World?"
There it was--the tightening of the coils around his ankles. Romel wasn't going to let anyone forget Jared had violated the Barrier taboo.
Slack was being taken on the rope. The violent tug would come later.
"I wouldn't know," he rapped out, following the last of the witnesses into the Official Grotto.
A portable caster had been set in operation and Jared, taking his place at the meeting slab, concentrated on its _clicks_ as modified by the persons in the recess. All the Elders were in their places while the witnesses were grouped off to one side.
"I believe we were listening to Survivor Metcalf," Elder Averyman said. "He was telling us what he heard."
A lean, nervous man came forward and stood beside the slab. Quite audibly, his fingers enmeshed, squirmed against one another, freed themselves and locked again.
"I couldn't catch its sound too clearly," he apologized. "I was just coming from the orchard when I heard you and the Prime Survivor shouting. I picked my impression of the thing off the echoes from your voices."
"And what did it sound like?"
"I don't know. Something about the size of a man, I suppose."
It was disconcerting the way the witness kept moving his head from side to side. He was a fuzzy-face and the rippling motion of the hair streaming down in front reminded Jared of the fluttering flesh of the Original World monster.
"Did you hear its face?" Averyman asked.
"No. I was too far away."
"What about an--uncanny sound?"
"I don't recall anything like a _silent_ sound, like some of the others heard."
Metcalf was a fuzzy-face. So was Averyman, as were two others who had testified. And not one of those four had gotten psychic impressions of a roaring silence, Jared remembered. Even in the Upper Level none of the fuzzy-faces had heard the incredible, inaudible noise made by the monsters.
Jared cleared his throat, and swallowed painfully, coughed several times and gripped his neck. He'd never felt like _this_ before.
Averyman dismissed the witness and called another.
By now, the two periods of hearings had become tedious. After all, there were really only two categories of witnesses-- those who had heard the supernatural sound and those who hadn't.
More important, as far as Jared was concerned, was the personal matter of his growing uncertainty. He wasn't so sure now that the monsters were a punishment for his defiance of the Barrier. That the horrible menace had _not_ ended with his sincere atonement could mean only one of two things: Light would accept _no_ degree of repentance, or his visit to the Original World had not, after all, aggravated the monsters.
Then he drew attentively erect as a third possibility suggested itself: Suppose he was right about Light and Darkness being _physical_ things.
Suppose, in his search for the two, he had almost uncovered a significant truth. And suppose the monsters, assuming that they were opposed to his success, were aware of how close he had come. Wouldn't they do everything possible to discourage him?"
A violent sneeze snapped his head back and elicited a reproving silence from Averyman, who had been in the middle of a question.
The new witness was a young boy whose excited account left no doubt that _he_ had heard the impossible sounds.
"And how would you describe these--sensations?" Elder Averyman completed the question.
"It was like a lot of crazy shouts that kept bouncing against my face.
And when I put my hands over my ears I kept on hearing them."
The child's head had been turned toward Averyman and Jared couldn't hear the details of his face. But suddenly it seemed vitally important that he should know the boy's characteristic expression. So he went around the slab, seized his shoulders and held him with his features fully exposed to the portable caster.
It was as he had expected--the child's eyes were wide open.
"You have something you'd like to say?" Averyman asked, not quite concealing his resentment over
There it was--the tightening of the coils around his ankles. Romel wasn't going to let anyone forget Jared had violated the Barrier taboo.
Slack was being taken on the rope. The violent tug would come later.
"I wouldn't know," he rapped out, following the last of the witnesses into the Official Grotto.
A portable caster had been set in operation and Jared, taking his place at the meeting slab, concentrated on its _clicks_ as modified by the persons in the recess. All the Elders were in their places while the witnesses were grouped off to one side.
"I believe we were listening to Survivor Metcalf," Elder Averyman said. "He was telling us what he heard."
A lean, nervous man came forward and stood beside the slab. Quite audibly, his fingers enmeshed, squirmed against one another, freed themselves and locked again.
"I couldn't catch its sound too clearly," he apologized. "I was just coming from the orchard when I heard you and the Prime Survivor shouting. I picked my impression of the thing off the echoes from your voices."
"And what did it sound like?"
"I don't know. Something about the size of a man, I suppose."
It was disconcerting the way the witness kept moving his head from side to side. He was a fuzzy-face and the rippling motion of the hair streaming down in front reminded Jared of the fluttering flesh of the Original World monster.
"Did you hear its face?" Averyman asked.
"No. I was too far away."
"What about an--uncanny sound?"
"I don't recall anything like a _silent_ sound, like some of the others heard."
Metcalf was a fuzzy-face. So was Averyman, as were two others who had testified. And not one of those four had gotten psychic impressions of a roaring silence, Jared remembered. Even in the Upper Level none of the fuzzy-faces had heard the incredible, inaudible noise made by the monsters.
Jared cleared his throat, and swallowed painfully, coughed several times and gripped his neck. He'd never felt like _this_ before.
Averyman dismissed the witness and called another.
By now, the two periods of hearings had become tedious. After all, there were really only two categories of witnesses-- those who had heard the supernatural sound and those who hadn't.
More important, as far as Jared was concerned, was the personal matter of his growing uncertainty. He wasn't so sure now that the monsters were a punishment for his defiance of the Barrier. That the horrible menace had _not_ ended with his sincere atonement could mean only one of two things: Light would accept _no_ degree of repentance, or his visit to the Original World had not, after all, aggravated the monsters.
Then he drew attentively erect as a third possibility suggested itself: Suppose he was right about Light and Darkness being _physical_ things.
Suppose, in his search for the two, he had almost uncovered a significant truth. And suppose the monsters, assuming that they were opposed to his success, were aware of how close he had come. Wouldn't they do everything possible to discourage him?"
A violent sneeze snapped his head back and elicited a reproving silence from Averyman, who had been in the middle of a question.
The new witness was a young boy whose excited account left no doubt that _he_ had heard the impossible sounds.
"And how would you describe these--sensations?" Elder Averyman completed the question.
"It was like a lot of crazy shouts that kept bouncing against my face.
And when I put my hands over my ears I kept on hearing them."
The child's head had been turned toward Averyman and Jared couldn't hear the details of his face. But suddenly it seemed vitally important that he should know the boy's characteristic expression. So he went around the slab, seized his shoulders and held him with his features fully exposed to the portable caster.
It was as he had expected--the child's eyes were wide open.
"You have something you'd like to say?" Averyman asked, not quite concealing his resentment over
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