The lack of such things had proved irksome. He did not understand that
the two states were incompatible. It was the technology developed by
man in search of a more comfortable existence which had alienated him
from his natural environment. In attempting to master it, he
had-through a mixture of greed and ignorance - destroyed it.
Roz could see this because she had been trained as a doctor, not a
uniformed assassin. Her studies had led her to a greater understanding
of the human organism, its incredible complexity and the miraculous,
unfathomable nature of the force that animated every living thing; the
force that, when you had reduced an organism to its smallest chemical
component and its most elusive subatomic particle, still remained
tantalisingly out of reach.
It was this knowledge, this awareness of the mystery that lay at the
heart of all creation, that enabled her to merge the totality of her
being with the blue-sky world.
Her kin-brother - for that was how she still thought of Steve - had
only managed to go part of the way. He had been told he was a Mute, he
knew he was a Mute, yet he was unable to accept it unreservedly. He
was not content to know. He had to know why. There was nothing Roz
could do to change him. She could only hope and pray he would not
destroy himself before he finally found his way.
With no one but themselves to look after, Cadillac decided to leave the
flat land above the bluff which, since Steve's escape on Blue-Bird, had
seen so much death and sorrow. The scarred, empty space brOught back
too many bitter-sweet memories.
The first move did not involve a long journey. Carrying their worldly
goods on trucking poles, Cadillac led Roz to the small forest glade
where Clearwater had been hidden on the orders of Mr Snow. The
rock-pool in which she and Cadillac had washed off their body-markings
was fed by the same stream that snaked its way down over a series of
rock steps and fern-covered banks before launching itself into space
over the tongue-stone.
Here, surrounded by an endless supply of firewood and with fresh, clear
running water close at hand, they would be sheltered from the
attentions of any' hostile hunting posses. There was also a plentiful
supply of game, but it was all small stuff. With only a limited amount
of ammunition, Cadillac did not intend to waste it on anything less
than a tusker - the MUte name for a wild pig.
Swallowing his pride, Cadillac led Roz down the face of the bluff in a
dawn raid on a swift flowing river where he showed her how to catch the
plump, brown-speckled fish with her bare hands.
It was a rarely-used skill he had acquired from Clearwater.
