“A little help from a friendly Thek would have saved us a lot of trouble, wouldn’t it?” Lunzie remarked to Sassinak, her eyes sparkling with delight at the heavyworlder’s predicament. “Will you be able to remember the proceedings?” she asked the commander.
“My memory will be clear, I assure you. Come, we are all here now. It would be impolite to keep our hosts waiting.”
With a grin, Sassinak took Aygar by the arm and strode boldly into the Thek monument. The unwilling Captain Cruss brought up the rear. The instant he passed the portal, it closed with a soft thunk.
“Cathedral” is quite appropriate, Kai thought, appraising his bizarre surroundings. The illumination of the interior enhanced that choice.
“Is Tor here?” Varian asked Kai in a subdued voice.
“I hope so,” Kai murmured, scanning the individual triangles of Thek making up the ceiling.
Thin lines of light defining the various parts of the whole abruptly closed. Yet there was no appreciable darkening.
“I think they located their ancient Thek,” Sassinak said, also speaking in a low voice. She pointed to the far side.
Kai now distinguished the outline of an object lying on the ground. It seemed to be a collection of porous shards, a dull, dark, charcoal gray rather than the usual Thek obsidian. “And if that is indeed a very ancient Thek, we ephemera’s will have to revise some favorite theories … and some jokes.”
145
Anne McCaffrey – Dinosaur Planet II – The Survivors Kai wasn’t sure her levity was appropriate, nevertheless he felt oddly reassured by her comment.
“Commander, I demand an explanation of the outrageous treatment to which I have been subjected,” Captain Cruss cried, his heavy voice reverberating so loudly that the others winced.
“Don’t be stupid, Cruss.” Sassinak pivoted on her heel to face the huge man. “You know perfectly well the Thek are a law unto themselves. And you are now subject to that law, and about to sample its justice.”
It occurred to Kai that they had inadvertently fallen into a triangular pattern themselves: Cruss at one apex, Aygar at another, himself and Varian at the third while Sassinak was at the center. That was the last observation he had time to make for the Thek began to speak.
“We have verified.” The statement was a shock to Kai, not for its content for he had assumed that was why this extraordinary meeting had been convened, but because the statement was a full sentence, and because the sound which provided the sentence seemed to move about the inner walls in syllables. “Ireta is for Thek as it has been for hundreds of millions of years. It will remain Thek.
For these reasons …”
A curious note sounded in Kai’s mind at that point, but he had control enough only to notice that Varian was similarly affected and then conscious thought was impossible as a white sound enveloped them all.
Anne McCaffrey – Dinosaur Planet II – The Survivors CHAPTER TWENTY
A groan restored Kai to his surroundings, a groan he echoed for his skull pounded with an intensity that surpassed any previous affliction. He was aware of other discomforts, a suffocating heat, of being drenched with sweat and unable to focus his eyes. These discomforts were understandable for the sun was directly over their heads. It had rained heavily and recently to judge by the fetid humidity and the rusty mud surrounding the depressed triangle of dry ground on which they reeled. Varian was clinging to Kai, blinking to focus her eyes, and Sassinak was leaning against Aygar. On the ground crouched Cruss in an attitude of such dejection that Kai felt a detached pity for the heavyworlder.
“Commander Sassinak!” Fordeliton’s glad cry roused them from their stupor. “Commander!” He rushed toward them, Lunzie and Florasse right behind him. “You’re all right? You’ve been in that conference for four-and-a-half hours!”
“Conference?” Sassinak frowned.
“Don’t expect sense from them now, Ford!” Lunzie paused to look in each face before she took Varian and Kai by the arm and gestured Ford assist his commander. “Let’s just get them out of this sun.”
“What did those Thek do?” Florasse demanded. She was looking not at Aygar but at the pathetically crumbled transporter captain.