[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Working the tran-circuit isn t all that different from this.Once I know theterms, I can root round and finagle a way to live with them. You dance, the Omperiannas are musicians, Parna-lee designs large-scaleevents, Yad Matra s a machin-ist, Churri s a poet, Appel, Jaunniko, Naaien, godown the list, you re all techs or artists or both, but me? There s nothing Ican do that has any meaning outside of University or a place like that,nothing I like to think about.What can they want with a xenoethno-logist?It s ridiculous. Mebbe so. Xalloor laced her hands behind her head, bent cautiously backward,straightened with an effort visible in the tendons of her neck. I loathethese heavy worlds, move wrong and you tear up your legs.There was a loud clapping sound of wood on wood.They turned.A man had comethrough a door in the side of the tower; he stood at the top of the steps thatled up to it, a clipboard in one hand, its bottom braced on the ledge of aPage 29ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlhard round belly. I am the Impera-tor s Madoor, he said. When I call yourname, come here, stand at the base of the stairs.You will be taken to yourposts.There will be no argument, no protests, no threats, no struggling.Awake or drugged, you will go.We have no preference as to the manner of yourgoing, but consider well, how you begin is how you will go on.You have novoice in your destination or what happens to you there.I want that veryclear.You are not beasts, you are less than beasts.You are worth only whatservices or instruments you can pro-vide.If you choose not to provide them,you will be beaten or otherwise persuaded to change your mind.If you stillrefuse, we will get what value out of you that we can.You will serve as baitfor our fishermen or food for our hunting cats.Do not think to escape andhide yourself among Huvved or Hordar; you can-not, you do not look like us,you do not sound like us no matter how well you have got our language, you donot know custom or rite, you have no family here.No one will help you.Cooperate or suffer the conse-quences. He looked down at the clipboard. Kante Xalloor.Tom perianne.Nym perianne.Lam perianne.Jaunniko. He namedfive others, all performers of one sort or another, then waited while twoguards and an escort of exquisitely robed and tonsured males sorted them intoa proper line and took them off.They went without creating fuss, they wentwith prowling steps and narrowed eyes, plotting as they moved, too cool, toocontrolled, too experienced in the exigencies of surviving to waste theirenergies in a futile rebellion.Aslan watched them go and saw her vague notionof assembling a group to take one of Bolodo s transports go with them, thevision fading like a memory of a dream.As she passed through the arch,Xalloor risked a wave and a grin and got away with both.Aslan waved back,then waited her turn, feeling bereft and lonelier than she had in years. Churri dilan.Aslan aici Adlaar.Parnalee Pagang Tanmairo Proggerd.Aslan moved as slowly as she dared toward the steps.During the trip hereshe d done her best to avoid attracting Churri s notice, not too difficultbe-cause he was tied to his bunk and except for the times when he added versesto the Curse Song and belted them out, for the edification of his fellowcaptives, he was either asleep or scribbling in his notebooks.She was afraidof getting closer to him, she didn t want to be linked with him, she didn twant him playing are-you aren t-you games with her.She saw his head jerk whenhe heard her full name, the matronymic that linked her with Adelaar, and madesure the Parnalee stood between him and her, but she couldn t miss the nervousdart of his yellow eyes as he leaned forward and looked around the Proggerdi sbulky body.No robed and perfumed types came for them.A guard prodded Aslan toward thefar side of the court, herded the three of them through a bewildering cas-cadeof arches and into a holding cell of sorts.The guard looked around the room;his eyes passed over them as if they were less important than the dust on thefloor.He grunted and left, barring the door be-hind him.Once the light from the doorway was cut off, several strips pasted on thebackwall began to glow, producing a bluish twilight that hid more than itrevealed.Parnalee sniffed. Smells like dogshit in here. He strolled to thedoor, leaned on it.It creaked and shifted a milli-meter or so, balked. Thought so. He rested his massive shoulders against the planks, folded hisarms across his chest, yawned and let his eyes droop shut. Aici Adlaar? Churri s voice.Aslan twitched.The voice was a large part of the Bard s reputation, a mellowflexible baritone capable of turning a nuance on the flick of a vowel.On thetrip here she d listened with pleasure when he talked to his neighbors, whenhe chanted his verses to the hold.Now that voice was turned on her.It wasonly a part of her name that he said, but folded into those sylla-bles werequestion, speculation, a touch of fear, a touch of wonder, a demand for ananswer and other less identifiable implications.She drew her tongue acrossher lips. So? Soncheren? I was born there.Page 30ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html I knew a girl on Soncheren, long time ago, one Adelaar. I know. How?Aslan hesitated, decided there was no point in hedg-ing. She s my mother. So Ogodon got her married off.That hamfisted cousin of hers, I suppose, hewas hot after her. More nuance casual overlay, eagerness beneath, sharp tangof anxiety, all of which turned into laughter.She ignored that. Married? A spoiled virgin? Don t be stupid.Not onSoncheren.He sold her to a Contractor after I was weaned, sold me into thebaby market. You re mine? So she says. I didn t know. She told me that. Why didn t she send me word? Not much point, considering how fast you cut out before. I went back. How nice of you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]