Part 67 (1/2)
The voice that answered him was an echo that sounded from their empty mouths as if they spoke with a single voice.
”Master Tuan has given us this hour, to set things right and unify the universes.”
Jelka took a step towards them, but Joseph reached out and held her arm.
”No,” he said quietly.
And now she too saw the small red mark upon Kim's forehead, and groaned. And Joseph felt the sorrow that lay behind that noise, as much as if he himself had uttered it, and finally understood what she had lost ”What has happened to it?” he asked, pointing to the frozen creature. Kim and K. turned as one, their eyes impa.s.sive, then looked back at Joseph. ”I have placed it in a temporary s.p.a.ce.”
”Will it be destroyed?”
But Kim, if he heard the question, did not answer it directly. ”The snake,” he said, even as his form s.h.i.+mmered and disappeared from sight, ”the snake must swallow its tail.”
THE MARRIAGE OF THE LIVING DARK.
”Li Yuan?”
Li Yuan stared back at Karr, fear in his eyes, and began to back away.
”No, wait! I won't harm you. I'm on your side!”
”You know me?”
”In another universe, yes.”
Li Yuan turned, looking back over his shoulder at the building, as if expecting something horrible to emerge from it at any moment Noting that look, Karr frowned.
”What is it?”
Li Yuan looked back at him, then shook his head. ”You wouldn't believe me.”
”Did he change?”
”Change?”
The look of startlement told Karr that he was right DeVore must have changed into his original form.
”Were they both here?”
Li Yuan hesitated, then nodded.
”So where's the other one?”
”He left, to go and do something. Thaf s when I went inside, after his twin. But he must have come back. When I came out here again it was gone.” ”Your craft?”
”Yes.” Li Yuan shook his head, distraught ”He's got her.”
”Her?”
”Fei Yen and her mother.”
Karr looked to Chen, exchanging a look. ”You're married to Fei Yen?”
Li Yuan shook his head. ”No, no, I...”
”Look,” Chen said, interrupting, ”can we trace your craft somehow?”
”Yes. There's a trace-code. In case it gets stolen. I have it here.” He searched a moment, then took a small card from his pocket and handed it to Karr. Karr studied it a moment, then asked. ”How do we get this to work?” ”If 11 work in the computer of any glide.”
”Glide?””The hover cars. That's what they're called.” ”Ah ...” Karr looked about him, then, spotting one nearby, went over to it. He stared at it a moment, then took out his gun and shot the lock open. Turning back to Li Yuan, he grinned. ”Okay. You come with me, Yuan. Chen, you and Hans follow on in the s.h.i.+p. We may need it if things get too hot.” Li Yuan, however, still seemed reluctant to go with him.
Karr looked at him, concerned. ”Are you afraid, Yuan?”
Yuan hesitated, then nodded.
”That's good,” Karr said. ”That's perfectly healthy. But now you must step beyond your fear, Li Yuan. If you want to save the girl.” Yuan looked up sharply. ”Okay,” he said quietly. ”But I warn you, I cannot use a gun.”
Karr laughed. ”Oh, do not worry, Master Li, if necessary I shall do the shooting for the both of us!”
Jelka was sitting at at the bottom of the great white stone ramp, staring straight ahead, tears in her golden eyes.
Kim, standing within the no-s.p.a.ce, watched her a moment, then turned, looking to Tuan Ti Fo, who sat cross-legged before the wet ctd board. ”Why did we interfere, Master Tuan? I thought it was your purpose not to interfere. Not directly, anyway.”
The ancient looked up slowly. ”That is so. It feels like cheating, and I am loathe to cheat” ”Then why now?”
”To bring it to a close. To end it” He gestured towards the board. ”Look ... the board is almost filled.”
Kim walked across, then made the calculation in his head. It was a draw. Or almost so. There was one single unresolved stone - one single ”ko”. If one could find a way to use it one would take the whole of the western group and win the game.
Or lose it
His hand went up to touch the hole in his forehead. It troubled him to have had to appear to Jelka in this condition, but as Master Tuan had explained, it could not be helped.
Much could be planned, but in the end it all came down to improvisation. Even the greatest Master of the game understood that much. If planning were all it was, then there would be no Master of Masters. All would, at a certain level, be equal. And that was not how this universe of theirs functioned. Not until it ended, anyway.
Kim looked past the old man at the frozen form of the creature he had known in life as DeVore.