Voyage to Alpha Centauri: A Novel (65 page)

“Can you read them?” I asked Dariush. “Do they make sense to you?”

“A moment, Neil”, he replied, slowly poring over lines on the tablets.

Without explanation, he arranged them side by side on the floor, sometimes re-reading one or another and changing their positions.

“This is it”, he said at last, exhaling loudly. I could see that his hands were trembling.

“What does it say?”

“It is a chant. Or a song. Yes, a song, I think. It tells the story of these two. Shall I translate it for you?”

“Can you do that?”

“I may not have every word exact, but the meaning is more or less clear to me. It is the mind of a young person, not complicated.”

And so we sat with our backs against the cave wall, and Dariush picked up the first fragment of slate. Like the others, it was an irregular piece with broken edges, about a foot wide by a foot and a half long.

In his quiet voice, he slowly recited the following:

     I Kitha-ré write this.

     My mother took me and said,

     “Kitha-ré, now you are about to become a woman,

     For your body shows the first signs.

     You have been chosen to be among

     The chosen of the Lord of the Night-gods.”

     I cried and said to her:

     “I do not desire this.”

     She put her hand over my mouth, and she was afraid

     Because of my words, but none heard what I said.

     And my father hid his face.

     In the dark when sleep was upon the city,

     I heard them weeping.

     With the sacred hundred I went.

     We departed at the rising of the sun,

     borne in vehicles upon the Great Road until the setting of the sun,

     And we came up unto the mountains of the Temple

     Of the Lord of the Night-gods,

     That we might see the sacred heavens-ship

     And thence be taken into the Lord of the Night-gods’ mouth.

     Yet I was afraid.

     Pho-rion was with me, the one who is dear to me.

     Yet I was afraid.

     Unto the Temple we came, and the guards led us within.

     The ninety-eight who were with me took the drink that gives sleep,

     And ate the mash that hastens the blood flow.

     I made as if to eat and drink but I did not,

     And none saw me.

     In the forecourt of the Temple, the hundred lay down on the floor

     for sleep.

     Pho-rion did as me: he ate and drank not, and was awake.

     And none saw him.

     We two did not sleep. Tomorrow we would die.

     He touched my hand.

     The lights were extinguished, and the guards stood near;

     At the Gate with their lamps, they stood and watched.

     Then did a man of light walk in through the open gate,

     The light was in him and around him; he was like a god.

     The guards did not see him, though their eyes were open,

     And the three eyes of the Lord of the Night-gods,

     The all-seeing eyes in the stone above the gate,

     They did not look upon him.

     Who is this? I thought.

     And I was afraid.

     He came to me and touched my head.

     “Kitha-ré, do not be afraid”, he said to me.

     “How do you know my name, O Night-god?” I asked him.

     “I am not a Night-god”, he answered me.

     “Who are you, and why do you come to me?”

     Pho-rion lay as one struck by a spear;

     His mouth was open as he watched and listened.

     “I am a servant”, said the man of light. “I am sent by the Sky-father unto you.”

     I said, “The Sky-father of old was broken. He was angry and he was shamed.

     He is no more.”

     The man of light said, “The One you call Sky-father is Creator of all things

     And he lives. In him, there is no evil.”

     “What is evil?” I asked.

     “It is that which hurts you and would take away your life.”

     I said, “I do not desire that my life be taken from me,

     Yet it is the will of the Lord of the Night-gods.”

     He said, “The Lord of the Night-gods is evil.

     The Lord of the Night-gods is like unto a serpent.

     And this day he is broken.”

     “How is he broken?” I asked, for I did not believe him.

     And I was very afraid,

     For the man of light had spoken words-that-bring-death-to-him-who-speaks-them.

     The man of light touched Pho-rion’s head

     And Pho-rion quaked at the touch.

     He was very afraid.

     “The Sky-father has heard your cries unto him”, said the man of light.

     “I did not cry unto him”, I said.

     “You cried unto him when you were at work in the fields.

     On the day when Pho-rion who is dear to you was with you;

     You were among the tall plants for cutting the harvest,

     And no others were nearby to see you or hear you.”

     “How do you know this?” I asked.

     “The Sky-father saw you and listened,” he said, “when you two raised your arms

     Unto the sky and desired to go up into the heavens.”

     I did not answer him, for he had seen what no man could see.

     For on the day when Pho-rion and I had raised our arms,

     Music was in our mouths (it is forbidden),

     And we made as if to fly with our feet (it is forbidden),

     And we shook the seed pods that make sounds sweet to the ear (it is forbidden),

     And we desired to go up into the heavens.

     That day we desired not to be among the chosen of the Lord of the Night-gods.

     We cried together in the fields of harvest, for there was no escape.

     We held each other

     And we said, “We cannot go up into the heavens, for there is no path,

     And we will die.”

     Then did the man of light take our hands,

     We two, Pho-rion and me,

     And raise us up.

     Though the guards were awake, they did not see us;

     They did not see the man of light lead us to the gate.

     We went out unto the road under the stars.

     And he took us from there down through the forest unto the great lake.

     There we came upon a little boat at water’s-edge,

     And the man of light bade us enter it with him.

     He poled the boat down the lake.

     He made music come from his mouth.

     It was sweet to our ears,

     Though we did not know his words.

     Far from the lights of the Gate he brought the boat to shore.

     We got out, and he took our hands and led us by a little path.

     The path went high into the mountains.

     We were sore tired in our flesh with climbing, Pho-rion and me.

     We were afraid in our hearts, for we had fled

     From the will of the Lord of the Night-gods.

     But when fear came again upon us in this way

     The man of light said, “Do not be afraid.”

     For he knew our inner thoughts.

     The sky beyond the great mountains grew pale

     And still we climbed.

     We came to a high place between two mountains,

     The sun sailed up into the sky.

     And we saw a wondrous place below us,

     A small valley, with a lake and fall of water, and trees with music in them.

     Here we stayed.

     We lay down on the grass of this place, Pho-rion and I,

     And we drank of the water that falls into the lake.

     And the man of light said unto us:

     “Now you must take your rest.

     This place is hidden from the eyes of the Lord of the Night-gods.

     I will keep watch over you.”

     As we fell asleep in the shade of the music trees,

     He kept watch, standing tall above us.

     And when we awoke there was a fire burning,

     In a circle of stones, with baked bread and fish.

     We ate it and it was good.

     We walked with him in the valley, and he told us many things.

     “Soon you will go unto the Sky-father,” he said.

     “You will not fall into the mouth of the Lord of the Night-gods who is evil.

     For the Father sees you and loves you.”

     “What is this word,
love
?” I asked.

     He answered, “This word is the spirit of the Father,

     The Father who desires only to give you life.

     The Father who would feed you and take away your hunger.

     The Father who desires not to take your life.

     The Father who put into you the little heart-fire that makes Pho-rion dear to you,

     And into Pho-rion the little fire that makes you dear to him.”

     I said unto the man of light, “Fire burns the flesh. It is pain.”

     “There is another fire”, answered the man of light.

     “This fire gives happiness. It is warm and gives light. It does no harm unto you.

     This fire is within you when you cry out unto the listener

     Whom you cannot see with your eyes,

     When music comes forth from your mouth,

     And when you make your body move as the birds of the sky.”

     “These are things which I desire”, I said. “I do not like screams and blood.”

     The man of light said, “Such are not praise unto the Sky-father.”

     “Then the Sky-father is not evil”, I said.

     “The Sky-father is love. He is not shamed. He is not broken.

     On this day, in a far world, he passed through shame and pain and death,

     And this he took upon himself for your sake.”

     “Where is he that we may see him?” Pho-rion asked.

     This was the first-speaking of Pho-rion.

     “You will see him”, said the man of light unto Pho-rion.

     And Pho-rion was no longer afraid.

     I Kitha-ré was no longer afraid.

     “When will we see him?” I asked.

     “In forty days, he will go up into the heaven beyond all heavens.

     “In forty days, you will grow ill, Kitha-ré, for there is even now a sickness in your flesh.

     In your flesh, Pho-rion, this sickness has only begun,

     And thus you will live a time longer than

     She who is dear to you.”

     Pho-rion took my hand.

     “We will die?” he said to the man of light, and the fear returned to his eyes.

     “Your bodies will pass away into the earth for a time”, said the man of light,

     “Yet no evil will touch you,

     For I will stand guard over you, though no longer will you see me with the eyes.

     Then you two will go up unto the heaven above all heavens.

     You will see the One who has died in your stead. You will see him,

     And music will come from your mouths on that day,

     And your arms will rise unto him, and he will embrace you,

     For he is love.

     Then will you understand what I tell you now,

     And there will be no more fear.”

     Yet I wept because I did not desire to die.

     I did not desire Pho-rion to die.

     “You will have sorrow but a little while”, said the man of light.

     “And after it, you will have joy without end.”

     “What is this word,
joy
?” I asked.

     Now for the first time did a smile appear upon the face of the man of light.

     “Joy is soon to be yours. Until then, you must wait to learn of it.”

     “Forty risings and settings of the sun?” I asked.

     “Yes, for you. For Pho-rion, fifty risings and settings.”

     “That is long”, said Pho-rion.

     “When it is completed, you will know it is short.

     Even so, I set a task for you.”

     “What task is this?” I asked.

     “You must make music come from your mouths.

     You must make the words of this music,

     Which shall tell the story of our meeting.

     You shall write the words upon a stone, and another stone.

     There will be many stones.”

     “What stones are these?” I asked.

     “They are in the place I will show you”, he answered.

     Then did he bid us rise and walk with him.

     He led us unto a cave in the rocks upon the breast of the mountain.

     We went inside it and sat down. It was warm and dry.

     “Here you will live for forty days”, he said unto me.

     And unto Pho-rion he said:

     “Here you will live for fifty days. And ten days you will sorrow,

     Until you too sleep in the earth.”

     “I will be alone”, said Pho-rion.

     “You will feel alone, but you will not be alone,

     For I am with you.

     And after this time you will see Kitha-ré once more;

     Never more shall you be parted.”

     The man of light poured water over our heads from a bowl,

     And he spoke names.

     “These are the three names of Love”, he said,

     “And they claim you for themselves.

     The three eyes of the Lord of the Night-gods are in mockery of these names,

     For the serpent desires to be as them, but he never can be.

     So too the heavens-ship in the temple is in mockery of the Sky-father,

     To escape his will.

     Yet it will be broken.

     The mouth of the one that drinks blood will be broken And rendered unto dust and be no more.”

     “When will this be?” I asked.

     “It will be after an age of years”, he answered. “After a time, and yet another time.”

     This we did not understand, Pho-rion and me.

     He said, “I bid you write it as a sign for those who will be in this place