Childhood's End (11 page)

There was nothing anthropomorphic about Rashaverak.

George could understand the way in which, if seen from a distance by ignorant, terrified savages, the Overlords could be mistaken for winged men, and so could have given rise, to the conventional portrait of the Devil. From as clOse as this, however, some of the illusion vanished. The little horns (what function did they serve? wondered George) were as per specification, but the body was neither like that of a man nor of any animal Earth had ever known. Coming from a totally alien evolutionary tree, the Overlords were neither m~mmnIs, insects, nor reptiles. It was not even certain that they were vertebrates: their hard, external armour might well be their only supporting framework.

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Rashaverak's wings were folded so that George could not see them dearly, but his tail, looking like a piece of armoured hose-pipe, lay neatly curled under him. The famous barb was not so much an arrowhead as a large, flat diamond. Its purpose, it was now generally accepted, was to give stability in flight, like the tail-feathers of a bird. From scanty facts and suppositions such as these, scientists had concluded that the Overlords came from a world of low gravity and very dense atmosphere.

Rupert's voice suddenly bellowed from a concealed speaker.

"Jean! George! Where the hell are you hiding? Come down and join the party. People are beginning to talk."

"Perhaps I'd better go too," said Rashaverak, putting his book back on the shelf~ He did that quite easily, without moving from the floor, and George noticed for the first time that he had two opposed thumbs, with five fingers between them. I'd hate to do arithmetic, George thought to himself, in a system based on fourteen.

Rashaverak getting to his feet was an impressive sight, and as the Overlord bent to avoid the ceiling it became obvious that, even if they were anxious to mix with human beings, the practical difficulties would be considerable.

Several more cargoes of guests had arrived in the last half hour, and the room was now quite crowded. Rashaverak's arrival made matters a good deal worse, because everyone in the adjacent rooms came running in to see him. Rupert was obviously very pleased with the sensation. Jean and George were much less gratified, as no-one took any notice of them. Indeed, few people could see them, because they were standing behind the Overlord.

"Come over here, Rashy, and meet some of the folks," shouted Rupert. "Sit on the divan-then you can stop scraping the ceiling."

Rashaverak, his tail draped over his shoulder, moved across the room like an icebreaker worrying its way through a pack. As he sat down beside Rupert, the room seemed to become much larger again and George let out a sigh of relief.

"It gave me claustrophobia when he was standing. I wonder how Rupert got hold of him-this looks like being an interesting party."

"Fancy Rupert addressing him like that, in public too. But he didn't seem to mind. It's all very peculiar."

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"I bet you he did mind. The trouble with Rupert Is that he likes to show oft; and he's got no tact. And that reminds me- some of those questions you asked!"

"Such as?"

"Well-'How long have you been here?' 'How do you get on with Supervisor Karellen?' 'Do you like it on Earth?'

Really, darling! You just don't talk to Overlords that way!"

"I don't see why not. It is about time someone did."

Before the discussion could get acrimonious, they were accosted by the Shoenbergers and fission rapidly occurred. The girls went off in one direction to discuss Mrs. Boyce: the men went in another and did exactly the same thing, though from a different viewpoint. Benny Shoenberger, who was one of George's oldest friends, had a good deal of information on the subject.

"For heaven's sake don't tell anyone," he said. "Ruth doesn't know this, but I introduced her to Rupert."

"I think," George remarked enviously, "that she's much too good for Rupert. However, it can't possibly last. She'll soon get fed up with him." This thought seemed to cheer him considerably.

"Don't you believe it! Besides being a beauty, she's a really nice person. It's high time someone took charge of Rupert, and she's just the girl to do it."

Both Rupert and Maia were now sitting beside Rashaverak, receiving their guests in state. Ruperf S parties seldom had any focal point, but usually consisted of half a dozen independent groups intent on their own affairs. This time, however, the whole gathering was polarized towards a centre of attraction.

George felt rather sorry for Maia. This should have been her day, but Rashaverak had partially eclipsed her.

"Look," said George, nibbling at a sandwich. "How the devil has Rupert got hold of an Overlord? I've never heard of such a thing-but he seems to take it for granted. He never even mentioned it when he invited us."

Benny thudded.

"Just another of his little surprises. You'd better ask him about it. But this isn't the first time it's happened, after all. Karellen's been to parties at the White House and Buckingham Palace, and-"

"Heck, that's different! Rupert's a perfectly ordinary citizen."

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I.

"And maybe Rashaverak's a very minor Overlord. But you'd better ask them."

"I will," said George, "just as soon as I can get Rupert by himself."

"Then you'll have to wait a long time."

Benny was right, but as the party was now warming up it was easy to be patient. The slight paralysis which the appearance of Rashaverak had cast over the assembly had now vanished. There was still a small group around the Overlord, but elsewhere the usual fragmentation had taken place and everyone was behaving quite naturally. Sullivan, for example, was describing his latest submarine research to an interested audience.

"We're not sure, yet," he said, "just how big they grow.

There's a canyon not far from our base where a real giant lives.

I've caught a glimpse of it once, and I'd say that its tentacle-spread is the best part of thirty metres. I'm going in after it next week. Anyone like something really novel in the way of pets?"

There was a squeal of horror from one of the women.

"Ugh! It gives me the creeps just to think about it! You must be terribly brave."

Sullivan looked quite surprised.

"I'd never thought about that," he said. "Of course, I take suitable precautions, but I've never been in any real danger.

The squids know that they can't eat me, and as long as I don't go too close they never take the slightest notice. Most sea-creatures leave you alone unless you interfere with them."

"But surely," someone asked, "sooner or later you're bound to run up against one that thinks you're edible?"

"Oh," replied Sullivan airily, "that happens now and then.

I try not to hurt them, because after all I'm anxious to make

friends. So I just turn the jets full on and it usually takes onl

a minute or two to pull free. If I'm too busy to stop and play,

may tidde them up with a couple of hundred volts. That settles

the matter and they never bother me again."

You certainly met some interesting people at Rupert's parties, thought George as he moved on to the next group.

Rupert's literary tastes might be specialized, but his friendships were wide-ranging. Without bothering to turn his head, George could see a famous film producer, a minor poet, a mathematician, two actors, an atomic power engineer, a game warden,

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the editor of a weekly news magazine, a statistician from the World Bank, a violin virtuoso, a professor of arth~ology and an astrophysicist. There were no other representatives of George's own profession, television studio design-which was

a good thing, as he wanted to get away from shop. He loved his work: indeed, in this age, for the first time in human history, no-one worked at tasks they did not like. But George was content to mentally lock the studio doors behind him at the

end of the day.

He finally trapped Rupert in the kitchen, experimenting wlthdrinks. It seemed apitytobringhim backto earth when he had such a far-away look in his eye, but George could be ruthless when necessary.

"Look here, Rupert," he began, perching himself on the nearest table. "I thipk you owe us all some explanation."

"Um," said Rupert thoughtfully, rolling his tongue round his mouth. "Just a teeny bit too much gin, I'm afraid."

"Don't hedge, and don't pretend you're not still sober, because I know perfectly well you are. Where does your Overlord friend come from, and what's he doing here?"

"Didn't I tell you?" said Rupert. "I thought I'd explained it to everybody. You couldn't have been around-of course, you were hiding up in the library." He thudded in a manner which George found offensive. "It's the library, you know, that brought Rashy here."

"How extraordinary!"

"Why?"

George paused, realizing that this would require tact. Rupert was very proud of his peculiar collection.

"Er-well, when you consider what the Overlords know about science, I should hardly think they'd be interested in psychic phenomena and all that sort of nonsense."

"Nonsense or not," replied Rupert, "they're interested in human psychology, and I've got some books that can teach them a lot. Just before I moved here some Deputy Under-Overlord, or Over-Underlord, got in touch with me and asked if they could borrow about fifty of my rarest volumes. One of the keepers of the British Museum Library had put him on to me, it seemed. Of course, you can guess what I said."

"I can't imagine."

"Well, I replied very politely that it had taken metwenty years to get my library together. They were welcome to study

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my books, but they'd darn well have to read them here. So

Rasby came along and has been absorbing about twenty volumes a day. I'd love to know what he makes of them."

George thought this over, then shrugged his shoulders in disgust.

"Frankly," he said, "my opinion of the Overlords goes down. I thought they had better things to do with their time."

"You're an incorrigible materialist, aren't you? I don't think Jean will agree at all. But even from your oh-so-practical viewpoint, it-still makes sense. Surely you'd study the superstitions of any primitive race you were having dealings with!"

"I suppose so," said George, not quite convinced. The table-top was feeling hard, so he rose to his feet. Rupert had now mixed the drinks to his satisfaction and was heading back to his guests. Querulous voices could already be heard demanding his presence.

"Hey!" protested George, "just before you disappear there's one other question. How did you get hold of that two-way television gadget you tried to frighten us with?"

"Just a bit of bargaining. I pointed out how valuable it would be for a job.like mine, and Rashy passed the suggestion on to the right quarters."

"Forgive me for being so obtuse, but what is your new job? I suppose, of course, it's something to do with animals."

"That's right. I'm a super-vet. My practice covers about ten thousand square kilometres of jungle, and as my patients won't come to inc I've got to look for them."

"Rather a full-time job."

"Oh, of course it isn't practical to bother about the small fry. Just lions, elephants, rhinos, and so on. Every morning I set the controls for a height of a hundred metres, sit down in front of the screen and go cruising over the countryside. When I find anyone in trouble I climb into my flyer and hope my bedside manner will work. Sometimes it's a bit tricky. Lions and such-like are easy-but trying to puncture a rhino from the air with an an~sthetic dart is the devil of a job."

"RuPERT!" yelled someone from the next room.

"Now look what you've done! You've made me forget my guests. There-you take that tray. Those are the ones with vermouth-I don't want to get them mixed up."

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It was just before sunset that George found his way up to the roof. For a number of excellent reasons he had a slight headache and ftlt like escaping front the noise and confusion downstairs. Jean, who was a much better dancer than he was, still seemed to be enjoying herself hugely and refused to leave. This annoyed George, who was beginning to feel alcoholically amorous, and he decided to have a quiet sulk beneath the stars.

One reached the roof by taking the escalator to the first floor

and then climbing the spiral stairway round the intake of the

air-conditioning plant. This led, through a hatchway, out on to the wide, flat roof. Rupert's flyer was parked at one end: the centre area was a garden-already showing signs of running

wild-and the rest was simply an observation platform with a few deckchairs placed on it. George flopped into one of these and regarded his surroundings with an imperial eye. He felt very much monarch of all he surveyed.

It was, to put it mildly, quite a view. Rupert's house had

been built on the edge of a great basin, which sloped downwards towards the east into swamplands and lakes five kilo-metres away. Westwards the land was flat and the jungle came almost to Rupert's back-door. But beyond the jungle, at a distance that must have been at least fifty kilometres, a line of mountains ran like a great wall out of sight to north and south.

Their summits were streaked with snow, and the clouds above them were turning to fire as the sun descended on the last few minutes of its daily journey. As he looked at those remote ramparts, George felt awed into a sudden sobriety.

The stars that sprang out in such indecent haste the moment the sun had set were completely strange to him. He looked for the Southern Cross, but without success. Though he knew very little of astronom.y, and could recognize only a few constellations, the absence of familiar friends was disturbing. So were the noises drifting in from the jungle, uncomfortably close at band. Enough of this fresh air, thought George. I'll go back to the party before a vampire bat, or something equally pleasant, comes flying up to investigate.

He was just starting to walk back when another guest emerged from the hatchway. It was now so dark that George could not see who it was, so he called out: "Hello, there. Have you had enough of it too?" His invisible companion laughed.