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said gently.  I don t need a Portal or any special help any more. I told you I
can see things none of you will be able to see until you acquire this new
perception of mine. For example, you asked me how I knew Kathang was in Etam s
body. Well, I saw him there first as a blur and then, just before the Hearing,
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as a recognizable double-image.And just as I can see now how to get back to
the Damned World even taking this body along with me by an effort of mind
alone.
 You! Jax choked on the words he had been going to say, took a deep breath
and made an effort to lower his voice.  You don t understand what s involved
in what you re talking about! Do you think your plane s just the other side of
some magic space, four inches thick within the ring of a Portal? It s not just
inches thick, that Portal. Its other surface is dimensions and qualities away,
on the world of its destination there are elements to the equation that change
value second by second.
Doug laughed.  It doesn t matter.
 Nonsense.Utter nonsense, snapped Jax.
 No, not nonsense, said Doug, sobering. What he had seen during that
terrible momentless moment of distanceless passage through the planes of
interdimensional space formed again in his mind s eye.  There s something else
I didn t tell you. You all assumed Etam brought my body and soul here
together. He didn t. Maybe it was because of the drugs in me, but my identity
was left behind. It could have stayed behind and died an easy death. But some
instinct in me wouldn t let it.
Jax stared at him.
 From the moment my identity entered interdimensional space, my new vision
began to operate, said Doug.  What I saw then seemed all blurred and-.out of
focus. But I ve since had time and maybe help to strengthen it and bring it
into focus. The last confusion ended when I saw Etam Kathang an hour ago. I
remember and I understand now. There are many, many roads between the planes,
and all of them are roads I can travel.
Jax stared at him, unconvinced.  You ll still need help.
 And maybe I ll get that, too, Doug said, smiling at Anvra.
 Love will not be enough, muttered Jax.
But Doug was looking outward, beyond the Magus and the Sorcerer and the Water
Witch, beyond the room and beyond what the others could see. He was staring at
a dimensionless brightness through which a dark thing strode. And as he
looked, it turned toward him.
TheWalker lifted a lumpish arm. And this time, the hand beckoned.
The saint who said,  All the way to heaven is heaven, did not envision the
converse being equally true.
The Last Dream
He meant it.
A couple of days back, or perhaps it was a week or so ago it was too much
trouble now to keep track of the calendar a reporter had got into his hospital
room. They had found the man, of course, and hustled him out again; but not
before he had had time to ask a few questions. Most of them were the same old
questions& whatdid it feel like to have run through thirty million dollars of
inheritance, would he do it all over again, etc. But there was one question
that hadn t been asked before. How did Tommy feel about dying?
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 I m looking forward to it, Tommy Harmen had said.
The reporter had made a note of that answer with pencil on some thickly
typewritten paper, sheaved together.A newsy point? Well, thought Tommy, I
meant it. It wasn t something he had said merely for the shock value. After
all, he was ninety-four. At ninety-four, dying wasn t something you considered
academically. It was right there in the room with you, like a piece of
furniture. Maybe it wasn t sprung or padded just to suit you, but it was
something to sit on anyway, and you planned on sitting on it. What the hell!
Tommy Harmen chuckled at the profanity in his thoughts.Funny. Old people
shocked others as children did when they swore. You were supposed to be above
such
The chuckle, he realized suddenly, had also been in his mind. It was too much
effort to chuckle aloud. They had him in an oxygen tent now. It made the
roomseem wavery and unnatural, seen through the plastic.Which reminded him he
needed that nurse. Damn it, they took better care of the babies in the nursery
ward, he d be bound. With an effort as large as that in hauling back on the
rod when there was a big blue on the end of the line, he groped for the
button. Where was the damn thing& ?No matter. He gave up. After all, it was
the hospital s good name and odor that was at stake, not his.
He lay still, exhausted by the effort, lapsing into a light doze. Bet that
reporter hadn t believed him, knowing the things he d done, the places he d
been, the things he d& all over the world, too. There was that little island
down in the West Indies& andAntibes & and&
 How about the jereboam? askedWinkie.
 Jereboam, hell, he said.  Let s have in the Methuselah.
& His vision cleared. He was sitting at a small, round table with a marble
top a real marble top.
 Didn t know they made them any more, he said, testing it with his
fingernail.
 You have to know the dealer, said Winkie. Tommy looked up. Winkie was
tipping back on two legs of the elegant occasional chair, with his collar
open.Drunk as usual.No, not drunk.Tight.
Tight as a lord.Square jaw hanging down, curly hair mussed.Handsome devil,
Winkie.
 You ve taken off weight, said Tommy.
 Polo, said Winkie. Makes all the difference. He winked. Second story
polo.
Tommy laughed and finished his glass. It was one of the good ones.Piper
Heidsieck? He looked about for the bottle, and then remembered they had just [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]