[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
had decided to come, it had come, with
Terry sitting mostly in an oversized Verionese chair, gravity doing much of
the final work. There was also no real sign of tearing, although there almost
had to be some inside.
The girl, they decided, was a hell of a quick healer.
She awoke about an hour after the birth, feeling as if she'd just delivered
boulders. Then she was handed the baby and the baby was placed gently to a
breast, started to suck, and really gorged himself.
By the next afternoon she'd slept off a lot of it and was feeling remarkably
better and a lot thinner and lighter to boot. She kept the baby with her at
almost all times, except when Campos wanted to see it or show it off, and,
wrapped in a soft blanket, the baby seemed quite content.
The second day, as she grew more ambitious, walking with the baby along the
barrier, always accompanied by someone, she seemed to grow more and more
interested in the Avenue. That evening, after dinner and feeding the baby, she
went out accompanied by no less than Campos and Tony, the latter just because
she didn't trust anybody around the girl. Terry surprised both the guardians
by going through the barrier and partway down the ramp, holding the baby
gently. Campos stared at her, wondering. "Sometimes I think she can see inside
there, see what we cannot," he remarked as much to himself as to Tony. "I
wonder what draws her to it. Does she see or hear something, perhaps?"
"Hard to say," Tony responded, but she, too, had noticed it. The girl hadn't
shown the slightest interest in the wall or the Avenue in all the time they'd
been there, but now, after the baby had been bom, it was, next to the child,
the only thing that really fascinated her.
Later on Campos discussed this with the colonel. "You would almost swear that
she saw inside,"
she told the Leeming. "That she thought that she could just walk right
through."
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"She is such a strange one," the colonel responded.
Campos was not ready to let it go at that. She'd watched her face staring into
that blank wall too often now.
"I wonder what would happen if we did take her there when the door opens," she
mused. "What if that 'rewiring' or whatever they did to her back in that
so-called human hex tuned her to the signals in there? What if it is some sort
of mental signal, some frequency that is denied those of us created by its
machinery?"
"You are actually suggesting that she might be able to walk through?" The
colonel thought about it. "I find that highly dubious, but even if she could,
what good would that do us? She is such a simple sort now. She wouldn't know
what to do once she was in there, I shouldn't think. I often wonder if we
would or if even the controls would be so alien or so beyond our ability to
understand."
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%2...20-%20Gods%20at%20the%20Well%2
0of%20Souls.TXT (129 of 157) [7/1/03 1:20:25 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20...of%20Souls%200
3%20-%20Gods%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT
"I grow very tired and very bored here," Campos told him. "I began to think
that our quarry is never going to appear or certainly that they are not going
to appear here. Perhaps they have more patience than we thought. Or perhaps
they weren't as good as we thought they were. There have been no signs, no
signals, no reports. It is as if this world swallowed them up."
"I share your frustration, but what can we do? If we give up now, it has all
been for nothing."
"Perhaps. Perhaps I am just playing mental games with myself to keep from
going insane with boredom. I just wonder, though, what would it hurt to take
her down there when the door opens up tonight? If she walks in, she walks in
with us. With all of us, perhaps. As you say, it is probably incomprehensible
to us, but what of that? If she could just walk through, and we with her, in
front of the amazed stares of the guards! Think of that! We would not need
Mavra Chang at all to work our will! Inside, then out. We two and the girl.
That alone would be enough to cause terror in the highest places, yes? And
only we would know that we did not do a thing!"
"It is foolishness. You are simply letting a poor unfortunate girl throw you."
"Still, think of it. If she could, and we did, I would be right, would I not?"
"Well, yes, but ..."
"But what? She is almost certainly not going to be able to do it. I admit
that. But where is the harm in trying it? Just once?"
"And who would be down there with her?"
"Just us. She, we two, and the baby, of course, which she, as a good mother, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl ocenkijessi.opx.pl
had decided to come, it had come, with
Terry sitting mostly in an oversized Verionese chair, gravity doing much of
the final work. There was also no real sign of tearing, although there almost
had to be some inside.
The girl, they decided, was a hell of a quick healer.
She awoke about an hour after the birth, feeling as if she'd just delivered
boulders. Then she was handed the baby and the baby was placed gently to a
breast, started to suck, and really gorged himself.
By the next afternoon she'd slept off a lot of it and was feeling remarkably
better and a lot thinner and lighter to boot. She kept the baby with her at
almost all times, except when Campos wanted to see it or show it off, and,
wrapped in a soft blanket, the baby seemed quite content.
The second day, as she grew more ambitious, walking with the baby along the
barrier, always accompanied by someone, she seemed to grow more and more
interested in the Avenue. That evening, after dinner and feeding the baby, she
went out accompanied by no less than Campos and Tony, the latter just because
she didn't trust anybody around the girl. Terry surprised both the guardians
by going through the barrier and partway down the ramp, holding the baby
gently. Campos stared at her, wondering. "Sometimes I think she can see inside
there, see what we cannot," he remarked as much to himself as to Tony. "I
wonder what draws her to it. Does she see or hear something, perhaps?"
"Hard to say," Tony responded, but she, too, had noticed it. The girl hadn't
shown the slightest interest in the wall or the Avenue in all the time they'd
been there, but now, after the baby had been bom, it was, next to the child,
the only thing that really fascinated her.
Later on Campos discussed this with the colonel. "You would almost swear that
she saw inside,"
she told the Leeming. "That she thought that she could just walk right
through."
Page 150
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"She is such a strange one," the colonel responded.
Campos was not ready to let it go at that. She'd watched her face staring into
that blank wall too often now.
"I wonder what would happen if we did take her there when the door opens," she
mused. "What if that 'rewiring' or whatever they did to her back in that
so-called human hex tuned her to the signals in there? What if it is some sort
of mental signal, some frequency that is denied those of us created by its
machinery?"
"You are actually suggesting that she might be able to walk through?" The
colonel thought about it. "I find that highly dubious, but even if she could,
what good would that do us? She is such a simple sort now. She wouldn't know
what to do once she was in there, I shouldn't think. I often wonder if we
would or if even the controls would be so alien or so beyond our ability to
understand."
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%2...20-%20Gods%20at%20the%20Well%2
0of%20Souls.TXT (129 of 157) [7/1/03 1:20:25 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20...of%20Souls%200
3%20-%20Gods%20at%20the%20Well%20of%20Souls.TXT
"I grow very tired and very bored here," Campos told him. "I began to think
that our quarry is never going to appear or certainly that they are not going
to appear here. Perhaps they have more patience than we thought. Or perhaps
they weren't as good as we thought they were. There have been no signs, no
signals, no reports. It is as if this world swallowed them up."
"I share your frustration, but what can we do? If we give up now, it has all
been for nothing."
"Perhaps. Perhaps I am just playing mental games with myself to keep from
going insane with boredom. I just wonder, though, what would it hurt to take
her down there when the door opens up tonight? If she walks in, she walks in
with us. With all of us, perhaps. As you say, it is probably incomprehensible
to us, but what of that? If she could just walk through, and we with her, in
front of the amazed stares of the guards! Think of that! We would not need
Mavra Chang at all to work our will! Inside, then out. We two and the girl.
That alone would be enough to cause terror in the highest places, yes? And
only we would know that we did not do a thing!"
"It is foolishness. You are simply letting a poor unfortunate girl throw you."
"Still, think of it. If she could, and we did, I would be right, would I not?"
"Well, yes, but ..."
"But what? She is almost certainly not going to be able to do it. I admit
that. But where is the harm in trying it? Just once?"
"And who would be down there with her?"
"Just us. She, we two, and the baby, of course, which she, as a good mother, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]