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umbrella in frustration. Oh I can t quite get it!
The monkeys looked on incomprehendingly. Some of them were making
little barking noises. Not words. Just animal noises. Pain? Hunger?
The Doctor looked down at his umbrella. He was gripping it tightly. It was
twisted in the middle, the cloth ripped, the steel frame wrung like a dishcloth.
The Doctor stared at his umbrella. Something s wrong, he said. Some-
thing s
Beside him, a monkey coughed. Curled into an arc of rippling fur, began to
moan with pain.
Burst apart in a wet explosion of blood and internal organs as something
emerged.
The worm was three metres long, the thickness of the Doctor s arm; a flexi-
ble tube of muscle wrapped around a bag of chemicals. There were no sense
organs. No central nervous system. No brain. Just need.
A need to find water.
The Doctor didn t question how he knew this. The memories were Mid-
night s. He simply used his umbrella to pull himself aside as the creature
thrashed past him, coiling and uncoiling, slick with blood and pieces of mon-
key insides.
And now other monkeys were taking up the cry. The low, undulating moan.
Beyond the tent, the city rang with the sound. The Doctor pulled himself to a
flap and peered out. The city was crawling with monkeys, adults and children
alike, all moving as one towards the heart of the city.
Towards the deathpool.
With mounting urgency, the Doctor turned to Midnight. What s the differ-
ence between life and Life? he asked.
Midnight whispered something but the answer was lost in the screams from
beyond the tent. The screams and something else.
A rough hissing noise; sand on sand. Or dust. Dust on skin.
The world around him rippled.
No. It was his perception of the world that changed.
Something was covering his eyes.
Entering his nose and mouth.
Pollen.
174
Midnight . . . help me! He choked the words out in a cloud of golden dust.
Must get to . . . the deathpool before . . . before the change. And he turned to
join the monkeys in their mass exodus towards their place of death.
22
It was Bannen s observation that hydrogen was released as a by-product of
mitosis that enabled them to get off the planet. Together, Bernice, Gail and
Bannen had re-woven the sails of the skyraft to form a balloon. When filled
with the hydrogen it formed enough lift to overcome the slight gravity of the
world the egg, Bernice corrected herself as they climbed slowly towards
orbit.
She watched the egg dwindle beneath them, watched the horizon curve
into a steepening arc of soft brown rock. Above them the roar of orbiting
water strengthened. The noise provoked a strange feeling in her. She looked
upwards as the reins of gravity fell away, leaving them free to drift before the
chamber winds, the thermals generated from the ocean.
The ocean.
The water.
The
Benny, what are you doing?
Gail s words were almost a shout. Bernice reached back to take her hand
and that was when she realized she was poised on the rim of the raft.
Poised to jump.
To jump upwards into the water.
She blew out her cheeks softly, shook her head, said nothing.
Gail stared hard at her and then put her hand back on the edge of the raft.
Hang on, she said. Bannen says the thermals might get a little rough.
That s OK, said Bernice. Now that we re out of the gravity field, can t we
re-rig the balloon as a sail again?
Gail nodded. Bannen s doing that now. It ll just take a while, that s all. And
during that time we ve no means of propulsion.
Uh huh. Bernice found her attention wandering back to the dazzling
ocean, to the jagged moon sweeping towards it on yet another orbit. Was
it her imagination or was the moon lower? Perhaps it was the new angle she
was seeing it from that changed things. Then again, it was obvious that the
moon couldn t orbit forever, not when it encountered friction in the form of
the ocean rings twice in every orbit. For a moment she wondered what it
175
would be like to plunge into that ocean; imagined herself as the moon, diving
towards the water, entering it, becoming one with it
Benny? Are you listening to me?
Huh? Oh sure. You want me to help re-rig the sails, right?
Gail frowned. Come on then. We haven t got all day.
Sure, Gail. You go ahead. I ll be right with you. Bernice cast one look up
at the ocean as she moved to join Bannen and Gail at the bows. As she looked
up, she burped and the taste of cooked monkey flesh filled her mouth.
For Drew the worst part about getting the shuttle operational again was ditch-
ing the bodies. Ace stepped over the bloated masses of white flesh as she
headed for the pilot s cabin. She didn t speak but a nod of her head dismissed
him from her side. To be honest he wasn t sure he could stand her company
anyway. Not after . . . not after Rhiannon . . .
He had tried to bury her. A last gesture. He had taken a strip of plas-alloy
shelving from the shuttle and used it to dig a shallow grave in the shore. The [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl fopke.keep.pl
umbrella in frustration. Oh I can t quite get it!
The monkeys looked on incomprehendingly. Some of them were making
little barking noises. Not words. Just animal noises. Pain? Hunger?
The Doctor looked down at his umbrella. He was gripping it tightly. It was
twisted in the middle, the cloth ripped, the steel frame wrung like a dishcloth.
The Doctor stared at his umbrella. Something s wrong, he said. Some-
thing s
Beside him, a monkey coughed. Curled into an arc of rippling fur, began to
moan with pain.
Burst apart in a wet explosion of blood and internal organs as something
emerged.
The worm was three metres long, the thickness of the Doctor s arm; a flexi-
ble tube of muscle wrapped around a bag of chemicals. There were no sense
organs. No central nervous system. No brain. Just need.
A need to find water.
The Doctor didn t question how he knew this. The memories were Mid-
night s. He simply used his umbrella to pull himself aside as the creature
thrashed past him, coiling and uncoiling, slick with blood and pieces of mon-
key insides.
And now other monkeys were taking up the cry. The low, undulating moan.
Beyond the tent, the city rang with the sound. The Doctor pulled himself to a
flap and peered out. The city was crawling with monkeys, adults and children
alike, all moving as one towards the heart of the city.
Towards the deathpool.
With mounting urgency, the Doctor turned to Midnight. What s the differ-
ence between life and Life? he asked.
Midnight whispered something but the answer was lost in the screams from
beyond the tent. The screams and something else.
A rough hissing noise; sand on sand. Or dust. Dust on skin.
The world around him rippled.
No. It was his perception of the world that changed.
Something was covering his eyes.
Entering his nose and mouth.
Pollen.
174
Midnight . . . help me! He choked the words out in a cloud of golden dust.
Must get to . . . the deathpool before . . . before the change. And he turned to
join the monkeys in their mass exodus towards their place of death.
22
It was Bannen s observation that hydrogen was released as a by-product of
mitosis that enabled them to get off the planet. Together, Bernice, Gail and
Bannen had re-woven the sails of the skyraft to form a balloon. When filled
with the hydrogen it formed enough lift to overcome the slight gravity of the
world the egg, Bernice corrected herself as they climbed slowly towards
orbit.
She watched the egg dwindle beneath them, watched the horizon curve
into a steepening arc of soft brown rock. Above them the roar of orbiting
water strengthened. The noise provoked a strange feeling in her. She looked
upwards as the reins of gravity fell away, leaving them free to drift before the
chamber winds, the thermals generated from the ocean.
The ocean.
The water.
The
Benny, what are you doing?
Gail s words were almost a shout. Bernice reached back to take her hand
and that was when she realized she was poised on the rim of the raft.
Poised to jump.
To jump upwards into the water.
She blew out her cheeks softly, shook her head, said nothing.
Gail stared hard at her and then put her hand back on the edge of the raft.
Hang on, she said. Bannen says the thermals might get a little rough.
That s OK, said Bernice. Now that we re out of the gravity field, can t we
re-rig the balloon as a sail again?
Gail nodded. Bannen s doing that now. It ll just take a while, that s all. And
during that time we ve no means of propulsion.
Uh huh. Bernice found her attention wandering back to the dazzling
ocean, to the jagged moon sweeping towards it on yet another orbit. Was
it her imagination or was the moon lower? Perhaps it was the new angle she
was seeing it from that changed things. Then again, it was obvious that the
moon couldn t orbit forever, not when it encountered friction in the form of
the ocean rings twice in every orbit. For a moment she wondered what it
175
would be like to plunge into that ocean; imagined herself as the moon, diving
towards the water, entering it, becoming one with it
Benny? Are you listening to me?
Huh? Oh sure. You want me to help re-rig the sails, right?
Gail frowned. Come on then. We haven t got all day.
Sure, Gail. You go ahead. I ll be right with you. Bernice cast one look up
at the ocean as she moved to join Bannen and Gail at the bows. As she looked
up, she burped and the taste of cooked monkey flesh filled her mouth.
For Drew the worst part about getting the shuttle operational again was ditch-
ing the bodies. Ace stepped over the bloated masses of white flesh as she
headed for the pilot s cabin. She didn t speak but a nod of her head dismissed
him from her side. To be honest he wasn t sure he could stand her company
anyway. Not after . . . not after Rhiannon . . .
He had tried to bury her. A last gesture. He had taken a strip of plas-alloy
shelving from the shuttle and used it to dig a shallow grave in the shore. The [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]