ch 10 | Gull

The Lady had explained the proceedure, at least as far as Gull could understand, while the others were resting. She convinced him she could accomplish his healing, and the medical pod lent him its measure of pharmeceutical calmness. Still, when the macromolecular soup began to invade his pores and orifices, some buried part of his hindbrain began to shriek and thrash. Chavvah had given him the sight of her face, and the calm wells of her eyes drowned the panic.

"Sleep." the powerful syllables, keyed into his conciousness by the sound of his name, overwhelmed him. At the last second, as awareness crumbled like a sandcastle at high tide, he recognised her face, somewhere on a cellular level.

"Mama," he breathed, as his eyes closed.

He drifted, in a dream state. His heartbeat slowed, sounding in his ears like the rush of surf at the atlantic shore. In an oblique way, he recognised the powers that tore so gently at him. His mind supplied images of security, his old room, the mobiles, the stuffed animals appeared. The walls seemed to reach as far into the sky as did the Tower. He became a toy balloon, Chavvah sitting by his cradle, holding onto the string. He drifted up through the ceiling into a reigion where space and time became non-linear, simultaneously racing and freezing. He saw his future, paths, connections in time and space and consequences like a fabric unweaving and reweaving itself, but the pattern slid by, ungraspable. He sighed, and the regret roared like a hurricane, the very state of yearning whipping the fabric like a flag. Other balloons bobbed in the chaos, most tied closely to the fabric, but he glimpsed one for an instant through the slow roil of the planetary core, drifting even higher than he.

Chavvah stood below him, tugging on his tether. Her mouth moved, and words sounded, out of synch but full of power. The fabric ripped and fluttered, threads popping, wrapping him in a shroud of one-way time as he descended. A thin ribbon remained, flowing back over the ocean, and the waves broke against it like a stone.

He regained conciousness back in the silver womb of the medical pod, suspended by the Niven-Hawking fields to protect tender skin. After an indeterminate period where sounds were tasted or smells seemed to have color and weight, he suddenly realised that the shape hovering over him to be Kev.

"Lucas! He's starting to track!" Kev's voice seemed to change pitch several times, but it was understandable. "Welcome back, Gull. Don't try to talk yet." Lucas' head appeared next to Kev's, and Gull tried to see where he had come from. His voluntary muscles didn't seem to be cooperating.

Lucas reached out of Gull's field of vision and adjusted something. "Don't worry Gull. Florence has got your nervous system shut down so you don't thrash around and hurt yourself. I'll adjust the block so you can turn your head a little."

A buzzing in the back of his brain began, faded out after a minute. He was still disconnected from the chest down, but he was able to move his head after a fashion. It was like driving with a slipping transmission; it worked in fits and starts, and his head felt like it weighed a ton, but he was able to see more of the room. He was back in the magic forest, as he had begun to call Chavvah's apartment, near the waterfall. He could hear it, coming from the direction of his toes.

How long have I been out? he wanted to say, but it came out "Hhwh l-l-gn?" He rolled his eyes in frustration.

"You've been out for a couple of days. Don't worry, Chavvah says that things will come back soon, now that you're awake. Florence has been keeping you out, getting you rewired. I guess she figured it was time for you to take over."

"G-grea," he breathed.

"Yeh, it's my turn now. I've been cooling my heels, walking in that big corkscrew of a garden. I'll be helping with your exercises; have you joging all the way to the top, soon. Let's see about moving that flabby butt of yours."

That evening Gull lay, exausted, but unable to sleep, listening to the sound of the waterfall. Most of the day had been spent with the a-grav field off and the pod configured into a chair. His limbs ached and tingled as connections reestablished themselves. Kev and Lucas had manipulated his arms and legs as the forest of probes around his head stimulated crucial centers and reinforced the lesson. By the end of the session he was sheened in sweat, but he was able to lift his arms and touch his fingers to his nose. His speech, though slurred, was intelligible. The Nobles had pronounced his progress satisfactory and rewarded him with drinks of fruit juices. They also allowed him to sleep in full a-grav this last night, to ease his abused muscles.

Kev and Lucas had retired to their chambers. Jehu had gone on some errand, but Chavvah remained in the great hall as the sun finally slipped beyond the horizon. For a time before that, the sun had dropped below the cloud layer, and the room had been lit with a diffused rosy glow that Gull had never seen. Artificial light came up in certain areas, but most of the chamber was allowed to slip into restful dimness. Gull heard the loom begin to slap and hiss as Chavvah resumed work on her weaving. She was out of his line of sight; Gull reached over to the small keyboard and managed without too much in the way of erratic motion to prod the controls. Gyros whined and the pod rotated to bring her into view.

Chavvah still wore a flowing robe, but now it was woven with golden threads glittering in a field of deep purple. Her hair was unbound, flowing in a thick black cloud over her shoulders. Her fingers did not falter in their complex motions, though she looked up at him as she spoke.

"I did not intend to disturb you, Gull."

"You didn', L-Lady. M' jus' too keyed up t' slee'. M' enjoyin' not feelin' sick."

"I am pleased to hear it." She bent back to her weaving, a glowglobe hovering over her shoulder like a tame firefly.

"Lady?"

"Yes, Gull?"

He struggled with unweildy lips and tongue, and tried to ask about his dream. Though the effort frusterated him, Chavvah seemed to understand.

" Gull, It's possible that as close as our spirits were, that you recieved a little of my awareness. A kind of channel bleedover, you might term it."

"Di' I see th' future? M' des'ny?"

Chavvah laughed musically. "Destiny is a seductive term. The One Who Is requires that we stand accountable for our actions, not blame them on destiny. Do not try to bend your path to match what you may have seen; in doing so, you might move the very target that you aim at, like a child who kicks away the ball he is chasing. You are not expected to see that far ahead."

"But you see that far ahead?"

"I am able to see more than I did, once. Some see more than I. Each choice we make sets us on a certain road; choice piled upon choice in infinite branchings. Only the One, who is outside the universe can see the whole of the tree. We are only squirrels, playing on the branches. Or, if you like, grubs burrowing beneath the bark.

"Well, which are we, the squirrels or the grubs?" Gull tried to put a hurt note in his voice, but Chavvah saw through it, and smiled.

"Remember, a grub may become a winged creature and outfly a squirrel. You really should rest."

Gull subsided, a little disappointed, but comforted. The rhythmic sounds of the loom lulled him into sleep after a while, and in his dreams he was once again a tethered balloon, tied to the side of the Tower, and a wind was trying to blow him out to sea.

The following day saw more effort, and less progress than Gull liked. He lapsed into angry silence after Kev and Lucas had trouble understanding him; Chavvah and Jehu were nowhere to be found, and so could not translate.

"Come on, Gull, one more try." They had been working his upper body some more that afternoon, trying to help him sit up. The Florence unit's manipulators were positioned like oars to provide handgrips, and the panels of the chair were folded down into an open bench configuration. Gull's fingers kept slipping, and Kev almost kept Gull's head from smacking against the headrest as his stomach muscles gave up on him.

"Ow! Tha' hurt!"

"Well, at least you're talking. You know, Gull, as glad as I am that the autodoc takes care of your problems, there are things that it can't do."

"Wha' ya mean?"

"You smell bad, bird-man! You need a bath."

"Well, thank'ew. You're no rose, you'sel'"

"Nothing personal. Let's take a swim. The water will almost be as good as the A-grav field."

They looked over the rolling grass-covered surface of the dwelling to the waterfall and pool. They had previously noticed a nook in the stone wall that contained a stack of towels. Gull tapped the controls, and his chair floated up off its legs, and Kev towed it over to the edge of the water.

"Should I check with Lucas? I think he's in his room."

"Na. Le's go for i'" Gull's vital signs were monitored by a waterproof sensor patch on his thigh, but it was wireless. Gull grounded the chair, and Kev hoisted him out and slid him into the water, which was only slightly cool.

"You going to be okay?" Kev asked. Gull was able to sit on the stone bottom of the pool, and maintain his balance. He nodded, and Kev slipped out of the shorts and shirt that was all the Tower's climate required, and got in the water. The grass gave way to moss immediately around the pool, but the moss seemed to grow directly on the rock, and there was no mud.

Gull sat back on his elbows and watched Kev swim around. Wet, his blonde hair revealed a reddish cast, echoed in the sparse mustache that had lately begun to sprout. His farm-grown muscles pulled him quickly in a circuit of the pool, coming up beside Gull with a splash.

"I just got a flash, thinking about us swimming beside a waterfall five klicks up in the air- really amazing! Jack and his beanstalk had nothing on this!"

Gull said nothing, comparing his body with that of his cousin. They understood that physical maturation was delayed and childhood lengthened due to residual effects of the Tree passed during pregnancy. At eighteen, Kev was even considered an early bloomer. The delay allowed children to reach a level of emotional maturity and experience before the hormonal storms clouded their judgements. Long past the stage of juvenile hostility to the opposite sex, Gull had several friendships with the girls of the kibbutz, and even corresponded via comp terminal with a girl in another settlement who shared his intrest in archaeology. He was old enough to understand what would ordinarily have happened to him, and had begun anticipating a possible change in the relationship he had with Mary. Looking at his own body, now seeming even more childlike in its slimness, a bit of panic gnawed at his stomach. What changes had the time in the tank made in him? Would he even mature at all? He didn't know if he could ask Chavvah about it. He didn't know if he even wanted the answer.

When Gull's speech was almost normal, Lucas arranged a call to the settlement through the Noble's comm link. It was evening there, and Gull saw the Chairman's office in the background of the image; evidently they had been taking the communal meal at the Great Hall. His mother wept, when she saw him; even his father's eyes were bright.

"You're looking well, son." he said. "Lucas told us you were doing fine, but it's good to see it."

"But you're so thin!" his mother leaned toward the screen, as if it would help her see him better."

"I'll put the weight back on, Mom, I promise. By the way, have you heard from Mary?"

His parents looked at each other for a moment. "Ah, no, but I'm sure it's just because things have been busy around here. When do you think you'll be able to travel?"

Lucas, who had been sitting in the background working with his data slate, looked up. "If I might say a word, folks? Gull's therapy will take any where from a couple weeks to a month or two. Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem is interested in Gull's case; they have offered to subsidize his expenses in Jerusalem, in return for being able to study his progress. They are willing to sponsor him in his apprenticeship field, as well, provided it's carried out on the Continent."

Gull's father considered. "That's a generous offer. And I think that it's about time we took the Great Feast in Jerusalem for a change. Mother, do you think you could hold out till fall?"

"Oh, Adam!" Gull was amused to see his mother clasp her hands like a young girl, while at the same time look heartbroken at the prospect of being seperated any longer from her offspring. It was amazing performance. "Do you think you'll be all right, Gull?"

He assured her that he would, and turned the terminal over to Kev.

Finally, he was released from his dependence on the Florence unit. When he first stood up, the room spun, and he felt as if he was constructed of warm butter. His feet hurt. He threw an arm around Kev for support.

"Wait a minute-" Gull found that he was looking slightly downward into Kev's eyes. "Weren't you taller?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't rebuilt in free-fall, you two legged string-bean. Let's get walking- maybe you'll squash back down the way you were."

Gull remained stubbornly tall, though excercise swiftly began to fill out his lanky frame. It was difficult adjusting his reflexes to his new height. His old body-image constantly made him feel that he was descending a step, and his reach was longer than he was used to. One morning, he was gingerly walking around the kitchen area; his feet were still tender, rebuilding their layer of callus. Kev and Lucas were seated, having breakfast. Jehu and Chavvah were also present.

"Oh, Gull," called Lucas. "Would you bring me that pitcher of juice, please?" An exquisite cut-crystal carafe of orange juice was on a corner of a counter near Gull.

"Sure thing- oops!" Reaching out, Gull miscalculated, and his forearm swept the carafe off the edge with a rooster tail of flying orange juice. What happened next left the mortals gaping, Gull included. He pulled his arm into his chest, turning the motion into a pivot and crouching in a single fluid motion, he reached out and caught the pitcher still half a meter from the stone floor.

After a moment of shocked surprise, Lucas pantomimed making a notation on an invisible chart. "The patient's reflexes are almost normal," he said, dryly.

Gull blinked at the pitcher as if it had leaped into his arms. He set it carefully in Lucas' hands, and walked slowly away. Kev followed him.

"That was amazing! Let's see if you can juggle. Or maybe we can get you a spot on the ball team..."

Lucas was left sitting with the Nobles. "Doctor, will I be able to play the violin after my operation?" He asked, in an artificial voice. Jehu finished the old joke for him.

"'Why, of course,' said the doctor. 'That's amazing,' says the man, 'I never could before!' Come Lucas, I heard a joke similar to that when I was mortal."

"The boy's parents are expecting me to watch out for him. Does Gull have any other... improvements that I should know about?" There was a touch of ascerbity in his voice.

Chavvah was unmoved by the medic's temper. "The human genome is riddled with defects that not even the Tree can erase. I merely repaired a few of them. 'Improved' is an inaccurate term." she regarded the two boys tossing a grapefruit back and forth in the farther reaches of the hall. Kev had assumed the role almost of squire to knight, seeing to Gull's comfort as well as helping with his physical therapy.

Gull was unable to equal, at first, his adrenaline induced performance. He could throw well enough, but often overreached, or failed to try when a throw would have been within his grasp. Soon, though, he was standing with his back to Kev, who would shout 'Now!' as he threw, and Gull would spin and catch the missle already in flight.

One morning, Lucas met the boys as they returned from a walk in the Arboretum. He slipped a diagnostic cuff on Gull's arm. It chirped and hissed, and transferred its findings along a hair-thin optical cable to his slate.

"Gull, you're disgustingly healthy, even for this day and age. There's no reason for you to stay up here any longer. I've arranged for an apartment for us down on the surface, so let's go collect our things this morning."

Gull and Kev were sharing one of the other sleeping chambers, a larger room with two beds. Kev flipped open a drawer, and emptied the contents into his duffel.

"Have you thought about what we're going to do, down in Jerusalem?" Their eyes met, an unspoken thought flashing between. Jerusalem meant the Rangers and their Academy.

"We'd have to finish Basic Ed before we could apply," cautioned Gull.

"It's that, or we go back to the Kibbutz after the Feast. Back to slopping hogs, baling hay, cleaning the methane digesters..."

"Okay! Point taken. We bust our humps for a while." Gull zipped up his bag. There was not much in it: the personal effects that he had brought with him. He was wearing one of Kev's coveralls. Once it would have been too large, now cuffs rode high on legs and wrists.

"Have you seen the data slate that Jehu gave me?" Kev checked under the bed, surveyed a floor devoid of even dustballs. "I sure don't want to leave that here; it'll do tricks that ours back home won't."

Gull shook his head. "Nope. Let's stop and ask Lucas on our way out."

In the anteroom, a rubber ball left over from therapy tempted them into an impromptu game of soccer. It was fairly even; though Gull's reflexes remained lightning fast, he still was not up to Kev in strength and stamina. Tripping one another in a last scrum for the ball, they fell against Lucas' door and burst into the room.

"Satan's chains!" the medic swore, nearly dropping what looked like a transparent drinking cup into his case. He slammed the lid and turned to confront them. "Will you children show a little care? You're going to bring down the Tower yet," he snapped, then collected himself. "Sorry, you startled me. I suppose there is some reason you two puppies had to break down my door?"

"Well, we came by to ask if you'd seen my data slate?"

Lucas crossed to his desk and picked up the errant item, about the size of a slim notebook. He made some final notations with a stylus that carried a trio of IR lasers in a flexible fiberoptic tip. The deposited diamond screen of the slate would read the position of the wand in three dimensions; with MacLangelo software it could reproduce the effect of anything from a bamboo brush to a drafting pen, even select paper 'tooth'. As a literary tool, it could recognise handwriting like the ear could hear voices, even refuse to 'hear' the wrong voice. Lucas pulled a wand from one of the ports that peppered the top edge.

"I took the liberty of inputting your next week's subjects, gentlemen," Lucas said over their groans. "I think it would be an exellent time to review the history of Jerusalem and the Isralei Empire. Now, beat it, and let me finish packing."

The boys returned to the main hall. They found Jehu and Chavvah by following the sound of their voices through a screen of long pale leaves and clusters of lilac-like flowers. Jehu was no longer in his battered orange coverall, but instead wore a brief tunic that exposed his long legs, which were dangling in a deep fern-shrouded pool that they had overlooked until now. Chavvah was seated on what seemed to be a rock outcropping overlooking the pool.

"Well, children, it is time for you to move on. Before you go, I have a few things to say. Come and dip your feet in the water."

They did so. The bank of this pool was also carpeted with a tough moss, and sculpted to provide unobtrusive support. They were almost comfortable around the Nobles now, but Chavvah seemed to be in a somber mood.

"We are pleased that you are well, Gull. It is our joy and responsibility to care for the innocent, and heal the broken. I must caution you, however, not to presume on our care. It is not our function to shield man from the consequences of unwise action, else he remain childish. That is why we limit our contact with you, lest we overshadow. Are my words understood?"

They nodded in unison. "We'll be more careful!"

"I'll try to think out the consequences of my practical jokes," vowed Kev. "I can't promise to give them up entirely!"

Jehu laughed. "We asked no more. Just try to keep the damage to a minimum."

Chavvah nodded at the harmonics of conviction she heard in their voices. Her mood lightened. "Our paths do not cross by chance. I expect great things of the two of you . Now, to say farewell, something for you both."

Jehu produced two bundles of dove grey cloth with a low sheen. They proved to be complete outfits, tailored trousers to tuck into spun monomole boots, and long sleeved tunics with a substantial collar.

"Flight suits! Thank you!" Gull shook out the tunic. The material was light, but held its shape without wrinkle or stiffness.

"I understand they are quite fashionable now," said Chavvah.

"We can't have you parading around the Holy City dressed like rustics, can we?" asked Jehu. "Gull, I gave Kev one of the newer generation of data slates; I have a little something for you, as well."

He held out a slick nanoware pouch on his broad palm. Gull took it and broke the seal, a holographic image of the City's cube, and slid the contents out. It was a new comp cuff, to replace the one burned out in the storm.

"It's beautiful." Gull ran his fingers over the deposited platinum skin. His old cuff had been graphite and chrome. Their superconducting circuitry drew only a whisper of power, and would recharge itself on temperature differentials or sunlight. Under the tutelage of the City, Isralei craftsmen combined engineering and artistry to produce wondrous items like the house cores and personal comps. He snapped it around his wrist, and the lesser display flickered to life as it sensed his body heat.

"It's wider than my old one," he observed.

"It has a larger display, to run a mapping graphic. That cabochon stone is a track ball." Jehu reached across and depressed an engraved boss. The top of the bracelet opened to reveal the main display screen and touchpad. Gull dug down in his bag. The data wand that held his exploration records had followed him there. He inserted it into the conical entry dimple and touched 'load'. In a few seconds his menu screen came up. He opened the file to his last entry. The topography came up on his wrist, as if drawn by an insectoid cartographer. All the markers were still there, indicating mysterious remnants of a vanished world that had seemed so compelling at the time. It suddenly seemed unbearably childish, like secret passwords and tree forts. His finger hovered over the touchspot that would wipe the file, but Jehu seized his hand in a gentle, unbreakable grip.

"You'd regret loosing all that data. One doesn't throw something away that has been bought and paid for, especially knowlege. Knowlege weighs nothing, and won't crowd your pockets."

Gull popped the wand, which could hold more on its diamond-substrate optical core than whole libraries used to contain, and nodded.

Chavvah rose. "You will want to be dressed properly for your trip to the surface. We will meet you over by the core when you are ready."

The boys wasted no time in donning the new garments. The trousers were pocketless, and had a thickened waistband and integral belt. The tunics were tailored, with slightly full sleeves, and numerous small pockets in the lining, placed to be unobtrusive even when loaded.

Kev shrugged the jacket into a perfect drape over his shoulders, fingering the collar. "You know, Gull, these aren't just lookalikes, they're the genuine article- Ranger issue."

"Well, no one's going to mistake me for a Ranger, if I don't put on at least twenty pounds. I could store you in my tunic pockets," Gull complained, putting his waistband on the last notch. "Anyway, we won't get the regulation belts until we join up."

"Well, the sooner we get to the surface, the sooner we can get started," grunted Kev, stuffing their old clothes into his duffel. "I think I hear Lucas over with the Nobles. Let's go."

Jehu led them, not back to the ship as they expected, but through another set of doors, high, arched valves that opened as they approached. From his study of the floor plan, Gull knew that they led out to the main concourse, but had never been through them. He was dizzied by the view that met his eyes. The schematic plan was decieving. The various apartments and structures on this level were connected by suspended walkways and lily pad-like plazas. There was so much open volume that the course of the cables and arrays was evident. Lower levels clung to the inner surface of the Tower like clusters of coral on immense pilings. Their walkways interlaced like the radiating branches of a pine tree, with the central sevice shaft as the trunk. Great masses of foliage grew out here as well, in pods and platforms along the walkway, scenting the air with sweetness and strokes of color. Beings moved along the lanes, and flew seemingly unsupported between the levels. Their clothing seemed to be of every color in the spectrum, giving the impression of birds flying through a great hanging garden. Sunlight streamed in through multicolored panels between the exterior filaments. Other filaments themselves glowed so that no part was in shadow. Their group took a direct route to the central core over a broad avenue. If other walkways were an indication the surface they trod was centimeters thick, but to Gull it seemed as steady and strong as bedrock. They followed close behind Jehu and Chavvah, who recieved smiles and obeisance from other Nobles who passed.

Presently, they arrived at the central shaft, it's surface carved or grown with fractal shapes more involuted than old Arabic decorations. Chavvah embraced each of them, in a swirl of robes and a fragrance like a meadow of summer flowers. "My children, grow in body and wisdom and spirit. Take care; though the Evil One is bound, his influence is still in the world, even within yourselves. Seek grace, for it is still offered."

Jehu merely shook their hands, saying "I'm sure we shall meet again. Have a good time in Jerusalem." He laid his hand on a circular pattern, and a door slid open, its outline concealed in the intricacies of the decoration.

"This is a high speed personal car, direct to the main concourse. It will still take several minutes to make the descent." He grinned, once again becoming the brash pilot. "It's not as much fun as my flying, but it will get you there."

They entered a fairly spacious chamber. Seats flowered from the wall as they crossed the threshold. Gull turned back one last time.

"Thank you again, Lady. You gave me life." On impulse, he knelt before her. She quickly raised him, brown hands strong on his shoulders.

"There is only One you should kneel to, child. But your honor warms me. Go in peace."

The patterned doors closed , hiding the mortals from her view. Another Noble approachedas it did. He was an imposing presence, even among the beings mortal man called Nobles, overtopping Jehu by more than a head, with massive shoulders and a face that was almost frightening in its strength. He stopped in front of Chavvah, drawing her into an embrace that was like a stately dance.

"The children are leaving, I see. You did well with Gull; but then, you never could resist taking in a sparrow with an injured wing." He spoke, since the mortals were gone in the old tongue.

They drew apart, still holding hands, and Chavvah smiled at the old, old, reproof.

"How not, my Lord," she said with a smile. It was a smile that contained pain, though transmuted to deep joy, "When it was we who caused it, at the first. But Gull is an interesting boy, and I sense the web of his life will be a rich one. He has a rare depth of strength to hold to his purposes, and yet he forgives easily. The bonds between him and the one called Kev have only become stronger."

The translation was appproximate; the words contained multiple shades of meaning, illuminated by their expressions and gestures.

"And Lucas, the medic?" the overtones said 'the possibly treacherous, who had something to hide.'

"He still had the cutting. I caught the scent of it as they left."

"My Lord." said Jehu. His stance asked, 'what would you have me do?'

The tall Noble shook a leonine head. Wordlessly he told them, 'the One we serve says wait.' " They must follow their paths."

"We know so much more now," said Chavvah, "And yet it is still difficult to see your children destroy themselves."

"Mother of us all," said Jehu, "each child's road to wisdom begins in folly. It is an attractive land, and many return there more than once before they tire of it. Lucas is a good man, but a mortal and therefore short sighted. He has done an unwise thing, but for what he sees as a good reason."

"I shall pray that his good reason does not destroy him," Chavvah said softly.

Jehu stood and watched the pair as they returned to their dwelling untill the tall doors had sighed shut. Even in one who had passed through death and resurrection, the ones known by many names,the progenitors of the human race, inspired awe.

Chapter 11