Strength Of Stones by Greg Bear

Author:Greg Bear [Bear, Greg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: #noisbn
Published: 2010-05-16T11:59:32+00:00

"Here's the gate," Ascoria called back. He turned the truck's wheel and drove them up to a smooth tunnel entrance. A man-made fence had been constructed, touching the outer wall but not fixed to it. Two guards sat under a wooden canopy, drooping with the heat. Lod dug in the glove compartment for identification.

Kahn listened closely.

"I have pilgrims and a city part -- a mimic," Ascoria said. We brought them in from Ibreem."

"Fugitives?"

"Only the mimic."

The guards circled to the back of the truck to look them over. One asked if they had any identification. Arthur produced a thin leather pouch with a scored metal card.

"And you?" the guard asked Kahn.

"I'm a pilgrim. I've lost my identification."

"Then we can only give you a two-day pass." The guard returned to the cab on Ascoria's side. "We have no warrants from the Founder for fugitives, parts or otherwise, but then, they never tell us, do they? If you'll vouch for them, put them up until their visit is done -- deliver the part -- we'll let you through. You know the procedures?"

Ascoria nodded resolutely. The guard waved him on and the truck drove through a smooth-walled tunnel.

The enclave was a separate city contained within Resurrection. It was made of mud-brick, wood, plaster and concrete. Ascoria drove cautiously through clean, narrow streets overhung by third floor balconies.

Kahn noticed the skilled carpentry and design. Raingutters wound around buildings, sometimes jumping the short gaps between and becoming part of the ornament. The plaster was expertly textured and studded with river stones and bits of glass.

Resurrection had been on the river plain for a hundred years, Ascoria explained. It had left its home in the highlands, resisting marauders, and rebuilt itself where underground water was plentiful. "It took in sick children, and once it even treated sick adults. That was before it moved. A woman named Reah entered the city in the highlands and guided it here. She was Moslem, or at least came from a Moslem town. That's where we'll drop off the part -- at Reah's Temple, on the west side. She was killed after the city settled here, but by that time she had ordered city transport parts to go out and gather all sick and crippled children. The city took them in long after she died, for about seventy-five years, and let them out in the enclave when they were cured. Then, about twenty-five years ago, the city stopped taking anybody in. That was when a city called Throne came down to the river plain, about ten kilometers from here."

"Throne disappeared overnight," Loci said. "Some believe it walked, others say it was sucked underground."

"By that time, all the children who had come to the enclave had made a fine place to live. Many stayed, grew up here, established hospitals. Now pilgrims come from all around to worship, especially at Reah's Temple, and to be treated. We have the finest doctors on God-Does-Battle."

"Never heard any of this in New Canaan," Arthur said.

"The Founders think we're fools," Lod said bitterly.

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