[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
adjusted its position, and another. The motion took him by surprise.
Gradually growing in the back of his mind, washing forth like waves beating
against a beach, came the noise, swelling and receding again, swelling and
receding.
Jack& Stein&
He was dreaming. He had to be dreaming.
Jack& Stein& welcome&
The last word drifted away, echoing.
Too& hard&
It s too difficult for them, said Talbot from behind him. Jack recognized
the now-familiar voice immediately.
Jack whirled to face him. What are you doing here?
Talbot smiled. I am a product of your own mind, Jack.
I don t understand.
Talbot crossed his hands in front of himself. It s simple, Jack. Trying to
communicate mind-to-mind is difficult for them. The structure of your thoughts
is too different. Too alien. They looked for an image that you would recognize
and could identify with.
Jack stood. If that s the case, why you, Talbot?
He shrugged. I was fresh in your mind, walking the dreamscape. I was there
the first time you saw them. I was accessible.
Well, they could have made a better choice, said Jack. That whole
burned-away face thing is not a good look.
You would prefer someone else? Talbot asked. He grew and stretched, his
body and face elongating. The dark hair paled and thinned. His skin became
mottled and pale. His teeth grew suddenly, filling his mouth.
Jack, dear booooooy.
Pinpin Dan!
No! said Jack. No way.
Pinpin Dan was dead, like Talbot, but there were too many memories attached
to the particular repugnance that was Heironymous Dan.
Pinpin looked disappointed.
In a rapid succession of transformations, figure after figure from Jack s
life appeared before him and melted away.
Stop! said Jack.
Page 135
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The figure in front of him stopped in midtransformation, halfway between Van
der Stegen and Alice the librarian from the Locality.
One, said Jack. Only one.
The figure in front of him shrank, and its hair grew longer. Jack grinned.
Billie.
Is that okay, Jack? she asked.
Yeah, that s fine. He glanced down quickly and saw with relief that he was
clothed. He wouldn t have felt comfortable standing naked in front of Billie.
It was funny. This was the younger Billie, from when they had first met about
four years earlier. He wondered why she should be foremost in his mind.
Hey, he said.
She crossed her arms. What are you waiting for, Jack? She frowned. Hey.
Something s happened to you. She tilted her head to one side and frowned.
Hasn t it?
Don t you like it? he asked. Dumb question, Stein.
She shook her head. Nuh-uh.
So, he said. Where are you?
I m not here, Jack. You re supposed to be finding me.
I know that, he said. How am I supposed to do that?
Billie shook her head.
Jack propped himself on the table edge and stroked his chin, thinking. He had
to ask the right questions. If you didn t ask the right questions, you didn t
get the right answers. And all the time this whole thing, he knew, was being
colored by his own dream expectations. He glanced across at Dog, but he was
immobile, frozen. No help there, then. This was Billie, but it wasn t Billie.
He knew that his own consciousness, his understanding and knowledge of her,
was shaping the way she reacted, as Billiewould react, as he d expect her to
react. The right questions, Jack.
What s happened to us? he asked.
Billie looked at him approvingly. Temporal energy, Jack. She climbed up on
the table and hugged her knees in front of her, just as she would if she were
starting to explain something to him, something that he might have trouble
getting at first.
What s temporal energy? He hitched himself up on the table to sit beside
her.
It s what s happened to you. When you jump, it s not only space, but it s
time as well. When you pass through the portal there s a buildup of temporal
energy. It accumulates within living cells, accumulating at a subatomic level.
It doesn t matter if the life-form is carbon or silicon or something else. It
always works the same.
Jack shook his head. I don t get it. What do you mean, subatomic level?
Page 136
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
What s temporal energy?
Billie sighed, giving him that gee-you re-stupid-Jack look. Okay. Time is
energy. You don t know it because you re in it all the time. Wormholes disrupt
that steady state. They change space and time. That change has to go
somewhere. Living beings fill with time. They live in the timestream like they
are swimming in it. We learned that centuries ago when we first started
traveling through space.
Jack held up one hand. Do me a favor? Don t use the we for a moment. It s
easier if I m just talking to Billie.
Billie released the grip around her knees and crossed her legs. Uh-huh, she
said.
So, said Jack. Time is like energy.
She nodded.
And every time we jump, that energy builds up inside us.
Again she nodded.
So what happened? he asked.
Once more, the look. Unless it s dissipated, it has to be released. The
cells can t hold it forever. If there are a number of jumps in succession,
there is no time for it to dissipate. That s the paradox.
So this Jack waved his hand down the length of his body is what happens.
Billie pursed her lips. Sometimes.
Sometimes?
She shrugged. Depends if it s negative or positive. There s something else,
Jack.
Hmmm?
She leaned forward. A living thing can take only so much. The energy buildup
disrupts the cellular pattern. Dissipation is limited.
What do you mean?
If it happens more than one time,you can dissipate.
What?
Matter and energy are linked. You are playing with the bonds that make stuff
what it is.
Jack was starting to understand where she was going with this. You mean, if
we jump again, it could make us dissipate too.
She nodded.
Shit.
Something was happening. Billie was growing pale and insubstantial. He could
Page 137
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
see the outline of the table beneath and through her.
Billie?
Stay calm, Jack, she said, but he could barely hear the words.
The wash of voices was back. Too& hard&
Jack was awake again.
He swung his legs from the table and sat up, hand going automatically to
cover his crotch.
Dog?
McCreedy was looking distinctly uncomfortable. What have you been doing? he
said. They ve been moving.
Come here, said Jack.
Dog stooped and scooped up the other rifle, then walked quickly up to where
Jack was sitting. He kept looking back over his shoulder as if eager to be
outside the door.
What is it? Can we go now? And can you put your damn clothes back on?
Dog was glancing around at the aliens nervously.
Sorry, not yet, said Jack, lifting one hand to still him. I m not done.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]