Chapter 54

The other women nodded their agreement, while Brando frowned at his friend.

“John, you are talking about meeting with a distant civilization somewhere across the sea, when we are a long walk from the nearest shore and have no means of being able to speak to these unknown people. What if they are as keen to grab more territory as the invader army? Why are you living in a world of your own invention, in that curious mind which you have?

Why not be happy with the world we have here? We are improving our living conditions every day; you have a clutch of loving wives, a large family on the way, and yet you yearn for something unknown and far away?

If you continue to think like that, you are a fool, John.”

John listened to Brando. “You really think so, Brando? I have never been happy with accepting things as they are. I have always said to myself, what can we do better? What can I do better? Whether it is a family or a community, I could not be happy with things as they are, for we can always do better, one way or another.”

“But John, we ARE making things better, introducing new houses, new building techniques, inventing the wonderful wheel with all its inbuilt possibilities. We are making things better every day. Why, I am working on your velocipede back at my workshop, so you can’t claim we are not making things better.”

“Oh I don’t disagree with you, Brando, but all the things you are talking of are physical objects. I am talking about how we live and experience life: exploring the world around us, learning about plants and animals and people. You have seen the changes arising from the one alteration in the standing of women in the community. We have female warriors as a result, and they have shown that they are as competent as men in wielding weapons. Every new addition to my tribe man, woman, or idea, is a discovery in itself.

Wanting to know about the civilisation that builds these big boats is part of that desire to look for better. It is not that I want to change their civilisation, or undermine it, or allow them to take over our community in this land. It is to learn, for learning is a wonder in itself.

I don’t want to leave my wives on their own. Any time I am away for more than a day, I miss them terribly, so I don’t want to go on a long sea voyage. I merely want to discover more about that far away society, their attitude to other communities, their plan of development for their community and their technology; even their range of weapons and what sort of army they possess. I want to know more about everything.”

Brando said brusquely, “John, I want to know more about the devices you tell me about, for my interest is practical. I have two assistants working on the transport wheels you wanted, but I am more interested in that velocipede concept that I am trying to construct. It is coming along, but I had to work out how to have a long seated area that would not interfere with the wheels at front and back, as well as finding the spot that gives the best balance for the traveller.

Getting an axle to work for the wheels; an axle that is strong enough to take the weight of you as well as the frame; now that was a problem I can tell you. I have used the hardest wood I can find and used animal fat to allow it to run smoothly, but I am unsure of how effective it will be. I might have to use a smooth stone instead. I have been told of a stone that is hard like that, yet it is not difficult to polish it smooth.”

“I think you Are referring to marble, Brando.”

“Is that the name? Or at least it is your name for it. I don’t know where to find it.”

“Hmmm ... try looking for limestone near a volcano. The heat will have transformed limestone into marble if you are lucky.”

“It does? I will put it into my list of wants.

To get back to the velocipede: do you need a device to make the wheels stop when you are on a slope or find you have to stop quickly? A device like that for one wheel is manageable, using leather on wood, but trying to get such a mechanism working on both wheels at the same time is complicated. There would have to be some kind of linkage and that in turn might catch on your clothing, unless it was under the seating plank.”

“Stop for a moment, Brando; you are running away with yourself. You are referring to a braking device – brakes. A single brake or set of brakes would be useful where you have to stop quickly or even slow yourself gently. On a fairly level surface, the speed you normally travel on wheels is not much faster than walking pace, but with less exertion by the rider. That is its advantage. Brakes are an added extra; nice if you can get them.

All I would appeal for is a comfortable seat, as your thighs would get a painful workout, being abraded against the edges of the seat. Please cover the wood with padded leather all over. I reckon once people see this in action, they will want one for themselves, for it offers a bit of recreational enjoyment as well as useful transport. One large tribe in my own past used bicycles – an adaption from the velocipede – to transport parts for weapons of war along jungle trails. These bicycles were made of metal and so were much stronger than wooden ones, but the principle is identical. The word bicycle from my language simply means ‘two circles’, for a wheel is a circle shape: the word is built from two other words: bi meaning two, and cycle meaning wheel.”

Brando exclaimed, “Is there anything you don’t know a bit about?”

“Yes, lots of things, such as where the big ships are built? who builds them? What other things can they do? Do they speak the same language, and if so, why?”

“John, all these questions are esoteric ones which don’t really concern us. They are fantasy questions about a fantasy world.”

“Fantasy questions, perhaps, but these big ships are built in the real world, yet they are far too advanced for this world as you and I know it, so why do they exist? I wonder if there is someone like me over there, with knowledge of how to build big ships; otherwise it makes little sense.”

He paused to consider his own argument.

“Perhaps I should rephrase that argument, for much of what I have done here could be seen in the same way: new things that don’t make sense to the native inhabitants. Do you look at it like that, Brando?”

His friend snorted, “You have got us back to where we started, John. Here you and I can invent and make practical objects that can advance our people’s well-being. There, with your questions, it is just one man wanting to explore the world, but doing that takes you away from all the great ideas that are being constructed here.

Look at it from a practical starting point, with the basics. You want questions answered. So, why do you think you have to do that by yourself? You used a scout to find out things about the invader army for you, didn’t you? Why not use the same technique to find out about the Big Ship builders? Your world that you came from seems to revolve about information and clever machines. This world that we have can revolve around information and clever people, such as you, if you let it do so. You don’t have to disrupt the local world to seek your wider world.”

John was at last seeing that he did not have to go exploring, physically, himself, to gather information. Oh, he would not be on hand to note what were technical advances and how advanced they were, but an observant messenger could look around and report back on what had been seen. Someone seeing a steam engine would only be able to describe the metal framework and the steam and heat and motion; but that would spell ‘steam engine’ to John, so any adequate description of something seen would have clues to indicate what kind of advance it constituted.

John capitulated. “I would need to go to the coast to find someone who can act for me in this way, as a seeker after information.”

Brando shrugged. “I would not disagree with that, John. Or you could get someone who visits us, to act for you in seeking what information you want. You are probably trying find how to contact people who traverse the seas.

How about these merchants that you met? They said they had obtained their ships from the builders, so they must be visiting that place from time to time. How would they obtain the ships? It sounds to me like a heck of a lot of trading to get one of these ships for themselves. They may have to deliver a load of goods at regular intervals, to make trade payments towards the ships, so you need to discover their trade route back to the builder tribe.”

“You seem to be very knowledgeable about trading arrangements, Brando.” John observed.

“My material needs for making things include woods and other material not readily available here, such as that hardwood I needed to use, so I have had to trade for it. I find what goods will be acceptable by traders, and produce them for that market, and they in turn find the materials I need. You know about such trading, for your tribe trades in soap and moccasins. Use your contacts.”

John pressed him, “Could you ask your usual trading contacts about their trading links to overseas nations?”

“To tell you the truth, John, I have no idea where my goods come from, as long as the traders can supply them to me at a manageable trading rate. Perhaps some of my timber comes from an overseas province without me knowing. It might be that these merchants you have dealt with have already traded the timber in bulk to a merchant far from here; and later he trades the timber along the land trade routes to Makers like me. Finding where an item comes from is not straightforward. In the same way, the trader who supplies my specialist hardwood timber may himself not know that it comes from overseas.”

“Hmmm ... I see what you mean, Brando. The most likely route, as you say, is to ask the seaborne merchants, for they are ones most likely to have encountered the people who built the big ships. The trouble is, Brando, I can’t sit around in the fisher village for moons, waiting for the merchants to turn up, nor can a trader who has other alls to make.”

“Think about that for a minute, John. It is much the same as you wanting fishers to tell you about arrivals. Merchants need to know that customers are going to be around when they put in an appearance. That means they must have a timetable or schedule that they work to, so that the customers know to be there for the trading opportunities. They don’t have to appear at the specific hour or day, but an approximate timetable would be satisfactory. All you have to do is find approximately when the sea merchants are due, and be there in advance of that time. You could take trade goods with you, and do some trading while you wait.

Or even better, send someone else to find out when the merchants are due to arrive. That would be a more practical solution.”

John responded, “You are a very practical man, Brando, and that extends to your thinking. Your conclusions make a lot of sense to me, thank you. I must ask the fisher village and find out when the sea merchants are next expected.”

“John, my practicality extends in many directions, including helping to construct your funny flat huts, your ‘houses’ and making things with wheels for you. Please remember that the Farfarers tribe also needs things made, so I cannot do everything you want me to do. Your young Maker, named Raka, has a great possibility for the future, so you should have her making more things for you.”

As he spoke, there came a lurch in the ground, accompanied by a low-pitched rumbling sound. Both men stopped abruptly, shocked by the event.

John at first assumed it was another event related to the store-rooms, then recognised that this was a change in ground surface, not something inside the hill behind them. He found himself exclaiming, “Earthquake!” and Brando stared at him.

“What? What did you say?”

“Earthquake, Brando. A sudden movement of the ground over a wide area. The word means a shaking of the ground. Is it not familiar to you?”

“No. I have never experienced anything like it. What is happening to the ground?”

“Once you know it, the event is quite simple. A large area of rock, possibly a long distance below us, has moved in relation to another layer of rock. Think of it like this.” He put both hands flat in front of himself, and slid the one hand over the other hand in opposite directions. “Imagine this happening very fast, after being stuck together for generations. It shakes the world above by a small amount; possibly a hand’s width up or down. It takes a great amount of force for this to happen, so one it settles down, it is not likely to happen for another lifetime. Temporarily, there can be more such earthquakes, which we call aftershocks, in the next few days or so; then nothing for a very long time, as the tension has been released in the rocks.”

“The effect just happens here, does it?”

“No, it will probably cover a vast area, possibly from here to the sea in one direction, and from here north and south even farther than the borders with the invaders and the northern tribes. These shakings can affect huge areas.”

“Are we safe, John? Do you know?”

“We are now. If we were to be in trouble, it would have been while the shaking was happening – a tree or something might fall on you, and if you were beside water, the water might be thrown towards you. If the earthquake happened under the sea, the sea can rush inland and possibly drown people.”

“But why would the sea do that, if the earthquake is far underground, in the rocks?”

“Brando, if the ground surface at the bottom of the sea rises by a hand-width, that will push up the seawater by the same amount, and the water will flow to the sides. That is a lot of water being moved, and that mass becomes a wave as it approaches the beach, for the mass of water has to move into a shallower place, in other words, anywhere except where it is! The water turns into a taller wave as it approaches land because of that funnelling effect as the sea bottom gets higher, so you end up with a huge wave rushing in at speed. It can be devastating.”

“That idea is mind-blowing. Where did you pick it up? Did someone tell you, or did you see it for yourself?”

“I’ll tell you shortly, Brando, after I have checked on the family and the tribe. I want to be sure no-one was hurt. Something might have fallen on a person or there may have been an accident by a fire. Someone may have simply tripped and hurt themselves. Medical nanites don’t stop you from tripping!”

He hurried back to the cave, despite not having heard any howls of pain. He found that the ground movement had not been enough to do more than frighten many people, especially the children. His fellow uptimers had recognised the event as a small earthquake, and had made sure no-one was too worried, even if there were some aftershocks.

John went back to Brando and continued their discussion.

“In my weird world, Brando, communications were almost instant, all across the globe. You could send a message to someone on the other side of the planet in as much time as it took me to tell you about it. It used something like light to carry the signal, but a light that is not visible to the eyes. One used a machine, a made thing, to inscribe the message onto the light carrier and send it off to be delivered to the specified person at the other end.”

“Wow!”

The message could be a moving picture, Brando. I have seen moving pictures of great waves hitting a coastline and smashing into houses, dumping boats far inland. Some pictures I have seen I would not ever want to watch again: pictures of men hurting men and women, even children, because they were different: different religion, different colour, different anything. These were excuses to do harm to people, so I am glad I am not there anymore.”

“You have seen bad things here, too, with the murder of Mongo and part of his family.”

“I have, but in my time many of the murders were done to entire tribes; many many tribes all slaughtered because they were different.”

“You have seen wonders, John, or know about them, but I have my own wonders to tease me, like your velocipede and these flat wooden walls that make up your new houses. Are we going to get some more constructed today? We should also check that the first one is still secure after this ground-quake.”

John restrained himself from any more wonders that no longer existed, and the pair worked on house-building for the remainder of the available time, broken only by mealtimes. At the end of the work day, while there was enough light, Brando hurried off home, promising to return when he had a working velocipede.

Next morning, John took Brando’s argument to heart, and sent one of the tribe’s teen boys on a visit to the fisher village to discover if there was a schedule for the sea merchants to come back; and if so, to return with that information and any requests for trade items.

The lad was sent with his parents’ warnings, ‘not to get involved with these girls that smell of dead fish’, and ‘do nothing to spoil the good name of our family’. He intended to ignore the first stricture, as he was now a man, able to make his own decisions no matter what his parents said to him. The second admonition he would abide by if he felt he could.

Later in the day, a messenger arrived from the fisher village to say that the invader messenger was back again, to speak to High Chief John. They had directed him to the site of the cave once he had been given the hospitality of a meal. The lad was sent ahead, so that John would know he was coming.

John thanked the messenger and sent him to get food and drink before he returned home. He was also offered a new pair of moccasins, as a gift, for his footwear looked shabby and worn. The lad accepted all of this with gratitude, for he had done his duty for his tribe without expectation of reward other than thanks.

About an hour later, the figure of the invader messenger appeared and was announced by the duty guard. She instructed him that he had to dismount and tie up his animal to a tree before walking up to the cave. She did not recognise it as a water buffalo, but tried not to be terrified, for the man was clearly in control of it.

Parsival was exceedingly surprised at being ordered about by a woman, and a woman with a spear, at that. He had never seen a woman with a spear before, never mind one that obviously knew what she was doing with it; quite frightening. He would have to ask the High Chief about that.

He did as instructed, tied up his water buffalo, then realised there were other animals around in front of the cave: sheep in a pen, and dogs up at the cave mouth that were growling at his beast. At first he thought they were wild wolves, then recalled a tribe where they had been domesticated; that must be what these were: tame wolves, but still dangerous to anyone who they thought did not belong to their pack.

He was starting to become unsettled by all the strangeness of High Chief John’s abode. There was a feeling of organisation about it, far beyond what a tribe normally showed, in his experience over the years. Even living in a large cave was unusual. Most tribes lived in camps on open ground that they could defend. Caves were too easy to become trapped inside, he was sure.

He trudged up the slope as he thought, then straightened himself up to act as messenger for his lord, Duke Drago. He was astonished at the huts farther up the slope, made from flat panels of wood, impossibly large flat panels, as if from a tree of immense girth and height. It was amazing how they had sourced the material and then put the panels together in a completely vertical construction that he had never before encountered. He wondered how they managed to make the wall vertical like that., as he knew nothing of the plumb bob concept.

He caught sight of High Chief John, but the man was sitting nonchalantly on a peculiar chair that was almost a throne, draped with a coloured fine cloth that would be extremely expensive to obtain. Even the frame of the throne was peculiar – made of that same peculiar wood, perfectly flat as if it had been smoothed again and again to an impossible flatness. It appeared to have no curves at all, which was unheard of.

He had an unhappy feeling about this man encountering him in his own tribe ... He was apparently more than he seemed previously, even if Parsival could not put his finger on what was wrong. He mentally shrugged and went on with the meeting.

“High Chief John! How nice to meet you again!”

“And you, Parsival. Still riding that huge beast, I see.”

“It gets me where I want to be, far quicker than walking.”

“And what brings you to my humble abode this time?”

“Straight to the point, High Chief? As always, a messenger from Duke Drago.”

“One might assume that, yes. What message do you have to deliver this time?”

Parsival paused to think before speaking.

“Duke Drago said to inform you that his superior, General Carunno, made a decision to withdraw from a northward movement. The general did not say why – generals don’t have to give reasons for their military judgements – but Duke Drago believes it to be a strategic withdrawal rather than face the northern army.”

“That might be seen as a logical conclusion, but surely he does not need to send you to tell me that? It is an internal matter for your army.”

“True. Duke Drago wishes to maintain contact with you in the future, as a he sees value in his dealings with you. Why he should feel that, beats me, but perhaps that is why I am a mere messenger.”

“Hmm ... Duke Drago may be a wiser man than I first assumed. I take it that he wants to set up a channel of communication when either of us wants to send a message to the other?”

“Yes, you are right in that assumption. He is ready to listen to any information you care to impart at this time. For myself, have you any explanation for the disquieting disturbance of the ground that happened yesterday? Is it shamanic magic, o something more down-to-earth?” He smiled at his earthly reference.

“I do have an explanation, but it is not magic. It is a natural movement of rock at considerable depth, which often leads to surface movement over a wide area. If your home is not well built, it may collapse because of that movement, so building with that in mind, allowing for some movement, is wise. Was that all?”

“Officially, it is. I have instructions about communications that I will give you before I leave, High Chief. May I ask about your smooth wood that makes up your throne and these odd huts out there?”

“Ah, the panels. Given to me to use, from an admirer, that is all I can say. There is a limited amount, so not enough to be able to trade with it, unfortunately.”

“An admirer from the north, perhaps?”

“I can only repeat that I cannot say more.”

“If I may make an observation, your guard at the edge of the forest is a woman. A woman able to wield a spear with knowledge of how to do so is unusual; indeed, unheard of in my experience.”

“In this tribe, there has been a social change whereby men and woman are treated equally. Thus, a man may cook if he wishes to, and a woman may be a warrior if she wishes to. We find it enhances the tribe’s capabilities when almost every woman is in a position to defend the tribe from attack.”

“Defend, eh; not attack an enemy?”

“Hmm ... now that you raise the idea, Parsival, it is a possibility worth pursuing, not that we have enemies to attack, as far as I know.”

“And your mention of men doing the cooking?”

“I just threw that out as a possible, merely to show that all the tasks previously done by one gender might not necessarily remain that way for everyone. I for example, intend to help nurture my children as babies, so that I establish a bond with my children. Acting ‘manly’ and leaving childrearing to women is not always good for the child as he grows up. He will only learn womanly things from them is restricted to women, so why not learn manly things from your father?”

“But men do teach their sons!”

“That is so, but only as they slowly become men; when their physical abilities are seen as an asset to the tribe. I learned long ago to survive on my own away from any tribe; gathering plant foods, hunting, killing, preparing my food, cooking it and eating it. Surviving without such skills is not a clever plan.”

Parsival grinned at the vision. “It is true that being competent in all things is valuable.”

John by this time was evaluating Parsival as more than a mere messenger; more a sort of spy trying to ferret out additional information about the people – allies, associates, friendly tribal connections - they were dealing with. Knowing more about your friends can be just as important as knowing more about your enemies.

From John’s point of view, the less the invader army knew about him and his tribe, the better, but from Duke Drago’s standpoint, more data was essential. Parsival was simply applying that policy.

John probed back.

“Tell me, Parsival, has Duke Drago discovered more about the seaborne assets of the northerners?”

“You mean, about what ships they have?

“Amongst other things. Size, military capabilities, even the place where built would be useful information for me, as I may have to deal directly with them at some point.”

“I now little about foreign ships and their designs. Perhaps the Duke is in the same situation,” he suggested.

John did not think the Duke was so lacking in knowledge.

“I was on a tour very recently of some of the border tribes, and there was talk of some night attack that had been made on one of your military camps. Are you aware of such an event?”

“There was talk among our own people about such an event, but it was very vague; Nothing about how many had been injured, who the attackers were and what losses the attackers suffered.”

“Interesting. The rumour that was circulating was many of your soldiers were hurt and there was no sign of any casualties from the attackers, whoever they were. Was there any indication of the identity of the attackers, the design of dropped weapons, for example.”

Parsival looked increasingly unhappy at these questions.

“Our information remains sketchy, so I cannot be certain what is known about them, High Chief.”

“Pity. I was hoping for useful data to help me, as I assumed your army was in a position to assess enemy capabilities and weapons, based on after-battle analysis. That is a standard approach, or so I am told about such things.”

Parsival backed off.

“As I say, I am not privy to such discussions, so that leaves me unfortunately unable to answer your questions.”

“That is a shame, for if I encounter the same people, I may end up in the same position, being unable to report to Duke Drago on the enemy’s disposition.”

This was a blatant threat, Parsival could see, but he had nothing to counter it with, so resorted to bluster.

“I am afraid I am at a loss to help you, High Chief, other than to report to Duke Drago that you are appallingly short of information and could do with hearing anything that our side can offer in assistance.”

John said to himself, ‘touché’, but responded apparently amiably.

“That will have to suffice for now, Parsival. Please give my kind regards to the duke, and thank him for his continued interest in information swapping, even though you have a lamentable lack of information to offer at present.”

That should suggest that I am just as much in the dark about the attackers as him, John said inwardly.

The pair exchanged further pleasantries and parted, with Parsival refusing offer of overnight accommodation. He knew nothing would be revealed to him now.

Parsival was left thinking, “This John is much more like Duke Drago than I like. He can fence with words as adroitly as the duke, and is extremely cautious about giving away information of military value. He talked readily about the ground movements and about these wood panels, without revealing who gave them to him. I suspect the northerners are the donors, and that is again unsettling, for these panels suggest an advanced ability to make things. If they can make panels like that, they may be able to build better weapons and ships than we can, and that makes them dangerous.”

Parsival was in two minds about the news of female warriors. At first it seemed ridiculous, undermining the status of men in society, but if the man and his tribe can make it work, the armed might of a tribe can be almost doubled without any increase in population. It was certainly clear from that guard that women can be taught weapon handling.

After he had left, Raka and Jean came up to John.

“We need you to come back to the store-room with us, to examine what we have found, John.”

John frowned at this claim, for what could they have found that he didn’t already know. There were all these chests and containers full of material, plus more on wall shelves. Add to that all the items stacked up and finishing with section after section of wall panels at the back. He could not see what they could have to show him, but instead of challenging their claim, he agreed to accompany them to the spot. It was simpler to explain what they thought they had found, than argue about it out here.