'It would like to know the purpose of our visit.'
'Jeez, I don't know.'
Arthur said, 'Tell it that we're on an inspection tour.'
'Jake?'
'Huh? Yeah, go ahead.'
A few moments later Bruce reported, 'The Intelligence says it is happy to receive us and wishes to know what aspect of the plant's operations would be of greatest interest to us.'
'Research and development,' Arthur said.
After another pause, Bruce relayed, 'Very well. Would you like to begin the inspection immediately?'
'Tell it no,' I said. 'Tell it… um, say that we have had a long journey and would like to rest first. We will begin the inspection in approximately eight hours.'
'Very well.'
'That ought to hold it,' I said. 'I don't plan to stay here for eight hours.'
'I can't guarantee that I'll be able to contact Prime within that time,' Arthur informed me.
'No? What's he doing?'
'I don't know. All I know is that he's not available and there's no telling when he will be.'
I thought of something. 'Then who's looking after the rest of my crew?'
'I activated another servant. They'll be fine.'
'Another servant?'
'A multipurpose robot about half my size. Nice kid, but not much personality.'
'Great.' I yawned. 'It's been an exciting day. Much too exciting.'
'Yeah,' Arthur said snidely, 'chewing up vast stretches of parkland can take a lot out of you.'
13
I slept. No dreams came.
But there was something out there, a sense of conflict, of opposing forces coming into contact, a tension. It was like picking up distant radio signals, listening in on field communications of a faraway battle-a burst of static, a word or phrase, an interruption, a few hazy images, waves of interference… jamming…
There came a sense of an overwhelming presence. A being vast and ineffable, a pervading Oneness whose dimensions bestrode the length and breadth of spacetime. But its Oneness was threatened. Something had gone wrong, and the root of the problem lay hidden in darkness. That which had been created to be One had split, polarized. The conflict raged up and down the corridors of time.
The road must be built.
No, it is folly.
We must tap the resources of time….
We cannot allow it.
We are not an elite, just the culmination of all that was….
That which is past is dead.
We cannot forget that our roots are in dust!
We must forget, else there is no hope….
I woke up suddenly.
I sat up on the bunk and swung my feet out onto the floor. Beside me, Darla lay in fitful, troubled sleep. She tossed and moaned, a fine film of sweat covering her forehead.
'Darla… Darla, wake up.'
Her eyes flicked open, wide with fear. She sprang up into my arms and crushed her face into my chest, her breathing labored. She trembled.
I held her for a long time.
When she was okay again, she asked, 'Did you dream it, too?'
'Bits and pieces. I don't know why. I told Prime that I didn't want the dream-teaching. I guess I was passed over, but I picked up some kind of leakage.' I rubbed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. 'Tell me about it.'
Darla crossed her legs and pulled the ratty blanket up around her. 'It was awful. It started like the first dream-like a documentary. There was more about the project-the creation of the new form of consciousness. Not much I could understand… but then, there was an interruption.'
'The Goddess?'
'Yes, it was her, but she didn't appear in that form. I can't explain it. It was horrible. It was like being witness to the conflicts that went on in Heaven between God and Satan. I can't explain it, Jake. All I know is that I want no part of it.'
'But we're caught in the middle.'
She looked down. 'Yes. We must get back… somehow. Back to the real world.'
'The worlds, you mean. The worlds of the Skyway that the Culmination created.'
'Caused to be created. The Roadbugs built it, and maintain it. They're a race that didn't contribute to the Culmination. They declined to participate, but thought the project was a good idea.'
'What, the Skyway?'
'No, the Culmination itself. When the Culmination came to be, they became a servant race. Willingly, I think. They built the road at the Culmination's request.'
'I caught a little bit of that. Why did the Culmination want the road built?'
She shook her head. 'I'm not sure I understood. That's what part of the conflict is about. Do you remember the first dream? When the various races discussed the project? There were opposing factions, and somehow those conflicts were never resolved. This… this new form of consciousness was supposed to be uniform, monolithic, one thing only. A unity. But it didn't work out that way. Now there's this godlike being, this immortal, powerful thing loose in the universe… and it's partly insane. Schizophrenic! There's no telling what it will do. It transcends time and space. It can effect changes on the stream of time itself.'
'Create paradoxes?'
She looked at me with a sudden new awareness. 'Yes. Yes, it can do that. It can do anything. Oh, Jake!' She threw her arms around me. 'We've been pawns! We've been manipulated! I don't know how or why or what the purpose is, but we're puppets, nothing more. All of this has been for no understandable reason. No reason we can fathom. We don't have a chance of comprehending these forces that insist on pushing us around. I'm tired of it! I want them to stop, Jake! I want to be left alone!'
She sobbed, and I held her.
Presently, I asked, 'Are you going to be okay?'
'Yes.'
'Are you sure?'
'I'm fine.'
She dried her eyes, swung her legs out, got up. I noticed that her abdomen bulged. I put my hand on it and pressed gently. She smiled and put her hand over mine.
'Over three months,' she said.
'It's been that long? I guess it has. You've gained weight. You're tall enough so it doesn't show.'
'It's going to be a boy.'
'Why not?'
She laughed. I kissed her stomach, put my ear to it. 'You can't hear the heartbeat like that,' she said.
'No. He has the the radio on.'
She laughed again.
I got up and kissed her mouth, then bent and kissed both breasts.
'I love you,' she said.
'I love you,' I told her. It was that simple. It had been that simple all along.
I got dressed and went out into the cab. It was empty. I fed a signal to the trailer and yelled for Lori and
