Dawn Forrest [WeresRus] Alphas' Prize [Siren Menage Amour] (pdf)
L J Smith NightWorld 00 Black Dawn
Butler Nancy 75 Cudowna kuracja
Leigh Lora Twelve Quickies of Christmas 04 Sarah's Seduction
Jack Kerouac On the Road
Graham Lynne Francuski kochanek
Crouch Blake Pustkowia
Atalanta Fugiens
A titokzatos erdo Margit Sandemo
Honor 06 Honor Under Siege Radclyffe
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
the floor."
"What about the one with the broken arm?"
"We'll take care of him. Shall we keep him?"
"I'd love to have you keep him. But no, leave him with us. You're
already suspected of being murderers."
"Derrick is asleep again."
"I thought so. What shall we do with Peter?"
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
"Nothing. Let him think for a while about his behavior."
"Ahajas?"
"Yes?"
Lilith drew another deep breath. "I'm surprised to realize how good it
is to hear your voice."
There was no answer. Nothing more to be said. "What did he say?"
Joseph wanted to know. "She. She said no one was seriously hurt. She
said the Oankali would take care of Peter after he's had time to think
about his behavior."
"What do we do with him until then?"
"Nothing."
"I thought they wouldn't talk to you," Gabriel said, his voice filled with
unconcealed suspicion. He and Tate and a few others had come over
to her. They stood back cautiously.
"They talk when they want to," she said. "This is an emergency so they
decided to talk."
"You knew that one, didn't you?"
She looked at Gabriel. "Yes, I knew her."
"I thought so. Your tone and the way you looked when you talked to
her.. . You relaxed more, seemed almost wistful."
"She knows 1 never wanted this job."
"Was she a friend?"
"As much as it's possible to be friends with someone of a totally
different species." She gave a humorless laugh. "It's hard enough for
human beings to be friends with each other."
Yet she did think of Ahajas as a friend-Ahajas, Dichaan, Nikanj. . . But
what was she to them? A tool? A pleasurable perversion? An accepted
member of the household? Accepted as what? Round and round. It
would have been easier not to care. Down on Earth, it would not
matter. The Oankali used her relentlessly for their own purposes, and
she worried about what they thought of her.
"How can you be this strong?" Tate demanded. "How can you do all
this?"
Lilith rubbed a hand over her face wearily. "The same way I can open
walls," she said. "The Oankali changed me a little. I'm strong. I move
fast. I heal fast. And all that is supposed to help me get as many of you
as possible through this experience and back on Earth." She looked
around. "Where's Allison?"
"Here." The woman stepped forward. She had already cleaned most of
the blood from her face and now seemed to be trying to look as though
nothing had happened. That was Allison. She would not be seen at
anything less than her best for a moment longer than necessary.
Lilith nodded. "Well, I can see you're all right."
"Yes. Thank you." Allison hesitated. "Look, I really am grateful to you
no matter what the truth turns out to be, but..."
"But?"
Allison looked down, then seemed to force herself to face Lilith again.
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
"There isn't any nice way of saying this, but I've got to ask. Are you
really human?"
Lilith stared at her, tried to raise indignation, but managed only
weariness. How many times would she have to answer that question?
And why did she bother? Would her words ease anyone's suspicions?
"This would be so goddamn much easier if I weren't human," she said.
"Think about it. If I weren't human, why the hell would I care whether
you got raped?"
She turned Once more toward her room, then stopped, turned back,
remembering. "I'm Awakening ten more people tomorrow. The final
ten."
12
There was a shuffling of people. Some avoided Lilith because they
were afraid of her-afraid she was not human, or not human enough.
Others came to her because they believed that she would win. They
did not know what that would mean, but they thought it would be
better to be with her than to have her as an enemy.
Her core group, Joseph, Tate and Gabriel, Leah and Wray did not
change. Peter's core group shifted. Victor was added. He was a strong
personality and he had been Awake longer than most people. That
encouraged a few of the newer people to follow him.
Peter himself was replaced by Curt. Peter's broken arm kept him
quiet, sullen, and usually alone in his room. Curt was brighter and
more physically impressive anyway. He would probably have led the
group from the first if he had moved a little faster.
Peter's arm remained broken, swollen, painful and useless for two
days. On the night of the second day, he was healed. He slept late,
missed breakfast, but when he awoke, his arm was no longer broken-
and he was a badly frightened man. He could not simply pass off two
days of debilitating pain as illusion or trickery. The bones of his arm
had been broken, and badly broken. Everyone who looked at it had
seen the displacement, the swelling, the discoloration. Everyone had
seen that he could not use his hand.
Now everyone saw a whole arm, undistorted, normal, and a hand that
worked easily and well. Peter's own people looked askance at him.
Following lunch on the day of his healing, Lilith told the people
carefully censored stories of her life among the Oankali. Peter did not
stay to listen. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
