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

even more self-conscious when he heard a sharpeared child nearby grip his mother's arm and exclaim,
    "It's Jared, Mother! It's Jared Fenton!"

    "Hush and listen to the Guardian!" the woman reproved.

    Guardian Philar was circulating among them, his words rebounding clearly from the object he clutched against his chest.

    "Feel this Holy Bulb," he exhorted. "Be inspired along the passageway of virtue. Let us hurl back Darkness. Only by renouncing evil can we discharge our obligation as Survivors and listen ahead to that great period when we will be Reunited with Light Almighty!"

    If the Guardian of the Way wasn't the gauntest man in the Lower Level, Jared felt certain, then he was at least in close running for the distinction. Bouncing off his body, central caster echoes picked up the harsh bluntness of bones that threatened to erupt through skin. His beard was sparse to the extreme of being fully inaudible. But the most prominent features of his haggard face were eyes set deep in their sockets and lids squeezed so firmly together that it was doubtful whether they had ever been open.

    He reached Jared and paused, his voice stooping for but not quite finding a bass fervor. "Among all the things in this world, our Holy Bulb is the only one that has ever been in contact with Light. Feel it." And, when Jared hesitated, "_Feel it!_"

    His hand went out reluctantly and touched its cold, round surface. In exaggerated proportion, it had the same properties as the miniature Bulb in the object the monsters had left in the Upper Level. And he wondered But he banished the thought. Wasn't it his own curiosity-- over the Bulb and many other things--that had gotten the worlds into their present predicament?

    The Guardian moved on, swaying, almost chanting. "There are those who would deny that Light ever dwelt in this relic. To them goes the blame for having provoked the Almighty's wrath."

    Jared lowered his head, aware that many around him would have no trouble identifying the person for whom the accusation was intended.

    "So the spiritual challenge we face on this Revitalization Period," the Guardian concluded, "is a personal one. The echoes from the wall are clear. Unless we atone individually for our misdeeds, we may expect to find that the same Light Almighty who banished Survivor from His presence has it in His power to destroy Survivor completely!"

    He replaced the Holy Bulb in its niche and faced the Congregation, arms outstretched. An elderly woman went and stood humbly before him and Jared listened to Philar's hands performing the final ritual.

    "Do you feel Him?" the Guardian demanded.

    The woman grunted a disappointed negative reply and moved on.

    "Patience, daughter. Effective Excitation comes to all those who persevere against Darkness."

    Another Survivoress, two children and a Survivor humbled themselves in front of Guardian Philar before the first positive response was evoked in the Excitation of the Optic Nerve Ritual. It was elicited from a young woman. As soon as the Guardian brushed aside the veil of hair that hung in front of her face and applied fingertips to her eyelids she cried out ecstatically:

    "I feel Him! Oh, I feel Him!"

    The stark emotion in the woman's voice made Jared's flesh tingle.

    Patting her head approvingly, the Guardian turned to the next person.

    Jared lagged behind the last in line, not letting himself imagine those who were Effectively Excited might actually be feeling nothing more than a special pressure from the Guardian's hands. Rather, he tried to keep his thoughts receptive, so that his first participation in the ritual would not be thwarted by long-standing prejudice.

    By the time his turn arrived, the others had gone from the Assembly Area, leaving only him and the Guardian. Waiting with his head lowered, he listened to Philar's severe expression. The Guardian was not concealing his belief that Jared's flagrant disrespect for the Barner had brought on the Lower Level's