The Time Wanderers Part 4

"And where are your parents?'

"Sleeping. At home."

"Sleeping," Toivo repeated. "What's your name?"

"Kir."

"Do your parents know you're here?"

Kir hesitated, shuffled his feet, and said, "I came back here just for a minute. I had to get my galleys.h.i.+p. I worked on it for a whole month."

"Your galley..." Toivo repeated, looking at the boy.

The boy's face expressed nothing but patient boredom. It was obvious that only one thing concerned him: to get his galley and get home before his parents awakened.

"When did you leave here?"

"Last night. Everyone was leaving, and so did we. And we forgot the galley."

"Why were they leaving?"

"There was a panic. Didn't you know? Wow, what went on here! Mama got scared and Papa said, 'Well, you know, let's get out of here and go home.'

We got in the glider and flew off... So, can I go?"

"Wait a minute. Why was there a panic, do you think?"

"Because those animals came. Out of the woods ... or the river.

Everyone got scared of them for some reason and started running around. I was asleep; Mama woke me."

"You weren't afraid?"

He jerked his shoulder.

"Well, I was scared at first ... half asleep... Everyone was screaming, shouting, running; you couldn't understand what was going on..."

"And then?"

"I told you: we got in the glider and left."

"Did you see those animals?"

The boy laughed.

"I saw them, of course... One climbed right in the window, with horns; only the horns weren't hard, they were like a snail's... really cute..."

"You weren't afraid?"

"No, I told you: I was scared at first. Why would I lie? Mama ran in all white; I thought something terrible had happened... I thought, something happened to Father..."

"I see, I see. But the animals didn't scare you?"

Kir said, "Why should I be afraid of them? They were kind and funny...

they were soft, silky like a mongoose, but without fur. So what if they're big? Tigers are also big, so I'm supposed to be afraid of them? Elephants are big, whales are big... dolphins are sometimes big... These animals weren't any bigger than a dolphin, and they were just as gentle."

Toivo looked at Basil. Basil, his jaw hanging, was listening to the strange boy and holding his half-eaten sandwich.

"And they smell good!" Kir went on hotly. "They smell of berries! I think they feed on them... They should be domesticated. Why should people run from them?" He sighed. "Now they're gone, probably. Go find them in the taiga... Ha! Everybody shouted at them, stamped their feet, and waved their arms at them! Of course they got scared! And now go lure them back..."

He lowered his head and gave in to sorrow thoughts. Toivo said, "I see.

However, your parents don't agree with you. Right?"

Kir waved his hand.

"Ah... Father's not so bad, but Mama is firm: not a single step, never, no way! Now we're leaving for Resort. They don't have them there, do they?

Do they? What are they called, do you now?"

"I don't know, Kir," Toivo said.

"But there's not even one left here?"

"Not one."

"Just what I thought," Kir said. He sighed, and then asked, "Can't I take my galley?"

Basil finally got hold of himself. He got up noisily and said, "Come on, I'll walk you. Okay?" he asked Toivo.

"Of course."

"Why walk me?" Kir asked indignantly, but Basil had already put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Let's go, let's go." he said. "I've been dreaming of seeing a real galley all my life."

"It's not real, it's a model..."

"All the more. All my life I've dreamed of seeing a model of a real galley..."

They left. Toivo drank a cup of coffee and also left the pavilion.

The sun was noticeably hot, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Blue dragonflies flickered over the green gra.s.s of the square. Through the metallic flickering, like a crazy daylight apparition, a majestic old woman floated toward the pavilion with an expression of absolute aloofness on her narrow brown face.

Holding, devilishly elegantly, the hem of her snowy white dress with a brown birdlike hand, she seemed not to touch the ground as she approached Toivo and stopped.

Toivo bowed respectfully, and she nodded in response, quite benevolently.

"You may call me Albina," she said kindly in a pleasant baritone.

Toivo hurriedly introduced himself. Her brown forehead frowned beneath her cap of white hair.

"COMCON? Be kind enough, Toivo, to tell me please how you people at COMCON explain all this?"

"What exactly do you have in mind?"

This question irritated her.

"I mean this, dear boy," she said. "How could it happen that in our day, at the end of our age, here on Earth, living creatures that called on humans for help and pity not only did not receive pity or help but became the object of badgering, hostility, and even active physical action of the most barbaric kind. I do not wish to name names, but they struck them with rakes, they shouted madly at them, they even tried to run them over with gliders. I would have never believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes. Are you familiar with the concept of savagery? Well, this was savagery! I am ashamed."

She stopped talking, never taking the penetrating gaze of her angry, coal-black, and very young eyes from Toivo. She was waiting for an answer, and Toivo muttered: "Will you permit me to bring out a chair for you?"

"I will not," she said. "I do not intend to sit around with you. I would like to hear your opinion on what happened to the people in the village. Your professional opinion. What are you? A sociologist? Teacher?

Psychologist" Then please explain! Understand that we are not talking about sanctions. But we must understand how it could happen, how people who were civilized, well-brought-up... I would even say marvelous people just yesterday, today suddenly lose their human image? Do you know what distinguishes man from the other creatures of the world?"

"Um... reason?" Toivo suggested.

"No, my dear! Mercy! Mer-cy!"

"Well, of course," Toivo said. "But how does it follow that those creatures needed mercy?"

She looked at him with disgust.

"Did you see them yourself?" she said.

"No."

"Then how can you judge?"

"I'm not judging;" Toivo said. "I am trying to establish what they wanted..."

"I believe I made it quite clear that those living creatures, those poor things, were seeking help from us! They were on the brink of destruction! They were about to die! They did die, didn't you know that?

They died before my very eyes and turned to nothing, to dust, and I couldn't do anything about it. I'm a ballerina, not a biologist or a doctor. I called out, but who could have heard me in that orgy, that debauched savagery and cruelty! And then, when help finally did come, it was too late; no one was left alive. No one! And these savages... I don't know how to explain their behavior... Maybe it was ma.s.s psychosis... poisoning... I was always against using mushrooms as food... Probably, when they came to their senses, they were ashamed and ran off! Did you find them?"

"Yes," Toivo said.

"Did you speak with them?"

"Yes. With some of them. Not all."

"Then tell me, what had happened to them? What are your conclusions, even preliminary ones?"

"You see... madam...

"You may call me Albina."

"Thank you. You see... the point is that as far as we can tell, most of your neighbors perceived this incident rather differently."

"Naturally!" Albina said haughtily. "I saw that with my own eyes!"

"No, no, I mean to say that they were frightened. They were frightened to death. They lost control in horror. They are afraid to come back here.

Some want to leave Earth for good, as a result. As far as I can see, you are the only person who heard a plea for help."

She listened imperiously, but attentively.

"Well," she said. "Apparently, they are so ashamed they are using a fear as an excuse... Don't believe them, dear boy, don't! That's the most primitive, the most shameful sort of xenophobia... Like racial prejudice. I remember as a child I was hysterically afraid of spiders and snakes... It's the same thing here."

"That's quite possible. But here's something else I would like to clear up. They asked for help, these creatures. They needed mercy. But how was it expressed? As far as I know, they did not speak, they did not even moan..."

"My dear man! They were sick, they were dying! So what if they were dying silently? A baby dolphin thrown onto dry land doesn't make a sound either... at least not one we can hear... But we can tell it needs help, and we hurry to help... Here comes a boy; you can't hear what he's saying from this distance, but you can tell that he is energetic, happy..."

Kir came toward them from cottage number 6, and he really was clearly energetic and happy. Basil, striding next to him, was respectfully carrying a big, black model of an ancient galley, and seemed to be asking appropriate questions. Kir responded by pointing out sizes, forms, complicated interactions. It looked as if Basil himself was a fan of s.h.i.+p modeling.

"But wait," Albina said, taking a closer look. "That's Kir!"

"Yes," Toivo said. "He came back for his model."

"Kir is a kind boy," Albina announced. "But his father behaved abominably... h.e.l.lo, Kir!"

Engrossed, Kir only noticed her now. He stopped, and meekly said, "Good morning..." The animation disappeared from his face, as it did from Basil's.

"How is your mother feeling?" Albina inquired.

"Thank you. She's sleeping."

"And your father? Where is your father, Kir? Is he here somewhere?"

Kit silently shook his head and looked grim.

"Did you remain here the whole time?" Albina exclaimed delightedly, giving Toivo a triumphant look.

"He came back for his model," Toivo reminded her.

"That doesn't matter. You weren't afraid to come back, were you, Kir?"

"Why be afraid of them, Grandma Albina?" Kir grumbled, trying to sidle around her.

"I don't know, I don't know," Albina said peevishly. "But your father, for instance..."

"Father wasn't the least bit frightened. Rather, he was afraid, but for Mama and for me. It's just in all that excitement he didn't see how kind they were..."

"Not kind, miserable!" Albina corrected him.

"They weren't miserable, Grandma Albina!" Kir said indignantly, spreading his arms like an untrained tragedian. "They were merry; they wanted to play! They kept flipping around!"