Night of Light

Carmody wanted to hear the conversation, but he could not. The fire had begun to feed on the wood under his toenail. He could hear nothing but his scream, confined within his mouth by the tape and shrilling higher and higher in his head. The pain had not caused his eyesight to dim, however, and he saw the first thin curl of smoke rise from the steel bolt of the door. Abdu did not see it, for his back was turned, and he was still talking over the phone.

A line appeared on the bolt, spread and flowed. The bolt separated into two pieces. At the same time, Abdu whirled, saw the smoke and the cloven bar, and his lips writhed in what must have been a curse.

The door swung on its pivots; Abdu raised his gun and fired. A round object flew into the room, bounced toward Abdu, and exploded into a dense cloud of yellow smoke that enveloped him. His body became a silhouette that reached shadow arms upward to clutch at his shadow throat. He fell forward. A second later, Kareenans wearing gas masks entered. One of them hastened to Carmody, and tried to pull the splint out of his toe, only to break off the charred piece. He rose and signaled to another, who produced a hypodermic and jabbed it into Carmody’s arm. A few seconds later, blessed oblivion came to him.

He awoke in a strange bed. The pain in his toe and his face was gone. Tand was looking down at him. The relief and the unexpected sight of his friend caused him to burst into tears. Tand was not embarrassed, for Kareenan males wept as easily as terrestrial females. He smiled and patted Carmody’s hand.

“You’re all right now. You’re in my house, safe and sound, for the moment, anyway. We kasered through the door and the bolt just in time. We were lucky. Apparently, Abdu did not discover what we were doing in time to kill you.”

“Abdu was just knocked out?”

“Yes, he’s alive and being interrogated now.”

“He has said anything about any co

“We used chalarocheil, and he’s spilled everything. Abdu made arrangements through Lieftin to have you killed; it was Lieftin’s men that tried to murder you outside Mrs.

Kri’s. However, we’re sure that Lieftin not only did this independently of Abog but was careful to conceal his part in the plot against you from Abog. Abog would want to keep you alive, because he and Rilg are depending upon your help in talking Yess out of a universal Night.

“You, my dear friend, were caught in a mesh of crosswebs.”

“Is Mrs. Fratt dead?”

“I’m afraid so. Abdu told us how she was killed.”

Tand, seeing Carmody flinch, hastened to reassure him. “What else could you do?”

“I know you well enough to know what you’re digging for,” Carmody said. “You’re wondering why I, a man who’s passed the Night, would battle so savagely? Why I didn’t continue to try to talk Mrs. Fratt out of torturing me when she was so obviously on the point of weakening?”

“That had occurred to me. But I understand why you allowed your will to survive to overcome you. A man who’s gone through one Night is not ‘perfect,’ far from it. I’ve gone through many, and while I’m ‘better’ each time, I still have a long way to go. Besides, who am I to judge? I might well have done the same thing.”

He paused, then said,”But there is one thing I don’t understand. You have the power to dissociate your mind from pain. Why didn’t you use that power?”

“I tried to,” Carmody replied. “And, for the first time, I couldn’t.”

“Hmmm. I see.”

“Something in me cut the wires,” the priest said. “It’s obvious why. I felt, or the unconscious part of me felt, that I should suffer because of what I’d done to Mrs. Fratt and her son. It wasn’t a logical feeling, because my pain wasn’t going to alter Mrs. Fratt’s situation or feelings or mine, either. But the unconscious has its own logic, as you well know.”

He wiggled his big toe. “No pain.”

“It’ll hurt after the anesthetic wears off. But you should be able to control the pain after that. Unless you are still determined to inflict remorse on yourself.”

“I don’t think so.”

He sat up. He was a little weak and shaky, and, surprisingly, hungry.

“I’d like to eat. What time is it?”

“You’re due to see Yess in an hour. Think you can make it?”

“I’ll be fine. Now, what are you going to do about Abog and Rilg?”

“That depends on Yess. It’s a very complicated situation. It’ll take time to figure out what to do and then put a plan into effect. And time is what we lack. By the way, we haven’t located Lieftin yet.”

Carmody got out of bed. By the time he had eaten, bathed and dressed, he felt his old self again.

Tand was delighted. “I wanted you to look your best when you met your son,” he said. “Our son, rather, although I feel that you are actually much more the Father than the rest of us.”

“Will the others be there?”

“Not now. Let’s go. It’ll take longer than usual to get there because of the crowds.”

Tand was wrong. Only a few people were on the streets, and these were not as noisy or active as usual.

“I’ve never seen this before,” he said. “It must be the worry about Yess’ decision. People must be staying home, watching TV in case Yess makes an a

The car drove around to the rear of the enormous temple, a side Carmody had not seen. It lacked the portico with its caryatids and had very few carvings in the niches. Tand parked the car near the entrance and led Carmody to a little door at the southwest corner of the building. A squad of sentinels saluted him, and an officer opened the door for them with a large key that hung on a silver chain from his broad belt.

Beyond the door was a small waiting room with a few tables and chairs and a number of Kareenan and non-Kareenan magazines, books, and record spools. The only other door led to another room which housed the lower end of a narrow staircase of quartz steps and a small graviton cage. This was at the bottom of a shaft carved out of the stone.

Tand and Carmody got into the cage; Tand pressed the start button and the button marked with the ideograph for seven. “I won’t go in with you,” he said. “Obviously, you won’t have to be introduced, even if protocol normally requires it. He’s seen your photo. Besides, who else could you be?”

Carmody felt nervous. The cage stopped. Tand swung its gate out, and they stepped into another small anteroom. He fitted a key into the lock of the oval door and turned it. Then he drew a similar key from his beltbag and gave it to Carmody.

“Every Father has one of these.”

Carmody hesitated. Tand said, “Go on in. Yess should be in the room beyond the next one. I’ll go down below to wait for you.”

Carmody nodded and stepped through. He was in a much larger room, lit only by a small lamp. Red drapes covered the wall; a light green carpet, very thick and soft, covered the floor. Although there were no windows, cool air moved past his slightly damp skin. At the opposite wall was another oval door, half-open.

“Come in,” said a deep baritone voice in Kareenan.

Carmody entered an even larger room. This had walls covered with light green plaster. Several murals, depicting events from Kareenan mythology, were painted on the walls. The furniture was simple: a table of glossy black wood, several lightly constructed but comfortable-looking chairs, and a bed in a niche. There was also a viewphone, a large TV set, and a tall narrow bookcase of the same glossy wood. The table held recording spools, several books, stationery, and an old-fashioned fountain pen made of polished stone with white and green veins.

Yess was standing by the table. He was a tall man; Carmody’s head came no higher than his chest. His superbly muscled body was naked. His black hair looked Terrestrial, but a closer inspection showed a slightly Kareenan featheriness. His face was handsome and also Kareenan, but Carmody felt his throat closing when he saw Mary’s features reflected in those of Yess. His ears were like a wolf’s; his teeth were a very faint blue. But he had five toes.