"Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman - StarShield Book 1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weis Margaret)

Be it known hereby that this translation and distribution is provided in fulfillment of requirements
under the New Worlds Contact Pact of 9211 I.C. for first contact with emerging industrial worlds тАФ
particularly Provision 972.E.815.a which requires тАШemerging sentient planetary societies . . . be gradu-
ally introduced to the realities of galactic society . . . through the use of local channels of entertainment
media . . . in order to minimize cultural shock and distress.тАЭ This document is distributed by IGNM, the
Intra-galactic News Matrix, a division of OMNET, in express compliance with those guidelines prior
to initiating direct contact.
When you want the really big picture, turn to IGNM.
IGNM: a universe of perspective you can trust.




┬й Copyright 1997 by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman / All Rights Reserved. Page 3
Prologue: Myth and Legend
Shauna-kir walked the stars.
They were her birthright. They were her home. She danced through the nebula clouds of the
galactic disks with a silent step for fear of awakening the new stars within too soon. She laughed, her
hair whipping playfully about her oval face as the gales of the quantum wave fronts destroyed civiliza-
tions, histories and ideas around her. She turned and considered them for a time, those worlds where the
passing of one reality for another had caused the life their to shudder and cry out in pain. It saddened
her, for such was her greatness that she could be sad at the passage of such a small thing.
Yet sadness was not her nature. She turned again, diving through the black holes as a swimmer
moves through water surfacing again in another time and place. Each beauty enraptured her. Each
horror contemplated to its solid depth. Until, at last, she looked deep into the eye of the galaxy and,
through its rotating singularity, saw a gem.
Black, it was, its facets becoming more and more complex with its depth until its heart was
obscured. It was the greatest of prizes and Shauna-kirтАЩs heart nearly burst for it. Not for the beauty of
the gem тАФ for gems were her specialty and the rarest and most beautiful were made by her hand. By all
accounts, this gem was not the most beautiful. Yet within its depths, this gem held another prize: a prize
which was obscured by the facets of the crystal. The prize sang to the soul of Shauna-kir for its name
was mystery and never before had Shauna-kir encountered anything that was new or hidden.
тАЬThat which is hidden compels us,тАЭ came the sleepy, deep voice over her shoulder.
Shauna-kir turned to the Void which blotted out both stars and space alike, a hole in all creation
drifting near her. She spoke to him by name.
тАЬObem-ulek, you come to us unbidden. What know you of this gem?тАЭ
The Void drifted slowly around her in a sensuous nothing, considering her yet not foolish enough
to attempt surrounding her. тАЬWhy, nothing and everything, Shauna-kir! I know only that itтАЩs worth lies
deep within it. Through itтАЩs eyes only you may experience all creation and only through itтАЩs knowledge
will you find your destiny. Sadly, all else is left a mystery,тАЭ Omeb-ulek lied the half-lie, speaking only
truth enough to satisfy his sister. тАЬFor knowledge is a mystery who are without it. Knowledge is a
prison for those who lack it. Knowledge is slavery for those who have it used against them. Does not
Kendis-dai keep you in mystery? Are you not a prisoner of his Mantle of Wisdom? Are you not a slave
to Kendis-dai before all he knows that you lack?тАЭ
Shauna-kir considered all these things for she knew that Obem-ulek was a cunning brother. Yet
the words were echoing in her heart and the desire was within her to honor Kendis-dai and not be a
slave to him. So it was that she turned from him and Chose тАФ for choice was the greatest of gifts given
to all her kin тАФ and in the choosing she dove down from the stars and into the heart of the black gem.
The sound of her crossing the boundary rippled across the cosmos.