The Evolutionary Void Read Online Free PDF Page B

the town a comfortably quaint feel. The quiet old style suited the placid
lake.
    Even with the shade thrown by tall willowy trees, it was hot in the
late-morning sun. There weren’t many people about. However, she eventually
sensed one old couple who didn’t quite share the disquiet of their fellow
citizens. The woman was even emitting a small amount of concern and sympathy
from her gaiamotes.
    “Excuse me,” Araminta asked. “Can you tell me if there’s somewhere to
stay in town?”
    The couple exchanged a look. “That’s an offworld accent,” the woman said.
    Araminta pressed down on a giggle. To her the woman’s accent was strange;
she was almost slurring her words as she ran them together. Thankfully, the
pair of them weren’t wearing the old-fashioned kind of clothes Living Dream
followers usually favored. But then, it was unusual to see anyone whose body
had aged to such a degree. “Yes, I’m afraid so. I’ve just arrived.”
    The woman emitted a glow of satisfaction. “Good for you, my dear. Have
you been away long?”
    “I’m, er, not sure,” she replied honestly.
    “I tried once,” the woman said with a tinge of melancholia. “Never got
anywhere. Maybe I’ll try again after rejuvenation.”
    “Um, yes. That hotel …?”
    “Why don’t you just get your u-shadow to find out?” the man asked. He had
a thatch of white hair that was slowly thinning out. His whole appearance made
him seem harmless, but the tone he used was quite sharp.
    “I’m a Natural human,” Araminta offered by way of explanation.
    “Now, Earl,” the woman chided. “There’s the SideStar Motel off Caston
Street, my dear. That’s four blocks this way.” She pointed and gave Araminta a
kindly smile. “Cheap, but clean with it. You’ll have no problem there.”
    “Okay, thank you.”
    “Do you have money?”
    “Yes. Thank you.” Araminta gave them a jerky nod and set off. She stopped
after a couple of paces. “Uh, what is this place?”
    “Miledeep Water,” the man said drily. “We’re on Chobamba’s equatorial
continent; that’s an External world, you know.”
    “Right.” She smiled, trying to give the impression it had just slipped
her mind for a moment.
    “In fact, we’re the only settlement on this entire continent, which is a
desert from shore to shore. Lucky you found us, really.” The irony was quite
blatant now, even through the odd accent.
    “Yes.”
    The woman gave him a mild jab with her hand, hushing him. Araminta smiled
again and backed off fast. As she went down Caston Street, she was
uncomfortably aware of the pair of them standing watching her. The man’s mind
was filling with mild amusement coupled with a trace of exasperation.
    It could have been worse , she told herself. They could have been suspicious or recognized me .
    Araminta’s encyclopedia files said Chobamba had been settled for barely
two hundred fifty years. She guessed that the StarSide Motel was one of the
earlier businesses to be established. Its chalets were an exception to the
town’s clapboard buildings. They’d been grown from drycoral, which was now long
dead and starting to flake under the unremitting sun. It was a similar variety
to the pale violet dry coral they’d used for barns back on the farm in Langham,
so she knew that for it to reach such a state, it had to be at least a century
old.
    The motel occupied a wide area, with the chalets spread out in a broad
circle to surround a swimming pool. Their concrete landing pads for visiting
capsules were all cracked, forced open by weeds and clumps of
unpleasant-looking red fungus balls. Only one capsule was currently parked.
    Irrigation nozzles were squirting pulses of spray onto its front lawn as
she walked up to the reception building. She supposed the whole crater wall
must be irrigated.
    The owner was in the back office, tinkering with an ancient
air-conditioning unit. He came out wiping his hands on his shabby white vest
and introduced himself as Ragnar.