01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
If they had been more technically incline they might have had the counterpart of some of
the biological techniques which were available in New Earth - naturally, he had never had
reason to experience them at first hand. There had never been any question about his fertility!
But there were methods which might have assisted them. By the sound of things, it wouldn't
be long before they dwindled to nothing. It was a pity, the Lynxe might have had a thing or
two to teach the universe in general. It was clear that they had been around for a long time.
They had even successfully controlled a sub-race - even if the Scarn could still be considered
to be slaves.
He tried to work out what he was going to do next, but it was impossible to do so. He was
alone on this planet and had no idea why he was there. The only way to return to Solar Space
appeared to be the way he had come. He would be the first to agree that a return trip by the
same method was not a very likely possibility.
He was dog tired after all the thinking, so he retired to his lonely couch and cursed his luck
that he had ended up in a household where the hostess considered herself the guardian of all
female virtue. He tried to content himself with the thought that he would be seeing Hara
again on the next day. He fell asleep almost immediately.
At some time during the night, he found himself floating above his recumbent form. He
was high, close to the ceiling of the room, rolling and turning slowly, as if he was weightless
in space. The image of his room shimmered and hazed, as if he was out of focus and then, he
touched the ground slightly. For a moment, he wondered if his earlier thought that the only
way off the planet was by the way he had come, was being fulfilled. This sensation was like
the vortex - but it wasn't quite the same. He didn't come to rest in the five sided chamber
which had been his starting point.
There was soil beneath his feet which was almost black - red-black. The sky was a lurid
purple-red. He was on a seashore and a black ocean rumbled sullenly, scouring against the
black beach. He was conscious of a great heat and heaviness. He was naked and faced a great
arch or gate. From him radiated a power. It came from his fingers and from his eyes and from
the centre of his forehead. His head felt as if it was pierced open from within and provided
the surging power that streamed out through a cleft between his eyes. With the power was a
great authority. Figures entered and receded from his vision, to the right and to the left. They
had thin, angular, hawkish features. They made obeisance, acknowledging his power.
He moved towards the rock arch, impelled by a force he could not control. He screamed
out that he was not the man within the Pentacle. His voice grew louder and louder as he
walked with outstretched hands towards the arch. It became a scream of terror. The arch
wavered and shimmered and the power began to diminish from his fingers and head. The
whole scene shimmered into a haze of indecisive light. He whirled, tumbling over and over,
back into the figure on the bed - a figure that lashed out and screamed as it slept.
His own hoarse screams woke him, he fought off something that was forcing him back and
down. A voice pressed insistently into his mind, calling him by name. He began to quieten
down, his heart was thumping and racing and he had to drag air into his lungs. It was like
being rescued from a vacuum lock in space.
He found that he was clutching Danyk. He stopped wrestling, the insistent voice in his
mind commanded him to quieten; to sleep; to dissolve fear; - to sleep. He didn't know that
Zayez stood behind Danyk in the room, nor did he know of the conversation that passed
between their minds. He would have had little comfort from that knowledge. He dropped into
deep blackness and did not awaken until the light was strong through the open window.
He lay on the bed quietly and forced himself to think about the dream. It had to be
something to do with the Pentacle, it had featured in his screams of protest. He made up his
mind to get rid of it, he would find somewhere away from the house and throw it into the
fields or woods. Usually, he wasn't superstitious but he had to accept the fact that there was
75