Incandescence Read Online Free

tunnel wall to detour around him.
    «It must be something simple,» he declared.
    Roi paused courteously. «What must be, father?»
    «Whatever underlies it all.»
    «Of course.» Roi had no idea what he was talking about, so she could hardly dispute him.
    She hesitated, then started to move on.
    The male scrambled after her. «My name is Zak.»
    «My name is Roi.» He was exerting himself valiantly to match her pace, but she took pity on him and slowed down a little. «I work among the crops, at the garm-sharq edge.»
    Zak chirped approval. «Valuable work.»
    Roi glanced behind them. If this was some kind of recruitment ambush, his team-mates were well hidden. «What do you do?»
    «I doubt you will have heard of my task. In fact, lately I've been working alone.»
    Roi didn't ask why he remained unrecruited; he was plainly quite old, and probably in poor health. Being stranded without team-mates was an unfortunate fate for anyone, but she had no power to change that for him. She certainly couldn't recruit him into her own team, in his condition.
    «I spend a lot of time in the Calm,» Zak continued. «Near the Null Line.»
    «I see.» Resting, hoping to recover from an illness? Or perhaps being weightless too long was the cause of his weakness. «Doing what?»
    «Playing with some contraptions of mine. Trying to find something simple.»
    «I don't understand. What is it you're looking for?»
    Zak said, «I'm not sure. But I'll recognize it when I see it.»
    They continued on in silence for a while. Roi didn't mind him accompanying her; he could hardly hijack her loyalty on his own, and she was relieved to see him heading for a level more conducive to his health.
    «Do you ever wonder why we climb
up
to the Null Line from the garm and sard quarters,» Zak asked, «but
down
to it from the shomal and junub?»
    «What is there to ponder?» Roi replied, amused. «That's just the way it is.» When Zak said nothing she added defensively, «Do you really think it's surprising? Any point you name must be above some places, and below others. So why shouldn't the four quarters be half and half?»
    Zak said, «If you ascend to any other point and then continue on in the same direction, you cross between the two alternatives: the point that was originally above you is now below you. When you cross straight through the Null Line, that doesn't happen. If you go from garm to sard, the Null Line remains above you. If you go from shomal to junub, it remains below.»
    Roi was tired, but she forced herself to concentrate. She might have let the matter drop for the sake of harmony, but something about Zak provoked her to disputation.
    «At the Null Line you have no weight,» she said finally, «so there really is no up or down. That's the difference. If any other point stayed above you as you crossed through it, your weight would have to reverse suddenly, changing completely in a single step. At the Null Line it shrinks to nothing, so a change in direction is no change at all.»
    «Exactly.» Her answer was clearly no revelation to Zak, but he sounded pleased that she'd made the effort to think it through. «That still doesn't explain the particular pattern, though. I can see no logical difficulty with a far simpler situation: our weight always pointing away from the Null Line, or always pointing toward it. Nor can I see any barrier to more complex arrangements. Why the four quarters? When you circle around the Null Line, why should it be above you, then below you, then above, then below? Why not six changes of direction, or thirty-six?»
    Roi rasped annoyance. «And if it was thirty-six, you'd be asking why not four, or six.»
    «Of course I would. But I don't believe it could ever be thirty-six.»
    «You just told me you can see no reason why it shouldn't be!»
    Zak said, «I can't see the reason yet. But four is small enough to point to something simple. If it was thirty, I could believe it might be thirty-six. Because it's four, though, I