Free A Mighty Fortress by David Weber Page A

he’d just read her mind . . . not that it would have required any esoteric talent to be able to figure out exactly what she’d been thinking.
    “A little,” she admitted, nestling more comfortably against him. “It’s not something I’ve ever done before, after all.”
    “Well, I’ve only done it twice myself—once, really, if you’re talking about round trips,” Cayleb said. “On the other hand, Merlin’s done it a lot. Of course, he didn’t take me ‘out of atmosphere’ ”— the emperor pouted for a moment— “but he didn’t have as far to go then as he does this time. And if he’s confident his ‘stealth systems’ are up to the trip, I’m not going to argue with him.”
    “Very big of you, since you’re not the one making this particular trip,” she pointed out dryly.
    “No, I’m not,” he agreed. “In fact, I wish I were.” He hugged her more tightly against himself for just a moment. “Still, given that he can only fit in one passenger, I think you may actually be a better choice for this first trip than I’d be, in some ways. And I know Father Derahk says everything is just fine, that all this morning sickness is perfectly natural, but I’ll still feel better having Owl say the same thing.”
    “Me, too,” she acknowledged, then giggled just a little nervously against his shoulder. “Still, it does feel a bit strange to be talking about getting a... machine’s opinion.”
    “Just ‘strange’?” Cayleb asked softly.
    “All right,” she said after a moment, her own voice more serious, “I’ll admit it worries me a little, too. I can’t help that. I know, up here,” she raised one hand to tap her temple,” that everything the Church ever taught us is a lie. I know that, and I truly believe it. But I was still raised a daughter of Mother Church, Cayleb. Somewhere down inside, there’s that little girl reciting her catechism who can’t help being a little scared when she thinks about walking into the very lair of Shan- wei herself. I know it’s silly, but . . .”
    She let her voice trail off, and his arm tightened around her.
    “I don’t think it’s ‘silly’ at all,” he told her. “It’s been less than five months since you found out about Merlin and all the rest of it. As a matter of fact, I think that’s one reason you make a better choice than I do just now. After all, I’ve had a lot longer than you have to adjust—as much as anyone can, at least — although I’d be lying if I said I don’t still have my own worried moments. And I understand exactly what you mean. It’s not a matter of having doubts, just a matter of realizing how completely and totally you’ve broken with everything you were brought up knowing you were supposed to believe. On the other hand, I’ve found it helps to ask myself if someone like ‘the Archangel Langhorne’ is supposed to’ve been would ever have let someone like the Group of Four take over his church if he actually existed!”
    “There’s that,” Sharleyan agreed grimly.
    Cayleb was right, she thought. And as he’d said, it wasn’t that she had any doubts about the truthfulness of everything Merlin Athrawes had told them, either. On the other hand, the occasional spasms of deeply programmed anxiety she felt left her less than totally confident about how the rest of the planet Safehold’s population was going to react when the time finally came to reveal the full truth about the Church of God Awaiting. It was going to be ugly, at the very least, and deep inside, she felt sinkingly certain it would turn out to be much worse than that, in the end.
    It couldn’t be any other way, really. Not when every human being on the entire planet had been taught the same things she’d been taught. Believed the same things she’d always believed. Believed in the Holy Writ ’s version of God’s plan for Safehold, and in The Testimonies’ description of the Day of Creation. And how could they not believe those things?