Page 50 (1/2)

Inflection is the adjective of language It carries the subtleties of delight and horror, the essence of culture and social process Such is the light-pattern displayed by the kelp; such is the song of the hylighter

- Kerro Panille, History of the Avata (fro a holo of Panille as a child Except for the projected action at the holofocus, it was quiet in the s study where Hali Ekel had put her The chair, a si in a metal fraht hand Soft blue light suffused the room, down-toned to increase resolution at the holofocus Each ti air could be heard

At frequent intervals, Waela turned her head slightly to the left and drank frohtly on her abdorowth of the fetus There was no concealing the rapidity of that growth, but she tried not to think about it Every time she was forced to confront thewithin her, she felt a hiccup of terrosensation which subsided in a blink as so dampened it

A sense of isolation permeated the study - an accent on her awareness that she was being kept out of contact with ordinary shipside life The Natali were doing this deliberately

The pangs of terrible hunger controlled the reedily and with feelings of guilt Hali Ekel had not explained why there was a shiptit here, nor why Ship fed her fros of rebellion welled up in Waela from time to time, but these, too, were dampened by some automatic response She continued to sit and stare at the holo of the young Panille

At the ister gave his age as only twelve standard annos at the time, and there was no mention of who had authorized this holo

A Ship ’coder rattled in the sleeping child’s cubby then, waking Panille He sat up, stretched and yawned, then increased the cubby’s light level with one hand while rubbing his eyes with the other

Ship’s voice filled the cubby with its awful clarity: "Last night-side, you claimed kinship with God Why do you sleep? Gods need not sleep"

Panille shrugged and stared at the ’coder from which Ship’s voice issued "Ship, have You ever stretched out as long as You can reach and yawned?"

Waela held her breath at the audacity of the child This question suggested blasphemy and there was no reply

Panille waited Waela thought hi

"Well?" he asked, finally, sic

"I’ Kerro I nodded my head but apparently you did not see it"

"How could you nod? You don’t have a head to put on a pillow"

Waela gasped The child was challenging Ship because of Ship’s question about kinship with God She waited for Ship’s response and marveled at it

"Perhaps the head I nod and the muscles I stretch are simply not within your field of vision"

Panille took a glass of water fro

"You’re just i what it’s like to stretch That’s not the same at all"

"I actually stretched Perhaps it is you who iines what it is to stretch"

"I really stretch because I have a body and that body soht he sounded defensive, but there were plain hints at amusement in Ship’s tones

"Never underestiination, Kerro Notice the word itself: creator of ies Is that not the essence of your hues"

"And the artistry in your ies, what is that? If, someday, you compose an account of all your experiences, will that be artistry? Tell me how you know that you exist"

Waela slapped the shut-off switch The holo iative, like an afterthought, then died But she thought he had been nodding as she stopped the replay, as though he had acquired sudden insight

What did he acquire in his odd way of relating to Ship? She felt herself inadequate to the task of understanding Panille, despite these s How had Hali Ekel known about these holos? Waela glanced around the tiny study cubby What a strange little place hidden away here behind a secret hatch

Why did Hali want s? Will I really find hihost of his childhood to rest or drive his voice froainst her teuardedher to be cals about so mad I know I aainst her abdoh this pressure would stop the terrible speed of that groithin her

Hali Ekel’s diffident knock sounded at the hatch It opened just enough to let her slip through She sealed the hatch, swung her pribox around to her hip

"What have you learned?" Hali asked

Waela indicated the jus around her chair "Who made these?"

"Ship" Hali put her pribox on the arm of Waela’s chair

"They don’t tell me what I want to know"

"Ship is not a fortuneteller"

Waela wondered at the oddity of that response There were ti i private and secret, but the disclosure never came - just these odd statements

Hali attached the cold platinum node of the pribox to the back of Waela’s left hand There was aat the contact, but it subsided quickly

"Why is the baby growing so fast in me?" Waela asked The hiccup of terror leered in her mind, vanished

"We don’t know," Hali said

"There’s so I know it" The words came out flat, absolutely devoid of emotion

Hali studied the instruments of her pribox, looked at Waela’s eyes, her skin "We can’t explain this, but I can assure you that everything except the speed of it is normal Your body has done months of work in only a few hours"

"Why? Is the bab ?"

"Everything we scan shows the baby is normal"

"But it can’t be nor fed everything you need" Hali indicated the tube into the shiptit

"Ship says!" Waela looked down at the linkage between her hand and the pribox

Hali keyed a cardiac scan "Heart nor normal"

"It is not!"

Waela panted with the exertion required to put e did not want her excited, upset or frustrated

"This child is growing at a rate of about twenty-three hours for every hour of the gestation," Hali said "That is the only abnor about this"

"Why?"

"We don’t know"

Tears welled up in Waela’s eyes, slipped down her cheeks

"I trust Ship," Hali said

"I don’t knohat to trust"

Without conscious volition, Waela turned to the shiptit, drank in long sucking gulps The tears stopped while she drank She watched Hali at the sa the settings on the pribox What a strange creature, this Hali Ekel - shipcut hair as black as Panille’s, that odd ring in her nostril

So

That was the real oddity about Hali Ekel She said she had never been groundside Life was not rendered down to raw survival here the way it was groundside There was tis, ertips But Hali Ekel had groundside eyes

Waela stopped drinking, her hunger satisfied She turned and stared directly at Hali

Could I tell her about Kerro’s voice in raphs there," Hali said "What were you thinking?"

Waela felt a war about Kerro," Hali said

Waela nodded She still felt a tightening of her throat when she tried to talk about hihters took him?" Hali asked "Ground-side says he’s dead"

"The hylighters rescued us," Waela said "Why should they turn around and kill him?"

Waela closed her eyes as Hali remained silent and watchful You see, Hali, I hear Kerro’s voice in my head No, Hali, I’m not insane I really hear him

"What does it mean to run the P?" Hali asked

Waela’s eyes snapped open "What?"

"Records says you once lost a lover because he ran the P His name was Jim What does it mean to run the P?"

Slowly at first, then in bursts, Waela described The Ga the reason for Hali’s question, added: "That has nothing to do hy I believe Kerro’s alive"

"Why would the hylighters take him away?"

"They didn’t tell me"

"I want him to be alive, too, Waela, bu" Hali shook her head and Waela thought she detected tears in the med-tech’s eyes

"You were fond of hilanced at Waela’s swelling abdoood just the same"

With a quick shake of her head, Hali turned her attention to the pribox, keyed another scan, converted it to code, stored it

"Why are you storing that record?"

She’s watching ht Do I dare lie to her?