Araminta Station (65 page)

Mutis had now gone off about his affairs. Lilo told Glawen: “I will now take you to your chamber, for a period of meditation.”

“One moment.” Glawen made a bundle of his old clothes, which he tucked under his arm. Lilo watched without comment. “Come.”

She led him along the corridor, meanwhile reciting a list of admonitions for Glawen’s guidance. “For a certain period, you must refrain from visiting the town or walking about the countryside. Dismiss all such inclinations; they will be strongly disapproved.”

“I won’t be here long enough to feel the need. Or so I hope.”

Lilo spoke more quickly. “In that case, you will find no reason to attempt the stairs, since they are extremely dangerous.”

“They sound not only dangerous but ominous,” said Glawen.

“You are perceptive! So, be guided! Remember, the earnest student finds life easier than one who frets and shirks. Plainly, you are not one of this latter sort; am I correct?”

“I am a Clattuc of Clattuc House! Does that answer your question?”

Lilo glanced at him sidewise. “What is a ‘Clattuc’?”

“This will be made clear: sooner, I hope, than later.”

Lilo was silent for a period, then asked, almost wistfully: “You have traveled far and wide across the Reach?”

“Not as far as I might like. In fact, I have visited only a few worlds along the Wisp.”

“It must be interesting to travel,” said Lilo. “I have only a few memories of the crèche at Strock, and then the seminary.” She halted before a door. “This is to be your chamber.” She opened the door, and waited. Glawen stood back obstinately. Lilo said: “Truly, you gain nothing by inflexibility. Mutis loves nothing more than intransigence.”

Glawen sighed and entered the room. Lilo said: “We shall talk more later. I am pleased that the Ordene selected me to be your instructor; usually the task falls to Bayant or Hylas. Meanwhile, for your convenience and protection, I will lock the door.”

“Protection against what?”

Lilo made a vague gesture. “Sometimes, when students finish their work they hope to gossip with others who might prefer to rest or meditate. By locking the door I will spare you this nuisance.”

The door closed. Seething with fury all the more poignant for his feeling that he had been swindled and fuddled and fooled, Glawen took stock of the chamber. The dimensions were adequate: twenty feet to the far wall and a width of about twelve feet. The chill of the stone floor was relieved by a mat of woven withe; the walls were washed a nondescript buff. A wooden table and chair stood against the far wall under a high window. To the left was a crude cot, to the right a tall wardrobe and storage case. A door opened into an austere bathroom.

Glawen threw his bundle of clothes upon the cot and went to sit in the chair.

The room was chill; Glawen still felt half numb from the shower. His teeth began to chatter, which caused him new annoyance. He rose to his feet, swung his arms, walked back and forth, jumped up and down and presently felt more comfortable.

Glawen looked up at the window. A center vertical post divided the opening into halves, each too small for egress. Each segment of glass could be swung open to provide ventilation if need be; both segments were now closed against the vertical center post.

Glawen climbed up on the table and looked out the window. He was provided a view across the steppe and down along the eastern fringe of the town, where stood a scattering of ramshackle cottages. Zonk’s Star could not be seen, but judging from the dim light and the length of the black shadows, the time was close upon sunset. The omnibus might already have left for Fexelburg, and to his sorrow he was not aboard.

Glawen stood on tiptoes and looked down. The wall dropped a hundred feet sheer to the rocky hillside. Glawen opened one of the windows and tested the rigidity of the center post. He pushed, pulled; the post failed so much as to quiver. He closed the window against the cold wind. What had been Mutis’ remark? Something about the “owl-trap”? Glawen shivered at the thought. He jumped down from the table and resumed his seat in the chair. Assuming that Kirdy followed instructions promptly and efficiently, Glawen could expect rescue as early as this very evening - though a more realistic hope would be tomorrow.

Glawen stretched out his legs and tried to take a balanced view of the circumstances. It was an adventure he surely would never forget. He managed a wry chuckle. The effrontery of Zaa and her cohorts was so brazen as to transcend ordinary logic or even reality. They were using the techniques of mind control: first, destroy the victim’s confidence in what he considered the proper patterns of existence, then substitute an alternate system which functioned well. Whether purposeful or not, these seemed to be Zaa’s tactics. “It will not be one of my proudest cases,” Glawen told himself.

Another matter came to mind: if Zaa were to be believed – and why not? - she had been notified by telephone of his coming. Who had been aware of his plans? Kirdy, Inspectors Barch and Tanaquil, the Adjudicant Plock. Why would any of these persons betray him? The mystery was profound.

Glawen rubbed his chin, in order to stimulate his thinking. Zaa had dealt with him, a police officer, with total disregard for the consequences; clearly she felt no fear of the Fexelburg police. Was it enough to say that this was Lutwiler Country, where Fexelburg police lacked jurisdiction, or - more likely - deliberately chose not to involve themselves?

It suddenly occurred to Glawen that at no time had he suffered violence. He had been subdued by nothing more than hints and subtle menaces, and now he found himself locked in a room with his head shaved bald. He straightened in the chair, quivering with shame.

Glawen gritted his teeth and assured himself. “What is done is done! I have been taught a good trick, if nothing else.”

But a single question loomed larger than all the others together: why?

Glawen became aware that the room had gone dark. He climbed on the chair and looked out the window. Night had come to Lutwiler Country. Mircea’s Wisp streamed at a slant across the sky. Glawen resumed his seat. He had noticed no source of light nor any light switch. He settled himself to wait. Ten minutes passed. There was a sound in the hall and the door opened, to reveal Lilo’s slender silhouette.

Glawen spoke coldly: “Is there neither light nor heat in this room?”

“There is light, certainly.” Lilo touched a button beside the door, to bring illumination from light-ribbons along the ceiling. Lilo entered the room. Quietly and thoughtfully she closed the door and came across the room. Glawen saw that she carried half a dozen books. She took them to the table and put them down, still with the half-abstracted air. Glawen watched silently as she arranged the books in a neat row along the back of the table. Sensing Glawen’s altered mood, Lilo turned her head and studied him warily. “These are the study materials you will need. As you know, I am to be your instructor, for a certain period at least. Of course the most important work will be done by you yourself: that’s where true progress is made. The texts are dense, but they yield to careful study.”

Glawen said stonily: “I have no interest whatever in Monomantics.”

Lilo spoke earnestly: “Your interest surely will grow, when you discover the advantages of study. Now, then! We must make a start, so that they won’t think us slackards.”

Lilo selected one of the books and with feline delicacy settled herself upon the cot. “This is the Index of Primes. They should be memorized, even if their thrust is not immediately clear. I will read them to you, and you must listen with both ears, to receive their force and their sound, even if you don’t understand. ‘One: Duality is the stuff of grind and abrasion; it shall merge to Unity. Two -” Glawen watched her with eyes half closed as she read, wondering as to what vagaries of fate had brought her to Pogan’s Point seminary. She was, he thought, a well-meaning creature, with perhaps more warmth and sympathy to her nature than might be useful to her. She darted him a quick look: “Are you listening?”

“Of course! You have a soothing voice. It is the only pleasant thing I have encountered here.”

Lilo looked away. “You should not think in such terms,” she said severely. Glawen saw that she was not displeased. Lilo went on: “You have heard the Index, which we will repeat every day until you have it thoroughly committed. Now, to the sweep of our studies. Here, in green type, is Precepts, Laterals and Fluxions and in the same volume, but printed upside down in red, are Useful Terminators. These are immensely important, but at the moment you had better start with Facts and Primordials, which gives a sensible footing to what comes after. And of course you have your Primary Concepts.” She handed Glawen the book. “This must come first.”

Glawen looked into the pages. “It seems difficult - far beyond my scope, even if I were interested, which I am not.”

“Interest will come! Syntoraxis is essentially a progression of axioms, each deriving from the so-called Fundamental Verity. Very crudely, the Verity commands the unity of all things. Fundamental Verity is a node of intellectual force: a substance known as
sthurre
. To attain the pinnacle is hard, but possible. Nothing must blur the clarity of our vision. Pogan’s Point here in Lutwiler Country is exactly the right environment. There is nothing to impede our progress. The seminary has no distractions; it is neither harsh nor pleasurable –”

“It is cold, though.”

Lilo paid no heed. “- allow nothing to distract us, especially a foolish indulgence in transient frivolity. Pain can be ignored; pleasure is more insidious.”

“And far nicer, don’t you think?”

Lilo compressed her lips. “That idea lacks both merit and consequence.”

“For Mutis and Zaa, perhaps. Not for me. I grieve for pleasures I’ve missed, but I spare not a thought for the pain I have neglected to suffer.”

Lilo said sternly: “You must not be flippant! Such ideas are debilitating and disturb the flow of logic. As the primer tells us, the erratic impulses of evolution have caused anomalies which we have been trying to correct. Our goal is the imposition of order on chaos. Remember ‘Three’ in the Index? ‘Unity is purity! Energy is direction! Duality is collision, disorder and stasis!’”

Half amused, Glawen studied Lilo’s features, which, like those of Zaa, were fine, delicate and accented by large dark eyes. Lilo asked: “Are those ideas firmly in your mind?”

“Absolutely.”

“Duality is to logical unity what death is to life. The chapter ‘Opposites and Apposites’ analyzes the subject in broad outline and is adequate for the beginner’s needs.”

“What do you mean by ‘Duality’?”

“That should be clear even to you! Duality is the source of the Great Schism which drove us apart from the Polymantics. In any event, they were dominated by the masculines, which again caused polarities. In the Progressive Formula, which we endorse, sexual polarization is either ignored or avoided.”

“And what do you think of that?”

“There is no need for me to think. The Monomantic Creed is correct.”

“But how do you feel, in personal terms?”

Lilo again compressed her lips. “I have never thought to analyze the subject. Introspection is not a productive employment.”

“I see.”

Lilo darted him a sidelong glance. “What of yourself?”

“I like Duality.”

Lilo gave her head a shake of disapproval, though seeming to smile. “I suspected as much. You must accept Unity!” She darted him another quick glance. “Why do you look at me like that?”

“I wonder how you think of yourself. Female? Male? Unified? Type unknown? Or what?”

Lilo looked off across the room. “These ideas are not considered appropriate for discussion. An irrational evolution has blighted us with dualism; we thrust it aside with all the force of our philosophy!”

“You did not answer my question.”

Lilo sat looking down at the Index. “How do you regard me?”

“You are properly female.”

Lilo gave a slow reluctant nod. “I am physiologically female, that is true.”

“If you let your hair grow you might even be considered pretty.”

“What an odd thing to say! It would mean conscious duality.”

Impelled in equal part by mischief, malice and feckless Clattuc gallantry, Glawen went to sit beside Lilo on the cot. She looked at him with startled eyes. “Why are you doing that?”

“So that we can study Duality together and learn how it works. It’s far more interesting than Monomantics.”

Lilo went to sit in the chair. “That is the most extraordinary suggestion I have ever heard!”

“Are you interested?”

“Of course not. We must give our attention wholly to the approved regimen.” A musical tone sounded. “It is time for supper. Come; you and I will go together.”

In the refectory Glawen and Lilo were served bread, beans and boiled greens from a row of iron pots. They went to sit at a long table. About thirty other members of the order hunched over their platters. Glawen asked Lilo: “Is anyone here your special friend?”

“We love each other and all of humanity with the same deep fervor. You must do the same.”

“I find it hard to love Mutis.”

“At times Mutis is inclined to be arbitrary.”

“But you love him, nonetheless?”

After a moment Lilo said: “All of us must generate our share of universal love.”

“Why waste any on the likes of Mutis?”

“Ssst! Quiet! You are a noisy person. In the refectory silence is the rule. Many of us set aside this time to ponder, or to clarify some apparent paradox, and no one wants to be disturbed.”

“Sorry.”

Lilo looked down at Glawen’s plate. “Why aren’t you eating?”

“The food is revolting. The beans are spoiled and the greens are burned.”

“You will be hungry if you do not eat.”

“Better hungry than sick.”

“Come, then; there is no point sitting here in idleness.”

Once more in the chamber Lilo primly seated herself in the chair, and Glawen sat on the cot. Lilo said: “We should now discuss the Primordials.”

“Let’s talk about something more interesting,” said Glawen.