Suddenly a marked change occurred in the pattern of the signals. The clear symmetry of mathematics ended and was replaced by a formless jumble, but a jumble whose repetition suggested that it, too, contained a pattern if it could once be glimpsed. Meters and meters of tape piled up, and the young men stared at it in frustration.
Nautunal stood up in sudden decision. "Bidagha is right. There must be intelligent life in another part of galaxy. We need help, Pehn. We can't decipher this stuff, and yet it may be key to basic vocabulary. We need mathematicians, linguists, semanticists. I'll put out call to director." He lifted a finger to activate the visiphone in his wrist band, but before touching it he glanced at his friend in some concern.
"But you don't look well. Perhaps you ought to go home and get some sleep?"
Pehn shook his head. "No, pain will probably be gone by morning, and at time like this sleep would be only gift from Evil Ones. I'm going to get Bidagha. He'll be more use to us than dozen semanticists."
"Call him on visiphone."
"You know he can't wear one. He's at Cave tonight, holding Ceremony. I'll go after him."
"All right, Pehn. But remember, government will probably disapprove of this business. Whatever you do—don't tell your father!"
Pehn grounded his copter at the outskirts of the city, then turned his back to the glowing lights and walked north across the darkened fields towards Cave. The early morning sky blazed with stars, and ahead of him, low on the northern horizon, gleamed the sprawling constellation of Weaver. He had never been able to force his imagination to see many of the constellations in their completeness, and in the patterns of stars which his pastoral ancestors had conceived as Weaver, Sower, Horned Toth, he could see only random clusters of suns. He watched it now, as he walked over the rutted earth, and suddenly the pattern took shape, so that he could discern the old lady's Shuttle, and at its tip that brilliant yellow star, Topaz, which might that very moment be sending its signals through the galaxy. How many planets revolved around Topaz?
He stopped, for the field ended in a sharp bluff which descended to a narrow valley. Across the valley's floor was the entrance to Cave. He could see the bobbing lights of candles, down there, and hear a muffled chant of many voices. He hoped Ceremony would end, soon, so that he could consult his friend. Once again he felt impatient that Bidagha should have to be met in person just because, as a Healer, he could not wear a visiphone into Cave. Bidagha was really more progressive than many scientists. But the culture of Zenob still had a strongly anti-materialistic, one might almost say anti-scientific tinge, and no machine of any kind could ever be brought into any of Sacred Places. Cave had been the chief place for the ceremonies of those living in Lahzen area for so many thousands of years, that even the historians did not know of a time when it was not in use. It was so old, some heretics said, that it had outlived its usefulness, and was not even a safe place to be in.
The stars were fading, and the northern sky was paling when the chanting stopped in Cave below. People filed out silently, extinguishing their candles as they reached the opening, and last of all came the Healer.