Space Opera Part 4

Dame Isabel drank the potion, made a wry face. "It will be either cure or kill." Madoc Roswyn continued to touch her here and there, hardly more than glancing little flicks of the finger-tips. Dame Isabel sat up in her chair. In a voice of wonder she said, "Why, do you know, I do feel better!"

"I'm very pleased," said Madoc Roswyn and quietly departed.

"Hmph," said Dame Isabel. "She unquestionably has a way with her ... Strange creature ... Of course she must be put off at Sirius Planet. But in the meanwhile see that she's comfortable. I owe her at least that much. Hmmf. That lummox Roger. What in the world will become of him?"

The Phoebus, encapsulated in non-stuff like a worm in an oak-gall, slid across s.p.a.ce with the speed of thought. The sun became a star, with Sirius a brighter star dead ahead. The musicians occupied themselves with practice, the vocalists with exercises and rehearsals. There were the inevitable outbursts of temperament, the formation and dissolution of cliques, several romances, as many quarrels, a spate of gossip, innuendo and caustic comment, and by these activities the ravages of s.p.a.ce-sickness were for the most part avoided.

At the halfway point Dame Isabel presided at a champagne party, where she made an address to the company: "I am very pleased by the manner in which everyone has adapted to the circ.u.mstances of the voyage. Ahead of us lies Sirius and Sirius Planet, which for most of us will be a first venture upon an alien world. Sirius Planet is not at all like Earth except in gravity and atmosphere. It occupies what I believe is known as the 'Trojan position' in relation to Sirius A and Sirius B; and receives only a tenth of the radiation Earth receives from the sun. Nevertheless a comfortable temperature is maintained both by internal heat and a 'greenhouse' atmosphere, which very efficiently retains heat. There is flora and fauna unlike anything with which we are familiar, and in fact the words 'flora' and 'fauna' are probably misnomers, as many of the Sirius life-forms fit neither category, or fit them both. There is an intelligent native population, which of course is the reason for our visit. Mr. Bickel will tell us more about the autochthones in a moment. I will antic.i.p.ate him only to say that this race is not musically oriented - in fact the style of the native civilization might at first glance seem rather primitive, for they live in caves and potholes. Still we must avoid parochialism; it is possible that the byzantaurs, as the race is called, regard us as equally primitive.

"I have given a good deal of thought to our first program. A choice is more difficult than you might suppose. It is necessary to maintain an exquisite balance. We want to communicate with our audience, but still hold our artistic integrity at its highest levels. To this end we must select works which offer the largest possible number of contacts with the audience's own milieu, the largest possible number of situations with which they can identify their own existences. I have decided that Fidelio will be our first offering, since much of the action occurs in a dungeon not unlike the blowholes in which the byzantaurs live.

"Now, Mr. Bickel will tell us something more of the byzantaurs and the circ.u.mstances of their life."

Bernard Bickel arose, bowed urbanely. He wore a casual garment of black silk, tight at the ankles and belt, with a smart gold and silver piping; his neat silver mustache was crisp as a wire brush. With a polite smile of self-deprecation, he said, "Dame Isabel has covered the ground quite thoroughly; but I can fill in one or two details regarding the byzantaurs and the nature of their existences, since I have had occasion to visit Sirius three - or has it been four? - times previously. In any event I know Commandant Boltzen at the settlement well, and look forward to renewing our acquaintance.

"As Dame Isabel has pointed out, Sirius Planet is a rather dim place, about as bright as an Earth twilight. One's eyes rapidly adapt to the dimness and the landscape takes on a weird charm. Sirius Settlement lies almost beneath the Trapezus Vulcanism, and nearby live the Royal Giant byzantaurs, probably the most civilized tribe of the planet. Like the landscape, I fear they will seem initially ugly to your eyes, and they are certainly not anthropoid. They have four arms and four legs, and what appear to be two heads, but these latter simply contain the sense organs, as the brain is in the body itself. In spite of their nightmarish appearance they are responsive creatures, quite ready to adopt those human manners, methods, and inst.i.tutions which seem useful to them. This is especially true of the Royal Giants of the Trapezus, who have a settled existence in their caves. They derive their livelihood by a kind of agriculture, and their lichen terraces are extremely interesting. They are a gentle folk, and arouse themselves only against the rogues and outcasts who are of course much less amiable.

"I am sure we shall profit by our visit to Sirius Planet; more than this, we may be able to implant some glimmer of our musical heritage into a people curiously deficient in this regard. Who knows? Perhaps our visit will trigger a complete revolution in the life of the byzantaurs!"

Dame Isabel had a few more words to say: "You may well feel a certain awkwardness in performing before an alien people. All I can say is: do your best! We may of course make a few minor changes to conform with local sensibilities; you may feel a certain emptiness or lack of responsiveness in the audience - again all I say is: do your best!"

During the remarks of Dame Isabel and Bernard Bickel, Roger had sat to the back of the saloon, gloomily drinking champagne. Earlier, he had attempted to see Madoc Roswyn, but, as on all his previous attempts, she had refused to speak with him. Tiring of the babble and laughter, he left the saloon, paced the circ.u.mference of the s.h.i.+p, through each of the five globes and connecting tubes. Pa.s.sing the bridge his spirits were not raised by the sight of Madoc Roswyn and Captain Gondar standing together by the forward port, looking ahead toward Sirius - or rather toward that image of Sirius converted by a dephasing mechanism from the compressed columns of light impinging upon the s.h.i.+p from ahead, and projected upon a screen. Captain Gondar had given over his office to Neil Henderson the Chief Technician, and moved Madoc Roswyn into the cabin thus vacated; she was wearing a pale blue coverall from the s.h.i.+p's stores.

Roger watched them for a few seconds. They were engaged in earnest conversation: a matter apparently concerning the route of the s.h.i.+p, for as Roger watched, Captain Gondar pointed off to the right of Sirius and Madoc Roswyn followed the line of his finger with her eyes.

Logan de Appling, the astrogator, appeared in the corridor: a slender young man with a craggy face, a poet's mop of curly brown hair, bright blue eyes. He looked at the bridge, shook his head in deprecation. "Do you know what I think?" he told Roger. "Captain Gondar is besotted. That's what I think." He turned swiftly and walked away.

Chapter VI.

Sirius Planet hung ahead, a dim gray world with heavy caps of overcast at the poles, a series of shallow equatorial seas, a pair of major land-ma.s.ses, consisting of flat gray plains, mountain chains and smouldering volcanoes. The Phoebus swung in orbit twenty thousand miles above the planet; Captain Gondar located Sirius Settlement and radioed down a notification of arrival.

Acknowledgement and landing clearance presently returned; Gondar fed an appropriate landing program into the automatic pilot; the Phoebus veered off and down at a slant.

The dim gray ball grew larger, atmosphere soughed and hissed around the s.h.i.+p. Sirius Settlement was situated at the edge of Padway Plain, in the shadow of the towering Trapezus mountains, and here landed the Phoebus.

During the previous three days the atmosphere in the s.h.i.+p had been adjusted to the pressure and composition of the local air, and carefully metered drugs had been administered to pa.s.sengers and crew to minimize the biological side-effects of the change, so now there was no delay. Directly upon landing the ports were opened, the off-ramp extended. Captain Gondar stepped forth with Dame Isabel, Bernard Bickel and other members of the company coming after. Overhead the sky was dark gray; Sirius shone with a cool white glare. A quarter-mile distant a line of white concrete buildings suggested a barracks rather than a trade and administrative outpost.

Commandant Dyrus Boltzen had come with one of his aides to meet the s.h.i.+p: a thin sandy-haired man with austere features and an air of dry skepticism. He now stepped briskly forward, with a curious stare for the chattering and ebullient company. "I'm Dyrus Boltzen, Commandant. Welcome to Sirius Settlement. It doesn't look like much at first sight - and believe me - it gets worse."

Captain Gondar laughed politely. "I'm Gondar, master of the s.h.i.+p. This is Dame Isabel Grayce, and Mr. Bernard Bickel, whom I believe you know."

"Yes, of course. h.e.l.lo, Bickel. Nice to see you again."

"These other folk I won't introduce, but they're all famous musicians and opera singers."

Commandant Boltzen's straw-colored eyebrows shot up. "An opera company? What brings you here? There aren't any theaters on Sirius Planet."

Dame Isabel said, "We are equipped with our own theater, and with your permission propose to present a performance of Fidelio."

Dyrus Boltzen scratched his head, looked over his shoulder at his aide. He glanced at Bernard Bickel, who had turned away and was inspecting the landscape. He looked at Adolph Gondar who stared back impa.s.sively. He returned to Dame Isabel. "This is very nice - lovely, in fact - but there are only five Earth folk on the entire planet, and two of them are off on a prospect trip."

Dame Isabel said, "Naturally you will be welcome to the performance, but perhaps I had better explain. We like to think of ourselves as missionaries of music; we plan to perform before the intelligent alien races of the universe, who otherwise would have no experience of Earth music. The byzantaurs fall into this category."

Dyrus Boltzen rubbed his chin. "As I understand it, you propose to stage an opera for the byzantaurs?"

"Exactly. And not just an opera: Fidelio!"

Boltzen mused a moment or two. "One of my responsibilities is to prevent abuse or exploitation of the 'zants; I don't see how showing them an opera can hurt them."

"a.s.suredly not!"

"You don't plan to charge admission? Because if you do, you're in for disappointment. The 'zants have no commercial sense whatever."

"If necessary, our performances will be staged free of charge, with absolutely no obligation."

Boltzen shrugged. "Go right ahead. I'll be interested to see what happens. You say you carry your own theater?"

"This is the case. Captain Gondar, will you be good enough to see to opening up the stage, and making ready the auditorium? And Andrei, perhaps you had better look to the sets."

"Certainly, madame." "Of course." Captain Gondar and Andrei Szinc walked back onto the s.h.i.+p.

Dame Isabel looked around the landscape. "I had expected something rather more impressive. A city perhaps - some indication of aboriginal culture."

Boltzen laughed. "The byzantaurs are intelligent, no question about this. But they use their intelligence in line with their own pursuits, if you follow me."

"I'm afraid that I don't."

"Well, what I mean is this. They use their intelligence just as we use ours - to make life easier, more secure, more comfortable. They're clever with their rock-work and their lichen terraces - you can see them just up the hill - but down in their potholes they think thoughts which would puzzle us if we knew them."

"The byzantaurs are not articulate?" asked Dame Isabel. "Is there no exchange of ideas?"

"I wouldn't go quite that far. They're clever enough when they want to be - and a number of them speak our language with astounding proficiency. But all the time you wonder - you can't help but wonder - if it's nothing but clever mimicry."

"They have no written language? No pictorial skill?"

"The Royals who inhabit the Trapezus can read and write - at least some of them, and they have a mathematics of their own. Incidentally, it's a mathematics which none of our mathematicians can understand. But I'm only glancing around the subject of the 'zants. To know a folk like this, even superficially, you have to live with them for years."

"But what of music?" persisted Dame Isabel. "Do they have any ear for music, do they compose, is there a native musical idiom?"

"I suspect not," said Dyrus Boltzen with careful courtesy. "But of course I can't be entirely sure. I have held this station down for six years, but I still keep running into things which surprise me."

Dame Isabel nodded brusquely. She did not find Dyrus Boltzen's manner ingratiating, though he had given her no specific cause for resentment. She now ceremoniously introduced the members of the company, watching Dyrus Boltzen sidelong as she spoke the famous names, but they seemed to mean nothing. "As I suspected," she told herself. "The man is a musical illiterate."

Dyrus Boltzen took the group on a tour of the settlement, which consisted of little more than four concrete buildings surrounding a bleak compound. Two of the buildings were warehouses for trade-goods: one for imports, the other for articles to be exported - bowls, salvers, vases, goblets and dinner services polished from native stone: translucent obsidian, turquoise, jade, carnelian, a dense blue dumortierite, black basalt. There were jewels and crystals, chandeliers with pendants of diamonds, emeralds and sapphires, tourmaline wind-chimes. In the compound the group saw its first byzantaurs, a team of four equipped with brooms and water-sprays, sweeping the concrete expanse with great care and concentration. They were even more grotesque than their photographs had indicated: an impression furthered by the motion of their four arms and four legs, the working of the oddly placed features in the two heads, the texture of the skin, as rough and grey as rock.

Dame Isabel spoke to Dyrus Boltzen: "The creatures seem cooperative, even mild."

Boltzen laughed. "Those four are what, for lack of a better word, we call elders. Every day, for some reason quite beyond my comprehension, they sweep the compound. Notice the shawl around the neck? That's a fabric woven of rock fiber. The colors are significant by the way, almost like the old Scottish tartans. The brown and blue and black are characteristic of the Royal Giants, and the length of the fringe is a measure of prestige or rank." He summoned one of the byzantaurs; it approached on thick stiff legs which clicked against the concrete. "Friend 'zant," said Boltzen, "here are people from the sky. They come in big s.h.i.+p. They like to show all friend 'zants many pretty things. They like friend 'zants to come to s.h.i.+p. Okay?"

From somewhere deep inside the thorax came a rumbling voice. "Maybe okay. Friend 'zants scared."

Dame Isabel stepped forward. "You need fear nothing. We are a legitimate grand opera company, we will perform a program we are sure you will enjoy."

"Maybe okay, we go to look for yellow no-good 'zants. Maybe not scared."

Boltzen explained. "He's not literally afraid, it's only that they dislike to come up from their tunnels any more than necessary; they feel that it's demeaning."

"Interesting! But why should this be?"

"It's a matter of social standing. They eject their criminals and nonconformists upon the plain where they become either rogues or bands of what might be termed psychotics. So you see the plain represents an undesirable environment to the 'zants."

"I understand fully," said Dame Isabel. "Well, the performance will take place inside the s.h.i.+p, and they will be spared the indignity of watching from the plain."

Boltzen turned to the elder. "You hear sky-talk? He show pretty things, pretty noise, not on plain, but inside s.h.i.+p. You and friend 'zants run over plain and go inside s.h.i.+p to look. Okay?"

"Okay. I go down, talk to friend 'zants."

Bernard Bickel remained with Commandant Boltzen to talk over old times, while the rest of the group returned to the Phoebus. A transformation already had taken place. Under the guidance of Captain Gondar a tall pole had been erected in the center of the pentagonal s.p.a.ce enclosed by the tubes and globes. Guy-wires were now strung, and over all were drawn sheets of a metalloid fabric, creating a tent. The stage had been opened, the orchestra pit extended, and when Dame Isabel came to make an inspection she found Madoc Roswyn carefully arranging the collapsible benches around the area. "Hmmf!" said Dame Isabel to herself. "Trying to make herself useful, so that I won't put her ash.o.r.e." She chuckled grimly, and looked about for Roger, but he was nowhere in sight.

Bernard Bickel presently strolled up. "I've had an interesting chat with Commandant Boltzen, and I think I was able to put across our point of view. He still is a trifle dubious, but he agrees that no harm can be done and quite possibly some good."

Dame Isabel snorted. "Indeed I should think so!"

"He also asks that you, I and Captain Gondar join him for dinner, when perhaps he'll be able to give us more information regarding the byzantaurs."

"That is exceedingly gracious of him," said Dame Isabel. "I shall be glad to go."

"I a.s.sumed as much and accepted the invitation for all of us."

Three hours later Sirius hung close above the horizon, its lower edge touching a bank of soft white mist at the far edge of the plain. The company had gathered outside to watch the coming of twilight and a very impressive sight it was, as Sirius drifted into the clouds, which immediately became suffused with nacreous pinks and greens.

Dame Isabel, Captain Gondar and Bernard Bickel set off for their dinner engagement. Roger, who wandered morosely off across the plain, now returned to the s.h.i.+p where he became an unintentional eaves-dropper. He had stopped to watch the Sirius-set beside the off-ramp, unaware that Madoc Roswyn and Logan de Appling were sitting on the bottom step, with a canvas panel hiding Roger from their view.

Roger recognized Madoc Roswyn's slightly husky voice and stood transfixed. "Logan, please don't speak like that - you're really quite wrong."

"No, I'm not wrong!" De Appling's voice quivered with the intensity of his emotion. "You don't know him as I do!"

"Captain Gondar has been more than kind to me; he's treated me with complete consideration, and never tried to force himself upon me, like that unmentionable Roger Wool."

Roger's ears burned and his skin felt crisp and brittle as if a chill wind were playing across his face.

"He's just softening you up," argued de Appling. "He's a hard man, my darling -"

"Please don't call me that, Logan."

"- he's self-centered and unprincipled. I know! I've seen him in action."

"No, Logan, don't say things like that. He's helping me stay aboard the s.h.i.+p, he's promised Dame Isabel won't put me off. What more could he do for me?"

There was a short silence as de Appling mulled over what she had said. Roger did the same.

Logan de Appling spoke in a neutral voice: "Why is it so important that you make the trip?"

"Oh - I don't know." And Roger could visualize the charming little twist of shoulder, the tilt of head and curve of mouth. "I just want to, I suppose. Would you like me to get off?"

"You know better than that. But tell me, tell me, please, that you won't -"

"Won't what, Logan?" asked Madoc Roswyn sweetly.

"Won't let Adolph Gondar take advantage of you!" de Appling exclaimed fiercely. "The thought gives me the cold shudders. I think I'd kill him, or myself, or do something terrible ... Wreck the whole ghastly s.h.i.+p ..."

"Now, Logan, don't be impulsive. Let's just watch the lovely Sirius-set. Isn't it magnificent? And so strange and eerie! I'd never imagined that one sunset could be so different from another!"

Roger took a deep breath, walked quietly away, around the entire circ.u.mference of the s.h.i.+p.

Dyrus Boltzen provided an unexpectedly good dinner, due, he admitted, to the fact that the supply s.h.i.+p had departed Sirius Settlement only about three weeks previously. "We're close to Earth here - relatively of course - yet this is a lonely planet. Very few casuals like yourself put in. None of them, naturally, with an ambitious program like yours."

"Do you think that we can make ourselves comprehensible to the byzantaurs?" asked Dame Isabel. "They seem completely non-human in their att.i.tudes."

"In certain ways, yes, in other, no. Sometimes I wonder at how closely our judgments mesh. Other times I'm just as astonished that we could view the same simple act from such different angles. I'll say this much: if you want to present a program that the byzantaurs can relate to their own existence, you're going to have to take them on their own terms."

"Naturally," said Bernard Bickel. "We are prepared to do so. Can you offer us suggestions?"

Boltzen poured wine all around. "I believe I can. Let me see. An obvious matter is color, to which they are highly sensitive. Yellow is the color of rogues and outcasts, so the unsympathetic characters should wear yellow, the hero and heroine blue or black, and those in supporting roles gray and green. There is the matter of s.e.x: love, romance, whatever you want to call it. The 'zants have peculiar reproductive habits; in fact there are three s.e.x processes, and each of the 'zants is capable of performing two of them, so you can see that an untold number of misunderstandings might ensue unless a certain allowance were made for this fact. They do not demonstrate affection by hugging or kissing; their s.e.x play is a matter of spraying the intended mate with a viscous liquid. I doubt if you wish to carry similitude to quite this extent."

"Probably not," agreed Bernard Bickel.

"Well, let's think further ... as I recall Fidelio - are not certain scenes played in a dungeon?"

"Quite correct," said Dame Isabel. "Almost the whole of Act Two."

"You must remember that a dungeon is a cherished home to the 'zants. The deranged, the troublemakers are expelled to the plain, where they roam in bands: incidentally, warn your company not to wander off by themselves. The rogues are not automatically savage, but are highly unpredictable, especially when they carry their flints."

"Well, well, well," said Dame Isabel slowly. "I suppose we can make scene changes easily enough: perhaps play Act One in the dungeon and the first scene of Act Two in the open."

"If you're trying to get your point across, I suggest something on this order."

"Oh indeed we are," declared Dame Isabel. "Why come all this way merely to confuse our audience?"

"Why indeed?" echoed Bernard Bickel.