The Fecund's Melancholy Daughter - Brent Hayward [83]
He felt tiny movements under his skin.
Then a chill, a cool expanse, and he could breathe again.
A voice he had not heard before said, Your fucking vision is terrible. You have no peripheral at all. Not much of an improvement over those damn drones. Look about.
Hornblower did as he was told, glancing throughout Anu’s interior. His eyes brimmed. The host was everywhere inside him, flesh of the power. He had commingled with Anu.
“Great power,” he said, words catching in his throat, “you can rely on me. I am yours.”
No answer.
After a moment, feeling oddly calm and secure, hornblower got up from the chair to explore. There were several other seats like the one he sat in, arranged in two rows, and many strange devices around the perimeter of the power’s insides. The yellow lights, as he approached them, became figures, or illuminated texts he was able to walk right through. Entire doors made of some form of metal, but oddly soft to the touch. These, near to the rear of Anu, were sealed, almost seamless. He ran his fingers gingerly over them. Great mysteries and treasures—
On the rearmost facet of Anu was another slot. For a while, hornblower stood, looking out. Dim clouds, receding. Nothing but clouds out there. What would become of his settlement? Surely Pan Renik had not survived. All hornblower saw were grey clouds. Was the power still descending? He could not feel the presence of the host anymore, nor had Anu spoken again, if indeed the earlier voice had been his.
Maybe there was only the world, the sky, and the clouds. Perhaps the universe was a simpler place than any padre had ever suspected. What did it matter, hornblower wondered, if there was nothing but an eternity of cloud?
Anu began to gently rock.
Returning to the chair, hornblower deliberated if he should ask for something to eat. Something that would not come alive in his stomach.
A moment later, he entertained an image of the branch where he had spent most of his childhood. He was being instructed by padre teachword when a sudden, bitter taste filled his mouth—
Good morning, cupcake! I let you sleep to regain strength. Wake up now, wake up!
Had he slept? Surely he had just sat down? Confused, hornblower peered out the slot—
Everything had changed!
Below was a vast, dark expanse. Only a few thin, wispy clouds were visible. A thousand settlements could exist here, without nets or precautions. There was no edge in sight, and no sky!
“Anu!” he cried.
We’re through the clouds. So keep your eyes open. I don’t want to hit anything. My perspective is totally hopeless. Those bitches messed me up good.
An impossible distance away, hornblower saw what looked like a huge stream of water. Speeding beneath him were replicas of the world, complete with braches and leaves, hundreds of them, clustered together. Beginning, then, to understand the scale of what he was looking at, hornblower pushed himself as far back into the seat as he could, all good feelings vanished.
You must remain alert. Understand? You are now my exemplar.
Hornblower nodded. “I understand.”
From now on, I’ll tell when you can sleep and when to wake. I’ll shut you down and bring you back. Don’t get too comfortable, cupcake. You’ll be going out there soon.
“Out there?” Hornblower squeezed his eyes shut.
I said keep your eyes open!
An agonizing spasm made hornblower sit up, alert, eyes wide.
There are faint signals from mother’s seegee, but I think I have a lock. Don’t make me regret my choice.
Hornblower just stared ahead; beyond the slot, the dark world seemed close enough to touch.
Octavia had brought nothing with her to Jesthe, and had no packing to do, no need to collect personal items, no reason to linger. She could merely walk away from the polishing cupboard, up the narrow staircase, and along the Secondary Hall.
Diogene called after her, “Oi! Where you think you’re going? Shift ain’t over. Off to talk to your friend again?”
Turning at the end of the