Christopher Hinz - The Paratwa (Book Three of the Paratwa Saga)

The Paratwa

Christopher Hinz

AN [e - reads] BOOK
New York, New York

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, scanning or any information storage retrieval system, without explicit permission in writing from the Author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locals or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright 1990 by Christopher Hinz
First e-reads publication 2003
www.e-reads.com
ISBN 1-5858-6945-7

Im to become the tway of a Paratwa! Thats why I possess a fetally modified neuromuscular system, why Im a genejob! Thats why you brought me here! Thats why youve been manipulating my entire life!
Susan and Gillian. Two halves of a restored Paratwa.
Madness!
She shook her head. No, Iwontpermitittohappen. She felt a sense of control returning to her. Deactivating the flash daggers, she nested them back in their pockets.
I wont allow it to happen, she announced, knowing that he could somehow hear her words. You brought me back to life, Timmy. I thank you for that. But now that you have done so, I wont permit you to rob me of my true consciousness.
She wondered if she had any choice in the matter.

This one is for Earl
Hinz and Pam Reynolds

Other works by Christopher Hinz
also available in e-reads editions
LIEGEKILLER
ASH OCK

The
ASH OCK
The Sphere of the Royal Caste

from The Rigors, by Meridian

It was the time of our emergence. It was the time of the first coming, when the Earth was still vital and the Ash Ock were fresh as todays memory; in retrospect, a fragile era, but one where life itself seemed aglow with all manner of possibility, where we Paratwa felt destined to rule the Earth, to rule the stars. It was a time when each of us sizzled under the spell of our own unique simultaneities, relishing the genetic fates that had cast our souls into two bodies instead of one. It was a time when our binary spirits seemed molded by the essence of some primordial ubiquity, our bodies glazed to perfection, our minds burnished by the hands of an immortal poet.
ItwasatimeoftheAshOck,theRoyal Caste thosefiveuniquecreationswhosesphereofinfluenceexplodedoutwardfromthatsecretjunglecomplexdeepintheBrazilianrainforest,envelopingtheworld,unitingus,directingourdisparateParatwabreedsintoaswarmofbinaryelegancethat,forthosebrieffragileyears,seemedunstoppable.
Itwasatimeofinnocence.Itwasatimethatcouldnotlast.
SomeofusbegantoperceivetheunderlyingdynamicsofAshOckpower,tocomprehendtheirsubtlemanipulations,tohearthedistinctivegrowlsoffiveexquisitemotorsbeneathfiveexquisitehoods.ThemirrorthattheAshOckhadheldbeforeeachofus,whichhadreflectedonlyourvirtues,splinteredundertheroarofthoseengines;ourworshipoftheirgodlikeprowessyieldedtomereadmiration,appreciativeyettemperedbytheknowledgethatthoseoftheRoyal Casteremainedmortal,despitetheirincrediblemagic.Andthatmagic,partiallyswollenbyour ownneed,anddesires,gavebirthtoachildswaddledintherobesofscientificsuperiority.Thepoetdeparted,nevertoreturn.
Itwasatimeofterriblebetrayal.
AstheStarEdgefleet undertheclandestineguidanceofTheophrastus preparedtoescapefromanEarthdrowningunderthefuryoftheApocalypse,someofusbegantolearntherealsecretsoftheAshOck.Andthatjuncturemarkedthebeginningofacynicismthatspreadthroughourrankswiththeswiftnessofabiologicalplague.BythetimetheStarEdgefleethadclearedtheboundariesofthesolarsystem,SapphoandTheophrastuswerealmostfacedwithopenrevolt,formanyoftheParatwahadtroubleadjustingtotheindignityoftheseultimatetruths.
ButAshOckpatiencehelpedallofuspersevere.Thecrisispassed.Anevengreatervistaofconceptualizationwasnowopentous,andwewereinvitedtoperceivetheuniversefromnewanddizzyingheights.Mostofuslostourcynicism.Thosefewwhodidnotkepttheirdoubtstothemselves.
Theophrastusproclaimed: Never forget that you represent the vanguard of the second coming.
And never forget that you serve the true Paratwa, Sapphoadded. Your lives now intertwine with the destiny of the chosen.
Historytextsweresubtlyaltered;therolesoftheotherthreeAshOck Codrus,Aristotle,andEmpedocles werelessenedtothoseofsupportingplayers.
CodruswasreallythefirstoftheRoyal CastetofallfromAshOck