Exiles at the Well of Souls by Jack L Chalker

Author:Jack L Chalker [Chalker, Jack L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781612421889
Google: J3JiTHJUhUAC
Amazon: 1470882043
Barnesnoble: 1470882043
Goodreads: 584365
Publisher: Baen
Published: 1978-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

South Zone

Ben Yulin groaned and awoke slowly. He tried to move, but pain shot through him. He could tell he was in a bed of some kind, that he was naked, and had some sort of blanket over him—but nothing more.

He opened his eyes, then moaned, and closed them again. It took several seconds until he was willing to try it again.

They were still there.

Closest was a large furry creature in a lab coat with what looked like a modified stethoscope around its thick neck. The thing looked like nothing so much as a giant beaver, complete with two huge buck teeth in front. Only the eyes were different—they were bright and clear and a deep-gold color, and radiated intelligence and warmth. Behind the beaver was the six-armed snake-man named Serge Ortega, looking concerned under his snow-white brush. The plant creature was there, too, completing the bizarre scene.

Yulin looked around uneasily, then spotted the figure of Renard, wearing some kind of great cloak tied around his neck, over near the door, looking bored. This seemed to snap him out of it.

The shape and manner was Renard, but the indefinable aura of confidence and control from the Renard-like figure marked him for Yulin as Antor Trelig. With that knowledge also came Trelig’s final warning, and Ben Yulin tried to relax, to bring Mavra Chang to the fore.

“Where am I?” he managed, then coughed.

“In a hospital,” the strange rodentlike creature replied. Yulin was surprised to note that the creature was actually speaking Confederation plain talk—with considerable difficulty, true, but understandable nonetheless.

The snake-man spoke up, his own Confederation speech clear and perfect. “Dr. Muhar is an Ambreza,” he explained, at the same time explaining nothing. Seeing this, he added, “There is a hex on the Well World with your kind of people in it. The Ambreza are neighbors. Your people have had a bad time of it, and the Ambreza are used to working with your medical problems. That’s why we summoned him.”

“What happened to me?” Ben asked, still unable to move.

The Ambreza turned to Ortega, who spoke the required language as if born to it.

“You collapsed in the Polar Gate,” the snake-man reminded him. “When we got that spacesuit off you, we found out you were a mess. Black and blue all over, three ribs broken, one of which, because of your walking so far with it, had dislocated so badly it punctured a couple of organs.”

“Can you heal me?” Yulin asked, concerned.

The Ambreza clucked. “With a lot of time, yes,” it said in a high-pitched voice, sounding like a recording played slightly too fast. “But it will not be necessary. We will put you through the Well.”

Yulin tried to move, couldn’t. Drugs? It made no difference.

“Renard, here, has been filling us in on what’s been going on,” Ortega said. “You all have been through a lot. I’d like to keep you around a while, but both Renard and Citizen Zinder have a sponge problem, and only the Well can cure that. Your injuries are critical.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.