[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

presence put the damper on any conversation between herself and Lars. She had
enjoyed the bantering exchanges which relieved the tedium and tension of this
highly precise work. So she felt doubly aggrieved to be denied a morning of
matching wits with Lars Dahl. They would have so little time left to enjoy
each other's company.
Therefore, it gave her a great deal of vicarious pleasure to spin out the last
final bracketings, giving Trag ample time to make his alterations on the
Conservatory program. And deliberately irritating Elder
Ampris with her persnickety manipulations. He was in a state of nervous twitch
when she and Lars tightened the last bracket.
"There!" she said on a note of intense satisfaction. "All right and tight!"
She picked up the hammer and, seized by a malicious whimsy, struck the first
note of the Beethoven motif. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ampris
start forward, one hand raised in protest, his face drained of all color. She
went up the scale, and then, positioning the hammer on the side of the crystal
shafts, descended the 44 notes in a glissando. "Clear as the proverbial bell
and not a vibration off the tune. A good installation, if I say so myself."
Killashandra slid the hammer into its space in the tool-box and brushed her
fingertips lightly together. She released the damper on the striking base of
the crystals and replaced the top. "I don't think we'll fasten it just yet.
Now, Elder Ampris, the moment of truth!"
"I would prefer that Guildmember Trag -- "
"He can't play! Doesn't even read music," Killashandra said, deliberately
misinterpreting Elder Ampris. Lars pinched her left flank, his strong fingers
nipping into the soft flesh of her waistline. She would have kicked back at
him if she could have done so unobserved. "But I suppose you would feel more
secure if he was to vet the completed installation," she added, giving Ampris
a timorous smile more consonant to someone in the thrall of subliminal
conditioning than her previous declaration.
Trag's reappearance was fortuitous.
"Just as I suspected, Elder Ampris, a loose bracket on the middle
G. I checked both manuals thoroughly."
Ampris regarded Trag with a moment's keen suspicion. "You don't play," he
said.
"No."
"Then how can you tune crystal?"
Killashandra laughed aloud. "Elder Ampris, every would-be crystal singer has
perfect and absolute pitch or they can't get into the Heptite
Guild. Guildmember Trag doesn't need to be a trained musician. Guildmaster
Lanzecki isn't either. One of the reasons I was chosen for this assignment is
because I am -- and trained in keyboard music. Now, Trag, if you will inspect
the installation?" She and Lars lifted off the cover.
Trag was not above giving Ampris a second fright for he tapped out three of
the Beethoven notes in the soprano register before altering the sequence to
random notes. Then he did each note in turn, listening until the exquisite
sound completely died before hitting the next crystal.
Page 144
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Absolutely perfect," he said, handing her the hammer.
"Now, with your permission, Elder Ampris," Killashandra began, "I
would like to use the organ keyboard." When she saw his brief hesitancy, she
added. "It would be such an honor for me and it would only be the sonics.
After last night's performance, I would be brash indeed to attempt any
embellishments."
Bowing stiffly to the inevitable, Elder Ampris gestured for her to proceed
from the loft. Not that she could have done anything to damage the actual
organ keyboard, and live, with so many security guards millimeters from her.
As she took her seat, pretending to ignore the battery of eyes and sour
expressions, she decided against any of the Beethoven pieces she remembered
from her Fuertan days. That would be risking more than her personal
satisfaction was worth. She began to power up the various systems of the
organ, allowing the electronic circuits to warm up and stabilize.
She also discarded a whimsical notion to use one of Lars's themes. She flexed
her fingers, pulled out the appropriate stops, and did a rapid dance on the
foot pedals to test their reactions.
Diplomatically she began with the opening chords of a Fuertan love song,
reminiscent of one of the folk tunes that she'd heard that first magical night
on the beach with Lars. The keyboard had an exquisitely light touch and,
knowing herself to be rather heavy handed, she tried to find the right
balance, before she began the lilting melody. Even playing softly and
delicately, she felt, rather than heard, the sound returning from the
perfect acoustics of the auditorium. The phase shield around the organ
protected her from the full response.
Playing this Festival organ was an incredible, purely musical experience as
she switched to lowest manual for the bass line. For her as a singer,
keyboards had been essential only as accompaniment, tolerated in place of
orchestra and choral augmentation. She might have been supercilious about the
Optherian contention that an organ was the ultimate instrument, but she was
willing to revise her opinion of it upward. Even the simple folk song,
embellished with color, scent and "the joy of spring," she thought
sardonically, was doubly effective as a mood setter when played on the
Optherian organ. She was sorely tempted to reach up and pull Out a few of the
stops that ringed the console.
Abruptly she changed to a dominant key and a martial air, lots of the bass
notes in a sturdy thumpy-thump, but half-way through she tired of that mood,
and found herself involved in the accompaniment to a favorite aria. Not
wishing to spoil the rich music by singing, she transferred the melodic line
to the manual she had just repaired, taking the orchestra part in the second
manual and the pedal bass. The tenor's reprise naturally followed, on the
third manual, mellower than the soprano range. From that final chord, she
found herself playing a tune, filling in with a chorded bass, and not quite
certain what tune it was when she felt someone pinch her hip. Her fingers
jerked down the keys just as she realized that it was
Lars's melody she was rehearsing. She made the slip of her fingers into the
first music that came to mind, an ancient anthem with distinct religious
overtones. She ended that in a flourish of keyboard embellishments and, with
considerable reluctance, lifted her hands and feet from the organ, swiveling
around on the seat.
Lars, being nearest, took her hand to ease her to the ground from the high [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]