01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
CHAPTER 9
Fire worried him. The Confederation of New Earth only has fires when there is a disaster.
A Planet Hopper erupting into a fireball; the destruction of a domed city in warfare. Fire for
pleasure had no place, there was no fuel for fires, no wood or coal or oil. Fire was bad news!
He got used to the idea after a while. Food and drink was passed to him, shyly at first and
then in great quantities when they saw he put it to good use. The drink was sweetish and
slightly acid. It was mild enough to be harmless. He didn't notice that he was getting more
and more friendly. In fact, everyone was getting more and more friendly with everyone else.
Some started to cavort around in a kind of dance, he decided to join them. Dancing wasn't his
strongest suit. He did a passable imitation of something he had seen performed in a place of
ill repute and nobody seemed to mind. They took it as an innovation introduced by the newest
god on their religious calendar and seemed eager to copy the steps. The trouble was, that he
was having difficulty remembering them.
He sank down on to his hayrick and accepted some more of the pleasant fluid from a
delightful young lady to whom he had not been formally introduced. Formality was being
thrown to the winds, together with the garments of the participants. The delightful young lady
started to pluck the remainder of his blossoms. She became very thoughtful and he passed out
after drinking more of the mild mannered fluid.
The festivity carried through into the night and Steve had the impression that he was the
leading light but he didn't really remember. When he next had a moment of coherence, the
light of the fires had died down completely. The clearing resembled a battlefield. Bodies were
strewn about all over the place in untidy heaps. Here and there, was a slight movement from a
stalwart who still thought he had enough energy for another effort. Steve viewed it all
morosely, no wonder it was called the Festival of Fecundity. It had been nothing more than an
orgiastic expression of the regenerative force - it was as old as time itself. Primitive peoples
had always tried to guarantee the fertility of their fields in that way. It brought a little
excitement into their otherwise dull existence.
He considered the sobering fact that he had probably done his share. He wasn't very proud
of himself, the pre-dawn was always time for cold reflection. He thought of creeping away
into the woods, it seemed a good moment to cut and run. He thought about it, his clothes,
such as they were, and the Bole, were back at the settlement - so was the Pentacle. He
thought about Hara, she had been looking forward to the festival with all the naiveté of a
child. How would she view the dawn? He groaned to himself and cursed the sorry heap
stirring around him.
It wasn't his groan that wakened them, more likely it was some sort of psychic alarm clock.
There was a movement all around him. One after the other, they got to their feet and
stretched. They made no greeting to each other, instead they stood around as if waiting for
something.
Jabez pushed his way forward through the crowd. Steve sensed that this was to be the
climax - whatever it was to be. Jabez was dragging Hara after him. He propelled her into the
clearing formed by the circle of silent followers. Steve stood with his arms folded across his
chest and waited.
"Run Steve! Run my Lord!"
Hara shrieked into his mind.
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