The Paratwa by Christopher Hinz

Author:Christopher Hinz
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857668974
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FIVE

Susan felt coldness arising from where she imagined her shoulders to be.

He’s a monster! she cried out. Timmy made him whole, and now he considers murder as repayment!

Gillian wasn’t shocked. Now he remembered how it was when his own consciousness was reduced to an amalgam, when Empedocles was in ascendance. He is an Ash Ock Paratwa. There is a certain… arrogance.

Susan steeled her emotions. Alright. He’s a bastard. So what can we do about it? How do we become tways again?

We must wait for the proper confluence of circumstances. Sometimes tways can increase the likelihood of dissolving the interlace. We must stay alert, ready to take advantage of the onset of such circumstances.

Susan hesitated. But he’s not going to want to permit that, is he?

Gillian wasn’t sure. In olden days, when it was him and Catharine, there was a natural back-and-forth flow between monarch and tways depending upon circumstances. But now, with a new tway…

I believe that Empedocles will strive to maintain his monarchial wholeness for as long as possible.

Not acceptable! Susan snapped. Gillian felt her anger as a blast of heat across the face of his awareness.

Be careful, he warned. I said before that we are like mere arms of his body, but there are situations where he can indeed perceive us. Strong feelings call out to him. He can’t read our thoughts per se, but he can analyze emotional outbursts and possibly comprehend our intentions.

Susan digested his words, forced calm. Yes. I see that he is good at understanding the emotions of others.

And preying upon them, Gillian added. If we maintain a purposeful tranquility, the depths of our tway-thoughts should remain hidden. We can freely communicate without his knowledge. He paused. The tways always have their little secrets.

For a time they were silent, their consciousnesses entering deeper states. Not asleep. But not fully awake either.

Susan returned first. She projected her thoughts carefully, allowing no sadness to color her words. I didn’t think becoming a tway would feel so empty.

The truth is, you could have no real idea of how it would feel. Or what strange sensations lie in wait.

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.