Pilgrimage of the Sacred and the Profane by Hideyuki Kikuchi Page B
Authors: Hideyuki Kikuchi
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out of the three men here. Why don’t you
spend some time with her? I saw her crying earlier. A girl like her doesn’t deserve
to suffer like that.”
D watched the man without saying a word. Soon he turned to face the desert. It was
an endless sea of sand. “Don’t leave this spot,” he told Lance in a low voice.
Leaving the other man behind as he nodded his agreement, the Hunter advanced about
twenty paces, and then stopped. As his face slowly scanned to his right and to his
left, there wasn’t a trace of tension on it.
“Well, there’s something wrong here, and then again there isn’t,” said a hoarse voice
that slipped from the vicinity of his left hand. “But something’s sure to happen all
right. Better be damn careful.”
At that instant, darkness hid the sky. D’s coat had fluttered out around him. As he
whipped around, his eyes found nothing. There was naught but waves of sand dunes slumbering
out in the white sunlight. Lance wasn’t there, nor was the old woman and her wagon.
Even the rocky mound was gone.
“Oh, boy,” D’s left hand moaned. “Just perfect. We’ve been hit with another psi attack.”
PSI ATTACK
CHAPTER 4
.
I
.
How strong is the attack?” D asked, not sounding at all distressed.
“As if you couldn’t tell already. Well, I’d say it’s about five thousand rigels on
the Noble scale. Enough to drive the entire population of a city mad in a millisecond.”
“The desert doesn’t pull any punches.”
“You said it,” the laughter-tinged voice concurred. Both he and the Hunter had far
more nerve than any human.
The sound of the wind died out.
D looked down at his feet; waves were lapping at them. His entire field of view was
filled by an expanse of deep blue sea. Crests broke here and there, turning the rays
of the sun into droplets of light. It looked as though the trip across it would span
thousands of miles.
“And the purpose of all this—well, I guess it’s to gauge your abilities. What are
you gonna do?”
Giving no reply to the voice’s query, D stood there. His legs then went into motion.
The waves pulled away. Before the sea could help it, the Hunter was waist-deep in
the water. The waves were sensors, and their very movements most likely served to
relay the results of this test.
“Very interesting,” the voice chortled. “So, the desert is a sea, then? Seems it’s
trying to surprise you, but we’ll see who gets a surprise.”
Even before the voice had finished speaking, the veracity of its claim became evident.
A “feeling” that certainly seemed like astonishment raced across the surface of the
sea around D. Silence shrouded the world.
“Looks like it doesn’t know quite what to make of you,” the voice said, seemingly
beside itself with joy. “It’s times like these it pays to stick around with you. So,
what move will it make?”
D supplied the answer. He was gazing at one spot in the sea. A white wake was drawing
closer at a considerable speed.
“Here it comes. There’s a shark in the water.”
Whether or not D knew what the voice was pointing out, he remained stock-still.
The range was about fifty yards. Forty yards . . . Thirty . . . Twenty . . .
The wake faded into nothingness. Whatever had been knifing through the surface must’ve
gone back underwater.
“Gotta stay on your toes. Your opponent’s only an illusion,” the voice told D. “You’ll
have to beat it with just your psyche. Carving it up won’t do you any good.”
Suddenly, the surface of the water bubbled up. The dark blue form of a fish broke
the surface as it leapt into the air. It was a streamlined behemoth, nearly twelve
feet long and weighing a good five hundred pounds. The front end had a gigantic mouth
open wide and a red gullet. The teeth were like white spearheads.
A flash of silver tore through the entire body. D ducked ever so slightly, and the
colossal fish split in two over his
spend some time with her? I saw her crying earlier. A girl like her doesn’t deserve
to suffer like that.”
D watched the man without saying a word. Soon he turned to face the desert. It was
an endless sea of sand. “Don’t leave this spot,” he told Lance in a low voice.
Leaving the other man behind as he nodded his agreement, the Hunter advanced about
twenty paces, and then stopped. As his face slowly scanned to his right and to his
left, there wasn’t a trace of tension on it.
“Well, there’s something wrong here, and then again there isn’t,” said a hoarse voice
that slipped from the vicinity of his left hand. “But something’s sure to happen all
right. Better be damn careful.”
At that instant, darkness hid the sky. D’s coat had fluttered out around him. As he
whipped around, his eyes found nothing. There was naught but waves of sand dunes slumbering
out in the white sunlight. Lance wasn’t there, nor was the old woman and her wagon.
Even the rocky mound was gone.
“Oh, boy,” D’s left hand moaned. “Just perfect. We’ve been hit with another psi attack.”
PSI ATTACK
CHAPTER 4
.
I
.
How strong is the attack?” D asked, not sounding at all distressed.
“As if you couldn’t tell already. Well, I’d say it’s about five thousand rigels on
the Noble scale. Enough to drive the entire population of a city mad in a millisecond.”
“The desert doesn’t pull any punches.”
“You said it,” the laughter-tinged voice concurred. Both he and the Hunter had far
more nerve than any human.
The sound of the wind died out.
D looked down at his feet; waves were lapping at them. His entire field of view was
filled by an expanse of deep blue sea. Crests broke here and there, turning the rays
of the sun into droplets of light. It looked as though the trip across it would span
thousands of miles.
“And the purpose of all this—well, I guess it’s to gauge your abilities. What are
you gonna do?”
Giving no reply to the voice’s query, D stood there. His legs then went into motion.
The waves pulled away. Before the sea could help it, the Hunter was waist-deep in
the water. The waves were sensors, and their very movements most likely served to
relay the results of this test.
“Very interesting,” the voice chortled. “So, the desert is a sea, then? Seems it’s
trying to surprise you, but we’ll see who gets a surprise.”
Even before the voice had finished speaking, the veracity of its claim became evident.
A “feeling” that certainly seemed like astonishment raced across the surface of the
sea around D. Silence shrouded the world.
“Looks like it doesn’t know quite what to make of you,” the voice said, seemingly
beside itself with joy. “It’s times like these it pays to stick around with you. So,
what move will it make?”
D supplied the answer. He was gazing at one spot in the sea. A white wake was drawing
closer at a considerable speed.
“Here it comes. There’s a shark in the water.”
Whether or not D knew what the voice was pointing out, he remained stock-still.
The range was about fifty yards. Forty yards . . . Thirty . . . Twenty . . .
The wake faded into nothingness. Whatever had been knifing through the surface must’ve
gone back underwater.
“Gotta stay on your toes. Your opponent’s only an illusion,” the voice told D. “You’ll
have to beat it with just your psyche. Carving it up won’t do you any good.”
Suddenly, the surface of the water bubbled up. The dark blue form of a fish broke
the surface as it leapt into the air. It was a streamlined behemoth, nearly twelve
feet long and weighing a good five hundred pounds. The front end had a gigantic mouth
open wide and a red gullet. The teeth were like white spearheads.
A flash of silver tore through the entire body. D ducked ever so slightly, and the
colossal fish split in two over his
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