Neanderthal by John Darnton

Author:John Darnton [Darnton, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780312963002
Amazon: 0312963009
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Published: 1997-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

16

Matt and Blue-Eyes circled each other in the pit, each looking for an advantage. Blue-Eyes—named after Sinatra because he liked to vocalize—was not much of a wrestler, but he was game.

In fact none of the hominids were good wrestlers, despite their superior strength. It was a martial sport, and concepts such as domination, victory, and loss had no place in their mental universe. They did appreciate a hard fall to the ground, but whether they viewed it as funny or not was difficult to tell, since they did not laugh but seemed instead to become excited. Their humor, such as it was, was unfathomable to Matt and Susan. Nothing based upon trickery, cunning, or deceit—games involving substitution of one object for another—drew any response other than blank incomprehension. But certain activities were clearly enjoyable. The children chased each other a lot, squealing in a strident, loud-pitched way, though they did not end by tackling one another. Susan tried to teach them tag but it was a failure because the notion of being "it" was beyond their grasp.

Lines and boundaries were also alien to them. Matt theorized that the concept of an arbitrary end to space must somehow be bound up with egocentrism. If your psychic powers allow your world to grow beyond the horizon and then shrink back within an eye blink, how is it possible to comprehend a limit? But he was soon to discover that in one critical area—death—the delineation was starkly made.

As a practical matter Matt found that it made no sense to try to mark out the boundaries of a wrestling ring. But near the village center he discovered a large depression in the ground, which he dubbed "the pit," and it served the purpose as he tried to teach them the sport. The contestants usually stayed inside, though nothing could stop them from suddenly plopping down in the middle of a match whenever the notion struck them.

Matt enjoyed the physical contact. He recalled the jolt he had received the day he took Longface's hand. But he could not say the promise of this touch had been fulfilled. Though they had been living in the valley for days now, neither he nor Susan had achieved a breakthrough in communication with the hominids.

For their part, the hominids seemed to have lost interest in Matt and Susan. While they did not in any way feel unwelcome, they had become to a certain degree unremarkable—in a sense invisible. "It doesn't bother me," Matt joked to Susan one night. "I can take rejection, l've lived in England." But the sense of solitude was growing oppressive. They had only each other—and to a lesser degree Kellicut, who was often away, inside the cavern by the waterfall receiving what he called "spiritual instruction." When he was with them his presence created problems. Matt felt that Kellicut acted as if part of his mind had evaporated; Susan believed his mind had entered a higher plane. Furthermore, he concentrated all his energy and approval on Susan and seemed increasingly hostile toward Matt.

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