ch 7 | Gull

A full half hour had been spent in explanations and comforting, but the Vanduviers were at the hangar in three hours and three quarters. A quarter moon barely frosted the leaves of the trees, but the family stood with the Landboss in the pool of light spilling from the hangar's open doors.

The little man patted Esther's arm. "Don't fret, Mrs. Vanduvier." The lady had subsided to an occasional sniffle. "The boy will be jus' fine. Think of it as boarding school. It'll be good for him." His compcuff twinkled, and he held it to his ear. It's the infirmary; Gull is on his way."

"What ship are they taking, Wye?" asked Hatcher.

"Haven't the foggiest," shrugged the Landboss. "The Nobles say that they're taking care of it. But I know the schedules, and there's not a big ship within a couple of days flight. Alb'ny's the closest settlement, and their lighter was on the way to the south last week."

"What about the Rangers?" Kev's mother asked.

Wye shook his head. "As soon as they knew we had the boy, they headed back to the base in the north country.

"They may not have the medical equipment that Gull needs," suggested her husband. They fell silent in the warm summer's night, watching bats swooping after the insects drawn to the lights. The night was almost cloudless, and with the demise of industrial civilization, stars thickly spangled the heavens.

Kev at first thought that he saw a shooting star out of the corner of his eye, and turned to follow it. The laser-straight trail shot from zenith to horizon, but stopped just above the hills, turning into a scintillating pinpoint that grew in a few seconds into a huge, angular ship, bristling with booms and vanes. It arrived in a flare of golden light, silent except for a double sonic boom, and settled to the earth, rotating slowly like a big, glittering dog bedding down. The turn brought lateral bay doors to bear on the hangar. Kev felt his mother edge closer to his side, and patted her shoulder.

The ship made almost no noise at all, and they heard the crunch of footsteps behind them plainly. Turning, Kev saw Gull, his family, and the two Nobles. Gull was awake, riding in a fat-tired chair pushed by his younger brother. His mother carried an infant in a sling, who peered owlishly at the strange surroundings over a pacifier. The healer, Lucas was along, holding several bags. Kev stood in the background as one by one they knelt and hugged Gull. He returned the hugs clumsily, hands swathed in bandages. His burned skin had darkened and begun to blister in places, but he seemed cheerful enough; Kev supposed that the docbox was still managing pain.

"Rafe, come back from there!" called Adamson. Having fulfilled his brotherly responsibilities, the boy had edged over to get a closer look at the strange ship. One of the bay doors irised open with a hiss of pressurized air. Rafe yelped and scrambled back towards the group.

"Somebody call a cab?"

Kev gaped at the owner of the voice. He was obviously a Noble, with impressive breadth of shoulder, but he concealed his physique in a baggy orange flight suit, and wore what appeared to be a bush hat on dark curly hair.

Mawri laughed, like the chiming of silver bells. "I thought it might be you, by your reentry, Jehu."

"You know me- any excuse to go transonic. Where's the patient?" Jehu took the meter drop from the bay in a casual hop. Reaching back inside, he drew out a bulky piece of equipment that resembled a cross between a giant clam and a pipe organ. It floated in its own a-grav field. Jehu towed it over to the group by the hangar doors, and said "Sit!" It settled to the ground with a thump.

Kev watched Jehu talk to Adamson's family, and realized that the breezy manner and appearance was meant to put them at ease. It seemed to work. After a time, Gull's mother kissed her boy on the cheek, and Jehu plucked him from the wheelchair as if he were the size of the infant in the sling.

"Open!" he said. "Meet Florence, folks. She's the big sister of the docbox. Latest AI and molecular pharmacy." The clamshell opened up and enfolded Gull.

A contralto voice from the machine said "How do you feel, Gull?"

"Go ahead and answer her," urged Jehu.

"I-I feel fine," said Gull with a smile.

"Florence could remove his appendix, if he needed it, but unfortunately what's happened is even beyond her. She will keep him comfortable, though; he's in a floater field to ease the stress on his heart and muscles. Up, Florence! Follow!" The pod rose smoothly to its original height. He looked over at Kev, and Kev felt as if the gaze penetrated to the back of his skull. He got the impression that he wasn't hostile, just awaiting data.

"You too, Kevin." he turned to the medical pod and tapped several controls. Released from his gaze, Kev gave his parents a last embrace, caught up his duffel bag, and trotted after Jehu and the pod, which floated behind the Noble like an obedient hound.

Suddenly, or at least that was how it seemed, he was in the hangar. The big building seemed to stretch out forever, and the group of people at the far end seemed tiny, as if viewed from the wrong end of a telescope. He could see Wye, and Kev's parents, and there was Kev, looking even more hangdog than when he had last seen him. He tried to wave, but didn't know if his arm had obeyed or not. He tried to smile. He could hear his family talking to him, saying goodbye. He tried to hug them as their faces passed before him, but had a little trouble with the timing. Then a new face appeared before him. It was a strong face, with deep brown eyes and thick eyebrows. There were lines around the eyes and mouth, but they were not the lines of a war with gravity, but as if their owner had assigned them their places on purpose, for use in smiling and searching great distances. Gull felt hands on his shoulders, and a certain vitality tingled into him, pushing back the sickness a little.

"I'm Jehu, Gull. You could call me your charioteer." he indicated a ship over his shoulder with a lift of his chin. Gull heard a peculiar accent to his words, but was unable to place it. He looked past the Noble with an effort, and saw a huge shape seemingly composed of faceted topaz, hovering a few inches off the grass of the landing field. It radiated its own light, as if a piece of the sun had come to rest in front of the hangar.

"How do I rate the chariot?" Gull laughed.

"I was in the neighborhood," Jehu said carelessly. Gull watched the Noble as he spoke with his parents, fascinated as much by his clothing and hat as what lay beneath them.

"Your father and I will call you every day, son. You come back to us as quick as you can," his mother said, and kissed him.

"Let's get you into the medical pod as quick as we can," said Jehu. He disconnected the docbox and lifted him from the chair. It was as if all strength drained from him; he hadn't realized how much the equipment was helping. He clamped his jaw, hoping that he wouldn't foul the Noble's sleeve. He looked down and saw a confusing jumble of polished silver surfaces, and was surprised when they felt soft and warm. There was a disconcerting moment when he felt the pod snuggle against him. There were a few small stings, and then a wave of well being swept through his body, and he was able to pay attention to the outside world again. Looking around, he almost felt that he was piloting some sort of ship himself. A small comp screen sprouted from one armrest, and a keyboard shared space with other, less identifiable components on a console between his legs. As his eyes fell on the screen, it began flashing. A cartoon version of a female face appeared, and words began scrolling.

<GREETINGS...I AM FLOATING LIFE SUPPORT OPERATIVE FLO-45.

I AM INITIATING LIFE SIGNS STABILIZATION AND ANALGESICS

AWAITING INPUT ON SUCCESS OF TREATMENTS PLEASE RESPOND

BY KEYBOARD OR VOICE MODE...>

The keyboard slid out on a jointed arm and placed itself within reach. Bemused, Gull just stared at it, unsure of what was expected of him. The screen cleared, and the face reappeared, looking into his eyes. It tilted slightly to one side, as if awaiting his answer. More words appeared:

<SWITCHING TO VOICE MODE...>

"How do you feel, Gull?" the generated voice was low, soothing, but with a note of flirtation.

"Go ahead and answer her," prompted Jehu.

"I-I feel fine, ma'am." The image in the screen smiled at him.

"You may call me Florence. Just tell me if you begin hurting." Gentle music began playing behind his headrest, and Gull decided that he'd sit back and enjoy the ride. He waved to his family as the NH field cut in and up or down disappeared. He had never been completely weightless before, and decided that it felt pretty good. Whatever Florence had that the docbox didn't, it seemed to keep the fog out of his head. The pain and nausea receded to the fringes of his consciousness. The pod began to move. It seemed that the hangar was moving, and his family slid out of his view; Mother and Rafe waving wildly and Da with a hand on each of their shoulders, nodding bravely to him. Then, Rafe broke away and came running after him with a small bag.

"I almost forgot, bro! I thought you'd want a few things. Send me a data wand, tell me what Jerusalem's like!" Gull took the bag, fumbled it open. Odds and ends drifted out, to tumble about before him within the limits of the the a-grav field: data wands containing his favorite books, and the one with red tape on it that contained his journal. There were a few pictures- one of the family taken earlier that summer, and one or Mary that he had kept in the back of his dresser drawer.

"How many times have I told you to stay out of my things?" he laughed and ruffled his brother's hair. "Thanks, shrimp. You're forgiven, this time." He clumsily scooped things back into the bag. Rafe grinned and headed back to the hangar, elbows pumping.

Gull's attention was caught and held by the ship looming before him. It grew as they approached, until it dwarfed even Jehu's considerable presence. His first impression held; it resembled a huge yellow crystalline form that had not been assembled or sculpted as much as encouraged to grow into its present shape. Gull's pod bore him through the open bay door into an ovoid chamber with a cluster of pods similar to his own nestled into depressions in the floor.

"Nest, Florence," Jehu's voice echoed in the room, and the pod slid over to an empty socket, rotated front to back and touched down with the multiple click of connecting umbilicals. Gull's view now included the door, and Kev, standing uncertainly at the threshold. Jehu had paused at an egg-shaped portal to Gull's left.

"Come on in, Mister Ben Hatcher. We will be leaving shortly, as soon as our other passenger arrives. I will be helping Ship with her preflight checks, though she insists she does not need me. Florence is taking care of your friend's physical needs for the moment. Why don't you provide him with some intellectual stimulation. Ship! Can you provide some passenger seating near the occupied medical pod?"

A voice like a bronze chime sounded in the room. "I hear and obey, Master" A section of the flooring in front of Gull extruded two couchlike forms. Kev went over and warily took the seat closest to Gull, as if he thought it might snap back down into the floor.

Jehu laughed, a flash of perfect teeth. "Don't worry, boy. She only bites a little." He disappeared, leaving behind and awkward silence.

Gull finally broke it. "This is really something, isn't it? I kinda want to thank you- a trip like this is almost worth getting your chromosomes fried for."

"Yeah, a real treat." Kev said with a nervous laugh. "An animated wheelchair and talking transportation. You got video games in that thing?" Suddenly, there were tears leaking down his cheeks. "They told me I'm supposed to take care of you, though I don't know what that's going to mean. Honest to God, Gull, I didn't mean for all this to happen!"

Gull didn't know exactly where to look. "Kev, take it easy. Yeah, it was a stupid thing to do, but it's done. Let's put it behind us. They'll probably have you hauling bedpans or something. The main thing is that they can fix me, so let's just see where this is going to take us. We're off the farm, cousin, on our way to the biggest city in the world!"

Kev scuffed at his nose with his sleeve. "I guess you're right. You better watch out, buddy, or you might find find ants in one of those bedpans!"

Gull grinned out of his burned face. "That's the spirit!"

They looked around the chamber, but could make very little sense of the furnishings, outside of the medical pods, which looked like a row of exotic barnacles, exposed by an alien low tide. There was not a hard corner or sharp edge visible. A graceful calligraphy of etched lines on walls and ceiling might have been cabinet doors and equipment ports. Kev got an inkling of how the Native girl must have felt in the E-2.

"What kind of ship is this?" Gull asked.

"I am a Dan-class, General purpose TAV, outfitted for medical response and rescue operations. You may call me Ship." they both jumped, as the chiming voice seemed to speak into their ears. "I detect our last passenger approaching now. Please be ready to recline in your couch for departure." A niche opened in the floor beside the seats. "Please place luggage in the compartment."

Kev was stowing his duffel when Lucas clambered into the bay, puffing under the load of several bags. He slid into the open seat.

"Hello, boys. Enjoying yourselves? Let's see- first time on a City ship, right? You'll enjoy the flight. I've ridden with Jehu before you were born. Why, in the forest fire of '78-"

The Noble appeared in the doorway. "Now, Healer, don't scare the children. I pulled the fire crew and the goats out of there with entire minutes to spare."

"I wasn't going to say anything about the timing. I was thinking about the ratio of airspeed to canyon wall clearance."

"Well, as much as I enjoy reminiscing about old times, we have business to attend to. Ship, let's button up!"

"Aye aye, sir." The bay door irised shut. "Would our passengers care for an outside view?"

Most of the expanse of door appeared to become transparent. Sections of bulkheads in the other directions also began to display views of the nighttime landscape in the appropriate directions. The sourceless lighting that filled the chamber dimmed to that of the moon. The light from the ship at idle glinted over the pebbled surface of the closed hangar doors.

"Ship can do a total wraparound, but that might be a bit disconcerting for a first time," said Jehu. "If you will excuse me, I have a takeoff to supervise."

Presently their view drifted upward for a few meters, and then the scenery rotated as the ship's bow sought the east. A flash of golden light punched shadows to the horizon, and acceleration pushed them into their couches as they leaped into the stars. Normal weight returned, and the passengers watched the earth become a dark disk blotting out the heavens to their right.

"Wow!" breathed Kev. Even Gull felt wonder soaking through the remoteness of the sedation. Gradually, they became aware of Jehu regarding them with satisfaction.

"It's good, isn't it? Ship could shield us from the effects of inertia, but I like to let a little leak through. If you can't feel yourself getting there, how will you know when you arrive?" He began to sit, and a chair rose to meet him. The lighting adjusted itself, illuminating them while leaving the rest of the room to the starlight.

"I'm sure things have been moving a little fast for everyone. We have a little time before we reach Jerusalem. I'd suggest you relax. I will try to answer what questions I can." Lounging back in his couch, he resembled a lean, orange tiger. He laced his fingers behind his head and looked out at them from the shadow of his hat brim.

"Okay," said Gull. "Two questions. Where will we be staying when we get to Jerusalem, and where did you get that hat?"

Jehu chuckled. "I'll answer the second question first. One of the first runs I did during what you call the Rescue took place on the Australian continent. A very grateful sheepherder made me a gift of it, but that is a story for a later time. As to your accommodations, my instructions are to deliver you to the Tower of David initially, for your treatment."

Gull saw Lucas sit up on his couch. "That's not a medical installation, that's City of God territory!" His voice rang in the quiet; though the chamber was small, the walls drank in enough sound to give the impression of a much larger room.

"Naturally, considering who will be giving the treatment. Later you will be transferred to the Mt. Scopus complex for further therapy." The various schools and hospitals northeast of the Old City, most established well before the turn of the millennium, had grown and interlocked like rock candy crystals, sprinkled with residential blocks and parks. Lucas had received most of his early training at Mt. Scopus.

"Until then, you will be quite comfortable. There are many areas accessible to mortals within the Tower, as you know. Surely you realize that there are living quarters there too."

"Of course," said Lucas. "I was just anxious for Gull to receive help as quickly as possible."

"There was a moment of silence. Given the opportunity to question a being who, as Gull and Kev had been taught, knew quite a few of the secrets of the universe, they were at a loss.

"Will you answer a personal question?" asked Kev.

Jehu smiled, amused. "I might."

"Well, I mean no disrespect, but have you really died and been, like resurrected?"

"Kevin!" this from both Lucas and Gull. They waited for the lightning to fall, but Jehu seemed disinclined to throw any. He seemed to consider the question seriously.

"Were you born, Kev?"

"Of course! Uh, of course, sir."

"Do you remember it?"

"Well, no, I don't."

"Can you prove you were?"

"But everyone's been born- I mean, that's how it happens."

"Sure, but proof is what you're really after, aren't you? I can tell you that I was born in a mud brick hut over three thousand years ago. But you must take my word for it. I grew up loving fast horses, and the most complicated piece of tech I ever saw was a laminated hunting bow. I liked to party, and joined what passed for the army back then. I ah... got into politics, and eventually died at the ripe old age of forty-nine. I remember every painful minute of that last week, too. The next two thousand five hundred and fifty years are a little difficult to describe. In fact, it's best that I don't; it would only confuse you. But it's true," he said, extending his arms and stretching luxuriously, "that this body is under three hundred years old. It works much better than the old one."

Gull had the excuse of being under medication, but neither Kev nor Lucas registered more than a flicker of motion. Jehu was suddenly holding a short sword, bronze colored in the muted lights, that looked like a hunting knife in his large hands. He used it to clean under a flawless fingernail, and then it disappeared, traceless.

"If you can't learn a few tricks in three millennia, I say, turn in your badge." He grinned. "From tribal chieftain to spaceship pilot. Our God's universe is really amazing."

Gull suddenly saw the Noble differently, saw a vast sea of experience and wisdom lying under the careless exterior, as if he turned over a rock in the field and found the entrance to a limitless cavern. He realized why they kept themselves so aloof from the ordinary population. They were seductive, both in their physical beauty, and in the lure of the ultimate gnosis, the knowledge, which they contained.

The moment passed: it was like trying to imagine a whole ocean; after a while one has to return to the interface where the waves meet the sand. Gull shook his head; fatigue was settling on him again, and he wanted to stay awake. Who knew what marvel Jehu would produce next?

"Does the Tower of David really reach out of the atmosphere?" he asked around a yawn.``

"Yes it does- though what you see on the newscasts is actually a facade of structures that has encrusted the original Tower. The core is actually a network of nano-formed graphite crystal cables that anchor well into the mantle of the planet and extend out more than thirty six thousand kilometers to the City itself. It's a variation on the old skyhook idea that SF writers and engineers played with in years past. As a matter of fact, some of the ones that crossed over helped build the real thing. Some of the cables carry what you might call express elevators running all the way to the City of God. The parts of the Tower mortals have access to generally extend only a mile or two up, though some of the cables carry mortal-run industries that need access to hard vacuum. Those are located a thousand klicks out."

"The last time my family went to Jerusalem, I was three years old. I've never seen the Tower except on video."

The Noble smiled dryly. "I think you'll be impressed." A conversation ensued about the various sights of the Holy Land, but Gull stayed out of it, drowsing. The medical pod kept him warm, and though he floated within it, his torso and legs were gripped securely but gently. After a while he was roused by Jehu's voice.

"Attention everyone! Cast your gaze ahead. Ship, let's go to a wraparound view!"

"Certainly, Cap'n" chimed Ship. The images on the various surfaces spread and merged Until the room seemed to disappear and they sat on a small island in space. The moon was left behind. The earth, far below, was a dark disk frosted with barely discernible clouds. It had begun to grow larger as they topped their ballistic and begun their downward arc. The stars shone all around, ranked thicker than any of them had seen from the surface. Ahead, on the horizon, a glow appeared, as if the sun was about to rise. Pale streamers of light danced, salmon pink, blue, emerald. Out of this display, a faceted shape rose. There were no curves, sphere or ellipse, shapes taken by matter under gravity's constraint. This was an obvious artifact: a cube, the vertices and edges crisp and the surfaces smooth and clean. It glowed, brighter than the full moon, though at this distance it seemed no bigger than a sugar cube. This was the City of God, home of the Nobles and the Son, who had arrived hundreds of years ago to end a war and stitch together a tattered planet.

They all stared, barely breathing. Gull watched Jehu out of the corner of his eye. He was silent, smiling as if at a lover. The City climbed majestically, moving to its supreme place in the heavens. After a time, a glittering thread could be discerned trailing from its earthward face. Strobes winked upon it like dew on a morning spiderweb, and at first it seemed that slender. It swelled in their view, becoming an open macrame of other threads. Points of light moved in the net, almost too swift for the eye to see, backlit by the auroral radiance. Other lights flew free of the Tower, darting between earth and the City like fantastic minnows.

Jehu rose. "Space will be getting a bit crowded. I'd better go keep an eye on the controls."

After he had left, Gull spoke up. "I wonder if this was what Jacob saw in his dream?"

"I don't know," sighed Lucas. "Never been guilty of prophetic visions, myself. I know I've never been this route before. Hold on-!" he shouted. For a moment, something huge and silver swelled ahead of them. Kev caught a mysterious glimpse of a figure seemingly standing free on its hull, and then it was gone. Other ships passed near them, each one different, but none other so close.

The tower grew and became a wall of pearl gray columns lit from above, the City throwing long shadows down the cables, the stars winking between. The wall rotated, became a horizon as Jehu skimmed along the side of the Tower in a downward spiral. The atmosphere hazed the distant end of it as a morning fog might lick the roots of a redwood. Patterns of light outraced them as they sped along, the internal fields of the ship muting the G-forces to a distant tugging.

"I wonder if those lights are indicating some sort of landing field?" Gull pointed. As if his finger had triggered something, they left the surface of the Tower in an outward loop. At the top of the loop they hung for a moment, poised. Gull had time to perceive a gap in the cables. Mysterious glyphs hung in the vacuum- holograms? Were they warnings or road signs? Gull glanced at his companions. Kev was grinning, in floater jock paradise. Lucas' eyes were tightly shut, his knuckles white on the arms of the couch.

They dropped. Into the gap, and then down a tube like a gun barrel, with cables spiraling around them like rifling. Atmosphere began to whistle distantly, rising, and then falling below audibility as they slowed. The tube abruptly widened into a huge chamber with a tessellated floor, and they came to a gentle, drifting stop in the center of a disk of turquoise mosaic.

"Thank you for flying Jehu Air. Please return your seats to the locked, upright position, and don't forget your carry on luggage." The Noble was grinning at them from the cockpit doorway. Gull heard Lucas faintly saying

"Never again, never again."

"That was great!" exulted Kev.

"Thank you. Ship, off display." The walls of the chamber returned. "I trust none of you has trouble with heights. We are now five kilometers over Jerusalem in a private residence. But don't worry; we're expected, and there's plenty of room. Ship, hatch open. Take the rest of the day off."

"Most kind, sir. See you tomorrow." Gull wondered if Ship was really alive, or just a clever program, but he forgot about it in the new sights. Their ears popped slightly as the bay doors opened, but the air was rich enough. It smelled of springtime, flowers, and a wind off melting snowfields. Gull felt better just breathing it. They emerged from the ship, Gull feeling a little like a toy balloon, bobbing along behind the Noble. He craned his neck to see what he could of the chamber.

It was a little like being in a rain forest. The smooth boles of the cables belled out from the opening overhead and were scattered with a profusion of plants all the way to the floor. Foliage in every shade of green imaginable, studded with blossoms of every size and shape softened the outlines of the chamber. Beyond the chamber walls on one side starry darkness twinkled.

"We are in a westward facing rosette section," Jehu explained. "The Tower is composed of seven cable arrays, each made of individual cable strands arranged in a rosette. We are actually inside a cable strand, and filaments form the walls. Of course, filament is a relative term- as you can see, they are the size of your thigh. The space within a rosette is ample for many applications. Activities, like football stadia, which require more room are suspended between the arrays in the skin of the Tower."

Lucas looked up from studying the purple-black bloom of an orchid. "Football? You play football in the Tower of David?"

"You kidding? We've got a whole league. Let's get out of the garage." They moved through an opening framed with masses of honeysuckle.

The ceiling of the room before them was high, arched and a perfect blue patched with white cloud. After a moment or two Gull realized that the clouds were moving- evidently projected. The images were painterly rather than realistic. The effect was that of a moving oil painting. Gull's status as passenger left him the leisure to look around without worrying where to put his feet. The room was laid out on several levels. Water made liquid music somewhere out of immediate sight, and air moved against his face. Plants were much in evidence here as well, and a sense of enclosure was provided for by sculpted trees and shrubs grown into canopies over the various seating groups. Squirrels darted from branch to branch, and various birds fluttered in the foliage. Under several oaks, a house core unit much like the one in the kibbutz' Common Hall held court to a cluster of rustic furniture. In another, a heap of oriental style cushions were strewn in front of a cut stone wall, shaded by a breaking wave of fig trees, and containing what was evidently a functional fireplace. Gull wondered where they got the wood. On the far side of the chamber, the sky/ceiling shaded imperceptibly into a wall, with doors leading evidently to more private rooms.

Jehu took a step further into the room. He spoke, but in an unfamiliar language. Gull's eyes widened; he understood the meaning, though there was no way he could have reproduced the words. The phonemes were put together in a complex tonal weave.

"Greetings, my Lady. We four have come a long way. May we enter?" the sounds caused their meaning to resonate somewhere deep in his mind, as the tolling of a great bell will cause glasses shut inside a cupboard to chime. Movement over by the fireplace drew his eye. A woman rose from the heap of cushions and extended her hands to them. She was dark of hair and skin. Tall, but broad-hipped, she was draped with a flowing caftan patterned in stylized trees and flowers. She wore a headdress, a scarf, sewn with coins, rich buttery gold glowing with a deep patina.

She looked at each of them for a moment, smiling. "Welcome, children," she said in the same language. Her voice was low, a mingling of flutes and oboes. Gull found himself wanting her to say more; he thought he had heard it before, a long time ago.

She approached them, bare feet and ankles flashing under the flowing garment. Jehu bowed deeply as she reached them, and she caught his hands and raised him up, laughing. He smiled at her, their eyes on a level. A thick braid flowed from under the headdress at her back, almost sweeping the ground. Gull, watching Jehu, saw his face subtly shift and change. It was as if the sun had broken through deep overcast, and he looked away. When Gull looked again, Jehu was as he had been, merely a handsome, ethnic man.

"My Lady Chavvah, may I present Gull Ben Adamson, Kevin Van Duvier, and Lucas Duyke, a student of the healing arts." He spoke now in English, and Chavvah nodded at each of them, taking their hands for a moment.

"My dwelling is yours," she said, in accentless English. She lingered over Gull last of all, taking both his hands in hers, looking deeply into his eyes and laying a hand over his heart, which beat as if it would leap from his rib cage.

"It was indeed a near thing, child. I have been informed of the circumstances of your predicament. Had you lingered in that place a little longer, and it would not be me you would be talking to, but the One. It will not be easy, but we will bring you back to health."

She straightened, and indicated a path that meandered through the chamber. "Jehu, will you show our guests to their chambers? Gull will remain with me. Breakfast will be in several hours, to allow you a little nap. I would suggest you try to rest, to adjust your rhythms to this time zone."

Lucas spoke. "Lady, we thank you for your hospitality. As you are no doubt aware, it is only the medical pod which maintains Gull's life, and soon even that will be beyond the machine's capabilities. When will those who are responsible for his treatment arrive? Surely we must take him to a hospital?"

Chavvah smiled. "What would the children of the City need with a hospital in David's Tower? I myself will see to the boy's healing within its walls."

Jehu put a hand on Lucas' shoulder. "Come, let's see the guest rooms, Lucas. Gull is in better hands than mine. Chavvah helped design the medical pods."

Kev shouldered his duffel and began to follow, then paused. "Lady Chavvah, it's my fault that Gull is in this mess. Is there anything I can do?"

Gold chimed as she shook her head. "Gull will need you later, Kevin. You will find enough and more to do then. Rest now."

"Yes ma'am." Kev set off after Jehu and Lucas. The path underfoot was resilient, and areas on both sides seemed to be carpeted with a variety of short grass. He passed the pillar containing the fireplace; its farther face was an irregular slope down which a runlet of water burbled, leaping from a final two meter drop into a small pool. The lawn in front of the waterfall held desks, stools and a small loom. Skeins and bobbins of multi-hued fiber trailed from an unfinished tapestry. The design was abstract, helical patters of knots interleaving through what appeared to be mathematical symbols.

He lengthened his stride and caught up with Lucas who was holding a door open for him. He found himself in a roughly circular room with seven smaller doors punctuating the circumference. One of the doors was standing open, and muted light gleamed on slick surfaces. If indeed the Nobles had escaped the tyranny of the baser bodily functions, at least they allowed for them in their guests. The sight was reassuring.

"Any of these doors leads to a basic bedroom," Jehu explained. "There is comp access for your data slates, and you may call home, if you wish: remember the zone lag, it's still the middle of the night there. If you need help, just call; the Tower AI will answer."

Kev watched Lucas choose a door next to the bath and disappear inside. Kev opened the door on the other side and walked in. The lights came up as he entered. It was a small room, with a closet/dresser combination across from the bed, and a landscape covering the wall opposite the door. He thought it was a painting, until he noticed the leaves of the olive trees trembling. He set his duffel on the room's small desk, and lay down on the bed, contemplating the vidwall. He wondered if the view was live, or a stored, looped scene.

A tapping at the door startled him awake. The vidwall looked subtly different; he must have been asleep long enough for the shadows to shift a bit. Lucas peered around the edge of the door.

"May I come in?"

"Sure, make yourself at home." Kev sat up and scrubbed at his face. "I guess the trip wore me out more than I thought."

"Well, I unpacked, lay down, and I couldn't sleep.... I swear that I can feel this thing sway."

Kev laughed, looked at Lucas and was surprised to see he appeared genuinely distressed. "Come on, Doc, it's Gull who's sick."

The Healer grinned sheepishly. "I'll try to control it. Let's get my mind off things. Let's start by thinking about your schooling."

"My schooling?" Now it was Kev's turn to look distressed. "Not before breakfast, Okay?"

"Agreed; just remember that this isn't a vacation. Let's see if we can get oriented, shall we? House comp, please!"

The olive trees faded from the vidwall. A generated image replaced it, looking like a jovial butler.

"May I be of assistance?" it said.

"Yes. Can you show me where we are?" There was a brief pause while the program analysed the language and decided on the appropriate response. The butler faded out, and a wireframe drawing of their room appeared, zoomed out to a view of the apartment; from there to the entire level of the rosette. The rosette stretched into a section of the tower, sprouting from a schematic of the city of Jerusalem.

"Okay, I get the idea. Comp, stop." The zoom froze. "Return to the rosette view."

He studied the map. Various sections were opaqued with privacy blue, but other areas were open, and icons floated here and there, offering information. Public corridors and malls were highlighted in green. A large area was marked 'arboretum'. Their own apartment, with a blinking 'you are here' dot, was one of several ringing a central well containing tramways and service shafts.

"I saw it as we came in, but I still didn't realize it was so huge!" exclaimed Kev.

"Almost a kilometer in diameter, up here. It's an impressive, and intimidating piece of engineering. House, please print us hardcopy of this image."

"Certainly, sir. It will be waiting in the core unit in the main chamber. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"That will be all." The olive trees returned. "Perhaps we'll have a chance to do a little exploring while we are here."

"Lucas, were they still building the Tower when you were younger?"

"Well, the skeleton was finished, as far back as I can remember. They've been adding Facade construction all along, though it's more of a case of renewal and renovation now."

Kev remembered school programs that studied the new Temple, a huge hall that could have swallowed a pre- City skyscraper, nestled in the eastern flank of the Tower. To it's right and left, respectively, were the chambers of the Nobles that now ruled the earth, and the offices of the Mortal bureaucracy that interpreted and carried out those orders. Since most of the Old City was a historical preserve and not open to development, the mortal quarters had grown to encrust the base of the Tower with auditoriums and apartments, shops and studios, eateries and educational facilities.

"Don't the Nobles mind all that construction?"

"Well, they don't allow anything shoddy or ugly to be built. There's an amazing variety of styles in the Facades, and with the a-grav tech and nano-grown materials that the Nobles let us use we can build higher and lighter than ever before. The overall effect is quite pleasing, but to them it's probably like moss on the trunk of a tree. Of course, I've never asked them their opinion."

"Jehu seems like the sort that you could ask."

"Jehu is rather unusual. At times I think that he almost misses being mortal. The one constant with them, thought, is variety. Each one is very much an individual, almost their own species. Their roots may be human, but they've gone beyond. It's difficult to be around them, Kev. They remind us that we've not the last word, no matter how much we'd like that to be."

There seemed to be nothing to say to that. Kev had never thought of them in quite that light before: to him, the Nobles had always been figures at the fringes. Like the distant shadows of the Blue Ridge, visible from the higher points of the kibbutz, they established boundaries and reminded men there were larger things than themselves in the world.

"Let's go back out and see how Gull is doing," said Kev. "I don't guess there's much point in sitting here if we can't sleep."

Chapter 8