The Ships of Earth: Homecoming: Volume 3 by Orson Scott Card

Author:Orson Scott Card [Card, Orson Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780812532630
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1995-01-15T06:00:00+00:00

SEVEN

THE BOW

The loss of the pulse was such a blow that neither Volemak nor Elemak made any effort to keep the situation calm—not until it was already almost out of control. There lay the pieces of the pulse, spread out on a cloth; nearby were the two water-damaged pulses that Elemak had saved. Zdorab sat by them, the Index in his lap, reading out the numbers of the broken parts. Almost everyone else stood—few were calm enough to sit—waiting, watching, pacing, grumbling as he tried to find out if one whole pulse could be salvaged from the parts.

“It’s no use,” said Zdorab. “Even if we had all the parts, the Index says that we don’t have the tools that would be needed, and no way of making them without spending fifty years achieving the appropriate level of technology.”

“What a brilliant plan the Oversoul had,” said Elemak. “Keep all of humanity at a low level of technology—so low that even though we can manufacture pulses, we don’t understand how they work and can’t repair them if they break.”

“It wasn’t the Oversoul’s plan,” said Issib.

“Does it matter?” said Mebbekew. “We’re going to die out here now.”

Dol burst into tears, and for once they sounded real.

“I’m sorry,” said Nafai.

“Yes, well, how glad we all are that you’re remorseful,” said Elemak. “What were you doing in a dangerous place like that anyway? You had the sole surviving pulse, and that’s what you do with it?”

“That’s where the animal was,” said Nafai.

“If your quarry had leapt from the cliff, would you have followed?” asked Volemak.

Nafai was devastated that Father had joined in with Elemak’s tongue-lashing. And Elemak himself was far from finished. “Let me put it to you plainly, my dear little brother: If you could have chosen whether you or the pulse would land on the ledge instead of bouncing down to destruction, it would have been more convenient to everybody if you had arranged for it to be the pulse!”

The unfairness of it was almost unbearable. “I’m not the one who lost the first three.”

“But when we lost the first three, we still had a pulse left, so it wasn’t quite as serious,” said Father. “You knew it was the last pulse, and still took such a chance.”

“Enough!” said Rasa. “We all agree, including Nafai, that it was a horrible mistake to put the pulse at risk. But now the pulse is gone, it can’t be repaired, and here we are in this strange place with no way to kill meat. Perhaps one of you has thought of what we’re going to do now, besides heaping blame on Nafai’s shoulders.”

Thank you, Mother, said Nafai silently.

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Vas. “The expedition is over.”

“No, it isn’t obvious,” Volemak answered sharply. “The Oversoul’s purpose is nothing less than saving Harmony from the same destruction that came to Earth forty million years ago. Are we going to give that up because we lost a weapon?”

“It’s not the weapon,” said Eiadh. “It’s the meat. We need to find meat.

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