken through the small waves, setting sail again and moving straight out to sea without looking back.

  “We just lost a good specimen, Major,” said Chelli.

  “Get something for Utaki?”

  “Enough for a DNA sequence, if that’s what you’re thinking about.”

  “That’s what I’m thinking, mister. But for now, at least, we keep the peace.”

  Michael was the first one up the cable, and he saw Osen kneeling at the edge of the cliff, handing a rifle to a marine. Another marine helped Michael out of the harness, and sent it down again. “A little tense down there, sir?”

  “No. They weren’t armed, and just wanted to take the body away.”

  “No problem, sir. Osen had a good bead on ’em the whole time.”

  Michael looked at Osen. “Come with me, private. We need to have a talk.”

  “Sir!” said Osen, and followed him back to the sod-covered pods. They pushed past radio and video panels to get to their cots, Osen dropping his helmet there. Michael took off his jacket and threw it hard on the cot. “Did you or did you not aim a weapon at those villagers down there?”

  “I did, sir, but only for a minute until I could see they weren’t carrying any weapons and didn’t try to come close to you.”

  Michael scowled. “I was surrounded by marines with rifles slung, men with far more experience than yours, I would guess, but you had to take it on yourself to make a threatening gesture to people. For God’s sake, son, we are trying to earn their trust, not scare them. What were you thinking of?”

  “I was just following—”

  “And don’t give me that following orders crap! Get Commander Mootry on the horn. Now!”

  Osen seemed stunned, but moved with lightning speed. His hands flew over the keyboard; he waited, saw nothing on the screen, and checked a small notebook. “They’ll be coming over the horizon in ten minutes, sir.”

  “Sit there ‘til you get him.” Michael lay down on the cot, rubbed his eyes and thought about sharp, serrated teeth in an animal that breathed air and lived in the sea. Utaki would be thrilled, but frustrated. They hadn’t brought a base sequencer with them
, and the samples would have to go back up to Belsus. The fishermen had seemed most anxious to take the thing away. Why? At a sudden thought he got up and went to the door. “I’ll be out at the cliff. Call me.”

  He walked quickly to the cliff and looked out to sea. It was still there, sails still visible, a tiny boat with four men and a monster; only it was not heading back to the village. It was going straight out to sea. He watched it as it became a bobbing speck, far out, and then Osen called.

  “Got him, sir. You’ll only have a few minutes.”

  Michael ran. He briefed Mootry rapid-fire on the morning’s events and the creature they’d found. The Commander agreed to their return to the village, ordered the surveillance team to leave a fixed video camera and move their position to just below the knoll summit. Full alert in camp. He listened to Michael’s thirty-second tirade about Osen following him around, and the incident at the beach.

  “Calm down, Mike. He’s just watching your backside. Remember what happened to Duncan and Takahashi on their last drop?”

  “That was war, sir.”

  “Well, we don’t know what this one is, yet.”

  “But he’s just a kid.”

  “There’s more to him than you think. Anything else?”

  Michael sighed. “Not for now.”

  “I’ll have a flyer there in three hours. Type up a briefing for me, Mike. I gotta go.” And he was gone.

  Osen looked at him glumly. “You’ve got a friend there,” said Michael. “There’s more to you than I think, he says. So what is it?”

  “You’ll have to ask the Colonel, sir. I’m sorry about the thing at the beach. Maybe I over-reacted.”

  “Shit,” said Michael. He sat down and wrote a four page report on the day’s events, then went to his cot, lay down to close his eyes for just a little while—

  And awoke to find Colonel Floyd Mootry standing over him. “When did you—?”

  “Hi, Mike. You’ve been sleeping real sound,” said Mootry, grinning.