[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
there s nowhere else more isolated in the west than Blackstear. In the east,
they might target Prosp, but if they do, Brekylt and Noryan will have to deal
with it. At least for now.
You don t think the Ifryn Myrmidons were sent information by Brekylt? asked
Alcyna.
It s possible, but I don t think so. Dainyl paused. Do you?
No. That s not his way. He d have no control, she pointed out. When are you
leaving?
In a glass, if we can manage it.
That s pushing it. You have cold-weather gear?
In my study. I stopped and picked it up on the way back from the Hall of
Justice.
You would. Alcyna laughed sardonically. I hope you get back before anything
else happens. I d rather not deal with the Highest. He s not all that fond of
women.
I d rather you didn t have to, either. I ll be back to you before I head
out. After a nod to her, Dainyl left her and walked down the corridor toward
Captain Ghasylt s study. He d noted the captain had been there when he d first
entered headquarters.
Ghasylt immediately stood as Dainyl appeared. Marshal, sir?
We re leaving for Blackstear all of First Company in one glass. A company of
foot Myrmidons from Ifryn stormed the Table in Blackstear. The recorder
escaped, and the Table is shut down. That leaves the rebel Myrmidons trapped
in
Blackstear, but the recorders can t reactivate it until we retake it from
them.
It s winter up there already, sir, Ghasylt said, his voice even.
I know. It still has to be done. That s one reason why I m coming with First
Company.
Page 101
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
The company commander nodded. We ve got two fliers from third squad out on
dispatch runs. They won t be back until late this afternoon.
That s fine. They can fly urgent dispatches until the squads from Seventh
Company get here tomorrow afternoon. Then they can fly to rejoin us.
A glass might be pressing it, sir. We ll have to make sure everyone s got all
their cold-weather gear.
Do the best you can. I ll have to get mine together as well.
Sir ... ?
Yes.
You don t have to say if you can t, but for a company of Myrmidons to take a
long translation to Acorus ... I mean, most of us have never even seen a Table
... it d seem to me that things aren t good on Ifryn. Ghasylt shifted his
weight from one foot to the other, but kept his eyes on Dainyl.
I honestly don t know, Dainyl replied, but my judgment would be the same as
yours. There have been more wild translations and refugees coming through the
Tables. Some of them have come through armed and firing weapons and had to be
killed. I d imagine conditions on Ifryn are anything but good and getting
worse, but the Archon has said nothing to anyone here.
Thank you, sir.
I wish matters were different, Captain, but Acorus won t last long either, if
thousands of alectors translate here in the next few weeks.
Ghasylt s eyes widened as he understood the implications of Dainyl s words.
No, sir, but it seems a terrible waste.
Dainyl nodded. I don t like it, either. All we can do, right now, is keep
matters from getting worse. That s probably all anyone can do.
We ll be ready, Marshal.
I ll join you shortly. Dainyl turned.
A terrible waste. Ghasylt s words ran through Dainyl s mind as he headed back
to his study to go over the last-moment preparations for the immediate
deployment. For the past few years, Dainyl and Lystrana had talked about what
might happen, and how Efra and Acorus could not take all the alectors living
on Ifryn and how many would die in the long translation and how many would
become wild translations and die. In a sense, the words had been just
that words. Now, real alectors and alectresses and children were dying, even
before Ifryn died. Yet, as Khelaryt had said, what could he do to save them
without dooming all alectors?
Why had it come down to this? Could the Archon not have planned better? Did
the Archon and the High Alectors regard the majority of alectors in the same
fashion as alectors viewed the indigens? Or was it inevitable so long as the
oldest alectors drew so much lifeforce? Or was it that no one wanted to
consider events before they drew near, when it was too late to even mitigate
the situation?
39
There is no higher calling for a people than to create beauty and structure
where it has not existed previously. In its time, every world in the endless
universe will be formed, will exist, and will perish. Some will perish even
before their creation is complete, and others may endure the long life of the
universe. Upon many of those worlds, there will be no life. Upon others, that
life will consist of lichens, algae, and other minute forms that will never
progress toward intelligence. Upon still others, there will be animal and
plant life, but sentience will not appear.
Only upon a comparative handful of worlds will sentience appear, and in many
cases, with the advent of technologies that enable widescale warfare, will
come a decline that will destroy that sentience before it has barely begun to
learn what intelligence is and could be. That occurs all too often because
sentience without individual and societal self-mastery enables destruction
more readily than creation.
Sentience rewards those who possess it and master it with creations of beauty
and joy, with an understanding of what the universe is and will be, and with
mastery of the worlds in which those intelligences find themselves. Yet, at
Page 102
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
the same time, sentience exacts great demands upon any world on which it
arises and upon any society that reveres sentience.
What do all these possibilities have to do with being a responsible alector?
Everything, for the thinking alector must understand that sentience of a
lasting nature is rare, and that no price is too high to pay for the
perpetuation of a society that enshrines sentience. We must never forget that
we, too, as a society will be called upon periodically to pay the price in
blood for our way of life, and that at such times, not all will survive.
Should we forget that price, and what it entails, all that we are, and all
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]