Part 42 (1/2)

”He wanted Kim to step through.”

”Through?” Both Sampsa and Karr said it as one.

”Yes. Into the other universe.”

”And Lagasek?”

”Lagasek's unwilling. I think he's frightened.”

”Frightened?” Sampsa asked. ”Frightened of what?”

”I don't know.”

Again, a silence fell. Then Karr let out a sigh. ”So what are we going to do?

Without Kim... well, the equations are just so much mumbo-jumbo to me.” Ebert laughed. ”For once I agree with you, Gregor. I thought my maths was good, but those calculations are quite beyond me.”

”And me,” Sampsa said.

”Well,” Jelka said, looking about her. ”It seems, then, that we have but one course, and thaf s to do as Surgeon Ji says, and wait” ”And if he doesn't wake?” Kao Chen asked.

”He'll wake,” Karr said, putting a hand on his old friend's shoulder rea.s.suringly. ”Jelka's seen it, remember?”

The wind was up and waves were cras.h.i.+ng against the rocks below his bedroom window. Kim lay there, listening, the sound of the wind rus.h.i.+ng through the trees lulling him. In his mind's eye he could see the great branches stretching in the wind, their leaves streaming out like bright green banners in the sunlight He turned lazily and smiled, for a moment not remembering. Then, with a jolt, he woke.

Silence.

Nowhere. He was nowhere.

Kim opened his eyes. It was dark; a shadowed darkness that quickly resolved itself.

My room. I am in my room at Kalevala.

But how had he got here? He could not remember. The last thing he could remember was standing in the Circle at Fermi, waiting to speak. And after that?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

He stretched, then sat, conscious for the first time how rested - how totally rested - he felt. As if he'd slept for days on end. He laughed at the thought, knowing that he was a creature who needed little sleep.

”Jelka?”

When there was no answer, he stood and walked over to the door, throwing it open.

”Jelka?”

Nothing. The house was silent

Throwing on a robe, he went down to the kitchen. It too was empty, no sign of Jelka anywhere.

Strange.

He went to the larder and opened the door, looking in to see what he could eat Starving. He was absolutely starving.

Taking a hunk of bread, he b.u.t.tered it and crammed it into his mouth, chewing it voraciously. Then, taking another bite, he went over to the window and looked out The lawn was empty, and the garden.

He turned, making his way back to the larder, taking down meat and apples and cheese. Then, sitting down at the great wooden table, he gorged himself, his mind empty of anything but the hunger he felt Finally he sat back, replete.

He reached across and picked up a cloth, wiping his mouth. It was strange how vivid his waking dream had been. So vivid that, for a moment, he had been back there on the island, the waves battering the sh.o.r.eline, the wind streaming through the trees.

Strange indeed.

Kim made to stand, then stopped, his mouth falling open.

”Old Tuan ...”

It flooded back.

He sat again, shaking his head. So that was what had happened. For a while he simply sat there, letting his breathing normalise, his mind grow accustomed to the strangeness of his new situation. They put us here, to keep DeVorefrom seeing us.

The thought of it awed him. To have such power. It was unthinkable.

Or almost so.

For a moment longer he sat there, his mind flicking over the possibilities, then he stood and hurried from the room.

It was time he did some work.

How large was nothingness? How wide? How deep?

Kim drew a circle on the screen, then drew a line through it, cutting it in half.

They were mttdn the line. Beyond that he knew nothing. Or almost nothing. He closed his eyes, concentrating. If this place existed, then it was governed by a set of physical laws. But how could such laws exist in a place that had no measurements?

Or was that so? Could it not be that their instruments were unreliable here? The trouble was, he imagined this place to be not infinite, but like a tiny bag of velvet cloth, tied with delicate draw-strings at its neck. A minutely-small universe, designed for the pocket of a giant Or a race of giants. The kings of infinite s.p.a.ce.

Kim swivelled on his chair, facing the blackboard again. Within the larger circle of the first equations - the six he had figured out - he had set a second circle, on which were written out the three equations Ebert had given him. They fitted perfectly, enhancing and enlarging the totality. He could see how - mathematically - it all connected up, but how did they work? How - physically - did the one relate to the other?

And, on a more practical level, how did one enact the equations? How use them and test them?

One could not accelerate them, as one could atoms, nor collect them in a tank, as one did photons.

Energy. That was the key. Any physical event required energy. And so here, surely?