G. McDonald Wallis by The Light of Lilith

Author:The Light of Lilith
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-02-18T19:33:18+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

On earth there had been an old expression: Break of dawn. Perhaps, in some distant time, some Man had witnessed the morning and thought that night had gendy cracked to let through the sun. But here on Lilith dawn didn’t break. It flooded, with a slow, relentless swell that enveloped the world in breathtaking films of light and color.

Mason awoke and stretched and opened his eyes to the sky of Lilith, framed through the mist and fern fronds that Waved in great sweeps far above his head. He lay there for a while entranced. At last, reluctantly, he arose and ate sparingly from the food he had brought. Sometime during the night, perhaps in a dream, he had understood the only thing he could do. There wasn’t the slightest possibility of getting to the port today. Even if he did, they would be there, waiting for him.

His plan was to go in a straight and difficult line away from the road and up to the mountains, hoping to contact the ship from there. Even if they guessed his route, they wouldn’t follow. A report would be sent to the ship this morning that he was ill or had an accident. They would expect the ship to leave before nightfall without him. .

But that was where he felt hopeful. A ship never left without waiting twenty-four hours. And then it was unlikely to leave without sending down another man. Yee Mon or Eckert would have a hard time trying to dream up an answer to that one, Mason thought, as he began walking through the forest.

It was going to be a difficult hike, and he had no illusions about that. He tried to relax each muscle as he moved and save as much energy as possible. Still, the day was warm and soon he had to take off his jacket, an extra burden to carry but necessary for what might face him tonight in the mountains.

As the day wore on Mason began to perspire and think longingly of the valley of pools across the mountain range. So far he hadn’t seen a stream or pool and he was being extremely careful about his supply of water. At noon he stopped in a glade among the giant ferns to rest. The sun was directly overhead and the clearing shone brightly in a rainbow of color.

The brilliance seemed to pour into Mason as he lay there, and he fancied he could see the actual rays of the sun shining in glancing lines of its spectrum. His own body seemed filled with light and color and looking up, the sun appeared to him at that moment like an ancient drawing, with the jagged tongues of fire licking out along the rim, and lines of light streaming in rays down across the heavens to the earth. Like the old astrological sun of the zodiac.

All at once he stood up with a shout. He wasn’t wearing his glasses and he was looking directly at the sunl Mason looked around wildly, as if the ferns or growth could give him an answer.

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