one of them in hope of learning their secrets. Not to be outdone, red-haired Quirin proposed to journey to Agathange, where he would ask the porpoise-like men - who had long ago broken the law of the Civilized Worlds and had carked their DNA so that they were now more than men - he would ask the wise Agathanians about the secret of human life. I must admit that there were many skeptics such as Bardo who did not believe that the Ieldra possessed any great secret. But even the most skeptical of these pilots - Richardess and the Sonderval came immediately to mind - were eager to be off into the manifold. To them the quest was a wonderful excuse to seek fame and glory.
Around midnight my cousin Katharine appeared in our outer room's open doorway. How she had found her way blind and alone across the confusing streets of the Academy she would not say. She sat next to me crosslegged on the floor. She flirted with me in her secretive, scryer's way. I was intrigued that an older, wiser woman paid me such attention, and I think she must have realized that I found her tantalizing. I told myself that she, too, was a little in love with me, although I knew that scryers often act not to satisfy their passions but to fulfill some tenuous and private vision. In many barbaric places, of course, where the art of genotyping is primitive, cousin marriage (and mating) is forbidden. One never knows what sort of monsters the mingling of the germ plasm will produce. But Neverness was not one of those places. That we were so closely related seemed only slightly incestuous and very exciting.
We talked about what she had said earlier to Soli about fate, in particular about my fate. She laughed at me as she stripped the black leather glove from my right hand. She slowly stroked the lines of my naked palm and foresaw that the span of my years would be "measureless to man." I thought that she had a keen sense of humor. When I asked if her words meant that my life would be very long or absurdly short, she turned to me with that beautiful, mysterious smile the scryers affect, and she said, "A moment to a photino is infinite, and to a god, our universe has lived but a moment. You must learn to love the moments you have, Mallory." (Towards the early part of morning, she taught me that moments of sexual ecstasy and love can indeed be made to last nearly forever. At the time I did not know whether to ascribe this miracle to the time-annihilating training of the scryers, or if all women had such power.)
It was a night of sorrowful goodbyes, as well. At one point Bardo, his weepy eyes electric with toalache, pulled me away from Katharine and said, "You're the finest friend I've ever had. The finest friend
anyone
has ever had. And now Bardo must lose you because of a stupid oath. It's not fair! Why is this cold, empty universe, which has bestowed upon us what we so laughingly call life, why is it so barbarically unfair? I, Bardo will shout it across the room, shout it to the Rosette Nebula and to Eta Carina and to Regal Luz: It's unfair! Unfair it is, and that's why we were given brains, to cozen and plan, to circumvent and cheat. It's to cheat death that I'm going to tell you what I'll tell you. You won't like this, my brave, noble friend, but here it is: You've got to let Soli win the race tomorrow. He's like my father, he's proud and vain, and he hates for anyone to beat him, I'm a keen judge of character, and I know. Let him win the race and he'll let you take back your oath, Please, Mallory, as you love me, let him win the stupid race!"
Late the next morning, I pulled on my racing kamelaika and met my mother for breakfast at one of the cafes that line the Run opposite the flowing Hyacinth Gardens. "You're racing Soli today, and you didn't sleep last night, did you? Here, drink this coffee. It's Farfara prime. I've taught you strategy since you were four years old, and you didn't sleep last night?"
"Bardo thinks I should let
Around midnight my cousin Katharine appeared in our outer room's open doorway. How she had found her way blind and alone across the confusing streets of the Academy she would not say. She sat next to me crosslegged on the floor. She flirted with me in her secretive, scryer's way. I was intrigued that an older, wiser woman paid me such attention, and I think she must have realized that I found her tantalizing. I told myself that she, too, was a little in love with me, although I knew that scryers often act not to satisfy their passions but to fulfill some tenuous and private vision. In many barbaric places, of course, where the art of genotyping is primitive, cousin marriage (and mating) is forbidden. One never knows what sort of monsters the mingling of the germ plasm will produce. But Neverness was not one of those places. That we were so closely related seemed only slightly incestuous and very exciting.
We talked about what she had said earlier to Soli about fate, in particular about my fate. She laughed at me as she stripped the black leather glove from my right hand. She slowly stroked the lines of my naked palm and foresaw that the span of my years would be "measureless to man." I thought that she had a keen sense of humor. When I asked if her words meant that my life would be very long or absurdly short, she turned to me with that beautiful, mysterious smile the scryers affect, and she said, "A moment to a photino is infinite, and to a god, our universe has lived but a moment. You must learn to love the moments you have, Mallory." (Towards the early part of morning, she taught me that moments of sexual ecstasy and love can indeed be made to last nearly forever. At the time I did not know whether to ascribe this miracle to the time-annihilating training of the scryers, or if all women had such power.)
It was a night of sorrowful goodbyes, as well. At one point Bardo, his weepy eyes electric with toalache, pulled me away from Katharine and said, "You're the finest friend I've ever had. The finest friend
anyone
has ever had. And now Bardo must lose you because of a stupid oath. It's not fair! Why is this cold, empty universe, which has bestowed upon us what we so laughingly call life, why is it so barbarically unfair? I, Bardo will shout it across the room, shout it to the Rosette Nebula and to Eta Carina and to Regal Luz: It's unfair! Unfair it is, and that's why we were given brains, to cozen and plan, to circumvent and cheat. It's to cheat death that I'm going to tell you what I'll tell you. You won't like this, my brave, noble friend, but here it is: You've got to let Soli win the race tomorrow. He's like my father, he's proud and vain, and he hates for anyone to beat him, I'm a keen judge of character, and I know. Let him win the race and he'll let you take back your oath, Please, Mallory, as you love me, let him win the stupid race!"
Late the next morning, I pulled on my racing kamelaika and met my mother for breakfast at one of the cafes that line the Run opposite the flowing Hyacinth Gardens. "You're racing Soli today, and you didn't sleep last night, did you? Here, drink this coffee. It's Farfara prime. I've taught you strategy since you were four years old, and you didn't sleep last night?"
"Bardo thinks I should let
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