Chapter 11

Gammon took a much longer watch than was his fair share, and only woke Jim up when he could not keep from dozing off any longer. He was up again before daylight.

"I was going to fix breakfast and then wake you up. You didn't get much sleep," Jim said.

"No time for that. Do you have anything we can eat as we are going to the top?"

"What's wrong?" Jim asked, seeing he was worried about something.

"I am not real sure," Gammon said, taking the tent down, "Someone is in trouble up there. I picked up a cry for help when I was sleeping. Whoever it is, is terrified. I keep getting an image of the Sun straight overhead and blood on the ground."

"We can eat this cereal dry, and take a canteen each. Don't bother putting the tent in the bag. We'll just wrap it around my pack so they'll make a compact bundle. I'll take my First Aid kit along. Is there anything you need out of your pack?"

"No, just my canteen."

"How long does it take to get up to the top?"

"It has been a long time. I do not know exactly, but I am sure we can make it in time without packs. We had better."

Jim handed Gammon a plastic bag of cereal, put his canteen on his belt, and took the clip out of his gun. "Let's go," he said. Gammon looked questioningly at the gun. "I don't want to climb over these rocks with a loaded gun," Jim said.

On the other side of the rocks Jim loaded the gun again and they started up to the top. "You know what this sounds like?" he asked. "One of the Maedwi told me that the Nahndi sacrifice children to a creature that lives in a lake down there."

"Yes, I have heard about it. A rather insincere sacrifice, though. The victims are all sick or deformed. And when it is not the right time of year, they are simply left in the woods to die. How can anyone be so anti-life?"

"Maybe they can't feed the people who can't help provide. I've heard of that kind of thing among people with little resources before."

"That is not much of an excuse in any case, but here it is not even true. You have seen the Nahndi. How many of them looked at all undernourished? They have all the food, water, and shelter they need. They are practically living in paradise."

Jim had no answer for this, so he gave none.

By ten o'clock they were on what Gammon said was the last stretch before the top. It was also the hardest to climb. At some points it was so steep, that they had to climb on all fours to keep from sliding down. The loose rock offered no traction at all.

At one point, Gammon groaned and collapsed a minute.

"You alright?" Jim asked, concerned.

"What have they got against children? That is a little girl up there! They are torturing her. She knows she is going to die at noon, but they are playing psychological games with her. They act like they are going to kill her now, and then stop at the crucial moment and laugh at her."

"It's Ok, Gammon. We'll stop them. I've got the gun remember?"

"We are outnumbered six to one, and they are all armed but one."

"Armed with bows?"

"I only saw spears."

"Good. I outrange them by far. Besides, they've never seen ... oh good grief!" Jim stopped.

"They have never seen a gun, and so do not know what it can do."

"I'll have to shoot one of them!" Jim was horrified.

"As a last resort, yes."

"Right," Jim said, getting an idea, "First we try to bluff them. Try to get their fear on our side. Maybe shatter some rocks with the gun. Maybe shoot someone in the leg or something."

"The rock idea is fine. It may or may not work, but ... yes."

"Yes, what?"

"It is what I was trained to do, and I think I could live with myself doing it now."

"Manipulate their emotions?"

"With a passion. For example -" Where Gammon had been was a hideous looking thing with a face of pure malice. The thing became Gammon again. "You shut the fear out," he said. "I wanted to test your reaction."

"Oh it was a good job, but aren't you trying to scare evil with evil?"

"Purity, light, and truth are more potent, but I cannot make us out to be God."

Jim noticed that the word which Gammon used for God was Wheo. "Ok, don't try to do any images, then. Just make them scared as she was."

"She still is. That is easier said than done, but I will certainly try."

"Let's go then."

They did no more talking, for fear they would be heard on top. As they reached the end of the climb, they crawled slowly on their bellies to avoid being seen. Jim caught first sight of the men. He dropped back down, unseen. He became conscious of Gammon trying to say something, then realized he had not heard anything. Gammon was trying to talk directly to his mind. He opened himself up to Gammon's mind.

"I did not realize he was so strong," Gammon said. "I do not have the strength! We need to link."

Jim instinctively reached out with his mind toward Gammon, as he might have reached out with a hand. There was an instant of vertigo as the two perceived themselves as a double being. Jim stood up. He knew he was leaving Gammon's body lying inert on the ground, but that was necessary.

Gammon reached out to the men one by one, found their fears, and awakened them. The men became quiet and looked at one another, uneasily.

"Let the girl go!" Jim commanded with a shout. One man turned and ran. Gammon could not touch the leader's mind.

"Drop your weapons and leave her!" Jim shouted.

"The first man who drops his weapon dies with it! Kill the stupid boy!" the leader shouted.

The men started for Jim slowly. He looked around for any large stones to demonstrate the gun's power. There were none. Only the small loose stones they had been climbing over all along. The only large stone around was the slab the girl was laying on. That would be too risky to shoot.

"You choose to stay here and die? I offer you your freedom, you fools." Jim/Gammon said.

"And I offer you death if you don't kill him!" the leader shouted. He picked up a knife and walked toward the girl. "It's not even noon yet," Gammon thought to Jim. "He is the key. They all fear us except him."

"Move away from the child!" Jim ordered the leader.

He paid no attention to Jim. He neared the girl. Jim aimed the gun at the man's knife hand and fired. The man was hit in the shoulder. He dropped the knife and fell to the ground writhing in pain.

"Who's next?" Jim shouted. Gammon again concentrated on their fear, adding to it the terror he had felt in the little girl.

Most of the men ran for their lives. Some slid, some tumbled down the steep, rocky grade. One man just stood there, staring blankly. Then he tilted his head back and screamed maniacally, picked up his spear, and began running down the slope. When he saw Gammon's inert body, he ran towards it, spear raised.

Jim realized almost too late what the man was doing. He fired at him. The first shot missed entirely. The second bullet grazed the man's belly just as he was throwing the spear. He screamed again and lost his footing on the rocks. He tumbled out of sight.

The link with Gammon was abruptly withdrawn. Jim saw him sit up. The spear head had apparently missed him, since there was no blood, but Gammon appeared to be in pain.

"I am alright," he said to Jim. "It dug into the ground right against my ribs. I am just bruised. How is the girl?"

Jim went to the girl. She was unconscious. She had been painted from the neck down with rather bizarre colors and designs, and her face had been powdered white, making it difficult to see if she were in shock. Jim covered her with his shirt, and looked up as Gammon approached. "I think she's in shock," Jim said.

Gammon looked down at her for a minute. He seemed totally exhausted. He looked over at the now unconscious leader's body, walked over and removed the man's robe, rolled it up, and used it to prop up the girl's feet.

"Untie her feet," Gammon said, untying her hands. "We will see how he likes being tied up and left here," he said, indicating the man on the ground. "I do not want him following us down."

"I think I can go along with that," Jim said. "I just hope he doesn't bleed to death. I was trying to hit his hand, not his shoulder."

"What have you got in that gun?" Gammon asked, looking back at the man's shoulder.

"Hollow points. The bullet expands inside of the body and does more damage than if it went through."

"Well, the gun has too short of a barrel to be accurate at that range, no matter how good your aim. Do not worry about it. His bleeding seems to have slowed a lot." Gammon tore some of the man's shirt off at the bottom and tied the shoulder to put pressure on the wound. "I doubt he will bleed that much more," he said. "Besides, if he does bleed to death, it will be his fault, not yours. You were defending an innocent child. He was trying to murder her."

"But that other man - I didn't even particularly try to aim for a non vital part of the body. I just pointed at him and fired."

"With good enough reason. He was trying to kill me."

"I know, but I was trying to kill him, too. I only needed to stop him, not kill him."

"If it is any comfort, you did not kill him. "He is not even seriously hurt, physically. I wish I could say the same about his mind. I think I made him go insane." Gammon's voice showed no self reproach. "That is very regrettable, but it was about the only way to save her."

"He had to be insane anyway to go along with what they were doing," Jim said.

"No." Gammon answered sadly. "Just scared. They were all afraid of him," he said, indicating the man they had just tied up. "He is a one of their priests. They were as afraid of him as they were of us, only they knew what he could do to them if he wanted. Getting him was the only thing that could've saved us. And her."

"Are you sure he's just a priest?"

"You felt something else?"

"Didn't you?"

"Just tell me what you felt."

"When he picked up knife and started towards her, he just seemed to be pure evil. Not like a man at all. I really don't have the words to describe it. He was just living evil."

"He may have been possessed. It has happened before. I noticed evil, but not that strongly. He kept himself masked from me."

"But our minds were linked! You didn't sense him through me?"

"Our living beings were linked. That is not just mind. I needed your strength along with mine to fight them. If we had had time we could have shared our minds, too. If you remember, you did not experience my every thought. We still had to consciously communicate with each other. We did share our feelings and strength, but not our thoughts."

They went back to the girl.

"We may have to carry her down," Gammon said.

"I guess I can manage," Jim said. "How come you're so tired? You looked half dead when you broke the link and got up."

"I was. Literally. Like I said, I needed your strength to fight. I was using up my own life force to give them fear. You are so alive, you seem to issue life force like a fountain."

"Life force?"

"It is hard to explain. It is a very real thing which unfortunately is too often misinterpreted or misused." He paused, groping for words. "Have you never noticed a strange feeling when you are in a quiet wood, or by a lake, or anywhere there are a lot of living things? That is one example. There are even some things you normally would not think of as living, like wind or rain, or sometimes even stone that have a life force in them."

Jim stood a minute, thinking. "Sounds almost like something I've heard of before. It's called the `Orenda'. The word came from an old people in my world. They're called `Indians'. I'll have to tell you about them some time."

"I would be quite surprised if you were not familiar with it. You just have so much of it, and you seem to be very perceptive."

Jim shrugged. "Maybe it's the same thing. I've just never thought of people as being sources of Orenda."

Abruptly, the girl was awake. "Are you alright?" Gammon asked, bending over her. She looked around the mountaintop for a minute, then jumped up and clung to Gammon. She stood there for several minutes and began to cry. She made no sound, but her shoulders shook with her sobs.


"We should start down," Jim said, looking at his watch, "I might just disappear on you before we get back to the rocks."

Gammon nodded and said something to the girl which Jim could not understand. Jim picked her up in his arms and said "Let us go!"

At the first steep slope, Jim had to set her down and let her climb down by herself. For the first time, she spoke. "I will walk now," she said in the language of the Unawi.

After a while, Gammon spoke to Jim. "I don't think we should let her see you go back. After seeing that rescue, and then you disappearing, she may start thinking we are gods or something."

"She was unconscious, remember?" Jim said.

"Only when the man came towards her with the knife, and she could see it was nearly noon."

"I guess I can arrange to be out of sight then."

"I would like to see it, though. Maybe we'll be back long enough for her to go to sleep or something. They kept her awake most of the night trying to scare her."

Jim was silent for a while. "How easy is it to re-establish a complete mind link?" he asked.

"Depends on the people. A link between two willing people is rather easy. If both of them are strong telepaths, it is even easier."

Jim was silent again.

"You mind enlightening me?" Gammon asked.

"Yeah ..." Jim began, then trailed off, seeming to forget he had been talking to Gammon.

"Wake up!" Gammon said sarcastically.

"What?" Jim asked, "Oh yeah. I'm trying to figure out how we can set things up to grow our plants and stuff. The time rate difference between our worlds is going to be a problem. For one thing, you'd be an old man before we get the machine built in this world unless you do some 'time traveling' again."

"Nothing is free. The time difference is what you are using to make the money for your machine. It is only fitting that you have some problems with it."

"Maybe so, but the point is that we're going to have some problems. What I'm wondering is whether a mind link would work between our worlds."

"It is not distance ..." Gammon began.

"I'm thinking about the time rate difference," Jim interrupted.

"We can always try," Gammon replied. "Of course, all that will do for us is let us communicate. That is not the only problem, is it?"

"No, but if you can still suspend yourself that will help things immensely."

"I am here. I only found these people about two years ago, my time."

"Then you can still do it."

"Can you still swim? It is along the same lines. You do not forget it."

"But you don't like it for some reason. Why?"

"It is just scary. The weird dreams I have. I know it can be done now, but the process still frightens me.

Jim nodded approval.

"What?" Gammon asked.

"You recognize your fears, but are not controlled by them."

"I should hope not."

"Most people are, you know."

"Yes, too well."


They reached their camp with about 20 minutes to spare according to Jim's watch. Gammon spread out his blanket and told the girl to try to sleep. She didn't have to try too hard. In minutes she was sound asleep.

"We do not have to go anywhere," Gammon said quietly, "She will sleep like a rock. If she can sleep so easily now, I think she will be quite alright."

"Let's move away from her to talk, just in case," Jim said. They moved over to the backpacks.

Jim began putting on his pack. "What are you doing?" Gammon asked puzzled.

"I'll be going back during the link. I'd rather not worry about the pack getting in the way or falling over or something," Jim answered, sitting down by a rock with the pack resting against it. "That first link was so rushed, I hardly remember anything. I want to be able to use all the time we have now."

Gammon made himself comfortable, and was soon immobile. Jim leaned his head back against the pack and closed his eyes. The link seemed to happen immediately.


"It's about time," Dale said.

Jim looked disoriented. His eyes darted quickly around the room, stopping on the electronic equipment on the three tables. He stumbled to the controls, and started charging up the device.

"You Okay?" Dale asked.

Jim said nothing. He watched the charge meter as if his life depended on it working. Before the meter showed a full charge, he slumped over the panel. Dale started to go to him, but Jim straightened up and let out a sigh. He sat down in the chair in front of the panel.

"What was all that?" Dale asked.

"We couldn't keep it."

"Keep what?"

"Mind link..."

"What are you talking about?"

Jim seemed to come back to himself. "Gammon and me had a telepathic link going when Sherman brought us back. We didn't realize it would be so difficult to keep it up with the time difference."

"Were you trying to go back or something?"

"Oh yeah. That was really rather dumb. Gammon's body was actually dying in the effort to keep up the link. He had to slow down his life processes to stay in contact with me, and he didn't want to use his crystal. I was sped up, but not nearly as much as he was slowed down. I was going back to eliminate the time difference. We should have just let go sooner. He's ok; he didn't wait too long."

"You're really serious, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. Besides, you're the one who suggested he was a telepath in the first place."

"I wasn't serious, though."

Jim shrugged.

"I read about a group of telepaths while you were hiking," Dale said. "It took me a while to realize they were talking about actual telepaths."

"You read?"

"Well, I had someone translate it into Unawinald for me. I'm learning a little Wheanlau, but not much yet. It's a lot harder than Unawinald."

"You're going to fry your brain. Geez, five languages - besides English? I'm having enough trouble with Unawi."

"That's Unawinald, not Unawi. You speak the people's language., You don't speak the people. You really should be more accurate."

"Sure when we're there. No one here knows or probably cares. I'm going back to talk with Gammon for a few hours. You wanta come?"

"I guess, but why so soon? And what was that about a crystal?"

"We have a money making scheme to finance future long-term trips. Gammon should be back at the hill in twenty minutes. I'll let him tell you about the crystal."

"Sure, why not?" Dale said noncommittally. "What's a few more hours?"

"Let's go eat first," Jim said.

"Uh Jim, how are we going to explain our `costumes'?"

"Yeah, I guess we do look a century or so out of date."

"At the very least."

Jim shrugged. "If my dad asks, we'll just say we got them from a parallel universe. He'll never believe it, but I doubt he'll be too worried about it. My mom's probably not home yet. She'd be the one who'd want to know what the clothes were about."

"You don't see it, do you?" Dale asked.

"I guess not." Jim shrugged. "See what?"

"First off, you and I did not come back together. I was here nearly a minute earlier. Secondly, these clothes came back, but ours didn't. Kind of shoots holes in your theories, doesn't it?"

"Yeah - but I'm still hungry. Come on."

Chapter 12

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