It glinted in the distance, and he paced himself still to approach it.It glinted in the distance, and he paced himself still to approach it. The veins of silver that fell over the rock like a fine fishnet glinted against the white stone. He placed his hand on the rock. "I want to go home," was all he said. A SDisk manifested itself in the sand, a simple yellow disk of color. He stepped into it and the beach vanished. To be replaced with Shardik Castle. He looked around; the lights were banked low, indicating nighttime operations. Nobody moved about. "Dave?" "Nickolai?" the voice returned, somewhat amused. "Welcome back!" "What time is it?" "About three after dark. Your coimelin is currently in Ken's house; they're playing some ancient game." Nickolai nodded and began walking through the Castle. As he did so, he found it difficult to keep his fingers off the walls. Home came to mind as he walked down the length of the hall. Not this place, exactly, but the feel of it, the sense that he belonged here. He wondered if that wasn't one of the psychological aspects of living on the Ring; the sphere of Terra encouraged one to look up and outwards, towards the stars, but the biggest things one could see in the sky of Pendor was Pendor itself, arcing towards the sun and enclosing the viewer. But he knew that he wanted to go elsewhere, see the stars. Actually, over the past two years he had come to appreciate what fascinated Furry so about archeology and the digging of old constructs. He didn't know if he had the patience for some of the jobs he had read described, but he was willing to give a try. For her. He reached Shardik's home. "Dave, let me in?" The door slid open. |