Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [69]
'But we're just children,' said Tamo'l in a small voice. Uninterested in the discussion, Muree'n dropped more stones into the rushing water.
'What does he need to know?' said Gale'nh, as if Kolker weren't there.
The man wasn't sure how to explain himself. 'You are both human and Ildiran, the children of a green priest and also connected to the . I have telink, but I sense something more among Ildirans, especially in you.'
Osira'h grinned. 'You noticed. We aren't like the others.'
'You communicated with the hydrogues, tapped into that alien mind. You also linked with your mother to share memories. But I don't understand how it all fits together.'
'You will understand, because you want to. The lens kithmen don't want to. Even my mother - our mother - is scarred in her mind. One day we'll show her.' Osira'h's small hand reached out and took his. 'Come with us.'
'We get stronger each time we do it,' Rod'h added.
On the open rooftop, Osira'h looked at Kolker with her large, round eyes, and her downy hair fluttered in the breeze. 'Don't just watch. Try to feel what happens.' She and the other children bent down next to the treeling. 'Now, just like we did it yesterday and the day before.' Her brothers and sisters joined hands, and their expressions synchronized, as if they were sharing the same thoughts.
With one hand Osira'h touched the treeling. 'Now you, Kolker. Open yourself through telink and see if you can find us.'
He stroked the fronds while holding Tery'l's medallion. Kolker stared at the dazzling light with his eyes and touched the world-forest with his mind. Unexpectedly, he found a new presence there: Osira'h, but more than Osira'h - a different set of thoughts, along with echoes of , he was sure.
In a sense, the treeling was as much a symbol as the medallion was. The real connection was between and telink, soul-threads and worldforest. The very similarity was a pattern laid down throughout the universe. He had never seen how every person, animal, dust mote and galaxy was connected.
Osira'h, using her special bridging abilities on him in the same way she had when joining with the hydrogue minds, opened the way for Kolker, made him different. The lens medallion in his hands seemed to grow warm. The light burned brightly, both in his mind and in his eyes.
Finally, in a way he could not verbalize, he comprehended. It all made sense to him, as if a switch had been thrown. The universe snapped into perfectly sharp focus. He had never imagined such colour or such clarity. It was stunning!
Better yet, he knew how to share it with others.
Forty
Sarein
She arrived too late. The shooting was already over by the time she got to Estarra's conservatory. When she saw the green priest, Sarein screamed.
Red blood mixed with spilled potting soil on the floor of the greenhouse, and bright splashes of it stood out on Nahton's emerald skin. His face still wore an expression of profound disbelief. With his last dying gesture, the green priest had reached out and managed to clutch a frond from the splintered tree. Was it for solace, to send a frantic message, or just reflex? She couldn't tell if Nahton had succeeded in what he had wanted to do.
Livid, McCammon shouted at the guards, but they didn't acknowledge their captain's reprimand. 'I told you to stop. I gave you direct and explicit orders--'
Basil came in, cool and analytical. He glanced around and nodded. 'I see no problem here, Captain. These guards attempted to intervene, per their instructions.' He stepped closer to Nahton's fallen body, not looking the slightest bit disturbed.
McCammon paled, as if recognizing that something vital had been stripped from him.
Sarein was shaking. She knew that Basil was to blame for this, but in her heart she felt the fault was her own. She had talked McCammon into this