Table Of ContentABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0 ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0
www.ABBYY.cobm y Piers Anthony www.ABBYY.com
Geodyssey Volume 4
INTRODUCTION
About sixty-five million years ago there was a holocaust on Earth, thought to have been caused by
bombardment by meteors and/or monstrous volcanic eruptions, with perhaps attendant rising of gas from
the depths of the seas. The mystery has been in the pattern of survivals. There seems to have been
considerable randomness. Some reptiles survived, while all the dinosaurs perished. Some mammals
survived, though most perished. Some birds survived, similarly, and some fish and other sea life. The
ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0 ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0
www.ABBYY.cosmurvivors hardly seemed better qualified than the species that went extinct. So what was it that set them www.ABBYY.com
apart? Sheer luck, or something else?
It may indeed have been something else. The survivors may have been those best protected from the fires
and freezes and fumes of air, land, and sea. They were the creatures who dwelt in the deep caves: small
insectivores, lichen eaters, and those that preyed on them. The environment of such reaches is constant,
even when there are dramatic changes above.
So it may have been that in time the cave dwellers emerged to discover a depleted realm. It was now safe
to go beyond the protected depths, and to expand into the larger realm. So they did, radiating into new
populations. Among them were the line that became the monkeys, primates, and finally mankind. Of
course it wasn't quite that simple, and there can be considerable interest in the nuances.
This is the fourth volume in the GEODYSSEY series—Geo as in geography, Odyssey as in a
phenomenal journey—following Isle of Woman, Shame of Man, and Hope of Earth. The series concerns
the evolution and history of our species from the distant past to the near future. Each volume is an
independent novel which may be read alone; they all cover the same larger territory, but differ in detail.
Each tells the story of a particular family or group of people. Though the total span covered in this
volume is half a million years, the main characters are so similar in nature and relationships as to seem
continuous, and may be viewed as identical. What changes is their settings, as different aspects of the
progress of the human species are explored.
Any creature who deviates too far from his most familiar haunts or customs increases his personal risk.
So most who wander, perish. Yet there are rare occasions when the wanderer discovers a better situation,
and prospers, while those who remain behind find themselves on a treadmill to extinction. As with
mutations, more than 99 percent of deviations may be lethal, but the other 1 percent lead to improved
survival, and in the course of time (much time!) the future of the species lies in the 1 percent. Timing
counts, too; what is at one time lethal may at another time be the key to survival. So evolution can be
devious, and the "correct" decisions may be obscure to the point of denial at the key times of divergence
from the norm. One divergence of mankind from all other life forms on Earth is in the realm of the arts.
The point in the arts remains obscure to many people (and all animals) even today, yet these arts are vital
to the nature of our species. This novel explores a number of them, with the concept defined extremely
broadly. Each chapter tackles an art and a historical setting, showing how the two may have interacted in
the larger (or smaller) context of the ongoing story.
The major characters of this volume are original to it, but supplementary characters from the three prior
volumes do appear on occasion, at the ages and in the situations relevant to the time and geography of the
particular settings in which they appear. That is, a person who was young in Roman times in his volume
of origin will be young in Roman times in this volume. A person who was a dancer in her own volume
will appear as a dancer here. It is, after all, one world.
There is a problem with names, as few single names can properly represent a particular character in time
and cultures ranging across half a million years of global history. Accordingly, no particular effort has
been made to have realistic names; they are simply convenient identifiers. The real names of such folk
would surely have been quite different.
Those who prefer to follow only the story line may skip the italicized material prefacing and concluding
each chapter, and the concluding Author's Note. But I hope that most readers will find the nonfictive
material intriguing too. It is, after all, the point of the volume and the series. The entertainment value is
the sugar coating to make readers who might otherwise be uninterested pay attention. This is, bluntly, a
message novel, and the message is that our species has much to recommend it, but is also a threat to the
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www.ABBYY.cowm elfare of the natural world and to itself. Those who are turned off by that are welcome to read my funnywww.ABBYY.com
fantasy instead.
CHAPTER 1 CURIOSITY
Two million years ago, Homo erectus (henceforth simply Erectus) emerged from Africa and conquered
the world. As he settled in different regions and climates, he adapted to local conditions, starting the
familiar process of speciation. One might suppose that changes would be most extreme in the farthest
reaches of the world, but that may not have been the case. The continent of Africa is as varied as any,
ranging from the vast Sahara Desert to tropical jungles to snow-covered mountains. One of the most
striking features is the Great Rift Valley, which may have been responsible for the distinctive evolution of
Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and finally modern mankind. Most of the fossils of early
hominids have been found there. This does not necessarily mean that this was the source; it could be that
the species were resident elsewhere, but the conditions were not suitable to preserve their bones. So that
only those who happened to die in the Rift made fossils. But for the purpose of this novel, it is assumed
that the Rift was the source, and this chapter suggests why. The locale is the mountain range bounding
the northeast shore of Lake Tanganyika, not far south of the equator. Lake Victoria is across the plains to
the northeast. Erectus lives both on the plain and in the mountains, and has a common culture, but the
two habitats are so different that already the transition between them is not easy. This is bound to lead to
relative genetic isolation of the population residing in the geographically isolated Rift. The time is half a
million years before the present era: 500,000 B.P.E.
Curiosity might seem like (no pun) a curious art. But just about anything can become an art if pursued
appropriately. In the Introduction the ratio of mutations is mentioned, wherein more than 99 percent are
harmful, but the 1 percent account for progress necessary to long-range survival. It may be similar, if
less extreme, for character traits. The curious cat may have died, but the curious human being may have
set foot on a path to ultimate satisfaction. For in the dangerous exploration of the unknown lies the key to
rare knowledge.
ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0 ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0
www.ABBYY.coTm he fire mountain struck so suddenly that it caught Od off-guard. He had watched it warily for days as itwww.ABBYY.com
rumbled and shook and belched roiling clouds of smoke. He knew it was dangerous, but his insatiable
curiosity had drawn him in anyway. Just what kind of wood did it burn, to make such smoke? What was
going on, down inside the mountain? Could he find a way inside, to see the source of the mystery? But
then it blew out such fierce smoke, and drooled flowing fire, and suddenly Od could not go back the way
he had come.
He hastily secured his precious bit of fire. He had made a fire-bed in a large animal skullcap, closing it in
with another section of skull so that the ember would burn very slowly. Right now there was more fire all
around than he could handle, but he had worked so hard to capture some of it that he was determined to
hold on to it. He tucked the closed shell into his waistband and looked around for the best retreat from
this mountain.
A woman screamed. Od looked, and saw her standing still while a monstrous snake of fire twined toward
her. He ran to help—and saw another man running in from the opposite direction.
They arrived almost together. The other man was large and brutish-looking, so Od gave way; he wasn't
keen on fights with bigger men. The man stopped beside the woman and looked down at her feet. She had
gotten one foot tangled in a mass of vines and couldn't pull it free. Instead of using her hands to part the
vines, she was just standing helplessly and screaming, girl-fashion.
No, that wasn't a fair assessment. She had simply panicked, because she was caught just as the fire
threatened, as anyone might.
The other man reached down to free her foot, then cursed and pulled back his hand. Now Od saw that the
hand was injured; only the fistful of green leaves the man grasped stopped the blood from flowing. He
couldn't use that hand until it healed.
So Od stepped in and addressed the captive foot. The woman's leg was nicely formed, and so was her
body; she was a beauty. The kind who wouldn't smile at Od, ordinarily, because of his slight stature and
lack of heavy muscle. But she was too busy screaming to notice his liabilities right now.
He tried to work the vines loose, but she kept yanking her leg, trying to free it, and the vines responded
by tightening up. There was no time to waste, because the fire snake was coursing closer; he smelled the
burning brush and leaves. So he brought out his chipped stone blade and sawed at the vines. In a moment
they parted, and the foot pulled free.
The woman, off-balanced by the sudden release, stepped back, and would have fallen to the ground. But
the other man caught her with his uninjured hand and held her upright. His forearm crossed her breast,
and his eyes were widening as he realized.
But the fire snake was almost upon them. "Up!" Od cried. "Flee up!" For he had seen that the fire snake
flowed downward, in the manner of water. The way to avoid it was to go in the direction it did not.
But the two seemed distracted. The woman didn't seem to realize that she was now free to run, and the
man was still appreciating her breast. Both were too concerned with details to appreciate the larger
situation.
"Up!" Od repeated. "Fire come!"
Now they looked where he pointed, and realized the immediacy of the danger. They separated and bolted
ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0 ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0
www.ABBYY.cofmor the slope Od indicated. He ran there too, as the foliage around them burst into flame. www.ABBYY.com
They reached the top of a hillock and could not go farther, because it descended on the far side. Already
the fire snake was licking at it, curling around and swelling as it burned everything it touched. Then it
divided and coursed along on both sides of the hillock, trying to make it an island.
"Flee here!" Od cried, appreciating the danger.
But already there was fire to either side, and its heat was intense. The stream on one side was thin, but
fire was bursting out wherever it touched. They might jump over the fire snake, but how could they avoid
the brush burning around it?
But he saw that the streams had not yet flowed far beyond the hillock. The fire snake tended to slow and
thicken at the lead edge, and then more liquid fire would flow across it and course on beyond. It was
interesting to see, but too deadly to study at the moment.
"Down! Around!" Od cried.
They just stared at the fire, not understanding him.
"Follow!" Od cried, and ran the way he knew it had to be. Then, as they still hesitated, he repeated
"Follow!"
At last they acted, following him. He led them down the slope until they were beyond one of the fire
snakes, then cut across ahead of it to reach some more rising ground. This time he made sure it led on up
into the mountain, so they could not get trapped again.
The way got steep, and they had to slow. But they had left the fire snake behind, and it was not following.
It was safe to slow down, for now.
That was just as well, for the woman was panting. Her large breasts rose and fell rapidly, attracting the
eye.
"Safe," Od said, slowing to a walk. Then he tapped his chest. "Od."
The man tapped his own chest. "Pul."
The woman did not tap her chest. She cupped a breast. "Avalanche," she said, giving the word for a
terrible slide of rocks down a mountain.
"Od—morning sun man," he said, introducing himself further. He meant that he came from the direction
of the rising sun.
"Pul—evening sun man." He pointed toward a region beyond the fire mountain.
"Avalanche—plains woman." She pointed toward a region to the south. So they were from three different
tribes. The man must have been hunting, and the woman must have been foraging, and they had gotten
caught by the anger of the fire mountain. Just as Od had been caught because he had been too curious
about it. Of course that wasn't the whole story, by any means.
ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0 ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0
www.ABBYY.coTm hen a large animal charged toward them. It was a beest, huge and shaggy and powerful, with dangerouswww.ABBYY.com
horns, galloping blindly, crazed by the fires. They were in its way, because this was a region clear of
brush.
Avalanche screamed again, and started running directly away from the bull. That was sheer folly. "Run
across!" Od cried. He knew that none of them could hope to match the speed of the giant creature. But
she wasn't hearing him.
He caught at Pul's good arm. "Across!" he repeated, pointing. Pul nodded. He surely had had experience
dodging such creatures. He sprinted after the woman, caught her around the small waist, and hurled her
and himself out of the way as the beest charged through.
"Rescue!" Avalanche exclaimed as they untangled, and managed a smile.
Od caught up to them. "Bad, here," he said. "Animals." Pul nodded. There could be other crazed creatures
fleeing the fires. Ordinarily even large animals avoided people, but this was different.
The mountain rumbled, making the ground shake. Avalanche looked wildly around, plainly terrified, and
Pul seemed little better off. Od realized that it was up to him to discover an escape from this dangerous
region, because it was clear that they were likely to die if they remained here.
The problem was that the fire rivers kept coming, and the fires they started in the vegetation were
spreading. Smoke was clouding upward in several places, marking the carnage. Even if the three people
survived the heat, there would be nothing left for them to forage. Survival was more than merely escaping
danger; they had to be where they could find food. He peered up the slope—and saw that it was one of
the roots of the fire mountain. There was nothing up there but destruction. But if they went down, they
would be joining the fire rivers. Even if they got around one, there would be others. How could they
escape them all?
He would have to arrange to see the larger pattern. That meant going up, even if it was the wrong
mountain.
He started up. "Where?" Pul asked nervously.
Could he explain? "Up—see down."
Sure enough, both the man and woman were confused. So Od simply moved on, because he feared that
there was not much time. The two followed him, though he did not want it. He expected to return this
way when he knew better where to go, so there was no need for them to stay close. But how could he
explain that? So he continued moving, letting them follow.
He found an outcropping of rock and mounted that. From here there was a fair view of the valley below.
There were two rivers of fire, one on either side of this region, and their paths were converging. They
would meet near the water river that wound between this mountain and the next one. The next mountain
was quiet; its foliage was untouched, and no smoke issued from its summit. It looked safe.
Now he knew his best course. Straight down to the river, across it, and straight up the other mountain.
Avoiding the fires along the way. There should be time to do it, if they hurried.
He started down. "Where?" Pul demanded.
ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0 ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0
www.ABBYY.co"mRiver," Od explained. "Fast." www.ABBYY.com
"Smoke!" Avalanche protested. "Fire!"
Again, how could he explain? But he tried. "Bad," he said, pointing up the slope to the fuming top of the
mountain they were on. Then he pointed across to the other mountain. "Good."
They seemed to want to argue, but then the mountain rumbled again, more violently. That convinced
them. They started down the slope, as he did.
As they got lower, the smoke spread out to cut them off. Od didn't want to go through it, but didn't want
to wait for it to clear, either. The smoke was thinner near the ground. So he bent low, carrying his head
below waist level, and ran on down. The others hesitated, then followed similarly. It was awkward, but
possible to breathe, and he could see ahead far enough to avoid any open blazes.
Because he knew where he was going, he soon reached the water river. But the fire rivers were closing on
them, and the smoke from the burning vegetation was worse. So he plunged in.
Avalanche screamed. Startled, Od looked back—and saw a large shape nearby. Then he realized that it
was merely a piece of a tree, not a water predator. He swam on across the river.
After a moment the other two followed. As they reached the farther bank, one of the fire rivers struck the
water river, and there was a huge hissing and cloud of steam. It was uncertain which would win the battle
between fire and water, but this was no good place for people, regardless. They had made it in time, but
not by much.
Now they moved on up the new slope, leaving the raging fires behind. But the continued hissing of the
river indicated that the issue had not been settled; more fire was flowing. They needed to get as far away
from it as possible.
"Up," Od decided. Because the fire rivers would not follow them there, and maybe not the big galloping
animals.
The others did not question it. They followed him as he picked his way up the slope. Wafts of smoke and
steam pursued them, so that they didn't pause, though the steep climb was tiring. They knew it could be
death to let the fires catch them.
Pul was the strongest, and soon he was forging ahead. When Avalanche tired, he helped her keep the stiff
pace, while Od followed. He saw her clinging close, her body rubbing against the man's body from
shoulder to thigh. It was usually thus, with larger, stronger men getting the women. Od wished that he
could impress a woman similarly, but of course he could not.
They plunged on until the fire mountain shrank in the distance. The smoke faded, and the air became
fresh, with only a tinge of the smell of burning remaining. As evening approached, the day cooled, but
they were sweating. Still, how would it be when they stopped for the night?
They converged on a tiny driblet of a stream. Suddenly Od realized how thirsty he had become. The
others were the same; they staggered toward the water. But there was nothing there to drink; it was hardly
more than a moistening in the soil.
ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0 ABBYY PClDicFk hTerrae tno sbfouyrmer2.0
www.ABBYY.co"mWater!" Pul cried. "Drink!" www.ABBYY.com
Od considered. Normally streams grew larger as they descended. But it would not be good to follow this
one back down the mountain. Maybe there was a pool somewhere above. It seemed the best chance, all
things considered.
"Up," he said.
They stared at him. "Water down," Pul said.
"Fire down," Od reminded him.
The man grimaced and nodded. They followed the stream up.
As darkness closed, they found the origin of the stream. It issued from a deep small cave. At the mouth of
the cave the water pooled.
Pul threw himself down on his belly and plunged his face into the water, sucking it up noisily. When he
was sated, Avalanche took her turn, more delicately drawing in the liquid. Finally Od had his chance—
and the pool had been depleted. They had not left any for him. But he knew that it would in time refill; he
would just have to endure until it did.
Now Avalanche began digging in the moist dirt of the stream bed, looking for clams to eat. But there
were none; this was too high, without enough steady moisture. So she foraged for tubers instead, and
soon found some. She was a plains woman, Od remembered, not conversant with this kind of terrain; but
maybe she knew where to find food.
But the roots she produced were inedible. "Fire," she said.
Fire—to cook them with. Od remembered his shells. Had his ember survived his swim across the river?
He brought it out, opened it, and blew on it. The outside material was soggy, but a faint glow remained in
the center. "Fire," he said, satisfied.
Avalanche quickly fetched dry moss and leaves. Od added moss to his ember as he blew on it, and after a
moment the bright spot enlarged. Then the moss caught, and he had a small open flame.
After that it was routine. They got a fire going, collecting fallen branches to sustain it, and roasted the
tubers. In that period Od checked the cave pool, and found that enough water had seeped in to give him a
drink. At last he was able to slake his thirst.
But now the air was becoming cold, and they were inadequately prepared. Pul especially; he was
shivering. Od realized that the man's injury was weakening him. He looked cold, but his body was hot.
Sometimes wounded men got that way, and they had to rest and be kept warm, or they could become very
ill and even die.
How could the man be warmed? The fire wasn't enough, and would be less as it died out. Od considered,
and concluded that they needed a way to hold the heat in. "Shelter," he said.
Avalanche nodded. She helped him forage for longer branches, and for leaves. By the light of the fire
they made a lean-to and chinked it with small branches, leaves, and dirt. Then Od made a fire inside it,
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www.ABBYY.coamstonishing both Avalanche and Pul. "Burn shelter," the man protested. www.ABBYY.com
"Small," Od said reassuringly. "Warm."
Soon they saw that it was so. His small fire heated the shelter, and when they crawled into it, they were
warm.
There was barely enough room for the three of them, however; they were jammed in together behind the
fire. There was another problem: the moment Pul was in contact with Avalanche, he desired her.
"Avalanche," he said. "Sex."
"Pul," she agreed. "Sex." She had obviously expected this. It was a natural consequence of proximity. A
young woman next to a man could not be ignored.
The two had made their contract: they wished to copulate. That meant that Od needed to give them
privacy, for as a rule it was not done publicly. Not until a couple was formally established, so that
everyone knew; then they could indulge in any sex-play they wished, at any time. It was the first
experimental liaisons that were normally hidden. So he crawled out of the shelter and went to forage in
the dark for more wood for the fire. It would probably be needed by morning.
He paused a moment to orient on the surroundings, pulling his hide shawl close about him. The air was
surprisingly cold, and he thought it must be because the mountain was cold, just as the other mountain
was hot. He saw the distant glow of the fires in the valley, and smelled the faint echo of their smoke,
which differed from that of his own tame fire.
Now he heard the sounds of the union of Pul and Avalanche. He was a big strong man; she was a
beautiful woman, so it made sense. But how Od wished that he could have been someone or done
something to deserve the woman!
It was always thus. He simply was not the kind of man who impressed women. Not the good ones. His
liaisons had been brief and not wholly satisfactory. The top man always took the prettiest woman, and the
second man took the second prettiest, and so on down. Od, at the bottom, got the ugliest woman, or the
infirm one. Some of them were willing enough, but were simply not as appealing as the pretty ones.
Still, it had seemed that his luck was turning, recently. But then—He shook off the thought. What use to
dwell on his misfortune? He found his way by memory and feel, and soon had a good armful of wood. He
brought it back and dumped it down just outside the shelter, knowing that the sound would signal his
return, if Pul and Avalanche hadn't completed their liaison. He paused a moment, then got down to crawl
into the warmth with them.
They were indeed done; it must have been quick. Avalanche, perhaps not quite satisfied, wanted to talk.
"Avalanche—leave tribe," she said.
So she wasn't just coincidentally isolated by the sudden action of the fire mountain. She had chosen to
leave it, or had been exiled. But why would such a beautiful woman leave on her own—or be sent away?
"Baby no," she explained. And there it was: a girl was not considered to be a woman until she bore her
first baby. Then she was suitable for regular association with a man. So girls began having sex as soon as
they were able, even before their breasts formed, hoping for an early passage to the estate of maturity. It
was all right for any man to indulge himself with such girls, even if he already had a woman, for a girl
was not a woman. Indeed, it was an expected diversion for those men whose women were large with
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Avalanche, it turned out, had had sex with every man in her tribe, and many times with some, but after a
hand full of years she had not borne a baby. So the mature women had ruled that she must go, because
barrenness was not acceptable. Every tribe needed babies, for there were never enough children. That was
the official reason. It was also clear that a number of the men were enjoying their diversions with
Avalanche too much, for she had a fuller body than some women who had borne babies. Women were
not supposed to be jealous of girls, but in this case it seemed they were. They wanted Avalanche
committed to one man, or gone. Without a baby, she could not be committed, so she was exiled. "Baby,"
she concluded. "Must."
Od nodded in the dark. She had to have a baby, or she would be unable to remain in any tribe. Most girls
were small of breast, thin of hip, and inexperienced in the ways of passion, so were no competition to
mature women. By the time they filled out fully, and learned how best to please men, becoming fully
attractive, they had their first baby. But Avalanche was large of breast, broad of hip, fair of face, and well
experienced in passion. Naturally the mature women were not eager to have her associating with their
men. So her beauty was her curse, and had cost her her place in the tribe. She was a pariah, an outcast.
Avalanche nudged Pul. She had spoken her part and made her confession; now it was his turn.
Reluctantly he spoke. "Pul. Leader. Beat."
Oh. Pul had been a tribe leader, finally challenged and beaten by another man. Hence his damaged hand.
An ordinary man of a tribe could be beaten and remain; he merely lost his place to the one who had
beaten him. But when the leader lost, there was no place for him in the tribe, because the new leader
would not want the constant threat of rechallenge. So if he survived, he was exiled. He would then have
to find another tribe to join, either challenging its leader, or accepting the lowly status of the bottom man.
Some lost leaders preferred to die. Pul evidently preferred to live. But he couldn't fight again until his
hand healed, and that could be a long time.
A man could live alone, but it wasn't necessarily easy, especially if he was incapacitated. He would not be
able to hunt effectively, and he wouldn't know how to forage effectively, assuming he beat down his
pride enough to try it. So Pul was in trouble—unless he stayed with Od and Avalanche. No wonder he
had not been eager to speak of his situation. But there was a certain honor among people; if they spoke of
things among friends, they had to speak truly. Pul needed friends, so was obliged.
Avalanche nudged Od. It was his turn. He was really no more eager than Pul, or perhaps than Avalanche
herself, but he too was obliged. So he started speaking, trying to find the words to convey the nuances,
for strangers would not know them automatically.
"Od. Bottom. Ugly women." He felt the other two nodding in the darkness; they knew how it was.
"Band. Hand years. Change women." Again he felt their nods. They knew how a band of young men
normally associated with a band of young women, each man taking the best of the women left after the
higher men had chosen. Actually this was a sometimes thing, beginning as children formed social bands
of their own without yet leaving their parents' bands. Boys associated with boys, and girls with girls. But
as they developed their roles, the boys became increasingly proficient as hunters and fighters, and the
girls as foragers, so they tended to associate increasingly, trading their wares. As they grew older, the
boys became interested in sex, and the girls found it a convenient tool to encourage male attention and
assistance. So a boy band would associate with a girl band for several months, trying things out, then
move on to a new band. Gradually the individual associations became more serious, and when the girls
