Chapter 23 Chapter Twenty Two

Liz sat on the floor in shock, not sure what was going on.The thing, the flying thing, the thing she thought was going to attack Turk, had entered the room.For a moment of trance, she heard its voice fade to a damp drumming.Then the sound stopped completely, and Mrs. Rebuka started screaming. Liz struggled to stand up. Close the door!Dr. Duvaly snarled. But no.Not yet.She waited for Turk, who rushed in in a cloud of dust, and she slammed the door behind her, looking cautiously around for the flying thing.She thought of one summer when her parents took her to a cabin in the Adirondacks, and one night a bat flew down the chimney and fluttered about in the dark, frightening her to death.Now it seemed to be there again, remembering the feeling that at any moment something warm and alive would wrap around her hair and start to bite her.

She realized that the flapping thing had landed. Fourth Years crowd around Isaac's bed because The flying thing landed on the boy's face. The terrified boy pressed his head against the pillow.The animal (or creature, or whatever it was or should be called) covered his left cheek like a thick red wet cloth.One corner of it wraps around the hair above the temples, and the other wraps around the neck and shoulders.Isaac's muzzle was uncovered, but the thing's cold body was against his quivering lower lip.Through the transparent body of the thing, his left eye was faintly visible, while the other eye was wide open.

Mrs. Rebuka continued calling the boy's name.She reached for the thing, trying to pull it away.But Duvaly grabs her hand, don't touch it, Ana.He said. anna.Mrs. Rebuka's name was Anna.Some part of Liz's brain, calm as a fool, filed that fact away.Anna.Rebuka is also the boy's mother. We must take it off him! Gotta use something to do it, said Duvale, a glove, a stick, a piece of paper Turk ripped the pillowcase off a spare pillow and wrapped it around his right hand. How strange, Liz thought, that this flying thing would ignore Turk, her, or anyone else in the street, all of whom were easy targets, and yet it landed on Isaac without hesitation. .Does this mean something?Whatever the flying thing really is (she believes it sprang from falling dust, like the flower with the eyes, or the oddly colored pile of things the news reported about Port Magellan), could it be that it picked on Alyssa? Shaq?

Turk folded his arms towards the thing, and the others backed away from the bed.But at this time, another strange thing happened. The flying thing was gone. ☆ How did it happen?Turk said. Isaac gasped, sat up suddenly, and reached out to touch his face, which was still covered with dust just now. Lise blinked, trying to recall what happened just now.That flapping thing dissolves.At least it seems so.It suddenly becomes a liquid and evaporates in an instant.Or, no, seepage, like water from a puddle being sucked into wet soil.There was no moisture left, as if it had penetrated directly into Isaac's flesh.

She put her confusion aside for a moment. Mrs. Rebuka rushed past Turk and lunged at the boy.She sat on the bed and held him in her arms.Still panting, Isaac bent over her, put his head on her shoulder, and began to sob. Give them some space.Seeing that nothing more was going to happen, at least nothing terrible, Duvali told the others to back off.Lise stepped back and grabbed Turk's hand.His hands were covered with sweat and dust, but they were extremely reassuring.She didn't understand what had just happened, but what was happening in front of her was completely understandable: a mother comforting a frightened child.This was the first time Liz began to see Mrs. Rebuka as anything other than a dour, cold fourth-year person.At least to Mrs. Rebuka, Isaac wasn't a biological experiment.Isaac is her son.

Damn it!Turk said it again.How is the child? That remains to be seen.Su Lian.Moy and Diane.Dupre retreated to a corner of the small kitchen, talking eagerly and quietly.Dr. Duvaly watched Mrs. Rebuka cautiously from a distance.Isaac's breathing gradually became steady. He got up from Mrs. Rebuka's arms and looked around.The strange big eyes with golden spots were shining, and he hiccupped a few times. Diane.Dupre and the Martian woman stop talking.Diane said: Let me check. She was the closest thing to a doctor in the room.Mrs. Rebuka reluctantly sat Diane next to the boy and took her pulse and tapped her fingers on her chest.Doing these things, Liz guessed, is more about reassuring Isaac than diagnosing Isaac.She did, however, look closely at the left cheek and forehead where the thing had touched, and there was no obvious rash or inflammation.Finally, she checked Isaac's eyes, those strange eyes, and she didn't seem to find anything unusual.

Isaac worked up the courage to ask: Are you a doctor? Just nurses.You can call me Diane. am i okaydiane. In my opinion, you are not bad. What happened? I have no idea.There are a lot of weird things going on right before your eyes, and this is just one of them.how are you feeling? The boy paused, as if evaluating.better.he finally said. Are you not afraid? not afraid.Well, not so scared. In fact he speaks more methodically now than he has in the past few days.Can I ask you a question? The boy nodded. Last night you said you could see through walls.You said that there is a light, only you can see it.Can you still see it now?

He nodded again. Where?Can you point it out? Isaac hesitates, but he does. Turk, said Diane, do you still have your compass? In the Turk pocket was a brass-cased compass.He refused to throw it away in Minangkabau, and it made Ibudian annoyed!He took out the compass and followed Isaac's arm to the direction of the index finger. This is not unusual.Mrs. Rebuka said impatiently. He kept pointing in the same direction.Slightly northerly to the west. It's almost due west now.A little southerly, to be exact.Turk looked up, realizing that there was something strange about their expressions.how?Is it important?

☆ Halfway through the afternoon, the streets were almost back to normal.For the past few hours, nothing has grown from the falling dust.Occasionally the dust will swirl, but that may be from the wind.A gust of wind picked up and the air became hazy.The wind pushed the gray waste against the bare walls and blew away some of the fallen dust, exposing spots of asphalt. Only a few strange things survived until the next morning, and most of them, like the flower with eyes in the middle, were attacked (or rather eaten, Liz thought) by those little alive and kicking things, and the little things disappeared in a blink of an eye. gone.Some larger growths appear more complete.Lise had seen what looked like a brightly colored tumbleweed being blown and rolled in the street, apparently the husk of something that was no longer alive.There is also a hollowed-out thing made of brittle white thin tubes pasted on the building opposite the hotel, covering a signboard that originally said auto parts, and now the words are no longer visible under the white hollowed-out thing .

The relative calm drew people out of their hiding places.A few cars with big tires rumbled by, and the dust piled up was not impassable.The hotel clerk knocked on the door and asked if everyone was safe and well. He had more or less witnessed the thrilling scene in the morning.Turk said they were all fine.He ventured out again, this time with the door closed behind him and Liz at the window, hiding his anxiety.He brought back from the car enough groceries to last a few days. Mrs. Rebuka was still around Isaac, who was much more conscious and obviously not suffering.Now he was sitting on the bed, facing the west wall of the room, as if praying to some Mecca in the opposite direction.Lise could understand this repeated behavior, but still found it very weird.While Mrs. Rebuka was going to the bathroom, Liz went to the boy's bed and sat with him.

She said hello.He glanced at her quickly, then turned back to look at the wall. Lise says: What's that, Isaac? It lives underground.said the boy. Lise held back her trembling and backed away. ☆ Dr. Turk and Dr. Duvaly are discussing over a map. This is a standard folded map of terrain and sparse roads west of the mountains of Equatoria.Liz stood behind Turk's shoulder and watched him draw lines with pen and ruler.What is this doing? We're doing triangulation.Turk said. Triangulate what? Duvaly pointed to a point on the map with somewhat unnatural patience.This is the paddock where you met us, Miss Adams.We left here and walked about 320 kilometers north to get here.A dot marks Basty.We've drawn a certain location that Isaac has been sensing while he's in the paddock.A long straight line to the west.But in this place, his sense of direction seems to have changed slightly.Another long straight line, slightly non-parallel to the first.The two lines gradually approached as they passed through the vast amber-colored desert, deep into the International Mining Zone, and intersected at Rub Al Khali, a sandy mesa that encompassed the western part of Equatoria. Is this where he is pointing now? He's been pointing at it all summer, and it's gotten more urgent these past few weeks. So what is that?what's there As far as I know, nothing.There is nothing there. But he just wanted to be there. Yes.Dr. Duvaly looked past Lise to the other fourth-years.This is where we are going to take him. The fourth year women didn't speak, just stared. At last Mrs. Rebuka gave a reluctant nod of agreement. ☆ That night, everyone fell asleep except Liz.She tossed and turned on the mattress listening to the voices of other people.Whatever intractable ailments the fourth-year therapy could cure, it clearly didn't cure snoring. After a long time, in the middle of the night, she finally got up, walked over those sleeping bodies to the bathroom, and splashed warm water on her face.Instead of going back to bed, she went to the window, where Turk was sitting in a chair watching the night. I can not sleep.she whispered. Turk stared out at the street.Under the dim, dusty moonlight, there was nothing moving in the empty space like a ghost.The strange things that popped out of the falling dust didn't seem to reappear either.Finally he said: Do you want to talk? I don't want to wake people up. to the car outside.Dr. Turk and Dr. Duvali moved the car closer to the hotel room, where it was easier to monitor.We can sit in the car.It's pretty safe now. Liz hadn't left the room since she'd been here, and the idea pleased her.She was wearing the only pair of jeans and an oversized shirt she had borrowed from the fourth-year paddock.She puts her shoes on. Turk opened the door, closed it gently, and the two walked out of the house.The smell of dust intensified immediately.Sulfur, or something pungent like sulfur.Why does fallout smell like sulfur?Hypothetical intelligent biological machines grow in cold places, at least that's what Lise learned in school: distant asteroids, frozen moons of frozen planets.Is there sulfur in there?She had heard of a planet (Saturn?) that had sulfur on its moon.The solar system of the New World has one such planet, an icy radiation giant very far from the sun. The wind had died down by nightfall.The sky was hazy, but she could see a few stars.When she was very young, her father liked to point out the stars to her.He would say, stars need names!So they named the stars: Big Blue, Triangle Point, or something funny: Belinda, Grapefruit, Antelope. She got into the front seat and sat next to Turk. We have to discuss what to do next.He said. Yes, without a doubt.She said: The fourth year people are going to take Isaac west. Yeah, don't know what they are trying to achieve. They thought he could talk to hypothetical intelligent beings. Well, what is he going to say?Do humans greet you?Please stop dumping crap on us from outer space? They hope to learn something profound. you believe? I do not believe.But they believe it.At least Duvaly believed it. Fourth-years are usually pretty rational beings, but would you bet on this outcome?I dare not. That's like religion, Liz thought.You don't bet on something sacred, you just go after it with an open heart and hope it works out.But she didn't say that to Turk.So what are we going to do when they're going to the desert? He said: I intend to go with them. what would you like? But wait, it makes sense.You see the map, right?The place they were going to was three-quarters of the way to the west bank, and there was a good road from there to the sea.On the west bank, Liz, there are only fishing villages and research stations.I can take a boat and take the southern route back to Port Magellan, and then no one will be looking for me, and this whole fourth year thing is over, and the Department of Genetic Safety may have figured it out.I have enough friends in the 4th year group to maybe get a whole new ID. At this time of year, the nights in the desert are bitterly cold.The seat cushions were cold, and their words steamed on the windows.I can see a few problems. me too what's your problem? She wanted her words to sound logical.Well, dust.Even if the road is clear, even if you drive a good car, you may still stop the car, run out of gas, or have engine problems. It's an adventure, he admits, but you can plan ahead and bring tools and parts and gasoline. It's not an easy ride for fourth-years.They hoped to find something there.What if they were right?I mean, look at that flying thing chasing Isaac.Maybe he's really special, maybe he has a special attraction to, uh, whatever grows out of the fallout.If so, this could be a big problem. I've thought about that too, but haven't heard of anyone being seriously injured by those things, other than accidental injuries.Even Isaac.Whatever happened to him didn't seem to make him physically worse. It landed on his face, Turk.It seeps into his skin. But he could sit up, he didn't have a fever, and he wasn't as sick as before. If it was on your face, you wouldn't say it like that. That's the point.not me.Whatever that thing is, it doesn't want me. So we just follow along, and when they're done with Isaac, whatever that means, we keep going to the coast?This is the plan? It doesn't have to be just the two of us.There was some embarrassment in his tone, which Liz could feel even in the darkness of the car.It doesn't matter if you want to stay here, and wait for the dust to clear before driving across the pass.You have a choice, I don't.Maybe it's safer that way, objectively speaking. Objectively speaking.No doubt Turk thought he was giving her some leeway from an ill-conceived plan.He lived a life where luck could suddenly reverse and the stakes could be high.She is not.That's what he meant, and that was, of course, largely correct.But things have changed recently. I will think about it.Then she got out of the car and walked into the moonlit night, wishing she could sleep, she said. ☆ In the morning, Basty regained a little vitality.There were a few pedestrians on the street, and a few cars that were still moving began to move towards the larger cities in the south.Locals gape at the remnants of alien life, clinging to building surfaces or strewn across sidewalks like broken, once-brightly colored toys.Life reassembled, Lise thought, strange as it was.And her fragmented life was much slower to join together. People in the fourth year made a unanimous decision to buy supplies immediately.Dr. Du Valli, Su Lian.Moy, Diane.The four of Dupree and Turk went to see what else was available at the local store.Turk even said that if he was lucky, he might get a car. Liz stayed in the hotel room with Mrs. Rebuka and Isaac, hoping to get a few more hours of sleep.It backfires, as Isaac gets agitated again.Not from the flying thing that had attacked him (it passed through his mind like a nightmare), but from a new sense of urgency, a need to get to the far west, where something was going on. occur.Mrs. Rebuka asked a few probing questions.He said there was something underground, what was he referring to?But Isaac couldn't answer. He tried and tried again, but became more frustrated. So Mrs. Rebuka told him they were going west, as soon as they could.Finally Isaac accepted the comfort and fell asleep again. Mrs. Rebuka moved away from the bed and sat down in a chair.Liz pulled her chair closer. Mrs. Rebuka looked about fifty years old, and Liz had guessed older because she was a fourth year, and fourth year people looked about fifty years old and decades old.But if Isaac was her child, she couldn't be that old.What's more, Liz thought, doesn't it mean that the fourth year of life is physically impossible to conceive?So Mrs. Rebuka's pregnancy must have preceded her conversion. This question was a bit blatant, and it was not easy to ask, but Liz made up her mind to ask without asking when.How did this happen, Mrs. Rebuka?I mean, boy, how is he I mean, if it's not too personal. Mrs. Rebuka closed her eyes, tiredness written all over her face.It was exhaustion rather than a certain deep and tenacious despair.What is your question?Miss Adams.Are you asking how he was transformed, or why you were pregnant with him? Liz wanted to answer, but Mrs. Rebuka waved her off.It's a short and not particularly interesting story.My husband is a lecturer, temporarily transferred to American University.He's not a fourth year guy, but he's nice to them.If he hadn't been a devout and traditional Jew, he might have considered it too.But his religion forbade it, and he died without it.He had an aneurysm in his brain and couldn't be operated on.This therapy is the only thing that might save lives.I begged him to accept it, but he refused.I was so sad and also kind of hated him.because Because you were pregnant at the time. Yes. Does he know? By the time I was sure, the aneurysm had burst open.He lived for a few days, but had fallen into a coma. That kid is Isaac? Mrs. Rebuka closed her eyes.It was embryonic tissue that became Isaac.I know how cruel it sounds, but the thought of raising this child on my own is too much for me.I was going to have an abortion.It was Dr. Duvali who talked me out of it.He used to be one of my husband's best friends and later became a good friend of mine.He admits he's a fourth year guy.He talked to me about the controversy in the fourth year group and what it was like to be a better human being, at least in a sense.He also told me about hypothetical intelligent beings, a topic that always fascinates me.He introduced me to other people in his group.They are very supportive of me. Did they convince you to do what they wanted you to do? It's not as simple as you said.They didn't push the sell on me all the time.I like these people, I like them more than the unreformed ones.Those people came to see me out of an obligation, their constant expressions of sympathy, and their private indifference.Fourth-year people are sincere, and they say what they believe.And Avran.One of the things Duvali believes in is the possibility of communicating with hypothetical intelligent beings.He gradually convinced me that I might be able to contribute to that important work because I was unreformed and pregnant again. So you just gave him Isaac? Not Isaac!I give him the possibility of Isaac.Otherwise I would never have been able to conceive to term.She took a deep breath. To Liz's ears, the sound was like a wave receding from an ancient beach.It's a lot easier than being a fourth-year crucible.Routine injections first, followed by intrauterine injections so that the transformed baby would not be rejected by my body.I was sedated most of the time.My memory of the pregnancy process is limited.He was full term at seven months. And after that? Mrs. Rebuka looked away.Avran insisted that he be raised in a group and not by me alone.He said I'd better not get too close to the kids. Is it better for you or better for Isaac? all good.We weren't sure at the time if he would live to be a man.Isaac is an experiment, Miss Adams.Avran is protecting me from greater grief.Also, as much as I wanted to be Isaac's mother, the kid's personality was elusive.He refused to have intimate contact with anyone, and he refused to be hugged when he was a baby.He really seemed like a new species, it seemed that on the most fundamental biological level he knew he was different from us. Because you made him like this.Liz couldn't help but say. That's right.The responsibility lies entirely with us.So is sin, of course.All I can say is that hopefully his contribution to our understanding of the universe more than makes up for the ugliness he has made. Is this what you believe, or what they want you to believe? Thank you for your excuse, Miss Adams.But yes, it is what I believe.All of us believe more or less, that's why we come together.It's just that we're not like Avran.Duval is so confident, and I have to say he has so much courage.We also have doubts, of course, and there are times of regret.This is by no means a happy story, is it?I'm sure you're asking yourself how we ever even come up with something like this, let alone do it.But people can do all kinds of things, Miss Adams, even fourth year people.You have to remember this.Mrs. Rebuka closed her eyes.Now I'm tired, and I have nothing else to say. ☆ The others came back with food, bottled water, spare parts, and (miraculously) a second vehicle (another utility vehicle with big tires), which Turk said paid an inflated price to a Bought from a shady local car dealer.Fourth year people carry more cash with them than normal, or they know better when cash is no longer useful. She helped Turk load the supplies into the car.There was an easy jauntiness to his movements, a detached presence, and it was a pleasure to work with him without thinking about Mrs. Rebuka, Isaac, or Dr. Duval, or what was going on at Rube Alcari's. So do you want to come with us, he finally asked, or wait for the bus back to Port Magellan? She didn't give him an answer.He doesn't deserve it. Because, of course, she wanted to go with him.Step into the unknown, or where the missing end up, wherever that is.