The original superintendents were Deamus Wook, Shirry Clattuc, Saul Diffin, Claude Offaw, Marvell Veder and Condit Laverty. Each was allowed a staff of forty persons. A tendency to recruit this staff from family and guild kinships brought to the early administration a cohesion which otherwise might have been lacking.
Six temporary dormitories, each associated with one of the bureaus, housed the agency personnel. As soon as funds became available, six fine residences were constructed, each outdoing the others in grandeur and richness of appointment;
these became known as Wook House, Clattuc House, Veder House, Diffin House, Laverty House and Offaw House.
Centuries passed; work never ended at any of the six houses.
Each was continually enlarged, remodeled and refined in its details with carved and polished wood, tiles and panels of local semiprecious stone, and furnishings imported from Earth or Alphanor or Mossambey. The grandes dames of each house were determined that their own house excel all the others in style and palatial luxury.
Each house developed its own distinctive personality, which its residents shared, so that the wise Wooks differed from the flippant Diffins, as did the cautious Offaws from the reckless Clattucs. Likewise, the imperturbable Veders disdained the emotional excesses of the Lavertys.
At Riverview House on the Leur River, a mile south of the agency, lived the Conservator, the Head Superintendent of Araminta Station. By order of the Charter he was an active member of the Naturalist Society, a native of Stroma, the small Naturalist settlement on Throy.
Araminta Station early acquired a hotel to house its visitors, an airport, a hospital, schools and a theater: the Orpheum. In order to earn foreign exchange, vineyards began to produce fine wines for export, and tourists were encouraged to visit any or all of a dozen wilderness lodges, established at special sites and carefully managed to avoid interference with the environment.
With the new amenities came problems of principle. How could so many enterprises be staffed by a complement of only two hundred and forty persons? Elasticity of some sort was necessary, and "collaterals," in the guise of "temporary labor," began to serve in many managerial capacities.
The collaterals were a class which almost imperceptibly had come into being. A person born into one of the houses, but denied" full "Agency status" by reason of the numerical limit, became a collateral, with diminished status. Many collaterals emigrated; others found more or less congenial employment at the station.
The Charter exempted children, retired persons, domestic servants and "temporary labor not in permanent residence" from the count. The term "temporary labor" was extended to include farm labor, hotel staff, airport mechanics--indeed, labor of every description--and the Conservator looked the other way so long as this work force was allowed no permanent residence.
A source of cheap, plentiful and docile labor, conveniently close at hand, was needed. What could be more convenient than the population of Lutwen Atoll, three hundred miles northeast of Araminta Station? These were the Yips, descendants of runaway servants, illegal immigrants and others.
In such a manner the Yips became pan of the scene at Araminta Station. They lived in dormitories near the airport and were allowed work permits of only six months' duration.
Thus far strict Conservationists were willing to bend, but no farther; any new concessions, they argued, would formalize the Yip presence, and gradually lead to Yip settlements on Deucas continent, which could not be tolerated.
As time passed, the population of Lutwen Atoll increased to an unreasonable figure. The Conservator notified the headquarters of the Naturalist Society on Earth, and urged that drastic steps be taken, but the Society had fallen on hard times and offered no help.
Yipton became a tourist attraction in its own right. Ferries from Araminta Station conveyed tourists to the Arkady Inn at Yipton: a structure built entirely of bamboo poles and palm fronds. On the terrace beautiful Yip girls served rum punches, gin slings, sun downers Trelawny sloshes, malt beer and coconut toddy, all mixed liquors brewed or distilled at Yipton. Other more intimate services were readily available at Pussycat Palace, famous up and down Mircea's Wisp and beyond for the affable versatility of the attendants--though nothing was free. At Yipton, if one requested an after-lunch toothpick, he found the reckoning on his bill.
The tourist traffic increased even further when the Oomphaw (the title of the Yip ruler) introduced a startling new set of entertainments.
4 Stroma Another problem involving the Charter had been settled to a more definite effect. During the first few years, Society members, when they visited Cadwal, were lodged at Riverview House. The Conservator finally rebelled and refused to cope any further with the constant comings and goings. He proposed that a second small enclave be established thirty miles to the south, with guest houses reserved for the use of visiting Naturalists. The plan, when presented at the Society's annual conclave (held on Earth), found a mixed reception.
Strict Conservarionists complained that the Charter was being gnawed to shreds by first one trick, then another.
Others replied: "Well and good, but when we go to Cadwal, either to undertake research or to take pleasure in the surroundings, are we to live in a tent?"
The conclave adopted a compromise plan, which pleased no one. A new settlement was authorized, but only on the condition that it be built at a specific location overlooking Stroma Fjord on Throy. This was a site almost comically unsuitable, and obviously intended as a ploy to discourage proponents of the plan from taking action.
The challenge, however, was accepted. Stroma came into being: a town of tall narrow houses, crabbed and quaint, black or dark umber, with doors and window trim painted white, blue and red. The houses were built on eight levels with majestic views down Stroma Fjord.
On Earth the Naturalist Society fell prey to weak leadership and a general lack of purpose. At a final conclave, the records and documents were assigned to the Library of Archives, and the presiding officer struck the gong of adjournment for the last time.
On Cadwal the folk of Stroma took no official notice of the event, though now the sole income of Stroma was the yield from their private off-world investment, which had more or less been the case for many years. Young folk ever more frequently departed to seek their fortunes. Some were seen no more; others succeeded and returned with influxes of new income. By one means or another Stroma survived and even enjoyed a modest prosperity.
5 Glawen Clattuc Something over nine hundred years had passed since Rudel Neirmann's first landing on Cadwal. At Araminta Station summer was verging into autumn, and Glawen Clattuc's sixteenth birthday, formalizing his transition from "childhood" to "provisional staff," was upon him. On this occasion he learned his official "Status Index," or SI: a number calculated by a computer, after it digested masses of genealogical data.
The number seldom surprised anyone, least of all the person most directly concerned; he would long have been counting on his fingers and casting projections.
Since the habitancy of each house was established at forty persons, half male, half female, any SI of 20 or under was excellent, from 21 to 22 good, 23 or 24 fair; anything over was ambiguous, depending upon conditions within the House. A number beyond 26 was discouraging and prompted mournful speculations in regard to the future.
Glawen's place on the genealogical chart was not exalted.
His mother, now dead, had been born off-world; his father, Scharde, an official at Bureau B, was the third son of a second son. Glawen, a sober and realistic youth, hoped for a 24, which would still allow him a chance at Agency status.
6 Days of the Week A final note concerning days of the week. On Cadwal, and generally around the Gaean Reach, the traditional seven-day week remained the norm. Using a nomenclature based on the so-called Metallic Schedule avoids the ear-grinding incongruity of contemporary equivalents (i.e."
"Monday," "Tuesday," etcetera).
Linguistic notes: Originally, each term was preceded by the denominator Am (literally: "This day of"), so that the first workday of the week was "Ain-Ort," or "this day of iron." As the root language became archaic and was superseded, the Am was lost and the days were designated simply by the metal names alone.
The days of the week:
(Am)On ..................................... iron Tzein zinc Ing lead Glilnniet tin Verd copper Milden silver Smollen gold
Glawen Clattuc's sixteenth birthday was the occasion for a modest celebration which would culminate in Housemaster Fratano's formal salute and his announcement of Glawen'sSI or Status Index--a number which in large measure would determine the direction of Glawen's future.
For the sake of both convenience and economy, the celebration would be superimposed upon the weekly "House Supper," which all in-House Clattucs must attend, with neither age nor indisposition serving as an excuse for truancy.
The morning of the celebration went quietly. Glawen's father, Scharde, gave him a pair of silver and turquoise epaulettes, as worn by gentlemen at the most exclusive resorts of the Gaean Reach, if the fashion journals were to be believed.
Scharde and Glawen took breakfast in their chambers, as usual. They lived alone; Glawen's mother, Marya, had died in an accident three years after his birth. Glawen dimly remembered a loving presence, and sensed latent mystery, though Scharde would never discuss the subject.
The bare facts were simple. Scharde had met Marya when she visited Araminta Station with her parents. Scharde escorted the group around the circuit of wilderness lodges and later visited Marya at Sarsenopolis on Alphecca Nine. Here the two had married, and shortly after returned to Araminta Station.
The off-world marriage took Clattuc House by surprise, and provoked an unexpected furor, instigated by a certain Spanchetta, grand- niece to Housemaster Fratano. Spanchetta was already married to the mild and uncomplaining Miliis and had produced a son, Aries;
