The dark side of the sun - By Terry Pratchett Page 0,45

walk, then? I must feed the carp.’

Later, when the golden fish had flocked to the ringing of a little brass bell, he said: ‘Must there be a reason? Then let it be that I study humanity. Earth humanity in particular. Although in saying that, I am aware of a misapprehension. Let it be said, instead, that in applying myself to the study of Totality I endeavour to do so from the human viewpoint, do you understand? It is a truism that the environment moulds the mind, and so …’ He waved a tentacle to include the sea, the forest, the distant mountains. ‘Of course, it would be easier to move onto a human world, but not so convenient.’

Dom reminded himself, forcibly, that beneath his feet burned a natural furnace. But the Creapii also studied the Chain Stars, from real close up, and His Furness had hinted that there were a number of other experiments taking place on the raft.

‘The Jokers?’ said the Creap. ‘Certainly I will help if I can. You are our first non-Creap visitors. Do you know of any prophecies in your culture concerning a green man with the sea in a bottle?’

‘No,’ said Dom, suddenly alarmed. ‘Are there any?’

‘Not that I know of. It sounds the very meat and drink of prophecy, however.

‘You must realize that we are in no position to offer much advice, we need several tens of thousands of years of study. Have you any specific questions?’

‘The Creapii were not the Jokers.’

‘True. But that was a statement.’

‘Very well. You are the oldest race, as a race. You can’t count Chatogaster or the Bank, they’re individual organisms. So it should follow that you are the most like the Jokers. Mentally, I mean. No, not even that. I mean in outlook.’

The Creap laughed. ‘And what is our outlook?’

‘You study other lifeforms. Man the Hunter, Creap the Information-Gatherer. May I be personal?’

‘Please do,’ said the great golden egg, and Dom blushed.

‘Well, I’ve met Creapii before. Do you know what has always struck me as odd about them? And about you, Your Furness. You’re so human.

‘Hrsh-Hgn is my friend, but he is a phnobe. He gives himself away all the time, and he’s lived on Widdershins, among Earth-stock humanity, for most of his life. Little things – ways of looking at life, like when we both look at the same thing and I know he’s seeing it from an entirely different racial viewpoint. But all the Creapii I have met don’t give that impression.’

‘We live on hot worlds. We are sexless, octopoid. Human?’ said CReegE + 690°.

‘Chel! Humanity is a state of mind, not body. But that is a point. I wondered, why do they seem so like me, when they must be so alien? I think it’s because all the Creapii I’ve met have consciously tried to adopt the human viewpoint. They’re Humans first, Creapii second.’

Dom faced the egg, except that it had no face. At length the disembodied voice said: ‘There is a great deal in what you say.’

‘I think you do this to gain a greater understanding of the universe,’ said Dom. ‘Men see a different universe to phnobes. I’m sorry, I keep picking the wrong words. They experience a different universe. Is that right?’

‘That is very sapient. Before we dine with the others, would you like to see something?’

They found him an eggsuit, fitted out for visitors with a simple control panel. It was like riding in a small, vertical tank. In Dom’s case it was to keep the heat out, rather than in. Then he ventured into the main section of the raft.

He couldn’t remember very much afterwards. Individual experiences blended into a montage of heat, large, slithering galaxy-shaped monsters, the thunder of the sun and a strange flickering in the air. He did remember being led to an observation platform, set in the middle of a matrix-coil, and being invited to look up.

The circular star on which the raft was moored was just passing under the arch of its twin. On a cooler world the experience would have been enough to inspire a dozen religions.

A shining arch, only marginally brighter than the sky around it, moved across the solar sky.

He didn’t know if the other Creapii were aware that the clumsily driven suit held a young man rather than a drunken Creap, if Creapii drank. Probably they didn’t. After an hour of it he felt drunk.

It lasted for several minutes after he was back in the sanctuary. CReegE did not have to