[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
." Another swallow, her eyes blurred."I hate the darkness!""Yes, I know." Aspundh sat silently for a moment."Elsevier, will you for metranslate? I think it important will be that Moon every word perfectlyunderstands."Elsevier nodded, and began to give Moon the words in Tiamatan asAspundh spoke again: "Tiamat is--undeveloped.Do you understand where you gowhen you're thrown into the darkness? Do you understand why sometimes you seeanother world instead?"Elsevier shook her head at Aspundh as she finished."That's why Iher to you brought."Moon looked toward the window, searching the air."The Lady chooses.""Ah.So on your world your goddess is in charge--or you've always believedthat she is.What would you say if I told you that your visions weren't a giftfrom the gods, but a legacy of the OldEmpire?"Moon realized that she had been holding her breath, let it out suddenly."Yes!I mean, I--I expected it.Everyone here knows I'm a sibyl; how could theyknow? You're a sibyl; and you've never heard of the Lady." She had long agostopped seeing the Sea Mother literally, a beautiful woman with seaweed hair,clad in spume, rising from the waves in a mer-drawn shell.But even theformless, elemental force she had sometimes felt touch her soul would not haveleft Her element or journeyed so far.If in fact she had ever even feltanything, beyond her own longing to feel."You have so many gods, you offworlders She was too numbed by loss and change to feel one more blow."Why do you have so many?""Because there are so many worlds; each world has at least one, and usuallymany, of its own."My gods or your gods," they say, 'who knows which are thereal ones?" So we worship them all, just to be sure.""But how could the Old Empire put sibyls everywhere, if no god did? Weren'tthey only humans?""They were." He reached out to the bowl of sugared fruits in the mil tablecenter."But in some ways they had the power of gods.TheyIII could travel between worlds directly, in weeks or months, not years --theyhad hyper light communicators and star drives And yet their Empire fell apartin the end.even they overextended themselves.Or so we think."But even as the Empire fell, some remarkable and selfless group had created astorehouse, a data bank, of the Empire's learning in every area of humanknowledge.They had hoped that with all of humanity's discoveries recorded inone central, inviolable place, they would make the impending collapse of theircivilization less complete, and the rebuilding that much swifter.And becausethey realized that technical collapse might be virtually total on many worlds,they had devised the simplest outlets for their data bank that they couldconceive of--human beings.Sibyls, who could transmit their receptivitydirectly to their chosen successors, blood to blood.Moon's fingers felt the scar on her wrist."But.how can someone's bloodshow you what's in a--a machine on some other world?I don't believe it!""Call it a divine infection.You understand infection?"She nodded."When someone is sick, you stay away from them.""Exactly.A sibyl's 'infection' is a man-made disease, aPage 109ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlbiochemical reaction so sophisticated that we've barely begun to unravel itssubtleties.It creates, or perhaps implants, certain restructurings in thebrain tissue that make a sibyl receptive to a faster-than-light communicationmedium.You become a receiver, and a transmitter.You communicate directlywith the original data source.That's where you are when you drown in nothingness: within the computer'scircuits, not lost in space--or with other sibyls living on other worlds, whohave answers to questions the Old Empire never thought to ask." He lifted hisglass to her with an encouraging smile."All this verbalizing makes me dry."Moon watched the trefoil turn against the rich, gold-threaded brown of hisrobe; saw her own turning silently, exiled, on a hook in an air-conditionedroom somewhere high overhead."Is it the disease that makes people go mad,then? It's death to kill a sibyl.death to love a sibyl--" She broke off,touching the cool stones along the table edge.He raised his eyebrows."Is that what they say on Tiamat? We have that sayingtoo; though we don't take it literally any more.Yes, for some peopleinfection with the 'disease' does cause madness.Sibyls are chosen for certainpersonality traits, and emotional stability is one.and of course asibyl's blood can transmit the disease.So can saliva--but usually the otherperson must have an open wound to become infected.Obviously it isn't 'deathto love a sibyl," with reasonable care, or you wouldn't have seen my daughtertoday.Isuppose the superstition was fostered in order to protect sibyls from harm inless civilized societies.The very symbol we wear, the barbed trefoil, is asymbol for biological contamination; it's one of the oldest symbols known toman."But she heard nothing after--"It isn't death to love a sibyl? ThenSparks.we don't have to be apart.We can live together! El sevier!" Moonhugged the old woman until she gasped."Thank you!Thank you for bringing me here--you've saved my life.Between the sea and thesky, there's nothing I won't do for you!""What's this?" Aspundh leaned on his fist, bemused."Who is thisSparks? A romance?"Elsevier pushed Moon away to arm's length and held her there gently."Oh,Moon, my dear child," she said with inexplicable sorrow, "I don't want to haveto hold you to that promise."Moon twisted her head, not understanding."We were pledged, but he went awaywhen I became a sibyl.But now, when I go back I can tell him--""Go back? To Tiamat?" Aspundh straightened."Moon," Elsevier whispered, "we can't take you back." The words rushed outlike a flight of birds."I know, I know I have to wait until--" She beat the words away."Moon, listen to her!" The shock of Cress's broken silence stopped it."What?" She went slack in Elsevier's grip."You said wewould--""We're never going back to Tiamat, Moon.We never meant to, we can't.Andneither can you." Elsevier's lip trembled."I lied to you," looking away,searching for an easy way, finding none."It's all been a monstrous lie.I'm--sorry." She let go of Moon's arms."But why?" Moon brushed distraughtly at her hair, strands of cobweb ticklingher face."Why?""Because it's too late.Tiamat's Gate is closing, becoming too unstable for asmall ship like ours to pass through safely.It.hasn't been months since we left Tiamat, Moon.It's been more than two years.It will be just as long going back.""That's a lie! We weren't on the ship for years." Moon pushed up onto herknees as comprehension melted and ran down around her."Why are you doing thisPage 110ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlto me?""Because I should have done it at the beginning." Elsevier's hand covered hereyes.Cress said something to Aspundh in rapidSandhi."She isn't lying to you, Moon." Aspundh sat back, unconsciously separatinghimself from them.Elsevier translated his words dully."Ship's time is not the same as time on the outside.It moves more slowly.Look at me, look at Elsevier--and remember that I was younger than TJ by manyyears.Moon, if you returned to Tiamat now you would have been missing fornearly five years.""No.no, no!" She struggled to her feet, wrenching loose asCress tried to hold her down.She crossed the room to the window, stood gazingout on the gardens and sky with her forehead pressed hard against the pane.Her breath curtained the glass with ephemeral frost, making her eyes snowblind "I won't stay on this world [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]