Read Online Dark Universe by Daniel F. Galouye - Free Book Online

the Barrier--were they all actually strokes of vengeance by an offended Light Almighty?

    "What do you mean--'some of us won't be able to survive'?"

    "Figure it out yourself. Each hot spring feeds the tendrils of a hundred and twenty-five manna plants at the most. Nine dead boiling pits means almost twelve hundred fewer plants."

    "But that's just a fraction--"

    "Any fraction that reduces the survival potential is a critical factor. If we apply the formula, we hear that with mne less hot springs we can support only thirty-four head of cattle instead of forty. All the other livestock will have to be reduced proportionately. In the long run it will mean seventeen less people can exist here!"

    "We'll make up the difference with more game."

    "There'll be _less_ game--with more soubats than ever flying the passageways."

    The Prime Survivor stopped pacing and stood there breathing heavily. Clickstone echoes weren't needed to tell that he was crestfallen, that the creases in his face were etched even more deeply.

    Jared couldn't escape a sense of helplessness as he thought of man's absolute dependence on the manna plants. Actually, they stood between the Survivors and death, providing as they did food for humans and livestock alike; rich juices; fibers for the women to twist into cloths, ropes and fishing nets; shells that could be split in half and used as containers; stalks that could be dried out sufficiently for sharpening into a spear or arrow.

    Now, almost bitterly, he could recall his father's voice finding new depths of respect and thoughtfulness gestations ago in reciting one of the legends:

    "Our manna trees are a copy of the magnificent plants created by Light in Paradise--but a poor copy indeed. Light's creation was topped by thousands of gracious, lacy things that swayed in the breeze and made whispering noises while they enjoyed constant communion with the Almighty. They drank of His energy and used it in such a manner as to mix the water they drank with bits of soil and with the air that men and animals breathed out. And they transformed these things into food and pure air for man and animal alike.

    "But Light's plant wasn't good enough. It seems we had to fashion a tree without the graceful, whispering things at the top--one which has, instead, great masses of awkward feelers that grow deep into the boiling pits. There they draw energy from the water's heat and use it to transform the foul air of the worlds and passageways and the elements from compost into fibers and tubers, fruit and fresh air."

    That was the manna plant.

    "What are we going to do about the hot-springs situation?" Jared asked finally.

    "How are you coming along with Contemplation?'

    "I suppose I've just about exhausted the subject."

    "That helps." The Prime Survivor lodged a hand on his shoulder.
    "I've an idea there's going to be drastic need for help from the Upper Level before long. You realize, of course, that you don't have much of a choice in Contemplation. Under the circumstances, this Unification couldn't possibly be Unwise."

    "No. I don't suppose it could."

    The Prime Survivor cuffed his arm warmly. "Fm sure you'll be ready to return to the Upper Level just as soon as the Seven Periods of Withdrawal are over."

    Outside, a deep silence that had fallen over the world was interrupted by the first phrases of the Litany of Light. The Guardian of the Way's fervent voice cracked with veneration as he shouted out the Recitations. More subdued but no less reverent were the Responses by the worshipers.

    Recalling that Revitalization Ceremonies had failed after the first three springs had gone dry, Jared brushed the curtain aside and headed for the Assembly Area to join the services. That it would be a novel experience added little to his enthusiasm.

    He stayed on the fringe of the Congregation. To have gone up front at the first ceremony he had attended in gestations would have distracted Guardian and Survivors alike. And he felt