[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
feel that power I'd been talking about so glibly, and I'd never felt
anything so colossal in my darkest dreams. It was impossible. I felt
the sheer presence of the field drawing me out and pressing me in. I was
draining away into my boot-heels. I
knew, as sure as I knew my name, that I couldn't make it. My hands almost fell
away from the levers.
" Move it!
howled the wind. You'll kill us all!
I gathered my melting heart, and picked up my mind in the hands of my courage.
I felt the arcs of my wings and the hollow steel of my spine. I became
sympathetic to the waves and the warps. I sat in the plane of the stress, and
prayed that my presence there would have absolutely no effect. I found
crevices in the stress, and slid the
Swan along them, like a sleek fish moving through still water with never a
single ripple.
Giant hands were around me, caressing me, stroking me, lulling me.
To kill a small mammal, like a mouse, you hold him - or her - by the tail and
gently stroke the fur on his/her back with a scalpel handle. When he/she is
settled down under the stroking, secure within the caress, lulled into
comfort, you press down behind the head and pull the tail hard, breaking
the little bastard's neck.
I felt like a mouse. But I was composed. I was very scared, but I could hold
my fear. Tightly.
The deeper I went in, the worse the distortion became. This, I thought, was
The worst the Drift it.
had to offer. Beat this and you have conquered the Halcyon Drift. You have
won.
Just on and on, trying not to irritate it, trying so hard not to be noticed.
Like a bedbug on a man's thigh. Like a leopard stalk-ing. Like a hunted man in
a crowd. Like the worms of my own gut.
That great big hand began to squeeze. I couldn't make it be-tween the lines. I
was running out of crevice. The pattern was too complicated. It flowed too
fast. It was too sharp to feel. I was touching it, but I couldn't find its
contours. It was stiff and slimy, like a frog-skinned bone. It could feel me,
and I
knew it. It was reacting with revulsion and hatred; the sun was a giant
baleful eye burning my eyes inside the hood. It could see me, and I watched
the thoughts in its face, choosing the moment to strike and stamp me out like
the loathsome vermin I had become when I chose to invade its body.
Page 71
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Still stroking, still caressing, but with a trace of eagerness, of gathering
passion, of consuming ardour. Getting ready, ready, ready for the climactic
moment.
The scalpel handle coming down on my neck.
I couldn't breathe, my windpipe was trapped beneath my spine and closed, I was
choking to death, my neck was bending, my spine was stretching, I
had to break, but I couldn't scream be-cause I didn't have the breath, I
couldn't suck in air, couldn't get it out, I was on the verge of extinction,
of breaking, of ...
" Black out and give it tome ...
I couldn't hear for the blood beating in my eardrums, I couldn't hear
because there was no oxygen getting to my brain, I was fighting for air,
for my senses, for my sanity.
" BLACKOUT!!!
I did.
I opened my eyes and could see absolutely nothing. I was hot and wet. And very
tired. My body was strained as though it had been through terrible tortures.
The wetness was sweat. It had poured out of me. But not on my face. There the
wetness was cold water. There was a damp cloth on my face. As I
blinked my eyelids, it was removed, and I looked up into Eve's face
.
'You went out like a light,' she said.
That I already knew.
'When?'
'As soon as we were down.'
'We're down?'
'Yes.'
But I knew that couldn't be. I'd blacked out after no more than a few minutes.
We were more than a million miles away.
'What happened?' I asked. 'I don't remember.'
'Nothing happened. It was a rough ride, and I thought for a time we might all
be dead. I could see Nick, and he was a corpse already, just waiting for
deep-space to come in and claim him. But you just flew the ship. You shed your
sweat and tears, but you flew the ship. We watched the strain in your
movements, but they were always right. We landed.'
'How long . . .' I began, and had to stop to clear my throat. 'How long did it
take?'
'Fifty-eight minutes. I counted them. We've been down about ten.'
'Leave me alone,' I said. She withdrew, taking the cloth with her. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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feel that power I'd been talking about so glibly, and I'd never felt
anything so colossal in my darkest dreams. It was impossible. I felt
the sheer presence of the field drawing me out and pressing me in. I was
draining away into my boot-heels. I
knew, as sure as I knew my name, that I couldn't make it. My hands almost fell
away from the levers.
" Move it!
howled the wind. You'll kill us all!
I gathered my melting heart, and picked up my mind in the hands of my courage.
I felt the arcs of my wings and the hollow steel of my spine. I became
sympathetic to the waves and the warps. I sat in the plane of the stress, and
prayed that my presence there would have absolutely no effect. I found
crevices in the stress, and slid the
Swan along them, like a sleek fish moving through still water with never a
single ripple.
Giant hands were around me, caressing me, stroking me, lulling me.
To kill a small mammal, like a mouse, you hold him - or her - by the tail and
gently stroke the fur on his/her back with a scalpel handle. When he/she is
settled down under the stroking, secure within the caress, lulled into
comfort, you press down behind the head and pull the tail hard, breaking
the little bastard's neck.
I felt like a mouse. But I was composed. I was very scared, but I could hold
my fear. Tightly.
The deeper I went in, the worse the distortion became. This, I thought, was
The worst the Drift it.
had to offer. Beat this and you have conquered the Halcyon Drift. You have
won.
Just on and on, trying not to irritate it, trying so hard not to be noticed.
Like a bedbug on a man's thigh. Like a leopard stalk-ing. Like a hunted man in
a crowd. Like the worms of my own gut.
That great big hand began to squeeze. I couldn't make it be-tween the lines. I
was running out of crevice. The pattern was too complicated. It flowed too
fast. It was too sharp to feel. I was touching it, but I couldn't find its
contours. It was stiff and slimy, like a frog-skinned bone. It could feel me,
and I
knew it. It was reacting with revulsion and hatred; the sun was a giant
baleful eye burning my eyes inside the hood. It could see me, and I watched
the thoughts in its face, choosing the moment to strike and stamp me out like
the loathsome vermin I had become when I chose to invade its body.
Page 71
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Still stroking, still caressing, but with a trace of eagerness, of gathering
passion, of consuming ardour. Getting ready, ready, ready for the climactic
moment.
The scalpel handle coming down on my neck.
I couldn't breathe, my windpipe was trapped beneath my spine and closed, I was
choking to death, my neck was bending, my spine was stretching, I
had to break, but I couldn't scream be-cause I didn't have the breath, I
couldn't suck in air, couldn't get it out, I was on the verge of extinction,
of breaking, of ...
" Black out and give it tome ...
I couldn't hear for the blood beating in my eardrums, I couldn't hear
because there was no oxygen getting to my brain, I was fighting for air,
for my senses, for my sanity.
" BLACKOUT!!!
I did.
I opened my eyes and could see absolutely nothing. I was hot and wet. And very
tired. My body was strained as though it had been through terrible tortures.
The wetness was sweat. It had poured out of me. But not on my face. There the
wetness was cold water. There was a damp cloth on my face. As I
blinked my eyelids, it was removed, and I looked up into Eve's face
.
'You went out like a light,' she said.
That I already knew.
'When?'
'As soon as we were down.'
'We're down?'
'Yes.'
But I knew that couldn't be. I'd blacked out after no more than a few minutes.
We were more than a million miles away.
'What happened?' I asked. 'I don't remember.'
'Nothing happened. It was a rough ride, and I thought for a time we might all
be dead. I could see Nick, and he was a corpse already, just waiting for
deep-space to come in and claim him. But you just flew the ship. You shed your
sweat and tears, but you flew the ship. We watched the strain in your
movements, but they were always right. We landed.'
'How long . . .' I began, and had to stop to clear my throat. 'How long did it
take?'
'Fifty-eight minutes. I counted them. We've been down about ten.'
'Leave me alone,' I said. She withdrew, taking the cloth with her. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]