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minimum of what you have here to make the doorway work." "But a minimum's all
we ever had--
Jeamus's hands fluttered, half-lifted for a moment, helplessly. Then the
meaning of Hal's words seemed to penetrate. He threw up his hands; and his
voice hardened. "Maybe fifteen minutes . . . or ten? Maybe even . . . five?
But Tam's quarters ? " "Yes." As Jeamus stood uncertain, he added harshly,
"I'm speaking as the Director. Move it. As fast as you humanly can.
Amanda? Rukh?"
He went out of the door. The two caught up with him just beyond it. "What is
it?" said Amanda. He glanced at her as they went, for she had a right to ask.
She saw deeper into him than Rukh. "Why the special hurry?" "I was in the
Creative Universe," he answered briefly. "But someone else besides me has to
go there; and only Tam's qualified, because he can read the Encyclopedia's
knowledge core-not as well as 1, but well enough." "There's a problem?" she
asked. "Yes. What I mentioned-and there's something else. A gap where there
shouldn't be one, a gap I can't reach across. I need a bridge. " "A bridge .
Still striding swiftly down the corridor he turned to look at her. There was a
look on her face he knew.
THE CHANTRY GUILD
415
-What is it?" he said. "The cloak ... I think," she said. Looking past him. "I
177"t know why, but the cloak will make a bridge."
But they were already at the entrance to Tam's quarters. "Yes," said Rukh, as
they turned to go in, after him-he realize d he was back in all the size of
his Hal-body, --all thanks to God you came when you did. I have a feeling he's
very close to the end . . . very close."
THE CHANTRY GUILD
Page 216
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417
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They went as swiftly as the Final Encyclopedia could align their blind
corridor with the one leading to Tam Olyn's quarters; and Rukh led them in
through the door there without waiting to ask for entrance.
Inside, things had hardly changed. Ajela was dressed now in a Japanese kimono,
which Hal noted was perfectly arranged, in contrast to the disheveled sari she
had worn earlier. She was sitting upright now, but still held one of Tam's
hands, and Tam still gazed off at something beyond their sight; he was now
holding his interstellar newsman's cloak, that he had not worn since he had
returned to the Final Encyclopedia, over ninety years before. It was still set
as it had been since the death of his sister's young husband, on the white and
red he had worn the day of David's end.
Hal reached the side of Tam's armchair opposite Ajela in six long strides and
knelt beside it, putting his hand on Tam's arm which lay strengthlessly along
the top of the padded armrest. "Tam!" he said in a low voice, but urgently.
"We've done it! I've been in the Creative Universe. Now, to make the
Encyclopedia the tool for everyone, the way we always dreamed, and Mark Torre
dreamed, we only need one more thing-one final effort from you. Can you make
it?" "What're you saying?" Ajelas voice rang through the forest
glade that was actually a room. "You aren't going to ask anything of him now?"
Hal ignored her. Amanda and Rukh moved in to draw her aside from the chair and
speak to her, in low, imperative voices. "But he can't do anything now! He
can't-"
The low-pitched but steady voices of the other two women interrupted her. Hal
ignored her. All his attention was focused on Tam, his eyes staring into the
faded old eyes only centimeters from his own. "Can you do it, Tam?" Hal asked
again. "I've got Jeamus and his people on the way here with the equipment to
make it possible. You can go into the Creative Universe and I'll go with you.
Now, in the beginning, it has to be done by someone besides me, it has to be
used by more than one mind; otherwise, it's just something I've created for
myself. But if I can share it with you, we can go on to share it with everyone
else, on all the worlds. Do you understand, Tam?"
The ancient eyes stared into his. The head moved minimally forward and back
again in what could have been a nod. "But he can't-he can't do anything!" From
the sound of her voice, Ajela was crying now as she talked. "He hasn't any
strength left! You can't ask anything more of him now. It's too late. He ought
to be left to die in peace." "That's what I'm offering him," Hal answered her
without taking his eyes off Tam. "That's what it is, Tam. A chance for you to
see the end at last; a chance to see it completed." "I tell you he can't do [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]