Tunnel in the Sky (26 page)

   
“Oh, Roddie, you bad, bad boy!”

   
In the midst of jubilation Rod had time to notice many changes. There were more than a dozen new buildings, including two long shedlike affairs of bamboo and mud. One new hut was of sunbaked brick; it had windows. Where the cooking fire had been was a barbecue pit and by it a Dutch oven. Near it a stream of water spilled out of bamboo pipe, splashed through a rawhide net, fell into a rock bowl, and was led away to the creek . . . he hardly knew whether to be pleased or irked at this anticipation of his own notion.

   
He caught impressions piecemeal, as their triumphal entry was interrupted by hugs, kisses; and bone-jarring slaps on the back, combined with questions piled on questions. “No, no trouble- except that Roy got mad and busted his leg . . . yeah, sure, we found what we went after; wait till you see . . . no . . . yes . . . Jackie! . . . Hi, Bob!- it's good to see you, too, boy! Where's Carmen. . . Hi, Grant!”

   
Cowper was grinning widely, white teeth splitting his beard. Rod noticed with great surprise that the man looked old- why, shucks, Grant wasn't more than twenty-two, twenty-three at the most. Where did he pick up those lines?

   
“Rod, old boy! I don't know whether to have you two thrown in the hoosegow or decorate your brows with laurel.”

   
“We got held up.”

   
“So it seems. Well, there is more rejoicing for the strayed lamb than for the ninety and nine. Come on up to the city hall.”

   
“The what?”

   
Cowper looked sheepish. “They call it that, so I do. Better than 'Number Ten, Downing Street' which it started off with. It's just the hut where I sleep- it doesn't belong to me,” he added. “When they elect somebody else, I'll sleep in bachelor hall.” Grant led them toward a little building apart from the others and facing the cooking area.

   
The wall was gone.

   
Rod suddenly realized what looked strange about the upstream end of the settlement; the wall was gone completely and in its place was a thornbush barricade. He opened his mouth to make a savage comment- then realized that it really did not matter. Why kick up a row when the colony would be moving to the canyon of the Dwellers? They would never need walls again; they would be up high at night, with their ladders pulled up after them. He picked another subject.

   
“Grant, how in the world did you guys get the inner partitions out of those bamboo pipes?”

   
“Eh? Nothing to it. You tie a knife with rawhide to a thinner bamboo pole, then reach in and whittle. All it takes is patience. Waxie worked it out. But you haven't seen anything yet. We're going to have iron.

   
“Huh?”

   
“We've got ore; now we are experimenting. But I do wish we could locate a seam of coal. Say, you didn't spot any, did you?”

   
Dinner was a feast, a luau, a celebration to make the weddings look pale. Rod was given a real plate to eat on- unglazed, lopsided, ungraceful, but a plate. As he took out Colonel Bowie, Margery Chung Kinksi put a wooden spoon in his hand. “We don't have enough to go around, but the guests of honor rate them tonight.” Rod looked at it curiously. It felt odd in his hand.

   
Dinner consisted of boiled greens, some root vegetables new to him, and a properly baked haunch served in thin slices. Roy and Rod were served little unleavened cakes like tortillas. No one else had them, but Rod decided that it was polite not to comment on that. Instead he made a fuss over eating bread again.

   
Margery dimpled. “We'll have plenty of bread some day. Maybe next year.

   
There were tart little fruits for dessert, plus a bland, tasteless sort which resembled a dwarf banana with seeds. Rod ate too much.

   
Grant called them to order and announced that he was going to ask the travelers to tell what they had experienced. “Let them get it all told- then they won't have to tell it seventy times over. Come on, Rod. Let's see your ugly face.”

   
“Aw, let Roy. He talks better than I do.”

   
“Take turns. When your voice wears out, Roy can take over.

   
Between them they told it all, interrupting and supplementing each other. The colonists were awed by the beach of a billion bones, still more interested in the ruins of the Dwellers. “Rod and I are still arguing,” Roy told them. “I say that it was a civilization. He says that it could be just instinct. He's crazy with the heat; the Dwellers were people. Not humans, of course, but people.”

   
“Then where are they now?”

   
Roy shrugged. “Where are the Selenites, Dora? What became of the Mithrans?”

   
“Roy is a romanticist,” Rod objected. “But you'll be able to form your own opinions when we get there.”

   
“That's right, Rod,” Roy agreed.

   
“That covers everything,” Rod went on. “The rest was just waiting while Roy's leg healed. But it brings up the main subject. How quickly can we move? Grant, is there any reason not to start at once? Shouldn't we break camp tomorrow and start trekking? I've been studying it- how to make the move, I mean- and I would say to send out an advance party at daybreak. Roy or I can lead it. We go downstream an easy day's journey, pick a spot, make a kill, and have fire and food ready when the rest arrive. We do it again the next day. I think we can be safe and snug in the caves in five days.”

   
“Dibs on the advance party!”

   
“Me, too!”

   
There were other shouts but Rod could not help but realize that the response was not what he had expected. Jimmy did not volunteer and Caroline merely looked thoughtful. The Baxters he could not see; they were in shadow.

   
He turned to Cowper. “Well, Grant? Do you have a better idea?”

   
“Rod,” Grant said slowly, “your plan is okay . . . but you've missed a point.”

   
“Why do you assume that we are going to move?”

   
“Huh? Why, that's what we were sent for! To find a better place to live. We found it- you could hold those caves against an army. What's the hitch? Of course we move!”

   
Cowper examined his nails. “Rod, don't get sore. I don't see it and I doubt if other people do. I'm not saying the spot you and Roy found is not good. It may be better than here- the way this place used to be. But we are doing all right here- and we've got a lot of time and effort invested. Why move?”

   
“Why, I told you. The caves are safe, completely safe. This spot is exposed . . . it's dangerous.”

   
“Maybe. Rod, in the whole time we've been here, nobody has been hurt inside camp. We'll put it to a vote, but you can't expect us to abandon our houses and everything we have worked for to avoid a danger that may be imaginary.”

   
“Imaginary? Do you think that a stobor couldn't jump that crummy barricade?” Rod demanded, pointing.

   
“I think a stobor would get a chest full of pointed stakes if he tried it,” Grant answered soberly. “That crummy barricade' is a highly efficient defense. Take a better look in the morning.”

   
“Where we were you wouldn't need it. You wouldn't need a night watch. Shucks, you wouldn't need houses. Those caves are better than the best house here!”

   
“Probably. But, Rod, you haven't seen all we've done, how much we would have to abandon. Let's look it over in the daylight, fellow, and then talk.”

   
“Well . . . no, Grant, there is only one issue: the caves are safe; this place isn't. I call for a vote.”

   
“Easy now. This isn't a town meeting. It's a party in your honor. Let's not spoil it.”

   
“Well . . . I'm sorry. But we're all here; let's vote.”

   
“No.” Cowper stood up. “There will be a town meeting on Friday as usual. Goodnight, Rod. Goodnight, Roy. We're awfully glad you're back. Goodnight all.”

   
The party gradually fell apart. Only a few of the younger boys seemed to want to discuss the proposed move. Bob Baxter came over, put a hand on Rod and said, “See you in the morning, Rod. Bless you.” He left before Rod could get away from a boy who was talking to him.

   
Jimmy Throxton stayed, as did Caroline. When he got the chance Rod said, Jimmy? Where do you stand?”

   
“Me? You know me, pal. Look, I sent Jackie to bed; she wasn't feeling well. But she told me to tell you that we were back of you a hundred percent, always.”

   
“Thanks. I feel better.”

   
“See you in the morning? I want to check on Jackie.”

   
“Sure. Sleep tight.”

   
He was finally left with Caroline. “Roddie? Want to inspect the guard with me? You'll do it after tonight, but we figured you could use a night with no worries.

   
“Wait a minute. Carol . .. you've been acting funny.”

   
“Me? Why, Roddie!”

   
“Well, maybe not. What do you think of the move? I didn't hear you pitching in.”

   
She looked away. “Roddie,” she said, “if it was just me, I'd say start tomorrow. I'd be on the advance party.”

   
“Good! What's got into these people? Grant has them buffaloed but I can't see why.” He scratched his head. “I'm tempted to make up my own party- you, me, Jimmy and Jack, the Baxters, Roy, the few who were rarin' to go tonight, and anybody else with sense enough to pound sand.”

   
She sighed. “It won't work, Roddie.”

   
“Huh? Why not?”

   
“I'll go. Some of the youngsters would go for the fun of it. Jimmy and Jack would go if you insisted. . . but they would beg off if you made it easy for them. The Baxters should not and I doubt if Bob would consent. Carmen isn't really up to such a trip.”

   
The matter never came to a vote. Long before Friday Rod knew how a vote would go- about fifty
   
against him, less than half that for him, with his friends voting with him through loyalty rather than conviction or possibly against him in a showdown.

   
He made an appeal in private to Cowper. “Grant, you've got me licked. Even Roy is sticking with you now. But you could swing them around.”

   
“I doubt it. What you don't see, Rod, is that we have taken root. You may have found a better place . . . but it's too late to change. After all, you picked this spot.”

   
“Not exactly, it . . . well, it just sort of happened.”

   
“Lots of things in life just sort of happen. You make the best of them.”

   
“That's what I'm trying to do! Grant, admitted that the move is hard; we could manage it. Set up way stations with easy jumps, send our biggest huskies back for what we don't want to abandon. Shucks, we could move a person on a litter if we had to- using enough guards.”

   
“If the town votes it, I'll be for it. But I won't try to argue them into it. Look, Rod, you've got this fixed idea that this spot is dangerously exposed. The facts don't support you. On the other hand see what we have. Running water from upstream, waste disposal downstream, quarters comfortable and adequate for the climate. Salt- do you have salt there?”

   
“We didn't look for it-but it would be easy to bring it from the seashore.”

   
“We've got it closer here. We've got prospects of metal. You haven't seen that ore outcropping yet, have you? We're better equipped every day; our standard of living is going up. We have a colony nobody need be ashamed of and we did it with bare hands; we were never meant to be a colony. Why throw up what we have gained to squat in caves like savages?”

   
Rod sighed. “Grant, this bank may be flooded in the rainy season- aside from its poor protection now.”

   
“It doesn't look it to me, but if so, we'll see it in time. Right now we are going into the dry season. So let's talk it over a few months from now.

   
Rod gave up. He refused to resume as “City Manager” nor would Caroline keep it when Rod turned it down. Bill Kennedy was appointed and Rod went to work under Cliff as a hunter, slept in the big shed upstream with the bachelors, and took his turn at night watch. The watch had been reduced to one man, whose duty was simply to tend fires. There was talk of cutting out the night fires, as fuel was no longer easy to find nearby and many seemed satisfied that the thorn barrier was enough.