Read Online The Kar-Chee Reign by Avram Davidson - Free Book Online
Authors: Avram Davidson
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Gaspar intoned. “A saying of our wise ancients, as true today as the first day it was uttered. I am sure it relieves you to know that you have already payed your own way.”
Liam looked at him just a trifle askance. On the once hand, he was of course grateful and glad for his life; glad for the food and the drink and the care: hence, yes, pleased that Gaspar and his people considered that the raft had paid for all this. On the other hand, he entertained a view of the whole matter which could not be fitted into a frame-work which contained the conception of payment in goods for saving lives. And he wondered what Gaspar the Knower and the others in the Ark might have done if the raft had not been there to serve for payment. But this was like wondering about a two-sided triangle….
And not every life had been saved; small wonder if fresh-baked bread and dried fruit and smoked meat and broth of parched vegetables and cool water and shelter from the burning sun, wonders though they were, did not come in time to make up for the so-long lack of them.
There had been those who had clung to life with tenacious avidity even in the face of famine and drought, only to let go their hold on life with food and water still on their lips. And others to whom strange fantasies had become, if not facts, at least attitudes: that the arkfolk had not merely — fortuitously or providentially — in saving their lives done a deed of mercy, but that in some unknown, but not unsuspicionable, way the arkfolk were part of an overall scheme … details infinitely vague … a scheme in which Liam (to the minds of some of them) might be also involved, wittingly or otherwise…. “Weary, wary, cynical, grim, bitter,” they declared by their manner if not by their words that they were not to be cozened or deceived any further; that they had suffered enough so far; that henceforth they were to be exceedingly canny and cautious and that the burden of proof lay upon everyone else.
And the fact that they had never heard of an “ark” merely added to the bitter mystery of things.
Liam, moving slowly, slowly around the deck of this curious vessel, sometimes holding to the side and sometimes to Gaspar, as yet did not fully grasp the meaning of the odd looks cast him by a few of his followers, themselves crawling cautiously about or merely reposing on the deck of the ark in the positions which had become habitual to them through reposing on the deck of the raft. His eyes and mind were both at work, but for the moment, satisfied that his people were not in want, he preferred to concentrate on other matters.
“Another thing our wise ancients used to say,” Gaspar went on; “our wise ancients used to say, ‘Knowledge is power.’ Do you understand that? No, you don’t, you only think you do. If you had understood it you wouldn’t have been dying of hunger and thirst. You
were
dying of hunger and thirst, so that proves you didn’t understand it. But the fact that you had made an attempt indicates that you are capable of understanding it. Listen to what I tell you, young man, and then you will understand, you will become knowledgeable, and hence powerful.
“Do you see how well prepared this Ark is? How cleverly and how sturdily it is made? How it is provisioned with food and fuel and water? Look at the drain-gutters and pipes and barrels — if a sudden shower occurred at this minute not a drop of water would be lost. Observe how all of our people are engaged in assigned and useful tasks, not sunken in corrosive sloth or corrupting idleness. See how well-cared for our beasts and poultry are. Do you notice the young people at their lessons? You do. May I ask you the rhetorical question, ‘Did you make any of these beneficial arrangements for your own vessel and people?’ ”
Liam put one peeling foot down carefully in front of another. “There wasn’t time,” he said.
“You did not. Exactly. Time? Wasn’t time? There is always time. It depends
Liam looked at him just a trifle askance. On the once hand, he was of course grateful and glad for his life; glad for the food and the drink and the care: hence, yes, pleased that Gaspar and his people considered that the raft had paid for all this. On the other hand, he entertained a view of the whole matter which could not be fitted into a frame-work which contained the conception of payment in goods for saving lives. And he wondered what Gaspar the Knower and the others in the Ark might have done if the raft had not been there to serve for payment. But this was like wondering about a two-sided triangle….
And not every life had been saved; small wonder if fresh-baked bread and dried fruit and smoked meat and broth of parched vegetables and cool water and shelter from the burning sun, wonders though they were, did not come in time to make up for the so-long lack of them.
There had been those who had clung to life with tenacious avidity even in the face of famine and drought, only to let go their hold on life with food and water still on their lips. And others to whom strange fantasies had become, if not facts, at least attitudes: that the arkfolk had not merely — fortuitously or providentially — in saving their lives done a deed of mercy, but that in some unknown, but not unsuspicionable, way the arkfolk were part of an overall scheme … details infinitely vague … a scheme in which Liam (to the minds of some of them) might be also involved, wittingly or otherwise…. “Weary, wary, cynical, grim, bitter,” they declared by their manner if not by their words that they were not to be cozened or deceived any further; that they had suffered enough so far; that henceforth they were to be exceedingly canny and cautious and that the burden of proof lay upon everyone else.
And the fact that they had never heard of an “ark” merely added to the bitter mystery of things.
Liam, moving slowly, slowly around the deck of this curious vessel, sometimes holding to the side and sometimes to Gaspar, as yet did not fully grasp the meaning of the odd looks cast him by a few of his followers, themselves crawling cautiously about or merely reposing on the deck of the ark in the positions which had become habitual to them through reposing on the deck of the raft. His eyes and mind were both at work, but for the moment, satisfied that his people were not in want, he preferred to concentrate on other matters.
“Another thing our wise ancients used to say,” Gaspar went on; “our wise ancients used to say, ‘Knowledge is power.’ Do you understand that? No, you don’t, you only think you do. If you had understood it you wouldn’t have been dying of hunger and thirst. You
were
dying of hunger and thirst, so that proves you didn’t understand it. But the fact that you had made an attempt indicates that you are capable of understanding it. Listen to what I tell you, young man, and then you will understand, you will become knowledgeable, and hence powerful.
“Do you see how well prepared this Ark is? How cleverly and how sturdily it is made? How it is provisioned with food and fuel and water? Look at the drain-gutters and pipes and barrels — if a sudden shower occurred at this minute not a drop of water would be lost. Observe how all of our people are engaged in assigned and useful tasks, not sunken in corrosive sloth or corrupting idleness. See how well-cared for our beasts and poultry are. Do you notice the young people at their lessons? You do. May I ask you the rhetorical question, ‘Did you make any of these beneficial arrangements for your own vessel and people?’ ”
Liam put one peeling foot down carefully in front of another. “There wasn’t time,” he said.
“You did not. Exactly. Time? Wasn’t time? There is always time. It depends
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