Read The Pandora Sequence: The Jesus Incident, the Lazarus Effect, the Ascension Factor for Free Online Page B

scope, focusing in on the cupped tendrils beneath the thing’s bag. All was quiet there now and, as he watched, the tendrils opened to release their catch.
    Murdoch dictated his observations into the recorder at his throat: “The big one has just dropped its catch. Whatever it is it appears to be desiccated, a large flat area of black . . . My God! It was a Hooded Dasher! The big ‘lighter had a Hooded Dasher tucked up under the bag!”
    The remains of the Dasher struck the ground in a geyser of dust.
    Now, the big ‘lighter swerved left and its rock ballast scraped the side of another large rock on the plain. Sparks flew where the rocks met and Murdoch saw a line of fire spurt upward to the ‘lighter which exploded in a flare of glowing yellow. Bits of the orange bag and a cloud of fine blue dust drifted and sailed all around.
    The explosion ignited a wild frenzy of action on the plain. The other bags dropped their captives and soared upward. The demons on the ground spread out, some dashing and leaping to catch the remnants of the exploded ‘lighter. Slower creatures such as the Spinnerets crept toward fallen rags of the orange bag.
    And when it was over, the demons sped away or burrowed into the plain as was the particular habit of each.
    Murdoch methodically described this into his recorder.
    When it was done, he scanned the plain once more. All of the ‘lighters had soared away. Not a demon remained. He shut down the observation post and signaled for a replacement to come up, then he headed back toward Lab One and the Garden. As he made his way along the more secure lighted passages, he thought about what he had seen and recorded. The visual record would go to Lewis and later to Oakes. Lewis would edit the verbal observations, adding his own comments.
    What was it I saw and recorded out there?
    Try as he might to understand the behavior of the Pandoran creatures, Murdoch could not do it.
    Lewis is right. We should just wipe them out.
    And as he thought of Lewis, Murdoch asked himself how long this most recent emergency at the Redoubt would keep the man out of touch. For all they really knew, Lewis might be dead. No one was completely immune to the threats of Pandora—not even Lewis. If Lewis were gone . . .
    Murdoch tried to imagine himself elevated to a new position of power under Oakes. The images of such a change would not form.

Chapter 8

    Gods have plans, too.
    —Morgan Oakes, The Diaries

    FOR A long time, Panille lay quietly beside Hali in the treedome, watching the plaz-filtered light draw radial beams on the air above the cedar tree. He knew Hali had been hurt by his rejection and he wondered why he did not feel guilty. He sighed. There was no sense in running away; this was the way he had to be.
    Hali spoke first, her voice low, tentative.
    “Nothing’s changed, is it?”
    “Talking about it doesn’t change it,” he said. “Why did you ask me out here—to revive our sexual debate?”
    “Couldn’t I just want to be with you for a while?”
    She was close to tears. He spoke softly to avoid hurting her even more.
    “I’m always with you, Hali.” With his left hand he lifted her right hand, pressed the tips of his fingers against the tips of her fingers. “Here. We touch, right?”
    She nodded like a child being coaxed from a tantrum.
    “Which is we and which the material of our flesh?”
    “I don’t . . .”
    He held their fingertips a few centimeters apart.
    “All the atoms between us oscillate at incredible speeds. They bump into each other and shove each other around.” He tapped the air with a fingertip, careful to keep from touching her.
    “So I touch an atom; it bumps into the next one; that one nudges another, and so on until . . .” He closed the gap and brushed her fingertips. “. . . we touch and we were never separate.”
    “Those are just words!” She pulled her hand away from him.
    “Much more than words, you know it, Med-tech Hali Ekel. We constantly exchange atoms