Journey - Book II of the Five Worlds Trilogy Read Online Free PDF Page A

begged.
    “Soon… enough.”
    The queen’s voice became hoarse, all pretense of royalty gone. “I implore you.”
    “What would you say, my queen, if I told you that there is a possibility of … duplication of Quog’s gifts. He is old, you know, and not likely to live forever.”
    “I’ve tried, myself. It is useless!”
    “Perhaps not. Do you think I … borrowed Quog merely to … deny you?”
    The flaring of bright hope on her face was not nearly as satisfying as her former terror.
    Wrath-Pei waited a moment, and then asked sweetly, “And how is your son, Jamal? Is he … well?”
    Rage returned. “You cannot have him!”
    “Nevertheless—”
    The Screen went blank.
    Wrath-Pei stared at the vacant Screen for a moment, remembering each instant he had just experienced as if savoring it for the first time. Had he been the one to cut the transmission? Had Lawrence done it for him? Or had Kamath Clan?
    No matter; the timing had been exquisite.
    The look on her face
    Wrath-Pei closed his eyes for a moment, drinking the last drop of Kamath Clan’s despair.
    Then, summoning Lawrence to him he thought it was time to fill his eyes with another, allied sight that might give him … pleasure.
     
    T he ship was cavernous, but with Lawrence’s guidance of the gyro chair they had reached the appointed deck and cabin in no time.
    The door slid open at Wrath-Pei’s arrival.
    At Quog’s own request, the room was kept dark. Not wanting to upset the old man more than was necessary, Wrath-Pei had had as near a duplicate of Quog’s quarters as possible constructed. With a little imagination, the inside of Deck 5, Cabin 14 looked very much like the old man’s cave of a hovel in the Ruz Balib section of his home on Titan. Care had been taken even to cover the various potion bottles on the shelves with the proper amount of dust.
    From the corner of the room, in shadows out of even the weak light that suffused the gloom, Quog’s weak voice said, “Wrath-Pei …”
    “Yes!” Wrath-Pei said brightly, moving deeper into the cabin; in the darkest corner he could just make out the outline of the old man’s figure now.
    “How … goes it, Wrath-Pei?” Quog said in a dreamy whisper. He chuckled, a dry rasp. “Do you think you will succeed where Kamath Clan, and others, have failed?”
    “I certainly intend to,” Wrath-Pei said. “And even if I do not, a … synthesis of what you have to offer is only secondary to my needs, anyway.”
    “I thought as much. Though I am not a political man myself.”
    “All men are politicians.”
    Quog laughed his crackly rasp. “How true. May I ask you a question, Wrath-Pei?”
    “I am in a generous mood.”
    “Good. I admire generosity, since I have been so generous with my existence myself. My question is: have you ever thought of … sampling, yourself?”
    “Me?” Wrath-Pei was nearly startled—and that fact startled him. “Of course not.”
    “As all men are politicians, but all men also seek to … remember.”
    “I have all the memories I need, Quog, and I keep them in their place.”
    “Do you? Wouldn’t you like to … see again, with the same vision you had? To experience what you have possessed, as if you were possessing it for the first time?”
    For once direct, Wrath-Pei said, “It never occurred to me.”
    Quog’s chuckle was broken in half by a weak cough. “You seem a prime candidate to me.”
    “Perhaps. But to tell you the truth, I have just as much fun with my present memories as my past ones.” He thought briefly of Kamath Clan’s face. “And to be even more truthful, the thought of using is abhorrent to me.”
    “It was just a question, Wrath-Pei.”
    “Yes, I’m sure it was.”
    To Lawrence, Wrath-Pei said, “Closer.”
    Lawrence edged the gyro chair closer to the old man. The shadows retreated slightly, giving form to outline. Quog’s body, self-trussed, suspended upside down, still could not in any way be called human. Its sideways bend,