Virginia Hamilton (13 page)

The power of Dorian and Justice combined with the Watcher stayed close by her, but out of her way. She grew tired. Slowly her body sagged downward toward the dust. Her wings flapped, but with less force, until at last they could no longer move at all.

She plummeted. The extrasensory of the two of them was there to ease her way. She drifted down through the dust. Choking and gagging. So clean had been her breathing awhile ago. Always she would remember the blue, although she could not name it.

I am the Watcher,
spoke in the Bambnua.
The color is blue. Do not lose hope now that you’ve found it. Perhaps someday you will have the blue again.

The Bambnua could not comprehend all of it. Yet she felt a warmth of sympathy. But again she despaired. Exhausted, she hugged the hardened, dusty earth as Justice and Dorian let her gently down.

She was a heap of feathers from which came ragged breaths of “Ah-unnah … hunn-ah.” She spun on the ground and was on her back, both wings extended.

Fallen angel,
Dorian traced as the Watcher dimmed from his and Justice’s eyes.

They watched as welts rose on the Bambnua’s skin. She summoned her crew. She did not make a move. She lay there, a forlorn and absurd sort of bird, Justice observed. An ugly, pathetic, beached bird.

Yes, a fallen one,
Justice suddenly traced to Dorian.
I think she’s awfully brave to work so hard.

Now there came the Slakers who had waited out of sight the whole time because the Terrij had commanded them to. She had called them and they came. They feared the unseen power. They felt it mightily, but they came on.

Justice and Dorian watched as the female creatures crept to the Bambnua in burst of being in one place, then the next. Justice noted how light on their feet they seemed, when she knew the difficulty they had keeping their balance. Not a sound did they make as their huge wings caressed the air in fear. Each one swayed on three legs, coming forth with no visible change of space. They surrounded the Bambnua. They were seated. Were lying down. Stretched out on their backs, as was their Terrij. They positioned themselves however the Bambnua did. She was stretched out. They stretched out. In a flick of an eye she was standing. They were standing.

Dorian had had no premonition that the Bambnua was about to stand. He sensed no change of space or position.

The first of anything I haven’t been able to mind-read all along,
Justice traced.

I think it’s real spooky,
Dorian traced back.
I can’t get a fix on when any one of them will move.

That’s the only thing you can’t read about them?
Justice wanted to know.
I mean, now that I’ve told you all I know and you’ve been in contact?

The only thing,
Dorian traced.
And that’s because, I swear, because the moves happen in another dimension.

Wish they were,
Justice traced.
Then we’d never know everything about them.

What do you mean by that?

I mean, I’m glad not to know it all
—
don’t we always know too much? And it’s not another dimension.

What makes you so sure?
No sooner had Dorian asked than he had the answer. She divined it—read it, sensed it, as was her way.

It’s their power,
she traced lightly, like the softest mental touch.
Oh, they must’ve had it all along, from the time the first one of them came up from underground. Maybe something down there could harm them if it saw them moving
—
ooh!
—
I’m not sure about that part. I can’t find that part anywhere, so I’m figuring it out. Making it up is what I’m doing, I guess. Anyway, they have it. That little amount of mind-control. Nothing can see them move. They blanket the whole area with that quick, sharpened force. Thought I felt an instant of something funny every time she ended up in another place. It was movement I felt but couldn’t see. So quick and smooth I almost missed it.
Did
miss it all of this time.

Wow!

But I’m glad they have something to themselves.

Sounds like you’re tired of what we have,
he traced.

I’m weary of it right now, I think. Never had to know some souls as sad as these Slaker folks right there in front of us.

The females had gathered in around their Bambnua. All laid their bald heads on one another’s shoulders. Each standing on three legs, not one of them displaced. But the whole crew of them swayed in a slow, somber sweep to and fro. They jibbered in peculiar bursts of sounds. Once spoken, the sounds slid heavily down to the dust, as if the weight of utterances brought them down.

Quickly the crew knew that their Terrij had risen and flown above the dust. Knew that she had searched and found that the miserable land had no end.

But that new energy which had moved the Bambnua on high—it could move all of them above the dust, could it not? They wanted to know.

Their Terrij did not have the answer to that. And what did it matter, since the dust had no end?

At this moment of deepest lament, Justice entered again the mind of the Terrij and the minds of her crew.

I am the Watcher. Trust the Bambnua. She knows. The Bambnua trusts me. I know what she does not. We will help you find the end.

Slakers lifted their heads and turned simultaneously to stare at the empty space in front of them. They watched it for a long, long time.

And through the silence came noise from far away. It grew, bringing heavy waves of dust. The air blew in a wind before Justice and Dorian realized a Roller was coming.

Must be one!
traced Dorian.
But where to hide?

Wait.
Justice watched the Slakers.

They had not moved. But they were shorter. Leaning backward on their third legs, they became shorter. The third legs were being driven, jammed into the ground as anchors. Wedged deep below the dust, twisted in and jammed so they could not be moved by Rollers.

A
Jam
people
—
that’s what it means!

Sure,
traced Justice.
They’ve had plenty of time to find ways of keeping safe from Rollers
.
But wait.

She listened. The thick dust lightened as it had high above when the Bambnua had risen. It was thinning, Justice was quick to note. The air around them became nearly clear. The ground grew bare. Off at a distance came a black sheet of dust higher and higher through the air. Then a pulling at her began, like a suction. It let up before it could move her or Dorian.

The Slakers stayed still, anchored as they were, with chins resting on one another’s shoulders. Silent, rheumy eyes closed—how old could they be? The Bambnua-Walker had welted again, contacting the rest of her kelm.

A crashing swoosh came from within the wall of dust. The sound took them by surprise. Dorian leaped up in a run in the opposite direction.

Wait!
Justice warned.
It can’t hurt our minds.

Well, it sure looks like it can. And as long as I’ve got this body, I’m getting out of here.

Dorian, you come right back!

Reluctantly he came back, and they waited as the booming dust commenced to fall in shrouds. A sheet of it spread out over the ground in ripples. Dust rose around them, as murky as it had been before the Roller came.

Out of the dust where the Roller had been stepped Miacis. Standing upright, she was taller than Justice would have dared imagine. She half-dragged Thomas and half-carried Levi. Justice didn’t have a moment even to be stunned. For Miacis opened her muzzle and began speaking.

“Greetings, Master Lady!” Her brand-new voice had the gentle resonance of a harp. “I bring you two good old boys, ain’t got no better sense. Oh, yes!”

Speechless, Justice stared at the giant golden animal. Suddenly she grinned and nodded her satisfaction. But Levi was still on her mind, and she hurried over to him.

“He not so happy,” Miacis said, releasing Levi. “He a pretty sick runaway from home.”

“Thomas made him run,” Justice said. “Levi would never have done it!”

She and Dorian took hold of Levi between them. He was conscious and happy to see them.

Justice traced to him,
Don’t you worry. We’re leaving right away.

Miacis still had hold of Thomas. She let him slide to the ground. Looking at Justice, she chuckled, as only a talking beast full of surprise knew how.

“This here is some character brother, Master,” she purred. “This escaper better take a tip from me.” Her hind leg nudged Thomas toward the Slakers.

He hadn’t taken his eyes from the monstrous winged things before him. He crawled back toward Miacis. Never had Thomas dreamed of such huge, ugly shapes—with wings, no less—could you beat that? And crusted over with dirt and filth. He scooted to Miacis. She was easier to take than the winged monsters.

“Boy, you runaway is sure some chickenshit!” Miacis yelled.

“Miacis,” Justice said.

Miacis had her gleaming blind eyes on the Slakers, recognizing their scent. She had come in contact with them all of her life. Her fur bristled with contempt.

“Hi you was, dusty roaders?” she said.

Slakers stared, listening to her animal voice.

“You creeps!” Miacis smirked. “Ain’t never goin’ find way home. Might as well fly away, Jammers. Ain’t no home. Who need it? Not me, boy. Me got dust and rolling. Fine place, this disaster. Good ole’ city. Fine master, too.”

“Miacis, be still!” This time the Watcher echoed through Justice’s voice.

Miacis lowered herself from her height and lay down before Justice. “Yes, Master.” She simpered.

“Call me Justice!”

Miacis stayed quiet. She blinked her fiery eyes and wondered for the thousandth time if the master was Star.

But Star never say anything to Miacis, she thought. This Master commanding any minute. Nope. Don’t think this one be Star. Master always tell me how. She going to take off for her city now.

Let’s get out of here,
traced Dorian.

Thomas. Levi,
Justice traced. There was no hesitation from either one of them. Quickly all of them joined minds. All felt the strength and order of being the unit. The depth of it was even to all.

i am the Watcher.

The unit was all and i. It fixed its gaze on Miacis , who sat still and serene before it. Its watching was a resplendent glowing.

i leave you now, great Miacis.

Miacis blinked at the infeeling of no-sound and no-voice. She held still, purring. Stillness, silence was her way at the time of parting.

You will return, First Unit?
she traced easily.

i will return. Join with me tighter now to the moment of Crossover.

The unit locked in tighter the mind-to-mind it kept with Miacis. It knew and reckoned the pulse of her animal being. i am the Watcher.

It turned its whelm of watching on the Slakers, who now stood on all three legs, as the danger of Rollers had passed. Such power as was the unit had force against which they could rest their heavy bulk. They leaned into the energy. And it flowed over them.

Your Quest is nearly over, Bambnua, Dustwalker, i will return.

The Bambnua keened, uttering harsh cries. Her old eyes searched upward through the dust as the energy, the great power flowed away until it had disappeared out of the land.

She had lost the mighty force for now. This she jabbered to her crew. Swiftly she shifted her thoughts and told the females to drink from the pool of fresh water. At once the females were beside the pool. They were wading in. They were drinking. They had drunk. The Bambnua drank. She lay on the water, wings spread. She sank. A long moment and she was back on top of the water. She was out of it.

The Terrij, the Bambnua, welted, calling her kelm. The kelm was on the range with the colony. They would note the whereabouts of such splendid liquid.

She had taken notice that the cliff and rock had faded the moment the great unseen power had vanished. She stared at nothing, jibbering to herself, sounds falling at her feet. All of the crew followed her lead, jibbering. The Dustwalker leaned back on her third leg. She flew. They all flew. And, flying, they were gone.

The unit hung suspended on the seam between future and the Crossover. In a lightning probe, it was aware of turbulence ahead where commenced the Crossover. It felt Miacis about to pull back her mind, leaving the unit.

I await your return, First Unit.
Mind-tracing in the last instant with a delicate purring.

i am the Watcher, i will return.

Miacis was detached from the unit.
Master!

Miacis was gone.

The unit left the future and plunged into the Crossover. It was a writhing, spiraling condition between times. It was not yet a present event.

I
T COULD NEVER BE
sure it would get back home precisely where it should. It had focused its power-of-being on the chestnut tree. And it imagined the scent of that shade buckeye, where the real, breathing bodies of Dorian, Thomas, Levi and Justice sat beneath its branches, hands joined.

The turbulence of the Crossover between future and past echoed with sighs and whispers of mind-travelers come and gone. Gradually the unit came to know that multi-beings infested the Crossover in mental swarms. The t’beings, as Justice and the others would come to call them, had at one time been individual mind-travelers. But the individual had failed to hold its concentration while completing the mind-jump from one time to another. Trapped in the no-end and no-start between times, it would never again find the way back to its proper moment. An individual found others like itself caught in the Crossover. It and the others cooperated, joined and became multi-beings gathered in base swarms to capture new individual time-travelers. In this way, t’beings intended to become strong enough to fix on some
place.
Forever without bodies, they could well become power on the loose to cause havoc at any time.

Justice had divined early on that she, Thomas, Levi and Dorian had best become a unit for strength of mind and self-defense. And the unit had been lucky not to have been uncovered by t’being swarms until the return trip on the second time-travel to the future. The unit knew by then not to lose its concentration, nor break connection with the single obsession it had in mind: getting home. And now the unit whirled and dived, dodging the swarms. It massed its psyche on the past and home. The Watcher observed for it in the anti-where of the Crossover, surrounding it with utmost attention and clear purpose. This the Watcher accomplished while the unit held fast and dared not dream. Only once was the Watcher seriously challenged. A foot-wide swarm drove a wedge of ferocious need into the Watcher’s first level of awareness.