“Women, especially if they were beautiful, were the prey and the playthings of the strong. They could not exist without the protection of a man and were completely in his power. If the man who owned them died, nothing was left to them but an unknown and ruthless life at the cruel and greedy hands of another man. Her own will and endeavours meant so little for a woman… so terribly little, that when she was faced with such a life… who knows, perhaps death may have seemed the easier way.” Veda’s ideas created a great impression on the young people. The finds in the Scythian grave mound were some-tiling that Darr Veter, too, would never forget. As though reading his thoughts Veda moved closer and slowly stirred the burning twigs, following with her eyes the blue tongues of flame that ran across the coals.
“What a tremendous amount of courage and fortitude was needed to he oneself in those days, not to become degraded but to make one’s way in life,” Veda Kong said softly.
“It seems to me that we exaggerate the difficulties of life in ancient days,” said Darr Veter. “Quite apart from the fact that people were used to it, the chaotic nature of society was the cause of a variety of incidental happenings. Man’s strength and will-power struck flashes of romantic joy out of that life in the same way as steel strikes sparks from grey stone. I shudder more at the last stages of development of capitalist society, towards the end of the Era of Disunity, when the people, shut up in towns, cut off from nature, exhausted by monotonous labour, grew weaker and more indifferent as they succumbed to widespread diseases.”
“I am also at a loss to understand why it took our ancestors so long to understand the simple fact that the fate of society depended on them alone, that a community is what the moral and ideological development of all its members makes it, that it depends wholly on the economy….”
“The perfect form of scientifically organized society is not merely a quantitative accumulation of productive forces but a qualitative stage in development. It’s all really very simple,” answered Darr Veter. “Furthermore, there is the understanding of dialectical interdependence, that new social relations are as improbable without new people as are the new people without the new economy. When this was realized it led to the greatest attention being paid to education, to the physical and mental development of man. When was this finally realized?”
“In the Era of Disunity, at the end of the Fission Age, soon after the Second Great Revolution.”
“It’s a good thing it didn’t come later! The destructive means of war….”
Darr Veter stopped suddenly and turned towards the open space between the fire and the hill. The thunder of heavy hoofs and panting breath came from somewhere nearby, making the two travellers jump to their feet.
A gigantic black bull appeared before the fire. The flames were reflected in blood-red lights in his wicked rolling eyes. He was snorting and pawing up the dry ground, obviously contemplating an attack. In the feeble light he seemed of gigantic size, his lowered head was like a granite boulder, his mighty withers rose behind it like a mountain of solid muscle. Never before had either Veda Kong or Darr Veter been close to an animal that possessed malicious, death-dealing strength and whose unthinking brain was deaf to the voice of reason.
Veda pressed her hands tightly to her bosom and stood stock still, as though hypnotized by the vision that appeared suddenly out of the darkness. Darr Veter, obeying some powerful instinct, stood in front of the bull to protect Veda as his ancestors had done thousands and thousands of times before him. The hands of the man of the New Era, however, were empty.
“Veda, jump to the right,” lie just managed to say as the bull plunged at them. In their rapidity of action the well-trained bodies of the two travellers were equal to the primeval agility of the bull. The giant flashed past them and crashed into the thicket of bushes and Veda and Darr found themselves in darkness a few paces from the platform. Away from the fire the night did not seem so dark and Veda’s dress could no doubt be seen from some distance. The bull extracted itself from the wild cherry bushes and Darr Veter heaved his companion towards the machine: with well-performed vault she landed on the little platform. While the animal was turning, tearing up the ground with its lioofs, Darr Veter got on to the platform beside Veda. They exchanged hurried glances and in the eyes of his companion Darr saw nothing but frank admiration. He had removed the cover from the motor during the day when he had tried to find out how it worked. Mustering every ounce of strength, he tore the cable of the balancing field from the rail of the platform, put one end under the spring of the accumulator terminal and pushed Veda protectively to one side. In the meantime the bull had its horn under the rail and the machine was swaying dangerously. With a happy grin Darr Veter pushed the end of the cable into the animal’s muzzle. There was a flash of lightning, a dull thud, and the savage beast collapsed in a heap.
“Oh! You’ve killed it!” exclaimed Veda disapprovingly. “I don’t think so, the ground’s dry!” exclaimed the ingenious hero with a smirk of satisfaction. As though in confirmation of his words the bull grunted feebly, got to its feet and, without looking round, staggered off at a trot from the scene of its disgrace. The travellers returned to their fire and another armful of twigs gave new life to the dying embers.
“I don’t feel the cold any more,” said Veda, “let’s climb the hill.”
The top of the hill hid the light of the fire from them and the pale stars of the northern summer formed balls of mist on the horizon.
There was nothing to be seen in the west; in the north, rows of lights, faintly discernible, flickered on the slopes of some hills; in the south burned the bright star of a herdsmen’s watch tower, also a long way off.
“Too bad, we’ll have to walk all night,” muttered Darr Veter.
“No, look over there!” Veda pointed to the east where four lights placed in the form of a square, had flashed on suddenly. They were only a couple of miles away. Taking note of the direction by the stars they returned to the fire. Veda Kong stopped for a while before the dying embers as though trying to remember something.
“Farewell to our home,” she said contemplatively. “The nomads probably had such homes as this all the time, uncertain and short-lived. Today I have become a woman of that epoch.”
She turned to Darr Veter and put her arm trustingly round his neck.
“I felt the need for protection so strongly! I was not afraid, it wasn’t that. but there was some sort of tempting submission to fate… or so it seems.”
Veda placed her hands behind her head and stretched herself gracefully before the fire. A second later her dimming eyes had again acquired their roguish sparkle.
“All right, lead the way… hero!” and the tone of her deep voice became gentle and filled with unfathomable mystery.
The bright night was full of the perfumes of grasses, the rustling of small animals and the cries of night birds. Veda and Darr walked cautiously, afraid of falling into some unseen hole or crack in the dry earth. The brush-headed grass stalks stealthily grazed their ankles. Darr Veter looked around vigilantly whenever they came in sight of dark clusters of bushes. Veda laughed softly.
“Perhaps we should have taken the accumulator and I cable with us?”
“You’re thoughtless, Veda,” said Darr Veter good-, humouredly, “more so than I thought!”
The young woman suddenly became serious. “ I felt your protection too strongly….”
And Veda began to speak, or rather, to think aloud, about further plans for the work of her expedition. The first stage of the work at the grave mounds in the steppes was finished ^ and her workers had returned to their old employments or were seeking something new. Darr Veter, however, had not chosen another job and was free to follow the woman ‘ he loved. Judging by reports that reached them Mven Mass’ work was going well. Even if he had done badly the Council would not have appointed Darr Veter again so soon. In the Great Circle Era it was not thought advisable to keep people too long at any one job. The most valuable possession of man, his creative inspiration, grew weaker and he could only return to an old job after a long break.