My Library

Ed closed. (Hey.) (I don’t want to …) Ed opened, vibrated heavily. (Hasn’t your friend returned?) (No, not yet. My percept was …) Ed accelerated. (I should have seen he was the type. Come on, kid.) BB vibrated. (What’s up?) Ed faded. (Your friend’s got a problem. Come on.) He turned and receded rapidly. BB followed, flickering wildly. Ed turned left and waited for BB to join him. (There. This is our big department. No rote. The real thing. Get your own rote.) BB blanked, flickered, wide open. Before him was the blue-green planet, indistinct. Around the planet were rings of haze, gigantic thick rings, of indeterminate number. Demarcation between them was vague as wisps and tendrils reached from one to the other. Except the ring nearly touching the planet itself. It appeared isolated. With this exception, the others were flowing rapidly through portals in the Entry Station. No, there was one more, on the outer edge. It came nowhere near the Station. Very thin. BB focused intently. The M Band noise was horrendous, yet not nearly so bad as it had been down on the planet itself. Moreover, as he singled out each band, his percept showed that the noise was greatest in the bands close to the planet. The farther away from the planet, the less noise. Very little was present in the outermost band. Little, but still there. BB blanked further. M Band doesn’t decline with “distance” or dimension; even the cruise TSI briefing rote had the whole story. If there was no M Band, no life. M Band with noise, still primitive, no percept, no communication worthwhile bothering with. M Band, no noise, great place to visit and gather rote, locals know where they are and what they are, easy but limited communication— but not a place to stay. Nothing. No decline of intensity, no mix, noise and M signals. It either was or was not. Must be an effect of the Intermediate Area. BB focused tightly on a band in the center, nearly fell backward with shock, closed quickly and turned in. The band was composed of forms, living forms! He opened slightly, focused, one band after