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went over
to the window, looking out through the toughened ice at the ancient
surface of
the moon.
It was a magnificent view, and his apartment was only one of many that
overlooked the surface, but few were occupied these days. His last near
neighbour had moved out almost five months ago now, and no one new had
moved in.
I should say something, he thought, wondering if Kim and the others had
noticed
this, or whether only he was sensitive to it Anxiety, that was what it
was. His
fellow travellers were anxious. And as each month passed, that anxiety
grew. At
first it had manifested itself in small ways - a reluctance to venture
outside
the domes or look up at the open sky - yet as the journey lengthened it
had
taken on more definite forms. They had begun to dig, deeper and yet
deeper into
Ganymede's surface, as if to hide away from the void that surrounded
them. Two
years back they had begun to build long tunnels between the cities, and
the old
ways - the surface routes -had fallen into disuse.
He had listened without comment to the arguments they gave, and no
doubt some of
them were true. It was safer to build below ground, for there was less
chance of
decompression. Yet that was not why they did it
There were exceptions, of course. Kim, for instance, and Karr. But the
rest were
slowly turning inward. Burrowing into themselves just as they burrowed
into
Ganymede.
And maybe that was necessary if they were to protect themselves
psychologically
from that void. For if that void reached them and touched their hearts,
what
then would
transpire?
It was all uncharted territory.
Ebert stretched his neck and shoulders, feeling weary now. But his
thoughts were
restless. Since he'd had the dream -since he'd glanced behind the wall
of sleep
and seen his fate -he had thought of little else.
At times like this he wished for his old unconscious self, wished that
he did
not feel so much for those who suffered. To be blind to all that and at
peace
again.
And that, perhaps, was why his own death did not trouble him, for at
least with
death would come rest and a cessation of this constant ache. The ache
of
responsibility.
In a fit of frustration he smashed his fist against the glass. "I am
not my
brother's keeper!"
But it was not so. Kick as he might against it, his fate was set He had
to go
back. Yes, and die, if what he'd seen was true. Because he was Tsou
Tsai Hei,
the Walker in the Darkness, and he had been granted a vision of the
path's end.
And as he thought that, so Tuan Ti Fo's words came to him, from that
time on
Mars when he had first met the old man:
"Am I to tell you everything? No, Tsou Tsai Hei, that is for you to
learn. Study
them. Be as them. The truth witt follow. You are to stay here, to
finish the
work that time has begun in you. To wait here, among these hidden works
of
darkness. Until the call comes."
Karr slumped down into the chair, then sat back, stifling a yawn. This
was the
worst of it - the inactivity; the feeling that it didn't matter what
one did or
didn't do. It undermined him. Slowly, day by day, he felt himself
eroded by it
He stared at the screen. On it was a table of figures, showing their
relative
position to the nearest stars, their speed, the temperature of the
engines, and
other things. The figures had not changed for three hours now, or if
they had,
it had been so minor a change - a decimal point or two - that he hadn't
noticed.
"AiyaT
The two young guards on the far side of the bridge turned, looking
across at
Karr, surprised.
"Marshal?" one of them asked, thinking that something must be wrong.
But Karr simply shrugged. "If s okay, boy. If s just..."The screen
changed
suddenly. The tables vanished, replaced
by a familiar face.
"Hans? ... What in the void's name do you want?" Ebert smiled. "I need
to talk,
Gregor. I've had another
dream." Karr frowned. He didn't like these dreams. No more than
Kao Chen did. "Was it like the first?"
"No, no it..." Ebert shook his head. "The thing is, I've seen into the
future,
Gregor. I've seen my own death."
"Impossible."
"I know. I realise how it sounds, but Fve seen it, as clearly as if I
was there.
And I've seen other things, too. I've seen you and Chen standing
together in the
courtyard of a strange building. A strange structure of jet-black stone
that
looked as if it had been built into the walls of a giant well."
"I don't know any place like that you describe."
"No, but you were there, as you look now. And Chen, too, with his fine
white
hair."
"And you? You say you saw your own death?" "Yes. I was with you, back
on Chung
Kuo. There were six of us, in two craft" "But Kim has ..." "... only
made one, I
know. And yet I saw it, as clearly as if I
was remembering it"
Karr closed his eyes a moment, rubbing at his temples as if he was
suffering
from a migraine. Then he looked back at Ebert again. "I'm sorry," he
said, "but
I find all this hard to take in. If s... well, if s as if reality were
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