----------------------
A second timer clicked, and the Watcher ran a systems diagnostic.
Thereby, it discovered that the task it had considered to be its sole
function was itself only part of a greater whole. A dormant subroutine
within its internal structure switched on. It sorted and ordered. The
first transmission began.
****
The three of them had ridden into the foothills, nearing the Landsend
range itself, by early evening. When Jenessa glanced toward Erel, she
saw he'd taken off his hat. His crest was flushed and beaded with sweat.
His eyes met hers, and he flicked his head into a shrug. "I knew the
chance I was taking. So far, it's uncomfortable, that's all."
"Do you itch?" Meera asked. "It doesn't last. I don't itch now."
An instant later, a torrent of sight and sound flooded Jenessa's mind.
"Jen!" Meera cried out.
Jenessa slid from the flest, stumbled and picked herself up, then
grabbed Meera before she could fall. The child's face had gone slack
and pale, her eyelids fluttered. Her crest turned bright again.
For Jenessa, her companions— her own body— all the
world
around her, seemed to recede, to become difficult to touch. The inner
world became her primary reality, a sea through which she must swim
before she could hear Erel's voice or feel the ground beneath her feet
as she walked.
Then, as suddenly as the deluge began, it stopped.
Erel moved clumsily from his flest and helped her lay Meera onto the
ground. "What's happening," he asked.
~Where did all that come from?~ Magda's inner voice trembled, as though
she felt as stunned as Jenessa.
After that onslaught, the presence of Magda and Kadzin seemed a minor
annoyance, a mystery to which Jenessa could easily accustom herself.
Meera's eyes opened, then closed again.
"More images, words." Jenessa told Erel. "But this was different, less
dreamlike than before. It moved fast, and there was so much—
I
can't describe it. Meera must have experienced it too. But you aren't
ready for the visions yet. The sickness hasn't made you ready."
Jenessa took several deep breaths, wanting to celebrate the return of
her familiar world. Though she supposed it was only a respite. She
turned back to Erel.
"Help me make camp," she told him. "We'll need shelter." She nodded
toward the nearest grove of trees. Then she grabbed the reins of the
flest.
When she'd accomplished all the necessary tasks, Jenessa sank down onto
a blanket between Erel and Meera. Erel reached for her hand, and she
relaxed against him for a few moments, then said, "Those new things
that came into my mind — I can feel them shifting and
settling.
They're here to stay." She sighed. "I suppose it's the same for Meera.
Maybe that's why she can't stay awake. She needs to sleep to absorb it
all."
When Jenessa closed her eyes, there was no restful darkness, but scenes
rushing by, replacing one another, then beginning again, sometimes in a
new order, sometimes not. She thrust her arms in front of her face, as
if that could stop her inner sight. "It's like the legends have come to
life inside me. I see shape-changing clouds taking things apart . .
.towns, buildings, carts— no, not carts but things with
wheels
and different shapes. There are plots of growing plants. All of it
disappears, leaving dark oozing masses that flow along the ground and
in the air. I've never believed in the shapechangers; now I can't
escape them! Maybe they've finally come to destroy everything, just
like the Lawkeepers warned."
She was trembling, and Erel grasped her hands, trying to hold her
still. "Jen, it's the fever come back, making you see things that
aren't real."
"No. It all happened. And now it's become a part of me. As if I were
there, and the memory stayed alive, no matter how long it's been."
Realizing her inability to escape, she felt suddenly resigned.
~Jenessa, are you ever going to talk to us, help us figure out what to
do?~
"I suppose I might as well. None of you are going away. Are you one of
the shapechangers?"
Jenessa spoke aloud, unsure if there was any other way.
~Ah, that's better! Those data transmissions must have come from
somewhere on your world, or in orbit. But why the virch-hells would it
show scenes from Nimbus? That's what the shifters are
Jenessa—
Nimbians. Is this . . .no, it can't be. We were nowhere near Nimbus.~
~But whoever is transmitting might be Nimbian,~ Kadzin interrupted.
~Jenessa, have you seen anyone, anything, like that, on your planet?~
"No. They aren't here. Shouldn't be here! The shapeshifters are from
the other world— the world before this one, a place where no
one
can live. Even the trees dissolve back into the ground. Our ancestors
escaped and created this world for our people; they made it stable and
fertile— that's what the legends say. I didn't think any of
that
was real, just stories the Lawkeepers use to make people afraid to ask
questions or make changes. But now I've seen what the shapechangers can
do. I don't know why I've seen it, but I have to go back and tell the
lawkeepers."
