CHAPTER 6Sleep came reluctantly, but once it had established its sway it was slow to relinquish its domain. Dreams lingered and memories wove their fabric into new fantasies in which those long dead rose to live again. Like a fish swimming up through endless layers of lightening darkness, Nasir Kalif woke to face the tribulations of a new day.
A day of decision, he knew, for if nothing else age brought experience, and enough age brought maturity. Again he wondered at the cruel jest destiny had played on the human race: a genetic trait, which ensured that prolonged adolescence should accompany humanity to the grave. That trait was the root cause of all conflicts, of all intolerance, hatreds, and petty spites, of destructive wars, of waste, misdirected effort, and harsh judgments, of all th
