The deer were amazed when the two humans returned, laughing and talking and acting as if they had just had a nutritious meal and a good night’s sleep. And yet, there remained a hollow look in the humans’ eyes, especially the boy’s. Also, no mushrooms, or anything else to eat, was being offered, and the deer knew these humans would share any food they had.
Dem realized that he had been wearing their only coat for a long time, and handed it to Tir with guilty looks. “Sorry. I guess I sort of lost it there for a while. You’re the leader now. You did the thinking . . . and looking . . . that got us out of this mess.”
Tir smiled slightly. “Maybe you should hold that thought until we know if the shadow-tunnel goes anywhere.”
“If it doesn’t . . .” Dem left his sentence unfinished.
Tir nodded as she put on the coat.
The shadowy tunnel was about four feet up the cavern wall, but some nearby rocks, and the stalagmite that had hidden it, gave footholds. Tir went first, held her glow-stone up, and announced that the way appeared to be passable, and not too difficult. Dem handed the injured deer up to his sister.
They had to hunch over most of the way, and crawl for a short distance, but soon came to the next cavern, the cavern that should, according to the Map, include the Angels’ camp.
As the tunnel opening was about two feet off the cavern floor on that end,
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they sat down on the edge to see what they could see. Their glow-stones faintly illuminated a few nearby cave formations, as always, but a light of a different color — a warmer color — penetrated their awareness from somewhere far across the cavern. Both deer were also looking in that direction.
“Let’s put away our glow-stones,” Tir whispered.
Slowly, with the lights hidden, their eyes adjusted.
Tir squinted and forced herself to think. “That’s the wrong color to be even the brightest glow-stones, and it’s not like the glowing mushroom pool, either. Could that be . . . sunlight from outside?”
Dem was the only one who had glimpsed daylight through the few windows in the Government Tunnels where he used to work. “No. That light’s a sickly yellow because of the bad air. This is . . . whiter . . . softer and nicer somehow. Shall we go meet the Angels?”
Tir looked at the ground. “Dem, there’s something I want to talk to you about first, something that I think we might have to do . . . especially because we lost all the others who came with us . . . and I want you to know that . . . if we have to . . . it’ll be okay with me . . .”
Dem and Tir of Sonmatia Two talked for another quarter hour, but hunger and exhaustion, temporarily forgotten, began to reassert themselves. The travelers still had a large cavern to cross before, hopefully, they could beg for something to eat and drink.
The four moved slowly across the cavern as if in a dream. Three, with sore legs and empty bellies, staggered forward, no one leading, just always moving toward the warm white light. The fourth one, equally hungry, dozed in Dem’s arms, putting complete trust in the humans who had saved her from certain death.
They didn’t try to hurry, as they were very close to falling down at any moment, and they knew it. Also, they sensed that a very important time in their lives was coming to an end, and a deep instinct made them want to savor its final moments.
They didn’t realize how close to the Angels’ camp they were until a tall girl
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with long silver hair stood before them, and behind her, from just over a slight rise, came the warm glow of the Angels’ lights.
“Greetings! I am Feli-tala Rima, and I am the language specialist for Sonmatia Two — your planet — on the life-monitor ship Tirilana Kril. We have been waiting for you.”
Somewhat to Dem surprise, the little male deer walked over to the tall girl and nuzzled her leg.
She knelt down and stroked the animal. “Hello, little friend. Are you and Pama well?”
Even though no words or sounds were exchanged that Tir or Dem could hear, a moment later the tall girl frowned. “I’m sorry. We’ll get that fixed right away.”
She stood back up. “We have some food and drink at the camp, if you tired travelers can walk just a little farther . . .”
Dem could feel Tir standing close beside him, so he gathered his courage and cleared his throat. “Um . . . we have something we need to say. We know you want us to go to another world and . . . um . . . restart our civilization there. We tried to bring a bunch of other people with us who . . . you know . . .
wanted to be mates. But we lost them all along the way.”
The silver-haired girl nodded with understanding, but didn’t interrupt.
“The problem is . . . you see . . . me and Tir are brother and sister, and we know it’s not the best thing for the gene pool for a brother and sister to be mates . . . but if it’s absolutely necessary . . . we’ll do it.”
The tall girl smiled slightly. “Your intimate relationship with each other is your own business, but I have two things to reveal to you.”
Dem and Tir both looked at her with as much curiosity as their exhaustion and hunger would allow.
“First of all, we seem to have plenty of mated pairs from your world already. Please, come to the camp and see.”
The golden ship, a perfect sphere with an open hatch on the side, perched on three legs in a clear area between several large stalagmites. From it, beams of soft light splashed upon the cavern ceiling above, casting a gentle glow over the entire camp and surrounding area.
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The wide sandy area in front of the ship contained several tables of different heights, some with stools. At one table, two people and a large bird sat playing some kind of game.
Tir’s throbbing mind took a moment to recognize the people, but when she did, she nearly screamed. “Bel! It’s Bel and Fen! They’re alive!” She tried to dash forward, but tripped on a rock.
Feli-tala Rima caught her. “Take it slowly. Yes, your friends are alive and well.”
Bel and Fen hopped up and dashed to greet the new arrivals. Feli-tala offered to take the female deer from Dem, and then she and the large bird stood aside while the four friends embraced.
“We tried so hard to find you guys!” Dem explained.
Fen brushed the concern away with his hand. “Don’t worry about it! It would have been impossible, until now.”
They all moved down to the tables. The bird waddled up the ramp and into the ship.
“The river spat us out onto a sandy beach not much after we last saw you,”
Bel said, “and a long, winding tunnel brought us here!”
Pitchers of water and fruit juice were placed on the table by Tik, and Jin set down a tray with several cups. Both were grinning from ear to ear as they sat down.
Dem and Tir clasped hands and arms with the friends they thought would be dying of starvation in the lower tunnels. Soon they remembered their hunger and thirst, and took a moment to drink deeply, starting with the cold, delicious water.
“We just followed our feet,” Jin said with a smile, “and soon found ourselves in this cavern, with that beautiful warm light to guide us.”
Tik, also smiling, nodded.
Before any more words could be exchanged, Ril and Bim came down the ramp with plates of fruit and nuts.
Tir stood and hugged the large girl. “I thought you’d be working double-shifts in the mushroom caves for the rest of your life!”
“I would have been,” Ril confirmed, “so why not tell everyone what I was thinking?”
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“And she did, and they listened!” Bim added proudly.
“And the next day, seventeen pairs met us at the exit cave!”
“And Ril was so brave, going down that tight climb-hole again!”
“And when we came to the first Outer Patrol, they looked at the thirty-six people in front of them.” Ril paused and grinned. “Then they said, ‘You’re all under arrest.’ And you know what happened next?”
Tir and Dem remained silent, but were smiling.
“We laughed!” Bim announced. “I’m sure Ril started it, but a second later, all of us were laughing our heads off!”
At that moment, the other seventeen couples came pouring out of the ship.
Tir and Dem recognized most of them. They gathered around the table and mumbled thanks to the brother and sister who had made their freedom possible.
“Feli-tala met us just a little ways up that large lava tube, the one with Outer Patrols,” Ril explained, “and then showed us a short-cut, so we had a much easier trip than you guys.”
Dem and Tir nodded and continued to listen, but absolutely had to start munching on fruit and nuts.
“Sorry we don’t have any mushrooms,” Bim said with a straight face.
“That’s okay,” Tir assured him, smiling, as she slipped a slice of fruit into her mouth, the first she had ever tasted.
“And we can have as many babies as we want!” Ril exclaimed.
Tir didn’t relate to that idea, but tried not to let it show on her face.
“Or as few as we want, or even none!” another girl said with just as much excitement.
The boy at her side looked a little disappointed.
“And girls get as much say in mating as boys do,” Jin said sternly.
Tir noticed that she and Tik were still sitting close together.
“And we can wait until we feel ready,” a young boy added, “instead of having older boys taunt us until we do it.”
Dem nodded with understanding.
“And we’ll live fifty years or more!” another boy said excitedly, “as long as we don’t fall out of a tree . . . whatever that is.”
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Dem chuckled, but had just as little experience with trees.
“So we can actually raise our children!” Bel added, “instead of dying before they can even walk.”
Tir smiled at the thought, but her expression quickly change to a frown.
“How’s Sim, the planting supervisor?”
Everyone fell silent. Ril shook her head.
“Population should be about two forty and dropping,” a boy said.
“Feli-tala thinks another group might be working up the courage to defy the Tunnel Thugs and get out.”
“So the people of our new world,” a girl speculated, “will be the strong ones with enough courage to think for themselves, not the control freaks and those who hide behind them.”
Feli-tala Rima, at the far end of the table, had been silent while the young people of Sonmatia Two shared recent news. Now she spoke. “Your civilization has been in grave danger for many years. It will take a new world, lots of support from us, and several generations to get you out of danger. And yes, lots of courage and thinking for yourselves.”
Dem had a thoughtful look on his face. Tir and several others noticed and looked at him.
He turned to Feli-tala Rima. “Why did you even bother talking to the Tunnel Thugs — I mean the government?”
The tall girl with silver hair smiled. “Just out of respect. Theoretically, they are supposed to represent your interests.”
Many of the assembled people of Sonmatia Two snickered.
“They represent their own bellies and their .
.
. um .
.
. mating
preferences,” a girl said boldly.
The snickering grew louder.
Feli-tala continued smiling. “We knew it wouldn’t do any good, but it’s a step we had to take. No mortal government, anywhere in the local universe, has ever faithfully represented its people. If one ever did, everyone in Nebador would just faint with surprise . . .”
All of the assembled citizens of Sonmatia Two, from ages seven to fourteen, laughed deeply and couldn’t regain their composure for a long time.
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“And we also have the requirement,” Feli-tala Rima continued once the laughter had died down, “that those who want to leave must clearly demonstrate that desire. That’s why we waited until you had made a journey, although the length and difficulty of the journey Tir and Dem took, had a different purpose.”
Everyone looked at the silver-haired girl, sensing something important was about to happen.
“This is the other thing I promised to reveal to you, Tir and Dem. You can go with the other brave people of your civilization to a new world, if you want, and raise families there, or not, as you choose. But also, I wish to extend to you an invitation to follow a different path. I know of the many challenges and hardships you faced on your journey, challenges that would have crushed most people. You may, if you wish, come with us, after we take your friends to their new world, and join us in doing the work of the gods.”
Suddenly, all the other assembled citizens of Sonmatia Two began clapping and grinning at the brother and sister.
Dem’s throat was too dry to speak. He felt his sister take his hand under the table.
Tir found her voice first, and spoke with wide eyes of wonder. “You mean
. . . become Angels?”
Feli-tala smiled. “I think angels’ helpers would be a better term.”
“What . . . what would we do?” Dem managed to ask. “We don’t know anything but recycling trash and planting mushrooms.”
The others chuckled or smiled with understanding.
Feli-tala answered. “There are many possibilities, and you would be free to choose, but I might suggest you start with Stewardship while you learn everything else you need to know. Your skills of recycling and planting are a good start, and you would add to that a broad understanding of biology, ecology, and climatology, until you are able to help with the management of whole ecosystems in star stations, and eventually on natural planets themselves.”
“Wow . . .” Tir breathed. “That . . . sounds like . . . a lot more fun than planting mushrooms!”
Dem nodded agreement. “Can we . . . you know . . . visit our friends on
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their new world?”
“Yes. They will grow under the direct care of the gods and angels for many years, until someday they are strong enough to follow their own destinies.”
“And . . . can . . .” Tir began with hesitation, “Dem and me . . . stay close? I mean . . . we’d rather not be mates, but we still like each other a lot . . .
especially after that journey! ”
Dem verified with a vigorous nod.
Feli-tala Rima smiled again. “You sure can. In the realm of the gods, angels’ helpers who form strong bonds can work together for as long as they want. Having someone tell you what to do, and who you can be with, is something that only mortal leaders and governments do.”
“Tunnel Thugs,” Tir translated.
All the young people around the table burst out laughing, and didn’t stop for a long time.