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life. But through the grace of God and his true desire to show himself
worthy of being given another opportunity at life, he ... well, you may see
for yourself tomorrow. And I pray you will profit from his example.'
Collop elaborated. Goring had died almost as many times as
Burton, usually by suicide. Unable to stand the nightmares and the self-
loathing, he had time and again purchased a brief and useless surcease.
Only to be faced with himself the next day. But on arriving at this area, and
seeking help from Collop, the man he had once murdered, he had won.
`I am astonished,' Burton said. `And I'm happy for Goring. But I
have other goals. I would like your promise that you'll tell no one my true
identity. Allow me to be Abdul ibn Harun.'
Collop said that he would keep silent, although he was disappointed
that Burton would not be able to see Goring again and judge for himself
what faith and love could do for even the seemingly hopeless and
depraved. He took Burton to his hut and introduced him to his wife, a short,
delicately boned brunette. She was very gracious and friendly and insisted
on going with the two men while they visited the local boss, the
valkotukkainen. (This word was regional slang for the white-haired boy or
big shot.) Ville Ahonen was a huge quiet-spoken man who listened
patiently to Burton. Burton revealed only half of his plan, saying that he
wanted to build a boat so he could travel to the end of The River. He did
not mention wanting to take it further. But Ahonen had evidently met others
like him.
He smiled knowingly and replied that Burton could build a craft.
However, the people hereabouts were conservationists. They did not
believe in despoiling the land of its trees. Oak and pine were to be left
untouched, but bamboo was available. Even this material would have to be
purchased with cigarettes and liquor, which would take him some time to
accumulate from his grail.
Burton thanked him and left. Later, he went to bed in a hut near
Collop's, but he could not get to sleep.
Shortly before the inevitable rains came, he decided to leave the
hut. He would go up into the mountains, take refuge under a ledge until the
rains ceased, the clouds dissipated, and the eternal (but weak) sun
reasserted itself. Now that he was so near to his goal, he did not want to be
surprised by Them. And it seemed likely that the Ethicals would
concentrate agents here. For all he knew, Collop's wife could be one of
Them.
Before he had walked half a mile, rain struck him and lightning
smashed nearby into the ground. By the dazzling flash, he saw something
flicker into existence just ahead and about twenty feet above him.
He whirled and ran toward a grove of trees, hoping that They had
not seen him and that he could hide there. If he was unobserved, then he
could get up into the mountains. And when They had put everybody to
sleep here, They would find him gone again..
29
`You gave us a long hard chase, Burton,' a man said in English.
Burton opened his eyes. The transition to this place was so unexpected
that he was dazed. But only for a second. He was sitting in a chair of some
very soft buoyant material. The room was a perfect sphere; the walls were
a very pale green and were semitransparent. He could see other spherical
chambers on all sides, in front, behind, above and, when he bent over,
below. Again he was confused, since the other rooms did not just impinge
upon the boundaries of his sphere. They intersected. Sections of the other
rooms came into his room, but then become so colorless and clear that he
could barely detect them.
On the wall at the opposite end of his room was an oval of darker
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green. It curved to follow the wall. There was a ghostly forest portrayed in
the oval. A phantom fawn trotted across the picture. From it came the odor
of pine and dogwood.
Across the bubble from him sat twelve in chairs like his. Six were
men; six women. All were very good-looking. Except for two, all had black
or dark brown hair and deeply tanned skins. Three had slight epicanthic
folds; one man's hair was so curly it was almost kinky.
One woman had long wavy yellow hair bound into a psyche knot. A
man had red hair, red as the fur of a fox. He was handsome, his features
were irregular, his nose large and curved, and his eyes were dark green.
All were dressed in silvery or purple blouses with short flaring
sleeves and ruffled collars, slender luminescent belts, kilts, and sandals.
Both men and women had painted fingernails and toenails, lipstick,
earrings, and eye makeup.
Above the head of each, almost touching the hair, spun a many-
colored globe about a foot across. These whirled and gashed and changed
color, running through every hue in the spectrum. From time to time, the
globes thrust out long hexagonal arms of green, of blue, of black, or of
gleaming white. Then the arms would collapse, only to be succeeded by
other hexagons.
Burton looked down. He was clad only in a black towel secured at
his waist.
`I'll forestall your first question by telling you we won't give you any
information on where you are.' The speaker was the red-haired man. He
grinned at Burton, showing un-humanly white teeth.
`Very well,' Burton said. `What questions will you answer, Whoever
you are? For instance, how did you find me?'
'My name is Loga,' the red-haired man said. `We found you through
a combination of detective work and luck. It was a complicated procedure,
but I'll simplify it for you. We had a number of agents looking for you, a
pitifully small number, considering the thirty-six billion, six million, nine
thousand, six hundred and thirty-seven candidates that live along The
River.'
Candidates? Burton thought. Candidates for what? For eternal life?
Had Spruce told the truth about the purpose behind the Resurrection? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]