[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
She tried to squirm loose, but was unable to move enough. She could see little other than a few sprawled
bodies in front of her. She felt the circulation below her waist being cut off. Her legs began to ache
horribly and the backpack bit cruelly into her shoulders. Fortunately, that part of the trip didn't last long.
The acceleration eased and she was able to get her legs loose and sit up.
Lyda looked around to see if any of her people were near. She saw a few, but none of the council, and
there were others she didn't recognize at all. The transport had obviously gathered in others before
landing near her camp. Her gaze strayed upward. The ceiling was only about ten feet above her head but
receded into the distance until human figures and its bland color blended together. The thing was bigger
inside than it had looked from the outside. She remembered from talking to others that none of their
journeys after being captured had lasted more than a few minutes. She waited for this one to end but it
went on and on. She hadn't been wearing a watch when captured, so she had no way of telling time until
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
she asked a woman near her.
"What does it matter? the woman said despondently. They'll just take us to someplace worse."
Lyda tried to cheer her up. Maybe not. You didn't say how long it's been since we took off."
The woman looked at her watch, then shook her wrist. It's stopped. Who cares anyway? She put her
arms across her knees and rested her head on them, hiding her face.
Lyda wondered if she dared get to her feet and try to move around. She decided to try. When she stood
up, she discarded the idea. There was simply no room, and most everyone was either sitting or laying
down, so it did give her a better vantage point. There were at least a thousand people in the bay with her,
a mixture of adults and children of all ages but again, all Caucasian.
Abruptly, she felt something different in her bones and managed to sit down again before another surge
of heavy acceleration hit her. Or maybe it's just some kind of gravity, she thought. There's no way to tell
in here. She heard voices saying something about this trip being different than the last one. Another said it
was taking longer. Both voices were strained by the forces pressing on their chests.
The sense of increased weight wasn't as hard to bear this time; she had managed to turn upon her side
before she was unable to move. After the first surge, she had thought about taking off the backpack and
holding it, but she didn't want to take a chance on being separated from it. She felt grateful that if this had
to happen, at least it came during daylight so she was wearing the pack and her light jacket; it held most
of her worldly possessions whatever world she was on now.
Another surge, a period of normal gravity, then another surge, longer this time. Wherever they were
going, Lyda thought it must be a long way off. Off? As in off the earth completely? The idea crept into
her mind and refused to go away, even after the stink of released body wastes began to distract her from
other thoughts. The smell only enhanced an urge to relieve herself. It wasn't urgent yet, but couldn't be
delayed forever, either.
A different kind of noise intruded on her senses, a rumble accompanied by a sudden jerk, as if the
transport had landed somewhere. Lyda certainly hoped so. Wherever the aliens were taking them, she
wanted the voyage to be over! While she was still occupied with this thought, the entrance they had come
through irised open along its top and sides. At the same time, a pressure of some sort swept over the
compartment, impelling everyone toward the opening.
Lyda felt it as a force pressing against her body and forcing her to her feet. The line of induced
movement was irresistible. Screams, yells and curses erupted in the packed compartment. Lyda had to
shuffle desperately in order to keep her feet; others didn't, and fell to be trampled underfoot. There was
no possibility of order, and what little chance there might have been was quickly dispelled when the mass
of humanity turned into a scared mob, struggling to make sense of their surroundings.
When Lyda was near the opening to what she thought was the outside, she saw it was merely a long,
narrow alcove and that people were being separated and shoved by unseen forces into a series of smaller
apertures. Each of these quickly took one person at a time, and shuttled them rapidly out of sight into
dark, narrow tunnels lit only by reflected light from the transport bay.
Lyda didn't try to hold back when her turn came; she knew there was nothing to be gained by resisting.
Instead, she tried to stay calm and see what she could learn. It was precious little. She couldn't see; all
she could feel was the floor and a breeze blowing past her body. It's the floor that's moving now, she
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
thought. That calculation proved right a moment later when she was dumped out into a huge construct
that looked as if it were trying to imitate a planet and doing a bad job of it. She stumbled forward several
paces, then came to a halt. The wall next to her and the floor were made of a metallic looking pinkish
brown substance with a slight give to it, like an indoor/outdoor carpet. She didn't know how large the
room was, if indeed it was a room. It seemed to stretch off into the distance forever, broken up here and
there by columns of green vegetable matter, she thought. There were also waist high trays containing
other growing things that trailed tendrils over their edges. There were boxy obstacles of various sizes
scattered throughout, looking more like storage huts than anything else. The roof was far overhead; she
wasn't able to judge the distance. The green columns appeared to taper as they went higher but she
couldn't tell immediately whether it was because they were smaller up there, or because the ceiling was
so far away.
"Move it, girl, a voice said rudely from behind her. A big hand shoved at her back.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]