The Child Goddess by Louise Marley

Author:Louise Marley [Marley, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, General
ISBN: 9781101208250
Google: v2VcdACxDEcC
Amazon: 0441012124
Publisher: Fairwood Press
Published: 2005-05-30T04:00:00+00:00

19

ISABEL SAID A sunrise Easter Mass at St. Teresa of Calcutta in early April. They were to leave for Virimund on the Octave of Easter. Isabel’s gear was packed, a dozen cartons, valises, and padded equipment carriers. Simon’s portable lab was assembled and ready to stow. Isabel had catalogued and recorded all the information she had on the Sikassa, with files waiting for the archivist who would be assigned to them. She and Oa grew restless, waiting.

Three days before their departure, a hydro worker at the Virimund power plant became ill. Simon hurried to the World Health offices, but the Port Forceman had already expired by the time he reached the r-wave center and contacted the power park. The medicator had been ineffective, and the medtech on Virimund was baffled. Simon spent an entire day sending instructions and receiving information, struggling to identify the cause of the worker’s illness.

With Simon occupied, Isabel cast about for a way to fill the time, and to quell her rising anxiety about the journey. When Jin-Li offered to take her and Oa to the expansion worlds exhibit, she accepted with gratitude. The weather had grown cooler after Easter, and a light rain showered the cityscape. The driver dropped them off directly in front of the Old Space Needle, but Isabel’s scalp was wet by the time they reached the entrance and bought their tickets.

Oa loved the nautilus slidewalk, prancing from one side to the other as it bore them up to the gallery level. Isabel and Jin-Li smiled at each other above her dark head.

“Happy,” Jin-Li said quietly.

“She lives in the moment,” Isabel murmured. “I suppose we all should do the same.”

“Try, anyway,” the longshoreman said.

“Indeed.”

On the gallery level a thin stream of people strolled around the external corridor, a few admiring the mist-shrouded view, others sampling the exhibits. Jin-Li led the way, stopping before one of the entrances and extending a hand with a slight smile. “Welcome to Irustan.”

Isabel, with Oa beside her, stepped through the portal and into another world, a holographic projection so convincing that even the air felt different. An indoor scene shimmered into existence around her, a large bright room with a tiled floor, white walls, and a windowed skyroof. Just like an oculus dei, Isabel thought. Except that in this case, the eye of God looked down from an alien heaven.

Jin-Li pointed to a free-form sculpture. “That’s a classic example of Irustani nonrepresentational art. Notice the flow of the stone. It’s meant to lift the eye, or the hand, upward to the Maker.”

“The Maker?”

“The Maker, or the One. From the Book of the Second Prophet. And that tree is a met-olive, a biotransform of a Cretan variety. Thrives on Irustan. The shrub with the floppy flowers they call a mock rose. Also a biotransform. Untransformed Earth plants only live a couple of seasons on Irustan. Interesting, too—Port Forcemen can’t digest the fish, at least not for the first couple of years, but the Irustani do. So adaptation has taken place.

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