Tachyon Web by Christopher Pike

Author:Christopher Pike
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-09-10T09:22:38+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

They sat alone by a lake in the largely empty Kaulikan garden. The solitude was internal as well as external. Sammy had switched Strem’s communicator to another channel, and Eric was no longer having to endure Strem’s constant flippant remarks. Sammy had also agreed, under protest, to stop monitoring Eric’s every word with Vani. He received his required Kaulikan responses directly from Excalibur’s computers, and Sammy had promised that they were no longer being broadcast over the bridge’s audio. Sammy could still call him, however, whenever he wanted, and vice versa.

The garden was on the same level as the farms but was located in the forward wheel. Here, again, the Kaulikans had spent their precious space freely, planning wisely for the claustrophobic centuries to come. Though the species of grass, plants, and trees were alien, Eric was surprised at how much he felt as if he were in a forest on Earth; of course, everything was green. One type of tree, however, if it was a tree, had him wondering. They were as tall as Sequoias, but didn’t have bark or leaves, and their branches appeared to be covered with hives. With flowers everywhere, even floating in the clear lake water, he had to wonder if there was a Kaulikan inhabitant he had yet to meet. Where there were hives there were usually insects.

The architects had not forgotten the sky: a light – probably blue – canopy whose near horizons curved up rather than down. Perhaps the designers had even managed to manufacture the illusion of rain clouds. But because the wall plates were still tilted edge on, the stars were visible, and illusions were all they could be. The rays of the nova cast long shadows across the woods.

Eric had not yet found any coolant. Ninety minutes had elapsed since he had fought with Strem. He would have to start searching again, in a minute…

“You are different, Eric, than anyone I know,” Vani said.

“How so?” he asked.

They were sitting cross-legged on a boulder that seemed to be a hundred percent genuine rock. Vani leaned over and plucked what resembled a lotus from the lake, playing with the petals. “Your face is unlike any I have ever seen.”

“Is that good or bad?” he asked.

In reply her left hand made a beautiful series of swirls.

“My eyes,” he said, “are still not working as they should. Please use words instead of fingers.”

“Your face has many thoughts in it that I do not understand.” She looked him over. “Even your clothes are different.”

“You're different,” he said, “from any girl I know.”

Vani laughed, not noticing his seriousness. “My study period starts soon,” she said suddenly.

“Do you have to go?”

Breaking the discipline had apparently never occurred to her. “It is nice to sit here in the garden.”

“Tell me,” he said, “what you do each day?”

“But you know.”

He shook his head. “My world is structured differently than yours.”

“I live in society’s sector. We are all on the second rotation so we all get up at the same time.

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