[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
amber-green. He was both within that web and yet able to view it from without.
One of the blackish green points seemed not too far from the amber locator
of Hyalt. Dainyl extended a Talent probe, but one sheathed in green. This
time, he was aware of his own motion, rather than feeling that the destination
approached him. He came to a halt with the silver-green above him, not
breaking or flashing through a barrier.
Did he have to concentrate on leaving, in a fashion similar to what he did
when entering a Table ?
Carefully, he visualized rising through soil or rock or what might be there.
He could feel himself moving upward, and darkness the true darkness of
night rising around him.
But he was still somehow linked to the blackish green web. He looked down,
abruptly aware that he could see with both eyes and Talent, and saw that the
lower part of his trousers and his boots were buried in red stone. He
concentrated on moving upward.
Suddenly, Dainyl stood on a rocky uneven surface, and a cool wind blew around
him. He had to take a quick step sideways to avoid falling. He was perched on
a large chunk of sandy rock. Carefully, he eased himself off the rock and onto
the narrow ground between two boulders that were parts of a rocky jumble.
Where was he?
He glanced up, but clouds covered most of the night sky, although he caught a
quick glimpse of the green disc of Asterta before the smaller moon was covered
by a fast-moving cloud. He looked to his right, down a long slope toward a
ruined compound of some sort, and the town beyond. It was familiar ... Hyalt!
He took a deep breath, even as he turned to the west, where he could barely
sense the RA s complex, still being repaired and rebuilt.
He d done it. Once, at least.
He d also learned that the ancients web allowed more freedom in exiting, but
there was also the problem of figuring out where he was headed before he got
there.
He felt a drop of rain on the back of his neck, and to the south, lightning
flashed, and a rumble of thunder followed.
He didn t sense a green point or locator, but he could sense the darkness
beneath the ground. Could he link to the blackish green web from where he
stood? He might as well try. Dainyl concentrated once more, thinking about the
blackness beneath.
Nothing happened, except that several more drops of rain pattered down around
him.
Would a more direct Talent link work?
He extended a link, trying to emphasize the green, but the blackish green of
the web eluded his probe.
A few more raindrops pattered down, several striking his hands and head, and
another bolt of lightning flared to the south, followed by a long rumbling
roar of thunder.
It had to be possible, because he d seen the ancients vanish. But how?
Dainyl attempted to meld a focus on the dark green web with a more diffuse,
almost misty green linkage ...
. . . and he found himself connected to the web and sinking through the
sandstone and soil, his vision being cut off and replaced solely by Talent
Page 230
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
perception.
This time he attempted to create a mental map of the locator wedges above
him with the interlocking web that he could sense fully, even while being
within one of the strands. Immediately, he noted that every locator wedge
was situated above a point where three or more of the web strands although
they were far wider than strands connected. Ley nodes that was what ley nodes
were.
He located the sullen red wedge that was Soupat, but concentrated on the green
node closest to that. Once more, he felt himself moving along the ley lines,
until he reached the node.
Deliberately and gently, he eased himself from the node upward.
He emerged beside a pile of rocks. He glanced around, trying to orient
himself. He was to the east of a fallen building on the low mesa that had held
the RA s complex in Soupat.
The ancients! Run! Run, if you value your life!
A spade or some other implement clattered against stone, and the sound of
boots on stone faded away in the damp night air.
Dainyl could sense that there had been two men. His eyes and Talent revealed
an opening in the half-collapsed stone wall to his right.
Scavengers looking for whatever they could find in the ruins.
He laughed softly.
Overhead, the sky was clear. The rain that had begun to fall in Hyalt had long
since left Soupat, and both Selena and Asterta shone down on Dainyl.
Dainyl Talent-sensed the blackish green of the web below and concentrated on
replicating his early effort of melding focus and diffuse linkage.
Even more easily, he dropped into the web below.
He started to orient himself for the return to Elcien when he became aware of
a growing sense of amber-green surrounding him and what he could only have
described as pressure. It could only be the ancients.
Should he resist? He decided against resistance, although he could not have
explained why, and let himself follow the pressure toward another ley node,
one of a handful that showed a golden green.
He emerged in a chamber that was walled in amber-green stone it had to be in
one of the towers on the plateau, because he could feel his breathing was more
labored, and the air was almost frigid.
Hovering before him were three of the ancients all looking like winged
miniatures of lander women.
You do not belong traveling the web not as you are. It will hurt you more than
you can imagine.
Hurt him? By making him more green or in some other way?
The conflict between what you were and what you will be can destroy you.
You re saying that I ll change whether I wish it or not.
Actions change one. Desires in conflict with actions make such change
difficult. Sometimes that conflict can also kill.
Dainyl realized he could not sense which of the ancient soarers spoke.
I need the web. If I do not use it, you will suffer as much as everyone.
? ? ? ? ? ? was the response.
One of my ... kind ... wishes to start a war, one that will expend lifeforce
that will weaken the entire world. Without the web, I cannot stop this.
Do what you think you must, but you have been warned. Go. Behind the words was
a link-reminder, or something similar, that called up an image of the massive
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]