Nightmare journey

Jask and the girl.
    It would have killed me if you hadn't seen it in time, she 'pathed.
    He had a neat, brief image of what it would have done to her, and the thought of Melopina dead forever struck him hard, like a blow to the chest. He turned away from them, staggered a few steps to the side of the insect corpse and vomited up his lunch.
    She 'pathed, Are you all right?
    He could not speak just yet.
    She said, “Jask? Are you all right?”
    In a few moments he 'pathed, No need to revert to speech. I want you to 'path me from now on. I'm getting tired of having no one to talk to.
    She 'pathed, Me, too.
    20
    THEY used lengths of cloth, dry grass and sturdy branches to manufacture several hand torches, which they lighted and held high overhead, inspecting the tightly laced branches and leaves that roofed them in. At first all was quiet above. But as the smoke from the torches rose and found its way through chinks in the ceiling, other spiders began to move, scuttling along the branches, visible here and there as they hurried through gaps in the foliage.
    Must be a couple dozen of them, Chaney 'pathed.
    Jask answered, And some are bigger than the one we killed.
    Tedesco's self-reproach was plainly evident, even without the intonation of his voice: I've been getting sloppy lately.
    We all overlooked the possibility, Kiera 'pathed.
    But I've spent so many more days in the Wildlands than you have, the bruin insisted, snorting through his blunt nose, growling softly at himself. I should have checked for something like this. But I was too concerned about Jask-about whether or not he would finally see the light. I worried about the wrong things, it appears.
    The spiders danced about, rustling the leaves above them.
    We're all to blame, Jask insisted. And when Tedesco could still not see it that way, he 'pathed, Right now, my hairy friend, you're forgetting something you've been trying to drum into my head for days.
    Oh?
    Jask 'pathed, As espers, we have opened ourselves completely to one another; we have become, in essence, a gestalt, a single organism whose parts maintain their individuality but whose sum is undeniably superior to and more desirable than any of its fragments. Therefore, our triumphs are to be shared by all, and our failures are the responsibility of everyone.
    A couple hours ago, Tedesco 'pathed, you were a nonbeliever. He was grinning, and there was humor implicit in his telepathic tone. Now you're spouting my own philosophy back to me as if you created it yourself.
    Grinning himself, Jask 'pathed, It came easily to you, to all of you. It came very hard to me, but now that I have it, I probably understand its implications better than any of you.
    Perhaps, Tedesco 'pathed. And you're right: This was everyone's fault, not only mine. Now let's get out of here before any more of those damn things come down to snoop around.
    They lifted camp ahead of schedule.
    21
    IN the few hours remaining before complete darkness had set in and before they were prepared to begin their trek through Boomer's Pass, Melopina taught Jask the trick of mentally generating spontaneous combustion. It was a simple enough process, once she had carefully instructed him. He had only to key his esp output to a nonverbal level, to a narrow beam of intense force, then concentrate on images of flames until, when the power was rigidly contained within that concept of conflagration, he could let it go in one deadly fireball. Melopina could initiate a flame attack in three or four seconds. Jask required half a minute, but he knew he would eventually cut that down to a more effective firing time.
    And you've already taught the others how to do this? he 'pathed.
    Yes.
    When?
    When you slept, or when you were on guard duty.
    He could not keep at least a trace of self-pity out of his tone when he 'pathed, Why did you feel it necessary to hide this from me?
    You were not one of us yet, she 'pathed.
    And now I am?
    Now you are.
    22
    IN the gypsy wagon Tedesco and Jask sat at a small table on which an antique oil lantern burned.
    Dancing shadows leaped gaily on the walls behind them.
    The minted oil gave off a pleasing aroma that had permeated every nook and cranny of the wheeled room.
    Tedesco took two books from his rucksack and placed them on the table. He looked at Jask and said, Go ahead. Open them.
    His fingers trembling. Jask drew the first book in front of him and flipped the pages. He saw photographs of alien terrain, pictures of the Earth