Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [41]
The chasm extended the entire width of the lake; there was no skirting around it in the shallows.
So, Data was stopped here. If the trail on the other side of the lake was the way the Elysian gods intended them to go, he had failed the Quest. That did not seem likely, however. Thelia said that the gods did not expect more than questors were capable of.
They would have to leave the way they had come in—and chances were, the gods would have a new trail, with new challenges, waiting for them.
Data waded out of the lake. Nothing in his legs had shorted out, but his undamaged anterior warning sensors informed him that water had leaked into his legs and feet. Where the synthoskin on the backs of his legs had melted and fused with the material of his uniform, he discovered cracks. Now the water was seeping out again.
Data pressed gently, meaning to temporarily widen a crack on his left ankle just above the top of his boot, 112 to let the water out more quickly. Instead, the entire section of fused synthetics came loose in his hand, the water pouring out with a soft “sploosh.” Another section of his internal workings was exposed. He did not tamper with the back of his right leg, but made his way toward the tunnel through which they had entered this temporary shelter. When he squatted down to try to see the tunnel, though, the skin of his right calf could no longer stretch to accommodate the movement. It, too, peeled away. He now knew the effects of cold water on the areas of synthoskin melted by the firestorm. So must Elysia’s gods. They would have to provide him with alternatives to going into the lake.
He quickly discovered that the alternatives did not include going back the way they had come. The mysterious cylindrical instrument located the back wall of this holographic illusion, but nowhere did it reveal tunnel, doorway, or any other exit.
And when Data turned around, the scenery had changed. The lake was still there, its contours unchanged. Gone, however, were the water pears, the grass, the gring-nut tree. The scene was desolate wasteland, rocks and sand with a few scrubby bushes clustered around the lake. There was an orange sun in the sky now, causing the rocks and hills to cast maroon shadows.
Thelia still slept, unaware of the change, and Data went to sit beside her, reassuring himself that she was safe. In the short time he had known her she had proved courageous, capable, flexible, and loyal.
What did the gods expect of her now? Or of Data? They had 113 effectively trapped him here, it seemed. He accessed everything in his memory banks on the archetype of the Quest, and found that while the questor often had companions for much of his journey, there always came a point at which he or she must face a final test alone.
Perhaps Thelia must go on without him. If that were so, he could only wish her well, and hope that when the gods released him from this trap, they would allow him to continue alone until he had earned answers to at least some of his many questions.
Dismissing his own concerns, Data considered how to send Thelia onward with the best chance of success. The change in the scene obviously had meaning. Would there be a threat to Thelia now? If his vision was not functioning fully, his hearing was; he set it again to highest level and 360-degree scan, alert for poisonous reptiles or insects such as might inhabit a desert wasteland.
No such menaces threatened, but off in the distance Data heard faint, harsh cries. Far on the other side of the lake two creatures circled in the air-birds or flying reptiles his curtailed vision could not discern. When he looked through the cylinder again, it acted as a telescope. They were birds, raptors with curved beaks and vicious claws. They seemed not to have noticed Data and his sleeping companion, but given their purpose here he doubted that lack of notice would continue.
Data kept an eye on the birds while he maintained a close watch, expecting something to happen nearby if he allowed his attention to be fixed on the other side of the lake. As an android,