Jo Clayton SS1 Fire in the Sky

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Muttering his distress, he let Temuen tug him along to the court.
All the other Guardians were there, the young ones and the old failing ones
like him. The mesuchs had trapped them all.
The airwagon was still talking at them. He d missed part of it, so it was a
while before he took in what was being said and then only because the wagon
re-peated it twice. ... will choose four from among the oldest of you,
the rest won t be harmed. You can go on about your business as soon as we
leave. Any distur-bance or disobedience will be punished immediately.
A mesuch walked past them, staring at them. Brion shivered as the hard
metallic gaze seemed to peel his skin back.
A moment later the mesuch was back. He had a short brass wind in his hand. He
moved his claw, a ray of light went out, touched Camach. You.
The light touched Sulantha, the oldest of the women here. You.
The light touched Brion. It was cold light, but it burned him. He shuddered
when the mesuch said, You.
The light touched Temuen. You.
The mesuch stepped back. The ones I marked, step forward. You ll be coming
with us.
At least I ll have Temuen.
Brion took a step toward the airwagon. At least I won t be alone.
He reached to take her hand, but she wasn t beside him. He turned.
Her face had gone red, her eyes were little and squinty. She got like that
when she was angry. And she was stubborn when she was angry. No! she shouted
at the mesuch. I m not going anywhere.
Brion rushed to her, took her arm and tried to pull her along. Temmy, don t,
I need you. Don t.
Don t. Temmy ....
The mesuch didn t bother trying to persuade her. The light that touched Temuen
this time burned a hole clear through her and she crumpled at Brion s feet.
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The marker light flashed out, touched Te�rall. You. Now. All of you.
Move. I will not accept hesitation.
Te�rall took Brion s arm. Cha oy, Brio, what s done is done. Come along.
At times during the flight to the mesuch s place, Brion would forget about
Temuen and stare out at the clouds or at the ground moving with such
stately deceptive speed below them. Then he d look around to find her
and show her the wonders and she wasn t there and he d remember and the pain
was new again, new each time as if the horror happened over and over. He d
gotten used to Guardians dying, they did it all the time. Old men died. Old
women died. They went into the ground and their souls came back, as Keteng and
flowered into golden. Eolt. But those dy-ings were shared things, with songs
and stories and the Passage Feast to celebrate the freeing from the body. Even
when young Rudiam had a heart attack when he was only fifty-seven and dropped
dead in the middle of a Song Smoke, it wasn t like ... Brion looked out and
saw a herd of blackface ca�rags spooked by the shadow of the airwagons
rippling across the grass, smiled at how silly they looked from up here,
turned to nudge Temuen ... and screamed, remembering ....
The mesuchs drove the four Guardians ahead of them into a small gate
in the backside of their fort-place. After passing through a maze of
corridors, all rigidly square with glow bands that produced a glaring white
light that seared Brion s eyes, kept him blinking and rubbing at them, a hand
in the middle of his back shoved him into a small square room, with walls and
ceiling a smooth white ceramic.
The others came stumbling in after him, dazed and eyes streaming from the
glare.
The mesuch s voice came blaring into the room, as hard on the ears as their
lights were on the eyes.
Strip off your clothing and drop it in the opening provided.
Brion blinked, stood staring at the wall, not sure he d heard what he thought
he d heard. Te�rall patted his arm. Brio, take off your clothes. We all
have to do that. She turned, began helping Sulantha with the ties on her
robe.
Liquid came at him from everywhere, hard lines that hurt where they hit. Not
water. It stung his eyes and had the greasily sour taste of soap when
it got into his mouth. Then the water was gone and some-thing like
fog gushed into the room. It caught him in the throat and started him
coughing. He could hear the others hacking and wheezing.
Then the fog was sucked away and they stood shiv-ering on the smooth cold
floor. A part of a wall slid back. A door. Not the one they d come through.
Leave the room. The mesuch s voice had a weary impatience as if
he spoke to really stupid animals. Leave the room. Leave the room now.
Walk down the corridor till you reach the first open door, go through it.
Leave the room. Leave the room now.
Wet and shivering, they turned into the new room to find towels there, gray
soft rags with an acrid
herbal odor and voluminous white garments hanging from hooks shoulder high on
the wall. Brion rubbed his hair dry enough so it stopped dripping into his
eyes and sending driblets of water down his neck. He dropped the towel on the
table where he d found it, took down one of the garments. It was a loose
sleeveless smock that reached his knees and left his legs and feet bare.
He d barely gotten it on, was still tying on the cloth belt when the mesuch s
voice sounded, startling him as it seemed to come from the air. After a minute
he remembered that was the way it was before.
Sorry. I forget.
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He said that to Temuen a while ago. When was that? A while ago.
I know. Takes some like that.
Temuen said that to him a while ago. Temuen ....
Leave the room. Now. Leave the room. Turn to your left. Do not go back the
way you came. Turn to your left. Keep walking until you are told to stop.
Obediently, Brion shuffled down the corridor until the voice stopped him
beside a door.
Put your hand on the yellow oval.
It was a pale spot, seemed more brown than yellow to Brion, but he wasn t
going to argue the point.
When he set his hand on the spot, the door slid open.
Step inside.
He shied as the door slid shut behind him, cutting him off from the others.
What is your name?
Brion. His mouth quivered. He wanted to ask what was going to happen, but he
couldn t get his tongue around the words. His body was beginning to lose the
smoke; his fingers twitched, and a tic pulsed beside one eye.
Brion. This is your room. Do what I tell you and you will know how to use its
functions.
There were more yellow ovals scattered about. One brought a bunk bed sliding
from the wall. One a toilet. One opened a hole in the wall he was told would
have food for him at the proper time. The one that pleased him most opened a
narrow door that led into a small square patio. There were four concrete [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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