Voerster did not.
The name Buele had been given the boy when Osbertus took him from the asylum, and though it was a cruelty, it suited him. It was a cruelty because it suited him. The word meant “lump” or “boil.” And that was what Buele was, a lump on the reputation of Sternhoem, and a boil on Osbertus Kloster’s patience. It was Buele who spilled precious photographic plates and smashed them, Buele who dropped a stone maul into the cogs of the telescope drive and put it out of action for seven weeks in midwinter--the time of best seeing. Buele frightened the landgirls on the nearby kraal of the deKupyers and was very nearly arrested by the Trekkerpolizei. The list of Buele’s faults and omissions was long, but Osbertus was still glad of his presence.
Osbertus was a lonely man with a reputation for being featherbrained and even, on occasion, a bit subversive. Buele was company. Buele was, in fact, the best Osbertus could expect.
Which is odd, he thought. I am, after all, a cousin of the Voertrekker-Praesident . The Voerster acknowledged the relationship. It probably explained why Osbertus was allowed to have opinions about the inner troubles of the Voerster family.
Osbertus thought of the life that was led in the vast cold rooms of the Voertrekkerhoem as “the family darkness.” On Voerster, marriages were alliances rather than love matches. A dynastic marriage was rather rudely spoken of by the kaffirs as “blood-breeding.” The land went with the blood and the land was all, even though there was a whole planet to be populated.
There had been blood-breeding between the Voerster family and the Ehrengrafs for five generations. The dark and beautiful Eliana Ehrengraf had lived for half of her twenty-two years--the long years of Voerster--at Voertrekkerhoem, wife and consort to the Voertrekker-Praesident. But the match had not been a fruitful one. The Voerster’s sons had died in childhood, of a genetic fault that might have been his, or Eliana’s--who could say? Their only living child, the golden Broni, was tubercular, given to long spells of sickness, and so fey as to be suspected by the lumpen of witchcraft. If she were truly a witch, Osbertus thought, then why did she not heal herself?
Osbertus loved the fragile Broni, and for as long as he could remember, he had been In love with the dark vision of her mother Eliana, whose melancholy beauty should tear any man’s heart and did, all save her bitter husband’s.
“The Kaffir is in the neighborhood,” Buele said. To Buele, Black Clavius was always The Kaffir .
The information brought a flash of pleasure to the Astronomer-Select. “See to it that an outside light is left burning, Buele.” For years a burning light at the door to the observatory had been an invitation to Black Clavius.
“Yes, Mynheer. And shall I send the message to Voersterstaad now?”
“Not to Voersterstaad, Buele,” Osbertus Kloster said patiently.’To Voertrekkerhoem.”
“I know where that is,” Buele said with enthusiasm.
‘Then go send the message, Buele.”
Presently Osbertus, standing at one of the windows level with the inner catwalk, heard the click of the telegraph key and looked thoughtfully out at the starlit savannah. All six of Luyten 726’s gas giants were in the sky, blazing like first-magnitude stars against the constellations of the Ploughman, the Virgin, and the Hanged Man. Voerster was without a major satellite and clear nights blazed with stars.
Mynheer Kloster wondered again what new things would come to Voerster when the people of the Gloria Coelis arrived. He found himself anxious as a schoolboy awaiting a treat. The visit of the great Goldenwing would be, he felt certain, one of the most memorable occasions in a long and sadly unremarkable life.
4. ON THE SAVANNAH
Black Clavius walked the game path with a swinging stride, staff in hand. His familiar Starman’s pack--known to all the township dwellers as a source of succor and
The name Buele had been given the boy when Osbertus took him from the asylum, and though it was a cruelty, it suited him. It was a cruelty because it suited him. The word meant “lump” or “boil.” And that was what Buele was, a lump on the reputation of Sternhoem, and a boil on Osbertus Kloster’s patience. It was Buele who spilled precious photographic plates and smashed them, Buele who dropped a stone maul into the cogs of the telescope drive and put it out of action for seven weeks in midwinter--the time of best seeing. Buele frightened the landgirls on the nearby kraal of the deKupyers and was very nearly arrested by the Trekkerpolizei. The list of Buele’s faults and omissions was long, but Osbertus was still glad of his presence.
Osbertus was a lonely man with a reputation for being featherbrained and even, on occasion, a bit subversive. Buele was company. Buele was, in fact, the best Osbertus could expect.
Which is odd, he thought. I am, after all, a cousin of the Voertrekker-Praesident . The Voerster acknowledged the relationship. It probably explained why Osbertus was allowed to have opinions about the inner troubles of the Voerster family.
Osbertus thought of the life that was led in the vast cold rooms of the Voertrekkerhoem as “the family darkness.” On Voerster, marriages were alliances rather than love matches. A dynastic marriage was rather rudely spoken of by the kaffirs as “blood-breeding.” The land went with the blood and the land was all, even though there was a whole planet to be populated.
There had been blood-breeding between the Voerster family and the Ehrengrafs for five generations. The dark and beautiful Eliana Ehrengraf had lived for half of her twenty-two years--the long years of Voerster--at Voertrekkerhoem, wife and consort to the Voertrekker-Praesident. But the match had not been a fruitful one. The Voerster’s sons had died in childhood, of a genetic fault that might have been his, or Eliana’s--who could say? Their only living child, the golden Broni, was tubercular, given to long spells of sickness, and so fey as to be suspected by the lumpen of witchcraft. If she were truly a witch, Osbertus thought, then why did she not heal herself?
Osbertus loved the fragile Broni, and for as long as he could remember, he had been In love with the dark vision of her mother Eliana, whose melancholy beauty should tear any man’s heart and did, all save her bitter husband’s.
“The Kaffir is in the neighborhood,” Buele said. To Buele, Black Clavius was always The Kaffir .
The information brought a flash of pleasure to the Astronomer-Select. “See to it that an outside light is left burning, Buele.” For years a burning light at the door to the observatory had been an invitation to Black Clavius.
“Yes, Mynheer. And shall I send the message to Voersterstaad now?”
“Not to Voersterstaad, Buele,” Osbertus Kloster said patiently.’To Voertrekkerhoem.”
“I know where that is,” Buele said with enthusiasm.
‘Then go send the message, Buele.”
Presently Osbertus, standing at one of the windows level with the inner catwalk, heard the click of the telegraph key and looked thoughtfully out at the starlit savannah. All six of Luyten 726’s gas giants were in the sky, blazing like first-magnitude stars against the constellations of the Ploughman, the Virgin, and the Hanged Man. Voerster was without a major satellite and clear nights blazed with stars.
Mynheer Kloster wondered again what new things would come to Voerster when the people of the Gloria Coelis arrived. He found himself anxious as a schoolboy awaiting a treat. The visit of the great Goldenwing would be, he felt certain, one of the most memorable occasions in a long and sadly unremarkable life.
4. ON THE SAVANNAH
Black Clavius walked the game path with a swinging stride, staff in hand. His familiar Starman’s pack--known to all the township dwellers as a source of succor and
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