Dragon and Judge

Jack followed, the other Golvins from the shuttle coming behind him like an honor guard. There was a doorway in the base of the pillar, he could see, leading into a shadowy room or series of rooms. The doorway itself was decorated with multicolored streamers on both sides and a long colored fringe hanging from the top most of the way to the ground. Twenty feet above the opening, offset a little to the right, was another doorway, a little less lavishly decorated. Above it were more doorways, extending nearly to the pillar's top, most of these with only a sheet of plain cloth covering them. The other pillars were similarly honeycombed with doorways. Apparently, the Golvins liked to live up off the ground.

He was still looking around when his guide reached their destination. Without pausing, the alien spread his hands out onto the stone and started to climb.

"Whoa," Jack said. "Excuse me?"

The Golvin paused five feet up and looked quizzically back over his shoulder. "Yes?"

"I can't do that," Jack told him. "I'll need another way to get up."

"Strange," one of the other Golvins said. "The other Jupas had no problem climbing the grasses."

The grasses? "I already told you I wasn't a Jupa," Jack reminded him, looking more closely at the pillar. Sure enough, there was a crisscrossed mesh of ivylike plants growing out of the rock. Was that what the Golvins' sticky hands were holding onto? "How about giving me the ground-level room instead?" he suggested.

"Impossible," the Golvin beside him said, the skin of his face suddenly wrinkling all over. "That is the dwelling of the One."

"Then you'll need to find me a ladder," Jack said. "I can't climb the way you can."

"Who is this you have brought?" a new voice demanded from behind him.

Jack turned to find an older Golvin striding toward him. His vest was the most elaborately decorated yet, with streamers like those of the ground-floor doorway attached to both shoulders and a matching fringe along the vest's bottom. The implication was obvious. "I gather you're the One?" Jack hazarded.

A ripple of excited murmuring ran through the crowd at Jack's deduction. The leader himself, however, didn't join in. Silently, he continued forward until he was only a couple of feet away from Jack. Then, with a double flick of his wrist, he gestured to the three Golvins still standing beside Jack. Hastily, they backed up a half-dozen paces. "I am the One Among Many," the leader said, his voice stiff and formal as he studied Jack's face. "You claim to be the Jupa?"

Jack looked over the One's shoulder at the crowd. They'd gone silent again, their faces intent as they watched the confrontation. "To be honest, I have no idea what they're talking about," Jack admitted, lowering his voice. "But I can't seem to convince them of that."

For a moment the One eyed him. Then, leaning forward a little, he gave Jack a gingerly sniff. "You do smell like the Jupa Stuart," he admitted with clear reluctance as he leaned back again. "But he is dead."

"As is the other Jupa, I hear," Jack agreed. "Look, I know you're not crazy about me being here. Me, neither. So let's see if we can find a way to make me quietly go away."

The One's face wrinkled. "Go away?" he repeated, his voice suddenly sounding strange.

"I mean leave and go home," Jack said, frowning at the other's reaction. "So how about you give me another sniff, tell them that I'm close but no holiday prize, and they can take me back to the spaceport."

"But you are here," the One said thoughtfully. "And they are right, you do smell like Jupa Stuart. And there is much work to be done."

"You wouldn't like the quality of my work," Jack warned, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"You are a Jupa," the One said, all the hesitation gone from his voice. "You are the Jupa."

And before Jack could say anything, the One turned toward the crowd and lifted his arms. "The Jupa Stuart will not return," he called, his voice echoing across the canyon. "But he has sent another Jupa. The Jupa—" He turned a quizzical look toward Jack.

Jack sighed. "I'm Jack," he said.

"The Jupa Jack," the One intoned, turning back to the crowd. "Welcome him to your lives and his duty."

The entire crowd exploded into a cacophony of whistles, shrieks, and birdcalls. "Look, there's been a mistake," Jack called, trying one last time. "I'm not—"

"Let a bridge be constructed to the Jupa's new home," the One ordered.

The crowd surged forward, the whistles and birdcalls louder than ever. Jack took an involuntary step backward, half expecting to be trampled.

Fortunately, the flow split apart before it reached him. Some of the Golvins headed for the pillar, while the rest swarmed toward a pile of large flagstones stacked at the base of one of the other pillars. Grabbing stones half as big as they were, they staggered their way back to the pillar.

And as Jack watched in amazement, they proceeded to build a bridge.