Excerpt: The Rays

Kismet lay by the fire, staring into it. “I see your souls in this,” she murmured.

The others took little notice. They had been in the library for two weeks, and Kismet was like this – considered herself on a different plane, and liked murmuring better than speaking.

“No, see –“ she sat up and pulled Nauporta towards her. “That one’s you, that little twist of bright white near the edge. And the edge of the core, that’s Chrysalis. The coal is Palatino. Do you see it?”

“No,” Nauporta said. “It’s a fire – look, never mind. I’ll see it if you want me to see it. Can I get back to reading now?”

“Nauporta, you’ve been reading for an hour, I’ve been timing it, you’ve got to stop anyway.”

“What?” She pulled her watch-chain out of her pocket and glanced at it. “Oh, perfect.” She threw the sheet of dreamline down, her face matted with scowls. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know it’s utterly inexcusable for a librarian to treat a book like that, but I’m annoyed and it’s dreamline - it’s not like it’s going to damage it. More likely the book’ll damage the floor.” She picked the book up and disappeared amongst the shelves to put it back where it belonged.

“I don’t blame her,” Ambience said. “I’m bored to death. Do you really think we have to wait a whole hour between books?”

Palatino said, “Ambience, we’ve been enforcing these rules for…well, I’ve been working here a year. You?”

“Three years.”

“Right. So you know…”

“Yes, I know, I just…they could have given us something to do. Do they want us to go mad, in here for twelve weeks and nothing to be getting on with?”

“Why didn’t you bring something?” Nauporta said, returning around the corner.

“Did you?”

“Crossword puzzles,” she said, ruefully. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve never enjoyed them in my life, so why I thought I’d want them now…”

“I’ve got a notebook,” Kismet said. “For writing poetry and – you know –“ (her voice dropped to a whisper) “revelations, if they come to me.”

“I’ve got nothing,” Ambience said. “See, I’m part-time at the library, but I’m apprentice to a para-engineer down by the waterways too, and there’s a whole section here on 21st century engineering – old books you can’t get anywhere else. So the guy said he doesn’t mind me taking three months out to spend the winter in the library, since my job there hangs on it, so long as I can read all of them while I’m here. ‘Cause techniques developed then do directly affect the stuff we do, although a lot of the technology they used was lost in the scourge. So I thought – better not to bring anything that might distract me, I’ve got one hell of a lot of reading to do. But I was stupid enough not to worry about those hour long gaps between reading sessions…”

“We can’t break the rules,” Nauporta said. “I’m tempted too, but we really can’t. Dreamline isn’t safe…”

“I know,” Ambience said. He lay back, his arms beneath his head.

“We’re not getting any exercise either,” Palatino said. “I’m going to put on so much weight.”

“You’re such a girl,” Nauporta said. He grinned at her, and she smiled back. “Anyway, given we’re living off pills, I don’t think any of us are going to be putting on weight.”

“Your soul, Nauporta!” Kismet wailed suddenly. Her eyes were wide and her eyebrows halfway to her hairline. “It’s blazing, it’s gone so red – oh, it’s beautiful. It’s so beautiful. But it can’t last. It’s too hot and bright. It’s going to burn out – but it’s beautiful, so maybe it’s worth it.” She got up, walked over, and laid an arm on Nauporta’s shoulder. “I wish I could save you,” she whispered.

“Thanks, Kismet,” Nauporta said. “That’s nice of you. Er…I’m going to go for a walk around, I think. See you later!”