Nation

good axe. I wonder if I’ll be able to find it again.
    He pushed himself onto his knees and blinked, not quite certain who he was. And then he looked down and saw the gray shadow.
    I will walk in your steps for a while , said a voice just above his head.
    Mau pulled himself onto his feet, not an unbruised thought in his head, walked to the far end of the log, and stepped onto the path across the broken coral. Grayness filled the air around him as he walked, and on either side the great wings of Locaha beat gently. He felt like…metal, hard and sharp and cold.
    They reached the first of the big war canoes, and he stepped onto it. The few warriors who hadn’t already jumped into the water fell to their knees, terrified. He looked into their eyes.
    They can see me. They worship me, Locaha said. Belief is a hard thing to believe, is it not? For now, at this time, here in this moment under these stars—you have the gift. You can kill them with a touch, a word, by the passing of your shadow. You have earned this. How would you like them to die?
    “Take your captives to the shore and leave them there,” Mau said to the nearest men. “Pass this command along and then go. If you stay here, I will close my wings over you.”
    That is all? said Locaha.
    Thoughts pieced themselves together in the chill on Mau’s mind as he turned and headed across the coral.
    “Yes,” he said, “it is.”
    I would have acted differently, said the voice of death.
    “ And I would not, Locaha . I’m not you. I have choices.”
    Mau plodded on, in silence and gray shadow.
    This day turned out well for you, said the voice of Locaha.
    Mau still said nothing. Behind them the Raiders’ fleet was boiling with terrified activity. There will be so many new mouths to feed, he thought. So much to do. Always so much to do.
    I am not often surprised , said Locaha, and you are wrong. There is one choice I can make, in the circumstances….
    The sand under Mau’s feet turned black, and there was darkness on every side. But in front was a pathway of glittering stars.
    Mau stopped and said, “No. Not another trap.”
    But this is the way to the Perfect World! said Locaha. Only a very few have seen this path!
    Mau turned around. “I think that if Imo wants a perfect world, he wants it down here,” he said. He could still see the beach around him, but it was indistinct, as if it was behind a wall of dark water.
    This one? It’s far from perfect! said Locaha.
    “It’s a little more perfect today. And there will be more days.”
    You really want to go back? said Locaha. There are no second chances—there are no chances at all. There is only…what happens.
    “And what does not happen?” said Mau.
    That? That happens, too, somewhere else. Everything that can happen must happen, and everything that can happen must have a world to happen in . That is why Imo builds so many worlds that there are not enough numbers to count them. That is why His fire glows so red. Good-bye, Mau. I look forward with interest to our next meeting. You turn worlds upside down…. Oh, and one other thing. Those others I mentioned, who have been shown the glittering path? They all said the same thing as you did. They saw that the perfect world is a journey, not a place. I have only one choice, Mau, but I’m good at making it.
    The grayness faded and tried to take memories with it. Mau’s mind grabbed at them as they streamed away and the gray barrier faded and let the light rush back in.
    He was alive, and that was a fact. The ghost girl was running along the beach with her arms reaching out, and that was another fact. His legs felt strange and weak, and that was a fact that was getting more factual with every passing minute. But when she held him as they watched the tragic cargoes unloaded, and did not move until the last war canoe was a dot on the never-ending horizon…that was a fact as big as the Nation.

The World Turned Upside Down

    M AU AWOKE . A STRANGE woman was spooning gruel into him. When she saw his eyes open, she gave a little shriek, kissed him on the forehead, and ran out of the hut.
    Mau stared up at the ceiling while it all came back. Some bits were a little blurred, but the tree and the axe and the death of Cox were as clear to him as the little gecko watching from the ceiling with upside-down eyes. But it was as if he was watching someone else, just a little way in front of him. It was another person, and that person was him.
    He wondered