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| 02. a greying watchtower: 031 | if I do not try to find the things that have always been invisible to me, such things may always remain invisible to me, and one day I may forget them completely. / And for a reason which is also invisible to me I feel that I must not, must not, must not let this happen. http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/031.html |
| 03. a secret base: 032 | As we travel across the length of the beach, along a distance greater than any I have ever imagined, several things happen over time. The wind grow stronger, and my body feels lighter, and for a while I feel as if I understand what gulls feel when they come in, flying low, across the beach at the edge... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/032.html |
| 03. a secret base: 033 | 'Tell you what,' Valentine says, 'hold off writing and just hang on til we stop. If you fall off at this speed it's going to hurt.' / And, 'Don't worry,' he says. 'We are going to a city. / 'There's just this one stop I really want to make along the way.' http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/033.html |
| 03. a secret base: 034 | Finally, a long ways away (without sight of city or road), we stop, and Valentine rebeautifies his hair. / I look outward; the sky is wide, the sea empty. It has been like this ever since we left the watchtower behind us. If I did not remember having traveled so far, I would look outward and think that... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/034.html |
| 03. a secret base: 035 | And once he tells me (once his secret becomes my secret, also) it becomes so clear that there is something over there, where I saw nothing before. / 'That's my secret base,' Valentine says. 'Nothing fancy.' / And then, with feeling, 'God I hope they still have beer.' http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/035.html |
| 03. a secret base: 036 | At Valentine's call, a ramp lets down, and we ascend. / As we ascend, Valentine says, 'By the way, this is also really important: / 'If someone asks you where you came from, or where you're going, or what you are, and you don't really want to tell them, / 'remember that you never have to tell anyone... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/036.html |
| 03. a secret base: 037 | I almost ask him, who the sand-coloured man on the white horse is. / But then I think, he is right. / I do not have to tell anyone anything, and I do not have to tell anyone everything. / At the top of the ramp, we stop, and it seems to me that for a while, we must wait, as there is no one waiting... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/037.html |
| 03. a secret base: 038 | And as soon as I think of asking that, I hear a sound far, far beneath us, a bubbly giggling of many voices saying: A customer, a customer! / And the high platform we are standing on lowers, until Valentine is able to lean over and accept their offering. / 'They hire seagulls to work the buttons on... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/038.html |
| 03. a secret base: 039 | I want to tell him that I thought I heard them speak. But then I remember that he cannot hear me speak, either. Maybe, I say aloud, addressing everyone else who might be listening -- the metal walls and pillars, the sea, the dolphins, the seagulls and the sky -- maybe it is Valentine who cannot hear? / Yes,... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/039.html |
| 03. a secret base: 040 | Who is this man who argues with Valentine? I ask. / His name is Ganymar, the dolphin says. In the war he was on one side, and Valentine was on the other. Now the war is over but they are still on opposite sides -- / 'Guys?' Valentine says. 'I'm going to travel light for a while. You mind if I leave... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/040.html |
| 03. a secret base: 041 | They dolphins say nothing in reply, and I do not know if they are speaking only to Valentine, or only to each other, or not at all. / 'Guys, seriously, I'm just going to dump it in,' Valentine says. 'It is 100% OK; it won't trouble you at all, it can only ever trouble me.' / And from a corner someone... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/041.html |
| 03. a secret base: 042 | 'Ganymar,' Valentine says, 'hey, man. How you been doing?' / 'Peachy!' Ganymar replies. 'On account of not running into you for so long. Still, an old familiar face is an old familiar face...' / (They are fighting again, the dolphins whisper. Listen to their silence.) http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/042.html |
| 03. a secret base: 043 | 'Same old, same old,' Valentine says at last. 'You know, I really hate to keep you from your business here. What's up, your horse started drinking gas or something?' / But I do not think that Ganymar intends to answer Valentine. / 'Eira,' he says. 'Is that you? Do you remember me? Juno and Law, and... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/043.html |
| 03. a secret base: 044 | 'Eira?' / I do not know if that is my name. perhaps, I think, Valentine will know, because he did not ask me what my name was. / But, turning, I cannot see Valentine any more. / Because of something Ganymar has done (I do not know what that is; I do not know so many things), I realize, I cannot see... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/044.html |
| 03. a secret base: 045 | For a moment I think that Valentine has disappeared, and in his place is something else that I do not know of. / But it passes, and once again I see only Valentine there. / 'Eira,' Ganymar says again. 'You say you don't know if you are, but I like to believe that you are Eira. Listen. / 'Take this,... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/045.html |
| 03. a secret base: 046 | 'Honestly,' Ganymar says, as Valentine continues to give no answer, 'I cannot say if you are a golem now. / 'But when you knew your name was Eira, you were a golem, like I am a golem.' / Then if we are both golems, I ask, why is it that Valentine can hear only you? / From Valentine's direction their... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/046.html |
| 03. a secret base: 047 | Make them stop, the dolphins say. The war is over and they do not have to fight any longer. / /You/ make them stop, I say. You've known them longer. / You have to, they insist. Valentine cannot hear us and Ganymar does not care to. And we think that they are fighting about you. http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/047.html |
| 03. a secret base: 048 | How do you know? I ask. / Before, when they met, they would fight because of Eira, the dolphins say. And when he died they did not fight like this any more; only with words. And now you are here again, and they are fighting with more than words again. And the birds say you look like Eira. / Who is... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/048.html |
| 03. a secret base: 049 | I look for Ganymar, but it is the dolphins who answer: Eira was a soldier when Ganymar was a soldier, and Eira was Ganymar's friend. / And Eira was Valentine's enemy and also Valentine's friend. / 'Sorry,' Valentine says. 'I know I ought to tell you but I didn't want to. But that was wrong, I know.... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/049.html |
| 03. a secret base: 050 | 'No hard feelings, man,' Valentine calls out. 'You won the war, remember?' / The motorcycle's engine is so quiet that we can still hear Ganymar's answering whisper. / 'Did we?' he asks. 'I don't remember anything that was won. Only what was lost... / 'Nobody can win a war. You can only hope to lose... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/050.html |
| 04. a space between cities: 051 | For a long time after we have left the secret base, I think about Ganymar, and his words. / I do not know what happened to the string that he wanted to give me; I think it is still with him. But I think I will not need it to remind me of what he said, at least for a while. / I remember the words Ganymar... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/051.html |
| 04. a space between cities: 052 | 'Haven't seen these in an awfully long time,' he says, as the motorcycle slows to a halt. Feels like, suddenly falling into some old fairytal--' / You shouldn't fall on things that you like, I tell him. / 'I'm OK,' he says. Perfectly OK except for sissy things like staying on bikes and standing straight.... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/052.html |
| 04. a space between cities: 053 | I cannot really see, but I think the nails in Valentine's fingertips are retractable, like the claws of a cat; and it must really hurt, and I do not know if it will ever stop hurting. I wonder why he was willing to break them off at all. / And it occurs to me that I wanted to look at his hand for a... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/053.html |
| 04. a space between cities: 054 | 'Hey, don't look so down,' Valentine says. 'Maybe when you find your city, you'll find yourself a name.' / I think I am fine whether or not I am a golem. I only want to tell Valentine: you didn't make me, /I/ found you. / But I remember the witch, telling me, 'I don't know where you came from.' / And... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/054.html |
| 04. a space between cities: 055 | I remember, when I was living in the witch's house, I never thought that it might not be real. / Now when I remember the witch and her house, it is like remembering a dream; the way I used to dream of walking through the dark. / 'OK,' Valentine says. 'I should also tell you that a lot of people may... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/055.html |
| 04. a space between cities: 056 | I wonder if the witch's house was only a dream? And the dream of walking through the dark; was that a real place I used to pass through, and have left behind? / Ever since I have started running from place to place, it seems that each passing moment quickly becomes a fainter memory than the last. / Just... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/056.html |
| 04. a space between cities: 057 | books you wish to read forever / without other people wanting to take them away from you. http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/057.html |
| 04. a space between cities: 058 | [[Valentine looks down. We see his injured fingers leaving trails of blood on the handlebars. A pair of white horses leap from a haze of smoke as Valentine brakes below.]] http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/058.html |
| 04. a space between cities: 059 | I wonder how many other secrets I have passed by, never thinking to reach out and investigate them. / How is it that sometimes these secrets reveal themselves, even if by mistake, but others need to be told to you, by someone else? Even if they were right in front of you all the time. / 'Look, I know... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/059.html |
| 04. a space between cities: 060 | 'Vin said you wouldn't come home just because we asked you,' the one on the horse says. / 'She said we'd have to brain you and drag you back.' / 'That doesn't sound very relaxing,' Valentine says. 'Did she say why I have to be dragged back home?' / 'Vin says there's something following you,' the one... http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/060.html |