This Star Shall Abide

180 Pages·2011·0.88 MB·English

by  Engdahl Sylvia

From the reviews of This Star Shall Abide
Winner of a Christopher Award, given for “affirmation of the highest values of
the human spirit.”

“Tension-filled, beautiful and haunting.” —Commonweal

“Both logically and consistently suspenseful.... This Star will Abide a good deal
longer than most here today, gone tomorrow sci-fi.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An excellent plot and remarkable character development make this tale of the
future highly satisfying and thought-provoking.” —American Library
Association Top of the News

“This is not the electronic-light-flashing-exterminate-him-thing from outer space
type of science fiction. It is an allegory which poses one of the most heart-
searching dilemmas of the human race, perhaps in the C. S. Lewis tradition. I
mean Perelandra rather than Narnia.... This is a thought-provoking book
distantly related to Lord of the Rings and The Glassbead Game, and may appeal
to a similar readership.” —The Junior Bookshelf, London

“The story is noteworthy for its dramatization of the crucial meeting of man,
science and the universe.” —Horn Book

“Superior future fiction concerning the fate of an idealistic misfit, Noren, who
rebels against his highly repressive society.... The attention of mature sci-fi
readers will be held by the skillful writing and excellent plot and character
development.” —School Library Journal

“This is more than an exceptionally fine book about outer space. It is a
wonderful book, perhaps telling the subtle story of many faiths. Watch for this
for awards.” —Fresno Bee
This Star Shall Abide

(Children of the Star, Book One)
by

Sylvia Engdahl

Ad Stellae Books, 2010

Copyright © 1972, 2000 by Sylvia Louise Engdahl

All rights reserved. For information contact [email protected]. This ebook
is licensed for your personal enjoyment only, and may not be resold, given away,
or altered.

This is the first book of a trilogy. It is followed by Beyond the Tomorrow
Mountains and The Doors of the Universe.

Atheneum edition (hardcover) published in 1972
Gollancz edition (UK, under the title Heritage of the Star) published in 1973
Meisha Merlin edition (with minor updating) published in 2000 in the single-
volume Children of the Star trilogy
Ad Stellae Books edition, 2010
Print ISBN: 978-0-615-34834-6, available at Amazon.com
Signed copies available at www.adstellaebooks.com

Author website: www.sylviaengdahl.com

Cover photo © by Ryan Pike / 123RF
Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Afterword

About the Author
* * *

“. . .The land was barren, and brought forth neither food nor pure water, nor
was there any metal; and no one lived upon it until the Founding. And on the day
of the Founding humankind came out of the sky from the Mother Star, which is
our source. But the land alone could not give us life. So the Scholars came to
bless it, that it might be quickened: they built the City; and they called down
from the sky Power and Machines; and they made the High Law lest we forget
our origin, grow neglectful of our bounden duties, and thereby perish.
Knowledge shall be kept safe within the City; it shall be held in trust until the
Mother Star itself becomes visible to us. For though the Star is now beyond our
seeing, it will not always be so. . . .
“There shall come a time of great exultation, when the doors of the universe
shall be thrown open and everyone shall rejoice. And at that time, when the
Mother Star appears in the sky, the ancient knowledge shall be free to all people,
and shall be spread forth over the whole earth. And Cities shall rise beyond the
Tomorrow Mountains, and shall have Power, and Machines; and the Scholars
will no longer be their guardians. For the Mother Star is our source and our
destiny, the wellspring of our heritage; and the spirit of this Star shall abide
forever in our hearts, and in those of our children, and our children’s children,
even unto countless generations. It is our guide and protector, without which we
could not survive; it is our life’s bulwark. And so long as we believe in it, no
force can destroy us, though the heavens themselves be consumed! Through the
time of waiting we will follow the Law; but its mysteries will be made plain
when the Star appears, and the children of the Star will find their own wisdom
and choose their own Law.” —from the Book of the Prophecy
Chapter One

Three orange crescents hovered above the fields and Little Moon was rising
over the Tomorrow Mountains when Noren and Talyra left the schoolhouse.
Laughter blended with the music of flutes drifted out across the stony area as
they walked toward the sledge.
“By the Mother Star, it’s hot!” exclaimed Noren as he swung himself to the
wicker seat and held out a sturdy hand to the girl.
“Don’t swear,” she reproved gently, climbing in beside him. “You never
used to swear.”
Frowning, Noren reproached himself for his carelessness. He hadn’t meant to
offend her, but it was hard to remember sometimes that she, so spirited in other
ways, still held the conventional beliefs on a subject about which he had long
ago formed his own. He’d planned to discuss that subject on their way home,
and he was already off to a bad start.
He jerked the reins; the work-beast snorted and headed reluctantly down the
sandy road away from the village. “We’re free!” Talyra said exultantly. “How do
you feel?”
Noren considered it. Their schooling was finished for good; having reached
mid-adolescence, they were free citizens: free to claim new farmland or to seek
any work they chose; free even to move to some other village. And they were
also free to marry. So why should he feel less satisfied than ever in his life
before? “I don’t know how I feel,” he told her.
She stared at him, surprised and a little hurt. Suddenly Noren was ashamed.
This was not a time to worry about freedom, or knowledge, or the Prophecy. He
let the reins fall slack and drew Talyra toward him, kissing her. But there was a
restlessness in his mind that refused to slip aside. Talyra felt it, too. “You’re
angry,” she accused. “Is it because of the Technician?”
“I’m not angry.”
“You fume whenever you catch a glimpse of one of them,” she said sadly,
sliding over on the seat. “I wish he’d never shown up at the dance. I can’t
imagine what he’s doing in the village tonight, anyway.”
“What does a Technician ever do?” Noren retorted with undisguised
bitterness. “He comes either to inspect something or to inform us of some duty
to the High Law that we may not have noticed.”
“That’s not true. More often the Technicians come with Machines, or to hold
devotions, or cure someone who’s ill—”
“No one was ill at the schoolhouse.” Noren’s voice was sharp, for inwardly
he knew she was right; the High Law was enforced not by men of the Technician
caste, but by the village council.
“You’re funny, Noren,” Talyra said. “Technicians aren’t unkind, ever; why
do you hate them?”
He paused; it was a hard thing to explain. “They give no reasons for what
they do. They have knowledge we’re not allowed to share.”
“Reasons? They are Technicians!”
“Why are they Technicians? They’re men and women like us, I think.”
Talyra withdrew her hand from his, shocked. “Noren, they’re not; it’s
blasphemy to think of them so! They have abilities we can’t even imagine. They
can control Machines for clearing land, and quickening it, or for building
roadbeds, or—or anything. They talk to radiophonists from a long way off; they
travel through the air from village to village . . . it’s been said they can go to the
other side of the world! And they’ve got all sorts of marvelous things in the City.
Why, they know nearly as much as the Scholars, who know everything.”
“And tell us almost nothing.”
“What would you expect them to tell us?” asked Talyra in surprise. The
Scholars, as High Priests, were the acknowledged guardians of all mysteries.
“We know all we’ll ever need to,” she continued. “You wouldn’t want to go to
school any more, would you?”
“No, I already know what the teacher knows,” Noren agreed. “I’ve read all
the books, and Talyra, I’ve worked out math problems the teacher couldn’t even
follow. But there is more knowledge than that. I want to know different things,
like—like what Power is, and why crops can’t be grown till a Machine’s
quickened the soil, and what good it does for Technicians to put clay into a
purifying Machine before the potter’s allowed to shape it.”
“People aren’t meant to know things like that! Not yet.”
“Yet? You mean before the time given in the Prophecy?”
“Of course. The time when the Mother Star appears.”
“Talyra,” Noren said hesitantly, “do you believe that?”
“Believe in the Prophecy?” she gasped, her shock deepening. “Noren . . .
don’t you?”
“I’m not sure,” he temporized. “Why should there be a time, generations in
the future, when our descendants will suddenly know all the secrets? Why
should knowledge be reserved for them? I want to know now.”
“There isn’t any ‘why’ about it; that’s just the way it is. ‘At that time, when
the Mother Star appears in the sky, the ancient knowledge shall be free to all
people, and shall be spread forth over the whole earth. And Cities shall rise
beyond the Tomorrow Mountains, and shall have Power, and Machines; and the
Scholars will no longer be their guardians.’”
“How do you know that’s true?”
“It’s in the Book of the Prophecy.”
Noren didn’t answer. What he’d been thinking during the past years would
horrify Talyra, but if they were to marry, he must not conceal it any longer. He
was firmly convinced of that, though such an idea was no less contrary to
custom than many of his other unconventional ones. Girls promised themselves
to men they respected, and if they were loved and returned that love, so much
the better; they did not expect to be told of a prospective husband’s feelings on
other subjects. Yet because he did love Talyra, he’d decided that he owed her the
truth. He had also decided that this was the night on which he would have to tell
her.
At the edge of an open field he reined the work-beast to a halt and threw
himself flat on the straw that filled the sledge, pulling Talyra down beside him.
For a while neither of them said anything; they lay looking up at the stars, the
faint but familiar constellations with puzzling names from the old myths: the
Steed, the Soldier, the Sky-ship. . . .
It was very still. A slow breeze rustled the grain and mingled dust with the
warm, rich odor of growing things.
Soberly Talyra ventured, “Why couldn’t you be happy tonight? Even before
the Technician came you weren’t having fun. Everyone at the dance was happy
except you. I kept trying to get you to laugh—”
“I’m very happy.” He fingered her dark curls.
“Don’t you care enough for me to share what’s bothering you?”
“It’s not easy to put into words, that’s all.” He must proceed slowly, Noren
knew; he would frighten her if he came out with the thing before explaining the
reasoning behind it. Probably he would frighten her anyway. “You say
everybody at the dance was happy,” he went on. “Well, I guess they were.
They’re usually happy; they’ve got plenty to eat and comfortable homes and
that’s all they care about. They don’t think.”
“Think about what?”
“About how things really are—the world, I mean. They don’t mind not
knowing everything the Technicians know. The Technicians bring the Machines
we need and help us if we’re in trouble, so they think it’s all right for them to run
things. They’re content with being dependent.”
“What’s wrong with it? It’s part of the High Law.”
“Suppose we knew how to build our own Machines?”
“We couldn’t,” Talyra objected. “Machines aren’t built, they just are. Noren,
you’re mixed up. Technicians don’t run things in the village; our own
councilmen do that.”
“We elect councilmen to make village laws,” admitted Noren, “but the
Scholars are supreme, and the Technicians act in their name, not the council’s.
They’re outside village law entirely.”
“Has a Technician ever interfered with anything you wanted to do?”
“That’s not the point.”
“Then what is? Technicians don’t interfere, they only give; but no matter
what they did, it would be right. Keeping the High Law’s a sacred duty, and the
Scholars were appointed at the time of the Founding to see that it’s kept. The
Technicians are their representatives.”
Noren hesitated a moment, then plunged. “Talyra, I don’t believe any of
that,” he stated. “I don’t believe that the earth was empty and that people simply
sprang out of the sky on the day of the Founding. It’s not—well, it’s just not the
way things happen. It’s not natural. I think people must have been here for
much, much longer than the Book of the Prophecy says, and to begin with they
knew as little as the savages that live in the mountains—the ones we studied
about, you remember; the teacher said they were once like us, but lost
everything, even their intelligence, because they refused to obey the High Law?”
“Yes, but—”
“Let me finish. I think it was the other way around. You don’t forget
something you once knew, but you can always learn more. I think we were like
the savages until someone, maybe one of the Scholars, found out how to get
knowledge. Only he didn’t tell anybody except his friends. He told the rest just
enough to make them afraid of him, and made the High Law so that they’d
obey.”
Talyra sat up, edging away from him. “Noren, don’t! That isn’t true; that—
that’s heresy.”
“Yes, it’s contrary to the Book of the Prophecy. But don’t you see, the
Scholars wrote the Prophecy themselves because they wanted power; it didn’t
come from the Mother Star at all.”
“Oh, Noren!” Talyra whispered. “You mustn’t say such things.” Raising her
eyes devoutly, she began, “‘The Mother Star is our source and our destiny, the
wellspring of our heritage; and the spirit of this Star shall abide forever in our
hearts, and in those of our children, and our children’s children, even unto
countless generations. It is our guide and protector, without which we could not
survive; it is our life’s bulwark. . . We will follow the Law until the time when the
Mother Star itself shall blaze as bright as little Moon—’”
Noren seized her angrily, swinging her around to face him. “Stop quoting