"Philip Jose Farmer - Riverworld 4 - The Magic Labyrinth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

Egyptians had gotten to it. He'd been surprised and upset when he'd found
their bodies in the secret room. Nor had he known then that one Egyptian had
escaped and had been drowned and then translated back to The Valley until he'd
heard the survivor's story, somewhat distorted and via who knew how many
tellers? Apparently no agents had heard it until it was too late for them-to
transmit the news to the Ethicals in the tower.

What worried him now was that if Piscator had indeed been responsible for
accidentally causing the tracker to malfunction, then he might somehow bring
the Ethicals back to life. And if he did that... he, X, was done for.

He stared across the plain at the foothills covered with the long-bladed grass
and trees of various kinds and the gloriously colored blooms of the vines on
the ironwood trees and then past them to the unscalable mountains walling in
The Valley. His fear and frustration made him angry again, but he quickly used
the mental techniques to dissipate his anger. The energy, he knew, made his
skin temperature rise for a hundredth of a degree Celsius for a few seconds.
He felt somewhat relieved, though he knew that he'd be angry again. The
trouble with the technique was that it didn't dissipate the source of his
anger. He'd never be able to get rid of that, though he had appeared to do so
to his mentors.

He shaded his eyes and glanced at the sun. Within a few minutes, the stone
would vomit lightning and thunder along with the millions of others on both
banks. He moved away from the stone and put the tips of his fingers in his
ears. The noise would be deafening, and the sudden discharge still made one
jump though you knew it was coming.

The sun reached its zenith.

There was an enormous roar and flashing upward of ravening blue white-shot
electricity.

On the left bank, not the right.

The Magic Labyrinth I 5

Once before, the right-bank grailstones had failed to function.

Those on the right bank waited with apprehension and then increasing fear when
the stones failed to spout their energy for dmnertime. And when they failed
again at breakfast time, the consternation and anxiety became panic.

By the next day, the hungry people invaded the left bank en masse.

II

SECTION 2

Aboard the Not For Hire