'Get back!' Selmer yelled.
'They'll kill him!' Paul tried again to get out through the archway. A dart plucked at his sleeve; then Selmer and Erich Frakes were pulling him inside.
Chapter Nineteen
'COULDN'T YOU STOP HIM?' KARYN DEMANDED. She was red-faced and angry.
'No, we couldn't,' Paul said evenly. 'It happened too fast.' His eyes went to Sabastian.
'Dorland wanted to go.'
'Why?'
'I don't know.'
She turned away with disgust. 'Come on,' she muttered to Jacque. They went upstairs to the roof. Paul had caught only a glimpse of what happened after Dorland went outside. As Dorland approached the half-dozen Sons of God who had worked their way in close to the building, a young boy with a scarred face began issuing rapid orders. Paul had expected to see Dorland fall, but instead several of the boys surrounded him, and together they disappeared down the path toward the roadway. Others had stayed behind; Paul could see them where they had taken cover behind piles of rubble and clumps of vegetation. They made no further attempt to attack the building, but it was clear they weren't going to let anyone else outside.
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'Where are they taking him?' Frakes asked.
'Back to the temple,' Paul answered. Come with me.
Dorland obviously hadn't meant for Paul to
literally join him as he went out to give himself up to the Sons of God. He hadn't given Paul a chance to do that.
What was he telling met
Elli had created a link between Paul and Dorland while they were communicating with her. Maybe that was what Dorland had been talking about. Could Elli provide a link over a longer distance?
'Keep an eye out here,' he said to Selmer and Erich Frakes. Then he went into the inner chamber and explained to Sabastian what he was going to do. The silver disk was on the pedestal Dorland had been using. Paul had touched it to the protruding rod, then handed it to Sabastian. 'Use this to bring Elli back when she fades out.'
Sabastian nodded. Elli stood swaying above the chauka.
*(?)*
'Elli,' Paul said, 'can you link Dorland and me as you did before?'
''(Confusion)*
Her sensor nubs waved back and forth.
Paul sat down on the pedestal in front of the chauka. 'When we spoke to you, Dorland and I were ...' He searched for a word. 'Joined. Can you do that again?'
*(Dorland/Paul) one kra'ith (?)*
Again, the problem of the concept of the individual. Paul tried again.
