The dimensioneers by Doris Piserchia

Author:Doris Piserchia [Piserchia, Doris]
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction, General, Fiction, American Science Fiction And Fantasy, Fiction - General
ISBN: 9780879977382
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : DAW Books, c1982.
Published: 1982-06-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

I sat on Wyala in the middle of a rock pile on Zee’s world and beckoned to the boy who had helped me bury the dead patriot.

He didn’t want to come. He was in a garden now not far from my hiding place. I knew he had seen me but he turned his back to me. Several fields away a group of Kriff were having a corn roast. They were always eating or snacking and at the moment even the sentries had joined the festive group.

Looking over his shoulder at me the boy finally threw away his hoe to come up into the rocks. He hadn’t seen Wyala up close the last time we met and now his eyes grew wide with alarm. I walked away a few paces, turned and motioned for him to follow. Reluctantly be did so.

When he saw the mushroom hob sitting on a patch of grass he stopped and backed away. I stopped Wy beside the hob, placed a hand on its warm top and motioned for him to approach.

The only reason he did it was because of Zee but of course I had been counting on that. I got him to come up on the other side of the hob and place his hand on it. Another reason he did it was because he was bigger and older than I. Pride wasn’t the exclusive property of humans.

“There, now, I can talk to you,” I said.

So astonished was he that he fell onto his back. His contact with the fungus was lost but he’d had a taste; that was at least enough to bring him crawling to the hob upon which he placed a trembling hand.

“Can I really hear your mind?” he asked.

“I’m pretty sure you can,” I said. “We couldn’t talk unless you came into physical contact with the hob.”

His eyes wide with wonder, he stroked the creature, who shivered with pleasure and withdrew its suckers from the ground. It had been feeding but now it desired to indulge another appetite. It was far hungrier for what the young birdman could give it than for food.

Tradition here had always kept the people and the hobs separated. No one ever touched the funguslike growths that were supposedly poison.

Did the birdpeople know about Zee? Yes. They knew that he had the ability to fly all the way off the world; they knew he was waging war with the Kriff and now they all knew he was dead. Only the boy had known about the dead hob but he spoke of it to no one.

Now he caressed the living creature and conversed with me. I told him there was a mission for him to perform for his people but first he had to ride the hob as the dead Zee had ridden the dead one.

He was disbelieving and scared half to death. For a while he tramped up and down the rocks looking back at me to see if I appeared sane. All the while he did it I knew the feeling between him and the hob was growing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.