David Galouye - Dark Universe

Many beats later he forced his eyes open again and began struggling against his bonds. His arms, free below the elbows, thrashed upward as far as they could, but to no avail. Against the lingering aftereffects of the zip-hiss he was still powerless.

In the next moment he stifled a fearful cry and brought trembling lids back down over his eyes. He had received the composite of something menacing and horrible — right there before him! Something bulbous with five curving protuberances that reminded him vaguely of the sonic impression of a -

But, no, it couldn’t be! Yet -

He opened his eyes and experimentally wiggled a finger on his left hand. And one of the protuberances on the bulbous thing wiggled too. Relieved, he lowered the hand. But he was even more puzzled. The legends had said Light would touch all things and bring incredibly refined impressions. None of the beliefs, however, had even hinted that a Survivor might receive composites of his own body!

He brought the hand back up where he could see it and studied the impressions. How unbelievably perfect they were! Why, he could recognize each individual crease in the palm, each hair on the back!

Then he tensed in stark disbelief. The hand had abruptly split into two, as though the original had given birth to another just like it! The two drifted back into one, then separated again, moving farther apart!

At the same time he was aware of a shifting pressure on the muscles of his eyeballs — a tenseness that crossed the bridge of his nose whenever the hand divided, then relaxed again as the parts rejoined. And he found that with concentration he could prevent the confusing and certainly false impression of two members when all his other senses told him there could be only one.

Voices in the immediate vicinity of the shack put Jared on guard and he had time to feign an attitude of sleep before he heard the door open. Listening to two of his captors enter, he remained rigid as they came over and stood by the bed. And as they spoke he could hear their words filtering through the cloth face masks:

“This the new one?”

“The last brought out. Incidentally, as best we can determine, he’s the one who slugged Hawkins over that infraredsensitive girl.”

“Oh, that one. Fenton — Jared Fenton. His old man’s been waiting for this day.”

“Want me to go tell Evan we got him?”

“Can’t. He’s been moved to advanced reconditioning.”

Jared hoped the pair hadn’t detected his start at the mention of his father. Convincing them he was asleep was his only hope of forestalling torture.

“Well, Thorndyke,” said the closer of the two, “let’s get on with it.”

Jared couldn’t help starting again on learning Thomdyke Himself was there.

“Has he had his primary shots yet?” the latter asked.

“All of them.”

“Then I guess we can shuck these without touching off another cold epidemic.”

Jared heard them remove the cloths from their faces. Then a hand came down unexpectedly on his shoulder.

“All right, Fenton,” Thorndyke said. “I’m going to hit you between the eyes with a lot of stuff you won’t even usderstand — at first. But it’ll seep through gradually.”

When Jared didn’t answer, the other captor asked, “You suppose he’s still out?”

“Of course not. All those who don’t bounce up screaming put on the sleep act. Come on, Fenton. As I get it, you’ve had more experience with light than any of them. You ought to take this in stride.”

Perhaps it was the calculated smoothness of the voice. Or, it may have been that, without realizing it, Jared had grown tired of holding his eyes shut. At any rate, in the next beat light was pouring into his conscious and carrying a succession of inseparable impressions with it.

“That’s better,” Thorndyke sighed. “ Now we’re moving.”

But Jared’s lids ificked shut, blocking out the disturbing sensations. And he compared the Light composite he had stored in that brief instant with the audible impulses he was still receiving.

Thorndyke was a big man (briefly, he questioned his description of the monster as human) with a blunt face whose bone structure suggested strength and determination. Those traits, however, were a puzzling contrast to the femininity implied by his hairless chin.

Loose folds of cloth that fluttered with each minor movement confused the over-all composite. But Jared conceded that, for beings who lived in the vastness and relative warmth of infinity, tight-fitting cloths would be both uncomfortable and inconvenient.

“Throw back those drapes, Caseman,” Thorndyke said, “and let’s get some light in here.”

“You sure he’s ready for it?” the other asked, going over to the window.

“I think so. He’s holding up almost as well as a Zivver. Probably had more brushes with light than we know about.”

A surge of apprehension shuddered through Jared as he listened to the curtain being drawn aside and sensed the assault of fierce light against his closed lids.

Thorndyke’s hand came back to rest on his shoulder. “Easy now, Fenton. Nothing’s going to hurt you.”

But, of course, it was only deceit. They were going to soften him, give him a false sense of confidence. Then, when they smothered his hope with torture, their amusement would be complete.

He opened his eyes. But he could hardly brave the fury of light pouring into the shack now. When he relowered his lids, however, it wasn’t as much because he feared the light as it was because he had seen two Thorndykes standing side by side! It made him tremble.

Thorndyke laughed. “Lack of optical co-ordination makes thmgs confusing, doesn’t it? But you’ll learn the finer points of focusing sooner or later.”

He drew up a framework bench and sat beside the bed. “Let’s set a few things straight for the record. Some of it will go over your head. The rest will rub against logic. Take whatever you can on faith. You’ll get it all eventually. First — this is not Radiation. We’re not demons. You’re not dead and lost on the way to Paradise. In the sky outside is the sun. It’s quite an impressive thing, but it’s not Hydrogen Himself.”

“It’s not Light Almighty either,” Caseman added.

“No, Fenton,” Thorndyke affirmed. “Contrary to what you believe now, you may later start thinking of this outside world as Paradise.”

“Actually,” said Caseman, “you’ll learn to conceive of Paradise in another way — yet unattainable in a material sense, still beyond infinity, but beyond a new kind of infinity. Which leads up to the fact that you’re going to have to trade in a bunch of old beliefs for new ones.”

There was a moment of silence that played heavily against Jared’s patience. Then Thorndyke asked, “You still with us? Want to say anything?”

“I want to go back to my Level,” Jared managed without opening his eyes.

“There!” Caseman laughed. “He does talk!”

“I thought you’d want to go back,” Thorndyke said wearily. “Can’t be done. However, how about this: Would you like to, ah, hear — what’s the girl’s name?”

“Della,” Caseman supplied.

Jared strained against his bonds. “What are you doing with her? Can I — see her?”

“Say! This one even knows what he’s doing with his eyes! Caseman, what about the girl? How’s she making out?”

“Taking things in stride like the other Zivvers, since sight isn’t completely alien to them. Of course, she doesn’t understand what it’s all about. But she’s willing to accept things as they are for the moment.”

Thorndyke slapped his thigh. “All right, Fenton. You’ll see the girl tomorrow — next period.”