David Wingrove & Rand Miller - Myst 01 - The Book of Ti'ana

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Myst: The Book of Ti'ana
by Rand Miller & David Wingrove
PART ONE
ECHOES IN THE ROCK
The sounding capsule was embedded in the rock face like a giant crystal,
its
occupants sealed within the translucent, soundproofed cone.
The Guild Master sat facing the outstretched tip of the cone, his right
hand
resting delicately on the long metal shaft of the sounder, his blind
eyes
staring at the solid rock, listening.
Behind him, his two young assistants leaned forward in their narrow metal
and
mesh seats, concentrating, their eyes shut tight as they attempted to
discern
the tiny variations in the returning signal.
"Na'grenis," the old man said, the D'ni word almost growled as his left
hand
moved across the top sheet of the many-layered map that rested on the map
table
between his knees. Brittle.
It was the tenth time they had sent the signal out on this line, each time
a
little stronger, the echoes in the rock changing subtly as it penetrated
deeper
into the mass.
"Kenen voohee shuhteejoo," the younger of his two assistants said
tentatively.
It could be rocksalt.
"Or chalk," the other added uncertainly.
"Not this deep," the old man said authoritatively, flicking back the
transparent
sheets until he came to one deep in the pile. Holding it open, he reached
beside
him and took a bright red marker from the metal rack.
"Ah," the two assistants said as one, the carmine mark as clear an
explanation
as if he'd spoken.
"We'll sound either side," the old man said after a moment. "It might only be
a
pocket...."
He slipped the marker back into the rack, then reached out and took the
ornately
decorated shaft of the sounder, delicately moving it a fraction to the
right,
long experience shaping his every movement.
"Same strength," he said. "One pulse, fifty beats, and then a second pulse."
At once his First Assistant leaned forward, adjusting the setting on the dial
in
front of him.
There was a moment's silence and then a vibration rippled along the shaft
toward
the tapered tip of the cone.
A single, pure, clear note sounded in the tiny chamber, like an invisible
spike
reaching out into the rock.
* * *
"What is he doing?"
Guild Master Telanis turned from the observation window to look at his
guest.
Master Kedri was a big, ungainly man. A member of the Guild of Legislators,
he
was here to observe the progress of the excavation.
"Guild Master Geran is surveying the rock. Before we drill we need to know
what
lies ahead of us."
"I understand that," Kedri said impatiently. "But what is the problem?"
Telanis stifled the irritation he felt at the man's bad manners. After
all,
Kedri was technically his superior, even if, within his own craft, Telams's
word
was as law.
"I'm not sure exactly, but from the mark he made I'd say he's located a patch
of
igneous material. Magma-based basaltic rocks from a fault line, perhaps, or
a
minor intrusion."
"And that's a problem?"
Telanis smiled politely. "It could be. If it's minor we could drill
straight
through it, of course, and support the tunnel, but we're still quite deep
and
there's a lot of weight above us. The pressures here are immense, and while
they
might not crush us, they could inconvenience us and set us back weeks, if
not
months. We'd prefer, therefore, to be certain of what lies ahead."
Kedri huffed. "It all seems rather a waste of time to me. The lining
rock's
strong, isn't it?"
"Oh, very strong, but that's not the point. If the aim were merely to
break
through to the surface we could do that in a matter of weeks. But that's
.not
our brief. These tunnels are meant to be permanent-or, at least, as permanent
as
we can make them, rock movement willing!"
Still, Kedri seemed unsatisfied. "All this stopping and starting! A man could
go
mad with waiting!"
One could; and some, unsuited to the task, did. But of all the guilds
ofD'ni,
this, Telanis knew, was the one best suited to their nature.
"We are a patient race, Master Kedri," he said, risking the anger of the
other
man. "Patient and thorough. Would you have us abandon the habits of a
thousand
generations?"
Kedri made to answer curtly, then saw the look of challenge in Telanis's
eyes
and nodded. "No. You are right, Guild Master. Forgive me. Perhaps they chose
the
wrong man to represent our guild."
Perhaps, Telanis thought, but aloud he said. "Not at all, Master Kedri. You
will
get used to it, I promise. And we shall do our best to keep you busy while
you
are here. I shall have my assistant, Aitrus, assigned to you."
And now Kedri smiled, as if this was what he had been angling for all
along.
"That is most kind. Master Telanis. Most kind, indeed."
* * *
The excavator was quiet, the lighting subdued. Normally, the idle chatter
of
young crewmen would have rilled the narrow corridor, but since the observers
had
come there was a strange silence to the craft that made it seem abandoned.
As the young guildsman walked along its length, he glanced about
warily.
Normally he took such sights for granted, but today he seemed to see it
all
anew. Here in the front section, just behind the great drill, was the
Guild
Master's cabin and, next to it, through a bulkhead that would seal
automatically
in times of emergency, the chart room. Beyond that, opening out to both
right
and left of the corridor, was the equipment room.
The excavator was as self-contained as any ship at sea, everything stored,
each
cupboard and drawer secured against sudden jolts, but here the purpose of
the
craft was nakedly displayed, the massive rock drills lain neatly in their
racks,
blast-marble cylinders, protective helmets, and analysis tubes racked
like
weaponry.
The young guildsman stopped, looking back along the length of the craft.
He.was
a tall, athletic-looking young man with an air of earnestness about him.
His
dark red jumpsuit fit him comfortably rather than tightly; the broad,
black
leather tool belt at his waist and his long black leather boots part of
the
common uniform worn by all the members of the expedition.
His fine black hair was cut short and neat, accentuating his fineboned
features,
while his eyes were pale but keen. Intelligent, observant eyes.
He passed on, through the crew quarters-the empty bunks stacked three to a
side
into the curve of the ship's walls, eighteen bunks in all-and, passing
through
yet another bulkhead, into the refectory.
Master Jerahl, the ship's cook, looked up from where he was preparing
the
evening meal and smiled.
"Ah, Aitrus. Working late again?"
"Yes, Guild Master."
Jerahl grinned paternally. "Knowing you, you'll be so engrossed in
some
experiment, you'll miss your supper. You want me to bring you
something
through?"
"Thank you, Guild Master. That would be most welcome."
"Not at all, Aitrus. It's good to see such keenness in a young guildsman.
I
won't say it to their faces, but some of your fellows think it's enough to
carry
out the letter of their instructions and no more. But people notice
such
things."
Aitrus smiled.
"Oh, some find me-foolish, Aitrus, I know. It's hard not to overhear things on
a
tiny ship like this. But I was not always a cook. Or, should I say, only a
cook.
I trained much as you train now, to be a Surveyor-to know the ways of the
rock.
And much of what I learned remains embedded here in my head. But I
wasn't
suited. Or, should I say, I found myself better suited to this occupation."
"You trained, Master Jerahl?"
"Of course, Aitrus. You think they would allow me on an expedition like this
if
I were not a skilled geologist?" Jerahl grinned. "Why, I spent close on
twenty
years specializing in stress mechanics."
Aitrus stared at Jerahl a moment, then shook his head. "I did not know."
"Nor were you expected to. As long as you enjoy the meals I cook, I am
content."
"Of that I've no complaints."
"Then good. Go on through. I shall bring you something in a while."
Aitrus walked on, past the bathing quarters and the sample store, and on
into
the tail of the craft. Here the corridor ended with a solid metal door that
was
always kept closed. Aitrus reached up and pulled down the release handle.
At
once the door hissed open. He stepped through, then heard it hiss shut
behind
him.
A single light burned on the wall facing him. In its half-light he could see
the
work surface that ran flush with the curved walls at waist height, forming
an
arrowhead. Above and below it, countless tiny cupboards held the equipment
and
chemicals they used for analysis.
Aitrus went across and, putting his notebook down on the worktop,
quickly
selected what he would need from various cupboards.
This was his favorite-place in the ship. Here he could forget all else
and
immerse himself in the pure, unalloyed joy of discovery.
Aitrus reached up, flicking his fingernail against the firemarble in the bowl
of
the lamp, then, in the burgeoning glow, opened his notebook to the page he
had
been working
* * *
"Aitrus?"
Aitrus took his eye from the lens and turned, surprised he had not heard
the
hiss of the door. Jerahl was standing there, holding out a plate to him.
The
smell of freshly baked chorbahkh and ikhah nijuhets wafted across, making
his
mouth water.
Jerahl smiled. "Something interesting?"
Aitrus took the plate and nodded. "You want to see?"
"May I?" Jerahl stepped across and, putting his eye to the lens, studied
the
sample a moment. When he looked up again there was a query in his eyes.
"Tachyltye, eh? Now why would a young fellow like you be interested in
basaltic
glass?"
"I'm interested in anything to do with lava flows," Aitrus answered, his
eyes
aglow. "It's what I want to specialize in, ultimately. Volcanism."
Jerahl smiled as if he understood. "All that heat and pressure, eh? I
didn't
realize you were so romantic, Aitrus!"
Aitrus, who had begun to eat the meat-filled roll, paused and looked at
Jerahl
in surprise. He had heard his fascination called many things by his
colleagues,
but never "romantic."
"Oh, yes," Jerahl went on, "once you have seerf how this is formed, nothing
will
ever again impress half so much! The meeting of superheated rock and
ice-chill
water-it is a powerful combination. And this-this strange translucent
matter-is
the result."
Again Jerahl smiled. "Learning to control such power, that is where we
D'ni
began as a species. That is where our spirit of inquiry was first awoken.
So
take heart, Aitrus. In this you are a true son of D'ni."
Aitrus smiled back at the older man. "I am sorry we have not spoken before
now.
Guild Master. I did not know you knew so much."
"Oh, I claim to know very little, Aitrus. At least, by comparison with
Master
Telanis. And while we are talking of the good Guild Master, he was asking
for
you not long back. I promised him I would feed you, then send you to his
cabin."
Aitrus, who had just lifted the roll to his mouth again, paused. "Master
Telanis
wants me?"
Jerahl gestured toward the roll. "Once you've been fed. Now finish that or
I
shall feel insulted."
"Whatever you say. Master!" And, grinning, Aitrus bit deep into the roll.
* * *
Aitrus stopped before the Guild Master's cabin and, taking a moment to
prepare
himself, reached out and rapped upon the door.
The voice from inside was calm and assured. "Come in!"
He slid back the heavy bolt and stepped inside, closing the door behind
him.
That much was habit. Every door in the craft was a barrier against fire
or
unwelcome gases. Turning, he saw that Master Telanis was at his desk looking
at
the latest survey chart. Facing him across the table was Master Geran.
Also
there were the four Observers who had joined them three days back. Aitrus took
a
step toward them and bowed.
"You sent for me, Guild Master?"
"I did. But if you would wait a moment, Aitrus, I must first deal with the
news
Master Geran has brought us."
Aitrus lowered his head, conscious that the Legislator- the big man,
Kedri-was
watching him closely.
"So, Geran," Telanis went on, indicating the bright red line that ran across
the
chart in front of him, "you recommend that we circumvent this area?"
The blind man nodded. "The fault itself is narrow, admittedly, but
the
surrounding rock is of low density and likely to collapse. We could cut
through
it, of course, and shore up on either side, but I'd say there is more to
come
the other side of that."
"You know that?" Kedri asked, interrupting the two.
Geran turned his blank, unseeing eyes upon the Legislator and smiled. "I do
not
know it. Master Kedri, but my instinct is that this is the mere root of a
much
larger igneous intrusion. Part of a volcanic system. Imagine the roots of
a
tree. So such things are. As excavators, we try hard to avoid
such
instabilities. We look for hard, intact rock. Rock we have no need to
support."
Kedri looked puzzled at that. "But I thought it was your practice to
support
everything?"
Telanis answered him. "We do. Guild Master. As I said, we are very thorough.
But
if it is as Master Geran says-and long experience would tend to bear him
out-we
would do well to drill sideways a way before continuing our ascent. After
all,
why go courting trouble?"
"So how long will this ... detour take?"
Telanis smiled pleasantly. "A week. Maybe two."
Kedri looked far from pleased, yet he said nothing. Relieved, Telanis looked
to
Geran once more.
"In the circumstances I approve your recommendation, Master Geran. We shall
move
back and across. Arrange the survey at once."
Geran smiled. "I shall do it myself. Guild Master."
When Geran was gone, Telanis looked across at Aitrus.
"Aitrus, step forward."
Aitrus crossed the narrow cabin, taking the place Geran had just vacated.
"Yes,
Guild Master?"
"I want you to place yourself at Guild Master Kedri's disposal for the
next
eleven days. I want you to show him how things work and explain to him just
what
we are doing. And if there's anything you yourself are uncertain of, you
will
ask someone who dots know. Understand me?"
Surprised, Aitrus nodded. "Yes, Guild Master." Then, hesitantly. "And
my
experiments, Guild Master?"
Telanis looked to Kedri. "That depends upon Master Kedri. If he permits, I
see
no reason why you should not continue with them."
Kedri turned to Aitrus. "Experiments, Guildsman?"
Aitrus looked down, knowing suddenly that he ought not to have mentioned
them.
"It does not matter, Master."
"No, Aitrus. I am interested. What experiments are these?"
Aitrus looked up shyly. "I am studying volcanic rocks, Master. I wish
to
understand all I can about their nature and formation."
Kedri seemed impressed. "A most worthy task, young Aitrus. Perhaps you would
be
kind enough to show me these experiments?"
Aitrus looked to Telanis, hoping his Master would somehow get him off the
hook,
but Telanis was staring at the multilayered chart Geran had given him,
flipping
from page to page and frowning.
Aitrus met Kedri's eyes again, noting how keenly the other watched him. "As
you
wish, Guild Master."
* * *
The cavern in which they rested was a perfect sphere, or would have been but
for
the platform on which the two excavators lay. The craft were long and
sinuous,
like huge, segmented worms, their tough exteriors kept buffed and polished
when
they were not burrowing in the rock.
Metal ladders went down beneath the gridwork platform to a second,
smaller
platform to which the junior members of the expedition had had their
quarters
temporarily removed to make way for their guests. It was to here, after a
long,
exhausting day of explanations, that Aitrus returned, long after most of
his
colleagues had retired.
There were thirty-six of them in all, none older than thirty_all of
them
graduates of the Academy; young guilds-men who had volunteered for
this
expedition Some had given up and been replaced along the way, but more than
two
-thirds of the original crews remained
Two years, four months, Aitrus thought as he sat on the edge of his bedroll
and
began to pull off his boots. It was a long time to be away from home He
could
have gone home, of course-Master Telanis would have given him leave if he
had
asked-but that would have seemed like cheating, somehow. No, an expedition
was
not really an expedition if one could go home whenever one wished
Even as he kicked his other boot off, he felt the sudden telltale vibration
in
the platform, followed an instant or two later by a low, almost
inaudible
rumble. A Messenger was coming'
The expedition had cut its way through several miles of rock, up from one of
the
smaller, outermost caverns of D'ni. They could, of course, have gone
up
vertically, like a mine shaft, but so direct a route into D'ni was thought
not
merely inadvisable but dangerous The preferred scheme-the scheme the Council
had
eventually agreed upon-was a far more indirect route, cut at a maximum of
3825
torans-22032 degrees-from the horizontal One that could be walked
One that could also be sealed oi-fwith gates and defended.
The rumbling grew, slowly but steadily. You could hear the sound of the
turbine
engines now.
Slowly but surely they had burrowed through the rock, surveying each
one
-hundred-span section carefully before they drilled, coating the surfaces with
a
half-span thickness of special D'ni rock, more durable than marble Last, but
not
least, they fitted heavy stone brackets into the ceiling of each
section
-brackets that carried air from the pumping stations back in D'ni.
Between each straight-line section was one of these spherical
"nodes"-these
resting places where they could carry on experiments while Master Geran and
his
assistants charted the next stage of their journey through the earth-each
node
fitted with an airtight gate that could be sealed in an instant.
The rumbling grew to a roar. For a moment the sound of it filled the node,
then
the engines cut out and there was the downward whine of the turbines as
the
Messenger slowed.
Aitrus turned and stood, watching as the metal snout of the machine emerged
from
the entry tunnel, passing through the thick collar of the node-gate, its
pilot
clearly visible through the transparent front debris shield
It was a large, tracked vehicle, its three long segments making it seem
clumsy
in comparison to the sleek excavators, but as ever Aitrus was glad to see
it,
for besides bringing them much-needed supplies-it being impossible to
"link"
supplies direct from D'ni into the tunnels-it also brought letters from home
"Aitrus? What time is it?"
摘要：

Myst:TheBookofTi'anabyRandMiller&DavidWingrovePARTONEECHOESINTHEROCKThesoundingcapsulewasembeddedintherockfacelikeagiantcrystal,itsoccupantssealedwithinthetranslucent,soundproofedcone.TheGuildMastersatfacingtheoutstretchedtipofthecone,hisrighthandrestingdelicatelyonthelongmetalshaftofthesounder,hisb...

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