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Granny looked at him. Against the black background, her ancient face and
clawlike hands appeared afloat in some black and endless sea. "That would be a
form of psychic power," she finally commented.
He forced his gaze back to her face. "What do you call it?"
"A form of precognition, the ability to see into the future."
"But isn't that what you do when you tell fortunes?"
"Not a bit. I predict from what I see of the present, Jedro."
"By reading minds?"
"Every good fortune teller is a bit of a telepath." she explained.
"Is that what you are, a telepath?"
"Gracious, you are inquisitive." She favored him with another smile.
"Are you?" he persisted. He had the frantic feeling of having to know.
"Now and then," she conceded.
Curious, he asked. "Why only now and then?"
"I don't know, Jedro. Perhaps there's a door in the mind that opens and shuts.
Who understands the human mind? I certainly don't."
He grinned. "But you know what lives in it."
"I know that." She nodded. "But you can understand the sea without being able
to swim," she added.
He weighed her words, sensing an evasion. "Can I look in the ball?"
Granny smiled. "Would you like me to tell your fortune?"
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He thought of Mr. Clement, The Tattooed Man, and the memory stone and shook
his head. He couldn't risk what she might see. "I'd just like to take a peek,"
he explained.
"Go right ahead," she invited, "but get comfortable. Gaze straight into the
ball and try not to think of anything. Keep your mind blank."
Jedro adjusted himself in the chair before riveting his attention on the ball.
His first impression was of staring into a murky sky. The crystal sphere was
bright, silvery, solid-appearing. Catching the light from the overhead lamp,
it brought the rays into a sharp focus that hurt his eyes.
But suddenly the murk appeared to dissolve; it was like gazing down into the
black pools in the Ullan Hills, glimpsing the sandy bottom through dark
waters. Concentrating, he endeavored to shut out the world around him; all
thought of Granny receded from his mind.
The hard light waned and vanished, becoming an even luminescence that pervaded
every part of the crystal sphere. He had the swift impression that by some
magic he had been transported into the vast loneliness of outer space;
his eyes beheld an awesome infinity. Silence engulfed him.
The dream returned.
It came to life in the crystal depths. As before, it unfolded scene by scene
with the stark clarity of reality. The man in the oblong box! Jedro's body
twitched and jerked and his hands shook violently. Perspiration beaded his
brow.
"What is it?" A voice, coming as if from a great distance, touched his mind.
Granny's voice! He struggled to pull himself back to conscious reality.
"What is it?" she demanded insistently. He looked into her ancient eyes,
unable to shake the vividness of the image. He felt unutterably weary.
"What is it, Jedro?" she asked more calmly.
"I s-saw something I dreamed once."
"Saw?"
"In the crystal ball."
"What did you see?"
"A man in an oblong box." He felt compelled to answer. "Perhaps it was a
coffin. He was old and pale and had long white hair. The coffin was inside a
silver ship...or I think it was a ship." He closed his eyes, still sensing the
sharpness of the imagery.
Granny leaned closer. "Was that all?"
"His eyes opened; they were clear and blue. Then he said, 'I have been
waiting.'"
"Nothing more?" she demanded. Her dark eyes focused into small glittering
points.
"I...saw stars."
"Stars?" she whispered. "Describe them, Jedro."
He told her of the big reddish disc with the four silvery spheres grouped
around it, and of the strange star with the gleaming bands encircling
it. Speaking, he heard his own words as if from afar.
"Jupiter and Saturn," commented Granny.
"What are they?"
"The two largest planets in the solar system. The sun system of the home
world," she added. "The four smaller planets were moons of Jupiter. It really
has twelve moons but perhaps you were viewing it from too great a distance to
see the others."
"Moons..." He contemplated the word wonderingly. Although Doorn had no moon,
he'd heard of the naked planet that circled Earth. "What are the bands around
the other planet, the one you called Saturn?"
"Meteoritic dust." Granny leaned closer. "What else did you see?"
"A big rock tumbling through space." He spoke reluctantly, yet with a certain
relief. Perhaps Granny could explain the meaning of the dream. The pupils of
her eyes appeared to grow sharper and sharper as he described the silver
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sphere he'd seen deep in the black rock valley, and the alien skies above. His
voice broke as he told of the faraway golden sun. Finally he ceased speaking.
"When did you first have the dream?" asked Granny.
"It was" -- he tried to remember -- "just a few weeks after I saw Mr.
Clement..." He stopped abruptly, aghast at his words.
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