City of Time Read Free Page B

said, frowning. He had awakened
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    people before, but it had felt like an accident. He didn't know if he could wake the whole Starry.
    "Come on, then," Cati said, jumping to her feet, her tiredness forgotten.
    Owen barely had time to put the cup back on the table before she had hauled him through the gap in the bushes and out onto the path. Within minutes they were standing before a wall of rock. Cati put her hands against it and the outline of a massive door appeared, delicately carved with small, ancient-looking figures and decorations. Cati produced a tiny key and inserted it into an almost invisible lock. Silently the massive door swung open.
    Owen stared at the sleeping people. Part of him thought of the Resisters as a dream, but now that he saw them, memories came flooding back.
    "Come on," Cati said. "We'll try to wake Dr. Diamond."
    Owen nodded approvingly. If anyone would know what to do, it would be the scientist and philosopher. They slipped between the rows of sleeping people and he recognized many of them. Here and there, one of the simple beds was empty. Defending time was a dangerous business.
    Finally they came to Dr. Diamond's bed. The scientist's chest rose and fell gently as he slept, and there was an expression on his face somewhere between a smile and a frown, as though he was on the verge of solving a particularly tricky problem that had cropped up in a
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    dream. The pockets of his faded blue overalls bulged with mysterious objects.
    "Will you try?" Cati whispered. Owen nodded.
    He gently placed his hand on the man's forehead. There was a faint tingling in his fingers, but nothing more. He straightened up. A simple touch had worked before, even when he didn't know he had the power. He tried again, with the same result.
    "Call him," Cati said. "Call out his name in your mind."
    Owen bent forward again. This time he put both hands on the man's forehead and closed his eyes.
    "Dr. Diamond," he whispered, then formed the words in his mind. Dr. Diamond, Dr. Diamond . Suddenly he felt as if he was sinking in a deep well, going down into the darkness.
    "Dr. Diamond," he whispered again. Something was wrong. He felt staleness in the atmosphere, and in the spaces his mind reached out to. He found himself gasping, as if all the air had been sucked out of the Starry. He tried to detach his mind. Then, in the distance, he felt another presence. A warm presence, calling his name, groping its way toward him in the darkness.
    Owen had the feeling that another mind gripped his like two strong hands and propelled him upward, out of the darkness and into the light.
    "Owen! Owen!" It was Cati's voice. Owen came to and found himself on the floor of the Starry. He sat up and
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    shook his head, groggy. Cati's face swam into focus. She looked both anxious and relieved.
    "What happened?" he asked. "I was calling Dr. Diamond. ..."
    "And I heard you," a voice said.
    Owen looked up. Dr. Diamond was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking down at him. There was a half smile on his face.
    "Then that was you ...?" Owen said.
    "Who came and joined my mind to yours? Yes, indeed. I don't think either of us could have awoken on our own."
    "We'd better get out of here," Cati said, her eyes heavy, "before the Starry sends us all to sleep."
    "Yes," agreed the doctor, stretching. "It gets very musty in here after a year or so."
    More than musty this time , Owen thought. He watched Dr. Diamond looking carefully around the Starry, as though there was something wrong that he couldn't quite put his finger on. He was definitely worried.
    Ten minutes later they were sitting on the sofa in the Den with Dr. Diamond examining the camping stove. "Ingenious," he said. "Now, Cati, tell me everything that has happened in the past year."
    Cati went quiet. How could she explain how it had felt, autumn stretching into winter? Standing under the trees as they changed, then lying awake at night listening to the wind howling through the