Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg Read Free Book Online

injections of metabolase that permitted it to survive. To the rear of the altar was a full-sized hologram of Simeon Krug, facing forward. The walls of the chapel were decorated with the triplets of the RNA genetic code, inscribed in infinite reduplication from floor to summit:
     
    AAA - AAG - AAC - AAU
    AGA - AGO - AGO - AGU
    ACA - ACQ - ACC - ACU
    AUA - AUG - AUC - AUU
    GAA - GAG - GAC - GAU
    GGA - GGG - GGC - GGU
    GCA - GCG - GCC - GCU
    GUA - GUG - GUC - GUU
    CAA - CAG - CAC - CAU
    CGA - CGG - CGC - CGU
    CCA - CCG - CCC - CCU
    CUA - CUG - CUC - CUU
    UAA - UAG - UAC - UAU
    UGA - UGG - UGC - UGU
    UCA - UCG - UCC - UCU
    UUA - UUG - UUC - UUU
     
    “Put him on the altar,” Watchman said. “Then go out.”
    The stretcher-bearers obeyed. When he was alone with the dying beta, Watchman said, “I am a Preserver and I am qualified to be your guide on your journey to Krug. Repeat after me as clearly as you can: Krug brings us into the world and to Krug we return.”
    “Krug brings us into the world and to Krug we return.”
    “Krug is our Creator and our Protector and our Deliverer.”
    “Krug is our Creator and our Protector and our Deliverer.”
    “Krug, we beseech Thee to lead us toward the light.”
    “Krug, we beseech Thee to lead us toward the light.”
    “And to lift the Children of the Vat to the level of the Children of the Womb.”
    “And to lift the Children of the Vat to the level of the Children of the Womb.”
    “And to lead us to our rightful place—”
    “And to lead us to our rightful place—”
    “—beside our brothers and sisters of the flesh.”
    “—beside our brothers and sisters of the flesh.”
    “Krug our Maker, Krug our Preserver, Krug our Master, receive me back into the Vat.”
    “Krug our Maker, Krug our Preserver, Krug our Master, receive me back into the Vat.”
    “And grant redemption to those who come after me—”
    “And grant redemption to those who come after me—”
    “In that day when Womb and Vat and Vat and Womb are one.”
    “In that day when Womb and Vat and Vat and Womb are one.”
    “Praise be to Krug.”
    “Praise be to Krug.”
    “Glory be to Krug.”
    “Glory be to Krug.”
    “AAA AAG AAC AAU be to Krug.”
    “AAA AAG AAC AAU be to Krug.”
    “AGA AGG AGC AGU be to Krug.”
    “AGA AGG AGC—” Caliban Driller faltered. “The chill is in my breast,” he murmured. “I can’t—I can’t—”
    “Finish the sequence. Krug awaits you.”
    “—AGU be to Krug.”
    “ACA ACG ACC ACU be to Krug.”
    The beta’s fingertips dug into the yielding flesh of the altar. The tone of his skin had deepened in the past few minutes from crimson to something close to violet. His eyeballs rolled. His lips curled back.
    “Krug awaits you,” Watchman said fiercely. “Do the sequence!”
    “Can’t—speak—can’t—breathe—”
    “Listen to me, then. Just listen. Make the codons in your mind as I say them. AUA AUG AUC AUU be to Krug. GAA GAG GAC GAU be to Krug. GGA GGG—”
    Desperately Watchman went down the rows of the genetic ritual as he knelt next to the altar. With each group of codons he rotated his body in the prescribed double helix, the proper motion for the last rites. Caliban Driller’s life ebbed swiftly. Toward the end, Watchman pulled a tie-line from his tunic, jacked one end into the input in his forearm and the other into Driller’s, and pumped energy into the shattered beta to keep him going until all the RNA triplets had been named. Then, only then, when he was certain that he had sent Caliban Driller’s soul to Krug, did Watchman unjack, arise, murmur a brief prayer on his own behalf, and summon a team of gammas to haul the body away for disposal. Tense, drained, yet jubilant over the redemption of Caliban Driller, he left the chapel and headed back toward the control center. Halfway there his way was blocked by a figure of his own height—another alpha. That seemed strange. Watchman’s shift would not be over for some hours yet;