Read Online Destiny's Road by Larry Niven - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Larry Niven
Tags: SF, Speculative Fiction
Ads: Link
Quicksilver disappears in a blink, and then the night's as black as inside my stomach."
"I'm only twenty-two," Curdis said.
"You're Spiral. You've still got machines that teach, they say."
'They're wearing out. Tim? Brenda? Remember anything about Quicksilver? From the schooling disks?"
Brenda did. "Quicksilver's closest to the sun, that must he why it's so bright. It's not very big. Quicksilver, Destiny, Volstaag, Hogun, Hela."
There was something else about Quicksilver. Something Jemmy had read and forgotten, and now it wouldn't come.
'How did you come here?" Curdis asked.
Susie Cloochi answered. "My father told me his family got in a fight with the Spirals. Mother was carrying me already. They took some seeds and stuff and came down the Road and found Twerdahi already here."
Jemmy exclaimed, "Twerdahl?"
Laughter. Susie said, "This place, we name it Twerdahl Town. After the Founders. the ones who took Cavorite and disappeared."
Jemmy laughed at himself. "I thought you meant the Twerdahls themselves."
"Your turn. You're the first Spirals we've seen in ages. What are you doing here?"
The silence stretched. Brenda or Curdis might have answers ready, but Jemmy couldn't know that, and in the dark he couldn't see their faces. He took the chance and said, "Following the path of the Cavorite. I want to know where they went."
Tarzana breathed, "Cavorite!"
"But you've got the teaching machines," old Susie Cloochi said. "Don't they tell you?"
All fatigue fled, Jemmy said, "Some. Cavorite left with forty crew. I know some of the names. Twerdahi, Tucker, Granger, Lyons, Doheny
Spiral Town was founded in 2490, but they called it Base One then. Cavorite left in 2498. You know they left a spiral of Road behind them? They never came home. Maybe they never planned to. Maybe something killed them."
Susie Cloochi said, "My family never went home. A good many families here never did. Folk do leave Spiral Town from time to time. Might it be that the Cavorite crew just wanted to get away?"
"Snakes," Jemmy said.
They looked at him. "Snakes, Tim?"
His mind had wandered, then closed its teeth on-"Snakes in the Swamp. It just came to me, Miz Cloochi. Cavorite must have left those. Someone aboard Cavorite must have liked snakes."
"And swamps," said Brenda.
Jemmy looked back toward the swamp. "Can't you see it? They're drifting along. Flame rushing out violet under the skirt." He couldn't really picture that; he'd never seen a flame that hot; nobody had. "They could go faster if they were just trying to get away, but they're just drifting along, leaving a trail of melted rock behind them. Suddenly they're looking at a swamp.
"What can they do? They can boil the water, kill the Destiny weeds, but that won't make it into Road. They could go around it, uphill, but that wouldn't leave a Road for anything with wheels."
"Rocks," Brenda said. "They'd have to roll a line of rocks down across the water."
Curdis said, "We had tractors in Spiral Town, big machines for pulling a plow or pushing down a tree. They don't go anymore. Cavorite might have taken one."
Jemmy nodded, putting it into the picture. "Push a row of rocks across. Like stepping-stones. Then hover till the rock melts and the water boils. Wait till the swamp cools down, then seed-"
"No, T-Tim, that's a humongous thermal mass. You don't throw seeds in boiling water."
He nodded. "Right. They go on, making Road. Week or two later they come back and seed some trees-"
"Maybe a year."
"-and leave the snakes and anything else I didn't see. Damn."
Curdis said, "All right, what damn?"
"They weren't just runaways, the Cavorite crew. I always knew forty crew was too tidy. When you're running away, you don't wait for your numbers to come out neat like that. The Road was the point. If Cavorite came back this far to seed a swamp, why not come all the way back to Spiral Town?"
The Bednacourt sisters led them to a structure that was all one big room. "A lot of us slept here after
"I'm only twenty-two," Curdis said.
"You're Spiral. You've still got machines that teach, they say."
'They're wearing out. Tim? Brenda? Remember anything about Quicksilver? From the schooling disks?"
Brenda did. "Quicksilver's closest to the sun, that must he why it's so bright. It's not very big. Quicksilver, Destiny, Volstaag, Hogun, Hela."
There was something else about Quicksilver. Something Jemmy had read and forgotten, and now it wouldn't come.
'How did you come here?" Curdis asked.
Susie Cloochi answered. "My father told me his family got in a fight with the Spirals. Mother was carrying me already. They took some seeds and stuff and came down the Road and found Twerdahi already here."
Jemmy exclaimed, "Twerdahl?"
Laughter. Susie said, "This place, we name it Twerdahl Town. After the Founders. the ones who took Cavorite and disappeared."
Jemmy laughed at himself. "I thought you meant the Twerdahls themselves."
"Your turn. You're the first Spirals we've seen in ages. What are you doing here?"
The silence stretched. Brenda or Curdis might have answers ready, but Jemmy couldn't know that, and in the dark he couldn't see their faces. He took the chance and said, "Following the path of the Cavorite. I want to know where they went."
Tarzana breathed, "Cavorite!"
"But you've got the teaching machines," old Susie Cloochi said. "Don't they tell you?"
All fatigue fled, Jemmy said, "Some. Cavorite left with forty crew. I know some of the names. Twerdahi, Tucker, Granger, Lyons, Doheny
Spiral Town was founded in 2490, but they called it Base One then. Cavorite left in 2498. You know they left a spiral of Road behind them? They never came home. Maybe they never planned to. Maybe something killed them."
Susie Cloochi said, "My family never went home. A good many families here never did. Folk do leave Spiral Town from time to time. Might it be that the Cavorite crew just wanted to get away?"
"Snakes," Jemmy said.
They looked at him. "Snakes, Tim?"
His mind had wandered, then closed its teeth on-"Snakes in the Swamp. It just came to me, Miz Cloochi. Cavorite must have left those. Someone aboard Cavorite must have liked snakes."
"And swamps," said Brenda.
Jemmy looked back toward the swamp. "Can't you see it? They're drifting along. Flame rushing out violet under the skirt." He couldn't really picture that; he'd never seen a flame that hot; nobody had. "They could go faster if they were just trying to get away, but they're just drifting along, leaving a trail of melted rock behind them. Suddenly they're looking at a swamp.
"What can they do? They can boil the water, kill the Destiny weeds, but that won't make it into Road. They could go around it, uphill, but that wouldn't leave a Road for anything with wheels."
"Rocks," Brenda said. "They'd have to roll a line of rocks down across the water."
Curdis said, "We had tractors in Spiral Town, big machines for pulling a plow or pushing down a tree. They don't go anymore. Cavorite might have taken one."
Jemmy nodded, putting it into the picture. "Push a row of rocks across. Like stepping-stones. Then hover till the rock melts and the water boils. Wait till the swamp cools down, then seed-"
"No, T-Tim, that's a humongous thermal mass. You don't throw seeds in boiling water."
He nodded. "Right. They go on, making Road. Week or two later they come back and seed some trees-"
"Maybe a year."
"-and leave the snakes and anything else I didn't see. Damn."
Curdis said, "All right, what damn?"
"They weren't just runaways, the Cavorite crew. I always knew forty crew was too tidy. When you're running away, you don't wait for your numbers to come out neat like that. The Road was the point. If Cavorite came back this far to seed a swamp, why not come all the way back to Spiral Town?"
The Bednacourt sisters led them to a structure that was all one big room. "A lot of us slept here after
Similar Books
