The Stonehenge Gate by Jack Williamson

Author:Jack Williamson [Williamson, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy
ISBN: 9781466848221
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2013-06-10T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

“What am I?” The light from his forehead left most of Ram’s face in shadow, giving him a haunted look. “A demigod, destined to liberate the continent? Or just a mad genetic freak?”

When I had no ready answer, he shrugged and his tone grew graver.

“I’ve never been sure who I am, or what I was meant to be. In my first recollections, Little Mama is rocking me on her knee, crooning her sagas of Anak and Sheko and the fall of the Grand Dominion, using a language my father called a crazy babble. She told me I was a son of Anak, marked with the crown and born to rule the world in the sky where she was born.

“She believed the emerald pendant was a magic talisman that had guided her out of her own far world and through the Sahara Gate and on across Africa to meet the Portuguese exile who became my great-grandfather. My father laughed at that, but the magic was exciting as long as I believed it. Now I don’t know what to think.”

He lifted the pendant on its silver chain and sat a moment peering at it .

“Lupe and Derek have taught me a little science. Fireflies and deep-sea creatures have genes for luminescence that can be transposed into other genomes. Could be the work of some master geneticist, back in the age of the Grand Dominion. I’d like to know what it was for.”

He shook his head and lay back on his berth.

“Magic?” I asked, as baffled as he was. “Meant to mark you for some special destiny?”

“It’s uncanny,” he muttered. “A curse I can’t understand. I don’t believe in magic, and I wish we’d never left the Earth. I don’t want any special destiny.”

The birthmark lit the ceiling for a time, but it dimmed when he slept. I lay awake a long time, wondering with mingled hope and dread where the crown of worlds would take us. Dozing at last, I had mad dreams of millions of multicellular robots pouring through the Stonehenge gate to conquer Earth. I felt grateful when the sun rose and I heard the steam whistle and the engine puffing.

*

We steamed on toward Periclaw. Kenleth dreaded the city. Next morning I found him leaning over the rail, staring into the wake. He started when I spoke.

“You frightened me.” His eyes were dark and hollow. I saw dark tear streaks down his cheeks. “I was thinking of my mother. After what Ty Chenji said, I’m afraid I’ll never see her again. Afraid they’ll kill me because my father was black.”

White Water saw his mood and tried to cheer him up.

“Don’t fret, kid. I’ve known blacks and whites and in-betweens. Some are good and some are rotten. The shade of color never matters. I can’t tell the women apart in the dark. I see no justice in slavery and I hate to see the races at war. ”

He was young and he did cheer up. The voyage became high adventure for him.

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