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with faint hearts who need time to adjust to our thrills and spills, honorable
sir," piped the clown, his expression hang dog as though he expected Ewen to
attack him.
"WHY?"
The man shifted his stance. Quite suddenly the clown was gone. For a
moment he gave the impression of real steel beneath his mournful facade. He
smiled affably, not seeming to mind Ewen's aggressiveness. "The director has a
policy of providing escapers with tiny hints when warranted. Nothing overt,
you understand - that would ruin the project. But a little nudge now and then
when deemed necessary."
"So your little "nudge" was to send us to that tower?" Ewen snapped.
"Well, yes. Was it dreadful?"
"And we ended up nearly dying on a cliff face!"
The rubbery features became sympathetic. "I'm so sorry, but all the
escape routes are dangerous. That's the whole point."
His attitude enraged Ewen. After the treatment they had received that
day, he needed to lash out at someone. This inanely smiling fool became the
focus of his anger and frustration. Unable to contain himself, he lunged
forward. The visitor dodged the sudden rush, not by jumping aside, but by
performing a neat backward flip from the standing position. One foot connected
with Ewen's chest as he landed lightly and sent his would-be attacker
staggering backwards.
"Ewen!" Jenine exclaimed, jumping to her feet.
"I'm okay," said Ewen, recovering his balance. He looked at the man with
renewed respect. The blow on his chest had been light; he suspected that it
could have been much harder had the stranger so wished.
"Well," said the man, his eyes darting worriedly between Ewen and Jenine.
"At least you didn't see through my clown little act after all. I used to
amuse my friends with it."
"Yes, it fooled me," said Ewen looking hard at the stranger and making
him cringe. "But I do know who you are."
The stranger managed to look nonplussed and sorrowful at the same time.
He ran his hand through his swept-back hair. "Really, kind sir? Then who am
I?"
"I met your mother when I checked up on your disappearance."
The puzzled expression was replaced by a fleeting sadness that they
sensed was genuine. His shoulders sagged. "Arama is another world, Ewen. It
has to be forgotten. This is the real world. But how is she?"
"She looked fine."
The stranger's sadness relaxed into a half smile. He swept off his
invisible hat again, and gave another exaggerated, low bow. The squeaky voice
returned:
"Simo Belan at your service, honoured crewmen."
3.
Jenine was naked, drifting in the great void of space with nothing
between her and billions of shining stars and galaxies, and yet she felt warm
and relaxed, at peace with the splendour of the universe around her. By moving
her arms and legs she found that she could reorientate her body, although "up"
and "down" had no meaning. But no matter which way she turned, or which way
she looked, the eternal glory of the universe lay before her.
"Go where you will. Will where you go," urged the voice that she had
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learned to trust.
She singled out a brilliant blue giant from the myriad points of lights -
a star that shone out like a beacon.
I have knowledge, Jenine. Come to me and be fulfilled.
Even as she willed herself towards the magical shinin diamond, the entire
firmament began moving passed her; slowly at first, and then with increasing
speed until she was like a baby hypnotised by a dazzling mobile as her awesome
speed turned the universe into bewildering blur of light that her brain could
not resolve.
She stopped abruptly above the star. There was no sensation of
decelertion. One second she was moving, the next second she was stationary.
She had stopped because she wanted to stop. The star was no longer a point of
light but a blue giant that filled her entire field of vision. From its
blinding photosphere mighty solar flares, writhing with terrible energies,
arched out to greet her. They brushed harmlessly against her, tongues of
brilliant plasma rippled down her spine and snaked deliciously and insistently
between her thighs before falling back into the sun, following curiously
looped lines of magnetic force. Knowledge was a gleaming sword, a torment of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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