[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"Elder Haspinol!" Moses exclaimed. "I do not err.
The goals of your holy teachings and those of the holy books are most plain."
"Those goals were not for this life, Moses, but for
82
The Web of the Chozen
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%...20-%20The%20Web%20of%20the%20Ch
ozen%20UC.txt (64 of 170) [1/19/03 4:45:38 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20The%20Web%20of%20
the%20Chozen%20UC.txt the next," George replied sadly. "You have misunder-
stood."
"I .cannot misunderstand," the ship's computer re-
sponded obstinately. "I am self-programming, and I
think logically as you cannot. All the centuries of the
Faith have awaited someone who could properly inter-
pret them. I am that one, the final prophet the arm of God."
"You've killed them, Moses," I put in. "As sure as if you'd blown them up
you've killed them. You killed their humanity, their past. You have made them
ignorant animals."
"Animals? No! Far greater than that!" the computer huffed. "True, to enter
Eden one must be purified of sin by bathing in the holy waters that take
memory.
It is the only way, as the Beloved Poet said. But now now they will be happy,
taught to glorify God forever."
I flipped the switch so that we weren't broadcast-
ing.
"It's no use," I told George. "He's a fanatic. He knows he has the right
answers. He hey! Hold it!"
"What's the matter?" George asked, alarmed.
"Bless these sensitive long ears!" I yelled. "His signal's getting
progressively stronger, but I can't read the instruments! He's been zeroing in
on our signal!
I have no way of knowing how close he is, so get below and brace yourself as
best you can. I'm going to L-jump just as soon as I can!"
Suddenly the fear was back, strong, and I cursed myself for a fool. I had told
Moses where we were from our signal, and I'd stopped, waiting for him.
Moses could open the loading bays and scoop us in, and I wouldn't have the
running-start power I needed to L-jump.
"Braced?" I called nervously to George.
"As good as I can be, considering," was the reply from below.
83
The Web of the Chozen
I ordered straight-line acceleration to put some dis-
tance between us and Moses.
Satisfied, I went down on all fours, bracing myself as much as possible
against the big padded chair into which I could no longer strap myself, then
ordered the L-jump.
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%...20-%20The%20Web%20of%20the%20Ch
ozen%20UC.txt (65 of 170) [1/19/03 4:45:38 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20The%20Web%20of%20
the%20Chozen%20UC.txt
It's hard to describe the L-jump to anyone not well versed in physics. The
best way, I suppose, is to re-
Page 49
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
member that there are many more dimensions than the four in which we live,
each with different prop-
erties. Depending on the intersection of those dimensions by the outer hull of
the ship, we would be placed under a different set of rules, a different set
of physical laws, while an energy cocoon would maintain our own conditions
inside. When Igor Kutzmanitov discovered them by accident while studying the
strange properties just outside the event horizon of black holes but, no I'm
too technical already. Let's just say that I mentally throw a series of relays
and we are suddenly exempt from relativity while speed is multiplied
exponentially. It makes for quick trips, weeks or months to places you
couldn't reach in hun-
dreds of years at sub-light-speeds.
This would be a short jump, and I actually had to decelerate to match what the
ship's computer told me would be the right velocity in L-space to get me where
I needed to go. We weren't that far outside explored space. But it would take
Moses eighty years to get where we would get in eighty days.
Satisfied, I was almost too complacent as the ship's computer warned of a
great mass closing on us fast.
Capture would be just a matter of seconds consider-
ing my deceleration.
I forced the L-jump.
All signs of matter in the vicinity, vanished. The ship's sensors showed
nothing at all now. I'd made it, perhaps with thirty seconds to spare.
The jump itself is a jarring experience, a tremendous bump and bang. I heard
George cry out; but the
84
The Web of the Chozen force, so routine when I'm strapped in my chair or bunk
was enough to throw me off balance, and I
crashed into an auxiliary instrument bank. It was armored, of course, and
would survive. But my ar-
mor was for lighter things, and I felt the sting of several sharp edges
cutting into me, not deeply but painfully. I knew that it wouldn't be long
before I
felt the bruises.
Such sensations were strange to me now. There had been little pain on Patmos,
and the virus saw to efficient repair of any damage in a night. But the virus
was inactive in the cold, maybe even dead now.
Carefully, I picked myself up. My bushy tail had broken some of the fall, but
my right rear foot had been badly twisted. I hoped it wasn't broken.
"George!" I called. "Are you all right?"
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%...20-%20The%20Web%20of%20the%20Ch
ozen%20UC.txt (66 of 170) [1/19/03 4:45:38 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20Jack%20L%20-%20The%20Web%20of%20
the%20Chozen%20UC.txt
"I'm going to ache for a week," he yelled back at me, "but I think I'll
survive. You?"
"Cuts and bruises, and my back foot's sprained.
Damn! I'd almost forgotten what it was like to feel such pain, and when the
shock wears off it'll be worse."
George made his way into the upper-control-room cabin.
"I wish I could look at it, but I'll do what I can,"
he said. "I was something of a medic, you know, although I'm twenty years out
of practice. Lord!
Just did a narrow-scan. You've got a couple of nasty cuts there. Some blood,
but not much. Where do you keep your medical stores?"
"There's a medicine chest on the wall just before the door to the head," I
told him. "But I don't know if the stuff will work on me now."
"Worth a try," was the reply. I heard him fumbling a lot with something, and
Page 50
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
deduced that it must be the pull-and-twist handle on the cabinet door. It took
him several minutes to manage it without hands, and I'll never know to this
day how he did it.
"Lots of stuff in here!" he called finally. The aches
85
The Web of the Chozen were really coining on strong now, and the bind leg was
giving me fits. "Which is the salve?"
"The big jar," I called back. "It's in a recessed holder on the bottom shelf."
"I see it!" he responded. "No way to pick it up, though. Let me see. Hmm . .
." There was silence for a minute more. I felt some wetness on my right side,
and knew that I was still bleeding.
Then I heard him coming back up the ramp and into the cabin where I lay. I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]