Darkover (Imaginary place) -- Fiction; Life on other planets -- Fiction; Science fiction
His voice hung heavy in the room, its sound a miasma in his ears. All
his sleepless, nightmare-charged brooding, all his bottled hate for
Darkover and the memories he had tried to bury, erupted into
overwrought bitterness against this too-ingratiating youngster who was
a demigod on this world and who had humiliated him, repudiated him for
the hated Jason ... for Jay, Regis had suddenly become the symbol of a
world that hated him, forced him into a false mold.
A black and rushing wind seemed to blur the room. He said hoarsely, "I
remember you all right," and took one savage, hurtling step.
The weight of the unexpected blow spun Regis around, and the next moment
Jay Allison, who had never touched another human being except with the
remote hands of healing, closed steely, murderous hands around Regis'
throat. The world thinned out into a crimson rage. There were shouting
and sudden noises, and a red-hot explosion in his brain ...
* * * * *
"You'd better drink this," Forth remarked, and I realized I was turning
a paper cup in my hands. Forth sat down, a little weakly, as I raised it
to my lips and sipped. Regis took his hand away from his throat and said
huskily, "I could use some of that, Doctor."
I put the whiskey down. "You'll do better with water until your throat
muscles are healed," I said swiftly, and went to fill a throwaway cup
for him, without thinking. Handing it to him. I stopped in sudden dismay
and my hand shook, spilling a few drops. I said hoarsely, swallowing,
"--but drink it, anyway--"
Regis got a few drops down, painfully, and said, "My own fault. The
moment I saw--Jay Allison--I knew he was a madman. I'd have stopped him
sooner only he took me by surprise."
"But--you say _him_--I'm Jay Allison," I said, and then my knees went
weak and I sat down. "What in hell is this? I'm not Jay--but I'm not
Jason, either--"
I could remember my entire life, but the focus had shifted. I still felt
the old love, the old nostalgia for the trailmen; but I also knew, with
a sure sense of identity, that I was Doctor Jason Allison, Jr., who had
abandoned mountain climbing and become a specialist in Darkovan
parasitology. Not Jay who had rejected his world; not Jason who had been
rejected by it. But then who?
Regis said quietly, "I've seen you before--once. When you knelt to the
Old One of the trailmen." With a whimsical smile he said, "As an
ignorant superstitious Darkovan, I'd say that you were a man who'd
balanced his god and daemon for once."
I looked helplessly at the young Hastur. A few seconds ago my hands had
been at his throat. Jay or Jason, maddened by self-hate and jealousy,
could disclaim responsibility for the other's acts.
I couldn't.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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