Part 10 (2/2)

CLOUD: Papa's furious that you started the overland trek.

HAGEN: Did he threaten any long-distance mind-blast?

CLOUD: No. He was very restrained. He just told me to warn you not to attempt any contact with Aiken Drum-or else face dire consequences.

HAGEN: ?? Strange that he didn't farspeak me himself ...

CLOUD: The CE rig is down for reinstallation on the boatHAGEN: h.e.l.l, babe, he has plenty of watts to bespeak me in broad daylight, with nothing but the ol' naked grey. Or-?

!!! [Image.] CLOUD: We were right about Felice's d-jump. She rode down his peripheral and scragged him horribly. Fire-flayed him from the neck downHAGEN: [Hastily suppressed image.] CLOUD: [Pain.] He's been floating in the regeneration tank since June.

HAGEN: Cloudie, what if Felice did more than broil his bod?

What if she cooked his brain, too? What if he pasted himself together again as well as he could-healed his worst body injuries, but didn't dare stay in the soup long enough for a complete neural refit? h.e.l.l-that could take eight, nine months easy!

CLOUD: If his metafaculties are crippled, it would explainHAGEN: You bet your sweet life it would. He'd speak you rather than me on i-mode because you're more fa.r.s.ensitive. Chances are, he can't crank up anything approaching his normal armamentarium! And if he's unable to handle a full-zorch creative metaconcert, then there's no more danger of his nailing us with a long-distance psychozap! Oh, Cloudie, baby-this could be our big break! He's going to have to fight fair! Get really close to us if he hopes to coerce or mind-blast. Let him try, with Aiken Drum and his mob of exotics on our sideCLOUD: When Papa farspoke me he said ... he said he would do his best to worth things out for us. If we could only trust him!

HAGEN: [Expletive.] CLOUD: He should know that we wouldn't let the Milieu authorities come back to the Pliocene for him.

HAGEN: Wouldn't we? ...

CLOUD: You-youhe loves us!

HAGEN: His b.l.o.o.d.y inhuman brand of love-! He loved Mama, and we know what he did to her. Didn't you ever wonder why?

CLOUD: This is allHAGEN: In the Ocala library. Ever notice that the computer entries on the Metapsychic Rebellion are all baldfaced and frank about most aspects of the conflict-except for the bottom line, the goal of the whole d.a.m.n thing! Why did they have to fight, for G.o.d's sake? The Rebel objective: ”The fostering of Mental Man and the a.s.surance that he will take his rightful place in the Coadunate Milieu.” What the h.e.l.l kind of war motivation is that?

CLOUD: Papa and his people wanted the Human Polity to dominateHAGEN: Not that simple! There was something else. You have to pick it up from hints in the other data entries. Subliminal boojum hints as skittish as those things you almost, but not quite, see out of the corner of your eye! Papa's Rebellion had something to do with us. With human children. He planned to do something so terrible that his own wife felt justified in trying to murder him-and the Milieu declared war on him after a hundred thousand years of unbroken peace.

CLOUD: It's over. Finished long ago.

HAGEN: Sister dear, it hasn't happened yet.

CLOUD: Stop it Hagen stop it! The important thing-the only thing-is for us to get away! Away from him, away from this miserable primitive world where our minds are all alone and hopeless. We can't lose sight of that goal for any reason.

HAGEN: ... Well?

CLOUD: We must take a chance and contact Aiken Drum. You must come to Afaliah with all speed. It shouldn't take long, now that you've reached the Mediterranean. Sail to the neck of the Balearic Peninsula. There's a very good track called the Aven Road that leads directly to Afaliah. Once you arrive, we can arrange a meeting. Kuhal says ... he suggested to me a certain bargaining factor that might a.s.sure Aiken's cooperating with us. We farspoke together just after Aiken defeated Nodonn. Kuhal didn't want me to lose hope.

HAGEN: Well, what's his idea?

CLOUD: [Image.] HAGEN: I'll be d.a.m.ned. Right there in Afaliah?

CLOUD: They're in the dungeon. There's no one left here to contest my authority over them, so I've been squeezing all day with the help of the local chief redactor. We've almost got it.

HAGEN: Aiken Drum'll kiss our a.s.ses to get hold of this!

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