The World That Couldn't Be (Sci-Fi Classic). Clifford D. Simak

out of a big stew pan into their cups.

      God, he thought, what I would give for a cup of coffee.

      * * * * *

      Shotwell pulled up his chair. "You didn't answer me. What is a Cytha like?"

      "I wouldn't know," said Duncan.

      "Don't know? But you're going after it, looks like, and how can you hunt it if you don't know—"

      "Track it. The thing tied to the other end of the trail is sure to be the Cytha. Well find out what it's like once we catch up to it."

      "We?"

      "The natives will send up someone to do the tracking for me. Some of them are better than a dog."

      "Look, Gavin. I've put you to a lot of trouble and you've been decent with me. If I can be any help, I would like to go."

      "Two make better time than three. And we have to catch this Cytha fast or it might settle down to an endurance contest."

      "All right, then. Tell me about the Cytha."

      Duncan poured porridge gruel into his bowl, handed the pan to Shotwell. "It's a sort of special thing. The natives are scared to death of it. You hear a lot of stories about it. Said to be unkillable. It's always capitalized, always a proper noun. It has been reported at different times from widely scattered places."

      "No one's ever bagged one?"

      "Not that I ever heard of." Duncan patted the rifle. "Let me get a bead on it."

      He started eating, spooning the porridge into his mouth, munching on the stale corn bread left from the night before. He drank some of the brackish beverage and shuddered.

      "Some day," he said, "I'm going to scrape together enough money to buy a pound of coffee. You'd think—"

      "It's the freight rates," Shotwell said. "I'll send you a pound when I go back."

      "Not at the price they'd charge to ship it out," said Duncan. "I wouldn't hear of it."

      They ate in silence for a time. Finally Shotwell said: "I'm getting nowhere, Gavin. The natives are willing to talk, but it all adds up to nothing."

      "I tried to tell you that. You could have saved your time."

      Shotwell shook his head stubbornly. "There's an answer, a logical explanation. It's easy enough to say you cannot rule out the sexual factor, but that's exactly what has happened here on Layard. It's easy to exclaim that a sexless animal, a sexless race, a sexless planet is impossible, but that is what we have. Somewhere there is an answer and I have to find it."

      * * * * *

      "Now hold up a minute," Duncan protested. "There's no use blowing a gasket. I haven't got the time this morning to listen to your lecture."

      "But it's not the lack of sex that worries me entirely," Shotwell said, "although it's the central factor. There are subsidiary situations deriving from that central fact which are most intriguing."

      "I have no doubt of it," said Duncan, "but if you please—"

      "Without sex, there is no basis for the family, and without the family there is no basis for a tribe, and yet the natives have an elaborate tribal setup, with taboos by way of regulation. Somewhere there must exist some underlying, basic unifying factor, some common loyalty, some strange relationship which spells out to brotherhood."

      "Not brotherhood," said Duncan, chuckling. "Not even sisterhood. You must watch your terminology. The word you want is ithood."

      The door pushed open and a native walked in timidly.

      "Zikkara said that mister want me," the native told them. "I am Sipar. I can track anything but screamers, stilt-birds, longhorns and donovans. Those are my taboos."

      "I am glad to hear that," Duncan replied. "You have no Cytha taboo, then."

      "Cytha!" yipped the native. "Zikkara did not tell me Cytha!"

      Duncan paid no attention. He got up from the table and went to the heavy chest that stood against one wall. He rummaged in it and came out with a pair of binoculars, a hunting knife and an extra drum of ammunition. At the kitchen cupboard, he rummaged once again, filling a small leather sack with a gritty powder from a can he found.

      "Rockahominy," he explained to Shotwell. "Emergency rations thought up by the primitive North American Indians. Parched corn, ground fine. It's no feast exactly, but it keeps a man going."

      "You figure you'll be gone that long?"

      "Maybe overnight. I don't know. Won't stop until I get it. Can't afford to. It could wipe me out in a few days."

      "Good hunting," Shotwell said. "I'll hold the fort."

      Duncan said to Sipar: "Quit sniveling and come on."

      He picked up the rifle, settled it in the crook of his arm. He kicked open the door and strode out.

      Sipar followed meekly.