her?”
“No. But I’m pretty sure it had to do with the diskos.”
Dr. Arnay shook his head. “You just walk through these things, like going through a door?”
“More like being squeezed through a straw. Only it doesn’t hurt. At first. The problem is, most of the diskos are up in the air, and when you pop out of one, you have to brace yourself for a fall. . . .”
L IA HAD TIME TO THINK ,
I’ M FALLING . S TILL FALLING . It’s going to hurt. I —
She hit. Something inside her broke. She hit again — treetops, sun, and bright-blue sky spinning crazily, and then oblivion.
The smell of rotting leaves. Time had passed. Lia opened her eyes. A pair of yellow orbs stared back at her from inches away.
“Merp?”
Lia tried to move, to touch the cat.
Pain.
She slipped away.
A voice. A woman’s voice. Muttering in some strange language. Lia was afraid to move, afraid to open her eyes. She knew it would be bad. The pain was there, waiting, a monster in ambush.
She felt hands. Cold metal touched her spine, and suddenly her body went completely numb from the neck down.
She opened her eyes. She was looking up a steep, flat hillside. High above the top of the hill, she saw the outline of a Gate. Had she fallen so far?
A face blocked her view. A woman. Ash-gray hair, black eyes, freckled skin. The woman muttered to herself as she examined Lia.
Lia heard herself say, “Where am I?”
The woman smiled. Her teeth were small, even, and very white. “You fell. You are damaged. Do you wish to live?”
“Yes.”
Lia felt herself being lifted and carried like a baby. As the woman started to walk, Lia was better able to see the hill she had tumbled down. The flat side of the hill was green with grasses and stunted shrubs and horizontally striped with crumbling blocks of stone. It looked like an ancient, rotting staircase. Recognition hit her. This was no hill, but the ruins of the top of a pyramid. The Cydonian Pyramid? If so, she had been flung into the distant future. Somewhere beneath her were buried the paving stones of the zocalo.
They were moving through a forest along a narrow path. If this was the future, everyone she had ever known was dead and gone. . . . She remembered the cat and gasped. The woman stopped.
“Are you in pain?
“Kitten . . .” Lia said.
The woman turned so that Lia could see behind them. The little gray cat was sitting on the path, cleaning its paw.
“Your cat is with us still. I will keep him safe for you, until he is needed.” The woman did something to the thing attached to Lia’s back; a wave of comfort radiated through her body. “We do not have far to go.”
Lia felt herself slipping into a soft, timeless place.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice muddled.
“My name is Awn.”
The next time she opened her eyes, Lia saw a pair of blue feet. Blue feet? She wriggled her toes. The blue toes moved. They were
her
feet, encased in flexible blue sheathes.
Was she back home? No, this room, with its smooth beige walls, was like nothing in Romelas. She sat up. A bed. More of a cushioned platform, really. An open doorway looked out into a hallway. Lia took a quick inventory of her body. No obvious missing parts, no pain, no sign of injury. She was wearing the same silvery shift she had worn on the frustum.
A man entered the room. At least she thought it was a man. He appeared to be more machine than human. His chest area was taken up by a panel studded with red, blue, and green buttons. Variously shaped and colored items of plastic and metal ringed his waist, wrists, and gloved fingers. A small metal stud was affixed to his chin, and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of bulbous shields.
The man spoke, a rapid and incomprehensible burst of sound. As his mouth moved, the colored buttons on his chest flickered.
Lia shook her head. “I can’t understand you.”
The man tried again, speaking more slowly in what Lia recognized as an ancient dialect of
inglés.
“I am Dr.
“No. But I’m pretty sure it had to do with the diskos.”
Dr. Arnay shook his head. “You just walk through these things, like going through a door?”
“More like being squeezed through a straw. Only it doesn’t hurt. At first. The problem is, most of the diskos are up in the air, and when you pop out of one, you have to brace yourself for a fall. . . .”
L IA HAD TIME TO THINK ,
I’ M FALLING . S TILL FALLING . It’s going to hurt. I —
She hit. Something inside her broke. She hit again — treetops, sun, and bright-blue sky spinning crazily, and then oblivion.
The smell of rotting leaves. Time had passed. Lia opened her eyes. A pair of yellow orbs stared back at her from inches away.
“Merp?”
Lia tried to move, to touch the cat.
Pain.
She slipped away.
A voice. A woman’s voice. Muttering in some strange language. Lia was afraid to move, afraid to open her eyes. She knew it would be bad. The pain was there, waiting, a monster in ambush.
She felt hands. Cold metal touched her spine, and suddenly her body went completely numb from the neck down.
She opened her eyes. She was looking up a steep, flat hillside. High above the top of the hill, she saw the outline of a Gate. Had she fallen so far?
A face blocked her view. A woman. Ash-gray hair, black eyes, freckled skin. The woman muttered to herself as she examined Lia.
Lia heard herself say, “Where am I?”
The woman smiled. Her teeth were small, even, and very white. “You fell. You are damaged. Do you wish to live?”
“Yes.”
Lia felt herself being lifted and carried like a baby. As the woman started to walk, Lia was better able to see the hill she had tumbled down. The flat side of the hill was green with grasses and stunted shrubs and horizontally striped with crumbling blocks of stone. It looked like an ancient, rotting staircase. Recognition hit her. This was no hill, but the ruins of the top of a pyramid. The Cydonian Pyramid? If so, she had been flung into the distant future. Somewhere beneath her were buried the paving stones of the zocalo.
They were moving through a forest along a narrow path. If this was the future, everyone she had ever known was dead and gone. . . . She remembered the cat and gasped. The woman stopped.
“Are you in pain?
“Kitten . . .” Lia said.
The woman turned so that Lia could see behind them. The little gray cat was sitting on the path, cleaning its paw.
“Your cat is with us still. I will keep him safe for you, until he is needed.” The woman did something to the thing attached to Lia’s back; a wave of comfort radiated through her body. “We do not have far to go.”
Lia felt herself slipping into a soft, timeless place.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice muddled.
“My name is Awn.”
The next time she opened her eyes, Lia saw a pair of blue feet. Blue feet? She wriggled her toes. The blue toes moved. They were
her
feet, encased in flexible blue sheathes.
Was she back home? No, this room, with its smooth beige walls, was like nothing in Romelas. She sat up. A bed. More of a cushioned platform, really. An open doorway looked out into a hallway. Lia took a quick inventory of her body. No obvious missing parts, no pain, no sign of injury. She was wearing the same silvery shift she had worn on the frustum.
A man entered the room. At least she thought it was a man. He appeared to be more machine than human. His chest area was taken up by a panel studded with red, blue, and green buttons. Variously shaped and colored items of plastic and metal ringed his waist, wrists, and gloved fingers. A small metal stud was affixed to his chin, and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of bulbous shields.
The man spoke, a rapid and incomprehensible burst of sound. As his mouth moved, the colored buttons on his chest flickered.
Lia shook her head. “I can’t understand you.”
The man tried again, speaking more slowly in what Lia recognized as an ancient dialect of
inglés.
“I am Dr.
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