Flinx Transcendent_ A Pip & Flinx Adventure - Alan Dean Foster [165]
Settling herself down beside him on the crest of the outermost arc of amphitheater resting slabs, she snuggled as close as she could. Outside the soaring portal, the ceaseless winds of Booster wept for a civilization long-gone and all but lost to memory.
“I'd ask if there was something on your mind,” she murmured, “except that the answer to that question is always the same.”
“What?” His surprised exclamation confirming her assertion, he glanced down at her and smiled. “You're what's on my mind, Clarity.”
She grinned. “I'd better be. But I know there's something else. Something more than the usual restlessness has been bothering you these past couple of days.”
He looked away. “It's just a thought.”
“Uh-huh,” she observed knowingly. “When you have ‘just a thought,’ there's no telling what's at stake. Empires could crumble. Worlds could stop spinning on their axes.”
He grunted softly. “Might just be gas.”
She shook her head. “Not this time, unless you're running a secret internal chemical analysis. I know you. You're too deep into whatever it is you're currently into.”
He waved a hand at the silent city that was slowly succumbing to the ferocity of the relentless wind. “I've been thinking. Tru and Bran hope to find something here that might point them to another means of combating the approaching menace. They've had no luck. They don't expect to have any luck, but it's in their nature to keep fighting, to not give up. I'm kind of the same way.”
She slipped her arm around his back. Mildly irritated, Scrap slithered across the back of her neck to take up residence on the opposite shoulder. “I know. I understand.”
“They're not likely to find anything,” he continued. “I'm thinking that the only thing that might have a chance of working against what's coming this way is a completely different approach. Another way of thinking. An entirely different take on physical reality.”
Drawing back, she frowned at him. “You think differently from most people, Flinx, but not entirely differently. Not enough to do what you say.”
“Not me.” Shifting around so that he was facing her, he said with a perfectly straight face, “Take out your gun.”
Her expression was something to behold. “What?”
He repeated himself. “Take out your pistol and point it at me. Try to summon up some hate. Think of what you dislike about me. I know that you love me. The corollary to love is the ability to recognize the faults in whomever you love.”
She pursed her lips. “When I said that you think differently, I didn't mean to imply that you'd gone completely over the edge.”
He nodded. “I know what I'm doing—I hope. The only way this works is if there's a conviction that I'm on the verge of being killed.” He stared hard at her, his eyes imploring. “You have to make it seem real, Clarity. You have to make it feel real.”
She was shaking her head slowly. “Maybe if you'd explain to me what this is about, I might…”
“No!” The vehemence of his response startled her. It unnerved Pip as well and the flying snake took to the air. Concurrently, Scrap unfurled his wings and lifted clear of Clarity's shoulders. “The more you know, the less genuine the effort will feel. Get mad at me, Clarity! You've had several opportunities to live a satisfying, normal life. I've taken all that away from you. I've exposed you to constant danger. Truly wicked people have tormented you, have tried to kill you. That's what you have to look forward to if you stay with me!” He leaned toward her and she drew back without thinking.
“Draw your gun!” Reaching up with a forefinger he tapped himself forcefully between his eyes. “Aim it here, right here! Here's where the source of all your troubles lie. Here's where the source of all my troubles lie! Do it, Clarity! Put an end to it! Save us both!”
The pistol was in her hand, though how it got there she was not sure. What was wrong with him? Had he gone