The Gap Into Vision - Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen R. Donaldson

Author:Stephen R. Donaldson [Donaldson, Stephen R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780553297607
Publisher: Bantam Spectra; Bantam Books
Published: 1991-01-02T05:23:51+00:00

Enablement Station loomed into video range, but now she had no time to study it. For the better part of two hours, she channeled information to Vector, who wasn’t inclined to suicide, and suggestions to Karster, who didn’t know enough about his board to set up an adequate batch command. And then Captain’s Fancy began to receive docking instructions from Station. Data research was required to determine the degree of compatibility between the ship’s equipment and Enablement’s.

She was too busy to panic—or to ask any more questions.

Dock was less than half an hour away when Nick ordered Alba Parmute to the bridge and told Morn to leave the data board.

As she got out of her seat, she hid her hands in her pockets so that he wouldn’t see them shaking.

“Give Mikka your id tag,” he ordered. “I don’t want Enablement to know they’ve got a chance at a UMC cop. They don’t normally cheat—but that might tempt them to make an exception.”

Morn hated to surrender her tag. But she also couldn’t deny that he was right. And the time when she could have opposed his intentions was long past: it was on the other side of the gap.

She pulled the chain over her head and handed her id tag to the command second.

Nick gestured her to accompany him off the bridge.

Clenching her teeth in an effort to hold her voice steady, she asked, “What now?”

“Meet me at the suit lockers,” he replied briskly. “Amnion air is breathable—sort of—but we’re going to treat this like EVA. That gives us some extra protection. They can’t trick or force mutagens into us while we’re wearing those suits. And suit communications can reach Mikka from anywhere on Enablement.”

Before she could reply, he strode away.

She almost went after him; she didn’t want to be alone, not now, with a crisis she dreaded ahead of her, and no idea how far she could trust anyone. The thought of an EVA suit gave her an odd comfort, however. She was grateful for a chance to carry her own atmosphere with her; grateful to wear a layer of impermeable mylar and plexulose between her skin and anything Amnion.

The only problem was where to put her black box. She considered that difficulty as she hurried toward the lockers. EVA suits had plenty of pouches and pockets; if she put her control in one of them, she could reach it at need.

But what if the Amnion required her to take off her EVA suit in order to force-grow little Davies?

The idea chilled her like ice down her back.

It was plausible—even predictable. How could she reach the control then, in front of witnesses? Probably in front of Nick?

And how could she bear all her fears without the help of her black box?

Trembling from the core of her bones to the tips of her fingers, she decided to keep the control in her shipsuit.

In fact, she needed its help now. When she reached the lockers—before Nick could catch up with her and

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