The Final Key: Part Two of Triad by Catherine Asaro Read Free Book Online

like dusk in the Dalvador Plains. "And mine, Husband."
    "My greetings." A deep relief setded over him. They were a balm to his eyes. "You both look well."
    "Come sit with us." Taquinil flopped back on the couch.
    "I wish I could." But he couldn't leave the holopad that was projecting his image to the Orbiter. "What did you do today?"
    "We went to City again!" Taquinil's gaze was radiant, as if he glowed from within. "The bridges float. They came to the ground and we got on them and they went up."
    "I always liked that." Eldrin's reaction to City during his first years on the Orbiter had been much like his son's. The airy towers and spires, the drifting paths, the ethereal colors—it all had a luminous beauty. They should have let someone other than Kurj name the place, though. His half-brother had many good qualities, but subtlety wasn't one of them. Kurj had christened the city "City" and the valley where they lived "Valley." Eldrin suspected that if Kurj ever sired an heir, he would name his child Son or Daughter.
    "How is your stay on Diesha going?" Dehya asked him.
    "Uneventful." Eldrin paused. "I've been practicing."
    "I miss your singing," Taquinil said. "Every night."
    Eldrin's voice caught. "I miss singing to you." Although he had continued training his voice, he was having trouble composing songs. His muse seemed to have left him, and he had lost the will to give concerts this past year.
    "We will be glad when you can come home," Dehya murmured.
    "It won't be long." Gods, how he hoped that was true. "How are you doing?" she asked.
    "All right." It wasn't true, but he didn't want to burden them with his loneliness. "I saw Althor today."
    Her voice quieted. "How is he?"
    What could he say? He's dead. "No change."
    Taquinil watched him with concern. "Did your bad dreams go away, Hoshpa?"
    "They're much better," Eldrin assured him. In truth, he had no idea when they would stop. Medicine helped, and it had helped Taquinil during the boy's attack, but Eldrin wasn't certain it was good to expose his son to its effects too often, especially now that Taquinil was fine.
    "Come to the Dyad Chair with us," Taquinil invited.
    Eldrin glanced at Dehya. "Are you going into the web?"
    She nodded. "Taquinil wanted to come. Major Faryl said he would look after him while I worked."
    Eldrin wondered how many majors had babysitting the pharaoh's heir as part of their job description. It bothered him a great deal, but what could he say? He wasn't there to look after his child. "I can meet you in the Dyad Chamber."
    "All right, love." Her face gentled. 'Ten minutes?"
    'Ten minutes, yes." It warmed him when she called him that He signed off and darkness cloaked him again. Etude, attend , he thought.
    Attending, the EI answered. Would you like me to establish a link to the Dyad Chamber in ten minutes? Yes. That would be good.
    While he waited, Eldrin tried to relax. It did little good The Dyad Chamber always unsetded him, even when he was there only as a virtual simulation. It had an eerie intelligence unlike anything else he had encountered.
    After a while, Etude thought, Your transmission is open.
    Thank you. Eldrin opened his eyes. He stood within a forest of gleaming struts. They supported a geodesic chamber that shone with synthetic starlight from a holodome far overhead. He had never understood why struts circled this chamber and propped up the walls. Simpler means of support existed. He doubted anyone knew the reason. Imperial Space Command had found the Orbiter derelict in space, a giant sphere that had been adrift for five thousand years. They had yet to fully understand what they had found, but they had learned to use it. This room's ancient apparatus waited in the center of the chamber.
    The Dyad Chair.
    Information meshes networked the Imperialate. Some were tiny; many were of moderate size; some encompassed billions of users. Anyone could access the meshes, even with just a chip in their jewelry. For more involved work, they could