Nightmare by Steven Harper Read Free Book Online Page B

has a good home here."
      "Did you rescue him from a colony ship or the dog pound?" Clara asked mildly, echoing Lizard’s unspoken thoughts. A wash of anger flashed over him and he had to struggle to stay quiet.
      "At any rate," Blanc said, brushing Clara’s comment aside, "he left Earth long before Irfan Qasad started creating Silent babies."
      "Nevertheless," Clara said firmly, "I am Silent, and when I touched him, I knew ."
      Lizard could keep quiet no longer. "Please, Mistress," he said, and both women turned their gaze on him, "what does it mean that I’m Silent?"
      "It means you’re worth a hell of a lot more than five hundred freemarks," Blanc muttered.
      "Silence is a form of telepathy, child," Clara said. "Once you’ve had proper training, you’ll be able to enter the Dream and communicate with any other Silent in the universe, no matter what species they are, what language they speak, or what planet they live on." She gestured at Mistress Blanc. "Some of the frogs on this very farm produce toxins that can be refined into drugs that aid the Silent in reaching the Dream."
      "How do you know that I’m Silent?" Lizard asked uncertainly. "I’ve never heard of it."
      "I touched you," Clara told him. "The first time two Silent touch flesh-to-flesh in the real world, it creates a weak telepathic bond. If we were both in the Dream right now, we would be able to find each other much more easily than two Silent who have never touched. That first contact also creates a physical jolt that can be very disconcerting for those who are unprepared for it. Your Silence must be very strong, dear, for it to send you to your knees like that." She paused. "Tell me, do you have dreams that are so vivid—lifelike—that when you wake up you feel like this is the dream and your dream was the real thing?"
      Lizard nodded in awe. "How did you know—?"
      "Holy mother of god," Blanc gasped. "What if I have two of them?" She tapped something on her desk and a tone chimed. "Nater, send Bell into my office immediately."
      " Yes, Mistress ." The reply came out of thin air.
      Lizard’s head swam and he desperately wanted to sit down, but it looked like no one was going to give him permission. Dreams. The Real People told stories of the Dreamtime, the place where everything began and ended. And there were all those meditations the Real People Reconstructionists did to re-learn head talk. Was it all real?
      "Who’s Bell?" Clara asked.
      "His dam. She was on the same ship. I’m wondering if she’s Silent, too."
      "It does run in families," Clara agreed.
      "But why wouldn’t the slavers have tested them for Silence already? It seems like they would have."
      "Why should they, dear? As you said, the ship was nine hundred years old, before the time of Irfan Qasad, and she was the first human Silent. Why should they spend the time and money to run a test that they thought would only come out negative?"
      A knock came at the door. There was a pause. Both women looked at Lizard, and it took him a moment to figure out that they were expecting him to answer it. Fumbling with the knob, he did so, and Bell stepped self-consciously into the room. She gave Lizard a worried look that said, What did you do?
    "Bell, come here," Blanc ordered, and Lizard’s mother approached the desk. "Clara, would you ...?"
      "Of course." Clara got her feet, long black dress rustling. "Hold still, Bell. This won’t hurt."
      Lizard wanted to cry out a warning, but Clara touched his mother’s cheek before he could do so. She stiffened and gave a little gasp. Clara nodded and went back to her chair.
      "She is Silent as well," she said, "though not as strong in it as her son."
      "All life!" Bell said, a note of fright in her voice. Lizard wanted to go to her, but didn’t know if that was allowed. He stayed where he was.
      "Well," Mistress Blanc said, getting to her feet. The holographic screen vanished. "Well, well, well. This