Michael retreated from the gorge with his new companion, retracing his steps back towards the river. He thought briefly about taking one of the wolves with him for a meal, but it seemed like a bad idea with his new companion still pausing every few steps to look back for the rest of her pack. Glancing up he saw that the sun was still quite low on the horiz...
"She can hear nothing now?" "The shock will clear her mind for some time, Second of mine," the Sorceress of Abundance responded. Atreya was worried. She'd seen a lot of corporal punishment carried out, but had never seen anything so painful in her life. "Indeed," the Queen added as she looked down at the head cradled in her lap, "she hasn't her wits about...
"What -- precisely -- have we done, then?" "I don't know Imminence," the Queen replied. "It may have been a coincidence." The Goddess rolled her eyes. "Really?" The Queen of Sweetness looked aside in doubt. "No, you don't believe it either," the Goddess added, rubbing her belly subconsciously. "They found no Synergist?" The Queen shook her head. "Nor...
Of all the courses the Temple was speeding Talla through, History was the most interesting. Here were the battles, the Fighters, the deaths. Here were listed the weaknesses of the Temple, and the ways in which those who opposed the Temple had failed to bring it down. Laced into all of this, quite naturally, was Talla's scepticism. Were these true stories Ha...
The afternoon sun beat down on a throng of exhausted girls as they wearily out of the square-embossed bronze gates of Form. Relief, if nothing else, was the emotion they held in common as the sweat from a day of military training soaked through their scant white clothing. Some were relieved to have finished with the gruelling physical activity. Others were r...
When ill, Talla had been told, one was to go directly to the Offices. Physicians were always available. Illnesses were a lot simpler in the dorms. There the doctors would come to the patients. Here, Talla supposed, it made more sense to put the doctors in one place and have the patients come to them. Did her condition really merit the term "illness"? That...
Two computer system engineers begin an affair during a late night upgrade that develops into a relationship involving the roommate, too. Meiko and Jake had to pull another all-nighter to complete the computer systems upgrade for the Fortune 500 company where they worked. Meiko was a Japanese national having moved from Japan to the US just over a year ago. T...
Zhair'lo hadn't known that there were places for men to sleep within the Temple. He'd been led to one such place the night before. Lost in a daze, he'd simply followed where Ella and Renia led. He must have passed hundreds of Temple women and failed to take any note of them. Talla wasn't among them. Why should he have cared? Presently, he found himself blin...
CHAPTER EIGHT When Andena woke up, she was alarmed by the fact that she was unable to move her body. Her breathing seemed to be controlled, and she couldn't feel anything. It was as if her body was detached from her. Only her main functions seemed to be present: she heard her heart beating, and knew that the very fact that she was conscious meant that she w...
"Should I feel different now?" Talla asked. "Do you think you should?" Inga replied. Talking to Inga was so much like talking to a teacher. Did all older women end up like this when they talked to younger women, or was Inga chosen on purpose to accompany her? The orange-clad officer who had picked Inga seemed to have pulled her name at random. "Well," Ta...