World's End

Page 33

JOAND. VINGE

she asked, "Do you have a picture of your brothers?

Perhaps I might have seen them somewhere around the town."

I pulled out the holo I carry with me and gave it to her.

"They look younger there. It's an old picture." Once it had been a picture of the three of us. I'd had my own image removed.

She studied it, and nodded. "Yes . . . yes. I did see them. I spoke to them about my daughter.

They were--" She glanced away, embarrassed.

I felt my face flush, as I imagined what SB's response

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

must have been. "I apologize to you for their behavior, sibyl. They've brought enough shame on my family already to make the shades of our ancestors weep blood." I looked down, holding my scarred wrists against my sides.

"There's something more about them." She held the holo up, turning it in the light. "Yes . . . I've seen them since, somewhere else." She closed her eyes, frowning in concentration. "In Transfer ...

in Sanctuary."

Through her daughter's eyes, in the sibyl Transfer.

That was what she meant. A lead, I thought, a real lead, at last! I exhaled, realized then that I had been holding my breath. A part of my mind resisted, telling me that this was too easy, that she could be lying out of self-interest

--that even sibyls were human beings, not machines. I'd seen plenty of faces as open as hers hide every kind of lie. . . .

But it was the only clue I had, genuine or not. It was something, a place to start--the focus I so desperately needed for my search. Gratitude and hope shouted down my doubts; I felt my mouth relax into a smile for the first time in days. "Thank you," I said. "I'll go to Fire Lake, I'll find the city. I'll look for your daughter, and I'll bring her back to you if I can. ..." I glanced away selfconsciously.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Another sibyl--helped me, once. Maybe it's time I repaid my debt."

40

WORLD S END

"Does Ang know that you're searching for something besides treasure?" Hahn asked.