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thousands of years and could easily read thoughts, wear pajamas like that?
"I was sleeping," Gesar said glumly. "Sleeping quietly. I went to bed at five."
"Sorry, boss," I said. Somehow, no other word but "boss" came to mind. "Was there a lot of work last night?"
"I was reading a book, an interesting one," said Gesar, pressing switches on the coffeemaker. "Black with sugar
for me, milk and no sugar for you ..."
"Something magical?" I enquired.
"No, dammit, science fiction. Golovachev." Gesar growled.
"When I retire I'm going to ask to be his coauthor and write books! Take your coffee."
I took the cup and followed Gesar into his office.
As usual, several new knickknacks had appeared in there. In one cupboard there were lots of little figures of mice
made of glass, tin, and wood and ceramic goblets and steel knives. Propped up against the back wall of the
cupboard was an old armed forces reserves brochure with a photograph on its cover of a committee judging a
parachute training session, and beside it there was a simple lithograph showing a green forest thicket.
For some reason-I couldn't understand exactly why-it all put me in mind of the primary grades in school.
And hanging up under the ceiling was a gold-colored hockey helmet that looked incredibly like a bald head. There
were several darts stuck into it.
I glanced suspiciously at all these items, which might mean something very important, or might mean absolutely
nothing at all, and sat down in one of the chairs for visitors. I noticed a book with a brightly colored cover lying in
the wire-mesh trash basket. Could Gesar really have been reading Golovachev? But I took a closer look and
realized I was mistaken-the title on the book was Masterpieces of World Science Fiction.
Page 106
"Drink your coffee, it cleans out the brain in the morning," Gesar muttered in the same tone of annoyance. As he
drank his own coffee, he slurped-I almost thought that if I gave him a saucer and some sugar lumps he'd start
drinking it that way- straight from the saucer .. .
"I need answers to some questions, boss," I said. "A lot of questions."
"You'll get them," Gesar said with a nod.
"Others are much weaker in magic than ordinary people."
Gesar frowned. "Nonsense. An oxymoron."
"But isn't the magical Power of human beings . . ."
Gesar raised one finger and wagged it at me. "Stop right there. Don't confuse potential energy and kinetic
energy."
Now it was my turn to keep quiet, while Gesar strode around the office with his coffee mug, pontificating in a
leisurely fashion.
"First... Yes, all living things are capable of producing magical Power. All living things-not only human beings.
Even animals, even grass. Is there any physical basis to this Power, can it be measured with a scientific
instrument? I don't know. Possibly nobody ever will know. Second... No one can control his own Power. It
dissipates into space and is absorbed by the Twilight-part is caught by the blue moss and part is intercepted by
Others. Is that clear? There are two processes-the emission of your own Power and the absorption of Power that
is not yours. The first process is involuntary and intensifies as you go deeper into the Twilight. The second is
also, to a greater or lesser degree, typical of everybody-both human beings and Others. A sick child asks his
mother, sit with me, rub my tummy! His mother strokes his tummy, and the pain goes away. The mother wants
to help her child, and she is able to direct part of her Power to produce the directed effect. A so-called psychic,
that is, a human being with truncated, castrated Other abilities, is not only able to influence people who are near
and dear to him in a spontaneous outpouring of heightened emotion, he can heal other people or even put a curse
on them. The Power that flows from him is more structured. No longer steam, but not yet ice-it's water. Third . . .
We are Others. In us the balance of emission and absorption is displaced toward absorption."
"What?" I exclaimed.
"Did you think it was all simple, like with vampires?" Gesar asked with a jolly smile. "Do you think Others only
take, without giving anything in exchange? No, we all give back the Power that we produce. But while an ordinary
person's process of absorption and emission is in dynamic equilibrium, and the balance is occasionally disrupted
as a result of emotional agitation, with us it's different. We are unbalanced from the very beginning. We absorb
more from the surrounding world than we give back."
"And we can juggle the remainder," I said. "Right?"
"We operate with the difference in potentials," said Gesar, wagging his ringer at me again. "It doesn't matter what
your 'magical temperature' is-that was the term the witches used to use. You can actually generate a great deal
of Power, and the rate at which it is emitted will increase in geometrical progression. There are Others like that...
they give more back to the common pot than people do, but they also absorb very actively. They work on that
difference in potentials."
After a moment's pause, Gesar added a self-critical comment: "But those are only rare cases, I admit. Far more
often Others are less capable of producing magical Power than ordinary people, but equally or even more capable
of absorbing it. Anton, there is no such thing as the average temperature for a hospital. We're not just crude
vampires. We're donors, too."
"But why don't they teach us that?" I asked. "Why?"
"Because in the very crudest understanding of the process, we do, after all, consume Power that came from
someone else!" Gesar barked. "Look at you, why did you come barging in here at such an early hour? To wax
irate and lecture me. How can this be true-we consume the Power produced by people. And you have actually
taken it directly, pumped it out, like a genuine vampire. When it was necessary, you didn't think twice. Off you
went, in shining white armor, with sadness written large on your noble visage! And behind you little children were
crying."
He was right, of course. Partly.
But I had already worked in the Watch for long enough to know that a partial truth is also a lie.
"Teacher ..." I said in a low voice, and Gesar started.
I had refused to be his pupil any more on that day when 1 gathered Power from people.
"I'm listening, pupil," he said, looking into my eyes.
"Surely it's not a question of how much Power we consume, but how much we give back," I said. "Teacher, isn't
the goal of the Night Watch to divide and protect?"
Gesar nodded.
Page 107
"To divide and protect until such time as people's morals improve and new Others will only turn to the Light?"
Gesar nodded again.
"And all people will become Others?"
"Rubbish." Gesar shook his head. "Whoever told you such nonsense? Can you find that phrase anywhere in even
one of the Watches' documents? In the Great Treaty?"
I closed my eyes and looked at the words that sprang into view; "We are Others ..."
"No, it doesn't say that anywhere," I admitted. "But all our training, everything we do... it's all set up to create
precisely that impression."
"That impression is false."
"Yes, but the self-deception is encouraged."
Gesar heaved a deep sigh. He looked into my eyes and said, "Anton, everyone needs their life to have a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl aikidobyd.xlx.pl
thousands of years and could easily read thoughts, wear pajamas like that?
"I was sleeping," Gesar said glumly. "Sleeping quietly. I went to bed at five."
"Sorry, boss," I said. Somehow, no other word but "boss" came to mind. "Was there a lot of work last night?"
"I was reading a book, an interesting one," said Gesar, pressing switches on the coffeemaker. "Black with sugar
for me, milk and no sugar for you ..."
"Something magical?" I enquired.
"No, dammit, science fiction. Golovachev." Gesar growled.
"When I retire I'm going to ask to be his coauthor and write books! Take your coffee."
I took the cup and followed Gesar into his office.
As usual, several new knickknacks had appeared in there. In one cupboard there were lots of little figures of mice
made of glass, tin, and wood and ceramic goblets and steel knives. Propped up against the back wall of the
cupboard was an old armed forces reserves brochure with a photograph on its cover of a committee judging a
parachute training session, and beside it there was a simple lithograph showing a green forest thicket.
For some reason-I couldn't understand exactly why-it all put me in mind of the primary grades in school.
And hanging up under the ceiling was a gold-colored hockey helmet that looked incredibly like a bald head. There
were several darts stuck into it.
I glanced suspiciously at all these items, which might mean something very important, or might mean absolutely
nothing at all, and sat down in one of the chairs for visitors. I noticed a book with a brightly colored cover lying in
the wire-mesh trash basket. Could Gesar really have been reading Golovachev? But I took a closer look and
realized I was mistaken-the title on the book was Masterpieces of World Science Fiction.
Page 106
"Drink your coffee, it cleans out the brain in the morning," Gesar muttered in the same tone of annoyance. As he
drank his own coffee, he slurped-I almost thought that if I gave him a saucer and some sugar lumps he'd start
drinking it that way- straight from the saucer .. .
"I need answers to some questions, boss," I said. "A lot of questions."
"You'll get them," Gesar said with a nod.
"Others are much weaker in magic than ordinary people."
Gesar frowned. "Nonsense. An oxymoron."
"But isn't the magical Power of human beings . . ."
Gesar raised one finger and wagged it at me. "Stop right there. Don't confuse potential energy and kinetic
energy."
Now it was my turn to keep quiet, while Gesar strode around the office with his coffee mug, pontificating in a
leisurely fashion.
"First... Yes, all living things are capable of producing magical Power. All living things-not only human beings.
Even animals, even grass. Is there any physical basis to this Power, can it be measured with a scientific
instrument? I don't know. Possibly nobody ever will know. Second... No one can control his own Power. It
dissipates into space and is absorbed by the Twilight-part is caught by the blue moss and part is intercepted by
Others. Is that clear? There are two processes-the emission of your own Power and the absorption of Power that
is not yours. The first process is involuntary and intensifies as you go deeper into the Twilight. The second is
also, to a greater or lesser degree, typical of everybody-both human beings and Others. A sick child asks his
mother, sit with me, rub my tummy! His mother strokes his tummy, and the pain goes away. The mother wants
to help her child, and she is able to direct part of her Power to produce the directed effect. A so-called psychic,
that is, a human being with truncated, castrated Other abilities, is not only able to influence people who are near
and dear to him in a spontaneous outpouring of heightened emotion, he can heal other people or even put a curse
on them. The Power that flows from him is more structured. No longer steam, but not yet ice-it's water. Third . . .
We are Others. In us the balance of emission and absorption is displaced toward absorption."
"What?" I exclaimed.
"Did you think it was all simple, like with vampires?" Gesar asked with a jolly smile. "Do you think Others only
take, without giving anything in exchange? No, we all give back the Power that we produce. But while an ordinary
person's process of absorption and emission is in dynamic equilibrium, and the balance is occasionally disrupted
as a result of emotional agitation, with us it's different. We are unbalanced from the very beginning. We absorb
more from the surrounding world than we give back."
"And we can juggle the remainder," I said. "Right?"
"We operate with the difference in potentials," said Gesar, wagging his ringer at me again. "It doesn't matter what
your 'magical temperature' is-that was the term the witches used to use. You can actually generate a great deal
of Power, and the rate at which it is emitted will increase in geometrical progression. There are Others like that...
they give more back to the common pot than people do, but they also absorb very actively. They work on that
difference in potentials."
After a moment's pause, Gesar added a self-critical comment: "But those are only rare cases, I admit. Far more
often Others are less capable of producing magical Power than ordinary people, but equally or even more capable
of absorbing it. Anton, there is no such thing as the average temperature for a hospital. We're not just crude
vampires. We're donors, too."
"But why don't they teach us that?" I asked. "Why?"
"Because in the very crudest understanding of the process, we do, after all, consume Power that came from
someone else!" Gesar barked. "Look at you, why did you come barging in here at such an early hour? To wax
irate and lecture me. How can this be true-we consume the Power produced by people. And you have actually
taken it directly, pumped it out, like a genuine vampire. When it was necessary, you didn't think twice. Off you
went, in shining white armor, with sadness written large on your noble visage! And behind you little children were
crying."
He was right, of course. Partly.
But I had already worked in the Watch for long enough to know that a partial truth is also a lie.
"Teacher ..." I said in a low voice, and Gesar started.
I had refused to be his pupil any more on that day when 1 gathered Power from people.
"I'm listening, pupil," he said, looking into my eyes.
"Surely it's not a question of how much Power we consume, but how much we give back," I said. "Teacher, isn't
the goal of the Night Watch to divide and protect?"
Gesar nodded.
Page 107
"To divide and protect until such time as people's morals improve and new Others will only turn to the Light?"
Gesar nodded again.
"And all people will become Others?"
"Rubbish." Gesar shook his head. "Whoever told you such nonsense? Can you find that phrase anywhere in even
one of the Watches' documents? In the Great Treaty?"
I closed my eyes and looked at the words that sprang into view; "We are Others ..."
"No, it doesn't say that anywhere," I admitted. "But all our training, everything we do... it's all set up to create
precisely that impression."
"That impression is false."
"Yes, but the self-deception is encouraged."
Gesar heaved a deep sigh. He looked into my eyes and said, "Anton, everyone needs their life to have a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]