Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [115]
All around them, condorflies buzzed in circles, and orange and pink epiphytes spread their petals to drink in the light. She heard droning voices, some of them young and high-pitched, others deeper. An older green priest was reading from a datapad, surrounded by acolytes, all many years younger than Celli.
'The worldforest wants to hear everything: stories, histories, even technical manuals. Would you like to read some technical manuals?' Solimar sounded hopeful, since he was most interested in those.
She teased him. 'Earth folktales sound more interesting.'
He shrugged. 'As you wish.'
They made their way toward the old instructor and his wards. The interlocked fronds seemed to hold fast - intentionally? -making their passage easier. Soon she would sense the whole forest, just as Solimar did. She couldn't wait for that to happen. Kissing her quickly, Solimar left.
Celli folded her slender legs and made herself comfortable among the branches and leaves. Soon her own voice filled the air, overlapping with the other readers. Paragraph by paragraph, page by page, she increased the worldforest's knowledge and understanding.
Sixty-nine
Kolker
He had never been part of something quite so big, quite so exciting, even when the worldtrees had first accepted him as a green priest. Kolker had never imagined anything better than when his heart and mind had opened to the interconnected thoughts of the verdani.
But this was better, and he felt a need to share it, to show others what they had been missing.
Kolker went back to the decorated platform in the Prism Palace that held the treeling. The worldforest itself hungered for new information and experiences, and this was certainly unique. His enthusiasm and eagerness were too great to contain. He had never felt such an overwhelming sense of mission and purpose. Other green priests would welcome what he had to offer, but the nature of the change was personal, not something a green priest could simply access via the verdani mind.
He stood in the bright sunshine that angled through the crystal panes, ready to make a journey with his mind. Kolker had spent so much of his life travelling to distant places, seeing new worlds and describing them to the worldtrees. He always felt a sense of wonder and mystery that was just beyond his reach, in spite of the marvellous things he had already seen. That wanderlust had set him apart from his friend Yarrod, who was not sure why any green priest would want to range so far from home. Kolker, though, maintained that 'home' was with his treeling.
Now he summoned his thoughts and his energy. Yarrod deserved to feel this way, and his friend would finally be able to understand him, and so much more, through the /telink connection. Kolker smiled at the very thought. Yarrod would be receptive. He knew it.
Kolker touched the fronds and stared down into the light reflected in Tery'l's medallion. He travelled out through telink and became part of the verdani mind, which seemed so much like the that joined the Ildirans. Kolker could make his proclamation, show anyone who was listening…
He found Yarrod standing alone below the great tree that held the fungus-reef city. It was late afternoon on Theroc. 'My friend, I bring you something very important.' Kolker moved his lips, and the words came instantaneously through the tree on Theroc.
'Kolker! You've been so often silent lately. Once you regained a treeling, I thought we'd never hear the end of you.'
'I felt lost, unsure of myself, of my place as a green priest. But now I have a discovery - something even the worldtrees never suspected! You are my closest friend. Will you listen? Will you be open to my news?' %
Yarrod's voice came clear and sharp in his head. 'Now you have me intrigued. What is it?'
Kolker had never tried to do the 'opening' process at such a distance. He had always