"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 04 - Kalin" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

caused men to call her witch!

She moved and a trick of the light turned her hair into a
cascade of shimmering silver, painted elfin contours on her face.
Derai!

Dumarest felt his nails dig into his palms, the sweat bead his
forehead.

"Earl!" She moved and the illusion was broken. Once again
the hair was billowing flame, the face a rounded pearl. "Earl,
what is it?"

"Nothing. You reminded me of someone, that is all."

Jealousy darkened her eyes. "A woman?"

"Yes." He opened his hands and stared at the idents on his
palms. "Someone I once knew very well. Someone whoтАФ" He took
a deep breath. "Never mind. She's been gone a long time now."

"Dead?"

"You would call it that."

He leaned back, again calm, able to stare at her with
detachment. A clairvoyant. Someone who could see into the
future. There were others with similar talents and some with
even more bizarre; among the scattered races of mankind
mutation and inbreeding had done their work, but all had one
thing in common. All seemed to have paid a physical price for
their mental abilities.

What was wrong with Kalin?
 Mentally he shrugged; time alone would tell. In the meanwhile
he could speculate on her talent. It must be like a man at sea
sailing through objects misted with uncertainty. In the distance,
looming gigantic though unclear, the mountain of death could be
seen across a lifetime. Closer, the hills of age, misfortune, birth,
illness, disasterтАФvisible for years. Then the things which could
be determined for perhaps months. Smaller events unclear
beyond a day. Trifles which had a visible range of minutes or
even seconds.

To Kalin her talent was merely an extension of her vision.

He felt the warmth of her hand resting on his own, the
strength of her fingers as she squeezed. "Earl," she said. "Come
back to me."