then walked, finally duckwalked.
She cowered far back in the tunnel, alone in blackness. Stabs of virulent lightning forked in the distance and splashed the tunnel walls with an ivory glow. Getting closer. In one of the flashes she saw tiny designs in the tunnel wall.
Her fingers found the pattern. Ancient, a two-tiered language. A…combination? Plan?
She extruded a finger into a tool wedge and tracked along the grooves. It was telling a tale of architectural detail she could not follow very well, reading at high speed through the tool. She sensed a sense-phrase, inserted in the middle of an extended brag about the design. It referred to an inlet—or maybe outlet. A two-valence, anyway. Okay, okay, but where?
More snapping flashes, emerald now. Nearer. Could they hear her?
She inched farther into the tunnel. Her head bumped the ceiling; the rough bore was narrowing. In another quick glimmer, followed by an electrical snarl, she saw a web of symbol-tracks, impossible to follow. So damn much history! Where’s the door?
She scrunched farther in. The web tapered down into a shallow track, and she got her finger wedge in. Ah! Codes. She twisted, probed—and the wall flopped open into another tunnel.
She crawled through, trying to be quiet. A glowing brown snake was coming after her down the tunnel. She slammed the curved hatch in its face.
Pitch black. At least the lightning had shown her what was going on. She sat absolutely still. Faint thunder and a trembling in the floor. This tunnel was round and…a soft breeze.
She crawled toward it. Not even height to duckwalk. The slight wind got stronger. Cool to her fevered brow.
Smells: dust, leaves? A dull thump behind her. She hurried, banging her knees—
And spilled halfway out into clear air. Above, stars. A drop of about her height, onto dirt. She reversed and dropped to the ground. Scent of dry dirt. Flashes to the left. She went right.
She ran. Snapping crashes behind her. Dim shapes up ahead. Trees? A rising sucking sound behind. A brittle thrust of amber fire rushed over her left shoulder and shattered into a bush, exploding it into flames.
Trees—she dodged left. Faint screams somewhere.
The sucking sound again. Into the trees, heels digging in hard.
Another amber bolt, this time roasting the air near her. It veered up and ignited a crackling bower of fronds.
Screams getting louder. Up ahead? Glows there. She went right, down a gully, splashing across a stream. Not deep enough to cover her.
A spark sizzled down from the air into the trees up ahead. She went left and found a wall of brambles. Distant flickering gave her enough light to pick her way along, gasping. Around the brambles, into thick trees. She crossed the stream again. Deeper here. Downstream went back toward the open, toward the excavated tunnels. She ran upstream. The sucking rush came stealing up behind. She dodged, ducked, dodged. Stay near the stream. If the water got deeper…
The pain swarmed over her and pushed her into blackness.
3
AFTERMATH
L ATER, AS SHE HEALED, she and Seeker set out to search the forest further for bodies. To do something gave her strength, despite what she dreaded finding.
She had enjoyed no other steady lover, male or female, but she had known all the other Originals who worked in the Library. They had sported an ironic humor about their roles as Originals among the Supras, playing the role of the least gifted but well-honored surviving strains of Primordial humans. There had been many wry jokes between them.
Not that she had been immune to it all. She had gloried in her affair with Kurani, been whispered about and envied and criticized, even insulted. Enormous fun.
The anonymous charred remains they found were a blessing, in a way. The Furies, as the Supras called them, had been quite thorough. None had been left to rot. She could not identify them.
They searched systematically through the afternoon, finding only more scorched bodies. Even as she
She cowered far back in the tunnel, alone in blackness. Stabs of virulent lightning forked in the distance and splashed the tunnel walls with an ivory glow. Getting closer. In one of the flashes she saw tiny designs in the tunnel wall.
Her fingers found the pattern. Ancient, a two-tiered language. A…combination? Plan?
She extruded a finger into a tool wedge and tracked along the grooves. It was telling a tale of architectural detail she could not follow very well, reading at high speed through the tool. She sensed a sense-phrase, inserted in the middle of an extended brag about the design. It referred to an inlet—or maybe outlet. A two-valence, anyway. Okay, okay, but where?
More snapping flashes, emerald now. Nearer. Could they hear her?
She inched farther into the tunnel. Her head bumped the ceiling; the rough bore was narrowing. In another quick glimmer, followed by an electrical snarl, she saw a web of symbol-tracks, impossible to follow. So damn much history! Where’s the door?
She scrunched farther in. The web tapered down into a shallow track, and she got her finger wedge in. Ah! Codes. She twisted, probed—and the wall flopped open into another tunnel.
She crawled through, trying to be quiet. A glowing brown snake was coming after her down the tunnel. She slammed the curved hatch in its face.
Pitch black. At least the lightning had shown her what was going on. She sat absolutely still. Faint thunder and a trembling in the floor. This tunnel was round and…a soft breeze.
She crawled toward it. Not even height to duckwalk. The slight wind got stronger. Cool to her fevered brow.
Smells: dust, leaves? A dull thump behind her. She hurried, banging her knees—
And spilled halfway out into clear air. Above, stars. A drop of about her height, onto dirt. She reversed and dropped to the ground. Scent of dry dirt. Flashes to the left. She went right.
She ran. Snapping crashes behind her. Dim shapes up ahead. Trees? A rising sucking sound behind. A brittle thrust of amber fire rushed over her left shoulder and shattered into a bush, exploding it into flames.
Trees—she dodged left. Faint screams somewhere.
The sucking sound again. Into the trees, heels digging in hard.
Another amber bolt, this time roasting the air near her. It veered up and ignited a crackling bower of fronds.
Screams getting louder. Up ahead? Glows there. She went right, down a gully, splashing across a stream. Not deep enough to cover her.
A spark sizzled down from the air into the trees up ahead. She went left and found a wall of brambles. Distant flickering gave her enough light to pick her way along, gasping. Around the brambles, into thick trees. She crossed the stream again. Deeper here. Downstream went back toward the open, toward the excavated tunnels. She ran upstream. The sucking rush came stealing up behind. She dodged, ducked, dodged. Stay near the stream. If the water got deeper…
The pain swarmed over her and pushed her into blackness.
3
AFTERMATH
L ATER, AS SHE HEALED, she and Seeker set out to search the forest further for bodies. To do something gave her strength, despite what she dreaded finding.
She had enjoyed no other steady lover, male or female, but she had known all the other Originals who worked in the Library. They had sported an ironic humor about their roles as Originals among the Supras, playing the role of the least gifted but well-honored surviving strains of Primordial humans. There had been many wry jokes between them.
Not that she had been immune to it all. She had gloried in her affair with Kurani, been whispered about and envied and criticized, even insulted. Enormous fun.
The anonymous charred remains they found were a blessing, in a way. The Furies, as the Supras called them, had been quite thorough. None had been left to rot. She could not identify them.
They searched systematically through the afternoon, finding only more scorched bodies. Even as she
Similar Books
