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Man also knows not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them

- Christian Book of the Dead, Shiprecords

FOR A long ti to Ship from the Hill of Skulls, Hali could not find the will to leave the room She stared up and around at the softly illuminated space - this secret place where Kerro had spent sowith Ship She remembered the borrowed flesh of the old wo shoulders A feeling of profound sensitivity to her familiar body pervaded her awareness; each tiny movement became electric with immediacy

She reid cross-piece on the hill Barbaric!

Yaisuah

She whispered it: "Yaisuah"

It was understandable how this name had evolved into that of Jesu and even to the Hesoos of Jesus Lewis

But nowhere could she find understanding of why she had been taken to witness that agonizing scene Nowhere And she found it odd that she had never encountered historical records of that faraway event - not in Ship’s teachings nor in the memories of Shipmen who came from Earth

In the first moments of her return, she had asked Ship why she had been shown that brutal incident, and had received an enigs froet

"But why me? Why now?"

The rest was silence She assumed that the ansere her own to find

She stared at the com-console The seat there at the instruction terroundside Ship had introduced her to this place, had given it to her

The e was clear: Nowave of loss shot through her, and she shook tears from her eyes This was no place to stay now She stood, took up her pribox and slipped out the way she had entered

Why me?

She wound her way out of softwares and into D passage leading back to Medical, into the workings of Ship’s body

The beep of her pribox startled her

"Ekel here," she said, surprised at the youthfulness of her own voice - not at all like the ancient quavering of that old woman’s voice she had borrowed

Her pribox crackled, then: "Ekel, report to Dr Ferry’s office"

She found a servo and, instead of walking, rode to Medical

Ferry, she thought Could it roundside?

The thought excited her, but the idea of groundside duty reroundside assignht-knit political circle at Medical, no one made the return trip Pressures of work had kept her fro much about this before, but suddenly it beca with all our people?

The drain on equipment and food from Ship was a topic for constant anxious conversation; recurrent dayside orders exhorted greater production effort but few speculated aboutpeople

We’ve been conditioned not to face the finality of absolute endings Is that why Ship showed ht stood there in her awareness, riding on the hu her toward Medical and Ferry

It was clear to her that Yaisuah had ended, but his influence had not ended Pandora was a place of endings It gulped food and people and equip fros

The servo fell silent, stopped She looked up to see Medical’s servo gate and, across the passage, the hatch to Ferry’s offices She did not want to go through that hatch Her body still throbbed with sensitivities ignited by what Ship had shown her She did not want Ferry touching her body It was more than her dislike for him - the silly old fool! He drank too much of the alcohol which came up from Colony and he always reached out to put a hand on her soht hiroundside He always had plenty of it after her visits

His food chits can’t support that kind of drinking

She stared at the dogged hatch across the way Soroundside Why did Rachel Des hiet in return?

Love? Why not? Even neurotics like Ferry and Demarest needed love O if not love, at least an occasional couch partner

A reh her mind She could al flesh Involuntarily, she brushed her aret so foul No lov no lovers

There was no evading the suh She slid off the servo and crossed to Ferry’s hatch It snicked open at her approach Why was she re its scabbard?

"Ahhh, dear Hali" Ferry opened his palms to her as she entered

She nodded "Dr Ferry"

"Sit doherever you like" His hand rested on the ar her to the place beside hi him, cleared off the mess of papers and computer discs that covered it The whole office smelled sour in spite of Ship’s air filtration Ferry appeared to be drun at least happy

"Hali," he said, and recrossed his legs so one foot reached out to touch hers "You’re being reassigned"