The Gap Into Madness: Chaos And Order by Stephen R. Donaldson

Author:Stephen R. Donaldson [Stephen R. Donaldson]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fiction, General, Science fiction, Adventure, Space ships, Community life, Kansas, African Americans
ISBN: 9780553572537
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 1995-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

Nick swore impatiently. Bounding back to the command station, he keyed his pickup.

"Center, this is Captain Succorso. I don't mean to keep you waiting. I just wanted to give sickbay time to finish with Vector and Mikka. They're ready now. We'll be opening our airlock in five minutes."

Palpably insincere, Center replied, "Take your time. We're in no hurry."

With the pop of a toggle, the communication channel closed.

Nick silenced his pickup.

"Now. Let's do it."

Unexpectedly slow, almost languid in his movements, he turned for the companionway. He seemed completely at ease; altogether sure of himself. Nevertheless his scars looked like streaks of acid under his eyes, burning deeper and deeper into his cheeks. Heat poured off him as if he were overflowing.

"The lift," he told Mikka and Vector, Sib and Ciro. "Go."

Mikka and her companions hesitated for a second. But after a quick glance at each other they shoved off from the handrails and began drifting backward along the passage.

Davies couldn't let Nick go. His fear was Morn's: he had to do something about it. "Wait a minute," he objected; insisted.

"You still haven't told us what happened. What are you so excited about? What's going on?"

He thought Nick wouldn't answer. Nick had gone too far into his strange personal exaltation: he might not be able to hear ordinary questions—

or deal with them if he heard them.

His reaction surprised Davies. He squinted up the companionway to be sure that Mikka and the others were out of earshot.

Then he gave a burst of febrile laughter, a quick, spasmodic clench of his fists. "Sorus," he announced. He began with a chuckle; but almost at once the name seemed to stick in his throat. "Sorus fucking Chatelaine." For a moment he gaped as if he couldn't breathe. Then he croaked, "She's here."

He might have been strangling on joy.

Davies wanted to demand, Soar? Here? Doesn't she work for the Amnion? But memories of the woman who'd helped the Bill interrogate him stopped him. She was the same woman who'd cut Nick because she despised him—

and hadn't considered him

worth killing. The Bill had told her to question Davies. Torture him, if that was what it took. She hadn't done that: apparently she didn't go to those extremes unless she was sure they were necessary. But he'd believed that she would do it.

She would have done it, if Angus hadn't rescued him—

—

the same Angus who was now under Nick's control. Who had been given permission to play with Davies and Morn.

The same Angus who sagged over his board as if his spine or his spirit had snapped.

Still moving slowly, Nick coasted toward the companionway.

Then, suddenly, he grabbed for the back of Angus' g-seat, pulled himself around beside his second. His whole body seemed to emit malice as he leaned forward to pat Angus' cheek as if Angus were a kid of whom he'd become inordinately fond.

"Have fun," he said cheerfully. "Opportunities like this don't come along every day, you know."

Grinning at Morn and Davies, he somersaulted to the treads as if he were showing off, handed his way up the railing, and disappeared toward the lift.

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