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file:///F|/rah/John%20Varley/Varley,%20John%20-%20Titan.txt moment, she saw
several things: Gene was naked; Gaby was lying face down, nude, and did not
seem to be breathing Gene had an erection. There was blood on his hands. Her
senses sharpened to a keen edge. She could hear his even breathing, smell
blood and violence.
"Don't be angry," he said, reasonably. "I didn't want to do it this way, but
you forced me.
"All I said was--"
"You're angry, I can tell." He sighed at the unfairness of it all and produced
a second knife-
Gaby's-in his left hand. "If you think about it, you have yourself to blame.
What do you think I'm made of? You women. Do your mothers tell you to be
selfish? Is that it?'#
Cirocco tried to think of a safe answer, but he apparently didn't want one. He
moved over her and put the tip of a knife under her chin. She flinched; the
tip bit into the soft flesh. It was colder than his eyes.
"I don't understand why you're doing this."
He hesitated. The second knife had been moving in the direction of her belly;
now he stopped with it just out of her sight. She licked her lips and wished
she could see it again.
"That's a fair question. I've always thought about it-what man doesn't?" He
searched her eyes for understanding, looked forlorn when he did not find it.
"Ah, what's the use? You're a girls "
"Try." The knife was moving again. She felt it press flat against the inside
of her thigh. Sweat broke out on her forehead. "You don't have to do it this
way. Put the knife down, and I'll give you anything you want."
"Ah-ah." There was the knife again, waggling back and forth like a mother's
admonishing finger.
"I'm not a stupid man. I know how you women work."
"I swear. It doesn't have to be this way."
"It does. I've killed Gaby, and you won't forgive that. It never was fair, you
know. You tantalize us all the time. We're always horny, and you're always
saying no." He was sneering, but the expression quickly vanished to be
replaced once again by calm- ness. She had liked the sneer better.
"I'm just evening things out. Back when you people left me alone in the dark I
decided I'd do what
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I please. I made friends in Rhea. You're not going to like them much. I'm the
Captain from now on, like I should have been in the first place. You'll do
what I say. Now don't do anything stupid."
She gasped as the sharp point of the knife tore her pants. She thought she
knew what he was about to use the knife for, and wondered if she'd rather be
stupid and dead than alive and mutilated.
But once the pants were gone he cut no further. Her attention returned to the
knife under her chin.
He entered her. She turned her face away and the knife point followed. It hurt
like hell, but that was not important. What mattered was the twitch in Gaby's
cheek, the trail her hand had made through the dust while moving closer to the
hatchet, her half-open eye and the gleam in it.
Cirocco looked up at Gene and had no trouble putting fear into her voice.
"Don't! Oh, please, don't, I'm not ready. You'll kill me!"
"You're ready when I say you are." He lowered his head and Cirocco risked a
glance at Gaby, who seemed to understand. Her eye closed.
It all happened far away. She had no body, that was someone else who was
hurting so badly. Only the knife point at her chin had meaning, until he began
to tire.
What would the price of his failure be? she wondered. Right.
Then he can't fall. A moment would come when his attention would waver, but
she had to insure that moment arrived. She began to move under him. It was the
most disgusting thing she had ever done.
"Now we see the truth," he said, with a dreamy smile.
"Don't talk, Gene."
"You got it. See how much better it is when you don't fight?" Was it her
imagination, or was her skin not quite so taut under the knife? Had it pulled
back? She tasted the thought, careful not to fool herself, and decided it was
true. She had acquired an exquisite sensitivity. The slight easing of pressure
was like the lifting of a great weight. , He would have to close his eyes.
Didn't they always close their eyes?
He closed them and. she almost moved, but he opened them again, quickly.
Testing her, damn it. But he saw no deception. Normally she was a lousy
actress, but the knife had inspired her.
His back arched. His eyes closed. The knife pressure was gone. Nothing went
right.
She slapped his arm one way, turned her head the other; the knife cut the side
of her cheek. She punched at his throat, meaning to crush it, but he moved
just enough. She twisted, kicked, felt the knife slash her shoulder blade.
Then she was up- but not running. Her feet did not touch the ground for
agonizing seconds while she waited for the knife to bite.
It did not, and she got enough of a toehold to bound into the air again and
start away from him.
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She glanced over her shoulder while in the air and realized her kick had been [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]