The Spark
Edward Rodosek
As always, Vanihai was the first to awaken from hibernation.
He patiently waited for the serum to spread throughout his body, so he could slowly rise from the translucent sarcophagus. As his lower limbs were finding the clean, sterile floor of the interstellar spaceship, he noticed that Saronna had also begun to stir. He rubbed the sleep out of his video sensors.
From his digital calendar, which showed the local time, he could see that they’d woken up early in the era in which primates were beginning to develop on the planet.
Vanihai switched on the computer. The big screen displayed the quickly flashing text of the preliminary report.
“The last intervention of the interstellar capsule on this planet was 3x 104 planetary rotations around the local star ago. The result of the intervention was that the first primates had extended to the two extremes of the planet. That they could see further than the other creatures and that their hands were agile were decisive for acceleration of their development. Now the gatherers and the hunters, who use wooden clubs and cudgels as well as stone tools, wrap themselves in animal skins. But they still do not know how to light a fire.”
“You see,” said Vanihai calmly, “we’ve found ourselves a proper assignment.”
“I agree,” said Saronna.
***
Breathing warmth into his stiff hands, Ur pressed himself into the crevice formed by the overhanging rock. He tucked his feet right up under his beard so he wouldn’t feel the hunger cramps as much. Big Shine had not appeared from behind the clouds for some time and neither had water stopped falling from the sky. Now there was something white mixed in with the water, something Ur had never seen. This white fell more slowly and turned to water in his hands.
Never before had his tribe arrived at such a cold place.
Cold Shine had already become round a number of times since they’d fled from the Hairy Creatures that had come from Big Shine. Although they had no spears, just clubs, the Hairy Creatures were dangerous because they were more numerous and hunted in packs. Only once had a few of his tribe members clashed with the Hairy Creatures, and they had even stabbed some of them. But only Shesh had returned from that battle, and his fist had been crushed in it. They could find little food around here, almost nothing at all; some of the weakest already were exhausted and could go no further. Ur was strong, and he could keep up with the others’ good pace. He did not fear that his tribe would get rid of him by eating him, the way they had eaten Keh.
Va moaned, as she dozily tried to wrap herself up in the half of Longjaw skin that covered her hips. Water was pouring over her because there was not enough space for her in the crevice into which Gu had crept. Gu was the strongest in the tribe and was to be feared. Although he made his claim on every young woman, he took Va especially often.
***
Ur could not remember ever being able to stretch out his right leg like the other tribe members could. That’s why he walked bent over and, more often than the others, used his curled-up fingers to help himself along. However, he did not always walk on all fours, like the Hairy Creatures. The way he walked meant he hardly ever fell, no matter how uneven the terrain. That’s why he took care of Small Glow—that and because, as a youngster, he had learned how to do this from Keh. Small Glow was the last remains of the flame that came from above a long, long time ago.
Small Glow was a little container made of dried mud that was hard as a stone with cone fragments mixed in. Here Ur carried for all the tribe the half-fistful of smoldering pine bark kindling that was firmly pressed into the container. Everything was wrapped up in Longear’s skin and was further protected by a basket of woven sticks that hung from Ur’s neck. The kindling glowed during the Big Shine’s journey across the sky and every sunset, Ur stirred and carefully blew on the ashes as he added fresh kindling from the skin bag he carried under his arm. No one other than Ur knew how to raise even the most modest flame from the lukewarm ash and to blow it into a saving, benevolent flame.
The flame that burned in the cold nights. The flame that protected them from beasts coming for their women and children. The flame with which they could singe hard meat so it would soften enough to eat. The flame that meant the difference between survival and the death of the entire tribe.
Since the death of old Keh, the former keeper of the Small Glow, Ur had become the new keeper, because only he knew how to guard it. Therefore the others in the tribe allowed him—after Gu—to have the best of the pieces of meat from the hunted beasts, the fish, or the fruits of the forest.
***
Through the telescope lens, Vanihai observed a band of creatures unlike anything he had ever seen or heard of.
“I have wondered,” he said, “what sort of living being they might turn out to be. Look for yourself.”
Saronna replaced him. “Poor creatures. Obviously, it ain’t often they get visitors from space.”
“I’m not surprised at that.” Vanihai remarked. “They seem to have some ugly habits, with which I have small sympathy.”
Saronna shrugged with what should have been his shoulders. “Maybe we simply don’t have enough imagination to hit on something totally different.” After a while he added: “We should choose our target wisely.”
“Don’t worry, we will. Listen—is Procedure Three set up?”
“Sure,” relayed Saronna.
“So hurry the hell up! This will be rather dull, so let’s get it over with.”
***
There had not been any meat for some time.
Therefore, some of the tribe members had tried to eat dug-up roots and tree leaves. They piled up needles and earth and collected the white eggs of Creepers. The eggs here were bigger and harder to chew than were those from home. Gu found a nest with bird’s eggs and ate them all. Occasionally, a Longear would jump out from the tall grass and the tribe member would throw sticks and stones at it, but hunger had made them too weak and the prey always escaped.
Then some of them began to get cramps. They sat in the middle of the walk and crouched until the cramps passed. It seemed to Ur that there were now fewer of them than before the start of their flight. There were now more green trees and the shrubs were different. Instead of Glowers, who used to light up in the night, here there were entire swarms of buzzing Itchers. Then water began to fall from the sky. It got cold, and they could, now and then, see their breath. Nowhere was there a pile of dry grass; nowhere were there a handful of dry needles that would let Ur light up a flame in the dusk.
The others sullenly growled at him for this, and Gu would kick out at him if he came too close. Ur couldn’t fill up the kindling in Small Glow. Finally, Ur managed to blow into the ashes and then he saw weak glowing at the base of the container. When Ur checked his small skin bag and its store of kindling, he saw that it was almost empty. Inside his body, something pressed and he vaguely sensed that this was very bad.
***
“Listen, pal.” Saronna’s voice was hesitant. “I’ve been thinking...Do you believe our way of development is the one and only choice for them, too?”
“What exactly is bothering you?”
“Well—are you absolutely certain we should direct them in that way?”
Vanihai pondered for a while. “Honestly, no one can be completely sure. We’ll have to wait and see. As you know, we’ve got exact instructions on what to do.”
“I don’t want to be a bother. I know perfectly well what our duty is. Still, I can’t lose all of my scruples.”
“I’m vaguely aware,” Vanihai replied, “of the importance of what you talking about. But we don’t have the authorization to change anything. We have a job that we need to do. So don’t bug me with questions anymore.”
“Don’t you think we’re obliged to consider... other possibilities?”
“Give me a break,” growled Vanihai. “Other possibilities, indeed! From now on, don’t you breathe another word about that.”
***
Ur woke from a light sleep. All around him, everything was covered with the white that fell in place of water from the sky. Although Cold Shine was not shining in the sky, it was only dusk. Then Ur saw that the ground was also all white.
He suddenly heard Lal’s imitation of a Longjaw’s howling—a cry of warning. Then, he too saw the eyes glowing in the wet darkness. There was no flame, and this was why they had snuck very close. Ur could already hear their hungry panting. Gu stormed out of his cavity and howled a battle-cry. Ur seized a branch and swung it at the first shadow that came near. The Longjaw howled in pain, but another one bit into Ur’s branch. He pulled strongly, but he slipped on the wet ground. The beast growled, wrathfully grabbed at the branch, and the stench from his gorge filled Ur’s nostrils. He somehow managed get the Longjaw under him. He pushed with all his might with his healthy leg, until he heard cracking ribs. Ur straightened himself and killed the beast on the spot, getting short of breath in the process.
Around him he could hear the screaming of the other tribe members and then the whimpering of the fleeing Longjaws. The battle was over and in the dim light of the whiteness, they gathered a few hairy bodies into a pile. Soon, day began to break and then they found the body of a woman with her throat bitten through. A few others were also wounded and Lal left a bloody trail behind him, until he bound his arm with a creeping plant.
Gu, who had the sharpest cutting stone, slashed open a Longjaw. He cut out the liver, which he kept for himself, and then Lal extracted the remaining flesh. The small children were unable to penetrate the stringy meat, so they merely chewed it until there were only a few dry remains.
Although the tribe members tried to scrape out the wet white material, they could not find anything that would let them fuel the flame. Ur still carefully blew the ashes in Small Glow and looked at the barely visible embers at the base of the container. From his skin kindling bag, he shook out the last remains into the container.
Ur looked towards Big Shine, which now was not much brighter than Cold Shine. When they went farther, the row broke off into smaller groups, each seeking an easier path on its own. Ur stepped in the footprints of those just ahead of him; the white stuff was biting into his legs as if it had teeth. Two children were walking ahead of Ur trudging along over the wet whiteness that had changed into a watery slush.
***
“Why are you still so damned gloomy?” asked Vanihai. “We travelled through space for a long time, but you’ve never nagged this way.”
“The denizens of the planet are just sort of kids, don’t you see?” Saronna insisted. “They’d get a present from us, all right. But nobody—including us—would know if that would prove to be a candy or a poison.”
Vanihai tried to control himself. “Otherwise, they’d miss their one and only opportunity to save themselves from their misery. It’s not just the best way for them—it’s the only way. Not to mention the future benefits of interplanetary trade with them.”
Saronna shook the uppermost part of his body. “You couldn’t possibly have it more wrong.”
“I’d be much obliged to you if you would be good enough to shut up.”
Saronna tacitly flashed something resembling a sad smile at Vanihai.
“Damn it—don’t be so pessimistic, pal. You’ll see. It will all work out, after all. Come on, I don’t want to waste any more time on this dirty planet.”
***
Ur heard the faint crackling under the children’s feet, but paid little attention, since the ground suddenly gave way under him. The whiteness split into sharp plates and icy water splashed over his head.
A moment later, Ur was against standing up to his chest in water, gasping for air and spitting out mud and swampy grass. With great difficulty, he waded through the shoal, slipped once again, and finally made it, on all four legs, to the slippery, wet shore. When he raised his eyes, he saw Lal gazing at him open-mouthed. Va, too, looked suspiciously at Ur, and then the other adults from the tribe.
When Ur crawled on to the ground, he looked down and saw Small Glow, but without the cones, in the torn Longear bag. He grasped it and looked into the container. Inside there were no embers, no warmth, not even dry ashes. Only muddy water and some moist grass emerged from the neck of the container.
Everyone was completely silent, as if on the lookout for Horned Beasts.
Then Ur heard a sigh somewhere from the group. Va began quietly, sadly, to howl and some of the other women joined in. The men looked disdainfully at him, and only Lal turned away. Gu, flushing with anger, took up his spear and wrathfully swung it at Ur.
If Ur hadn’t turned away, the sharp spear would have pierced his body, but instead it only struck his side, hitting his skin heavily. Ur turned and ran away, as quickly as he once had when a Toothed One had been chasing him. He did not stop until he was alone and saw that nobody was following him.
Now he felt the intense pain of the wound. He collected some white stuff into his hands and pressed it to his hip to soothe the stinging pain. His tribe had already moved on and Ur slowly limped after them, ever careful not to draw too near to them.
The tribe moodily wandered further. Nobody looked at Ur, who was limping rather far from them. The whiteness had completely disappeared, and the ground began to show through more and more and everywhere there was plenty of brushwood.
Yet the redeeming glow was no longer at the base of Small Glow. And there would be no flame.
It was already cold, and they sensed that it would be even colder in the dark. Longjaw footprints covered the ground, and in between these, Lal could see and point out traces of the Toothed One. The tribe, with primal fear, expected yet another horrifying and hunger-filled night.
***
Saronna said: “The thought entered my mind...” The words died on his audio sensors.
“What are you talking about?”
“Look, we’ve no clue about that planet and even less about its denizens. So I can’t help feeling we should have been more thoughtful about all of our equipment.”
“Don’t worry. You know I never take any unnecessary risks.”
As it grew dark, Vanihai sent down the cursor that continued to test the primates’ response capabilities, and decided on the lame one that was squatting on a high branch. With the cursor, he blew some gas into the primate’s broad nostrils, waited for the its effect, and then placed two magnetic plates on to the primate’s temples.
Saronna, who was controlling the events on the screen, then activated the hypnopedic program. About an hour later, he reported:
“I’ve repeated the instructions 25 times, and that should be enough. Just lift the cursor again. In about two hours, day will break and then we’ll see what happens.”
***
Ur woke up while it was still dark.
Suffering from the cold, he tried to stretch himself out, and he almost lost his balance. At the last moment, he grabbed hold of a thick branch and looked down to the ground, which was many times his height away.
Now he could see some white objects. When he looked at them more carefully, he realized that they were the discarded bones of two members of his tribe. They’d obviously not climbed to the nearby trees in time or they had later fallen from them while sleeping. Under his tree, the Longjaws had already finished their feast and departed.
Ur was cold and hungry and scared—but, most of all, he was completely disturbed. Something inside him showed him an unclear image of a rocky shoreline . He did not know what this meant, but he knew he had to head there.
He had to, at any cost.
Ur snuck through the high grass and heard the few sounds of the early morning. Only the birds made sounds and in the distance he saw a group of Horned Beasts, but he did not pay any attention on them.
Once again Ur felt this odd discomfort inside and he began to run toward the water. He crouched and began to move by scraping the knuckles of his hands along.
He sensed that he needed a rock.
Ur lifted individual stones that were as big as a fist, but then threw them back. He needed a very special rock, and he had not yet found it. He sat in the gravel and eagerly reflected. He saw a fish that was swimming in the shallow water very near to the shore, but he did not take a stone to kill it. He was not looking for a fish; he was looking for a very specific stone. Once he’d found it, the emptiness inside him would be filled.
The water was cold, and his toes turned stiff. Suddenly, Ur became motionless. Then he bent down and collected a stone, a whitish angular one. When he lifted it, Big Shine shone through the clouds and it seemed to Ur as if the stone was also shining a bit.
Yes! That was the right one.
Soon, he found another stone, somewhat smaller than the first. Clutching a stone in each hand, he began to run awkwardly back towards his tribe members.
The tribe was roaming among the trees, but Gu, Lal, and most of the other men were not yet back from hunting. Some women were searching for seeds in the bushes, and the others were looking to see whether Longjaws had left some meat on the bones of the victims. They looked at Ur and, disappointed, turned away, when they realized he had not brought any food.
Ur placed his stones beneath a tree and began to search more, since this emptiness inside him was still not filled. From a nearby pine tree, he tore out several pieces of dry bark and broke this down into dust by turning the stone back and forth. From a big tree under which there was no dew, he collected some dry grass and picked out only the tiniest blades. He rubbed them between his hands until they became hair-thin threads. Big Shine was now gently warming and Ur now smelled in his nostrils that the bark dust was dry and pitchy.
He took both whitish stones into his hands and bashed them together, making a slight clacking sound. The emptiness inside him did not disappear, instead transforming into a kind of impatience. Ur felt something similar to the time when he had struck and killed a fish in shallow water with a branch.
Strike! It suddenly seemed to him as though he’d been stung by a Buzzing One.
Ur leaned down to the stone and began to strike one stone fiercely against the other above the inflammable material. Va and some of the other women and children looked on excitedly, as the stones emitted a pattern of sparks and they smelled burning. Ur hammered more strongly and the sweat poured from his forehead, and he moaned once when he struck his thumb. More sparks met the bits of grass that were rolled up underneath and briefly began to flame. But they were too far apart, and would not light the others.
Ur stopped for a moment and, with his fingers, he carefully gathered a pile of threads until they were arranged like a cross, in a thin layer one against the other. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and once again began to strike the rocks against each other.
And instantly—a long, bright spark flashed between the threads, lit a few of them at once and Ur blew extremely gently into it. A tiny flame appeared, not much bigger than a creeper, and then it slowly grew, taking over the pitchy dust as well. The women shrieked in excitement, the children jumped about, and the older ones grumbled. Va embraced him, while Ur breathed heavily from the effort and carefully placed a thin branch over the newly born Small Glow.
Suddenly, all around Ur, it grew silent and everyone moved to the side; when he looked over his shoulder, he saw Gu standing a few steps away.
Gu glared wildly at Ur and death stared out of his hateful gaze. Gu was incensed because he’d returned from the hunt without any prey, and now a cripple was threatening his primary position in the tribe. Either he did not see the Small Glow on the rock behind Ur’s back, or he did not even care about it. In his blind rage, he bellowed and rushed at Ur.
They both fell on to the burning branches, which flew about, and Ur howled because of the stinging pain in his back. He felt Gu strangling him, and with his last strength, he somehow managed to tear this fearsome hand from his neck. But Gu now reached for the thick branch, raising it high about his head, and Ur realized this was his end.
Suffering, he pressed his eyes shut and awaited the final blow—but then something soft snapped, as if somebody had thrown a stone into water and Ur felt the soft weight that fell over his leg. When he slowly opened his eyes, he found himself staring at Gu’s body, with Lal’s spear sticking out of the back.
Nobody paid them any notice, as they were all rushing towards the branches, striving to bring them into a pile. Va, sobbing, was trying to scrape together the few pieces of embers, which were quickly extinguishing and turning grey. Then they all stared at Ur, whose face contained both despair and hope.
He pulled his legs from underneath the dead weight and stood up clumsily. He grabbed together some blades of dry grass and shook them over the waning branches. He swiftly added a pinch of the remaining grass from the pine bark, bent down low, and protected this tiny heap in a ring with his hands.
Then he waited, with his head just above his palms. In his eyes, he saw a wisp of smoke and his throat was pressed with the fear the smoke would cease. All those around Ur—the hunters, the gatherers, the old, and the young—were waiting silently and motionlessly as stones. When there was a little bit more smoke, Ur very gently blew and a moment later, his face stretched into a broad smile.
The trifling tongues of flame began to increase and Ur added some dry branches, but not too many. Meanwhile, the growing fire bit at his eyes and the remaining tribe members roared with joy. Ur began to realize that from now on, all would be quite different.
He and his tribe now knew how to make fire and they realized all things would be different from now on. From them, would grow a new, stronger tribe.
The Conquerors.
***
Saronna was already lying in his hibernation sarcophagus, while Vanihai was verifying whether all the indicators were green. Vanahai said to him:
“Next, we will stop in the system ML-26, fourteen parsecs from here. There, we have the right conditions for synthesizing amino acids from the primordial soup. Totally uninteresting. Then, we’ll go to two more planets before returning here.”
“And what will we implant in them then—maybe inventing the wheel? The bow and arrow?”
“Nothing of the sort. This interval will be much longer. It’s much better not to spoil them. Let them worry about what developments come in between. When we come back, we’ll suggest the formula E=mc2 to somebody.”
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