[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
can be possessed by those who know nothing of the true nature of the Alternate
Powers.Mind reading, for example.Or artistic inspiration."
"Oh?" said Paul. "How do you tell the difference be-tweenpeople with that,
and your Alternate Power people?"
"Very simply," answeredWarren . But the tone of his voice and the way he held
the shell and continued to watch Paul did not implysimpleness . "For such
people their abilities work spasmodically and unreliably. For us, they always
work."
"For example, mind reading?"
"I'm a Necromancer," said Warren, shortly, "not a seer. Besides, I used the
common, recognizable term. I'm told minds aren't so muchread as experienced."
"When you go into someone else's mind, you lose your own point of view?"
"Yes," saidWarren , "you must be a natural." He took the conch shell back
across to the cabinet and put it away. He turned around and spoke from where
he was.
"You've got something," he said. "It may be a valuable aptitude, and it may
not. But I'm willing to take you on as a probationary apprentice. If I think
you have promise after a while, you'll be taken fully into the Guild on an
Page 22
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
apprenticeship basis. If that happens, you'll be required to assign everything
you own and all future personal income to the Guild. But if it reaches that
point, you needn't worry about material things."Warren 's lips twisted
slightly. "The Guild will take care of you. Study and learn, and you'll be
able to grow your arm back one day."
Paul stood up.
"You guarantee me an arm?" he said.
"Of course," saidWarren . He did not move from where he stood, watching Paul
across the widths of laboratory and apartment room with unmoving gaze.
Chapter 6
Shuttling through the many-leveled maze of the Chicago Complex's streets and
buildings in a one-man subway car, Paul leaned his head back against the
cushions of the seat and closed his eyes.
He was exhausted, and exhaustion, he now suspected, had its roots in
something besides the physical efforts he had been put to today. Something
almost physical had taken place in him following his recognition of the
ridiculousness of the psychiatric approach to his situation. And the business
with the shell had also drained him.
But the exhaustion was something that rest could cure. More important were
two other things. The first of these was a clear recognition that too many
things were happening around him and to him for them all to be accidents. And
accidents, once the notion that he was subconsciously bent on self-destruction
had been discarded, had been the obvious alternative answer.
The second was the fact that the Necromancer, Warren, had called him
arrogant.
Disturbed by this, Paul for the first time faced the fact that such
disturbance was unusual with him. Now that he stopped to consider the fact, in
spite of all that had happened to him it had never before occurred to him that
he might be at the mercy of any other force than that of his own will.
Perhaps, he thought, this was arrogance, but the idea did not ring true. Above
all else, he trusted his own feelings, and he did not feel arrogant. All that
came to him when he reached back into himself for reasons was a calm feeling
of certainty. It was that invincible element in him which took all things
calmly.
For, thought Paul, leaning back with his eyes closed, above all he must not
be arrogant. He was like a man peering through the glass-clearness of still
water into the secret life of a tide pool on an ocean beach. Wonderful things
were happening just a little before him, and would continue to happen as long
as the pool was not disturbed. But a touch of wind or a dabbled finger, a
ripple across the water's surface, and the life going on under his nose would
no longer be isolated, pure, and complete. Gentleness was the
watchword.Gentleness and extreme care. Already he had begun to separate and
identify elements: by a hint of movement, a change of color, an emerging
shape....
Leaning back with his eyes closed, Paul lost himself in a half-doze and a
dream of things half-seen.
Sudden deceleration of his small car pulled him upright in his seat. The car
jerked to a stop. He opened his eyes and looked out through theunopaqued
Page 23
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
bubble of thecar's top.
He was at a mid-level intersection of streets. Above and below him were
residential and business layers of the great three-dimensional community that
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]