Read Online Gods of the Greataway by Michael G. Coney - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Michael G. Coney
Tags: Science-Fiction
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name?” but she didn’t reply.
She only spoke once from that day until the day, not so long afterward, when she died.
*
She wore tattered sealskin clothing, so he knew she was of the islands. The only other clue to her identity was a pendant that hung on a silver chain around her neck. And this was a great wonder to him because he’d never seen silver before — or any other metal, for that matter — neither had he seen a stone like the one at the end of the chain. It flashed like a star when the sun caught it in a certain way, so brightlv that even Peli blinked.
She stayedwith him. She slept in a room that he built for her, on the sunny side of his dwelling because she reminded him of the sun, with her pale face and golden hair and the sparkling thing she wore around her neck.
He showed her the ways of the sun oven, and some of the light came back into her eyes as she played with the hemitrexes, arranging them at sunset so that the shoreline blazed with winking red stars and the inside of the dwelling glowed pink. Soon he took her with him when he visited his few remaining customers.
It was quite by chance that he discovered a wonderful thing.
He was sitting inside a sun oven, sweating while the lights danced in his brain and fogged his eyes, so that adjustment of the hemitrexes was well-nigh impossible. A few villagers watched. The youths were eyeing the girl but were unwilling to make approaches because of the remoteness in her manner and her silence. She leaned over the edge of the basket, dribbling water onto his head from a sealskin gourd.
Something flashed. He blinked. The flash was so bright that it cut through the fog. He looked up, wiping the sweat from his eyes. A couple of youths stood there, watching the girl’s breasts as she bent forward. Peli shook his head, trying to clear the mists from his eyes.
Again the flash. It came from the girl’s breasts. No, not the breasts — it came from the pendant that hung low as she leaned over the rim of the basket. It had caught the light of a focused hemitrex …
From that moment to Peli’s great invention was a short step. He experimented at his dwelling, away from curious eyes, assisted by the girl. She helped him build a basket. Over the basket they erected a driftwood tripod and hung a thong from it. On the end of the thong they tied the pendant, so that the bright stone was suspended at the focal point of the basket. Then they plastered the inside of the basket with glue, and they stuck the hemitrexes in there, roughly, with no careful regard for alignment. Then they climbed out of the basket.
Now Peli took a long stick and, reaching into the basket, adjusted a hemitrex until the stone flashed as the light was focused on it. Then he moved the tripod a fraction, and focused another hemitrex. And so on — the whole task could now be carried out from outside the oven. In time he devised refinements: an attachment on the tripod so that the stone traveled on a regular path, a more open weave to the basket so that the hemitrexes could be focused with the fingers through the mesh instead of with the clumsy stick.
Hewas a craftsman again, and it was all due to the girl. He recognized this, and worked on her room until it was as luxurious as his own and did everything he could to keep her happy. He knew that if she left him he would feel bound to return the pendant to her, and his days as a craftsman would truly be over. Maybe she understood this too, because she stayed. But she never spoke.
*
One day the Riders came. The girl saw the commotion from a distance, a confusion of disturbed water down the coast that resolved itself into a group of Riders and their attendants, traveling fast. She ran to Peli and he hurried from his shack, peering north. Riders, all together and heading this way. No good would come of it.
Then they were close, thirty in all, with a number of spare orcas in tow. One drove alongside the shore and climbed onto the grass. Peli
She only spoke once from that day until the day, not so long afterward, when she died.
*
She wore tattered sealskin clothing, so he knew she was of the islands. The only other clue to her identity was a pendant that hung on a silver chain around her neck. And this was a great wonder to him because he’d never seen silver before — or any other metal, for that matter — neither had he seen a stone like the one at the end of the chain. It flashed like a star when the sun caught it in a certain way, so brightlv that even Peli blinked.
She stayedwith him. She slept in a room that he built for her, on the sunny side of his dwelling because she reminded him of the sun, with her pale face and golden hair and the sparkling thing she wore around her neck.
He showed her the ways of the sun oven, and some of the light came back into her eyes as she played with the hemitrexes, arranging them at sunset so that the shoreline blazed with winking red stars and the inside of the dwelling glowed pink. Soon he took her with him when he visited his few remaining customers.
It was quite by chance that he discovered a wonderful thing.
He was sitting inside a sun oven, sweating while the lights danced in his brain and fogged his eyes, so that adjustment of the hemitrexes was well-nigh impossible. A few villagers watched. The youths were eyeing the girl but were unwilling to make approaches because of the remoteness in her manner and her silence. She leaned over the edge of the basket, dribbling water onto his head from a sealskin gourd.
Something flashed. He blinked. The flash was so bright that it cut through the fog. He looked up, wiping the sweat from his eyes. A couple of youths stood there, watching the girl’s breasts as she bent forward. Peli shook his head, trying to clear the mists from his eyes.
Again the flash. It came from the girl’s breasts. No, not the breasts — it came from the pendant that hung low as she leaned over the rim of the basket. It had caught the light of a focused hemitrex …
From that moment to Peli’s great invention was a short step. He experimented at his dwelling, away from curious eyes, assisted by the girl. She helped him build a basket. Over the basket they erected a driftwood tripod and hung a thong from it. On the end of the thong they tied the pendant, so that the bright stone was suspended at the focal point of the basket. Then they plastered the inside of the basket with glue, and they stuck the hemitrexes in there, roughly, with no careful regard for alignment. Then they climbed out of the basket.
Now Peli took a long stick and, reaching into the basket, adjusted a hemitrex until the stone flashed as the light was focused on it. Then he moved the tripod a fraction, and focused another hemitrex. And so on — the whole task could now be carried out from outside the oven. In time he devised refinements: an attachment on the tripod so that the stone traveled on a regular path, a more open weave to the basket so that the hemitrexes could be focused with the fingers through the mesh instead of with the clumsy stick.
Hewas a craftsman again, and it was all due to the girl. He recognized this, and worked on her room until it was as luxurious as his own and did everything he could to keep her happy. He knew that if she left him he would feel bound to return the pendant to her, and his days as a craftsman would truly be over. Maybe she understood this too, because she stayed. But she never spoke.
*
One day the Riders came. The girl saw the commotion from a distance, a confusion of disturbed water down the coast that resolved itself into a group of Riders and their attendants, traveling fast. She ran to Peli and he hurried from his shack, peering north. Riders, all together and heading this way. No good would come of it.
Then they were close, thirty in all, with a number of spare orcas in tow. One drove alongside the shore and climbed onto the grass. Peli
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