I've walked bef.I've walked bef..." She stopped, and collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain, clutching her side. I dropped everything and ran to her, but she looked up and said, "Don't touch me." I nodded, uncomfortable, as she took several deep breaths and slowly eased herself into a sitting position. "What happened?" I asked. "Spasm. Happens every once in while at the primary site." "You have uterine cancer?" I asked. "No, not even close. Bone cancer. In the pelvis. Already spreading." "Then what in the name of Zeus are you doing walking around out here?" "I WANT TO LIVE, IS THAT OKAY?" I was taken back by her ferocity, but I nodded and acceded her desire. She was right. "So you're going to walk, no matter how much it hurts, to the Hall." "Damn right I am." "Then let me join you. You could always use the company. Besides, it rained here last night, and it will probably rain again tonight." "You were here last night?" "No, couldn't you smell the rain, though, when you came in?" "No, I couldn't," she said. "That's not something they teach us city girls." "Where are you from?" "Los Angeles." "What did you do?" "Data entry for an air freight company." "Sounds boring," I said. She took a deep breath and rose. I again handed her her pack and she took it. "It was." We walked, silently. After a few hours, we ate lunch, refilled our canteens at a stream, and walked on until dark. At her request, we slept a good distance apart. The next day she asked me, as we hiked, "What's the Hall for?" "To make you like us." "Like?" "Well, what do you about it?" "I know that when you step into it, you get changed. According to everybody who's gone through it, you get taken apart and put back together as something else." "You mean, as someone else. You become one of the Pendorian races, with it's own language and such." "Yeah." "You want to live badly enough that you'd go through the Hall? Even if it means becoming, oh, a Tellakelvar?" "It's supposed to make in your own image. |