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elephantine feet a few meters from the Frant, surrounded by a red line of
quarantine. It apparently did not find the atmosphere uncomfortable, however.
A Talsit researcher stood on its eight limbs beside Yates on the north side of
the scaffold, surrounded by a traction bubble containing its particular mix of
atmosphere--very little oxygen, with a much higher percentage of carbon
dioxide, at temperatures low enough to make condensation form on the field's
flexible boundaries. Its mossy
"antlers" were in constant motion. All the other nonhuman researchers were
surrounded by similar fields, the most striking being a sinuous, snake-bodied,
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four-headed being suspended in coils in a levitated sphere of deep green
liquid, like a preserved specimen.
From the evidence, human-form beings were not common.
Before the gathering, Lanier and the Talsit had engaged in a strange
conversationstrange in its clarity and uncanny familiarity, as if they had
been no stranger to each other than new neighbors at a block party.
The Talsit had stood on the north side of the scaffolding, conversing with a
Frant while a second Frant waited silently nearby.
The Franks had homogenized several hours before; there was little need for the
second Frant to contribute to the conversation, unless parallel thinking was
required. Lanier and Patricia had eaten as much from a bountiful floating
lunch table as they cared to. Patricia had then gone off with Olmy to resume
her conversation with Korzenowski.
Lanier found himself speaking with the Talsit almost by default.
The Talsit had approached Prescient Oyu to discuss her father's plans
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aftermath. Their conversation had been picted at first, and then she had
shifted to English, introducing the Talsit to
Lanier. The Talsit spoke perfect English, though nothing moved anywhere on
its body in any way to show sound production.
Lanier didn't even bother to be curious; he had had a surfeit of marvels,
minor and major. It took his full attention just finding the right words t
explain how they had come to be here. In conversation with a being not even
remotely human in shape, and of .unknown psychological character (if it could
speak perfect English, surely it could also provide a screen for its real
thought processes), he talked casually enough about the Death, about alternate
universes and invasions in space. The Talsit, in mm, discussed its own kind.
Lanier found himself nodding in understanding to a story that would have been
incomprehensible to him only a few short months ago.
The beings called Talsit were offshoots of a unified biological-mechanical
intelligence that had once occupied the fourteen planets of a very old solar
system. At one point, the
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file:///F|/rah/Greg%20Bear/Bear,%20Greg%20-%20Eon.txt commingle alternate
universes and timelines in a way not useful to us. We work between." He axed
the air with the edge of his hand. "We work within a range of ten meters, and
within that range, there are perhaps a billion vantages. We tune as closely
as we can to the location of an object with planetary mass; the clavicle tells
us the mass by picting directly to our minds, giving us all the. necessary
information. Feel this." He took her hand and placed it on the opposite grip
of the clavicle.
Her mind was flooded with images, information. "Now look at me."
She stared at Ry Oyu, and into her head he picted a rapid, steady flow of
techniques. "It would be much easier if you had an implant, but at least you
have the inclination--and the motivation to learn. I cannot give you all the
skill, but I can help you hone your intuition."
He delivered another series of instructions. Hand still on the clavicle, she
felt the flows of data merge.
"I can't help you find your way home," he said, tapping her hand to get her to
remove it from the grip. "I won't be with you, and neither will
Yates or Olmy. We all have business to attend to. But if your theory is
correct--and I see no reason why it shouldn't be---then you can find the
proper gate within the geometry stack. You have sufficient knowledge for the
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attempt. Now watch carefully. We do not open onto another world today. We
open onto the Way itself."
Patricia frowned.
"You've seen the curve, Patricia; I'm sure you've calculated the curve of the
Way."
"Yes," she said.
"Have you seen where it crosses itself?."
"No."
"It's a very subtle crossing, and the points are far-separated.
At such distances, the Way's character may be very different.
"The Axis City will eventually reach those sectors in its travels, perhaps in
millions of years, much sooner if the Geshels carry out their present plans.
When we open the gate at this junction, we will know what the Way actually is,
what we have created and perhaps how extensive it is. We redeem ourselves to
the Hexamon by pioneering.
Now do you understand why we have stayed here?"
Patricia nodded.
Ry Oyu turned to the researchers and his colleagues at the base of the
scaffold. "Is the Engineer ready to witness?"
"I am here."
"Can you experience everything clearly?"
"Yes. I think so."
The gate opener took a deep breath and glanced sidewise at Patricia.
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"Today, we are all privileged," he said to her.
The clavicle hummed as he stepped down onto the traction field.
He beckoned for Patricia to accompany him. She stood on the lines beside him,
and the field dimpled downward where they stood, forming a cup around them.
They were within a few meters of the floor of the pit when they stopped their
descent. Ry Oyu kneeled and replaced the clavicle in its holder. 'Tve
narrowed the region down to a few centimeters," he said.
Lifting his head, to Patricia's surprise he began to chant.
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