"Resnick, Mike - Kirinyaga 2 - Kirinyaga" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

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Kirinyaga
by Mike Resnick
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Copyright (c)1988 by Mike Resnick
Hugo Winner, Year's Best SF

Fictionwise Contemporary
Science Fiction


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IN THE BEGINNING, Ngai lived alone atop the mountain called Kirinyaga. In the fullness of time he created three sons, who became the fathers of the Maasai, the Kamba, and the Kikuyu races, and to each son he offered a spear, a bow, and a digging-stick. The Maasai chose the spear, and was told to tend herds on the vast savannah. The Kamba chose the bow, and was sent to the dense forests to hunt for game. But Gikuyu, the first Kikuyu, knew that Ngai loved the earth and the seasons, and chose the digging-stick. To reward him for this Ngai not only taught him the secrets of the seed and the harvest, but gave him Kirinyaga, with its holy fig tree and rich lands.
The sons and daughters of Gikuyu remained on Kirinyaga until the white man came and took their lands away, and even when the white man had been banished they did not return, but chose to remain in the cities, wearing Western clothes and using Western machines and living Western lives. Even I, who am a mundumugu -- a witch doctor -- was born in the city. I have never seen the lion or the elephant or the rhinoceros, for all of them were extinct before my birth; nor have I seen Kirinyaga as Ngai meant it to be seen, for a bustling, overcrowded city of three million inhabitants covers its slopes, every year approaching closer and closer to Ngai's throne at the summit. Even the Kikuyu have forgotten its true name, and now know it only as Mount Kenya.
To be thrown out of Paradise, as were the Christian Adam and Eve, is a terrible fate, but to live beside a debased Paradise is infinitely worse. I think about them frequently, the descendants of Gikuyu who have forgotten their origin and their traditions and are now merely Kenyans, and I wonder why more of them did not join with us when we created the Eutopian world of Kirinyaga.
True, it is a harsh life, for Ngai never meant life to be easy; but it is also a satisfying life. We live in harmony with our environment, we offer sacrifices when Ngai's tears of compassion fall upon our fields and give sustenance to our crops, we slaughter a goat to thank him for the harvest.
Our pleasures are simple: a gourd of pombe to drink, the warmth of a boma when the sun has gone down, the wail of a newborn son or daughter, the footraces and spear-throwing and other contests, the nightly singing and dancing.
Maintenance watches Kirinyaga discreetly, making minor orbital adjustments when necessary, assuring that our tropical climate remains constant. From time to time they have subtly suggested that we might wish to draw upon their medical expertise, or perhaps allow our children to make use of their educational facilities, but they have taken our refusal with good grace, and have never shown any desire to interfere in our affairs.
Until I strangled the baby.
It was less than an hour later that Koinnage, our paramount chief, sought me out.
"That was an unwise thing to do, Koriba," he said grimly.
"It was not a matter of choice," I replied. "You know that."
"Of course you had a choice," he responded. "You could have let the infant live." He paused, trying to control his anger and his fear. "Maintenance has never set foot on Kirinyaga before, but now they will come."
"Let them," I said with a shrug. "No law has been broken."
"We have killed a baby," he replied. "They will come, and they will revoke our charter!"
I shook my head. "No one will revoke our charter."
"Do not be too certain of that, Koriba," he warned me. "You can bury a goat alive, and they will monitor us and shake their heads and speak contemptuously among themselves about our religion. You can leave the aged and the infirm out for the hyenas to eat, and they will look upon us with disgust and call us godless heathens. But I tell you that killing a newborn infant is another matter. They will not sit idly by; they will come."
"If they do, I shall explain why I killed it," I replied calmly.
"They will not accept your answers," said Koinnage. "They will not understand."
"They will have no choice but to accept my answers," I said. "This is Kirinyaga, and they are not permitted to interfere."
"They will find a way," he said with an air of certainty. "We must apologize and tell them that it will not happen again."
"We will not apologize," I said sternly. "Nor can we promise that it will not happen again."
"Then, as paramount chief, I will apologize."
I stared at him for a long moment, then shrugged. "Do what you must do," I said.
Suddenly I could see the terror in his eyes.
"What will you do to me?" he asked fearfully.
"I? Nothing at all," I said. "Are you not my chief?" As he relaxed, I added: "But if I were you, I would beware of insects."
"Insects?" he repeated. "Why?"
"Because the next insect that bites you, be it spider or mosquito or fly, will surely kill you," I said. "Your blood will boil within your body, and your bones will melt. You will want to scream out your agony, yet you will be unable to utter a sound." I paused. "It is not a death I would wish on a friend," I added seriously.
"Are we not friends, Koriba?" he said, his ebon face turning an ash gray.
"I thought we were," I said. "But my friends honor our traditions. They do not apologize for them to the white man."
"I will not apologize!" he promised fervently. He spat on both his hands as a gesture of his sincerity.
I opened one of the pouches I kept around my waist and withdrew a small polished stone from the shore of our nearby river. "Wear this around your neck," I said, handing it to him, "and it shall protect you from the bites of insects."
"Thank you, Koriba!" he said with sincere gratitude, and another crisis had been averted.
We spoke about the affairs of the village for a few more minutes, and finally he left me. I sent for Wambu, the infant's mother, and led her through the ritual of purification, so that she might conceive again. I also gave her an ointment to relieve the pain in her breasts, since they were heavy with milk. Then I sat down by the fire before my boma and made myself available to my people, settling disputes over the ownership of chickens and goats, and supplying charms against demons, and instructing my people in the ancient ways.