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And right after that, the fateful glimpse of Lisa on the street, and events
set irrevocably in motion. Accident? Coincidence? Or long-dormant programming
activated?
Teleportation. A Syrax could teleport over a short distance. Thames to St.
Paul's, defensive reaction triggered instinctively in the part of him that...
wasn't quite natural? How much of Eric Abbott was human and how much...
something else?
"You're in love with the artison four in the Tambor series, aren't you?" the
far-off voice of Uberaba was saying gently. "That's what I've been told."
Eric stared at him. Nothing else in the room existed anymore-not the
colonists, not the security team with its weapons, not Orema, nothing. Only
the vague presence of Lisa, himself, and Uberaba. Everyone else had ceased to
exist, because only Uberaba had the answers. Eric ached with the need for
answers.
"Yes, I am in love with her." He held her close and almost cried when she did
not pull away.
"You know what you're not," Uberaba explained patiently. "I'm sure Tambor four
has told you that it's impossible for her to love a human male. Don't you find
it strange that she should love you?"
Eric didn't reply. There was nothing to say.
Uberaba continued. "It explains a lot, doesn't it?"
"Why? What if what you say is true? I still don't understand why."
The bioengineer whispered to Orema. "I think his ignorance may be genuine."
Then, to Eric, "That's fairly obvious: the GATE.
"In most of the sciences the Syrax are far in advance of us. They continue to
mete out information in tiny dribs and drabs in the hope that someday they'll
be able to wheedle the secret of the GATE out of us. In that one area of
physics we've not only equaled, but have jumped far beyond, their
accomplishments, thanks to a lucky guess on the part of some incredibly
fortunate researchers.
"Their starships are far more efficient than any vessels we've built, but they
still take years to reach
Earth. In comparison to the GATE, they don't move at all. Ever since they made
contact with us and learned about the GATE, they've worked at duplicating it.
They can't, because its discovery was pure accident.
"The Station here is shielded, which means they can't teleport in. Why do you
think we take such security precautions here, Eric Abbott? To keep out
terrestrial iconoclasts? No. To protect the GATE.
It's our one hold over the Syrax, and they badly want to break it. They've
been trying for a hundred years."
I know how the GATE works, Eric thought suddenly. I scanned the records in the
computer here. But why? You don't have to know the secrets of its operation to
use it. All you have to do is step through.
Why did I research that?
A tremor passed through his body, a mental quiver as the realization, no
longer avoidable, finally struck home. The bioengineer was right.
Abruptly his perception of his surroundings underwent a subtle shift. He saw
Orema and his people and
Uberaba and everyone else in the room differently, as though the world had
suddenly gone slightly out
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...aar/Alan%20Dean%20Foster
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r/Alan%20Dean%20Foster%20-%20The%20I%20Inside.txt of focus. Except he knew
that wasn't true. He was the one out of focus.
And yet he didn't feel different emotionally, didn't feel like a puppet or the
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extension of some extravagant computer program. He still felt like Eric
Abbott, alive with all the feelings and thoughts and desires and hopes Eric
Abbott had always possessed. Oh, they'd fashioned him fine, had the Syrax!
Their work reached a new nadir of bioengineering perfection in him. It had to,
to have, fooled everyone for so long. Even the shield Uberaba spoke of had not
kept him out of GATE Station. The bioengineer's voice and face were full of
sympathy. He saw the pain on Eric's face. "I know how difficult this must be
for you to accept, but if you need further proof..." He reached behind him.
Eric tensed, but what the bioengineer produced was no weapon. The small,
triangular metal unit displayed a few tiny readouts and a couple of adjustment
controls. As Eric stared, Uberaba nudged first one, then its companion. A
whispery filled the room. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]