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more people, she used only her recruits to help them. Peter's people
were reduced to heckling and jeering. The new people saw them first
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r r
as troublemakers.
Perhaps that was why Peter decided to impress his followers by
helping one of them get a woman.
The woman, Allison Zeigler, had not yet found a man she liked, but
she had chosen Lilith's side over Peter's. She screamed Lilith's name
when Peter and the new man, Gregory Sebastes, stopped arguing with
her and decided to drag her off to Gregory's room.
Lilith, alone in her own room, frowned, not certain what she had
heard. Another fight?
Wearily, she put down the stack of dossiers that she had been going
through in search of a few more allies. She went out and saw the
trouble at once.
Two men holding a struggling woman between them. The trio was
prevented from reaching any of the bedrooms by Lilith's people who
stood blocking the way. And Lilith's people were prevented from
reaching the trio by several of Peter's people.
A stand-off-potentially deadly.
"What the hell is she saving herself for?" Jean was domanding. "It's
her duty to get together with someone. There aren't that many of us
left."
"It's my duty to find out where I am and how to get free," Allison
shouted. "Maybe you want to give whoever's holding us prisoner a
human baby to fool around with, but I don't!"
"We pair off!" Curt bellowed, drowning her out. "One man, one
woman. Nobody has the right to hold out. It just causes trouble."
"Trouble for who!" someone demanded.
"Who the shit are you to tell us our rights!" called someone else.
"What is she to you!" Gregory used his free hand to knock someone
away from Allison. "Get your own damn woman!"
At that moment, Allison bit him. He cursed and hit her. She screamed,
twisted her body violently. Blood streamed from her nose.
Lilith reached the crowd. "Stop," she called. "Let her go!" But her
voice was lost in the many.
"Goddammit, stop!" She shouted in a voice that surprised even her.
People near her froze, staring at her, but the group around Allison
was too involved to notice her until she reached it.
This was too familiar, too much like what Paul Titus had said and
done.
She stepped up to the knot of people surrounding Allison, too furious
to worry about their blocking her. Two of them caught her arms. She
threw them aside without ever seeing their faces. For once she did not
care what happened to them. Cavemen. Fools!
She grabbed Peter's free arm as he tried to hit her. She held the arm,
squeezed it, twisted it.
Peter screamed and fell to his knees, his grip on Allison released,
forgotten. For a moment, Lilith stared at him. He was garbage.
Human garbage. How had she made the mistake of Awakening him?
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r r
And what could she do with him now?
She threw him aside, not caring that he hit a nearby wall. The other
man, Gregory Sebastes, held his ground. Curt stood beside him,
challenging Lilith. They had seen what she had done to Peter, but they
did not seem to believe it. They let her walk up to them.
She hit Curt hard in the stomach, doubling him, toppling him.
Gregory let go of Allison and lunged at Lilith.
She hit him, catching him in midair, snapping his head back,
collapsing him to the floor unconscious.
Abruptly, all was still except for Curt's gasping and Peter's groaning-
"My arm! Oh, god, my arm!"
Lilith looked at each of Peter's people, daring them to attack, almost
wanting them to attack. But now five of them were injured, and Lilith
was untouched. Even her own people stood back from her.
"There'll be no rape here," she said evenly. She raised her voice.
"Nobody here is property. Nobody here has the right to the use of
anybody else's body. There'll be no back-to-the-Stone-Age, caveman
bullshit!" She let her voice drop to normal. "We stay human. We treat
each other like people, and we get through this like people. Anyone
who wants to be something less will have his chance in the forest.
There'll be plenty of room for him to run away and play at being an
ape."
She turned and walked back toward her room. Her body trembled
with residual anger and frustration. She did not want the others to
see her tremble. She had never come closer to losing control, killing
people.
Joseph spoke her name softly. She swung around, ready to fight, then
made herself relax as she recognized his voice. She stood looking at
him, longing to go to him, but restraining herself. What did he think
of what she had done?
"I know those guys don't deserve it," he said, "but some of them need
help. Peter's arm is broken. The others... Can you get the Oankali to
help them?"
Alarmed, she looked back at the carnage she had created. She drew a
deep breath, managed to still her trembling. Then she spoke quietly in
Oankali.
"Whoever is on watch, come in and check these people. Some of them
may be badly hurt."
"Not so badly," a disembodied voice answered in Oankali. "The ones [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]