Read Online World without Stars by Poul Anderson - Free Book Online Page B

us? I asked Gianyi and got no good answer through the linguistic haze. The Ai Chun
     could do such things, he tried to explain. The Ai Chun had sent his party to us, making him the commander since he was among
     those Niao who were traditionally instructed in sky-talk. He bowed his head whenever he spoke that name. So did the blind
     dwarf. The giant remained motionless, poised; only his eyes never rested.
    “A ruling class,” Bren suggested to me. “Theocrats?”
    “Maybe,” I said. “I have an impression they’re something more, though.” To Gianyi: “We will be glad to meet the Ai Chun and
     make gifts to them as well as to the rest of your people.”
    He got unreasonably excited. I must not lump Niao and Ai Chun together. That was wrong. That was bad medicine. I apologized
     for my ignorance.
    Gianyi calmed down. “You will meet the Ai Chun,” he said. “You will come with us to them.”
    “Well, one or two of us will,” I agreed. We had to take some risks.
    “No, no. Every one of you. They have so ordered.”
    Not being sure whether that last term indicated a fiat or simply a request, I tried to explain that we could not abandon our
     camp. Gianyi barked at the giant, who growled and took a stiff-legged step forward. I heard guns leave their holsters at my
     back.
    “Easy! Easy!” I sprang to my feet. “You want to start a war?” Gianyi rose also and waved his bully boy back. We faced each
     other, he and I, while the rain came down louder. The dwarf had never stirred.
    I cleared my throat. “You must know that those from the sky have great powers,” I said. “Or if you do not, the Ai Chun should.
     We have no wish to fight. We will, however, if you insist we do what is impossible. Have all the Niao come here? Certainly
     not. Likewise, all of us cannot go away with you. But we will be glad to send one or two, in friendship.”
    When I had made this clear, which took time, Gianyi turned to the dwarf and spoke a while in his own high-pitched language.
     Something like pain went across the blind countenance. The answer was almost too low to hear. Gianyi folded his hands and
     bent nearly to the floor before he straightened and addressed me again.
    “So be it,” he told me. “We will take a pair of you. We will leave two canoes here to keep watch. The crews can catch fish
     to live. You are not to molest them.”
    “What the bloody blazes is going on?” Urduga whispered behind me.
    I looked at the dwarf, who was now shivering, and made no replay. That poor little thing couldn’t be the real chief of the
     party. Well, I’ve met different kinds of telepathic sensitivesamong the million known civilizations; none like him, but—
    “Think it’s a good idea to go, captain?” Galmer asked.
    “I don’t think we have much choice,” I told him, trying hard to keep my voice steady. Inside, I was afraid. “We’ll be here
     a long time. We’ve got to know what we’re up against.”
    “They may mean well in spite of their manners,” Bren said.
    “Sure,” I said. “They may.” The rain gurgled as it fell onto soaked earth.
    While Gianyi and his escort waited impassively, we discussed procedure. Our representatives were to be taken to the opposite
     shore, where the Niao had a frontier settlement. From Valland’s questioning of ya-Kela, we knew the lake was broad, an inland
     sea. Still, we should get across in a couple of standard days, given those swift-looking boats. We might or might not be able
     to maintain radio contact. Valland could, but he hadn’t traveled so far. Under the tenuous ionosphere of this planet, we needed
     a hypersensitive receiver to read him.
    I must go, having the best command of Yonder. An extra man was desirable, both as a backup for me—the situation looked trickier
     than Valland’s—and as evidence of good faith on our part. Everyone volunteered (who could do otherwise, with the rest of us
     watching him?) and I picked Yo Rorn. He wasn’t my ideal of a