（外文电子版资料）Tanith Lee - In the City of Dead Night.pdf

file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswijk/Mijn%20do.../spaar/Tanith%20Lee%20-%20In%20the%20City%20of%20Dead%20Night.txt TANITH LEE IN THE CITY OF DEAD NIGHT Her new story for us merges traditional elements of both science fiction and fantasy into a rich and evocative blend. WE ENTERED THE CITY IN the hour after the first sunset. It was twilight. Thick bluish dusk, like smoke, rose from the ground. Out of this, the cliffs of buildings towered to touch the luminous sky, that was, and would stay, too bright for any but the fiercest stars to show. Night could never come here. Here, night was done with. Dont be so awed by this, said Hassent. I looked at him No? No. Its an old city, partly destroyed by aerial action, partly ruinous. And after sunfall it lies between two suns, the second and smaller of which will rise in three hours. Thats all. The facts. Really. He smiled. Oddly, in the half-dark, his own darkness was paler. Well, what would you say then, Aira? There werent always two suns. True. And? Once there used to be night. But now there isnt, only twilight. Just perfect for scum like us to burgle in. Why did we have this discussion? To pass the time, probably, while we rested on the terrace-wall after the appalling climb up from the valley below. We had used ropes, of course, and each of us was agile as a monkey, but it still took a long while and was peril-fraught enough to satisfy even Hassents irritating taste for dangerous, arduous exercise. From the terrace, we could look down straight through into the City. A vista was carved for miles by a wide boulevard like the bed of a precisely ruled river. The strange smooth buildings, rising either side, with their pointed windows that had the shape of fingers, ended frequently in shattered tops, where the bombardment had hit them all those years ago. And obviously, there was nobody anymore to light a lamp. From the valley, if one was unaware, the City could pass for anothe