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mechs are rabble scurrying to escape our bootheels.
They do us honor[ And they shall die."
Abruptly he deflected his glowering, building rage down to where Killeen
knelt, and in a long sigh the rage evaporated. In a blink his eyes regained
their neutral emptiness.
He said mildly, "And I am glad that you have come to aid in my time of need."
Killeen said carefully, "I am alone now, sir. My--"
"Supremacy!" a hard whisper in his ear urged.
"I am alone, Supremacy, my Family--"
"The Bishops, you called them?" the short man said judicially.
"Yeasay, they--"
"I had thought they were lying. I had never heard of any such
Family, and fancied them wastrel renegade Deuces or Trumps."
Killeen asked excitedly, "Bishops? Here?"
"You understand, a mind focused on the defense of our race cannot but leave
details to others. I reserve my time for commu-
nion with the spirit that moves over and within and through us."
"They're here, Supremacy?"
The heavy, dark eyebrows arched in an expression of bemused interest. "We
found them wandering. They had a story about landing in mech craft and
escaping the Cyber air raids that we had seen the day before. I thought this a
mere fashioned lie.
Now that you appear--a Cap'n, I judge from your insignia--this explains it."
"How many?"
The man's face froze and Killeen realized that he had made some error. What
could it be? Was his question too direct? The complete silence of everyone
around him suggested that he could amend his mistake ....
"Your Supremacy, ! beg you--yield to me the number who have lived."
His Supremacy's mouth lost some of its tightness and he flicked a glance at a
woman to his left.
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"Over a hundred," came the reply.
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Gregory Benford
Killeen's breath caught. Most of the Bishops had gotten out.
"I shall cause them to be released," His Supremacy said grandly, his arms
making a sweeping gesture. Everyone in the tent cheered, as though this were
some unique act, as though this man who called himself by a ridiculous title
had somehow saved the Bishops'
lives.
The swarthy man's face knitted into a reflective cast, his eyes wandering up
to the peak of the tent. "I had judged them as scabrous cowards, laggards from
destroyed Suits in the Families.
As such, they were unworthy of any role in our grand assaults to come, and so
would be used for labor. Fighting within our invincible
Tribe is an honor not lightly dispensed. You understand, I am sure."
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"Uh, yeasay."
The eyebrows met in a scowl.
"Yeasay, Your Supremacy."
The eyebrows parted and the face relaxed, the eyes again sliding into
blankness. "Now they may take part in the heroic struggles to come. I expect
you to assume command of them again, as Cap'n."
"Yeasay, Supremacy, as soon--"
"And sacrifices will be exacted."
Killeen looked at the man but could not read his meaning.
His Supremacy gestured and someone unbound Killeen's arms.
Should he get up? Something in the way the short man stood, hands on hips and
legs stiff, told him to remain kneeling.
His Supremacy pursed his lips, eyes wandering again. He said distantly, "I
understand, in my all-reaching facets, your confusion.
You have voyaged here from some other sphere of human action, and that was as
I wished. You moved in response to my injunctions, though ignorant and in
darkness. I was the unseen force which drew you across the night canyons that
separate the worlds.
I desired it and sent my emanations to guide you."
A murmur greeted this speech. Hushed exclamations of awe filled the tent.
"Now you enter onto the full stage of human destiny."
This speech had the ringing quality of a set piece. "Ah, yeasay... Supremacy.
"I am the given. You have in this conversation verged on disrespect toward
me." The eyebrows knotted. "Mayhappen this arises from ignorance. If so, now
it is just and proper that I reveal to you my deepest nature."
TIDES OF LIGHT
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Killeen said guardedly, "Yeasay." The tent rustled with anticipation.
Someone damped the lamps and shadows crowded the tent further. A hushed
expectation rustled among the men and women like a sudden wind.
"Witness!"
The short man extended his arms and abruptly his entire body shimmered and
glowed. Against the blue fabric a yellow skeleton appeared, like a second
entity that lived inside the man. It moved with him, bones and ribs and pelvic
girdle performing their rubs and rotations as His Supremacy stepped first to
one side, then to another. Atop the curved spine a death's-head grinned,
turning proudly. The bones worked smoothly, suggesting that a creature made of
the pure, radiating hardness could walk and know the world, encased in its
enduring strengths. It oozed ample light into the tent, cutting a blackness as
deep as that in the unblemished spaces between stars. In these dim working
shadows, with breezes flapping the tent like far-off thunderclaps, the
intricate lattice of crisp light implied an interior race of invulnerable
beings, harder than human.
Its burnt-yellow jaw pulsed on an unseen hinge as His Supremacy said, "! am
the essence of humanity itself, come to avenge and save. Through me human
destiny will be made manifest.
The mechs and Cybers shall be vanquished alike."
In the thick, shadowy air his skeleton vibrated with life.
Vagrant hues shot through the bones as they articulated, knotty joints
swooping with artful animation in the framing dark.
"Mortal?" he cried. "No. Mortality lies within me and yet I
am not mortal. I am the manifestation! God Himselfl"
Killeen gathered that this teehtrick was supposed to impress him. He let an
expression of amazement settle onto his face while he tried to see how the
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moving rib cage and legs were imaged on the blue.
"I am the immanent spirit of humanity, as given by Divine
God! In this most dire and yet pregnant hour of mankind, the glorious truth is
that I have been endowed with godliness entire.
No longer does God act through me. He has become me. I am
God! This is why the Tribe will follow me to its certain destiny.
This is why you, Cap'n of the lost Bishops, will give your final effort to my
cause, the cause of humanity's true God!"
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FOUR
The human sprawl down the valley was broad and impressive. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]