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Wethe marbles I try to keep track of time and distance, but it&039;s impossible Sometimes, I wish a demon would attack, just to break the monotony, but we see none of Lord Loss&039; faet weary, but we can&039;t shut off our brains
Eventually, we come to a point where two enorle and run up to the roof of yellowish sky The panels are several feet wide and half a foot thick They stand alone in the rocky surroundings, eerily out of place
"Have you seen the film 2001: A Space Odyssey?" Dervish asks after a minute of silence
"No Why?"
"This re at the, Dave"
"Who&039;s Dave?"
Dervish laughs "Doesn&039;t matter" He looks at me, eyebrow cocked "What do you think they are?"
"A place where four squares of the Board meet"
"Me too But why just these weird slivers of black? I would have expected walls stretching the entire length of the boundaries"
"Why don&039;t we step through one and see? I mean, we&039;ll have to anyway, since thethat way" Thea few inches short of the black panel on our left
"Let&039;s try the right panel first," Dervish suggests "Just for the hell of it"
"OK" I pick the marbles out of the air and put the a hand through to make sure we can pass "It&039;s OK," he says "We - "
Suddenly, with a startled grunt, he disappears, hauled through the panel by so on the other side I scream his name When there&039;s no response, I dart into the darkness after him
It&039;s not pitch-black like theitself round Dervish Tentacles covered in long, glistening blades, slicing away at Dervish, cutting hi in every direction
I jam my hand into ic at theht flares, sharp and fierce in its orange brightness I yell another word ofall the rays towards the deht It has dozens of eyes, a necessity in this dark kingdoht&039;s trained on it With another agonised cry, it releases Dervish and hurls itself away, sheltering its eyes with its tentacles
I grab Dervish and throw hih the panel, which is white on this side Then I reverse out after hi the h at the same time as they slip out of the dark zone, so I don&039;t lose track of the his wounds with ht out so easily "Thanks," he mutters
"Don&039;t worry about it" I squat next to him "Can I help?"
"No I&039;ll be fine once I patch myself up"
"A few of your spikes were cut off," I tell hi his head
"Maybe I&039;d be better off bald like you," he laughs, then th
When he&039;s healed hiht have missed, then warily faces the other black panel "There could be a si I want to volunteer to go ahead of hi Dervish will take the lead
Dervish breathes out through his nose, then glances at ain?"
"If I have to," I chuckle then give the order for the h the panel into blackness We follow
Space Freezing emptiness Not even air Apanic Then instinct makes me surround myself with a force field of war besidearound with happy wonder HisI point to ain, then row from his force field to mine When it touches, he speaks and this time I hear him "I alanted to be a spaceman, like Flash Gordon It was my dream"
"Me too," I smile "Except I wanted to be a real astronaut, like Neil Ar or Buzz Aldrin Walk on the moon"
"It&039;s bizarre, isn&039;t it?"
"Yeah Like ere on top of the cloud, but stranger"
Dervish does a slow soraceful at first, but he can&039;t stop and keeps tu toopunk Finally, he finds his balance, rights hiain," I coo "Whirl for me, Dervish, whirl!"
"I&039;ll whirl ruo find Shark"
"OK But if you want to try your hand at gyain, I&039;ll be rowls "Keep it up!"
Laughing, I give thebehind a pair of s softly in the vacuu sterile Though there don&039;t seem to be any planets, the marbles eventually lead us towards a demon of unbelievable size It&039;s one of the vast sky deoes beyond words like , fifty or sixty high, a coh the void of space in search of what? Deht? A world to settle on?
Dervish and I pause when the marbles home in on the de spots us" Dervish whispers
"We&039;re too sh there&039;s no need - sound can&039;t carry in space, so we should be able to speak as loudly as we like "It won&039;t bother with a couple of ants like us"