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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] what the merchant had called the end times, long before they had withdrawn from the Universe. Perhaps, as Derev be- lieved, many of Yama's kind now walked the world, as they had at its beginning. But for what purpose? All through his childhood he had prayed for a revelation, a sign, a hint, and had received nothing. Perhaps he should expect nothing else. Perhaps the shape of his life was the sip he sought, if only he could understand it. But he could not believe he was the servant of the feral machines. That was the worst thought of all. Yama sat on a hummock of dry grass, with the noise of crickets everywhere in the darkness around him, and leafed through his copy of the Puranas. The book had dried out well, although one corner of its front cover was faintly file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/McAuley,%20Paul%20J%20-%20Confluence1%20Child%20of%20the%20River.txt (416 of 508)10-12-2006 21:55:17 file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/McAuley,%20Paul%20J%20-%20Confluence1%20Child%20of%20the%20River.txt but indelibly stained with the merchant's blood. The pages held a faint light, and the glyphs; stood out like shadows against this soft effulgence. Yama found the sura which Iachimo had quoted, and read it from beginning to end. The world first showed itself as a golden embryo of sound. As soon as the thoughts of the Preservers turned to the creation of the world, the long vowel which described the form of the world vibrated in the pure realm of thought, and re-echoed on itself. From the knots in the play of vibrations, the crude matter of the world curdled. In the beginning, it was no more than a sphere of air and water with a little mud at the center. And the Preservers raised up a man and set on his brow their mark, and raised up a woman of the same kind, and set on her brow the same mark From the white clay of the middle region did they shape this race, and quickened them with their marks. And those of this race were the servants of the Preservers. And in their myriads this race shaped the world after the ideas of the Preservers. Yama read on, although the next sura was merely an exhaustive description of the dimensions and composition of the world, and he knew that there was no other mention of the Builders, nor of their fate. This was toward the end of the Puranas. The world and everything in it was an afterthought at the end of the history of the Galaxy, created in the last moment before file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/McAuley,%20Paul%20J%20-%20Confluence1%20Child%20of%20the%20River.txt (417 of 508)10-12-2006 21:55:17 file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/McAuley,%20Paul%20J%20-%20Confluence1%20Child%20of%20the%20River.txt the Preservers fell into the Eye and were known no more in the Universe. Nothing had been written about the ten thousand bloodlines of Confluence in the Puranas; if there had been, then there would have never been a beginning to the endless disputations amongst priests and philosophers about the reason for the world's creation. Tamora said, "Reading, is it? There's nothing in books you can't learn better in the world, nothing but fantastic rubbish about monsters and the like. You'll rot your mind and your eyes, reading too much in books." "Well, I met a real monster today." 4 ', , W he's dead, the fucker, and we have a piece of him in brandy as proof. So much for him." Yama had not told Tamora and Pandaras about the feral machine. Tamora had boasted that one of her pistol shots had weakened the ceiling and so caused the flood which had saved them, and Yama had not corrected her error. He felt a rekindling of shame at this deception, and said weakly, "I suppose the merchant was a kind of monster. He tried to flee from his true self, and let a little hungry part of himself rule his life. He was all appetite and nothing else. I think he would have eaten the whole world, if he could." "You want to be a soldier. Here's some advice. Don't think about what you have to do and don't think about it file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/McAuley,%20Paul%20J%20-%20Confluence1%20Child%20of%20the%20River.txt (418 of 508)10-12-2006 21:55:17 file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/McAuley,%20Paul%20J%20-%20Confluence1%20Child%20of%20the%20River.txt when it's done." "And can you forget it so easily?" "Of course not. But I try. We were captured, your rat-boy and me, and thrown into cages, but you had it worse, I think. The merchant was trying to bend you toward his will. The words of his kind are like thorns, and some of them are still in your flesh. But they'll wither, and you'll forget them." Yama smiled and said, "Perhaps it would be no bad thing, to be the ruler of the world." Tamora sat down close beside him. She was a shadow in the darkness. She said, "You would destroy the civil service and rule instead? How would that change the world for the better?" Yama could feel her heat. She gave off a strong scent compounded of fresh blood and sweat and a sharp musk. He said, "Of course not. But the merchant told me something about my bloodline. I may be alone in the world. I may be a mistake thrown up at the end of things. Or I may be something else. Something intended." "The fat fuck was lying. How better to get you to follow him than by saying that you are the only one of your kind, and he knows all about you?" "I am not sure that he was lying, Tamora. At least, I think he was telling part of the truth." "I haven't forgotten what you want, and I was a long time hunting coneys because I really went to ask around. Listen. I have a way of getting at what you want. There is a job for a couple of caterans. Some little pissant department needs file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/McAuley,%20Paul%20J%20-%20Confluence1%20Child%20of%20the%20River.txt (419 of 508)10-12-2006 21:55:17 file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/McAuley,%20Paul%20J%20-%20Confluence1%20Child%20of%20the%20River.txt someone to organize a defense of its territory inside the Palace of the Memory of the People. There are many disputes between departments, and the powerful grow strong at the expense of the weak. That's the way of the world, but I don't mind defending the weak if I get paid for it." "Then perhaps they may be stronger than you after all." "Grah. Listen. When a litter is born here, the babies are exposed on a hillside for a day. Any that are weak die, or are taken by birds or foxes. We're the Fierce People, see? We keep our bloodline strong. The wogs and wetbacks and snakes and the rest of the garbage down there in the city, they're what we prey on. They need us, not the other way around." Tamora spat sideways. Yes, she had drunk a lot of brandy. She said, "There's prey, and there's hunters. You have to decide which you are. You don't know, now is the time you find out. Are you for it?" "It seems like a good plan." "Somewhere or other you've picked up the habit of not speaking plain. You mean yes, then say it." "Yes. Yes, I will do it. If it means getting into the Palace of the Memory of the People." "Then you got to pay me, because I found it for you, and I'll do the work." "I know something about fighting." Tamora. spat again. "Listen, this is a dangerous job. This little department is certain to be attacked and they don't have a security office or they wouldn't be hiring someone from file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/McAuley,%20Paul%20J%20-%20Confluence1%20Child%20of%20the%20River.txt (420 of 508)10-12-2006 21:55:17 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |