Jacqueline Lichtenberg [Lifewave 02] City of a Million Legends

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daylight of the fountain chamber.
People were moving about their business. The gardener was working her way
along a new row of containers. In the distance, someone was playing a flute.
Sidenl waited beside Arai and Arshel, their expressions bright and hopeful as
Zref went toward them, trying to hide the weakness in his knees.
By the time he reached them, the sharp emotions were fading like a dream, and
he was again Master Interface. Arshel, her venom sack not visibly distended
though she reeked of strong emotion, wrapped her arms about Zref and said,
"I'm no longer afraid not even of the frustrated loneliness I knew here." She
looked up at him. "You didn't see what I saw, did you?"
Sidenl answered, "No two trips through life are the same. The experiences
depend on the decisions one makes before and during. The lessons depend on
what one is willing to hear, and see. So even an identical trip wouldn't be an
identical experience."
"Yes, of course," said Arshel abstractedly. "I caught one of the partitions
shifting after I passed." And then, as if something had just come clear, she
asked Sidenl, "Did you mean to say before that Arai was right to take the
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writing job with Lantern after all?"
Sidenl answered, "I meant to say his work has proved of the most astounding
significance, awakening Zref's interest in the Crown network, and the
Persuader's Maze. But I still believe you'd do well to sever connections with
Lantern Enterprises. The Lantern novels are not a healthy thing."
"What do you mean?" asked Zref. His growing esteem for Sidenl was suddenly
challenged. He had grown up fighting his parents over those novels.
"Let me ask you," said Sidenl, "which Lantern novels did you find resonant
with your own sense of life. Only the Meguerian titles? Right?"
At the direct question, Zref had automatically searched his private file which
contained all his life's memories before he'd become an Interface. "Yes," he
had to answer. "And they have
now all been withdrawn, 'Meguerian' fired."
"What have the novels accomplished recently?" asked Sidenl, rhetorically. "The
inciting of thousands to search once again for the Mazeheart-Object. Just
yesterday, five Sirwini were lost when their small ship was searching an
asteroid belt. If they'd found the Object and gained the power to Persuade,
what would that have availed?"
"Only responsibility greater than their ability," answered Arai. "We tried to
show what abuse of power "
"But Lantern won't allow it," interrupted Sidenl. "They paint only the picture
of Utopia regained. Someone behind Lantern wants to rule this galaxy. The
Lantern novels are being used to awaken the idealistic urges of all mortal
species, directing it toward acclaiming an Emperor of Stars."
"The enemy," said Arai.
"So Arshel's mentor has maned her. And she is forming an aklal out of the
readers of the Lantern novels, binding them by attuning and orchestrating
their emotions. Crudely done, but devastatingly effective."
Arshel said, "I must tell Khelin what you've said."
"Must, yes. But before you leave, could you indulge an old teacher, and allow
me to take Zref aside for a test?" Politely, he asked Arshel rather than Zref.
Apprehensive, she nevertheless said, "Certainly, but we don't have too much
time."
Zref quoted the exact span remaining in the lunch break.
"That should be ample," replied Sidenl. He took Zref back to the cubical room
with the only white stone on Sirwin.
The room was dim now, but the empty air still held a charge that seemed to
make every edge stand out in a too-vivid focus. "A test?" asked Zref.
"Yes, quite simple really. You've done it before. But often it's important to
repeat such exercises."
Zref understood then that this was some form of initiation for the Glenwarnan.
"Before we get to that, though, will you answer a question of mine?"
"If I may."
"That final figure who is it?"
"One of the Glenwarnan Founders." He watched Zref.
Zref was somehow not surprised, though he didn't believe
it. Some well-meaning person had gotten fact and legend mixed up. "What lesson
does it represent?"
"These lessons are depicted as you saw them because the mind must grasp them
as a whole, and relate them to emotional states resulting from beliefs."
Zref's automatic protest, Interfaces don't experience emotional states, went
unvoiced. Emotions resided in the unconscious, the zone of himself which Zref
could access via that state of caring Arshel's presence catalyzed.
"Surely, there must be some verbalization of that lesson that might help me
grasp it?"
Studying Zref, listening to more than his words, Sidenl stroked his [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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