[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
thought of as his Cyber, but he could not tell if it was getting closer. Smoke
layered the valley like smudged glass and made it impossible to see
approaching Cybers. He smelled their fog-dabs at the edges of his sensorium,
Page 218
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
though.
They lay in the waxing morning sun and let it take some of the ache out of
them. Besen was throwing off her dizziness and even made a joke. It was as if
they had all agreed to set aside the press of the world and evoke some vestige
of earlier Family times.
Shibo contended with a riddle: "What's the best kind pain?"
Killeen murmured, "What's this, old Pawn Family saying?"
"Yeasay." Shibo was the only surviving Pawn member.
"No kind pain's good," Besen said reasonably.
"I give up," Toby said.
"Can't be real pain, right?" Shibo hinted with a slight smile.
"Fake pain?" Toby was puzzled.
"Right," Shibo said. "Champagne."
It was weak humor but they were weaker and everybody laughed. Nobody had seen
champagne since the Citadels and the origin of the term was buried in
antiquity. His Grey Aspect tried to tell Killeen something about Family France
but he lay back in the warming sun and ignored her. Bishops repeated Shibo's
joke and he could hear the tired laughter work its way along the ridgeline.
A rest can seem to last a long time when you need it and so
Killeen came back from a place far away when the voice said loudly nearby, "So
you have rejoined us?"
His Supremacy stood with his marching escort talking to Joce-
TIDES OF LIGHT
327
lyn. Killeen had not registered any of the conversation until this point, but
when he did sudden anger spiked through him.
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt (336 of 373) [5/21/03 1:01:59 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt
"You left us out there," Jocelyn said flatly.
As Killeen got up, His Supremacy said grandly, "I determined that your feint
was insufficient."
"We lost plenty people!"
His Supremacy coughed slightly as a wreath of greasy smoke drifted up from the
valley. "In our heroic struggle there are martyrs, of course."
"You ran oS" Jocelyn's fists were clenched.
"I used your diversion to effect an escape"
"You turned tail!"
" from our untenable situation. And I expect you to keep a respectful tongue
while addressing myself."
"We could have withdrawn if you'd told us. Before we reached the valley
floor."
"As I said--"
"I couldn't even raise you on deep comm. You wouldn't--"
"That is enough!" His Supremacy's eyes flickered with a strange pale cast.
"I demand that you--"
"No one demands of God. You will now--"
"Some God! You're just a--"
His Supremacy made a small gesture with his hand. One of his guards stepped
smartly forward and clipped Jocelyn expertly on the side of her head with a
pistol, as if he had done the same thing many times. She went down heavily and
lay still.
"Stake her," His Supremacy said. "She is obviously ridden by the demons she
has battled."
He gazed out over the ridgeline where Bishops were gathering.
A knot of them had formed behind Killeen, who stood absolutely still.
"And as well, I see there are others among the Bishops who seem to neglect the
Page 219
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
holy nature of my office." This was plainly calculated to throw fear into the
Bishops.
A Bishop man shouted, "You're bunch cowards!"
"You turn 'n' run pretty quick, for a God," a woman called sarcastically.
Some Bishops' hands began to creep toward their weapons but
His Supremacy's escort leveled theirs immediately, catching them by surprise.
His Supremacy said hotly, "I believe ! see demons dancing in the eyes of many
here. Careful of your wild talk."
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt (337 of 373) [5/21/03 1:01:59 AM]
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt
328
Gregory Benford
"Keep your damn hands off Jocelyn," a voice yelled from the knot behind
Killeen.
"Yeasay!"
"Gutless bastard!"
"Yellowbellies!"
"Fatass poltroon!"
His Supremacy gestured slightly and two men in his escort started toward the
knot. They trotted forward, trying to see who had yelled.
Killeen said, "Stop them or you'll have a fight."
His Supremacy gazed at him as though looking down at an insect. "You would
threaten the deputy of All Living Holiness?"
"Just predicting," Killeen said evenly.
--and as he finished saying it he clenched his jaw solidly shut against a
sudden boiling turmoil inside. The wedge at the back of his mind was a
swelling sore. Pressure bulged through him. His vision narrowed down to a
tight blue cone centered on the swarthy face of the strutting little man.
His Supremacy raised a hand and his guard stopped. He licked his lips and
assessed the gathering crowd of Bishops. Killeen wondered if the man had the
stomach for a shootout at close quarters. If so, a lot of people would die
very quickly.
But then the curious vacant look came into His Supremacy's eyes and Killeen
saw that the man would try to talk himself out of this.
Talk. Endless empty talk. All Killeen's buried anger and sorrow rushed into
his throat. Bile stung his mouth. A storm swept from the jellied presence at
the back of his mind, blowing through him.
His Supremacy went on, "We are marching to meet again the bountiful grace of
God as it descends from heaven. I say to all you brethren, turn away from
these dectiers of the immaculate path.
Your Cap'n Jocelyn has erred gravely. She caused you many, many tragic losses
upon the exalted battlefield. Be rid of her.
Let--"
- .and compressed rage ripped the air like a scalding release.
Killeen felt a squeezing pulse of electromagnetic energy hum past his
shoulder. It refracted the air with its wake and struck His
Supremacy solidly in the head.
Killeen dove sidewise and hit the ground. The Cyber pulse had come from above
and his first thought was to find the source.
But as he rolled to his left he felt a sudden sweet dwindling of the
TIDES OF LIGHT
329
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt (338 of 373) [5/21/03 1:01:59 AM]
Page 220
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
file:///F|/rah/Gregory%20Benford/Benford,%20Gregory%20-%20Tides%20of%20Light.t
xt heavy wedge behind his head. He realized in a rush that it was his
Cyber who had fired the bolt. He sat up amid cries and shouts.
The little man who called himself His Supremacy was down.
Killeen somehow knew there was no more danger. He stood up and walked to the
crumpled form.
Tribe members gaped at their fallen leader. Confusion swept them. They looked
for the source of this assassination and saw nothing.
The madman seemed even smaller in death. In repose Killeen could see that the
face had carried its expression of dignity and power through sheer effort of
will. Relaxed, it was an ordinary, bland face. But that was not what caught
his eye. The pulse had fried away a big section of His Supremacy's temples
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]