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Astonishment, then bitter understanding, came over her face.  Thalia
Sharaane?
 Right. Ruskin turned back to her, surprised by her tone.  Thalia
Sharaane. She s the
Director of Astrophysics here.
 Is that Thalia Sharaane, your ex-lover? Tamika s tone was
modulated, carefully controlled.
Ruskin swallowed. He didn t remember having told Tamika about Thalia.
But, of course, there was no reason why he wouldn t have, back in the still
half-forgotten days when he and
Tamika had come to know each other, had grown close.  That s right, he said
huskily, and felt a sudden urge to laugh. They were such opposites,
Thalia and Tamika. For all of her competence, all of her
intellectual achievements, Thalia was in many ways a perennially
frightened girl, jealous and possessive. Tamika, who had never quite learned
to believe in her own worth, carried more warmth in her vulnerability
and puzzlement than Thalia ever had.
And he? He had fallen for both of them.
 Jesus. Tamika turned half away from him, her mouth twisted in a scowl.  Did
she know about me? Her eyes flashed back to him.  Or is she always like that
with other women?
Conflicting impulses caught him halfway through a shrug, a smile.  I
suppose she felt jealous even after all this time. She has a streak of that
in her, I m afraid.
 I guess she does.
Half nod; he finally managed to swallow.  Hey Twig?
Troubled, frightened, angry golden eyes met his, narrow slits that drove from
his thoughts whatever it was he had meant to say. Her eyebrows quivered.
 My name & is
Tamika
, she growled.
His lips trembled.  Twig you re the one I love now. He said it so
softly, he wasn t sure whether or not she d heard him.
Her pupils widened slowly; she placed her hands on his shoulders,
touching lightly.
 Yeah? she whispered.  You say all the right things. But can you prove it?
He drew her close, felt himself rising.  I think so, he murmured into her
hair.
Her arms went around his neck, hugging tentatively.  Do you know my name?
 Uh-huh. Twig.
 Tamika.
 I
want you, Twig. And he remembered now, though it seemed so long ago, how much
he did love her, had loved her.
Her arms tightened their embrace, her lips whispered,  I want you, Rus lem.
Stumbling to the bunk, they made love with urgency and haste, not knowing who
might interrupt them at any moment. He thought he had never felt
closer, more desirous of her, more certain that he would be torn from her
before the consummation of his desire. He was not; but when he climaxed,
moments before she did, his mind was suddenly filled by an image of a great
red exploding star seeding the universe, and a premonition, almost an ecstatic
vision, of new life being reborn out of cataclysmic death. And in the
afterglow, lying together with this woman who now seemed almost nameless to
him, not needing a name, his thoughts turned to icy clarity and filled with
answers to questions he had ceased asking. The equations of n-space shifted
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and hardened in his inner vision, and shifted again; and focused in their
perfection and framed by their imperfection, he saw clearly the mapping that
must be. He saw precisely the moment that the supernova must begin.
As the coverlet rose and fell slowly over Tamika s breast, he gently stroked
her hair until he was certain she was asleep. Then he slipped silently out of
bed and dressed. He needed to talk to Thalia at once.
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Interlude
If only they would answer
There had been that flurry, the breath of new voices; and yet it could not
touch them, could not find them again
Can you hear
?
Do you know
?
Are you me
?
It had to know. They were different, those voices, each different.
Never had Bright felt so uncertain, so needy; Bright had to know
Bright s fires rang
Bright s fires echoed
But nowhere came an answer
I will wait
I must wait
Can you speak
?
answer please
Chapter 28
 Sir Bremen? said the security robot.
The assassin turned and stared silently at the thing. What was it going to be
this time? He d been waiting for many hours now since arrival, and the
most helpful thing that anyone had had to say was that his identification [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]