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Chthon. I never betrayed him to the authorities, for then I would have lost all contact
with my nephew and his wife. I learned that Aton had two sons, Aesir and Arlo; the first
died young and the second lived to about fifteen, when Ragnarok came and all life
on and in that planet was exterminated. I, virtually alone, escaped. If you could call it
escape.
Benjamin paused for yet another drink.  This is not as much fun as I had hoped, he
said, setting the first glass down.  I can t get high enough to forget what I remember!
Well, all that was thirty-four years ago. I was seventy-four at the time, Bedeker perhaps
a decade younger. It was a phantasmagoric battle, there at the fringe of the nether
caverns; there were monsters like none known to man. But I knew somehow that if I
killed Bedeker, nothing else would touch me.
 Well, I killed him. But in his expiration he wounded me, and infected me with some
chthonic malady, a botulism-type infection or something remotely akin to it, not quite
familiar to our medical science. It ravaged my nervous system and God knows what
else. You see me now! Oh, I had the very best medical care but after all, Chthon had
won, and all they could do was extend my life artificially. It has not been a pleasure
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and now I am glad to let it go.
 Forgive my insistence, Morning Haze said as he labored over a reverse lock on one
of Misery s elbows. Such pressure should have broken a normal woman s arm, but had
no apparent effect on her.  But I feel that there is yet more to this matter, and I am of
a mind to plumb all secrets. There was an emotional intensification when you spoke of
Aton s sons. I lack the sensitivity my wife has, yet 
 Yes, the minionette agreed.  He has not yet expressed his full love. It is very deep
and large, yet from a small avenue, like a great lake filling a caldera, fed by a tiny
stream.
Benjamin chuckled ruefully.  By  love you mean  hate. Yes. Very fetching imagery,
that stream-fed caldera, suggestive as it is of some prior volcanic eruption. It is the time
of deepest confession. Yes, Bedeker told me of Aton s two sons. The first was Aesir,
named after Norse mythology. The Aesir were the gods of but that is irrelevant. By the
mad doctor s account, Aesir was a thoroughly charming lad. I believe Bedeker spoke
truly, for he delighted in tormenting me, and he knew the truth was the most cutting
weapon of all. How I hated him!
 He told me how Aesir, a bright, friendly boy even as a toddler, captivated the entire
caverns. He was, if I may use the expression, favored of Chthon. No creature would
hurt him not even the demonic salamander, whose venom meant certain and
almost instant death. Hitherto only Bedeker had possessed immunity from cavern
danger, thanks to his affiliation with the cavern sentience of Chthon. Apart from what
he termed the zombies, that is; I believe those were mindless women. I never grasped
their purpose in that scheme. At any rate, Bedeker was insanely jealous no pun!
and resolved to eliminate the child. Oh, yes he told me this and I believed him. I still
believe...
 He could not kill Aesir directly because the lad was Chthon s chosen fool, destined to
do what Bedeker could not. Because, unlike Bedeker, Aesir was wholly sane. The only
sane, intelligent entity able to communicate directly with Chthon, to do the cavern
entity s will willingly. Bedeker was completely dependent on that mineral entity; had
he antagonized Chthon directly, he would have died. So he schemed...
 I don t know how he arranged it, deceiving Chthon as well as the lad s parents but
Bedeker did kill Aesir. All others thought it was an accident. Me he told, for he had to
brag to someone. I alone knew the dreadful secret as much as anyone but Bedeker
himself knew. I alone had motive for revenge. But I, too, was limited.
 And so I bound him to his deep cave. I used certain connections I had to put a
galactic intercept on all his available assets. He could not make any purchase, draw
any credit, without immediate alert and arrest. That meant his coded spaceship was
useless. In fact, he was effectively barred from space.
Benjamin smiled, and the minionette smiled with him.  Bedeker was, as he termed it,
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half-mad but the sane, or shall we say human portion of him, longed for galactic
society. He used to travel to Earth just to browse around the planetary library or gaze
upon the ancient oceans. He was an educated man, a scholar in his fashion. He
understood artistic things; perhaps one has to be mad to have that ability! I deprived
him of all that. Only with my collaboration could he emerge from his caverns, and only
where and when specified. Then he had to bring the beautiful handcrafted bracelets
and rings my nephew crafted, accepting in trade my gifts to Aton and Coquina. He
was my messenger boy, my servant! And so I was avenged for Aesir, though I never
knew the boy directly.
 Beautiful! Misery said.  Such love...
The minion looked up from his project. He was trying to blind the minionette by poking
out her eyeballs with his fingers, but she seemed invulnerable.  So that was the true
manner of our meeting! I had supposed you were merely recruiting competent
personnel for the campaign against the mineral entity 
 I was, I was! Benjamin agreed.
 So I became the commander of the backup forces. But you returned to tell me that
the battle was lost, and to withdraw immediately, because the killchill was starting.
Only that timely warning saved me and my complement; we escaped ahead of that
wave 
 The wave we are now returning to, the Xest signaled.  I was the pilot of your ship
and now I, also, understand.
 Ragnarok, Morning Have repeated.  The great encounter between the forces of
good and evil and good lost, as it was fated to.
 Yet to Chthon, life was the evil, the Xest signaled.  And it may have been correct.
Much of life it knows only through Dr. Bedeker. Are we not now unified in seeking
death?
Benjamin looked at the Xest, in order to read the signals. He blinked and looked again,
temporarily sober.  Minion! he whispered.
Morning Haze paused, and Misery also looked. All three people were astonished.
The Taphid grubs had emerged from their frozen hibernation and now swarmed
around the Xest, who stood balanced on the deck. At each foot the shiny white
bodies clustered, their sandpaper tongues rasping avidly. They were consuming the
Xest s legs.
 You asked to be notified of the time, the Xest signaled with the stump of one leg.  It
is a fraction early, but one may not be able to 
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 So I did, Morning Haze replied.  No need to worry my wife agreed to remind me. I
thank you nevertheless. His eyes remained fixed on the Xest.  Are you aware ?
 One is being consumed, the Xest said.  After one, the Taphid will come for you.
However 
 You import the Taphid at great expense to consume you? Benjamin demanded. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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