Amiga ISO Collection/AmigaDemoCD2.iso/ASCII/TEXTE/SEX/ADULTSHARE/J/J0190264.2

Text File | 1994-03-26 | 15.9 KB | 384 lines

     The change in weather from the Castle to wherever it was D'israeli
lived was dramatic; we went from frozen midwinter to high summer on
apparently a high plain;  grass and a few scraggly trees stretched out
for miles around us.  Except for south; in that direction there was an
odd haze, like a band of mirage, that I couldn't make out.  Also in that
direction, I could see smoke, so I guessed that was the direction of the
settlement.  Actually, that made sense.  This stepping disk was
associated with only one settlement, and the tree associated with this
disk was on the opposite side of it from the smoke.  "Twenty kilometers,
huh?" P'nyssa said.

     "Something like that."

     "Then we should start walking."  And walk we did.  It should have
taken us nearly five hours to reach the settlement, and as we approached
it I noted that if the haze got any clearer, I couldn't tell.  We didn't
speak much as we walked.  We had walked  the first four hours when there
was some dust being kicked up and I turned to my left to see what it
was.  There were four large beings on four equally oversized horses
riding our way.  I focussed on them.  Unczia?  Out here?

     For that matter, I didn't know where "here" was.  For all I knew,
we were on or near the Unczia climatorial bands, in which case Rael
shouldn't been living out here.

     They rode up and heeled their horses to a stop.  The one in the
lead spoke Quen.  "Greetings, Friend.  What brings you here?"

     I replied in the growls, hisses and spits of traditional Unczian.
"Good day, Unczia.  We seek D'israeli Mittleson."

     "Then you will find him living with us, over by our camp.  Would
you like a lift?  I am called RRawl."

     "We would very much.  I am Shardik, and this in P'nyssa."

     At the mention of my name, the Unczia began to talk among
themselves.  "We would be honored by your presence, Father," RRawl said
in Unczia.

     "Thank you." I said.  I walked forward towards the horse; he held
down an arm and hoisted me onto the saddle behind him.  The one to his
left helped P'nyssa onto her horse.  He wheeled the horse back towards
the smoke.

     "Tell me," he said, "what brings you to D'israeli's home?"

     "It is a personal matter of my..." I searched for the word in
Unczia to describe my relationship with P'nyssa.  I couldn't find one,
so I switched to Quen, "Coimelin," literally, "The love of my life."

     "I see.  I would invite you to dinner, but I fear what we eat would
not be palatable to you."

     In Quen, so P'nyssa would understand, I said "I could eat your
food, RRawl," and out of the corner of my eye I could see P'nyssa making
NO motions with her mittens.  I laughed and continued, "but I'm afraid
my coimelin's stomach is not so experienced."

     RRawl roared with laughter and said, "I appreciate that.  Very
well.  You will dine with D'israeli tonight, but join us for a meal
sometime."

     "I will do that.  Would you wish me for a hunt?"

     "You will not slow us down?"

     "Do my best."

     "Rumor has it you once hunted with Lukas."  Lukas was the only
human who participated in the Unczia rituals of combat and territory.
He rarely lost.

     "The rumor is true.  With him I killed the pamthreats who
threatened the centaur town of Minya."  Yeah, and I almost died in the
process.  Lukas came out with nary a scratch.  Bastard.

     "Then I would be pleased to have you hunt with us."

     "Thank you, Unczia."  We had reached the outer fence of the
encampment.

     We rode in and RRawl said, "You'll find the route to D'israeli's
home over there," pointing to a short route that led...

     To a cliff.  The "haze" I'd been noticing was a cliff.  This
enormous plain that stretched for apparently hundreds of miles was on
top of a cliff, and D'israeli apparently lived at the bottom of this.
"He lives in your Faryth?" I asked.  RRawl nodded his affirmative.
"But, what's down there?"

     "Rainforest."

     "You're kidding."

     "No.  The drop is 2536 meters."

     I whistled.  What sort of geologic oddity had created this?  "How
long does this rift run?"

     "There is a saltwater ocean 2500 klicks that way.  The rift and the
landbed below meet about 1800 klicks that way.  The rift runs exactly
along the northern border of the southern Unczia climate band."

     "I'm impressed.  Wait.  We are not in Unczia land?"

     "Not here."

     "And D'israeli lives in the Unczia lands?"

     "Yes."

     "Very strange.  And this sort of happened, right?  Like all things
in life that happen while your making other plans."

     The Tsernen looked at me strangely, then nodded.  "I've read your
papers, Shardik.  You always declare you are not the wise man we make
you out to be.  But you occasionally do have flashes of wisdom."

     I blushed, I think.  Praise from a Unczia is praise indeed, even
if, as Shardik, I'm used to faint praise.  "Thanks, RRawl."  I turned to
P'nyssa and said, "Ready?"

     "As ready as I'll ever be," she replied, with a nervous tremor in
her voice.

     "Then lets go.  Thank you for your aid, Unczia RRawl."

     "A pleasure, Father Shardik."  P'nyssa and I shouldered our packs,
walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.  It did indeed look
like it dropped for klicks.  To one side we saw the mechanism of
descent; a stairway carved out of the rock with disintegrators and
fusers.  We began our slow climb downward.

     We reached the bottom after about three hours of careful descent.
It wasn't that much of a problem; it was, after all, just a staircase.
But it was a long drop, two and half kilometers.

     Like all things on Pendor, the forest was on a grand scale,
disappearing at the limit of vision in a haze of green foresttop and
white clouds or mist.  But a steady stream of wood smoke issued from
down at the floor of the staircase, and I was somewhat grateful that
Rael hadn't built too far from the stairs.  The idea of walking any
distance through what Unczia use as a hunting ground didn't appeal to
me.  I figured though that the lands immediately about the stairwell had
been cleared of anything dangerous.

     When we reached the bottom, we did indeed find Rael's house. It had
all the modern conveniences, as far as I could see.  It looked like a
two-floor building of wooden construction, but to one side was the
ubiquitous wooden hut with rad symbol, a Rigg's fusion reactor.  Also
apparent above the hut was a tall fresh-water condenser, and next to
that a radio antenna.  I wondered where the gravity antenna was;
probably in the hut with the riggatron.

     "Do we knock?" I asked.

     "Guess so," P'nyssa responded.  She walked through the front gate
to the door.  I followed.  She did indeed find a large brass knocker on
the door, and knocked three times.  There was sound of scrambling
inside, and a feminine voice saying something in Quen I couldn't quite
make out.  The door was thrown open.

     There, standing in the door, was the oldest-looking tindal I'd ever
seen.  His apparent age must be a cosmetic decision, I thought.  Nobody
had to look that old if they didn't want to; being unaging, apparent age
was always a cosmetic decision.  He looked up and snapped, "Who are
you?"

     "Rael?  Don't you recognize me?" P'nyssa asked.

     He looked at her closely and said, "P'nyssa?  P'nyssa Traken?"  She
nodded.  "What are you doing here?" He sounded genuinely pleased to see
her.

     "We came to visit."

     "Wonderful, wonderful.  And who are you?"  I was taken aback.  He
doesn't recognize me?  Who is he to demand my identity like that?

     Wait a minute.  I was getting high and mighty again.  I regained my
composure and made a mental note to do something about that touch of
arrogance I was developing.  "How do you do, Dr. D'israeli.  I am Kennet
Shardik."

     It was his turn to be surprised.  "I'm... I apologize, Shardik.  I
had no idea.  Come in, come in."  He turned and said "Dagmar!  We have
guests!  You can stand down the surgery!"  He turned back to us and
said, "You see, when somebody knocks at the door like that, it's usually
the Unczia returning from a hunting party with wounded."

     I nodded.  An apparently younger femTindal walked into the room.
Rael took a place between us and said "Dagmar, this is P'nyssa Traken,
and this is Shardik himself."

     Dagmar looked us over with an air of complete control; apparently,
we were in her house, and that was that.  "I'm pleased to meet you."
However, physically she was quite attractive.  Well-defined but just
slightly overweight.

     "How do you do?" she asked.  "It's nice to meet you.  I've heard
quite a bit about you, P'nyssa.  Rael was quite taken with you in the
early years."

     "He was?" P'nyssa asked, querulous.

     Rael coughed and said "Ahem, well, yes.  Be serious, P'nyssa, you
were the woman of choice back then."

     "I was such a bitch then, Rael."

     "But that's what made you so interesting.  Nobody understood you,
least of all me, and with those exotic markings about your eyes, you
were considered gorgeous.  It's nice to see you've become a fine young
woman, P'nyssa.  And to have landed THE prize male on the planet."  It
was my turn to cough.  "So," Rael continued, "We don't get many
visitors.  What brings you two out this far?  Just a pleasant visit?"

     "Actually, Rael," P'nyssa began, "I'm going to have another child."

     "Wonderful!  But that's not the reason for your visit, is it?  Or
is it?"  His voice had just a hint of suspicion in it.

     P'nyssa's never been long on tact and delay.  "I want you to be the
father."

     Rael looked surprised for all of half a second.  "Oh.  Oh my.  I
see, I think."

     "Rael, can we talk about this outside?"

     "Eh?  Sure, sure.  Let me get my jacket."  Rael and P'nyssa went
through a door into the back of the old house and I heard the sound of a
screen door.

     There was a moment of dead silence, then Dagmar said "Ken, why
don't you sit down?"

     "Any place in particular?"

     "Sit anywhere.  The couch, the chair.  Just don't use that rocking
chair.  That's mine."

     I smiled and settled myself into a well-worn easy chair that
looked like it had seen its share of patches over the years.  "I have to
ask you," she began, "what's this all about?"

     "Think of it as an anniversary present," I said, thinking quickly.
"P'nyssa hasn't had a child in over two hundred years. I realized that
somewhere along the way my reluctance to have kids of my own was
inhibiting her from doing the same.  I mean, in twenty years back after
she was decanted there were three, so she must enjoy the task."

     "Who asked first?  You or her?"

     "Uhmm... Basically, she was afraid to tell me, but she talked...
griped?... to friends about the one thing in her life that was missing.
They told me, and I decided to tell her."

     "Do you think you're up to it, Shardik?"

     "Wait a minute," I said, getting all sorts of angry.  "I can take
that question from P'nyssa.  I can take it from Ember, who's lived with
me.  I can even take it from my local AI.  But what is it that makes
you, a total stranger, ask that question?"

     She thought for what seemed a long time, then said "I'm not a total
stranger to you.  We've got all the radiofeeds here, even the 'wire.
It's kind of hard to not want to pay attention to your local god."

     "I am not a god."  Was she deliberately making me angry?

     "What do you call someone who builds planets and then willfully
creates the sentients who live there?" she asked in reply.

     "A thief.  Look, I built Pendor with stolen technologies, and,
well, as for making you and y'all... That's based on the immortal's
rule: An unaging person can do anything he wants, simply because he's
got long enough.  Dagmar, I didn't come here to discuss with you my
involuntary deification.  I came here because I am a man incapable of
giving his love the child she wants.  Since you and Rael seem to have
some sort of agreement going, it's kind of obvious that if you say 'no,'
the deal's off.  Come back to the problem at hand: Are you part of the
problem, or are you part of the solution?  If you're not keen on the
deal, I'll leave right now."  I was getting angry, but my anger doesn't
last very long.  It's always been like that, water off a duck's back.  I
was settling.

     She smiled, and said, "Fair enough.  I guess I'm not one of those
people who get invited to live at Castle Shardik, huh?"

     "No, you're not.  The people who live there know I'm only human."

     "Must be a nice place," she said wryly.

     "It is.  So, from your point of view, are you a 'Yay' sayer or a
'Nay' sayer?"

     She paused for a second.  She had a cute smile, I realized.  "I
guess I'm a 'Yay.'"

     "Do you want anything to do with the child?"

     She paused again.  She always took a lot of thought before
speaking, I noticed.  "I guess... Well, obviously the child is going to
be yours and P'nyssa's, with no suggestion that there's something
missing."

     "Yeah, but it's also kind of obvious that the kid is going to know
before he's ten that Mommy and Daddy aren't quite... Mommy and Daddy.
He's also going to have to know who his biofather is in case something
goes wrong.  Mistakes in the gene code still show up, especially
chemical crosses that can't be accounted for."

     "I guess I'll have to be Auntie Dagmar."

     "Guess so.  And Uncle Rael."

     "Uncle?" she asked, as if confused.

     "It's not going to be Daddy.  Maybe it will be.  That's up for the
child's decision."

     Our conversation was interrupted by a banging in the back again,
and Rael and P'nyssa came walking in, laughing like old friends.
"Well," P'nyssa said, "It looks like we've got ourselves a willing
victim."

     "Victim, Hell," Rael said.  "I have wanted to get into bed with you
since I was four!"  That statement surprised me not in the least; when
Rael was '4,' he was just coming out of incorporation shock as a
full-grown adult.  "So," he continued, "What did you two talk about?"

     Rael, you sound like a grandfather.  "This and that.  Mostly about
what role you two would play in the child's life."

     "What role do I have?" Rael asked, innocently.  "It's not as if I'm
doing anything constructive.  I'm contributing ten minutes to the whole
affair-"

     "I certainly HOPE it takes more time than that!" Pnyssa
interrupted, laughing.

     "Oh, it will, it will.  I was talking about the coitus itself, my
dear.  As I was saying... where was I?  Oh, yes... And besides, I'm
doing something I dreamed about a lot when I was young.  What you two
want is almost coincidental."

     "It'll still be your child, Rael."

     "The Hell it will be.  It'll be yours.  You're the two who'll have
raised it.  I'd just get in the way."

     "So what do you want when he asks, 'Mommy, where did I come from?'"
P'nyssa said quietly.

     "Tell him the truth.  I thought that was the rule around here,"
Rael said.

     "It is, as far as I know," I said.

     "Then it's settled," Dagmar said with A Voice Of Authority.  "So,
when do you two plan on... making babies?" she said with a big grin.

     "Waitaminute, waitaminute, Dags dear," Rael said.  "I'm not about
to hop into bed with the young lady.  These two have just walked thirty
kilometers to get here and descended the stairway.  I think they'd both
like to eat and perhaps to rest."

     "Actually," I said, "my feet are killing me.  Dagmar, is there
someplace you'd like me to remove my boots so I don't kill anything?"

     "Just outside the back porch is fine, through that door and out the
next screen.  Don't worry, this part of the Faryth-" She said that
pretty well, for a non-Unczai "-is pretty clear."

@BEGIN_FILE_ID.DIZ
     I thanked her and headed out.@END_FILE_ID.DIZ