Pathspace: The Space of Paths by Matthew Kennedy Page A

ma'am,”
he began, “but the doctor says that we need – ”
    Kristana stood. She was not a tall woman,
but at the moment she refused to acknowledge that. It was now or
never. “YOU NEED?” she roared. “How DARE you? Do you know who I
am?”
    He snapped to attention at the sound of her
voice and gulped. “Y-you are the – “
    “ I AM THE ACTING GOVERNOR
OF COLORADO!” she screamed. “Get OUT! Get out and give this man
some peace, by GOD, or you'll wish you had never been
born!”
    Collins jerked like a he had been slapped
and his hand rose without conscious thought, snapping her a salute.
Without a word he turned, ramrod straight, and marched from the
room.
    “ And tell the Cabinet to
assemble in the main meeting hall in one hour!” she bellowed after
his fleeing back. Then she turned back to the General.
    His hazel eyes were twinkling, and a smile
was playing about his lips.
    “ That's my girl,” he said,
and closed his eyes.
    He kept smiling for another minute or so.
Then his face went slack.
    His last battle was finally over. And he had
won.
     
     
     

Chapter 11
     
    Lester: “For those who walk in darkness”

    Lester's mind bobbed back
to the surface of awareness. What a strange dream, he thought. Groggily, he shook his head and swung
his feet over the edge of the bed in the darkness of the room. No
time to think about that now. Time to check the chickens for eggs.
Well, that and inspect the coop to make sure no foxes had tried to
get in during the night. After that he –
    His thoughts scattered
like a frightened flock of birds when his feet landed on the
carpet. There was no carpet in his room. But here there was.
    Light flooded the room, summoning the room
from his dream.
    “ So,” said Xander, looking
up at him from the chair, “you're awake. Good. Now we can get an
early start.”
    Les sagged into a chair and glared at the
old man. “An early start at what? You can't keep me here forever,
you know. I'll find a way to get away!”
    Xander laughed. “Of course you will. I'll be
disappointed if you don't. If you do, it'll mean you've learned a
thing or two.”
    Lester sighed. He knew how this would go.
He's been through it all ready with Gerrold. They say they teach
you, but what you basically get to do is to sweep their floors. If
this old man really was a wizard he'd never share his secrets. Not
in a million years.
    “ Let's start with some
tea,” Xander suggested. He pulled his chair over to the table next
to Lester's, then crossed the room and came back with a small pouch
of something which he dropped on the table. Then he went off again
and to Lester's astonishment he heard water gurgling into a
container.
    Xander grinned at his expression when he
returned with two cups, a wooden spoon, a metal bowl of water with
three stubbly legs, and a small jar of something, all balanced on a
wooden tray when he set down next to the little pouch.
    “ I expect you've never had
it before,” the old man said. “Doesn't grow on this continent at
all. But Aria has some on the upper floors. No idea where she
managed to get the seedlings.”
    Lester stared at him. He had no clue what
the wizard was talking about, and hardly cared. “How did you get
water?” he blurted. “Did someone bring it up while I was
asleep?”
    “ Of course not. There's
rain and dew collectors on the roof that drain down to a tank in
the basement. The old molecular sieves filter out dust and such,
and I've restored the swizzles they
put in when the 'scraper was built, shortly before the Fall, so
there's no problem pulling it up from the tank.” Seeing Lester's
lack of comprehension, he added, “Remind me to show you the
bathroom later on.”
    Lester had understood very
little of that utterance, but he knew that a tank was something
like the watering trough in front of the inn. Fording himself to
swallow his pride, he asked a few questions and learned that
'scraper meant a sky-scraper , the
old name for a very tall building