waited.
When she passed through the intersection he'd nominated she was unsurprised to find it deserted. She traveled to the far end of the tunnel along which she'd approached, then doubled back and explored each of the cross branches. There was no one in sight.
She took out the last of the guide maps that Zak had given her. The invisible abstraction of the Null Line was clearly marked, and a chamber that it crossed was just a few dozen spans away. Roi knew that Zak wasn't here for his health; he'd admitted to her that his prolonged stay had actually weakened him. However, he claimed that the absence of weight simplified his search for its nature and origins, which sounded as paradoxical to Roi as striving to learn about the lives of susk by making sure that none of the creatures were around to distract you. Knowing Zak, merely being close to the line of weightlessness would not be enough for him. Whatever he was measuring, he would be measuring at the Null Line itself.
Roi headed for the chamber.
As she approached the entrance, her eyes caught a faint glint of metal, and she thought there might be a vein running along the far wall. After a few more steps, though, she realized that the perspective was wrong. A strand of metal, much thinner than any vein, ran through the middle of the chamber, far from any of the walls.
She reached the entrance and looked around. A fine web of the same material criss-crossed the chamber, supporting the central thread. Anchored at points in the web were various small, intricate devices; at this distance she couldn't hope to fathom their detailed construction, let alone their purpose.
Suddenly she noticed a figure moving across the far wall. Maybe Zak had been resting in a crevice, or perhaps she'd simply been slow to spot him in the chamber's uniform light.
Roi drummed out a greeting with all the legs she could spare without losing her grip. Zak didn't reply, and for a moment she thought he hadn't heard her. Then he sprung into the air and floated gracefully across the chamber toward her. As he approached, Roi saw that he'd given himself a slight spin, and it was soon apparent that this was not an accident but a carefully judged manoeuvre, because he landed nimbly beside her.
«Welcome to the Null Line,» he said. «How was your journey?»
«Safe and happy. I'm sorry I'm early.»
«Don't apologize! I'm glad to see you. We have a thousand things to discuss.»
Roi had never seen him so excited, and she wasn't prepared to flatter herself into thinking it was due solely to her arrival. She said, «You've found something, haven't you? Something simple?»
Zak hesitated. «Perhaps. I've discovered something interesting. But there's a problem as well.»
«What have you found?»
«I think I can explain the weights on the map,» he said. «I think I've made sense of the pattern.»
«How?» Roi was elated. She had suspected that he would succeed eventually, but she'd never imagined it would come so quickly.
«That will take some care to explain properly,» Zak said. «You'll have to be patient with me.»
«Of course. But.»
«How can there be a problem, if I've done what I say I've done?»
«Yes.»
Zak said, «It's beginning to look as if the map is wrong. I think I can explain the weights on the map, but I don't think the map matches up with reality.»
5
Twelve thousand years after walking the plank, Rakesh woke on the floor of his tent. He was lying face-down on a blue and gold sleeping mat; he drew in a deep breath to savor the rich scent of its fibers. This was the tent he'd carried with him on all his travels on Shab-e-Noor, and it remained with him wherever he went. His first sight upon waking after any journey was the interior of this elegant cocoon.
He rolled on to his back and gazed up at the apex. As he moved, his joints and muscles felt subtly different than they had back in the node; a proprioceptive cue he'd chosen to let him know when he was not embodied was
When she passed through the intersection he'd nominated she was unsurprised to find it deserted. She traveled to the far end of the tunnel along which she'd approached, then doubled back and explored each of the cross branches. There was no one in sight.
She took out the last of the guide maps that Zak had given her. The invisible abstraction of the Null Line was clearly marked, and a chamber that it crossed was just a few dozen spans away. Roi knew that Zak wasn't here for his health; he'd admitted to her that his prolonged stay had actually weakened him. However, he claimed that the absence of weight simplified his search for its nature and origins, which sounded as paradoxical to Roi as striving to learn about the lives of susk by making sure that none of the creatures were around to distract you. Knowing Zak, merely being close to the line of weightlessness would not be enough for him. Whatever he was measuring, he would be measuring at the Null Line itself.
Roi headed for the chamber.
As she approached the entrance, her eyes caught a faint glint of metal, and she thought there might be a vein running along the far wall. After a few more steps, though, she realized that the perspective was wrong. A strand of metal, much thinner than any vein, ran through the middle of the chamber, far from any of the walls.
She reached the entrance and looked around. A fine web of the same material criss-crossed the chamber, supporting the central thread. Anchored at points in the web were various small, intricate devices; at this distance she couldn't hope to fathom their detailed construction, let alone their purpose.
Suddenly she noticed a figure moving across the far wall. Maybe Zak had been resting in a crevice, or perhaps she'd simply been slow to spot him in the chamber's uniform light.
Roi drummed out a greeting with all the legs she could spare without losing her grip. Zak didn't reply, and for a moment she thought he hadn't heard her. Then he sprung into the air and floated gracefully across the chamber toward her. As he approached, Roi saw that he'd given himself a slight spin, and it was soon apparent that this was not an accident but a carefully judged manoeuvre, because he landed nimbly beside her.
«Welcome to the Null Line,» he said. «How was your journey?»
«Safe and happy. I'm sorry I'm early.»
«Don't apologize! I'm glad to see you. We have a thousand things to discuss.»
Roi had never seen him so excited, and she wasn't prepared to flatter herself into thinking it was due solely to her arrival. She said, «You've found something, haven't you? Something simple?»
Zak hesitated. «Perhaps. I've discovered something interesting. But there's a problem as well.»
«What have you found?»
«I think I can explain the weights on the map,» he said. «I think I've made sense of the pattern.»
«How?» Roi was elated. She had suspected that he would succeed eventually, but she'd never imagined it would come so quickly.
«That will take some care to explain properly,» Zak said. «You'll have to be patient with me.»
«Of course. But.»
«How can there be a problem, if I've done what I say I've done?»
«Yes.»
Zak said, «It's beginning to look as if the map is wrong. I think I can explain the weights on the map, but I don't think the map matches up with reality.»
5
Twelve thousand years after walking the plank, Rakesh woke on the floor of his tent. He was lying face-down on a blue and gold sleeping mat; he drew in a deep breath to savor the rich scent of its fibers. This was the tent he'd carried with him on all his travels on Shab-e-Noor, and it remained with him wherever he went. His first sight upon waking after any journey was the interior of this elegant cocoon.
He rolled on to his back and gazed up at the apex. As he moved, his joints and muscles felt subtly different than they had back in the node; a proprioceptive cue he'd chosen to let him know when he was not embodied was
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