Rhapsody in Black (14 page)

‘That's a fine social conscience you have,' I said drily. ‘But as of now the guns control the grotto, and will probably continue to do so. Unless, of course, the miners use
their
guns to assure a socialist redistribution of wealth.'

‘They can't,' she said. ‘They've spent all their lives here, in these caves, with this faith. They were born in the dark; they scuttle around in the dark. The faith won't permit them to bring the light they need down here. Light is a concession to weakness, and you need strength to win the Exclusive Reward. Light is always faint, because the voice of the Almighty, as reproduced by Akim Krist and his council, commands that the people should live in blackness, should work in blackness, should love and cherish blackness.

‘The miners can't use their eyes any more. They're ashamed to lend any credence to their own senses. All that matters is the faith which they've been taught. Only the outcasts are thrown back on to their senses, because they've already lost the Exclusive Reward. Only the outcasts can see, and even they court darkness for their stealing and their skulking.'

‘They live in a lighted cave,' I interposed.

‘Do they? I'm glad for that, at least. But how bright is the light?'

‘Dim,' I admitted.

‘Exactly. Everyone here is four-fifths blind.'

‘So you want to expel the darkness from Rhapsody?' I mused. ‘That's almost as wild as Akim Krist's idea. Do you really think that you can re-educate the people? Do you imagine that replacing weak lights with strong ones will revitalise your whole society?'

‘Life down here doesn't have to be the life of a worm,' she said. ‘We don't want to come out into the sun. We don't want our air saturated with fog like the air of Attalus. But we don't have to make this world a pit of limitless darkness.'

‘Maybe you do,' I said, ‘if you want to receive your Exclusive Reward. Or have you given up believing in that?'

‘I think this is our Exclusive Reward,' she said. ‘If we choose it, then we certainly deserve it as our reward. And it's absolutely exclusive. There are no other worlds like this one, are there?'

‘Not quite,' I conceded. ‘This one is rather unique. But where did you get all these revolutionary thoughts from, if this culture is so very careful about the training of its children?'

‘I used my senses,' she said.

‘All by yourself?'

‘Yes.'

‘You didn't ever see the sun? You didn't read forbidden books? Nobody told you about the light?'

‘No.'

‘Well then,' I said. ‘If it happened to you, it could have happened to a hundred others. The days of Rhapsody's darkness could be numbered.'

‘Not while Akim Krist and Jad Gimli rule the council.'

‘They won't rule for ever. All you need is one Rion Mavra, who talks too much because he thinks too much. And one Titus Charlot, to provide a link with New Alexandria. You could bring your light to Rhapsody, then.'

Bayon came into the grotto. The beamer was cradled in his arms like a baby. ‘We eat,' he said. ‘Outside.'

‘How about you?' I asked him. ‘Wouldn't you settle for an invasion of light to make this world move? Or are you only interested in your personal grudges?'

But he didn't know what I was talking about. He might even have thought I was being hypocritical. After all, the only reason I'd involved myself in the first place was in the hope of extracting a profit.

At that time, however, I didn't know what I wanted, and I could only wait and see how things were going to turn out.

It didn't take as long as I had feared. Not very many hours passed before Harl came to tell me that there was someone at the barricade who had expressed a desire to see me. I didn't bother guessing who it might be. I just went quickly down the tunnel to the barrier.

The conference had already started. Bayon was talking to Titus Charlot—on our side of the barricade—and he didn't look too happy. I hoped that Charlot hadn't annoyed Bayon too much. Gimli would hardly have given him a full account of how things stood down here, and Titus could easily make a mistake in handling Bayon which could result in the situation getting worse instead of better.

There were four of Bayon's men looking on with intense interest, including Tob. Harl came back just behind me, and I presumed that the others would be along as soon as they realised that things were moving again.

‘Hello, Grainger,' said Charlot. He didn't seem to be bubbling over with goodwill towards me. I could tell that he resented whatever part I'd tried to play in the affair.

‘Hello, Titus,' I replied. ‘Have a nice stay in jail?'

‘Uncomfortable,' he said. ‘I'm sure that you've been having a much more exciting time of it.'

‘Things have moved down here much faster than they would have up top,' I told him. ‘But I wouldn't describe it as exciting, exactly.'

‘And what do you think you're doing,
exactly
?' he said.

‘Exploring the situation,' I said blandly.

‘How did you get yourself involved with this bunch of cut-throats?'

That seemed a little undiplomatic to me, and I got the uncomfortable feeling that Gimli had given Charlot the impression that I was in command down here.

‘The only casualty,' I pointed out, ‘was on our side. If you could call it
our
side, that is. Bayon and I have our differences, and Bayon has the guns.'

‘You're not trying to tell me that they took you prisoner along with Rion Mavra and the others?'

‘Not quite,' I admitted, ‘but a certain amount of tension has crept into our relationship.'

‘So you're not in a position to demand your twenty thousand after all?'

‘Would you have given it to me if I was?'

‘No.'

‘In that case, the matter is somewhat academic. I shall have to rely on Bayon's generosity, then. I take it that you've already told him what the council has decided.'

‘Gimli was scared to come back,' interrupted Bayon. ‘They sent this one instead.'

Charlot ignored him. ‘The council did not send me. The council reached agreement some few hours ago that they would deal with New Alexandria over this matter of the grotto. The contents of the cave belong to me. The council has promised me full co-operation in any action which I care to take in order to seize my property.'

‘Up to and including a pitched battle?' I asked.

‘Up to and including the forcible recovery of the grotto.'

‘It must be nice for Akim Krist to have so many loyal friends,' I said drily. ‘And Mavra too—he was your friend, remember?'

‘I came down here alone,' said Charlot patiently. ‘I hope that there will be no need for violence of any kind. I am prepared to wait, if necessary. If there is any violence, it will be you who starts it.'

‘Not me,' I reminded him. ‘Bayon. He does exist, you know.'

‘There should be no reason for the situation to degenerate to that extent,' said Charlot smoothly. ‘I am prepared to be reasonable. What do you want?' The last sentence was addressed to Bayon.

‘The price,' said Bayon.

‘I'll pay any reasonable price,' Charlot assured him. ‘What do you want?'

‘I want the price that you paid to the council.'

‘The arrangement which we came to is very complicated. In monetary terms, it would be difficult to calculate a matching figure.'

‘I don't want an
equal
price,' said Bayon. ‘I want
that
price'

Charlot returned his attention to me. ‘What does he think he's playing at?' he asked.

‘It's very simple,' I said. ‘He has a grievance against the Church. He doesn't want the Church to benefit from the grotto affair. He wants to be paid their price, and he wants to withhold it from them. I'm afraid he has a somewhat nasty mind.'

‘It must be the company he keeps,' said Charlot. ‘It's out of the question, and you both know it'

‘I know it,' I said, ‘but...'

‘The council isn't going to get away with shifting its troubles onto somebody else,' said Bayon doggedly. ‘This business is between the council and me.' I saw the end of his gun twitch ominously. It looked rather as though Titus were about to join the party. But what could that possibly solve?

‘Now wait a minute, Bayon,' I said. ‘You can't go on just repeating your ultimatum. Can't you see that what happens here after you're gone just isn't that important? Charlot will pay you. The
Hooded Swan
will carry you all out of here. You heard him say that he isn't just going to pay the council a million or two and leave it at that. What New Alexandria has to offer is knowledge, not cash. Knowledge to help Rhapsody improve its own situation, to make things better here for everyone.'

‘They don't want to make things better,' said Bayon. ‘They want to keep things the same. But I'm not going to let them do that. I'm going to crack their system. I want them to know that I exist.'

‘You
can't
, Bayon. We just don't have that kind of leverage. Akim Krist isn't enough. The grotto itself isn't enough. There's
no way
, Bayon. You'll only get us all killed. What will it prove?'

‘We can't die, remember,' he said. ‘We don't exist.'

‘That's their story,' I reminded him. ‘If you wanted that way out, you could have killed yourself any time. You're behaving like a suicide, not like a survivor. This compulsive insistence on making them kill you is a concession to their way of thinking. You're trying to make them prove that you don't exist, by literally wiping yourselves out of existence. This is their game you're playing, not yours.'

The gun muzzle came up.

‘Get back to the workface,' he said flatly. ‘Both of you. We'll send Capra back with another message.'

‘Do you want Sampson down here?' I protested. ‘Sampson and his guns?'

‘Sampson will pay my price. He won't risk his own life to kill us. He'll side with me, because I hold the grotto. He'll do things my way.'

‘He won't.'

‘Get back to the face.'

‘Tob!' I appealed. ‘It's your life as well. And all the rest of you. He's playing with your lives. Can't you make him see reason?'

‘Shut up,
outworlder
!' said Bayon. Which just about said it all. No, they couldn't make him see reason. He was their leader. I was a suntanned, dark-haired starman. Charlot's hair was white, but there was no mistaking on which side of the fence he stood.

We were escorted back to the grotto. Harl made as though to push us onto the face with the rest of the prisoners, but Charlot stepped into the cave instead. Harl hesitated, so I followed Charlot. Harl apparently decided that it didn't matter much. Bayon was following and, to judge by the sound of his voice, he didn't much care either. I could hear him directing his instructions to Cyolus Capra. I wondered vaguely whether Capra had decided to hear him or not. If not, I didn't suppose he would hold out for long. Akim Krist might die rather than speak a single word, but Capra would compromise without much of a fight.

‘Well,' I said to Titus. ‘This is it.'

‘You should have let me talk to him,' said Charlot.

‘You didn't even know how things stood,' I pointed out. ‘I'll bet Jad Gimli didn't even tell you his name, did he? He sent you down here blind to make what you could of the mess, didn't he?'

‘There was no reason for you to lose your temper,' insisted Charlot.

‘I didn't lose my temper. You've got nothing to complain about. You'd have got not an inch further for all your oil and slickness. You just can't talk to the man. He's decided on his pound of flesh and he'll take no substitutes. If every ducat were ten thousand ducats, he'd have his bond. That's the way it is.'

‘He's mad.'

‘He's not mad. Just single-minded. He's been condemned to hell by these people and he wants them to let him out again and say they're sorry. He doesn't just want to run away. That's all it is.'

‘You approve?'

‘Hardly. It's likely to cost me my life. I'll do anything I can to change his mind. But I understand how he feels. I only hope he'll compromise when Sampson lets him down.'

‘
If
Sampson lets him down.'

‘You don't think he'd agree? Take on a whole planet?'

‘I think he'll be very tempted to cheat. You saw him—don't you think he's an unsuitable vessel to fill with trust?'

‘He's a hothead. But he's not stupid. He wouldn't dare side with fifteen men against a world.'

‘That's not what I'm afraid of,' said Charlot quietly. ‘When I said “cheat” I meant both ways. He'll promise everybody anything, and take it all himself. He'll have us killed and blame it on Bayon. He'll scuttle Bayon just as soon as he's off-planet with the goods.'

‘He couldn't.'

‘Let Well Alone,' Charlot reminded me. ‘It's not even against the Law.'

‘Well, all I can say,' I said, ‘is that you have a very nasty mind. You really think it will go that way?'

‘It's a possibility.'

‘You'll never convince Bayon.'

‘No.'

‘We could warn him, though.'

‘Would it do any good?'

‘It might,' I said. But I had my doubts.

Things looked blacker with every hour that went by, and with every thought that crossed my mind.

A few minutes of unhappy silence passed, and then I said: ‘If we could get the beamer away from Bayon, we could destroy the grotto in a matter of minutes.'

‘And what would that prove?'

‘No grotto, no price.'

‘And then we get killed for nothing.'

‘You mean to exploit this thing, if you win?'

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Of course,' he said. ‘What else?'

‘You could destroy it. Why turn something like this loose in the galaxy? You know what it is, don't you? You've seen the worms—you know what they can do.'

‘I hadn't seen the worms before I came in here,' he said. He was standing at the edge of the cleared area, and I saw that he was holding a dendrite—presumably an infected dendrite—in his hand. I hadn't seen him pick it up, so he must have been holding it since we first came in.

‘In that case,' I said, ‘there might not be any, except here. It can be destroyed. We don't have to take it back.'

‘Grainger,' he said calmly, ‘I'm too old and too wise to believe that you really care about the ethics of this situation. I suppose that your suggestion merely reflects your ever-present nihilism. But I'll explain it to you anyway. You'd be an idiot if you seriously thought that something could be blotted out of existence. Once a thing is known, it can't be unknown again. Forgotten, perhaps, but even that is only temporary. Everything which was once known will be remembered, in time.'

‘There's only one cave full of these worms,' I said. ‘They're a unique and contained life-system. All it needs is a power gun and ten minutes.'

‘The life-system exists,' said Charlot patiently, ignoring the interruption. ‘It
is
, and not all your justice or your strength or your courage can erase it. There's no question of whether the organism should be
allowed
to exist or not. It is, and it will be. There's an end to it. It's inevitable.

‘This is a world full of people. Can you really believe that the wealth is just sitting here, abandoned? Can you believe that Jad Gimli hasn't got some little metal trees carefully hidden in some dark corner? Can you believe the same of Krist, and all the other council members? And what about the man who carried the bad news to Attalus and perhaps beyond? Almost every pocket on this planet might contain enough worms to breed millions more in a few days.

‘You've got the entire problem out of perspective, Grainger. The fabric of this problem isn't woven from the cloth of ethics and humanity. The only point at issue is who is going to put money into the thing and who is going to make money out of it. That's all. Just that.

‘There can be no control over when and where the weapon is employed. No one has that kind of power. Once a thing exists, it can be obtained. Anyone with the right price can have some. It may sound cruelly cynical, but I'm not quoting New Alexandrian principles, I'm quoting the state of the universe. Even if you were right, and not a single worm existed outside this cave, it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference. If there's one thing that New Alexandria has proved beyond doubt it is that the important thing is
knowledge
. All that it needs is the knowledge that such a thing can exist, how and where. There are a million worlds like this one where the drills can start hammering their way into every sealed cave the echo detectors can find. There are a thousand laboratories which could establish an artificial environment and provide sequined thermosynths and cupro-carbon trees. Even without that, the cupro-carbon-chain destroyer would have been designed sooner or later. Everything which
can
exist
will
. Existence isn't the point at issue. All that matters is money, and the directions in which it flows. Nothing can change that. Certainly not one little man with a ray gun. You can't do anything to hurt the human race, or save the human race, Grainger. You're not big enough. Nobody is. Look after yourself, my child. Even New Alexandria can do no more than serve its own purposes. Nothing we can do could not be done without us. The only alternative to our way of doing things is somebody else's way of doing things. The only thing that anyone stands to gain on that scale is his name in the history books instead of another man's. My name will be in that history, Grainger, written as strongly as I can write it. You'd be far better employed working with me than against me. All the credit is mine, of course, but you might get a subsidiary mention.'