Centuries by Attanasio A.A

Author:Attanasio, A.A. [Attanasio, A.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

is where Rafe von Takawa lived before he fled Earth for parts unknown.

Isn't it lovely? And nostalgic of ancestors that an anthrofact could have

only in imagination. There are Germanic artefacts elsewhere on the

estate - artefacts of the mind, which he fancied his Aryan ancestors

cherished. The Germans were not much renowned for their architecture

or their landscapes. Ah, but their music. He has a complete set of the

ancient German masters - from Bach to Wagner. And poetry! Trakl,

Holderlin, Goethe. W h e n he departed, in fact, he left a volume of Rilke

open on his writing desk, with a passage from the end of the eighth

of the Duino Elegies underlined. It reads, "Like a man on the final hill

that shows him his whole valley one last time, who turns and stands

there lingering - that's how we live, always saying goodbye." Isn't that

poignant, Q?'

'You cannot use me to capture Rafe von Takawa,' Ellen declared

coldly.

'Oh no?' Tabor crossed his arms and planted one foot atop the tortoise

rock. 'An anthrofact soft-hearted enough to underline poetry will not let

the closest experience he had to a mother languish in despair.'

You've become cruel, Tabor.' Ellen stepped to the very edge of the

holostream. 'When you were young and you and I went hiking and

fishing together, you were a bright and caring human being. What

happened to you?'

Y o u should know, Q. You invented it.' His strong features regarded

her placidly. 'It's called metasapience. 1 have attained the mind's greatest

clarity. 1 have peered into infinity.'

'Come back to Earth, Tabor,' Ellen scolded. 'Remember your human-

ity.'

'Q, I have seen heaven - the paradise from which everything has

come!' A joyful luminosity shone in his boyish smile. 'How can I

ever be happy again out here - among these illusions?' He gestured

impatiently at the darkening trees and the spare, gray shapes of rock

and sand. 'I will do whatever I can to get back to where we came from

- the true reality of light and unbroken symmetry. I want to take you

with me. Don't be stupid and choose illusion over reality.'

'It's you who are wrongheaded, Tabor, to take the choice away from

me.' She turned her back on the holostream. 'I belong on Earth.'

No reply came, and when she looked again, the image of Tabor was

gone. The holostream unit, all black glastic and ivory trim, sat squat

and mute in the middle of the cabin.

'Rafe is right, you know,' she said to the inert device. A chill of

despair leaked from her marrows. 'This is how we live - always saying

goodbye.'

The spaceliner had set a long, switchbacking course that took it past

Mars and through the Jovian system. W h e n each planet came into

view, Captain Oruch arrived in Ellen Vancet's cabin and insisted on

sitting with her in the ball turret. He delighted to expound facts about

the worlds they viewed while she watched and listened morosely.

Happily for her, he had lost interest in tasting her presence, and

so had adjusted his statskin sheath to maximum closure, and she no

longer had to bear his rancid odor.

'Someday, perhaps, you will make your residence in Solis,' the

Titanian captain said in his oily voice when they drifted past Mars.

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