The Link Read online

the constant roving. A proudpeople, yet a people who would turn and run without thought, in a panicof age-old fear. They _had_ to run, Nehmon knew, if they were tosurvive.

  And with a blaze of anger in his heart, he almost hated the two youngpeople waiting here with him for the last ship to be filled. For thesetwo would not go.

  It had been a long and painful night. He had pleaded and begged, triedto persuade them that there was no hope, that the very idea of remainingbehind or trying to contact the Hunters was insane. Yet he knew _they_were sane, perhaps unwise, naive, but their decision had been reached,and they would not be shaken.

  The day was almost gone as the last ships began to fill. Nehmon turnedto Ravdin and Dana, his face lined and tired. "You'll have to go soon,"he said. "The city will be burned, of course, as always. You'll be leftwith food, and with weapons against the jungle. The Hunters will knowthat we've been here, but they'll not know when, nor where we havegone." He paused. "It will be up to you to see that they don't learn."

  Dana shook her head. "We'll tell them nothing, unless it's safe for themto know."

  "They'll question you, even torture you."

  She smiled calmly. "Perhaps they won't. But as a last resort, we canblank out."

  Nehmon's face went white. "You know there is no coming back, once you dothat. You would never regain your memory. You must save it for a lastresort."

  Down below on the street the last groups of people were passing; thelast sweet, eerie tones of the concert were rising in the gatheringtwilight. Soon the last families would have taken their refuge in theships, waiting for Nehmon to trigger the fire bombs to ignite thebeautiful city after the ships started on their voyage. The concertswere over; there would be long years of aimless wandering before anotherhome could be found, another planet safe from the Hunters and theirships. Even then it would be more years before the concerts could againrise from their hearts and throats and minds, generations before theycould begin work again toward the climactic expression of theirheritage.

  Ravdin felt the desolation in the people's minds, saw the utterhopelessness in the old man's face, and suddenly felt the pressure ofdespair. It was such a slender hope, so frail and so dangerous. He knewof the terrible fight, the war of his people against the Hunters, somany thousand years before. They had risen together, a common people,their home a single planet. And then, the gradual splitting of thenations, his own people living in peace, seeking the growth and beautyof the arts, despising the bitterness and barrenness of hatred andkilling--and the Hunters, under an iron heel of militarism, ofgovernment for the perpetuation of government, split farther and fartherfrom them. It was an ever-widening split as the Hunters sneered andridiculed, and then grew to hate Ravdin's people for all the things theHunters were losing: peace, love, happiness. Ravdin knew of his people'sslowly dawning awareness of the sanctity of life, shattered abruptly bythe horrible wars, and then the centuries of fear and flight, hidingfrom the wrath of the Hunters' vengeance. His people had learned much inthose long years. They had conquered disease. They had grown in strengthas they dwindled in numbers. But now the end could be seen, crystalclear, the end of his people and a ghastly grave.

  Nehmon's voice broke the silence. "If you must stay behind, then go now.The city will burn an hour after the count-down."

  "We will be safe, outside the city." Dana gripped her husband's hand,trying to transmit to him some part of her strength and confidence."Wish us the best, Nehmon. If a link can be forged, we will forge it."

  "I wish you the best in everything." There were tears in the old man'seyes as he turned and left the room.

  * * * * *

  They stood in the Jungle-land, listening to the scurry of frightenedanimals, and shivering in the cool night air as the bright sparks of theships' exhausts faded into the black starry sky. A man and a womanalone, speechless, watching, staring with awful longing into the skiesas the bright rocket jets dwindled to specks and flickered out.

  The city burned. Purple spumes of flame shot high into the air, throwinga ghastly light on the frightened Jungle-land. Spires of flame seemed tobe seeking the stars with their fingers as the plastic walls and streetsof the city hissed and shriveled, blackening, bubbling into a vanishingmemory before their eyes. The flames shot high, carrying with them thelast remnants of the city which had stood proud and tall an hour before.Then a silence fell, deathly, like the lifeless silence of a grave. Outof the silence, little whispering sounds of the Jungle-land crept totheir ears, first frightened, then curious, then bolder and bolder asthe wisps of grass and little animals ventured out and out toward theclearing where the city had stood. Bit by bit the Jungle-land gatheredcourage, and the clearing slowly, silently, began to disappear.

  Days later new sparks of light appeared in the black sky. They grew tolarger specks, then to flares, and finally settled to the earth aspowerful, flaming jets.

  They were squat, misshapen vessels, circling down like vultures,hissing, screeching, landing with a grinding crash in the tall thicketnear the place where the city had stood. Ravdin's signal had guided themin, and the Hunters had seen them, standing on a hilltop above thedemolished amphitheater. Men had come out of the ships, large men withcold faces and dull eyes, weapons strapped to their trim uniforms. TheHunters had blinked at them, unbelieving, with their weapons held atready. Ravdin and Dana were seized and led to the flagship.

  As they approached it, their hearts sank and they clasped hands tobolster their failing hope.

  The leader of the Hunters looked up from his desk as they were thrustinto his cabin. Frankle's face was a graven mask as he searched theirfaces dispassionately. The captives were pale and seemed to cringe fromthe pale interrogation light. "Chickens!" the Hunter snorted. "We havebeen hunting down chickens." His eyes turned to one of the guards. "Theyhave been searched?"

  "Of course, master."

  "And questioned?"

  The guard frowned. "Yes, sir. But their language is almostunintelligible."

  "You've studied the basic tongues, haven't you?" Frankle's voice was ascold as his eyes.

  "Of course, sir, but this is so different."

  Frankle stared in contempt at the fair-skinned captives, fixing hiseyes on them for a long moment. Finally he said, "Well?"

  Ravdin glanced briefly at Dana's white face. His voice seemed weak andhigh-pitched in comparison to the Hunter's baritone. "You are the leaderof the Hunters?"

  Frankle regarded him sourly, without replying. His thin face wasswarthy, his short-cut gray hair matching the cold gray of his eyes. Itwas an odd face, completely blank of any thought or emotion, yet capableof shifting to a strange biting slyness in the briefest instant. It wasa rich face, a face of inscrutable depth. He pushed his chair back, hiseyes watchful. "We know your people were here," he said suddenly. "Nowthey've gone, and yet you remain behind. There must be a reason for suchrashness. Are you sick? Crippled?"

  Ravdin shook his head. "We are not sick."

  "Then criminals, perhaps? Being punished for rebellious plots?"

  "We are not criminals."

  The Hunter's fist crashed on the desk. "Then why are you here? _Why?_Are you going to tell me now, or do you propose to waste a few hours ofmy time first?"

  "There is no mystery," Ravdin said softly. "We stayed behind to pleadfor peace."

  "For peace?" Frankle stared in disbelief. Then he shrugged, his facetired. "I might have known. Peace! Where have your people gone?"

  Ravdin met him eye for eye. "I can't say."

  The Hunter laughed. "Let's be precise, you don't _choose_ to say, justnow. But perhaps very soon you will wish with all your heart to tellme."

  Dana's voice was sharp. "We're telling you the truth. We want peace,nothing more. This constant hunting and running is senseless, exhaustingto both of us. We want to make peace with you, to bring our peopletogether again."

  Frankle snorted. "You came to us in war, once, long ago. Now you wantpeace. What would you do, clasp us to your bosom, sm
other us in youridiotic music? Or have you gone on to greater things?"

  Ravdin's face flushed hotly. "Much greater things," he snapped.

  Frankle sat down slowly. "No doubt," he said. "Now understand meclearly. Very soon you will be killed. How quickly or slowly you diewill depend largely upon the civility of your tongues. A civil tongueanswers questions with the right answers. That is my definition of acivil tongue." He sat back coldly. "Now, shall we commence askingquestions?"

  Dana stepped forward suddenly, her cheeks flushed. "We don't have thewords to express ourselves," she said softly. "We