Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains (Children of the Star 2/3)
Sylvia Engdahl
Language: English
Pages: 126
ISBN: B0006C4T8G
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Children of the Star trilogy, Book Two. Once Noren gained admission to the City where technology was hidden, he thought he had discovered how to make metal and Machines available to everyone and end the rule of the Scholars. But he soon learned it was not as simple as he had believed. Was it right to let people go on believing in the promises of a Prophecy that might not come true after all?
progress at intervals over the radiophone. Noren could hear neither the reports nor the replies, but he knew that if any exchange of significance took place, Brek would tell him. Each section of hull, once unjoined, was to be fastened to a line and pulled into the shuttlecraft bay. The plan was to stow them all aboard later, when there were enough to fill the hold. Brek motioned that he would take the first one in. The thing wasn’t heavy, of course, since it too lacked weight, and a slight push
It was, as he had known it would be, empty. He had always known that no one lived anywhere but in the one small settlement maintained through the Founders’ wisdom, but he had not sensed it as he did now, isolated from all contact with that settlement—that island in a huge expanse of emptiness. And there might well come a time when there would be no island! The human race would have no refuge once the City’s equipment gave out. Somewhere in the immeasurably great region of dark, Noren thought,
why . . . why. . . . At midday everyone paused to eat. Noren had no appetite; he scarcely noticed the meagerness of the meal, though he knew that the plan was for the expedition to subsist on as short rations as possible. While there was plenty of food to spare in the settled area of the planet, room for transporting it aboard the aircars was very limited, and until a local harvest could be produced, hunger would be the rule. Hunger—and also thirst. So far all pure water, too, had to be
“Of course I do,” she admitted, “but there’s much, after all, that’s beyond knowing.” “I mean . . . do you still believe it’s right for the Scholars to have mysteries they don’t share?” Talyra regarded him seriously, her face illumined by firelight. “Yes,” she declared. “The world is full of mysteries we can’t expect to understand. You still do expect it, darling, and I think that’s why you’re not happy—though I know it’s not a thing you should be blamed for.” Stefred had been right about her,
the year, surpassing even Founding Day, and in the Inner City it was also customary to make merry. It seemed monstrous to do so under these circumstances. All the same, people followed the traditions. Though no one had green holiday clothes in camp, the women baked Festival Buns for supper instead of ordinary bread, and after an exceptionally solemn and elaborate Vespers, there was dancing. Noren was obliged to participate for Talyra’s sake, but he loathed such pretense. Upon abandoning his