September 24, 2025 • 33 mins
In Jewels of Aptor, Samuel R. Delanys debut novel from 1962, we are transported to a world centuries after a devastating nuclear holocaust known as the Great Fire. Here, a young woman embarks on a quest for her destiny, aided by a mysterious four-armed youth. This captivating tale serves as a prologue to Delanys subsequent work, Captives of the Flame. (Summary by BellonaTimes)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Chapter four of the Jewels of Aptor by Samuel R. Delaney.
This Librivok's recording is in the public domain. Breathing by
Matt Perard, Chapter four. That dream, Geo said to Urson
A moment after the mate left. Urson looked down from
(00:23):
his bunk. You outer two both turned to Snake. I
guess that was your doing, eh Erson said. Snake scrambled
down from the upper bunk. Did you go wandering around
the deck last night and do some spying? Geo asked.
By now most of the other sailors had risen, and
(00:44):
one suddenly stepped between Urson and Geo. Excuse me, mate,
he said, and shook the figure in the second berth,
Hey whiding, Come on, you can't be that soust from
last night. Get up or you'll miss mess. The young
sailor shook the figure again. Hey Whitey. The figure in
(01:04):
the blankets was unresponsive. The sailor gave him one more
good shake, and as he rolled over, the blanket fell
away from the blonde head. The eyes were wide and dull,
the mouth half opened. Hey Whitey, the black sailor said again,
and then he stepped back slowly, mist enveloped the ship
(01:25):
three hours out from port. Erson was called for duty
right after breakfast, but no one bothered either Snake or
Geo that first morning. Snake would slip off somewhere and
Geo would be left to wander the ship alone. He
was waiting beneath the dories when the heavy slap of
bare feet on the wet deck materialized in Urson. Hey
(01:49):
greeted his friend, what are you doing under here? Nothing much,
Geo said. Erson was carrying a coil of rope about
his shoulder. Now he slung it down into his hand
and leaned against the support shaft and looked out toward
the fog. It's a bad beginning this trip has had,
(02:10):
he said. What few sailors I've talked to don't like
it at all. Erson said, Geev, have you any idea
what actually happened this morning? Maybe I have and maybe
I haven't. Erson said, what ones have you? Do you
remember the dream? He asked? Erson scratched his shoulders as
(02:35):
if suddenly cold. I do, he said, it was like
we were seeing through somebody else's eyes. Almost our little
forearmed friend sees things in a strange way. If that's
the case, Erson, that wasn't Snake's eyes we saw through,
I asked him, just before he went off exploring the ship,
(02:57):
it was somebody else. All he did was get the
pictures and relay them into our minds. And what was
the last thing you saw? As a matter of fact,
person said, turning. I think he was looking at poor
Whitey's bunk. And who was supposed to be sleeping in
(03:17):
poor Whitey's bunk? Snake? Exactly? Do you think perhaps Whitey
was killed? Could be? I guess, but how and why
and who? Somebody who wanted Snake killed? Maybe the same
person who cut his tongue out a year and a
half ago. I thought. We decided that we didn't know
(03:41):
who that was? A man? You know? Person? Geo said,
what man on this ship have you sailed with before?
Don't you think I've been looking? Person asked, there's not
a familiar face on deck, other than maybe one i've
seen in a dark side bar, but never one whose
name i've known, think Erson, Who on this ship you
(04:06):
sailed with before? Geo asked again, more intently. Suddenly Urson turned,
You mean the mate, That's just who I mean, said Geo.
And do you think he tried to kill Snake? Why
didn't Stake tell us because he thought if we knew,
(04:29):
we'd get in trouble for it. And he may be right.
How come, asked Urson. Look, we know something is fishy
about Argo. The more I think about it, the less
I can put my hands on it. But if something
is fishy about the mate too, then perhaps he's in
cahoots with her. What about when he came into Argo's
(04:52):
cabin last night when we were there, Maybe he was
just doing what we said We were walking by when
he heard a noise. If it was his eyes we
were seeing through, then he sees things awfully funny. Then
maybe he's a strange one too, like Snake, who hears
things funny. Not all strangeness shows. Geo reminded him, you
(05:19):
could be right, said Arson, you could be right. He
stood up from where he had leaned against a lifeboat support. Well,
you think some more, friend, and I'll listen. I'll see
you later. He hauled up his rope again and started
off in the mist. Geo decided to search for Snake.
(05:40):
A ladder led to the upper deck, and climbing it,
he saw across the deck a tall, fog shrouded figure.
He paused, and then started forward. Hello, he said. The
captain turned from the railing and looked at him. Good morning, Sir,
Geo said, I thought you might be the mate. The
(06:02):
captain was silent for a while, and then he said,
good morning. What do you want. I didn't mean to
disturb you if you were no disturbance, said the captain.
How long will it take us to get to Aptor?
Another three weeks shorter if this wind keeps up, I see,
(06:25):
said Geo. Have you any idea of the geography of Aptor?
The mate is the only one on board that has
ever set foot on Aptor and come off it alive,
except Priestess Argo. The mate sir, when on a previous
voyage he was wrecked there, he made a raft and
drifted into the open sea, where he had the good
(06:48):
fortune to be picked up by a ship. Then he
will lead whatever party goes to the place. Not him,
said the captain. He's sworn never to set foot on
the place again. Don't even ask him to talk about it.
Imagine what sort of a place it must be. If
probable death on the open sea is better than struggling
(07:09):
on its land. No, he'll pilot us through the bay
to the river's estuary. But other than that, he will
have nothing to do with the place. Two other men
we had on board who had been there and returned.
They went with the priestess argo in a boat of thirteen.
Ten were dismembered and the pieces of their bodies were
(07:32):
thrown in the water. Two survived to row the priestess
back to the boat. One was the sailor who died
in the forecastle. This morning, not half an hour ago,
I received news that the other one went overboard from
the rigging and was lost in the sea. This is
not a good trip. Men are not to be lost
(07:54):
like coins in a game. Life is too valuable, I see,
said Gea. Thank you for your information and time. Sir,
you're welcome, the captain said, then he turned away. Geo
descended the ladder again and walked slowly forward. Something touched
(08:14):
him on the shoulder, and he whirled snake. God damn it,
don't do that. The boy looked embarrassed. I didn't mean
to yell, Geo said, putting his arm round the boy's shoulder.
Come on, though, what did you find? I'll trade you
what I know for what you do you sleep? Came
(08:40):
from Snake I'm sorry, friend, laughed Geo, but I couldn't
take a nap now if you paid me. Now tell
me whose eyes were we seen through last night? The
captain's Snake shook his head the mates. Snake nodded, I
thought so, Now did he want to kill? Wait a minute,
(09:03):
said Geo. Can the mate read minds too? Is that
why you're keeping things from us? Snake shrugged. Come on now,
Geo said, do a little yelling and explain. Don't know,
Snake thought atloud. Can see what he sees, hear what
(09:25):
he hears, but no, here, thoughts I see? Look, take
the chance that he can't read minds and tell me
did he kill the man in the bed? You should
have been it? Snake paused for a minute, then nodded.
Do you think he was trying to kill you? Snake
(09:47):
nodded again. Did you know that the man killed this
morning in your place was one of the two men
who came back from Aptor with a priestess. Snake looked surprised,
and that the other one drowned this morning, fell overboard
and was lost. Snake nearly jumped, What is it? Look
(10:11):
for him all morning? He not dead? Here, thoughts dim low.
Who's not dead? Geo asked, which one? Second? Man? Did
you find him? Geo asked, can't find? Snake said, but alive?
(10:32):
I know one other question. Geo raised the jewel from
where it hung against his chest. How do you work
this silly thing? Think through it? Said Snake. Geo frowned,
What do you mean? Can you tell me how it works?
You have no words, Snake said, radio electricity diode. Radio
(11:01):
electricity diode, repeated Geo, the sounds coming unfamiliarly to his tongue.
What are they? Snake shrugged. Geo got a chance to
report his findings to Urson that evening, and the big
man was puzzled. Can you add anything, Geo asked. All
(11:23):
I've had a chance to do is work, rumbled Urson.
They were standing by the edge of the rail, beyond
which the mist steeped thickly, making sky and water indistinguishable
and grave hey forearms. Erson suddenly asked, what are you
looking at? Snake stared at the water but said nothing.
(11:47):
Maybe he's listening to something, suggested Geo. You'd think there
were better things to eavesdrop on than fishes, said Urson.
I guess Argo's given spoy orders that you two get
no work. Some people, let's go eat. As they started
toward the convergence of sailors at the entrance of the
(12:10):
mess hall, Ursun said, oh, guess what. He turned to
Geo and picked up the jewel from the boy's chest.
All you people are going around with such finery. I
took my coins to the smithy and had I put
chains on them. Now I'll strut with the best of you,
he laughed, and then went through the narrow way, crowding
(12:30):
with the other sailors into the wide hall. For two weeks.
Knights without Dreams left them early, and the boat rolled
from beneath the fog. Dawn was gray but clear. Then
by one breakfast time, the ragged slip of Aptor's beach
(12:50):
hemmed the horizon on the wheel deck. The sailors clustered
to the rail, and before them rocks sp like broken
teeth from the water. Erson, in his new tripled neck chain,
joined Snake and Geo at the rail. Wsh He said,
(13:11):
getting through them is going to be fun. Suddenly heads
turned behind them. Now Argo's dark veils bloated with the
breeze filled about her as she mounted the steps to
the wheel deck. The sailors moved away from her. Then,
one hand on a stay rope, she stared across the
(13:31):
gray water to the dark tongue of land from the wheel.
The captain spoke, JEORDI, disperse the men and take over
the wheel, ay, sir said the mate. You you, and
you to the tops He pointed among the men. You also,
(13:52):
and you hey, didn't you hear me me? Sir Chio
turned around. Yes, you up to the top, spar there.
You can't send him up, Urson called out. He's never
been topsided all before. It's too chopping for any lad's
first time up. He doesn't even know. And who asked you?
(14:14):
Demanded the mate. Nobody asked me, Sir, said Urson. But
then you get below before I have you brig for
insubordination and find you your three gold bobbles. Don't you
think I recognize dead man's gold? Now look here, Urson roared.
Geo glanced from Argo to the captain. The bewilderment that
(14:37):
flittered the face of the priestess shocked him. Jordie suddenly
seized up a marlin pen, raised it and shouted at Urson,
get down below before I break your skull open, Urson's
fists sprang up. Calmly, brother bear Geo began get a
(14:58):
bitch's ass, snarled Urson, and swung his huge arm forward.
Something leaped on Geordie from behind Snake. The marlin pen
veered inches away from Urson's shoulder. The flung fist sunk
into the mate's stomach, and he reeled forward, passing Urson,
with Snake still clawing at his back. He reached the rail,
(15:21):
bent double over it, and Snake's legs flipped up. When
Geordy rose, he was free of encumbrance. Geo rushed to
the edge and saw Snake's head emerge in the churning
water behind him. Urson yelled, look out. Geordie's marlin made
an inch of splinters in the length of wood against
which he had been leaning. Not him, cried Argo, No, no,
(15:47):
not him. But Geordie had seized Geo's shoulder and whirled
him back against the rail. Geu saw Urson grab a
loose rope behind them, and suddenly swam forward, intending to
knock Geordie away with his feet. But suddenly Argo moved
in the way of his flying body, turned, saw him
(16:09):
and raised her hands to push him aside, so that
he swung wide of them and landed on the railing
a yard from where they struggled. Geo's feet slipped on
the wet boards, and he felt his body suddenly hurled
backwards into the air. Then his back slapped water as
he broke surface. Urson, still on the rail, called to him,
(16:30):
hang on, friend, Geo, I'm coming. Erson's arms swung back
and then forward as he dove into the sea. Now
Geo could see only Argo and Jordie at the rail,
but they were struggling. Urson and Snake were near him
in the water. The last thing he saw was Jeordie
suddenly wrests something from Argo's neck and then fling it
(16:53):
out into the sea. The Priestess's hands reached for the
flying jewel, followed its art as she screamed toward the water.
Then hands were at his body. Geo turned in the
water as Snake disappeared from beside him, and Urson suddenly
cried out. Hands were pulling him down, roughness of sand
(17:19):
beneath one of his sides, and the flare of sun
on the other. His eyes were hot and his lids
were orange over them. Then there was a breeze. He
opened his eyes and shut them quick because of the light.
Then he turned over, thought about pillows and stiff new sheets.
Reaching out, he grabbed sand. He opened his eyes and
(17:43):
pushed himself up from the beach with both hands spread
in warm, soft crumblings. Over there were rocks and thick
vegetation behind them. He swayed to his knees, the sand
grating under his knee caps. He looked at his arm
in the sun with grains. Then he touched his chest.
(18:03):
His hand came to one bead, moved on and came
to another. He looked down both the chain with the
platinum claw and the thong with a wire cage hung
around his neck. Bewildered, he heaved to his feet and
immediately sat down again as the beach went red. With
a wash of blood behind his eyeballs, he got up again, slowly, carefully.
(18:28):
Geo started down the beach, looking toward the land. When
he turned to look at the water, he stopped at
the horizon. Beyond the rocks was a boat with lowered sails,
so they hadn't left yet. He swung his eyes back
to the beach. Fifty feet away was another figure lying
(18:48):
in the sun. He ran forward, now, the sand splashing
around his feet, sinking under his toes, so that it
was like the slow motion running of dreams. Ten feet
from the figure he stopped. It was a young black,
very dark skinned, the color of richly hummus soil. The
(19:11):
long skull was shaved, like Geo. He was almost naked.
There was a clot of seaweed at his wrist, and
the soles of his feet and one upturned palm were
grayish and shriveled. Geo frowned and stood for a full minute.
He looked up and down the beach once more. There
was no one else. Just then, the man's arm shifted
(19:35):
across the sand. Immediately, Geo fell to his knees beside
the figure rolled him over and lifted his head. The
eyes opened, squinted in the light, and the man said,
who are you? My name is Geo. The man sat
up and caught himself from falling forward by jamming his
hands into the sand. He shook his head and then
(19:57):
looked up at Geo again. Yes, he said, I remember you.
What happened? Did we found it? Did the ship go down?
Remember me? From where? Geo asked? From the ship. You
want on the ship, won't you. I was on the ship,
Jeo said, and I got thrown overboard by that damned
(20:20):
first mate in a fight. But nothing happened to the ship.
It's still out there. You can see it. Suddenly, Jeo stopped.
Then he said, you're the guy who discovered Whitey's body
that morning. That's right. He shook his head again. My
name is Amy. Now he looked out to the horizon.
(20:42):
I see them, he said, there's a ship. But where
are we on the beach of Aptor, Geo told him.
Amy screwed his face up into a mask of dark horror. Now,
he said softly, we couldn't pay. You were days away
from that. How did you fall in? It was blowing
(21:07):
up a little. Jimmy explained. I was in a rig
when suddenly something struck me from behind and I won't
toppling in all the mist, they didn't see me, and
the current was too strong for me. And he looked around.
You've been on this beach once before, haven't you, Geo asked,
(21:28):
Once said Jemmy, yes, once. Do you realize how long
you've been in the water, Geo asked. Jimmy looked up
over two weeks. Geo said, come on, see if you
can walk. I've got a lot of things to explain
(21:50):
if I can, and we've got some hunting to do.
Jimmy steadied himself once more, and together they started up
the beach. What are you looking for, Eamy asked friends.
Geo said, two hundred feet up the rocks and torpid
vegetation came down to the water, cutting off the beach.
(22:13):
Scrambling over bowlers and through vines, they emerged on a
rock embankment that dropped fifteen feet into the wide estuary
of a ribbon of water that wound back into the
jungle twenty feet further. The bank dropped to the river's surface,
and they both fell flat at the edge of a
wet table of rock and sucked in cool liquid, watching
(22:35):
blue stones and the white and red pebbles shivering six
feet below clear ripples. There was a sound. Both sprang
back from the water, turned and crouched on the rock.
Hey person said through leaves, I was wondering when i'd
find you. Light through branches lay on the gold coins
(22:56):
hung against his hairy chest. Have you seen snake? I
was hoping he was with you, said Geo, Oh, Urson,
this is Yemmy, the other sailor who died two weeks ago.
Both Immy and Urson looked puzzled. Have a drink o water,
(23:16):
Geo said, and I'll explain as best I can. Don't
mind if I do, said Urson. While the bear man
lay down to drink, Jio began the story of apdoor
and Leapdor for Iemy. When he finished, Yemmy asked, ye
mean Theo's fish things in the water carried us here?
(23:37):
Who saw it? Are they own? Apparently Argo isn't sure either,
Perhaps they're neutral? And the mate asked, Emmy, YO think
he pushed me out a boat after he killed Whitey.
I thought you said he was trying to kill Snake,
said Urson, who had finished drinking. He was, explained Geo.
(24:00):
He wanted to get rid of all three, probably Snake first,
and then white and Yemmy. He wasn't counting on our
fishy friends, though I think it was just luck that
it was Whitey he got rather than Snake. If he
can't read minds, which I'm pretty sure he can't, he
probably overheard you assigning the bunks for us to sleep
(24:23):
at Urson when he found out he had killed Whitey instead,
It just urged him to get Jimmy out of the
way more quickly. I could have eisily have been pushed.
Jemmy agreed, But I still don't see why. If there
is a spy from Apdoor on the ship, then Jordy
(24:44):
is it? Said Gea. The captain told me he had
been to Apdoor once before. It must have been then
that he was enjoined into their forces. Jimmy, both you
and Whitey had also have been on Apdoor shore, if
only for a few hours. There must be something that
(25:05):
Jeordie learned from the island that he was afraid. You
might learn something. You might see, something dangerous, dangerous for Apdoor,
something you might see just from being on the beach.
Probably it was something you wouldn't even recognize, something you'd
maybe not see the significance of until much later, but
(25:25):
probably something very obvious. Now Erson spoke, what did happen
when you were on Aptoor? How were those ten men killed?
Though the sun was warm, Yimmy shivered. He waited for
a moment, and then he began. We took a skiff
out from the ship and managed to get through the
(25:48):
rocks somehow. It was evening when we started, and the moon,
I remember, had risen just about the horizon that the
sky was still deep blue. This light of the full
moon is propitious to the White Goddess Argo, she said
from her place at the bow of the boat. By
(26:08):
the time we landed, the sky was black behind her,
and the beach was all silvered by the light. Up
and down. Whitey and I were left to guard this gift.
At the water's edge, and sitting on the gunwales, shoulders
hunched and the slight shell, we watched the others go
up the beach five and five, with Argo behind them.
(26:30):
Suddenly there was a scream, and the first man fell.
They came from the air like vultures. The moon was
overhead by now, and a cloud of them dark in
the white disk. With their wings. They scurried after the
flaeing men over the sand. All we could really make
out was a dark battling against the silver. There were
(26:54):
swords raised in the white light, screams and howls that
nearly sent us back into the ocean. But Argo and
a handful of those men left began to rump toward
the boat. They followed them down to the edge of
the water, loping behind them, half flying, half running, hacking
(27:17):
one after another down with swords. I saw one man
fall forward and his head rolled from his body, while
blood squirted ten feet along the sand, Crimson under the moon.
One actually caught at her veils, but she screamed and
(27:38):
slipped from it into the water now and climbed back
into the boat, panting. You would think a woman would collapse,
but no, she stood in the bow while we rowed
our arms off. They would not come over the water, apparently,
and somehow we managed to get the skiff back to
(27:59):
the ship without foundering against the rocks. Our aquatic friends
may have had something to do with that, said Geo. Jimmy,
you say her at vales were pulled off. Tell me,
do you remember if she were wearing any jewelry or not.
She certainly wasn't, Jemmy said. She stood there in only
(28:22):
a dark robe, a throat as bare as ivory. She
wasn't going to bring the jewel to apdoor where those
monsters could get their hands on it, again, said Urson.
But Geo, if Geordie's a spy, why did he throw
the jewel into the sea. Whatever reason, he had said, Geo,
our friends have given it to me. Now you said,
(28:45):
I'll go. Didn't know whose side these sea creatures were on,
Leptons or aptors, said Jimmy. But perhaps Geordie knows, and
that's why he threw it to them. He paused for
a moment. Friend, I think you have made an error.
You tell me you are a poet, and it is
a poet's error. The hinge in your argument that Snake
(29:10):
is no spy is that Argo must have dubious motives
to send you on such an impossible task without protection,
saying that it would be meaningful only if all its
goals were accomplished. If your reasoned, how could an honest
woman place the life of her sister below the value
(29:31):
of a jewel? Not just her sister, interrupted Jio, But
the goddess Argo incarnate be patient, said Yemmy, Only if
she wished to make permanent her temporary condition. You thought,
could she set such an impossible task? There may be
(29:54):
some truth in what you say, but she herself would
not bring the jewel to the shaws of Apdor, though
it was for her own protection. Thanks to you, all
three jewels are now in Aptor and if any part
of her story is true, Leptize now in more danger
than it has been in five hundred years. You have
(30:18):
the jewels, two of them, and you cannot use them.
Where is your friend Snake? Who can? Both Snake and
Jordie could easily be spies, and the enmity between them
feigned so that while you focused on one, you could
be misled by the other. You say he can move
(30:40):
into men's minds. Perhaps he clouded yours. They sat silent
for the lapsing of a minute. Argo may be torn
by many things, continued Jemmy, But you, in watching some
may have been deluded by others. Light from the river
(31:02):
quivered on the undersides of leaves. Urson spoke, Now I
think his story is better than yours. Geo. Then what
shall we do now, asked Geo softly. Dear what the
goddess requests? His best as we can, said, yemy, find
(31:22):
the temple of Hama, secure the stown, rescue the young goddess,
and die before we let the jewels fall into hands
of Apto. From the way you described this place, muttered Urson.
That may not be far off, still, mused Jio. There
(31:44):
are things that don't mesh like, why were you saved
two Yimi? Why were we brought here at all? And
why did Geordie want to kill you and the other sailor. Perhaps,
said Yemy, the gould Hama has a strange sense of humor,
and we shall be allowed to carry the jewels up
(32:04):
to the temple door before we are slaughtered, dropping them
at his fate. He smiled. Then again, perhaps your theory
is the correct one, Geo, and I am the spy said,
to swear your reason. Person and Geo glanced at each other.
(32:27):
There are an infinite number of theories for every set
of facts, said the Negro. Rule number one. Assume the
simplest that includes all the known conditions to be true
until more conditions arise for which your theory no longer holds.
Rule number two, then, and not until change it. Then
(32:52):
we go into the jungle, Geo said, I guess we do,
said Urson. Since we've got this job, we've got to
trust ourselves and do it right. Let's see if we
can put one more of those things around your neck
before we're through. He pointed to the two jewels hanging
at Jiaz's chest. Then he laughed, hum one more and
(33:16):
you'll be all the way up to me, And he
rattled his own triple necklace. End of chapter four
Chapter four of the Jewels of Aptor by Samuel R. Delaney.
This Librivok's recording is in the public domain. Breathing by
Matt Perard, Chapter four. That dream, Geo said to Urson
A moment after the mate left. Urson looked down from
(00:23):
his bunk. You outer two both turned to Snake. I
guess that was your doing, eh Erson said. Snake scrambled
down from the upper bunk. Did you go wandering around
the deck last night and do some spying? Geo asked.
By now most of the other sailors had risen, and
(00:44):
one suddenly stepped between Urson and Geo. Excuse me, mate,
he said, and shook the figure in the second berth,
Hey whiding, Come on, you can't be that soust from
last night. Get up or you'll miss mess. The young
sailor shook the figure again. Hey Whitey. The figure in
(01:04):
the blankets was unresponsive. The sailor gave him one more
good shake, and as he rolled over, the blanket fell
away from the blonde head. The eyes were wide and dull,
the mouth half opened. Hey Whitey, the black sailor said again,
and then he stepped back slowly, mist enveloped the ship
(01:25):
three hours out from port. Erson was called for duty
right after breakfast, but no one bothered either Snake or
Geo that first morning. Snake would slip off somewhere and
Geo would be left to wander the ship alone. He
was waiting beneath the dories when the heavy slap of
bare feet on the wet deck materialized in Urson. Hey
(01:49):
greeted his friend, what are you doing under here? Nothing much,
Geo said. Erson was carrying a coil of rope about
his shoulder. Now he slung it down into his hand
and leaned against the support shaft and looked out toward
the fog. It's a bad beginning this trip has had,
(02:10):
he said. What few sailors I've talked to don't like
it at all. Erson said, Geev, have you any idea
what actually happened this morning? Maybe I have and maybe
I haven't. Erson said, what ones have you? Do you
remember the dream? He asked? Erson scratched his shoulders as
(02:35):
if suddenly cold. I do, he said, it was like
we were seeing through somebody else's eyes. Almost our little
forearmed friend sees things in a strange way. If that's
the case, Erson, that wasn't Snake's eyes we saw through,
I asked him, just before he went off exploring the ship,
(02:57):
it was somebody else. All he did was get the
pictures and relay them into our minds. And what was
the last thing you saw? As a matter of fact,
person said, turning. I think he was looking at poor
Whitey's bunk. And who was supposed to be sleeping in
(03:17):
poor Whitey's bunk? Snake? Exactly? Do you think perhaps Whitey
was killed? Could be? I guess, but how and why
and who? Somebody who wanted Snake killed? Maybe the same
person who cut his tongue out a year and a
half ago. I thought. We decided that we didn't know
(03:41):
who that was? A man? You know? Person? Geo said,
what man on this ship have you sailed with before?
Don't you think I've been looking? Person asked, there's not
a familiar face on deck, other than maybe one i've
seen in a dark side bar, but never one whose
name i've known, think Erson, Who on this ship you
(04:06):
sailed with before? Geo asked again, more intently. Suddenly Urson turned,
You mean the mate, That's just who I mean, said Geo.
And do you think he tried to kill Snake? Why
didn't Stake tell us because he thought if we knew,
(04:29):
we'd get in trouble for it. And he may be right.
How come, asked Urson. Look, we know something is fishy
about Argo. The more I think about it, the less
I can put my hands on it. But if something
is fishy about the mate too, then perhaps he's in
cahoots with her. What about when he came into Argo's
(04:52):
cabin last night when we were there, Maybe he was
just doing what we said We were walking by when
he heard a noise. If it was his eyes we
were seeing through, then he sees things awfully funny. Then
maybe he's a strange one too, like Snake, who hears
things funny. Not all strangeness shows. Geo reminded him, you
(05:19):
could be right, said Arson, you could be right. He
stood up from where he had leaned against a lifeboat support. Well,
you think some more, friend, and I'll listen. I'll see
you later. He hauled up his rope again and started
off in the mist. Geo decided to search for Snake.
(05:40):
A ladder led to the upper deck, and climbing it,
he saw across the deck a tall, fog shrouded figure.
He paused, and then started forward. Hello, he said. The
captain turned from the railing and looked at him. Good morning, Sir,
Geo said, I thought you might be the mate. The
(06:02):
captain was silent for a while, and then he said,
good morning. What do you want. I didn't mean to
disturb you if you were no disturbance, said the captain.
How long will it take us to get to Aptor?
Another three weeks shorter if this wind keeps up, I see,
(06:25):
said Geo. Have you any idea of the geography of Aptor?
The mate is the only one on board that has
ever set foot on Aptor and come off it alive,
except Priestess Argo. The mate sir, when on a previous
voyage he was wrecked there, he made a raft and
drifted into the open sea, where he had the good
(06:48):
fortune to be picked up by a ship. Then he
will lead whatever party goes to the place. Not him,
said the captain. He's sworn never to set foot on
the place again. Don't even ask him to talk about it.
Imagine what sort of a place it must be. If
probable death on the open sea is better than struggling
(07:09):
on its land. No, he'll pilot us through the bay
to the river's estuary. But other than that, he will
have nothing to do with the place. Two other men
we had on board who had been there and returned.
They went with the priestess argo in a boat of thirteen.
Ten were dismembered and the pieces of their bodies were
(07:32):
thrown in the water. Two survived to row the priestess
back to the boat. One was the sailor who died
in the forecastle. This morning, not half an hour ago,
I received news that the other one went overboard from
the rigging and was lost in the sea. This is
not a good trip. Men are not to be lost
(07:54):
like coins in a game. Life is too valuable, I see,
said Gea. Thank you for your information and time. Sir,
you're welcome, the captain said, then he turned away. Geo
descended the ladder again and walked slowly forward. Something touched
(08:14):
him on the shoulder, and he whirled snake. God damn it,
don't do that. The boy looked embarrassed. I didn't mean
to yell, Geo said, putting his arm round the boy's shoulder.
Come on, though, what did you find? I'll trade you
what I know for what you do you sleep? Came
(08:40):
from Snake I'm sorry, friend, laughed Geo, but I couldn't
take a nap now if you paid me. Now tell
me whose eyes were we seen through last night? The
captain's Snake shook his head the mates. Snake nodded, I
thought so, Now did he want to kill? Wait a minute,
(09:03):
said Geo. Can the mate read minds too? Is that
why you're keeping things from us? Snake shrugged. Come on now,
Geo said, do a little yelling and explain. Don't know,
Snake thought atloud. Can see what he sees, hear what
(09:25):
he hears, but no, here, thoughts I see? Look, take
the chance that he can't read minds and tell me
did he kill the man in the bed? You should
have been it? Snake paused for a minute, then nodded.
Do you think he was trying to kill you? Snake
(09:47):
nodded again. Did you know that the man killed this
morning in your place was one of the two men
who came back from Aptor with a priestess. Snake looked surprised,
and that the other one drowned this morning, fell overboard
and was lost. Snake nearly jumped, What is it? Look
(10:11):
for him all morning? He not dead? Here, thoughts dim low.
Who's not dead? Geo asked, which one? Second? Man? Did
you find him? Geo asked, can't find? Snake said, but alive?
(10:32):
I know one other question. Geo raised the jewel from
where it hung against his chest. How do you work
this silly thing? Think through it? Said Snake. Geo frowned,
What do you mean? Can you tell me how it works?
You have no words, Snake said, radio electricity diode. Radio
(11:01):
electricity diode, repeated Geo, the sounds coming unfamiliarly to his tongue.
What are they? Snake shrugged. Geo got a chance to
report his findings to Urson that evening, and the big
man was puzzled. Can you add anything, Geo asked. All
(11:23):
I've had a chance to do is work, rumbled Urson.
They were standing by the edge of the rail, beyond
which the mist steeped thickly, making sky and water indistinguishable
and grave hey forearms. Erson suddenly asked, what are you
looking at? Snake stared at the water but said nothing.
(11:47):
Maybe he's listening to something, suggested Geo. You'd think there
were better things to eavesdrop on than fishes, said Urson.
I guess Argo's given spoy orders that you two get
no work. Some people, let's go eat. As they started
toward the convergence of sailors at the entrance of the
(12:10):
mess hall, Ursun said, oh, guess what. He turned to
Geo and picked up the jewel from the boy's chest.
All you people are going around with such finery. I
took my coins to the smithy and had I put
chains on them. Now I'll strut with the best of you,
he laughed, and then went through the narrow way, crowding
(12:30):
with the other sailors into the wide hall. For two weeks.
Knights without Dreams left them early, and the boat rolled
from beneath the fog. Dawn was gray but clear. Then
by one breakfast time, the ragged slip of Aptor's beach
(12:50):
hemmed the horizon on the wheel deck. The sailors clustered
to the rail, and before them rocks sp like broken
teeth from the water. Erson, in his new tripled neck chain,
joined Snake and Geo at the rail. Wsh He said,
(13:11):
getting through them is going to be fun. Suddenly heads
turned behind them. Now Argo's dark veils bloated with the
breeze filled about her as she mounted the steps to
the wheel deck. The sailors moved away from her. Then,
one hand on a stay rope, she stared across the
(13:31):
gray water to the dark tongue of land from the wheel.
The captain spoke, JEORDI, disperse the men and take over
the wheel, ay, sir said the mate. You you, and
you to the tops He pointed among the men. You also,
(13:52):
and you hey, didn't you hear me me? Sir Chio
turned around. Yes, you up to the top, spar there.
You can't send him up, Urson called out. He's never
been topsided all before. It's too chopping for any lad's
first time up. He doesn't even know. And who asked you?
(14:14):
Demanded the mate. Nobody asked me, Sir, said Urson. But
then you get below before I have you brig for
insubordination and find you your three gold bobbles. Don't you
think I recognize dead man's gold? Now look here, Urson roared.
Geo glanced from Argo to the captain. The bewilderment that
(14:37):
flittered the face of the priestess shocked him. Jordie suddenly
seized up a marlin pen, raised it and shouted at Urson,
get down below before I break your skull open, Urson's
fists sprang up. Calmly, brother bear Geo began get a
(14:58):
bitch's ass, snarled Urson, and swung his huge arm forward.
Something leaped on Geordie from behind Snake. The marlin pen
veered inches away from Urson's shoulder. The flung fist sunk
into the mate's stomach, and he reeled forward, passing Urson,
with Snake still clawing at his back. He reached the rail,
(15:21):
bent double over it, and Snake's legs flipped up. When
Geordy rose, he was free of encumbrance. Geo rushed to
the edge and saw Snake's head emerge in the churning
water behind him. Urson yelled, look out. Geordie's marlin made
an inch of splinters in the length of wood against
which he had been leaning. Not him, cried Argo, No, no,
(15:47):
not him. But Geordie had seized Geo's shoulder and whirled
him back against the rail. Geu saw Urson grab a
loose rope behind them, and suddenly swam forward, intending to
knock Geordie away with his feet. But suddenly Argo moved
in the way of his flying body, turned, saw him
(16:09):
and raised her hands to push him aside, so that
he swung wide of them and landed on the railing
a yard from where they struggled. Geo's feet slipped on
the wet boards, and he felt his body suddenly hurled
backwards into the air. Then his back slapped water as
he broke surface. Urson, still on the rail, called to him,
(16:30):
hang on, friend, Geo, I'm coming. Erson's arms swung back
and then forward as he dove into the sea. Now
Geo could see only Argo and Jordie at the rail,
but they were struggling. Urson and Snake were near him
in the water. The last thing he saw was Jeordie
suddenly wrests something from Argo's neck and then fling it
(16:53):
out into the sea. The Priestess's hands reached for the
flying jewel, followed its art as she screamed toward the water.
Then hands were at his body. Geo turned in the
water as Snake disappeared from beside him, and Urson suddenly
cried out. Hands were pulling him down, roughness of sand
(17:19):
beneath one of his sides, and the flare of sun
on the other. His eyes were hot and his lids
were orange over them. Then there was a breeze. He
opened his eyes and shut them quick because of the light.
Then he turned over, thought about pillows and stiff new sheets.
Reaching out, he grabbed sand. He opened his eyes and
(17:43):
pushed himself up from the beach with both hands spread
in warm, soft crumblings. Over there were rocks and thick
vegetation behind them. He swayed to his knees, the sand
grating under his knee caps. He looked at his arm
in the sun with grains. Then he touched his chest.
(18:03):
His hand came to one bead, moved on and came
to another. He looked down both the chain with the
platinum claw and the thong with a wire cage hung
around his neck. Bewildered, he heaved to his feet and
immediately sat down again as the beach went red. With
a wash of blood behind his eyeballs, he got up again, slowly, carefully.
(18:28):
Geo started down the beach, looking toward the land. When
he turned to look at the water, he stopped at
the horizon. Beyond the rocks was a boat with lowered sails,
so they hadn't left yet. He swung his eyes back
to the beach. Fifty feet away was another figure lying
(18:48):
in the sun. He ran forward, now, the sand splashing
around his feet, sinking under his toes, so that it
was like the slow motion running of dreams. Ten feet
from the figure he stopped. It was a young black,
very dark skinned, the color of richly hummus soil. The
(19:11):
long skull was shaved, like Geo. He was almost naked.
There was a clot of seaweed at his wrist, and
the soles of his feet and one upturned palm were
grayish and shriveled. Geo frowned and stood for a full minute.
He looked up and down the beach once more. There
was no one else. Just then, the man's arm shifted
(19:35):
across the sand. Immediately, Geo fell to his knees beside
the figure rolled him over and lifted his head. The
eyes opened, squinted in the light, and the man said,
who are you? My name is Geo. The man sat
up and caught himself from falling forward by jamming his
hands into the sand. He shook his head and then
(19:57):
looked up at Geo again. Yes, he said, I remember you.
What happened? Did we found it? Did the ship go down?
Remember me? From where? Geo asked? From the ship. You
want on the ship, won't you. I was on the ship,
Jeo said, and I got thrown overboard by that damned
(20:20):
first mate in a fight. But nothing happened to the ship.
It's still out there. You can see it. Suddenly, Jeo stopped.
Then he said, you're the guy who discovered Whitey's body
that morning. That's right. He shook his head again. My
name is Amy. Now he looked out to the horizon.
(20:42):
I see them, he said, there's a ship. But where
are we on the beach of Aptor, Geo told him.
Amy screwed his face up into a mask of dark horror. Now,
he said softly, we couldn't pay. You were days away
from that. How did you fall in? It was blowing
(21:07):
up a little. Jimmy explained. I was in a rig
when suddenly something struck me from behind and I won't
toppling in all the mist, they didn't see me, and
the current was too strong for me. And he looked around.
You've been on this beach once before, haven't you, Geo asked,
(21:28):
Once said Jemmy, yes, once. Do you realize how long
you've been in the water, Geo asked. Jimmy looked up
over two weeks. Geo said, come on, see if you
can walk. I've got a lot of things to explain
(21:50):
if I can, and we've got some hunting to do.
Jimmy steadied himself once more, and together they started up
the beach. What are you looking for, Eamy asked friends.
Geo said, two hundred feet up the rocks and torpid
vegetation came down to the water, cutting off the beach.
(22:13):
Scrambling over bowlers and through vines, they emerged on a
rock embankment that dropped fifteen feet into the wide estuary
of a ribbon of water that wound back into the
jungle twenty feet further. The bank dropped to the river's surface,
and they both fell flat at the edge of a
wet table of rock and sucked in cool liquid, watching
(22:35):
blue stones and the white and red pebbles shivering six
feet below clear ripples. There was a sound. Both sprang
back from the water, turned and crouched on the rock.
Hey person said through leaves, I was wondering when i'd
find you. Light through branches lay on the gold coins
(22:56):
hung against his hairy chest. Have you seen snake? I
was hoping he was with you, said Geo, Oh, Urson,
this is Yemmy, the other sailor who died two weeks ago.
Both Immy and Urson looked puzzled. Have a drink o water,
(23:16):
Geo said, and I'll explain as best I can. Don't
mind if I do, said Urson. While the bear man
lay down to drink, Jio began the story of apdoor
and Leapdor for Iemy. When he finished, Yemmy asked, ye
mean Theo's fish things in the water carried us here?
(23:37):
Who saw it? Are they own? Apparently Argo isn't sure either,
Perhaps they're neutral? And the mate asked, Emmy, YO think
he pushed me out a boat after he killed Whitey.
I thought you said he was trying to kill Snake,
said Urson, who had finished drinking. He was, explained Geo.
(24:00):
He wanted to get rid of all three, probably Snake first,
and then white and Yemmy. He wasn't counting on our
fishy friends, though I think it was just luck that
it was Whitey he got rather than Snake. If he
can't read minds, which I'm pretty sure he can't, he
probably overheard you assigning the bunks for us to sleep
(24:23):
at Urson when he found out he had killed Whitey instead,
It just urged him to get Jimmy out of the
way more quickly. I could have eisily have been pushed.
Jemmy agreed, But I still don't see why. If there
is a spy from Apdoor on the ship, then Jordy
(24:44):
is it? Said Gea. The captain told me he had
been to Apdoor once before. It must have been then
that he was enjoined into their forces. Jimmy, both you
and Whitey had also have been on Apdoor shore, if
only for a few hours. There must be something that
(25:05):
Jeordie learned from the island that he was afraid. You
might learn something. You might see, something dangerous, dangerous for Apdoor,
something you might see just from being on the beach.
Probably it was something you wouldn't even recognize, something you'd
maybe not see the significance of until much later, but
(25:25):
probably something very obvious. Now Erson spoke, what did happen
when you were on Aptoor? How were those ten men killed?
Though the sun was warm, Yimmy shivered. He waited for
a moment, and then he began. We took a skiff
out from the ship and managed to get through the
(25:48):
rocks somehow. It was evening when we started, and the moon,
I remember, had risen just about the horizon that the
sky was still deep blue. This light of the full
moon is propitious to the White Goddess Argo, she said
from her place at the bow of the boat. By
(26:08):
the time we landed, the sky was black behind her,
and the beach was all silvered by the light. Up
and down. Whitey and I were left to guard this gift.
At the water's edge, and sitting on the gunwales, shoulders
hunched and the slight shell, we watched the others go
up the beach five and five, with Argo behind them.
(26:30):
Suddenly there was a scream, and the first man fell.
They came from the air like vultures. The moon was
overhead by now, and a cloud of them dark in
the white disk. With their wings. They scurried after the
flaeing men over the sand. All we could really make
out was a dark battling against the silver. There were
(26:54):
swords raised in the white light, screams and howls that
nearly sent us back into the ocean. But Argo and
a handful of those men left began to rump toward
the boat. They followed them down to the edge of
the water, loping behind them, half flying, half running, hacking
(27:17):
one after another down with swords. I saw one man
fall forward and his head rolled from his body, while
blood squirted ten feet along the sand, Crimson under the moon.
One actually caught at her veils, but she screamed and
(27:38):
slipped from it into the water now and climbed back
into the boat, panting. You would think a woman would collapse,
but no, she stood in the bow while we rowed
our arms off. They would not come over the water, apparently,
and somehow we managed to get the skiff back to
(27:59):
the ship without foundering against the rocks. Our aquatic friends
may have had something to do with that, said Geo. Jimmy,
you say her at vales were pulled off. Tell me,
do you remember if she were wearing any jewelry or not.
She certainly wasn't, Jemmy said. She stood there in only
(28:22):
a dark robe, a throat as bare as ivory. She
wasn't going to bring the jewel to apdoor where those
monsters could get their hands on it, again, said Urson.
But Geo, if Geordie's a spy, why did he throw
the jewel into the sea. Whatever reason, he had said, Geo,
our friends have given it to me. Now you said,
(28:45):
I'll go. Didn't know whose side these sea creatures were on,
Leptons or aptors, said Jimmy. But perhaps Geordie knows, and
that's why he threw it to them. He paused for
a moment. Friend, I think you have made an error.
You tell me you are a poet, and it is
a poet's error. The hinge in your argument that Snake
(29:10):
is no spy is that Argo must have dubious motives
to send you on such an impossible task without protection,
saying that it would be meaningful only if all its
goals were accomplished. If your reasoned, how could an honest
woman place the life of her sister below the value
(29:31):
of a jewel? Not just her sister, interrupted Jio, But
the goddess Argo incarnate be patient, said Yemmy, Only if
she wished to make permanent her temporary condition. You thought,
could she set such an impossible task? There may be
(29:54):
some truth in what you say, but she herself would
not bring the jewel to the shaws of Apdor, though
it was for her own protection. Thanks to you, all
three jewels are now in Aptor and if any part
of her story is true, Leptize now in more danger
than it has been in five hundred years. You have
(30:18):
the jewels, two of them, and you cannot use them.
Where is your friend Snake? Who can? Both Snake and
Jordie could easily be spies, and the enmity between them
feigned so that while you focused on one, you could
be misled by the other. You say he can move
(30:40):
into men's minds. Perhaps he clouded yours. They sat silent
for the lapsing of a minute. Argo may be torn
by many things, continued Jemmy, But you, in watching some
may have been deluded by others. Light from the river
(31:02):
quivered on the undersides of leaves. Urson spoke, Now I
think his story is better than yours. Geo. Then what
shall we do now, asked Geo softly. Dear what the
goddess requests? His best as we can, said, yemy, find
(31:22):
the temple of Hama, secure the stown, rescue the young goddess,
and die before we let the jewels fall into hands
of Apto. From the way you described this place, muttered Urson.
That may not be far off, still, mused Jio. There
(31:44):
are things that don't mesh like, why were you saved
two Yimi? Why were we brought here at all? And
why did Geordie want to kill you and the other sailor. Perhaps,
said Yemy, the gould Hama has a strange sense of humor,
and we shall be allowed to carry the jewels up
(32:04):
to the temple door before we are slaughtered, dropping them
at his fate. He smiled. Then again, perhaps your theory
is the correct one, Geo, and I am the spy said,
to swear your reason. Person and Geo glanced at each other.
(32:27):
There are an infinite number of theories for every set
of facts, said the Negro. Rule number one. Assume the
simplest that includes all the known conditions to be true
until more conditions arise for which your theory no longer holds.
Rule number two, then, and not until change it. Then
(32:52):
we go into the jungle, Geo said, I guess we do,
said Urson. Since we've got this job, we've got to
trust ourselves and do it right. Let's see if we
can put one more of those things around your neck
before we're through. He pointed to the two jewels hanging
at Jiaz's chest. Then he laughed, hum one more and
(33:16):
you'll be all the way up to me, And he
rattled his own triple necklace. End of chapter four
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.