26
Hunter was nowhere, nothing. Time slid beneath him, in hills and valleys. He could sense the contours of events great and small, happening at some point in the future or in the past. Always they were far away. He was remote, alone.
The Core had changed the nature of his imprisonment. He was more aware now, but still less than conscious. He knew there was something beyond him, a vast world to explore, but he was trapped in a still tide, stretching to the border of infinity. Always the Core’s offer tempted him. Thinking of accepting the Core as his master filled him with waves of pleasure and relief. So he didn’t think about it, pushed it aside. He wished he could remember why.
He could remember some things. Images, voices that the Core chose to show him. Most of the life he had led be
