The Heretic Read Online Free PDF Page B

what a spaceship is, you just showed me. But why? Why’d you come here?”
    Change , replied Center. Change will occur, and if all upward change is blocked, what eventually occurs will be downward. Another Collapse. And this one longer and more complete than any other. Maybe final. This world must be readied to rejoin the awakened Republic. Those ships will come. And when they do, if they find nothing but primitives crawling among the ruins, they will pass by. There is much else to do.
    “So what?”
    Things can get worse, Raj said. Like they got worse for your mother.
    “Leave my mother alone!”
    If this society had the most basic antibiotics, your mother would still be alive, said Center. We could have helped her.
    “You’re gods from the heavens! If you want to help me, bring her back!”
    We can’t do that, Abel. We’re not gods.
    “But you are . I know what you say, but you have to be to show me all this. I’ll do whatever you say. Whatever it is you want.” Tears were streaming down Abel’s face. “Just bring Mamma back.”
    You don’t understand, Abel Dashian , Center calmly replied. It is we who need you.
    He gripped the rock tighter. “Then what good are you?” With all his might, Abel raised the rock over his head. He stepped toward the capsule. “Get out.”
    You can’t harm the capsule, said Center. Not with a simple stone, Abel.
    “Get out of me .”
    A moment of silence. Then Raj’s deep voice, now tight with concern. His plan isn’t to hurt the capsule, Raj said. Abel, lad—
    “You don’t scare me,” said Abel. Despite himself, he found himself laughing through his tears. “You don’t scare me, I’m the Carnadon Man.”
    Then Abel brought the stone down hard upon his own head and fell into darkness.

3
    When Abel awoke, he was looking at his reflection in still water. His head ached.
    Not still water. Probably blood, he thought. My blood. I’m seeing my reflection in my own blood. Must be a lot of it.
    He reached for the blood to see if it was still warm. Maybe this was what it was like to be dead.
    His hand stopped against the shiny surface. He pushed harder. The water was solid, and it wasn’t water at all. More like stone. Smooth stone.
    Abel sat up. He was surrounded by himself. He moved. Many other Abels moved with him.
    Reflections. But there were dozens. It was as if he were inside a gem.
    Where am I?
    Abel stood up. He walked forward. One step, two. He ran into himself, nose to nose. Reached for his face. More smoothness.
    Not blood, not reflecting water. This was a room made of looking glass. Mirrors. He’d only seen one once before. His mother’s friend Dagmar in Garangipore had a small glass she used to apply the kohl liner to her eyes. That she could do this without poking her eyes with the liner pencil had fascinated and scared Abel, and he’d liked to watch.
    Yet this glass was different. Brighter. Completely reflective. Where did the light come from, anyway?
    Suddenly Abel lashed out, swung at a wall as hard as he could with his fist.
    Pain shot through his hand.
    Ow!
    Nothing, not the slightest effect on the wall. A smarting hand. Abel nursed it to his side while considering his next move.
    It might help your plans for escape if you had some idea where you are, wouldn’t it, lad? And just who and what you are dealing with. The gruff voice had returned again. He hadn’t managed to smash it out of his skull after all.
    Then, as a man might step through a waterfall at the Second Cataract (Abel had seen it happen once; there were caves behind the falls), a tall man with pale skin, dark hair, and a curly black beard stepped out ofone of the mirrored walls and came to stand beside Abel. The man wore strange garb. Abel had never seen fabric so uniformly smooth. His own trousers and tunic were made from beaten flax fiber and always felt scratchy.
    In addition to a shirt that covered his arms down to just below the elbow, the man wore not a well-bred man’s muslin