was very much alive. She was one of my very dearest friends right to the end. Which reminds me of our reason for being here ... to talk to the other fellow.Harry's voice had dropped to a low growl; it seemed to Jake that an unaccustomed darkness had crept into it, and a very uncharacteristic threat. So threatening, in fact, that in another moment his mind went into overdrive as he identified the source of his main concern, which until now had mainly been lost among the minutiae and maziness of dreaming: the fact that Harry Keogh was here to talk to someone who was dead.'The other fellow?' Jake repeated the words of his still unseen companion. 'I thought Zek was alone down here? And anyway, how can - you - we - talk - to ... ?' But by now everything was coming together that much faster, including things Jake really didn't want to think about, but which were there anyway.Like the meaning of a certain word or name: 'Necroscope'. And what the precog lan Goodly had told him about Harry: that he didn't view life and death the way others did, and his means of communication was similar to telepathy, but he had a different name for it.Like what? Like necromancy?'You're a necromancer!' Jake gasped, before he could check himself.NO!!! The incorporeal other's denial lashed him, like a cry of rage in Jake's cringing mind. Whatever else I am or may have been, I'm NOT a necromancer! Never call me that again!And now another voice out of nowhere, but sweet as a breath of fresh air to fan Jake's feverish mind. And despite that he'd never known her, still he knew her: Zek Foener!
Necromancer? Ah, no, (her voice was a sigh). Just call him Harry, and know him for a true friend. And as for this - this blessing he gave us, letting us comfort each other through the long lonely night of death - do you take it for an evil thing? Then you're mistaken. It's our one light in this eternal darkness. And you may simply call it deadspeak ...
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Korath's Story
I knew that you'd be back, Harry, Zek said. From the moment I saw you ride away on that big American motorcycle, with Penny, on your way to Starside, I always knew you'd be back. I sensed you in Nathan; it wasn't really you but ... but a like~father~like~son thing? This time it really is you. Ana you're as different from the dead now as you were from the living then.Zek, Harry answered, his deadspeak voice crestfallen now. I didn't mean to disturb you. That's the last thing I wanted.But you of all people should have known, she scolded him, however gently, however fondly, that what we do in life we continue to do in death.'And you were a class act,' Jake cut in. 'A telepath, and a good one.'She was the best, Harry told him. And apparently she still is, except it's no longer telepathy but deadspeak.
Your Ma was your spokesperson in the long ago, Harry, Zek reminded him, but it looks like I'll be taking over. The Great Majority haven't forgotten you, and I know they'll never forget your son, Nathan. But you'll appreciate that towards the end ... well, there were problems.
Problems Jake doesn't know about, Harry quickly put in. He doesn't need to know. He's having a hard time accepting some of these things as it is, and I don't want to - you know - put any additional strain on his faith in me? Also, if you're to become a spokesperson, it will be on Jake's behalf, not mine. You see, I have very little of permanence here. Already this is taking a great effort of will. As Jake takes on my work there'll be even less need for me, and my presence will become that much harder to maintain. As for Nathan, (a touch of sadness now in that ethereal voice), I've never met him. He received his ultimate awareness through me, it's true, but he was, is, and will always be his own man.'And I won't be?' said Jake anxiously.See? Said Harry, a tinge of sarcasm showing. He's one very suspicious man, this Jake Cutter.'If you're hiding things from me, how can I be otherwise?' Jake countered. 'First Ben Trask and E-Branch, and now you. So what are these problems that I don't