Bradley, Marion Zimmer - Shadowgate 04 Read Free Page A

employers, and the lectures he
gave, unorthodox though they were, were a point in his favor. In the end he was
able to choose among several offers. Mindful of Nathaniel's advice to take
something as far from what he was accustomed to as possible, he turned down
offers from Columbia University and Boston College , and signed a contract with
the University of California at Berkeley .
                 The
reluctance that he felt as the date approached to leave his cozy apartment to
its new tenant convinced him more than anything else that Nathaniel had been
right; Colin needed more of a change of scene than New York had been able to give him.
He needed to make a new start, in a new place.
                 California .
                 The
silent campus — a vision in pale brick and prestressed concrete — had the ancient dreaming air
of a sun-drenched Athenian city. The highest visible point in the brilliant
Mediterranean-esque landscape that stretched before him was the
campanile/clock-tower which added its quaint Graustarkian accent to the
panorama of campus buildings that rose up beyond Sather Gate. There was no
traffic on Bancroft; the street scene was infused with that peculiar midmorning
hush that Colin MacLaren had already learned was a distinctive feature of the
San Francisco Bay Area. Only he mustn't call it the San Francisco Bay Area, Colin had also
already learned, just as he mustn't call the city across the bay Frisco. It
was " San Francisco " — everyone within a hundred
miles simply called it "the City," just as if no other city existed — and the "Bay
Area." If Colin meant to fit in here he'd do well to pick up the natives'
habits of speech as soon as possible.
                 And
he did mean to fit in here, Colin promised himself, into what pundits called
the modern Lotos-Land, the Golden State . He was through with war in
all its forms — hot war, cold war, forgotten war, undeclared war — and meant to turn his back
on everything he'd learned from that most unforgiving of all teachers. As the
gospel hymn said, he wasn't going to study war no more. Here he would shake off
the ghosts of the past.
                 Here
and now, his life would begin again.
                 Colin
stood a moment longer on Telegraph Avenue staring at the lacy wrought
iron gate of the main entrance to the University of California at Berkeley campus. Despite its placid
appearance, there was an air of expectation about the campus, the sense of
great things afoot.
                 Realizing
he was in danger of loitering, Colin shrugged and took himself across the open
space that separated him from Sather Gate. Signs informed him that something
called Sproul Plaza was under construction, to
be finished next year.
                 The
campus was enormous, stretching for miles in every direction. Within its bounds
were several stadia and athletic fields, a Greek Theater, and many of the most
brilliant minds in the arts and sciences. Though he'd been a Berkeley resident for a little over
a month, he'd been too occupied with tying up his affairs back East and
settling into his rented bungalow to take a trip over to the campus. He'd been
here last winter for a preliminary interview, but that had been in the depths
of the California winter, and it had rained
most of the time. Now he was seeing the university campus as it was meant to be
seen — a
canvas made of cement and stone for sunlight to paint upon. Though Tolman Hall — which housed the Psychology
Department — was all the way across the campus on Hearst Avenue , Colin relished the walk
through the quiet modern campus.
                 The
sleek modern buildings in concrete and pale brick that he passed oddly evoked
the air of a medieval university city while looking as if they were already at
home in the future. Few students were in sight as Colin crossed the walk.
Though Freshman Orientation began next week,