Diuturnity's Dawn Read Online Free PDF

by their most able aides. When they were through, Velhurmeabra of the Abra faced his expectant counterparts across the semicircle.
    “While we of the Abra and the S!k feel much as you do with regard to this too rapid and too intimate mixing of species, we have decided not to participate in your plans to disrupt the cultural fair on the world of Dawn. While we are not entirely opposed to the use of violent means of dissuasion, indiscriminate bombing of so large a gathering will inevitably slay or injure numerous artists as well as ordinary visitors.”
    One of the S!k spoke up. “The killing of an artist is an abomination unto itself. The stifling of any fount of creativity, however modest, diminishes us all.”
    Beskodnebwyl gestured understanding. He had expected this line of objection. “Humans feel otherwise. They make no such sharp distinctions between, say, composers of music and purifiers of water. It is further proof of their degraded culture.”
    “But you cannot guarantee,” Velhurmeabra continued inexorably, “that only human artists will die.”
    “Unfortunately,” Beskodnebwyl responded, “explosives are notoriously undiscriminating. It is conceded that thranx will also perish in the making of our statement. It is unavoidable.”
    “Then we cannot participate actively,” the Abra concluded.
    Beskodnebwyl pounced on an inflection. “ ‘Actively’?”
    The leader of the S!k spoke up. “We have no legs to provide you, no antennae to aid you, no eyes to share. But—” He hesitated only for emphasis. “—we wish you well in the enterprise, which seems almost certain to accomplish the goals you have set out for it. While not participating directly, we can perhaps provide some small encouragement.”
    “In any event, we will do nothing to discourage you from burrowing in this chosen direction,” the Abra concluded.
    It was not all that Beskodnebwyl had hoped for. But logistical support would be useful and would free up the dedicated members of the Bwyl to carry out the more active components of the scheme. The Abra and the S!k could not overcome the deep-seated cultural prejudice against the killing of artists. Only the Bwyl had progressed far enough to do that. But the support of the others would be welcomed. They wished to share in the credit for the ultimate disruption of human-thranx integration, but not in the ultimate risk.
    It was better than outright dissension, Beskodnebwyl knew. The Abra and the S!k had access to materials and contacts and useful facilities that were denied the Bwyl. When the deed was done, the truth would come out. Credit would be apportioned where due. Beskodnebwyl was not concerned with the refining of such matters. He carried nothing for credit. He wanted only to put a halt to this abhorrent, noisome mixing of species.
    If the Burrow Master was with them, they would do precisely that—once and for all time.
             
    Elkannah Skettle stepped off the shuttle and examined the world spread out before him with great interest. Ahead, he saw Lawlor and Martine passing rapidly through Customs. Pierrot, Botha, Nevisrighne, and the others were somewhere in the crowd behind him that was still filing off the transport vehicle. They had grown used to traveling together yet keeping their distance from one another.
    The port facilities were efficient, the port’s equipment spotless, the smiles on the faces of the local officials almost painfully welcoming. And why shouldn’t they be? he mused. Dawn was a new world, bursting with opportunity, unclaimed lands, fortunes yet to be made. The climate was salubrious, the terrain inviting, the local flora and fauna reasonably pacific. A fine place to live and an enchanting place to visit.
    Provided, he knew as he smiled pleasantly at the young woman who passed him through the body scanner, it could be kept free of bugs.
    Not that there was anything inherently wrong with the bugs, he reflected as he presented himself to Customs.