Atlantis and Other Places.
by Harry Turtledove.
AUDUBON IN ATLANTIS.
Science fiction writers often read a wide variety of books. I was going through one on the ecology of New Zealand before humans arrived when it noted that New Zealand had drifted away from Australia about 85 million years ago. It occurred to me to wonder what would have happened if the same thing had happened to a large chunk of eastern North America at more or less the same time. Suppose that chunk had no native mammals except for bats. Suppose the Native Americans never found it-it would be in the middle of the Atlantic, after all. When Europeans came along, they"d almost certainly call an immense island right there Atlantis. ...
Delicate as if walking on eggs, the riverboat Augustus Caesar Augustus Caesar eased in alongside the quay at New Orleans. Colored roustabouts, bare to the waist, caught lines from the boat and made her fast. The steam whistle blew several long, happy blasts, telling the world the sternwheeler had arrived. Then black smoke stopped belching from the stacks as the crew shut down the engines. eased in alongside the quay at New Orleans. Colored roustabouts, bare to the waist, caught lines from the boat and made her fast. The steam whistle blew several long, happy blasts, telling the world the sternwheeler had arrived. Then black smoke stopped belching from the stacks as the crew shut down the engines.
The deck stopped quivering beneath John Audubon"s feet. He breathed a silent sigh of relief; for all the time he"d spent aboard boats and ships, he was not a good sailor, and knew he never would be. Any motion, no matter how slight, could make his stomach betray him. He sighed-a long sea voyage still lay ahead of him.
Edward Harris came up and stood alongside him. "Well, my friend, we"re on our way," he said.
"It"s true-we are. And we shall do that which has not been done, while it may yet be done." As Audubon always did, he gathered enthusiasm when he thought about the goal and not the means by which he had to accomplish it. His English was fluent, but heavily flavored by the French that was his birthspeech. Even with an accent, he would have spoken more mushily than he liked; he was nearer sixty than fifty, and had only a few teeth left. "Before long, Ed, either the great honkers will be gone from this world or I will."
He waited impatiently till the gangplank thudded into place, then hurried off the Augustus Caesar Augustus Caesar onto dry land, or something as close to dry land as New Orleans offered. He was a good-sized man-about five feet ten-with shoulder-length gray hair combed straight back from his forehead and with bushy gray side whiskers that framed a long, strong-nosed face. onto dry land, or something as close to dry land as New Orleans offered. He was a good-sized man-about five feet ten-with shoulder-length gray hair combed straight back from his forehead and with bushy gray side whiskers that framed a long, strong-nosed face.
Men and women of every color, wearing everything from rags to frock coats and great hoop skirts, thronged the muddy, puddled street. Chatter, jokes, and curses crackled in Spanish, French, and English, and in every possible mixture and corruption of those tongues. Audubon heard far more English than he had when he first came to New Orleans half a lifetime earlier. It was a French town then, with the Spanish dons hanging on where and as they could. Times changed, though. He knew that too well.
Not far from the Cabildo stood the brick building that housed the Bartlett Line. Edward Harris following in his wake, Audubon went inside. A clerk nodded to them. "Good day, gentlemen," he said in English. A generation earlier, the greeting would surely have come in French. "How may I be of service to you today?"
"I wish to purchase pa.s.sage to Atlantis for the two of us," Audubon replied.
"Certainly, sir." The clerk didn"t bat an eye. "The Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans sails for New Ma.r.s.eille and Avalon on the west coast in . . . let me see . . . five days. If you would rather wait another week, you can book places on the sails for New Ma.r.s.eille and Avalon on the west coast in . . . let me see . . . five days. If you would rather wait another week, you can book places on the Sea Queen Sea Queen for the east. She puts in at St. Augustine, St. Denis, and Hanover, then continues on to London." for the east. She puts in at St. Augustine, St. Denis, and Hanover, then continues on to London."
"We can reach the interior as easily from either coast," Harris said.
"Just so." Audubon nodded. "We would have to wait longer to leave for the east, the journey would be longer, and I would not care to set out from Hanover in any case. I have too many friends in the capital. With the kindest intentions in the world, they would sweep us up in their social whirl, and we should be weeks getting free of it. The Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans it shall be." it shall be."
"You won"t be sorry, sir. She"s a fine ship." The clerk spoke with professional enthusiasm. He took out a book of ticket forms and inked his pen. "In whose names shall I make these out?"
"I am John James Audubon," Audubon replied. "With me travels my friend and colleague, Mr. Edward Harris."
"Audubon?" The clerk started to write, then looked up, his face aglow. "The Audubon? The artist? The naturalist?" Audubon? The artist? The naturalist?"
Audubon exchanged a secret smile with Edward Harris. Being recognized never failed to gratify him: he loved himself well enough to crave reminding that others loved him, too. When he swung back toward the clerk, he tried to make the smile modest. "I have the honor to be he, yes."
The clerk thrust out his hand. As Audubon shook it, the young man said, "I cannot tell you how pleased I am to make your acquaintance, sir. Mr. Hiram Bartlett, the chairman of the shipping line, is a subscriber to your Birds and Viviparous Quadrupeds of Northern Terranova and Atlantis Birds and Viviparous Quadrupeds of Northern Terranova and Atlantis-the double elephant folio edition. He sometimes brings in one volume or another for the edification of his staff. I admire your art and your text in almost equal measure, and that is the truth."
"You do me too much credit," Audubon said, in lieu of strutting and preening like a courting pa.s.senger pigeon. He was also glad to learn how prosperous Bartlett was. No one but a rich man could afford the volumes of the double elephant folio. They were big enough to show almost every bird and most beasts at life size, even if he had twisted poses and bent necks almost unnaturally here and there to fit creatures onto the pages" Procrustean bed.
"Are you traveling to Atlantis to continue your researches?" the clerk asked eagerly.
"If fate is kind, yes," Audubon replied. "Some of the creatures I hope to see are less readily found than they were in years gone by, while I"-he sighed-"I fear I am less well able to find them than I was in years gone by. Yet a man can do only what it is given to him to do, and I intend to try."
"If they"re there, John, you"ll find them," Harris said.
"G.o.d grant it be so," Audubon said. "What is the fare aboard the Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans?"
"A first-cla.s.s cabin for two, sir, is a hundred twenty livres," the clerk said. "A second-cla.s.s cabin is eighty livres, while one in steerage is a mere thirty-five livres. But I fear I cannot recommend steerage for gentlemen of your quality. It lacks the comforts to which you will have become accustomed."
"I"ve lived rough. Once I get to Atlantis, I expect I shall live rough again," Audubon said. "But, unlike some gentlemen of the Protestant persuasion"-he fondly nudged Edward Harris-"I don"t make the mistake of believing comfort is sinful. Let us travel first cla.s.s."
"I don"t believe comfort is sinful, and you know it," Harris said. "We want to get you where you"re going and keep you as healthy and happy as we can while we"re doing it. First cla.s.s, by all means."
"First cla.s.s it shall be, then." The clerk wrote up the tickets.
Audubon boarded the Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans with a curious blend of antic.i.p.ation and dread. The sidewheeler was as modern a steamship as any, but she was still a ship, one that would soon put to sea. Even going up the gangplank, his stomach gave a premonitory lurch. with a curious blend of antic.i.p.ation and dread. The sidewheeler was as modern a steamship as any, but she was still a ship, one that would soon put to sea. Even going up the gangplank, his stomach gave a premonitory lurch.
He laughed and tried to make light of it, both to Harris and to himself. "When I think how many times I"ve put to sea in a sailing ship, at the mercy of wind and wave, I know how foolish I am to fret about a voyage like this," he said.
"You said it to the clerk last week: you can only do what you can do." Harris was blessed with both a calm stomach and a calm disposition. If opposites attracted, he and Audubon made a natural pair.
The purser strode up to them. Bra.s.s b.u.t.tons gleamed on his blue wool coat; sweat gleamed on his face. "You gentlemen are traveling together?" he said. "If you would be kind enough to show me your tickets. . . ?"
"But of course," Audubon said. He and Harris produced them.
"I thank you." The purser checked them against a list he carried in one of his jacket"s many pockets. "Mr. Audubon and Mr. Harris, is it? Very good. We have you in Cabin 12, the main deck on the starboard side. That"s on the right as you look forward, if you haven"t gone to sea before."
"I"m afraid I have," Audubon said. The purser took off his cap and scratched his balding crown, but Audubon meant it exactly as he"d phrased it. He nodded to Harris and to the free Negro pushing a wheeled cart that held their baggage. "Let"s see what we"ve got, then."
They had a cabin with two beds, a chest of drawers, and a basin and pitcher on top of it: about what they would have had in an inn of reasonable quality, though smaller. In an inn, though, I"m not likely to drown In an inn, though, I"m not likely to drown, Audubon thought. He didn"t suppose he was likely likely to drown on the to drown on the Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans, but if the seas got rough he would wish he were dead.
He gave the Negro half a livre, for the luggage, once unloaded from the cart, filled the cabin almost to the bursting point. Neither Audubon nor Harris was a dandy; they had no extraordinary amount of clothes. But Audubon"s watercolors and paper filled up a couple of trunks, and the jars and the raw spirits they would use to preserve specimens took up a couple of more. And each of them had a shotgun for gathering specimens and a newfangled revolver for self-protection.
"Leave enough room so you"ll be able to get out and come to the galley when you"re hungry," the purser said helpfully.
"Thank you so much." Audubon hoped his sarcasm would freeze the man, but the purser, quite unfrozen, tipped his cap and left the cabin. Audubon muttered in pungent French.
"Never mind, John," Harris said. "We"re here, and we"ll weigh anchor soon. After that, no worries till we get to Avalon."
No worries for you. But Audubon kept that to himself. Harris couldn"t help having a tranquil stomach, any more than the artist could help having a nervous one. Audubon only wished his were calm.
He also wished the Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans sailed at the appointed hour, or even on the appointed day. sailed at the appointed hour, or even on the appointed day. Thursday, the 6th day of April, 1843, at half past 10 in the morning Thursday, the 6th day of April, 1843, at half past 10 in the morning, the clerk had written on each ticket in a fine round hand. Audubon and Harris were aboard in good time. But half past ten came and went without departure. All of Thursday came and went. Pa.s.sengers kept right on boarding. Stevedores kept on carrying sacks of sugar and rice into the ship"s hold. Only the stuffed quail and artichokes and asparagus and the really excellent champagne in the first-cla.s.s galley went some little way toward reconciling Audubon to being stuck on the steamship an extra day.
Finally, on Friday afternoon, the Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans" engine rumbled to life. Its engine had a deeper, stronger note than the one that had propelled the Augustus Caesar Augustus Caesar down the Big Muddy. The deck thrummed under Audubon"s shoes. down the Big Muddy. The deck thrummed under Audubon"s shoes.
Officers bawled commands as smoke belched from the steamship"s stacks. Sailors took in the lines that secured the ship to the quay. Others, grunting with effort, manned the capstan. One link at a time, they brought up the heavy chain and anchor that had held the sidewheeler in place.
Watching them, Harris said, "One of these days, steam will power the capstan as well as the paddlewheels."
"You could be right," Audubon replied. "The sailors must hope you are."
"Steam is the coming thing. You mark my words," Harris said. "Steamships, railroads, factories-who knows what else?"
"So long as they don"t make a steam-powered painter, I"ll do well enough," Audubon said.
"A steam-powered painter? You come up with the maddest notions, John." Edward Harris laughed. Slowly, though, the mirth faded from his face. "With a mechanical pantograph, your notion might almost come true."
"I wasn"t thinking of that so much," Audubon told him. "I was thinking of this new trick of light-writing people have started using the last few years. If it gave pictures in color, not shades of gray, and if you could make-no, they say take take-a light-writing picture fast enough to capture motion . . . Well, if you could, painters would fall on thin times, I fear."
"Those are hefty ifs ifs. It won"t happen soon, if it ever does," Harris said.
"Oh, yes. I know." Audubon nodded. "I doubt I"ll have to carry a hod in my fading years. My son will likely make a living as a painter, too. But you were talking about days to come. May I not think of them as well?"
The steamship"s whistle screamed twice, warning that she was about to move away from the quay. Her paddlewheels spun slowly in reverse, backing her out into the Big Muddy. Then one wheel stopped while the other continued to revolve. Along with the rudder, that swung the Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans" bow downstream. Another blast from the whistle-a triumphant one-and more smoke pouring from her stacks, she started down the great river toward the Bay of Mexico. Though she hadn"t yet reached the sea, Audubon"s stomach flinched.
The Big Muddy"s delta stretched far out into the Bay of Mexico. As soon as the Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans left the river and got out into the bay, her motion changed. Her pitch and roll were nothing to speak of, not to the crew and not to most of the pa.s.sengers. But they were enough to send Audubon and a few other unfortunates running for the rail. After a couple of minutes that seemed like forever, he wearily straightened, mouth foul and burning, eyes streaming with tears. He was rid of what ailed him, at least for the moment. left the river and got out into the bay, her motion changed. Her pitch and roll were nothing to speak of, not to the crew and not to most of the pa.s.sengers. But they were enough to send Audubon and a few other unfortunates running for the rail. After a couple of minutes that seemed like forever, he wearily straightened, mouth foul and burning, eyes streaming with tears. He was rid of what ailed him, at least for the moment.
A steward with a tray of gla.s.ses nodded deferentially. "Some punch, sir, to help take the taste away?"
"Merci. Mon Dieu, merci beaucoup," Audubon said, tormented out of English. Audubon said, tormented out of English.
"Pas de quoi," the steward replied. Any man on a ship sailing from New Orleans and touching in the southern parts of Atlantis had to speak some French. the steward replied. Any man on a ship sailing from New Orleans and touching in the southern parts of Atlantis had to speak some French.
Audubon sipped and let rum and sweetened lemon juice clean his mouth. When he swallowed, he feared he would have another spasm, but the punch stayed down. Rea.s.suring warmth spread from his middle. Two more gulps emptied the gla.s.s. "G.o.d bless you!" he said.
"My pleasure, sir. We see some every time out." The steward offered restoratives to Audubon"s fellow sufferers. They fell on him with glad cries. He even got a kiss from a nice-looking young woman-but only after she"d taken a good swig from her gla.s.s of punch.
Feeling human in a mournful way, Audubon walked up toward the bow. The breeze of the ship"s pa.s.sage helped him forget about his unhappy innards . . . for now. Gulls screeched overhead. A common tern dove into the sea and came up with a fish in its beak. It didn"t get to enjoy the meal. A herring gull flapped after it and made it spit out the fish before it could swallow. The gull got the dainty; the robbed tern flew off to try its luck somewhere else.
On the southern horizon lay the island of Nueva Galicia, about forty miles southeast of the delta. Only a little steam rose above Mount Isabella, near the center of the island. Audubon had been a young man the last time the volcano erupted. He remembered ash raining down on New Orleans.
He looked east toward Mount Pensacola at the mouth of the bay. Pensacola had blown its stack more recently-only about ten years earlier, in fact. For now, though, no ominous plume of black rose in that direction. Audubon nodded to himself. He wouldn"t have to worry about making the pa.s.sage east during an eruption. When Mount Pensacola burst into flame, rivers of molten rock ran steaming into the sea, pushing the Terranovan coastline a little farther south and east. Ships couldn"t come too close to observe the awe-inspiring spectacle, for the volcano threw stones to a distance coast artillery only dreamt of. Most splashed into the Bay of Mexico, of course, but who would ever forget the Black Prince Black Prince, holed and sunk by a flying boulder the size of a cow back in "93?
The Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans steamed sedately eastward. The waves weren"t too bad; Audubon found that repeated doses of rum punch worked something not far from a miracle when it came to settling his stomach. If it did twinge now and again, the rum kept him from caring. And the lemon juice, he told himself, held scurvy at bay. steamed sedately eastward. The waves weren"t too bad; Audubon found that repeated doses of rum punch worked something not far from a miracle when it came to settling his stomach. If it did twinge now and again, the rum kept him from caring. And the lemon juice, he told himself, held scurvy at bay.
Mount Pensacola was smoking when the sidewheeler pa.s.sed it near sunset. But the cloud of steam rising from the conical peak, like that above Mount Isabella, was thin and pale, not broad and black and threatening.
Edward Harris came up alongside Audubon by the port rail. "A pretty view," Harris remarked.
"It is indeed," Audubon said.
"I"m surprised not to find you sketching," Harris told him. "Sunset tingeing the cloud above the mountain with pink against the deepening blue . . . What could be more picturesque?"
"Nothing, probably." Audubon laughed in some embarra.s.sment. "But I"ve drunk enough of that splendid rum punch to make my right hand forget its cunning."
"I don"t suppose I can blame you, not when mal de mer mal de mer torments you so," Harris said. "I hope the sea will be calmer the next time you come this way." torments you so," Harris said. "I hope the sea will be calmer the next time you come this way."
"So do I-if there is a next time," Audubon said. "I am not young, Edward, and I grow no younger. I"m bound for Atlantis to do things and see things while I still may. The land changes year by year, and so do I. Neither of us will be again what we were."
Harris-calm, steady, dependable Harris-smiled and set a hand on his friend"s shoulder. "You"ve drunk yourself sad, that"s what you"ve done. There"s more to you than to many a man half your age."
"Good of you to say so, though we both know it"s not so, not any more. As for the rum ..." Audubon shook his head. "I knew this might be my last voyage when I got on the Augustus Caesar Augustus Caesar in St. Louis. Growing up is a time of firsts, of beginnings." in St. Louis. Growing up is a time of firsts, of beginnings."
"Oh, yes." Harris" smile grew broader. Audubon had a good idea which first he was remembering.
But the painter wasn"t finished. "Growing up is a time for firsts, yes," he repeated. "Growing old . . . Growing old is a time for endings, for lasts. And I do fear this will be my last long voyage."
"Well, make the most of it if it is," Harris said. "Shall we repair to the galley? Turtle soup tonight, with a saddle of mutton to follow." He smacked his lips.
Harris certainly made the most of the supper. Despite his ballasting of rum, Audubon didn"t. A few spoonsful of soup, a halfhearted attack on the mutton and the roast potatoes accompanying it, and he felt full to the danger point. "We might as well have traveled second cla.s.s, or even steerage," he said sadly. "The difference in cost lies mostly in the victuals, and I"ll never get my money"s worth at a table that rolls."
"I"ll just have to do it for both of us, then." Harris poured brandy-spiked gravy over a second helping of mutton. His campaign with fork and knife was serious and methodical, and soon reduced the mutton to nothing. He looked around hopefully. "I wonder what the sweet course is."
It was a cake baked in the shape of the Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans and stuffed with nuts, candied fruit, and almond paste. Harris indulged immoderately. Audubon watched with a strange smile, half jealous, half wistful. and stuffed with nuts, candied fruit, and almond paste. Harris indulged immoderately. Audubon watched with a strange smile, half jealous, half wistful.
He went to bed not long after supper. The first day of a sea voyage always told on him, more than ever as he got older. The mattress was as comfortable as the one in the inn back in New Orleans. It might have been softer than the one he slept on at home. But it was unfamiliar, and so he tossed and turned for a while, trying to find the most comfortable position. Even as he tossed, he laughed at himself. Before long, he"d sleep wrapped in a blanket on bare ground in Atlantis. Would he twist and turn there, too? He nodded. Of course he would. Nodding still, he dozed off.
He hadn"t been asleep long before Harris came in. His friend was humming "Pretty Black Eyes," a song popular in New Orleans as they set out. Audubon didn"t think the other man even knew he was doing it. Harris got into his nightshirt, p.i.s.sed in the chamber pot under his bed, blew out the oil lamp Audubon had left burning, and lay down. He was snoring in short order. Harris always denied that he snored-and why not? He never heard himself.
Audubon laughed once more. He tossed and twisted and yawned. Pretty soon, he was snoring again himself.
When he went out on deck the next morning, the Maid of Orleans Maid of Orleans might have been the only thing G.o.d ever made besides the sea. Terranova had vanished behind her; Atlantis still lay a thousand miles ahead. The steamship had entered the Hesperian Gulf, the wide arm of the North Atlantic that separated the enormous island and its smaller attendants from the continent to the west. might have been the only thing G.o.d ever made besides the sea. Terranova had vanished behind her; Atlantis still lay a thousand miles ahead. The steamship had entered the Hesperian Gulf, the wide arm of the North Atlantic that separated the enormous island and its smaller attendants from the continent to the west.
Audubon looked south and east. He"d been born on Santo Tomas, one of those lesser isles. He was brought to France three years later, and so escaped the convulsions that wracked the island when its colored slaves rose up against their masters in a war where neither side asked for quarter or gave it. Blacks ruled Santo Tomas to this day. Not many whites were left on the island. Audubon had only a few faded childhood memories of his first home. He"d never cared to go back, even if he could have without taking his life in his hands.
Edward Harris strolled out on deck. "Good morning," he said. "I hope you slept well?"
"Well enough, thanks," Audubon answered. I would have done better without "Pretty Black Eyes," but such is life I would have done better without "Pretty Black Eyes," but such is life. "Yourself?"
"Not bad, not bad." Harris eyed him. "You look . . . less greenish than you did yesterday. The bracing salt air, I suppose?"
"It could be. Or maybe I"m getting used to the motion." As soon as Audubon said that, as soon as he thought about his stomach, he gulped. He pointed an accusing finger at his friend. "There-you see? Just asking was enough to jinx me."
"Well, come have some breakfast, then. Nothing like a good mess of ham and eggs or something like that to get you ready for . . . Are you all right?"
"No," Audubon gasped, leaning out over the rail.
He breakfasted lightly, on toasted ship"s biscuit and coffee and rum punch. He didn"t usually start the day with strong spirits, but he didn"t usually start the day with a bout of seasickness, either. A good thing, too, or I"d have died years ago A good thing, too, or I"d have died years ago, he thought. I hope I would, anyhow I hope I would, anyhow.