The Fire is Lit by John Brunner

Author:John Brunner [Brunner, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci Fi Short Story
Publisher: Asimov's Magazine
Published: 1982-09-23T23:00:00+00:00

Plants which swelled at noon and shrank at midnight were used in Ntah to keep track of time if the sky was clouded over and the weather-sense dulled. Whenever it snowed, Jing occupied himself by hunting the castle for anything which might exhibit similar behavior. The effect the long night was having on his own weather-sense was disquieting; without sunlight to prompt him back to rationality, he found dreams creeping up on him unawares when he was neither hungry, tired nor upset.

He was engaged in this so-far vain quest when he was hailed by a familiar voice. Turning, he saw Twig, filthy from pads to mandibles with blackish smears.

“There you are! I was surprised not to find you in Rainbow’s quarters—they tell me you two have grown very close lately!”

For an instant Jing was minded to take offense. But Twig knew nothing of his being compelled to celibacy so long as Waw-Yint lived. And lately he had felt pangs of regret at not having left offspring behind in Ntah. Rainbow and Shine were about half his age; talking to them, he had realized how much happier he would have been had he passed on his knowledge to a son and daughter before setting forth on his travels …

Before he could reply, however, Twig had charged on, plainly bursting to impart information. “Take a look at this!” he exclaimed, proffering something in his left claw. Jing complied, hoping it was not something as irrelevant as Twig’s last “great discovery”: a new kind of metal, grayish and cold, which broke when it was dropped. This one, however, he thought he recognized.

“Ah! You found another magnifying drop. It’s especially clear and fine, I must say.”

“Not found,” Twig announced solemnly. “Made.”

“How? Out of what?”

“Sand, would you believe? Yes, the same sand you find beside the hot marsh! Keepfire’s flames are getting better and hotter—oh, I know people are complaining about the smell, but that’s a small price to pay!—and this time he’s excelled himself! And there’s more. Look at this!”

He produced what he had in his other claw. It was of similar material, equally clear, but twice the size.

“Hold them up together—no, I don’t mean together, I mean—Oh, like this!” Twig laid claws on Jing in a way the latter would never normally have tolerated, but it was certainly quicker than explaining. “Now look at something through both of them, and move them apart or together until you see it clearly. Got it?”

Jing grew instantly calm. There presented to his eye was an image of Twig, albeit upside-down … but larger, and amazingly sharp except around the edges.

Very slowly, he lowered and examined the two pieces of glass. They were not, as he had first assumed, in the regular half-droplet shape; they were like two of the natural kind pressed together, but considerably flatter.

“You made these?” he said slowly.

“Yes, yes!” And then, with a tinge of embarrassment: “Well—Keepfire made them, under Bush’s supervision. All I was hoping for was better magnifying drops. I never

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