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The only sound Gerswin could hear at first was static, which was barely audible over the hiss of the fresher. As he concentrated he began to be able to distinguish some phrases . ". . . Red command . . . blue attackers . . ." ". . . corvette down . . . Illyam . . ." ". . . flamers . . . flamers . . ." ". . . grid still down . . . Jerboam . . ." . . . forest cell tiger . . . fire at will . . ." Gerswin shook his head slowly as he listened to the story play out with each fragmented transmission. "It is that bad?" He had been aware of Constanza's return and her listening with him, but not how much time had passed until she touched his shoulder as she asked the question. Turning his head, he nearly whistled. The lady looked nearly as picture-perfect as before their first tour of the countryside. "Amazing what a ship fresher and cleaner can do," he marveled. "Thank you. What is occurring?" Page 42 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Gerswin told her. "But why?" "My guess is that someone wouldn't believe someone else. Once the secret is out, they can't keep control the way it has been. Probably why the armed forces kept after the tree houses, because free shelter would have been a first step to escaping the generals." "The house trees do not grow large enough." "They would if they had more time and water. You can't grow them too close to other trees. Need a lot of solar energy. But any time someone grew them out in the open, I'd bet the armed forces fried them." "I still don't understand why there's fighting between segments of the armed forces." "Someone believes there will have to be change, and someone else disagrees. Power shortages are going to get worse, and there's no real backup system. The Empire will quarantine the system, as soon as they can get a fleet here. That's another reason why I need to get some seeds or spores and lift out." Constanza sat down beside him. "I don't know whether I should like you or not. You rescued me from a prison, and then you destroyed everything I grew up with." Gerswin shrugged. "Not much I can say to that." He waited. She said nothing. He cleared his throat. "Do you want to leave Byzania with me? I'm sure you would be welcome on . . . in a number of places." "You are gracious . . . and very cautious. But, no. No, thank you. I think I would be welcome with Hyveres, more welcome than in the cities, and happier than on a strange world." Gerswin touched the controls and the screens filled with the exterior view and the morning sunlight. Constanza rose. "I will tell him, and we will get you your seeds." "You know, Constanza, the future on Byzania rests with Hyveres." "I know. You have determined that. Like a god, you change worlds. Yet you will never have what a man like Hyveres will, for you will never rest. You will never be content, no matter how long you live." Gerswin stood and took her hand. He bent slightly and brushed the back of her hand with his lips. His legs remained steady, but he sat down as he released her fingers, afraid that his legs might yet betray him. Page 43 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html She put her hand on his shoulder, squeezed it, before stepping back. "I think I am grateful to you. I can now look forward to the unexpected." She reached forward to touch his shoulder again, gently, before moving toward the lock door. "We will bring you the seeds you need. And you will go. You will fight your fate, and we will fight ours. What else is there to say?" Gerswin lifted the screens and watched from inside the ship as the slender woman went out to touch hands with the rebel captain for the first time. A rebel captain nearly as slender as she, nearly as white-haired, and who sported a bristling white handlebar mustache. Although she had looked not at all like Caroljoy, neither when his lost Duchess had been young or old, Constanza reminded him of Caroljoy, though he could not say why. Then, again, perhaps he did not want to know why. The young woman who had been his single-time lover and Martin's mother had become a dream, and no man wants to examine his dreams too closely. Not when the dreams must constantly battle the realities of the present. Besides, in her own way, Caroljoy had made it all possible. Yet Constanza had some of the same iron strength. He shook his head slowly as he watched the screen. He watched. Watched and waited for the seeds of the house tree. Watched and listened to the beginnings of a society and an Empire crashing into anarchy. XI THE PILOT TAPPED the last control stud of the sequence and dropped his hand, which was beginning to tremble. He wanted to shake his head, but, instead, laid back on the black Meld cloth of the control couch while the modified scout shivered . . . and jumped. At the instant of jump, as always, the blackness inundated the scout, blinding the pilot with the darkness no light could penetrate, then disappearing as the ship reappeared tens of systems from where it had jumped. Gerswin reached out tiredly and touched the control stud that would recompute the Caroljoy's position. He could have asked the AI to do it, but even as exhausted as he was he still hated to ask the Al to do what he felt the pilot should. He could feel his hand shake, and he compromised. "Position. Interrogative possible jump parameters." His voice even shook, and he wanted to scream at the weakness. His eyes flickered down at his right arm, where the slight thickness under the long sleeved tunic indicated a pressure-tight medpad. The ship's medical system had assured him there was no infection. He was just tiredtotally exhausted from Page 44 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html fighting off the effects of the nerve poison. Constanza had questioned whether he was up to leaving, especially to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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