sharpshooters have failed to warn each other about interlocking fire? Rainbow had not been killed by accident. And I had not struck Keara so hard as to jeopardize her life.
Please, immortal gods wherever you might be, please tell me I had not killed Keara.
Sharyn had believed that the Playmaster was in Summerform, though Bardon of Fallform had been her enemy. Very well, I would start in Summerform.
At least I was properly equipped for this trip from Glitter to shore. I had come to Forma with a bathing suit and scuba gear. I swam the two miles to shore through bathtub-warm water.
I stepped out of the surf onto the beach; even with flippers on, I could feel the burning sand against my feet, and I hurried toward a huddle of shade canopies protecting assorted scientists and tourists from the sun.
I reached shade and flopped down. I tried not to breathe too hard; even the air here burned if taken in too swiftly.
I unpacked my waterproof duffel bag and slipped into some clothes. The scuba gear went into the bag. In another minute, I would ask someone how to get to downtown Flame. But for my first minute, I watched the heat shimmer through the air.
Out of the corner of my eye, I became aware of the fluid motion of the shimmer, and the waves, and the brown sand; finally I realized that the fluid motion was more than these.
The fluid motion was a woman, walking casually, nude, across the burning sands. The shimmer was her hair, hanging to her waist. The movement of her sand- brown body was languid, like syrup, against the backdrop of the ocean waves.
My heart jumped in my mouth; I couldn't be in love again, not without even talking to her.
She looked at me. I wanted to melt, but I was too tense; instead, I splintered. She smiled. She walked toward me.
I wanted to scream to her, to get away from me, that she would surely die if she didn't run, but I couldn't speak.
"You just came from the sea," she said, laughter in her eyes. "There is a spaceship there, hidden beneath the waves. Did you see it?"
I shook my head. "A spaceship in the water ? What would it be doing there?"
Now she laughed from deep within her throat. "Trying to hide." She shrugged. "It's a logical place to try to hide, for a person who isn't native to Forma and who doesn't know how closely the status of the ocean is monitored."
Of course it was monitored, dummy! I cursed myself. Just as the skeletons of Winterform flew for meteorology, so must there be an aquarian counterpart.
She held out her hand. "Let us be friends, in the time that is left."
I followed her. "The time that is left?"
"Of course. Is there not an end to time in each life, regardless of life's duration?"
I pursed my lips; I would not tell her how I had cheated the end to time, again and again.
We walked to a deserted canopy. She lay in the sun; I sat in the shadows. Her movements were hypnotic. This scene, with the ocean and the sand and the clear skies above, was a standard first image for focussing a patient for hypnosis. And the lady, whoever she was, rocked her leg in a gentle hypnotic rhythm. I trusted her completely, for no reason I could see; I felt the beginnings of trance coming on, and did not fight it.
"Why do you travel the stars?" she asked; I was past being surprised by her knowledge.
"To bring life." I closed my eyes. "Though not for a long time."
"Tell me."
I told her of the lady I'd lost a lifetime ago; I told her of the good friend who had died in Transfer while I grieved over lost love when I should have been concentrating on his life.
I told her of the four people who died, every day.
"Do you blame yourself because men age? Do you think that it's reasonable to blame yourself?"
"Of course not. But I could save the lives of four people every day, if I could still make Transfers." I trembled. "But I can't. I'm afraid."
"If you died today, those people would still die. Would you hold yourself responsible then?"
"No."
"You must think, not of the people who will
Please, immortal gods wherever you might be, please tell me I had not killed Keara.
Sharyn had believed that the Playmaster was in Summerform, though Bardon of Fallform had been her enemy. Very well, I would start in Summerform.
At least I was properly equipped for this trip from Glitter to shore. I had come to Forma with a bathing suit and scuba gear. I swam the two miles to shore through bathtub-warm water.
I stepped out of the surf onto the beach; even with flippers on, I could feel the burning sand against my feet, and I hurried toward a huddle of shade canopies protecting assorted scientists and tourists from the sun.
I reached shade and flopped down. I tried not to breathe too hard; even the air here burned if taken in too swiftly.
I unpacked my waterproof duffel bag and slipped into some clothes. The scuba gear went into the bag. In another minute, I would ask someone how to get to downtown Flame. But for my first minute, I watched the heat shimmer through the air.
Out of the corner of my eye, I became aware of the fluid motion of the shimmer, and the waves, and the brown sand; finally I realized that the fluid motion was more than these.
The fluid motion was a woman, walking casually, nude, across the burning sands. The shimmer was her hair, hanging to her waist. The movement of her sand- brown body was languid, like syrup, against the backdrop of the ocean waves.
My heart jumped in my mouth; I couldn't be in love again, not without even talking to her.
She looked at me. I wanted to melt, but I was too tense; instead, I splintered. She smiled. She walked toward me.
I wanted to scream to her, to get away from me, that she would surely die if she didn't run, but I couldn't speak.
"You just came from the sea," she said, laughter in her eyes. "There is a spaceship there, hidden beneath the waves. Did you see it?"
I shook my head. "A spaceship in the water ? What would it be doing there?"
Now she laughed from deep within her throat. "Trying to hide." She shrugged. "It's a logical place to try to hide, for a person who isn't native to Forma and who doesn't know how closely the status of the ocean is monitored."
Of course it was monitored, dummy! I cursed myself. Just as the skeletons of Winterform flew for meteorology, so must there be an aquarian counterpart.
She held out her hand. "Let us be friends, in the time that is left."
I followed her. "The time that is left?"
"Of course. Is there not an end to time in each life, regardless of life's duration?"
I pursed my lips; I would not tell her how I had cheated the end to time, again and again.
We walked to a deserted canopy. She lay in the sun; I sat in the shadows. Her movements were hypnotic. This scene, with the ocean and the sand and the clear skies above, was a standard first image for focussing a patient for hypnosis. And the lady, whoever she was, rocked her leg in a gentle hypnotic rhythm. I trusted her completely, for no reason I could see; I felt the beginnings of trance coming on, and did not fight it.
"Why do you travel the stars?" she asked; I was past being surprised by her knowledge.
"To bring life." I closed my eyes. "Though not for a long time."
"Tell me."
I told her of the lady I'd lost a lifetime ago; I told her of the good friend who had died in Transfer while I grieved over lost love when I should have been concentrating on his life.
I told her of the four people who died, every day.
"Do you blame yourself because men age? Do you think that it's reasonable to blame yourself?"
"Of course not. But I could save the lives of four people every day, if I could still make Transfers." I trembled. "But I can't. I'm afraid."
"If you died today, those people would still die. Would you hold yourself responsible then?"
"No."
"You must think, not of the people who will
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