5
TOFU (to'fu), Wellington (weling-tun), Stdrd 10,082-10,191; medical doctor of the Ono School (grd Stdrd 10,112); md: Betty Marcus, B.G. (Stdrd 10,092-10,186?); chiefly noted as betrayer of Duke Genma Atreides. (Cf: Bibliography, Appendix VII [Imperial Conditioning] and Betrayal, The.)
-from "Dictionary of Neko'Ken" by the Princess Nabiki
Although he heard Dr. Tofu enter the training room, noting the stiff deliberation of the man's pace, Ranma remained stretched out face down on the exercise table where the masseuse had left him. He felt deliciously relaxed after the workout with Ukyo Halleck.
"You do look comfortable," said Tofu in his calm, high-pitched voice.
Ranma raised his head, saw the man's stick figure standing several paces away, took in at a glance the wrinkled black kimono, the square block of a head with purple lips and drooping mustache, the triple-diamond tattoo of Imperial Conditioning on his forehead, the long black hair caught in the Ono School's silver ring at the left shoulder.
"You'll be happy to hear we haven't time for regular lessons today," Tofu said. "Your father will be along presently."
Ranma sat up.
"However, I've arranged for you to have a filmscroll viewer and several lessons during the crossing to Jusenkyo."
"Oh."
Ranma began pulling on his clothes. He felt excitement that his father would be coming. They had spent so little time together since the Emperor's command to take over the han of Jusenkyo.
Tofu crossed to the ell table, thinking: ~How the boy has filled out these past few months. Such a waste! Oh, such a sad waste.~ And he reminded himself: ~I must not falter. What I do is done to be certain my Betty no longer can be hurt by the Harkonnen beasts.~
Ranma joined him at the table, buttoning his jacket. "What'll I be studying on the way across?"
"Ah-h-h-h, the terranic life forms of Jusenkyo. The planet seems to have opened its arms to certain terranic life forms. It's not clear how. I must seek out the planetary ecologist when we arrive — a Dr. Koron — and offer my help in the investigation."
And Tofu thought: ~What am I saying? I play the hypocrite even with myself.~
"Will there be something on the Amazons?" Ranma asked.
"The Amazons?" Tofu drummed his fingers on the table, caught Ranma staring at the nervous motion, withdrew his hand.
"Maybe you have something on the whole Jusenkyoeen population," Ranma said.
"Yes, to be sure," Tofu said. "There are two general separations of the people — Amazons, they are one group, and the others are the people of the basin, the vale, and the lakes. There's some intermarriage, I'm told. The women of lake and vale villages prefer Amazon husbands; their men prefer Amazon wives. They have a saying: 'Polish comes from the cities; wisdom from the mountains.'"
"Do you have pictures of them?"
"I'll see what I can get you. The most interesting feature, of course, is their eyes — totally green, no whites in them."
"Mutation?"
"No; it's linked to saturation of the blood with melange."
"The Amazons must be brave to live at the edge of that tundra."
"By all accounts," Tofu said. "They compose poems to their knives. Their women are as fierce as men. Even Amazon children are violent and dangerous. You'll not be permitted to mingle with them, I daresay."
Ranma stared at Tofu, finding in these few glimpses of the Amazons a power of words that caught his entire attention. ~What a people to win as allies!~ "And the Dragons?" Ranma asked.
"What?"
"I'd like to study more about the Mistdragons."
"Ah-h-h-h, to be sure. I've a filmscroll on a small specimen, only one hundred and ten meters long and twenty-two meters in diameter. It was taken in the northern latitudes. Dragons of more than four hundred meters in length have been recorded by reliable witnesses, and there's reason to believe even larger ones exist."
Ranma glanced down at a conical projection chart of the northern Jusenkyoeen latitudes spread on the table. "The mountain belt and south polar regions are marked uninhabitable. Is it the Dragons?"
"And the blizzards."
"But any place can be made habitable."
"If it's economically feasible," Tofu said. "Jusenkyo has many costly perils." He smoothed his drooping mustache. "Your father will be here soon. Before I go, I've a gift for you, something I came across in packing." He put an object on the table between them — black, oblong, no larger than the end of Ranma's thumb.
Ranma looked at it. Tofu noted how the boy did not reach for it, and thought: How cautious he is.
"It's a very old Blue Buddhist Sutra made for space travelers. Not a filmscroll, but actually printed on filament paper. It has its own magnifier and electrostatic charge system." He picked it up, demonstrated. "The scroll is held closed by the charge, which forces against spring-locked rods. You press the edge — thus, and the rods repel each other and the scroll opens to the panel you've selected."
"It's so small."
"But it has eighteen hundred panels. You press the edge — thus, and so... and the charge moves ahead one panel at a time as you read. Never touch the actual panels with your fingers. The filament tissue is too delicate." He closed the scroll, handed it to Ranma. "Try it."
Tofu watched Ranma work the panel adjustment, thought: ~I salve my own conscience. I give him the surcease of religion before betraying him. Thus may I say to myself that he has gone where I cannot go.~
"This must've been made before filmscrolls," Ranma said.
"It's quite old. Let it be our secret, eh? Your parents might think it too valuable for one so young."
And Tofu thought: ~His mother would surely wonder at my motives.~
"Well..." Ranma closed the scroll, held it in his hand. "If it's so valuable..."
"Indulge an old man's whim," Tofu said. "It was given to me when I was very young." And he thought: ~I must catch his mind as well as his cupidity.~ "Open it to four-sixty-seven Jizu — where it says: 'From warmth does all life begin.' There's a slight notch on the edge of the roll to mark the place."
Ranma felt the roll, detected two notches, one shallower than the other. He pressed the shallower one and the scroll spread open on his palm, its magnifier sliding into place. "Read it aloud," Tofu said.
Ranma wet his lips with his tongue, read: "Think you of the fact that a deaf person cannot hear. Then, what deafness may we not all possess? What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us? What is there around us that we cannot — "
"Stop it!" Tofu barked.
Ranma broke off, stared at him.
Tofu closed his eyes, fought to regain composure. ~What perversity caused the book to open at my Betty's favorite passage?~ He opened his eyes, saw Ranma staring at him.
"Is something wrong?" Ranma asked.
"I'm sorry," Tofu said. "That was... my... dead wife's favorite passage. It's not the one I intended you to read. It brings up memories that are... painful."
"There are two notches," Ranma said.
~Of course,~ Tofu thought. ~Betty marked her passage. His fingers are more sensitive than mine and found her mark. It was an accident, no more.~
"You may find the book interesting," Tofu said. "It has much historical truth in it as well as good ethical philosophy."
Ranma looked down at the tiny scroll in his palm — such a small thing. Yet, it contained a mystery... something had happened while he read from it. He had felt something stir his terrible purpose.
"Your father will be here any minute," Tofu said. "Put the book away and read it at your leisure."
Ranma touched the edge of it as Tofu had shown him. The scroll sealed itself. He slipped it into his tunic. For a moment there when Tofu had barked at him, Ranma had feared the man would demand the scroll's return.
"I thank you for the gift. Dr. Tofu," Ranma said, speaking formally. "It will be our secret. If there is a gift of favor you wish from me, please do not hesitate to ask."
"I... need for nothing," Tofu said. And he thought: ~Why do I stand here torturing myself? And torturing this poor lad... though he does not know it. Oeyh! Damn those Harkonnen beasts! Why did they choose me for their abomination?~