[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]speck of light in the distance. Her equilibrium had been affected and she felt like a young drone back on
Blithos, clutching on to her father s tail as he swam in the fresh coolness of the canal. As CheeBah and
ClehTun bathed in the warm orange light of the Blithian sunset, she lost her grip on her father s tail and
slipped beneath the surface. The water filling her lungs burned as she struggled to breathe.
Submerged in the darkness of the corridor, she was floating helplessly. Unsure of how to make
headway, she remembered her father s dying words: Reach for the sky.
CheeBah reached out to the single speck of light that remained of the sunset and felt powerful arms
pulling her along. When she emerged into the light and felt the air upon her face she gasped for breath.
But the air reeked so foully she tried not to inhale despite the stinging pain in her lungs. CheeBah then
opened her eyes and saw her lover, Clay Stool, with his face eyeball to eyeball with hers. The foul air was
the stench of eight hours of steady drinking that seethed from Clay s mouth. But she was so glad to see
him that she welcomed his familiar odor and rose up to kiss him with her beak. When their lips touched,
she gasped with comprehension she had switched bodies with the young Indian girl who had been near
the crater, and Clay did not recognize her.
Aghast at the sight of their daughter falling seemingly dead, Primaflores parents had run to her limp
body. They saw Clay move to the side of the young virgin and put his face next to hers. When she had
awakened, her parents assumed that the chosen one had miraculously brought her back to life too.
Madre de Dios& it is surely a miracle& Santo Clay! Mama Tototl screamed in joyous tears.
By then hundreds of pilgrims crowded the scene and they all swore that they had seen Clay raise the
girl from the dead. A great tumult arose from the assembled witnesses as they all dropped to their knees,
crossing themselves and murmuring in prayer.
Clay leaned close to Primaflores face and asked, Señorita, are you okay?
Yes, Clay, I m fine. I can t believe I lived through that.
Well, I m glad you re okay. Clay laid the Indian girl back on the grass and started to stand. Now,
if you ll excuse me, missy, I gotta go look for my chicken.
But I m your chicken, Clay!
Huh? Clay was puzzled. What are you talkin about?
It s me, Plucky. And you re my big rooster, Slim.
Plucky? CheeBah s use of their pet names startled Clay into understanding. How?
Do you remember that movie we watched last night? The one where the marshal fired into the
shack full of dynamite?
Yep. Clay casually accepted that this beautiful young woman had been a chicken on the previous
evening.
Do you remember what happened?
The dynamite blowed up and everything was flattened for a hundred yards in all directions. Them
three badmen were flung like rag dolls halfway to Santa Fe.
Well, Slim, when Franklin Pardoe fired the ray gun into the grease spot, he set off an explosion that
was several orders of magnitude more powerful than that dynamite shack. It flung people through a rip in
the firmament.
I was right next to it when it went off. He must ve darn near hit me. Clay scratched his head trying
to grasp the facts.
He was trying to hit you. The ray that penetrated the grease spot and created a near singularity was
meant to vaporize you.
Clay looked at CheeBah with an unusual intelligence in his eyes. That must be a novel experience to
fall into a black hole.
How did you know that a black hole is a singularity, Slim?
You re a long way off of the canal, Clay replied in Blithian.
NamBu is high and the Council far away, CheeBah responded automatically, surprised to hear her
native language.
Doesn t the daughter of ClehTun recognize her old teacher?
JahFet?
It is I.
Where is Clay?
I m still here, Plucky. You were talking to one of the voices in my head except now they re
coming outta my mouth.
Voices? There s more than one in there?
Hello, my little drone.
SamShee. You too? Are there any more?
Not in here. KulKan came through the singularity with us, but I m not sure where she is now.
I never thought I d hear your voices again, CheeBah said nostalgically.
Part of me is still confused, Clay said. What happened to everybody?
When the ray hit the meteorite it caused an implosion, CheeBah explained. It s like an explosion
except the force is inward, as if that shack of dynamite had collapsed when the marshal shot it.
I reckon that is what I saw, Clay agreed, completely comfortable with Plucky s explanation.
What occurred, Slim, is called transoccupation back on my world. Think of that green light you saw
arcing across the road as a magic beam. It separates souls from their bodies and allows them to travel on
their own. It picked me up out of my chicken body and set me down into this body.
Where d that young Señorita go, Plucky, when you swapped bodies with her? Clay pulled a nearly
full pint of whiskey from the rear pocket of his overalls. Did she become a chicken?
I cannot say for certain, Slim. But from all appearances, a number of bodies were swapped here.
Clay, pulled another bottle from his pockets, removed the cap thoughtfully and threw it away. I
remember somethin like that happenin in that movie The Haunted Hunting Ground. The one where
Tonto was a medicine man possessed by the buffalo spirit and then became a great chief.
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