The Rosetta Codex Read Online Free PDF Page A

slave here,” Blackburn reminded him. “And that it was all you would ever be if you stayed.”
    â€œI remember.”
    â€œYou’re better than that.”
    â€œHow do you know?” Cale asked. “Maybe it’s all I’m good for.”
    Blackburn shook his head. “Come away with me,” he said.
    Cale tipped his head to the side, and the motion dizzied him. “What do you mean?”
    â€œI’m leaving in a couple of days. I’ll take you with me.”
    â€œThey won’t let me go.”
    Blackburn nodded. “That’s why you need to go with me. They probably wouldn’t try to stop us, but we’ll go at night. There’s room on Morrigan.”
    It was tempting. But it was also frightening. Cale was not so much afraid of the villagers as he was of something inBlackburn. He did not know what that was, but he knew he was afraid. He was also thinking about Aglaia.
    â€œThey offered to sell you to me,” Blackburn added.
    â€œBut you want me for nothing.”
    Blackburn shook his head firmly. “I don’t want you at all. I just want to help you.”
    Cale drank again, draining the mug. He welcomed the warm thrumming that coursed through his limbs, the heaviness. He wanted to lie down in front of the fire, close his eyes, bask in the heat. He wanted Aglaia beside him, wanted to be able to reach out and lay his hand upon hers.
    â€œI guess maybe I’ll just stay here,” Cale eventually said.
    Blackburn stared at Cale, his gaze unwavering, then finally nodded. “I see now that it’s more difficult for you than I realized. But someday you will decide that you have no choice. That you have to get out of this place or die.” Then he cocked his head, as though with some growing realization. “You don’t understand why most people live out here, do you? Out here in primitive conditions, away from towns and cities. You don’t realize that most of them have no choice, do you?” Cale shrugged, and Blackburn continued. “Yes, that explains much. I am here by choice. I can go back anytime I want. Most people out here can’t.”
    â€œGo back where?” Cale asked.
    â€œAcross the Divide.”
    â€œThe Divide,” he said, not quite a question.
    Blackburn nodded. “It’s inaccurate, but that’s what it’s called. A divide is a high ridge of land, like a mountain range, a barrier between two areas. The Divide is a barrier, too, but it’s just the opposite of a ridge—it’s a vast, incredibly deep crevasse that splits this continent from one end tothe other. A great crack in the earth. This part of the continent, west of the Divide, is a prison. The worst of the criminals in Morningstar and other parts of the Eastern Continent are exiled across the Divide. Murderers, rapists, men and women with multiple convictions for assault and other violent crimes. Political dissidents. Unrepentant troublemakers. Drug dealers who aren’t executives in the pharmaceutical consortiums. The list goes on.
    â€œThey’re sent across with almost nothing. Clothes and food and rudimentary tools. No advanced technology. No weapons. The airspace is rigorously monitored so no flights across can be made, and there’s heavy security at the Divide bridges. The authorities are very thorough. Nonprisoners are allowed to cross to this side, go back and forth, though not many people want to. Traders, mostly.”
    â€œLike you.”
    â€œLike me. A market has been established over the years. A somewhat legitimate network, and an illegal one as well. Contraband is smuggled across the Divide. And there is a demand for trade goods that exist only here. There are plants that grow wild on this side of the continent, valuable minerals. Exotic foods, particularly aquatic.”
    Cale thought about all the shellfish he had opened and cleaned, and wondered what was special about it. Something,