"Philip Jose Farmer - WOT 2 - The Gates of Creation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

ally, time, they slashed away at the rocks of flesh. And the last time he had seen his father, he
had seen the lines of hate. God alone knew how deep they were now, since it was evident that
Urizen had not ceased to hate.

As Jadawin, Wolff had returned his father's enmity. But he had not been like so many of his
brothers and sisters in trying to kill him. Wolff had just not wanted to have anything at all to
do with him. Now, he loathed him because of what he had done to innocent Chryseis. Now, he meant
to slay him.

The fabrication of a gate which would match the frequency-image of the hexaculum-entrance to
Urizen's world was automatic. Even so, it took twenty-two hours for the machines to finish the
device. By then, the planetary viewers had all reported in. Kickaha was not in their line of
sight. This did not mean that the elusive fellow was not on the planet. He could be just outside
the scope of the viewers or he could be a hundred thousand places elsewhere. The planet had even
more land area than Earth, and the viewers covered only a tiny part of it. Thus, it might be a
long long time before Kickaha was appre-hended.

Wolff decided not to waste any time. The second the matching hexaculum was finished, he went into
action. He ate a light meal and drank water, since he did not know how long he might have to do


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without either once he stepped through the gate. He armed himself with a beamer, a knife, a bow,
and a quiverful of arrows. The primi-tive weapons might seem curious arms to take along in view of
the highly technological death-dispensers he would have to face. But it was one of the ironies of
the Lords' technology that the set-ups in which they operated sometimes permitted such weapons to
be effec-tive.

Actually, he did not expect to be able to use any of his arms. He knew too well the many types of
traps the Lords had used.

"And now," Wolff said, "it must be done. There is no use waiting any longer."

He walked into the narrow space inside the matching hexaculum. Wind whistled and tore at him.
Blackness. A sense as of great hands gripping him. All in a dizzying flash.

He was standing upon grass, giant fronds at a distance from him, a blue sea close by, a red sky
above, hugging the island and the rim of the sea. There was light from every quarter of the
heavens and no sun. His clothes were still upon his body, although he had felt as if they were
being ripped off when he had gone through the gate. More-over, his weapons were still with him.

Certainly, this was not the interior of Urizen's stronghold. Or, if it were, it was the most
unconventional dwelling-place of a Lord that he had ever seen.

He turned to see the hexaculum which had received him. It was not there. Instead, a tall wide
hexagon of purplish metal rose from a broad flat boulder. He remembered now that something had
pushed him out through it and that he had had to take several steps to keep from falling. The
energy that had shoved him had caused him to pass out of it and a few paces from the boulder.