Fall; or, Dodge in Hell - Neal Stephenson Page 0,156

know how best to make another soul know and understand something that originated in Egdod’s head. Again he had the sense that such had been routine in the place where he and Follower had presumably abided before they had died.

He sensed that he had the power utterly to destroy the form that Follower was making for himself, should the latter become an important source of trouble. A picture flashed into his mind of a fist clutching a bright bolt, ready to hurl it down from the top of the hill. He knew not where the picture had come from. It was the natural way of things to fly apart into chaos, but some orderings had the property of not doing so, and of persisting even when less than perfect at the beginning or when damaged later. But now that Egdod had come to know as much, he, by the same token, had thoughts of how such things might be perturbed in ways from which there would be no getting better. Preferable, though, would be to convey his intentions into the confused and whirling mind of Follower without undoing him.

In the front of the Gatehouse he had made an aperture facing the street. He stood in this as the other approached. It was moving more steadily now, growing bigger and better defined, its wings more like Egdod’s and less like leaves. As Follower drew closer, Egdod withdrew into the Gatehouse, but stopped at the next threshold, where it was joined to the Palace. Follower seemed to take his meaning. He passed through the aperture into the Gatehouse and seemed to look about it. Egdod turned his back on him and walked several steps into the Palace, then turned around to see whether the other would persist in following him. Indeed, Follower approached the aperture that joined his new abode to Egdod’s. But as he had done earlier, he stopped at the threshold. Egdod extended his arm toward Follower and showed the palm of his hand, as if pushing him back. The point was taken; Follower moved two paces backward into the Gatehouse, then bent forward at the middle of his body in a gesture that Egdod somehow recognized.

Satisfied, Egdod devoted some time to building a roof on the Palace. His first efforts were not altogether satisfactory and he knew that he would be improving it for a while. When he tired of that, he caused the stone beneath the Garden to rise up through the grass in one place and make a little island. He pushed the top of this down in its center so that it would hold water. He made water well up out of the ground and fill it, and waited for it to lie still, so that it reflected the branches of the trees that grew above it. Then Egdod approached this little pool and bent over it to regard himself.

When next he entered the Palace, Egdod had a face. The face had eyes in its front so that other souls could discern, by looking on him, what he was gazing at. It had nostrils through which he could take in the air and smell it. Below that was another orifice, as yet ill formed; he sensed it ought to be there but was unclear as to its purpose. For the time being it was an oval of glowing aura. His head was wreathed in the same stuff. The head was not finished but it suited his purposes for now, and when he showed himself to Follower, the latter seemed to take close heed, and began to shape his own form in a like manner.

Matters in Town began to take shape in more or less the way that Egdod had envisioned. Souls continued to manifest themselves, perhaps one or two a day, and to develop forms by which they could be distinguished and seen. Some still chose to inhabit things such as trees that had not the power of movement, but most patterned themselves after Follower, who patterned himself after Egdod. Curious variations could be seen, but most seemed to derive comfort from having a kind of sameness with others. From the Palace Egdod could look down and see them trying to walk on their legs or fly on their wings. Some wandered up the hill, but Follower warded them off at the threshold of the Gatehouse just as Egdod had warded Follower off, and so by process of elimination they tended to end up in Town.