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us? Even those who call themselves telepaths, telekinetics, parapsychics. Just
children, playing games for which they will never know the rules!
 The Pridka know the rules. They are noble, proud, beautiful. Amarill was,
once, before you destroyed her! And humanity  they may not be perfect, but
they have rules too! This is humanity! Look! And he pointed to Suzi Palsson.
 A human being. A complete person whose existence, no, whose life has been
made worthwhile because she stopped being frightened of the past. And when
she s accepted some guilt for her actions   the Doctor met Suzi s gaze   her
life will be ready to start again! The Doctor lifted his chin and stared Jirenal
in the eye.  Little triumphs, little tragedies. Learning to live with loss, and
redemption. It s part of being individual, Jirenal.
Suzi swallowed.  Don t push him too far, Doctor  
 It s all right, he whispered.  I know what I m doing.
The Sensopath made a dismissive sound, a sneer on his long, white face.
 How many times have you trodden a caterpillar underfoot? Or watched a
wasp try to escape from a glass, struggling feebly until it runs out of air?
Jirenal s huge grin swept across his face in a tide of red and white, cartoon-
huge, horrible.  These beings are all wasps, and caterpillars.
 What hideous arrogance, the Doctor muttered.  Your new-found existence
hasn t given you any concept of individual freedom.
 Which means, Doctor? Jirenal spread his hands.
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 Which means that you re not keen to retain your existence as Jirenal, as a
whole being. You want to be reunited with Shanstra. Strange. Very strange.
The Doctor lowered his voice to a mere whisper.  Now, I wonder what Kelzen
thinks about that?
Horst Leibniz had seen Karin dying several times over already.
His wife s eyes seemed to rise from a sea of glutinous mass in his mind 
before his eyes 
In another world  one which might have been called real by another Horst
Leibniz, one of flesh and blood  he was kicking in a door, bursting through
into a marble hall, his boots crunching on glass.
Karin s eyes were those shards of broken glass, the emotions of pain pouring
out into him from her plague-wracked body. Into his own mind. Only she didn t
know that was happening, she had never known what she d married.
The toxin was of Draconian origin, swift and efficient. The assassin  not even
a name to her former employer  had launched the dart from a pistol, among the
crowds that afternoon in the Experience Park on Magellani.
And Karin had slipped, falling in Horst Leibniz s arms, the life slipping out of
her as the escalator carried them down.
He lifted his goggles, motioning the squad of troopers to take up positions
in the hall.
With the screams of her death in his mind
The glass was a shattered chandelier, spread across the marble floor like a
carpet of ice.
Bernice, next to him, drew breath. Leibniz looked up. He saw a big, winding
staircase of red, strewn with dust and rubble, the carpet torn and burned in
patches. And standing at the top of the stairs, lounging on the banister and
watching them like a hungry lioness, was Shanstra.
Bernice had not been at all sure about the wisdom of actually confronting
Shanstra, but the Doctor had been adamant about this. He had told her not to
worry, saying he would be dealing with the most difficult and dangerous task
when the time came.
This was not reassuring. It sounded to Benny as if it came from 101 Ways
to Pacify a Companion.
She hardly dared even breathe. She had to have faith in the Doctor, now,
the Doctor who was thousands of light years and millennia away. But still, she
reflected, by the usual paradoxes, they were linked to the Doctor through the
gateway of this creature.
She  it  was approaching them. Benny s heart was beating fast, her fear
stronger than the taste of smoke in her mouth and the ringing of battle in her
ears. That, she thought, had been one of the differences between her and Ace.
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Benny liked to admit her fears, but Ace had always been one for pretending
she didn t really have any.
Well, Summerfield, she thought, this is another fine mess the Doctor s got
us into. And I don t think he s sure how we re meant to get out of it, this time.
 Have you come to play? purred the Sensopath, as she slinked down the
stairs towards them like some celluloid goddess.  How nice. I have so very
few diversions.
 Now, Kelzen! cried the Doctor.
There was a flickering in the darkness of the Dreamguide s domain, like an
inquisitive ghost. Suzi saw Jirenal s arm suddenly flung out as if he were being
pinned to the darkness, and his body rippling like an unsteady reflection.
The blue-cloaked form of Kelzen was taking shape around him. The faces
merged into one, the hair, glossy and even longer than before, seeming to coil
around itself and tangle in all directions.
 What s happening? Suzi gasped.
 The inevitable, said the Doctor.
Leibniz and Bernice exchanged glances.  If you ll give us a few minutes of your
time, Bernice ventured,  we d like to talk.
And why bother lying? she thought in desperation. All she has to do is 
Too late. She had done it.
Reality warped in the house. The floor in front of Bernice shattered open in
five different places, scattering shards of chandelier and marble.
Her feet flew from under her. Tentacles had sprung from nowhere, were
slithering across the floor. One of them had grabbed her firmly by the ankle,
biting, while others were reaching out for her wrists.
 Worried about going under, Professor Summerfield? said the echoing voice
of Shanstra.  They were always there, you know. Always just about to find
you out.
Benny, gasping, grabbed a table leg. The tentacles continued to pull her
into the gaping cracks in the floor. She realized that Leibniz and the troopers
had fallen to their knees, and had their hands clamped over their ears.
Her hands were sweaty on the table-leg.
Shanstra s laughter echoed around the house.
Livewire ran across the flat roof, screened from below by a wall of fire. She
launched herself at the nearest latticed window in a ferocious jump-kick, send-
ing most of the window s structure scattering inside the house.
Her head was aching. She could sense herself coming close to the woman
who had made Livewire kill her enemies.
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Livewire leapt in through the smashed window, landing neatly on all fours
like a cat, ignoring the lacerations to her arms and legs. Her eyes were bright
with hatred as the battle raged outside, sounds ebbing and flowing like a sea
of shouts, explosions and plasma bolts.
Livewire liked to know who her enemies were. Her true enemies. Now, she
knew. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]