"John Meaney - Sanctification (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meaney John)

hand as he knelt beside her. They held hands, squeezing painfully, as
they
watched the drugs' final effects upon Mark's body. As all in the
monastery
watched, Mark began to die. His face seemed to close in upon itself,
his
whole body to shrink. Slowly, the tension in his muscles faded and his
head began to sink forward, his torso bending until he was kneeling
with
his head on the dais. Then the final change and all of tension and all
of
life was gone from Mark's slumped body.
The smell of incense drifted through the air as the pallbearers, robed
in
white, arrived to wrap the corpse and carry it away on a ceremonial
floatpad. There was no funeral ceremony for a Saint, for they had
achieved
their Wish. As the pallbearers took their burden from the hall,
Zenshara
could not accept that she had seen Mark for the last time. Surely she
could run to his room, right now, and see him there, standing with that
smile upon his face... But she of all the people in the hall, should
know
better. For it was no longer a secret that Zenshara, too, seemed
destined
for Sainthood.
At the end of the ceremony Zenshara and Zhiang went back to Zhiang's
room,
after their legs had recovered sufficiently to walk. There would be no
lessons today. The pain in their legs was almost unbearable in its
 pleasure: the pain of being alive.
They held each other tightly, though it was Zhiang who wept more. Later
on, they made love for the first time. It was the deepest experience of
their young lives. It was an affirmation of life.

She was kneeling on the hard rich wooden floor of her study, facing the
wall. The wall was blank, all holo- and flat-displays switched off. At
her
side knelt Teacher; he could watch her expression, though she could not
turn to look at him.
"Where does the Wish live?" he asked.
"The space between matter and idea."
"When does the Wish live?"
"The time between possibility and event."
"What is this place and time?"
Zenshara: "It is reality."
There was a pause, then Teacher asked a new question, and it was not a
standard one. "What do you call this place and time?"
"I call it Hope," said Zenshara softly.