Anthony, Piers - Geodyssey 4 - Muse of Art

494 Pages·2016·1.88 MB·English

by  Anthony Piers

Piers Anthony
Muse of Art
Geodyssey: Volume 4
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 CURIOSITY
CHAPTER 2 HEALING
CHAPTER 3 STORY
CHAPTER 4 EXPRESSION
CHAPTER 5 RAMA
CHAPTER 6 EDUCTION
CHAPTER 7 RROGANCE
CHAPTER 8 LOY
CHAPTER 9 JUSTICE
CHAPTER 10 POLITICS
CHAPTER 11 SURVIVAL
CHAPTER 12 IRONY
CHAPTER 13 DESTRUCTION
AUTHOR'S NOTE
INTRODUCTION
ABOUT sixty-five million years ago there was a holocaust on Earth, thought to have
been caused by bombardment by meteors and/or monstrous volcanic eruptions, with
perhaps attendant rising of gas from the depths of the seas. The mystery has been in the
pattern of survivals. There seems to have been considerable randomness. Some reptiles
survived, while all the dinosaurs perished. Some mammals survived, though most
perished. Some birds survived, similarly, and some fish and other sea life. The survivors
hardly seemed better qualified than the species that went extinct. So what was it that set
them apart? Sheer luck, or something else?
It may indeed have been something else. The survivors may have been those best
protected from the fires and freezes and fumes of air, land, and sea. They were the
creatures who dwelt in the deep caves: small insectivores, lichen eaters, and those that
preyed on them. The environment of such reaches is constant, even when there are
dramatic changes above.
So it may have been that in time the cave dwellers emerged to discover a depleted
realm. It was now safe to go beyond the protected depths, and to expand into the larger
realm. So they did, radiating into new populations. Among them were the line that
became the monkeys, primates, and finally mankind. Of course it wasn't quite that
simple, and there can be considerable interest in the nuances.
This is the fourth volume in the GEODYSSEY series—Geo as in geography,
Odyssey as in a phenomenal journey—following Isle of Woman, Shame of Man, and
Hope of Earth. The series concerns the evolution and history of our species from the
distant past to the near future. Each volume is an independent novel which may be read
alone; they all cover the same larger territory, but differ in detail. Each tells the story of a
particular family or group of people. Though the total span covered in this volume is half
a million years, the main characters are so similar in nature and relationships as to seem
continuous, and may be viewed as identical. What changes is their settings, as different
aspects of the progress of the human species are explored.
Any creature who deviates too far from his most familiar haunts or customs
increases his personal risk. So most who wander, perish. Yet there are rare occasions
when the wanderer discovers a better situation, and prospers, while those who remain
behind find themselves on a treadmill to extinction. As with mutations, more than 99
percent of deviations may be lethal, but the other 1 percent lead to improved survival, and
in the course of time (much time!) the future of the species lies in the 1 percent. Timing
counts, too; what is at one time lethal may at another time be the key to survival. So
evolution can be devious, and the "correct" decisions may be obscure to the point of
denial at the key times of divergence from the norm. One divergence of mankind from all
other life forms on Earth is in the realm of the arts. The point in the arts remains obscure
to many people (and all animals) even today, yet these arts are vital to the nature of our
species. This novel explores a number of them, with the concept defined extremely
broadly. Each chapter tackles an art and a historical setting, showing how the two may
have interacted in the larger (or smaller) context of the ongoing story.
The major characters of this volume are original to it, but supplementary characters
from the three prior volumes do appear on occasion, at the ages and in the situations
relevant to the time and geography of the particular settings in which they appear. That is,
a person who was young in Roman times in his volume of origin will be young in Roman
times in this volume. A person who was a dancer in her own volume will appear as a
dancer here. It is, after all, one world.
There is a problem with names, as few single names can properly represent a
particular character in time and cultures ranging across half a million years of global
history. Accordingly, no particular effort has been made to have realistic names; they are
simply convenient identifiers. The real names of such folk would surely have been quite
different.
Those who prefer to follow only the story line may skip the italicized material
prefacing and concluding each chapter, and the concluding Author's Note. But I hope that
most readers will find the nonfictive material intriguing too. It is, after all, the point of the
volume and the series. The entertainment value is the sugar coating to make readers who
might otherwise be uninterested pay attention. This is, bluntly, a message novel, and the
message is that our species has much to recommend it, but is also a threat to the welfare
of the natural world and to itself. Those who are turned off by that are welcome to read
my funny fantasy instead.
CHAPTER 1 CURIOSITY
Two million years ago, Homo erectus (henceforth simply Erectus) emerged from
Africa and conquered the world. As he settled in different regions and climates, he
adapted to local conditions, starting the familiar process of speciation. One might suppose
that changes would be most extreme in the farthest reaches of the world, but that may not
have been the case. The continent of Africa is as varied as any, ranging from the vast
Sahara Desert to tropical jungles to snow-covered mountains. One of the most striking
features is the Great Rift Valley, which may have been responsible for the distinctive
evolution of Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and finally modern mankind.
Most of the fossils of early hominids have been found there. This does not necessarily
mean that this was the source; it could be that the species were resident elsewhere, but the
conditions were not suitable to preserve their bones. So that only those who happened to
die in the Rift made fossils. But for the purpose of this novel, it is assumed that the Rift
was the source, and this chapter suggests why. The locale is the mountain range bounding
the northeast shore of Lake Tanganyika, not far south of the equator. Lake Victoria is
across the plains to the northeast. Erectus lives both on the plain and in the mountains,
and has a common culture, but the two habitats are so different that already the transition
between them is not easy. This is bound to lead to relative genetic isolation of the
population residing in the geographically isolated Rift. The time is half a million years
before the present era: 500,000 B.P.E.
Curiosity might seem like (no pun) a curious art. But just about anything can become
an art if pursued appropriately. In the Introduction the ratio of mutations is mentioned,
wherein more than 99 percent are harmful, but the 1 percent account for progress
necessary to long-range survival. It may be similar, if less extreme, for character traits.
The curious cat may have died, but the curious human being may have set foot on a path
to ultimate satisfaction. For in the dangerous exploration of the unknown lies the key to
rare knowledge.

THE fire mountain struck so suddenly that it caught Od off-guard. He had watched it
warily for days as it rumbled and shook and belched roiling clouds of smoke. He knew it
was dangerous, but his insatiable curiosity had drawn him in anyway. Just what kind of
wood did it burn, to make such smoke? What was going on, down inside the mountain?
Could he find a way inside, to see the source of the mystery? But then it blew out such
fierce smoke, and drooled flowing fire, and suddenly Od could not go back the way he
had come.
He hastily secured his precious bit of fire. He had made a fire-bed in a large animal
skullcap, closing it in with another section of skull so that the ember would burn very
slowly. Right now there was more fire all around than he could handle, but he had
worked so hard to capture some of it that he was determined to hold on to it. He tucked
the closed shell into his waistband and looked around for the best retreat from this
mountain.
A woman screamed. Od looked, and saw her standing still while a monstrous snake
of fire twined toward her. He ran to help—and saw another man running in from the
opposite direction.
They arrived almost together. The other man was large and brutish-looking, so Od
gave way; he wasn't keen on fights with bigger men. The man stopped beside the woman
and looked down at her feet. She had gotten one foot tangled in a mass of vines and
couldn't pull it free. Instead of using her hands to part the vines, she was just standing
helplessly and screaming, girl-fashion.
No, that wasn't a fair assessment. She had simply panicked, because she was caught
just as the fire threatened, as anyone might.
The other man reached down to free her foot, then cursed and pulled back his hand.
Now Od saw that the hand was injured; only the fistful of green leaves the man grasped
stopped the blood from flowing. He couldn't use that hand until it healed.
So Od stepped in and addressed the captive foot. The woman's leg was nicely
formed, and so was her body; she was a beauty. The kind who wouldn't smile at Od,
ordinarily, because of his slight stature and lack of heavy muscle. But she was too busy
screaming to notice his liabilities right now.
He tried to work the vines loose, but she kept yanking her leg, trying to free it, and
the vines responded by tightening up. There was no time to waste, because the fire snake
was coursing closer; he smelled the burning brush and leaves. So he brought out his
chipped stone blade and sawed at the vines. In a moment they parted, and the foot pulled
free.
The woman, off-balanced by the sudden release, stepped back, and would have
fallen to the ground. But the other man caught her with his uninjured hand and held her
upright. His forearm crossed her breast, and his eyes were widening as he realized.
But the fire snake was almost upon them. "Up!" Od cried. "Flee up!" For he had seen
that the fire snake flowed downward, in the manner of water. The way to avoid it was to
go in the direction it did not.
But the two seemed distracted. The woman didn't seem to realize that she was now
free to run, and the man was still appreciating her breast. Both were too concerned with
details to appreciate the larger situation.
"Up!" Od repeated. "Fire come!"
Now they looked where he pointed, and realized the immediacy of the danger. They
separated and bolted for the slope Od indicated. He ran there too, as the foliage around
them burst into flame.
They reached the top of a hillock and could not go farther, because it descended on
the far side. Already the fire snake was licking at it, curling around and swelling as it
burned everything it touched. Then it divided and coursed along on both sides of the
hillock, trying to make it an island.
"Flee here!" Od cried, appreciating the danger.
But already there was fire to either side, and its heat was intense. The stream on one
side was thin, but fire was bursting out wherever it touched. They might jump over the
fire snake, but how could they avoid the brush burning around it?
But he saw that the streams had not yet flowed far beyond the hillock. The fire snake
tended to slow and thicken at the lead edge, and then more liquid fire would flow across
it and course on beyond. It was interesting to see, but too deadly to study at the moment.
"Down! Around!" Od cried.
They just stared at the fire, not understanding him.
"Follow!" Od cried, and ran the way he knew it had to be. Then, as they still
hesitated, he repeated "Follow!"
At last they acted, following him. He led them down the slope until they were
beyond one of the fire snakes, then cut across ahead of it to reach some more rising
ground. This time he made sure it led on up into the mountain, so they could not get
trapped again.
The way got steep, and they had to slow. But they had left the fire snake behind, and
it was not following. It was safe to slow down, for now.
That was just as well, for the woman was panting. Her large breasts rose and fell
rapidly, attracting the eye.
"Safe," Od said, slowing to a walk. Then he tapped his chest. "Od."
The man tapped his own chest. "Pul."
The woman did not tap her chest. She cupped a breast. "Avalanche," she said, giving
the word for a terrible slide of rocks down a mountain.
"Od—morning sun man," he said, introducing himself further. He meant that he
came from the direction of the rising sun.
"Pul—evening sun man." He pointed toward a region beyond the fire mountain.
"Avalanche—plains woman." She pointed toward a region to the south. So they were
from three different tribes. The man must have been hunting, and the woman must have
been foraging, and they had gotten caught by the anger of the fire mountain. Just as Od
had been caught because he had been too curious about it. Of course that wasn't the
whole story, by any means.
Then a large animal charged toward them. It was a beest, huge and shaggy and
powerful, with dangerous horns, galloping blindly, crazed by the fires. They were in its
way, because this was a region clear of brush.
Avalanche screamed again, and started running directly away from the bull. That
was sheer folly. "Run across!" Od cried. He knew that none of them could hope to match
the speed of the giant creature. But she wasn't hearing him.
He caught at Pul's good arm. "Across!" he repeated, pointing. Pul nodded. He surely
had had experience dodging such creatures. He sprinted after the woman, caught her
around the small waist, and hurled her and himself out of the way as the beest charged
through.
"Rescue!" Avalanche exclaimed as they untangled, and managed a smile.
Od caught up to them. "Bad, here," he said. "Animals." Pul nodded. There could be
other crazed creatures fleeing the fires. Ordinarily even large animals avoided people, but
this was different.
The mountain rumbled, making the ground shake. Avalanche looked wildly around,
plainly terrified, and Pul seemed little better off. Od realized that it was up to him to
discover an escape from this dangerous region, because it was clear that they were likely
to die if they remained here.
The problem was that the fire rivers kept coming, and the fires they started in the
vegetation were spreading. Smoke was clouding upward in several places, marking the
carnage. Even if the three people survived the heat, there would be nothing left for them
to forage. Survival was more than merely escaping danger; they had to be where they
could find food. He peered up the slope—and saw that it was one of the roots of the fire
mountain. There was nothing up there but destruction. But if they went down, they would
be joining the fire rivers. Even if they got around one, there would be others. How could
they escape them all?
He would have to arrange to see the larger pattern. That meant going up, even if it
was the wrong mountain.
He started up. "Where?" Pul asked nervously.
Could he explain? "Up—see down."
Sure enough, both the man and woman were confused. So Od simply moved on,
because he feared that there was not much time. The two followed him, though he did not
want it. He expected to return this way when he knew better where to go, so there was no
need for them to stay close. But how could he explain that? So he continued moving,
letting them follow.
He found an outcropping of rock and mounted that. From here there was a fair view
of the valley below. There were two rivers of fire, one on either side of this region, and
their paths were converging. They would meet near the water river that wound between
this mountain and the next one. The next mountain was quiet; its foliage was untouched,
and no smoke issued from its summit. It looked safe.
Now he knew his best course. Straight down to the river, across it, and straight up
the other mountain. Avoiding the fires along the way. There should be time to do it, if
they hurried.
He started down. "Where?" Pul demanded.
"River," Od explained. "Fast."
"Smoke!" Avalanche protested. "Fire!"
Again, how could he explain? But he tried. "Bad," he said, pointing up the slope to
the fuming top of the mountain they were on. Then he pointed across to the other
mountain. "Good."
They seemed to want to argue, but then the mountain rumbled again, more violently.
That convinced them. They started down the slope, as he did.
As they got lower, the smoke spread out to cut them off. Od didn't want to go
through it, but didn't want to wait for it to clear, either. The smoke was thinner near the
ground. So he bent low, carrying his head below waist level, and ran on down. The others
hesitated, then followed similarly. It was awkward, but possible to breathe, and he could
see ahead far enough to avoid any open blazes.