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He stood, all activity around him tuned out, waiting for Gloria to emerge. It
was as though the Gate, his compatriots, the camp, the woodland indeed, the
whole world were blotted out, and there remained only himself, face-to-face
with his destiny.
The tent flap parted, and he could hear the husky, sweet tones that he knew so
well.
"What the fuck is all this stupidworks noise about? Has everyone gone plain
stupe or " Gloria emerged into the open, straightening and staring the
companions full in the face. She stood silent for a moment, her mouth open in
surprise. She was still the same Gloria: whip thin, muscles glistening under
her tan, the cut-off denims and shirt showing much of her taut skin, her eyes
liquid under that mane of flowing red hair& and not a blister, pockmark or
sore anywhere on her body. Jak breathed a mental sigh of relief, and relaxed,
the pleasure at seeing her again now flowing through him.
Gloria broke the silence that had fallen over the tribe with a wild whoop.
"Glory be to Gaia! I never thought we'd see you again any of you, but
especially you, babes," she added, throwing herself into
Jak's arms and kissing him full-on, her tongue expressing things that words
couldn't.
A cheering broke out from the Gate, and Gloria stepped back.
"This is truly a miracle! Now then, this we've just got to
celebrate!"
Ryan stepped forward. "Gloria, glad as we are to see you, we've been searching
for you for a reason. We "
He was stopped by a raised hand from the Gate queen, who
despite being tiny next to the one-eyed warrior had the authority to silence
even Ryan Cawdor without question.
"There is nothing so pressing that we can't party down when the need arises.
Tomorrow we will talk of what we've done and where we've been and even of what
we have to do, sweets. But right now, we chill out and celebrate. Remember,
honey, chilling out can stop you being chilled."
Ryan stared at her for a second, but as her face cracked into a grin, the
one-eyed man found himself following suit.
And so the celebrations began.
ALTHOUGH THE CELEBRATION didn't end until first light, such was the
restorative powers of the tribe that the companions found themselves roused
shortly after noon, and while the rest of the tribe went about its business,
Tammy and Jon joined their queen outside her tent in discovering what had
happened to the companions after they had made the mat-trans jump. But first,
Dean congratulated Jon on becoming the new Armorer of the
Gate tribe. After Margia was chilled albeit by her own stupidity during the
battle in the redoubt, it had been important for someone to take over the
running and maintenance of the armory. As Jon had been Margia's assistant, it
seemed an obvious choice for Gloria to make, even though a male had never
before been awarded such status in the tribe.
The young man was almost bashful as he was congratulated, and invited J.B. to
check the armory later and give him any advice he had to offer.
Getting to business, Ryan outlined to Gloria what happened to the companions
since they had been parted by the mat-trans jump. He put forward the theory
that the old comps had a fail-
safe mechanism that changed the destinations of jumps, and told of how they
had left the redoubt and traveled to Crossroads.
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He neglected to mention Jak's dream, and a glance at the albino confirmed that
Jak, too, had been reticent to mention this to
Gloria. Perhaps it was as well. At this stage it could be counterproductive.
He did, however, talk at great length of the disease they had encountered in
Crossroads, and how they felt it related to the
Illuminated Ones and their sightings. Mildred and Doc told of the incidences
of smallpox before it had been eradicated long before the nukecaust. They
wanted to drive home just how devastating it could be, in case it was hard for
the Gate to imagine.
They shouldn't have worried. Gloria could quite plainly see the importance of
such a disease spreading across the land.
"None of us have been in the ville long enough to see such a thing," she began
when Ryan had finished, "but it seems to me that the baron is some kind of a
stupidworks fool who'd rather hide his head than face facts. If they're hiding
it away, then it'll be the chilling of them. That's their choice, but not when
it affects the rest of the people across the land.
"I knew our paths would cross again," she continued, "as it's in our fate. As
to your notion that the old tech would send us to different places from the
Illuminated Ones, then it's either a wrongheaded notion, or that tech really
is fucked by time& because we ended up following them right into the belly of
their beast."
The Gate queen paused before continuing. "I know that you'd warned us about
traveling through the chambers, and how it could make you feel, but I don't
think any of us were really prepared for that feeling of being torn up into
tiny pieces and then flung through the air before being shoved back together
by someone with a heaviness of hand. None of us was really ready to fight, and
the fact that we had to get it together and face whatever was outside the
chamber only made things harder.
"But I guess that they were feeling the same way or else they didn't expect
us to follow them as no one came to attack us when we were at our most
vulnerable& for which I give thanks
to the goddess.
"We were soon ready, and we came out into a room like the one we had left. It
was deserted except for a few of the
Illuminated soldiers, and we were able to chill them real easy, as they were
taken totally by surprise. I guess they were able to raise an alarm, 'cause a
whole load of others were ready to meet us when we hit the corridors. Trouble
was, they knew exactly where they were, and we didn't shit, we had no way of
knowing if that redoubt was the same design as the one we had left behind. And
we were wondering where the hell you were! 'Cause we knew you'd jumped into
the other chamber, and the second chamber where we'd landed was empty when we [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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He stood, all activity around him tuned out, waiting for Gloria to emerge. It
was as though the Gate, his compatriots, the camp, the woodland indeed, the
whole world were blotted out, and there remained only himself, face-to-face
with his destiny.
The tent flap parted, and he could hear the husky, sweet tones that he knew so
well.
"What the fuck is all this stupidworks noise about? Has everyone gone plain
stupe or " Gloria emerged into the open, straightening and staring the
companions full in the face. She stood silent for a moment, her mouth open in
surprise. She was still the same Gloria: whip thin, muscles glistening under
her tan, the cut-off denims and shirt showing much of her taut skin, her eyes
liquid under that mane of flowing red hair& and not a blister, pockmark or
sore anywhere on her body. Jak breathed a mental sigh of relief, and relaxed,
the pleasure at seeing her again now flowing through him.
Gloria broke the silence that had fallen over the tribe with a wild whoop.
"Glory be to Gaia! I never thought we'd see you again any of you, but
especially you, babes," she added, throwing herself into
Jak's arms and kissing him full-on, her tongue expressing things that words
couldn't.
A cheering broke out from the Gate, and Gloria stepped back.
"This is truly a miracle! Now then, this we've just got to
celebrate!"
Ryan stepped forward. "Gloria, glad as we are to see you, we've been searching
for you for a reason. We "
He was stopped by a raised hand from the Gate queen, who
despite being tiny next to the one-eyed warrior had the authority to silence
even Ryan Cawdor without question.
"There is nothing so pressing that we can't party down when the need arises.
Tomorrow we will talk of what we've done and where we've been and even of what
we have to do, sweets. But right now, we chill out and celebrate. Remember,
honey, chilling out can stop you being chilled."
Ryan stared at her for a second, but as her face cracked into a grin, the
one-eyed man found himself following suit.
And so the celebrations began.
ALTHOUGH THE CELEBRATION didn't end until first light, such was the
restorative powers of the tribe that the companions found themselves roused
shortly after noon, and while the rest of the tribe went about its business,
Tammy and Jon joined their queen outside her tent in discovering what had
happened to the companions after they had made the mat-trans jump. But first,
Dean congratulated Jon on becoming the new Armorer of the
Gate tribe. After Margia was chilled albeit by her own stupidity during the
battle in the redoubt, it had been important for someone to take over the
running and maintenance of the armory. As Jon had been Margia's assistant, it
seemed an obvious choice for Gloria to make, even though a male had never
before been awarded such status in the tribe.
The young man was almost bashful as he was congratulated, and invited J.B. to
check the armory later and give him any advice he had to offer.
Getting to business, Ryan outlined to Gloria what happened to the companions
since they had been parted by the mat-trans jump. He put forward the theory
that the old comps had a fail-
safe mechanism that changed the destinations of jumps, and told of how they
had left the redoubt and traveled to Crossroads.
Page 41
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He neglected to mention Jak's dream, and a glance at the albino confirmed that
Jak, too, had been reticent to mention this to
Gloria. Perhaps it was as well. At this stage it could be counterproductive.
He did, however, talk at great length of the disease they had encountered in
Crossroads, and how they felt it related to the
Illuminated Ones and their sightings. Mildred and Doc told of the incidences
of smallpox before it had been eradicated long before the nukecaust. They
wanted to drive home just how devastating it could be, in case it was hard for
the Gate to imagine.
They shouldn't have worried. Gloria could quite plainly see the importance of
such a disease spreading across the land.
"None of us have been in the ville long enough to see such a thing," she began
when Ryan had finished, "but it seems to me that the baron is some kind of a
stupidworks fool who'd rather hide his head than face facts. If they're hiding
it away, then it'll be the chilling of them. That's their choice, but not when
it affects the rest of the people across the land.
"I knew our paths would cross again," she continued, "as it's in our fate. As
to your notion that the old tech would send us to different places from the
Illuminated Ones, then it's either a wrongheaded notion, or that tech really
is fucked by time& because we ended up following them right into the belly of
their beast."
The Gate queen paused before continuing. "I know that you'd warned us about
traveling through the chambers, and how it could make you feel, but I don't
think any of us were really prepared for that feeling of being torn up into
tiny pieces and then flung through the air before being shoved back together
by someone with a heaviness of hand. None of us was really ready to fight, and
the fact that we had to get it together and face whatever was outside the
chamber only made things harder.
"But I guess that they were feeling the same way or else they didn't expect
us to follow them as no one came to attack us when we were at our most
vulnerable& for which I give thanks
to the goddess.
"We were soon ready, and we came out into a room like the one we had left. It
was deserted except for a few of the
Illuminated soldiers, and we were able to chill them real easy, as they were
taken totally by surprise. I guess they were able to raise an alarm, 'cause a
whole load of others were ready to meet us when we hit the corridors. Trouble
was, they knew exactly where they were, and we didn't shit, we had no way of
knowing if that redoubt was the same design as the one we had left behind. And
we were wondering where the hell you were! 'Cause we knew you'd jumped into
the other chamber, and the second chamber where we'd landed was empty when we [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]