Hothouse - Brian Aldiss [38]
Aiding the banyan were the creatures that lived in its forest aisles, the trappersnappers, the jack-in-the-box wiltmilts, the berrywishes, the deadly dripperlips and others. They patrolled the perimeters of the mighty tree like eternal watchdogs.
The forest, so welcoming to the humans in theory, presented only its claws to them from where they now stood.
Gren watched their faces as the others regarded that double wall of hostile vegetation. Nothing moved; the lightest breeze slinking in from the sea hardly shifted one armoured leaf; only their bowels stirred in dread.
‘You see,’ Gren said. ‘Leave me here! Let me watch you walk through the barrier! I want to see you do it.’
He had the initiative now and gloried in it.
They looked at him, at the barrier, back at him.
‘You don’t know how to get through,’ Veggy said uneasily.
Gren sneered.
‘I know a way,’ he said flatly.
‘Do you think the termights will help you?’ Poyly asked him.
‘No.’
‘What then?’
He stared at them defiantly. Then he faced Toy.
‘I will show you the way if you follow me. Toy has no brains. I have brains. I will not be outcast. I will lead you instead of Toy. Make me your leader and I will get you to safety.’
‘Pah, you man child,’ Toy said. ‘You talk too much. You boast all the time.’ But round her the others were muttering.
‘Women are leaders, not men,’ Shree said, with doubt in her voice.
‘Toy is a bad leader,’ Gren shouted.
‘No, she’s not,’ said Drift, ‘she’s braver than you,’ and the others murmured agreement with this, even Poyly. Though their faith in Toy was not unbounded, their trust in Gren was small. Poyly went to him and said quietly, ‘You know the law and the way of humans. They will outcast you if you do not tell them a good way to safety.’
‘And if I do tell them?’ His truculence faded, because Poyly was fair to look upon.
‘Then you can stay with us as is right. But you must not expect to lead in Toy’s place. That is not right.’
‘I will say what is right or not.’
‘That is not right either.’
He pulled a face at her.
‘You are a right person, Poyly. Make no argument with me.’
‘I do not want to see you outcast. I am on your side.’
‘Look, then!’ And Gren turned towards the rest of them. From his belt he produced the curiously-shaped piece of glass he had handled earlier. He held it out in his open palm.
‘This I picked up when I was trapped by the snaptrap tree,’ he told them. ‘It is called mica or glass. Perhaps it came from the sea. Perhaps it is what the termights use for their windows on to the sea.’
Toy made to examine it, but he pulled his hand back.
‘Hold it in the sun and it makes a little sun beneath it. When I was trapped, I burned my hand with it. I could have burnt my way out of the trap if you had not come along. So we can burn our way out of Nomansland. Light some sticks and grass here and the flame will grow. The little breeze will tickle it towards the forest. Nothing likes fire – and where the fire has been we can follow, safely back into the forest.’
They all stared at each other.
‘Gren is very clever,’ Poyly said. ‘His idea can save us.’
‘It won’t work,’ Toy said stubbornly.
In a sudden rage, Gren hurled the crude lens at her.
‘You stupid girl! Your head is full of toads. You’re the one who should be outcast! You should be driven off!’
She caught the lens and backed away.
‘Gren, you are mad! You don’t know what you say. Go away,’ she shouted, ‘before we have to kill you.’
Gren turned savagely to Veggy.
‘You see how she treats me, Veggy! We cannot have her for leader. We two must go or she must.’
‘Toy never hurt me,’ Veggy said sullenly, anxious to avoid quarrelling. ‘I’m not going to be outcast.’
Toy caught their mood and used it quickly.
‘There can be no arguing in the group or the group will die. It is the way. Gren or I must go, and you all must decide which it is to be. Cast your vote now. Speak, anyone who would turn me away