Enemies of the System by Brian W. Aldiss Read Free Book Online Page B

isolated from civilization. To one side, perhaps a kilometer away, the plain ended and an old green forest began. A herd of creatures was issuing from the trees and coming at a brisk gait toward the embankment and the river that lay between forest and embankment. In the thick light, it was impossible to distinguish their characteristics clearly.
    Everyone stood and watched.
    â€œI’ll get those emergency flares,” said Che Burek, but he made no move.
    The herd comprised perhaps fifty individuals. They progressed with a lolloping gait, and seemingly on all fours. At the rear were three runners proceeding with a more upright stance. One of these three raised an instrument to his mouth and blew a ragged note. This was the horn they had heard.
    The sound of it—unpleasantly reminiscent of a huntsman’s horn—was enough to promote terror among the tourists. Without waiting to form a committee, they climbed into the bus, scrambling through doors and windows. Only Kordan, Takeido and Dulcifer were left standing on the road.
    â€œAssist me in getting Georg Morits into the coach,” said Kordan to Dulcifer, going over to the wounded man.
    Together the three of them heaved Morits up the slope of the cab, where other hands helped lift him inside as gently as possible.
    At this juncture, Morits roused from his coma, struggled and started feebly screaming. His bandages began to ooze. He waved his arm in pain, smearing blood everywhere. A convulsion seized his entire body, he arched himself backward, cried again, collapsed. Lech Czwartek, the doctor, was by his side; after examination, he shook his head and pronounced Morits dead.
    Hardly were the words out of his mouth than Hete Orlon went into an hysterical fit. She threw herself about, tore her hair, and struck at Lao Fererer as he tried to comfort her. Then she hurled herself weeping on the dead body, crying incoherently.
    â€œMother, mother, what have I done to you? They have taken all your beads away. It’s not for me and not for you. No one’s to blame, mother, no one’s to blame, I swear—not me, not you! Why did you ever leave me? We’re both safe together, little mother!”
    Fererer put his arms round her heaving shoulders, trying to comfort her. Turning a red face to the others, he said, “I don’t know what she is saying. I can assure you she was an exobirth, like the rest of us. She had no mother. She was brought up in a crèche with her other siblings in Mali Zemlya.”
    While Orlon subsided into troubled gasps, the creatures from the forest were drawing closer. They took their time, swinging along between the sparse green fronds, looking perpetually to left and to right.
    Their features were not more clearly distinguishable. They were brown-and-white striped. Their ears were remarkably large and round, and cupped forward almost as if they formed extensions to the lower jaw.
    â€œThey look like zebras,” said Dennig, in a relieved voice. “Could they be grazers, rather than carnivores?”
    The herd slowed, skirting some mole tunnels. They approached the river with due caution. Occasionally they stopped entirely, raising their front feet off the ground to look round in a man-like stance. The tourists were fascinated.
    â€œTo imagine that they were once human …” exclaimed Lydy Fracx.
    â€œTo think that they were once capitalists,” said Kordan.
    â€œTo think that they are born inside the female still,” said Takeido. “Only when Biocom delivered our kind from that burden could the familial societies be dismantled and a true global society established.”
    â€œQuiet!” said Sygiek.
    The striped herd had seen the bus. They looked at it for a long time and then moved toward the river. Wide stretches of sand on either side of the water showed how the river had shrunk from its original state; but it was still considerable and looked treacherous, with boulders rising