Wyst: Alastor 1716 Read online

  The cursar chuckled. “The rain at least shows ins where the leaks are. Fit do this much. Tomorrow I leave for Waunisse to confer with the Whispers. I’ll report what you have told me and they can take what steps they think necessary. They’re a sensible group and won’t automatically dismiss the matter. For your part, try to assemble more facts.”

  Jantiff gave a glum assent. He finished his tea and departed the Centrality.

  The man-way took him toward the space-port. Jantiff looked back at the Centrality with the uneasy sense of lost opportunity. But what more could he say or do? And, under the circumstances, what more could the cursar say or do?”

  At the space-port exchange office he converted five ozols into tokens, and returned toward Old Pink. His thoughts turned to Kedidah. She would certainly be pleased at the change; Sarp, after all, could not be the easiest person in the world to live with. Still, Jantiff reflected uneasily, she had expressed herself quite definitely on the subject. Probably not in all seriousness, Jantiff assured himself. In due course he arrived at Old Pink.

  Skorlet was out. Jantiff packed his belongings. At last the tide of events was flowing in his favor! Kedidah! Marvelous feckless delightful Kedidah! How surprised she’d be!… Jantiff’s mental processes became sluggish. A future without Kedidah seemed dark and lorn, but—and why deny it?—a future with her seemed impossible! Nonetheless, they’d work it out together. They’d naturally move out of Uncibal, but where? It was hard to imagine Kedidah and her flamboyant habits in the context of, say, Frayness. A contrast indeed! Kedidah would simply have to restrain herself… The absurdity caused Jantiff to wince. He paced back and forth across the sitting room, three steps this way, three steps that. He stopped short, looked at the door. The die was cast: Sarp was coming; he was going. Oh, well, it might turn out for the best. Kedidah thought well of him; he was certain of this. No doubt they’d work out a happy accommodation of some kind… The door opened; Skorlet entered the room. She stood just inside the doorway, glowering at him “All right; it’s done. Are you packed?”

  “Well, yes. Actually, Skorlet, I’ve been thinking that maybe I might not move after all.”

  “What!” cried Skorlet “You can’t be serious!”

  “I’ve been thinking that maybe—”

  “I don’t care what you’ve been thinking! I’ve made the arrangements and, you’re going. I don’t want you here!”

  “Please, Skorlet, be reasonable. Your ‘wants’ are not altogether relevant to the matter.”

  “Yes they are!” Jutting out her head, Skorlet took an abrupt step ahead; Jantiff moved a corresponding pace backward. “You’re a trial, Jantiff, I won’t conceal it! Always peering and lurking and listening.”

  Jantiff tried to protest, but Skorlet paid no heed. “Quite honestly, Jantiff, I’ve had it with you! I’m sick of your namby-pamby postures, your ridiculous paintings, your eccentricities! You can’t even copulate without counting, your fingers! By all means move in with that shrick[26]; that’s two of you. If you’re a voyeur you’ll have plenty to see; she’s quite tireless! Time and time again I’ve seen the Ephthalotes stagger away on limp legs. Perhaps she’ll allow you a turn or two at the end—”

  “Stop, stop!” cried Jantiff. “Ill move if only to get away from your tirades!”

  “Then give me the money! Nine hundred and twenty tokens!”

  “Nine hundred and twenty!” exclaimed Jantiff. “I thought you said five hundred!”

  “I’ve had to take three places: for you me and Tanzel. At three hundred tokens apiece, plus twenty tokens for minor expenses.”

  “But you said you had a hundred tokens!”

  “I’m not spending them! Come now, the money!” She lurched forward; Jantiff stared fascinated into the round face, congested with emotion like a bruise with blood. He shuddered: how could he ever have fondled this appalling woman?

  “The money!”

  Jantiff numbly counted over nine hundred and twenty tokens; Skorlet thrust a yellow card at him. “There’s your place; go or stay as you him.”

  The door slid aside; Sarp thrust his head into the room. “Is this home? Good enough; one crib is much like another. Show me my bed.”

  Jantiff quietly took his belongings and departed. Kedidah, arriving home an hour later, found him in her sitting room, arranging his painting equipment on one of the shelves. Kedidah, abstracted, failed to notice what he was doing. “Hullo, Janty, nice to see you, but you’ll have to scamper; I’ve no time at all today.”

  “Kedidah! There’s lots of time! I’ve succeeded.”

  “Magnificent. How?”

  “I pawned old Sarp off on Skorlet! We’re living together at last!”

  Kedidah thrust her arms stiffly down, fingers outspread, thumbs to her hips, as if galvanized by an electric shock. “Jantiff, this is the most idiotic behavior; I don’t know what to say!”

  “Say: ‘Jantiff, how wonderful!’”

  “Not quite. How can it be wonderful when my teammates are here and you stand in the corner glowering7”

  Jantiff’s jaw dropped. “Did you, say ‘teammates’?”

  “Yes, I did. I’m the new Ephthalote sheirl. It’s absolutely marvelous and I love it! We’re going to play in the tournament and we’re going to win: I feel it in my bones, and there’ll be nothing but gay times forever!”

  Jantiff somberly seated himself. “Who was the last sheirl?”

  “Don’t mention her, the catrape[27]! She carried bad luck on her back; she infested everyone with despair! The Ephthalotes say so themselves! Don’t sneer, Jantiff, you’ll see!”

  “Kedidah, my dear, listen to me. Seriously now!” Jantiff jumped to his feet, ran across the room and took her hand. “Please, don’t be sheirl! What’s to be gained? Just think, if you and I share life together, bow happy we’ll be! Give up the Ephthalotes! Say no to them! Then we’ll start making plans for the future!”

  Kedidah patted Jantiff’s cheek, then gave him a grim little slap. “When do you drudge?”

  “I’m done for the week.”

  “A pity. Because I’m entertaining friends tonight and you’ll be in the way.”

  There was a brief silence. Jantiff rose to his feet. “You need only specify when you need the apartment and I’ll leave you free to exert yourself as thoroughly as you like.”

  Kedidah said: “Sometimes I think that in my heart of hearts I despise you, Jantiff. Also don’t ask me to change the door code to suit your convenience, because I won’t.”

  Not trusting himself to speak, Jantiff stormed from the room, out of Old Pink and away into the late afternoon. Along Uncibal River he rode, as far as Marchoury Lateral, bowing his head to gusty winds, striding ahead through the crowds careless of whom he shouldered aside. The folk so treated moaned in outrage and hissed epithets, which Jantiff ignored. He collided with a fat woman wearing flamboyant orange and red; she tottered, lurched and fell with a great thrashing of limbs and a fluttering of garish garments. Raising her head she bawled a horrid curse at Jantiff’s back. Jantiff hurried away, while the woman heaved herself to her feet. No one paused to help her; all passed by with preoccupied expressions, nor did anyone so much as glare at Jantiff, nor call out censure, of which in any event he had had a surfeit. Through Jantiff’s mind passed the melancholy reflection: this is precisely the pattern of life! One moment a person rides Uncibal River, comfortable with his or her thoughts, serenely proud of his or her orange and red costume; the next instant an insensate force sends one head over heels, rolling, and tumbling under the feet of the passersby.

  Jantiff thoughtfully strode along Uncibal River. With the toppling of the fat woman his fury had waned, and he looked along the current of oncoming faces in a spirit of moody detachment.

  What strange people these were, and also, for a fact, all other people of the Gaean universe! He studied the faces carefully, as if they were clues to the most profound secrets of existence. Each face alike and each face different, as one snowflake both simulates
and differs from all others! Jantiff began to fancy that he knew each intimately, as if he had seen each a hundred times. That crooked old man yonder might well be Sarp! The tall thin woman with her head thrown back could as easily be Gougade, who lived on the Sixteenth level of Old Pink, And Jantiff amused himself with the fancy that along Uncibal River might come a simulacrum of himself, exact in every detail. What kind of person might be this pseudo-Jantiff, this local version of his own dreary self?

  The idea presently lost whatever glimmer of interest it might have possessed, and Jantiff returned to his immediate circumstances. The options open to him were pitifully few however, and gratefully, they included immediate departure. No question about it; he’d had his fill of insults and tirades, not to mention gruff, deedle and wobbly. He felt a new spasm of resentment, most of it directed, against himself. Was he such a sorry creature then? Jantiff, shame on you! Let’s have no self-pity! What of all those wonderful plans? They depend on no one but yourself! Must they be tossed aside like so many scraps of trash just because your feelings have been hurt? As if to point up the issue, the setting sun passed behind a wisp of cloud, which instantly showed fringes of glorious color, and Jantiff’s heart turned over within him. The Arrabins might be dense, obscure and impenetrable, but Dwan shone as clear and pure as light across mythical Heaven.

  Jantiff drew a deep regenerative breath. His work must now absorb him. He would prove himself as rigid as any Arrabin; he would show regard for no one. Courtesy, yes. Formal consideration, yes, Warmth, no. Affection, no. As for Kedidah, she could be sheirl to four teams at once, with his best wishes. Skorlet? Esteban? Whatever their sordid plot he could only hope that they should fall over backwards and break their heads. The yellow card and the bonterfest? The group might include a massive black-haired man with a husky-harsh voice; it would certainly be interesting to learn his identity and pass the information along to Bonamico. And why should he not attend the. bonterfest? After all, he had paid for it, and Esteban certainly would refuse to refund his money. So be it! From now on the primary concern of Jantiff Ravensroke was Jantiff Ravensroke, and that was all there was to it! Perhaps he should once more change apartments, and make a clean break with his problems. And leave Kedidah? The thought gave him pause. Charming, foolish Kedidah. Fascinating Kedidah. No doubt about it, she had befuddled him. There was always the possibility that she might change her ways. Devil take her! Why should he inconvenience himself to any slightest degree? He would take up his rightful residency; she would notice his detachment and possibly, from sheer perversity, begin to take an interest in him. Such a pattern of events was not impossible, at the very least! Jantiff diverted to a lateral and was carried north to the mud flats. On the outskirts of Disjerferact he purchased a dozen water-puffs, and so fortified, returned to Old Pink.

  With careless bravado he let himself into his new apartment. Kedidah was not at home. On the wall someone had scrawled a memorandum in chalk:

  GAME TOMORROW! EPHTHALOTES AGAINST

  THE SKORNISH BRAGANDERS! PRACTICE

  THIS AFTERNOON! VICTORY TOMORROW!

  EPHTHALOTES FOREVER!

  Jantiff read the notice with a curled lip, then set about arranging his belongings in those few areas where Kedidah had not strewn her own gear.

  Late the following afternoon Kedidah brought an exultant party of teammates, friends and well-wishers to the apartment. She ran across the sitting room and ruffled Jantiff’s hair. “Janty, we won! So much for all your grizzling and croaking! On five straight power drives!”

  “Yes,” said Jantiff. “I know. I attended the game.”

  “Then why aren’t you cheering with the rest of us? O hurrah everyone! The Ephthalotes are the best ever! Jantiff, you can come along to the party! There’ll be swill by the crock and you’ll quite get over your dudgeon.”

  “No dudgeon whatever,” said Jantiff coldly. “Unfortunately I have work to do and I don’t think I had better come’

  “Don’t be such an old crow! I want you to do a picture of the Ephthalotes with their glorious good-luck sheirl!”

  “Some other time,” said Jantiff. “At a party it would be totally impossible.”

  “You’re right! In a day or so then. For now—pour out the swill! A lavish hand there, Scrive! Here’s joy for the Ephthalotes!”

  The hubbub became too much for Jantiff. He left the apartment and went up to the roof garden where he sat brooding under the foliage.

  After an hour he returned to find the apartment empty but in a terrible state of disorder; chairs were overturned; crockery mugs lay broken on the floor and someone had spilled a cup of swill on his bed.

  He was only vaguely aware of Kedidah’s return to the apartment, and somehow ignored the subsequent sounds from her side of the curtain.

  In the morning Kedidah was ill, and Jantiff lay stiffly on his cot while Kedidah uttered small plaintive moans of distress. At last she called out: “Jantiff, are you awake?”

  “Naturally.”

  “I’m in the most fearful condition; I don’t think I can stir.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, really, Janty! I’m sore everywhere; I can’t imagine what happened to me.”

  “I could guess.”

  “Jantiff, I’ve got drudge and I’m simply not up to going out. You’ll trade off with me, won’t you?”

  “I’ll do nothing of the sort.”

  “Jantiff, please don’t say no! This is an emergency; I absolutely can’t make it out of the apartment. Be kind to me, Janty!”

  “Certainly I’ll be kind to you. But I won’t take your drudge. In the first place you’d never pay me back. Secondly, I’ve got my own drudge today.”

  “Dog defile all! Well I’ll have to bestir myself; I don’t know how I’ll manage. My head feels like a big gong.”

  During the next two days Kedidah left the apartment early and returned late and Jantiff saw little of her. On the third day, Kedidah remained at home, but the Ephthalotes’ forthcoming game against the well-regarded Vergaz Khaldraves had put her in a trembling state of nerves. When Jantiff suggested that she sever her connection with the team she stared at him in disbelief. “You can’t be serious, Janty! We’ve only got to beat the Khaldraves and then we’re into the semi-finals, and then the finals, and then—”

  “Those are many and them.”

  “But we can’t lose! Don’t you realize, Janty, that I’m a lucky talisman? Everyone says so! After we win we’re established forever! We can chwig it is the boater, not to mention a total end to drudge!”

  “Very nice, but wouldn’t you like to visit other places on other worlds?”

  “Where I’d have to kowtow to all the plutocrats, and drudge eight days a week forever? I can’t envision such a life. It must be appalling!”

  “Not altogether. Many folk around the Cluster live this way.”

  “I prefer egalism; it’s much easier on everyone.”

  “But you really don’t prefer egalism! You want to be triumphant so that you’ll have banter and never any drudge. That’s elitism!”

  “No, it’s not! It’s because I’m Kedidah and because we’re going to win! Say what you like but it’s not elitism!”

  Jantiff gave a sad chuckle. “I’ll never fathom the Arrabins!”

  “It’s you who are illogical! You don’t understand the simplest little things! Instead you dabble all day in those ridiculous colors. Which reminds me: when will you do our picture, as you promised?”

  “Well, I don’t know. I’m not really sure—”

  “It can’t be today; we’re practicing; nor tomorrow, that’s game day; nor the next day, because we’ll be recovering from the celebration. You’ll just have to wait, Jantiff!”

  Jantiff sighed, “Let’s forget the whole thing.”

  “Yes; that, will be best. Instead, you can make a fine bold poster for the wall: ‘Ephthalotes Triumphant’ with titans and cockaroons and darting thunderbolts—all in orange and red and smashing green. Please do, Ja
nty; we’ll all be, thrilled to see such a thing!”

  “Really, Kedidah—”

  “You won’t do it? Such :a trifling favor?”

  “Go arrange the pigments and paper. I refuse to waste my own on something so ridiculous.”

  Kedidah uttered a yelp of sick disgust. “Jantiff, you’re really extreme! You niggle over such trivial things!”

  “Those pigments were sent to me from Zeck.”

  “Please, Jantiff, I can’t bear to bicker with you.”

  Summoning all his dignity, Jantiff vacated the apartment

  In the ground level foyer he encountered Skorlet. She greeted him with unconvincing affability. “Well, Jantiff, are you honing your appetite? The bonterfest is all arranged.” She turned him a sly sidelong glance. “I suppose you’re surely coming?”

  Jantiff did not care for her manner. “Certainly; why not? I paid for the ticket.”

  “Very good. We leave early the day after tomorrow.”

  Jantiff calculated days and dates. “That will suit me very well. How many are going?”

  “An even dozen; that’s all the air-car will take,”

  “An air-car? How did Esteban promote such a thing?”

  “Never underestimate Esteban! He always lands on his feet!”

  “Quite so!” said Jantiff coldly.

  Skorlet suddenly became gay—again a patently spurious display. “Also very important: be sure to bring your cameral The gypsies are quaint; you’ll want to record every incident!”

  “It’s just something more to carry.”

  “If you don’t bring it you’re sure to be sorry. And Tanzel wants a remembrance. You’ll do it for her, won’t you?”

  “Oh, very well.”

  “Good. We’ll meet here in the lobby directly after wump.”

  Jantiff watched her cross to the lift. Skorlet obviously wanted mementos of the great occasion and expected Jantiff to provide them. She could expect in vain.

  He went out upon the loggia and sat on a bench. Presently Kedidah emerged from the foyer. She paused, stretched her arms luxuriously to the sunlight, then set off at a pace somewhere between a skip and a trot toward the man-way. Jantiff watched her disappear into the crowd, then rose to his feet and went up to the apartment Kedidah as usual had left disorder in her wake. Jantiff cleaned up the worst of the mess, then went to lie on his bed. No doubt in his mind now: it was time to be leaving Uncibal… Skorlet’s manner in regard to the camera had been most odd. She had never shown any interest in photographs before… He dozed and woke only when Kedidah returned with a group of swaggering Ephthalotes, whoa chaffed each other in raucous voices—and discussed tactics for tomorrow’s game. Jantiff turned on his side and tried to cover his ears. At last he rose, stumbled up to the roof garden where he sat until time for the evening meal.