Members of the Tulat/"We," the tribe known to Wanda Tamberly, stand and wait as a group of the newcomers approaches:
"Behind [the Tulat] surf growled, above them birds shrilled, around them wind whistled emptily." (p. 173)
On this occasion, the wind is joined by surf and birds and all three natural phenomena anticipate a bad outcome: by growling, shrilling, whistling - not cheerfully but emptily.
In autumn, the Tulat like to wallow in hot mud and wash in hot spring water but, as they await the intruders, wind scatters the warmth of a nearby pool:
"...into nothingness." (p. 174)
The same message. Sure enough, the encounter involves proposed exploitation followed by unsuccessful resistance. We have already heard a partly familiar prayer:
"You Who Know Strangeness, why have you forsaken Us?" (p. 173)
Meanwhile, in 1990 AD, Wanda tries to do something about this. (I follow HG Wells in pretending that time travel allows us to speak of different times as if they were the same time: "...even now...")
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Unfortunately, however, Stirling expressed doubts about how Anderson described the Tulat which I find convincing. He doubted that even Old Stone Age humans would be as primitive as the Tulat--when elsewhere they were very sophisticated hunter/gatherers. But we can still enjoy reading "Beringia" as a very well written story.
Ad astra! Sean
Yes. Note that Neanderthals hunted mammoths, wooly rhinos, and occasionally 1000-pound cave lions. Humans have been apex predators since the emergence of H. Erectus.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
The Tulat should have been better armed, tougher, and more aggressive than we see them in "Beringia." A regrettable lapse by Anderson.
Ad astra! Sean
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