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motions andwaves of the knotted cudgel. He took a deep breath ofthe
clean-smelling air. Why the hell had he kept that damnhelmet on anyhow?
"What do you say?" the woman asked softly, and asshe spoke several of her
companions came out of theshadows.
Ian sifted through her speech pattern. It seemed to bebased on Old English, to
be sure, actually Old
American,to be more precise. As his mind searched for the rightwords, his
thoughts calmed down. He was engaged in an academic problem and when lost to
such efforts, all else was forgotten.
"Oly hit?" the woman asked questioningly.
"No, holy shit," Ian repeated slowly.
"Shit is not holy, only the light is holy; you must becrazy." The others
around her chuckled.
"Yeah, I think I am for even being here," Ian replied.
"What you say?"
"Never mind."
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"Are you of the Dissenters?" a lanky, graying manasked, stepping from out of
the. shadows.
"What the hell are Dissenters?" Ian replied.
"He must be crazy," a heavy set man next to the grayingone interjected.
"You dressed like that loud-mouthed girl. She of yourcircle?" the woman asked.
"Yeah, ahh, yeah, the girl, she's of my circle."
"Tell me, friend, do you accept the concept that indi-vidual meditation must
occur within a collective body?" the gray one asked. "Or do you accept the
right of dissentfrom the collective?"
Think quick, Ian, he thought frantically. However, he instinctively realized
that twenty years of academic com-bat and bullshitting had put him in good
stead. Ian noticedhow the graying one said dissent with a note of venom.He
also realized that the gray man held a very big club.
"What say you, friend?" the heavyset one asked softly,and he slowly hefted his
club.
"Of course, what other way is there?" Ian blurted."The individual must always
be a part within the collectivebody." He prayed that he got his words correct;
most ofthe Old American was familiar, but occasional colloqui-alism and, of
course, the slang could be deadly. Especiallynow, so he tried to speak with
rigid preciseness.
He could sense them relaxing.
"Come, friend, and sit with us in the circle of under-standing." The woman
beckoned for him to follow.
She looked at him with a soft glow, and he suddenly realized how attractive
she was in a wild, primitive way. She was almost completely naked except for a
brief loin-cloth that barely covered her broad, inviting hips. Hecouldn't help
but admire her full, rounded breasts, whichwere partially concealed by her
flowing red hair. She no- ticed his stare and smiled back at him with a
seductivegaze. For the moment thoughts of rescue drifted away.
Primitives, he thought, looking for all the world likeNeolithic tribesmen or
something out of Eden. Yes, it could be Eden: the lush growth, the warm
semitropicalair, and now that the helmet was off, the sounds of birdsand night
creatures stirring around him.
Following the lead of the woman, they pushed theirway into a small clearing,
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illuminated by a roaring blaze.Several dozen figures sat around the crackling
flame, andone of them was Shelley.
He couldn't help but look at the redhead, even as hetried to get his thoughts
under control. Shelley turned as one of the people by the fire pointed at the
new arrivals.
"Shelley, everything, all right?"
"Ian? Well, if it isn't Dr. Lacklin, who's finally cometo rescue me."
Was she mocking him, or was there a slight tone ofrelief in her voice?
Ian stepped into the circle of light and, gazing around,saw that dozens more
had gathered around in
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curiosity.
He drifted over to Shelley's side, smiling broadly andnervously all the while,
noticing that they smiled backjust as broadly. Good lord, why are they smiling
like suchdamn fools at a total stranger?
"Dinner." Someone was poking him in the back.
He turned with a yelp and was confronted by an old man bent over with age.
"Dinner," the man said again.
Good lord, was that why they were smiling? They weregoing to have them for
dinner.
"Shelley!"
"It's okay, Ian, the food's not bad. Some sort of veg-etarian mix, that's
all."
He finally understood and broke into a nervous grin."Thank you, ahh, friend."
A number of people around the circle mumbled theirapproval at his comment.
He drew closer to Shelley and sat down by her side."What happened?"
"Most likely, same as you. They jumped me, but onceI took the helmet off, they
calmed down.
Something aboutdissenters and I assured them I was nothing of the sort,and
after that everything was fine. They brought me backhere, fed me some broth,
then you came in."
The old man brought over a wooden plate filled witha thick white soup. Ian
took a hesitant sip, rememberingall of his anthropological studies about
primitive societiesand eating rituals. The woman he admired earlier steppedout
of the crowd and sat by his side.
"You from Earth, or another colony?"
This was a surprise. He expected some mumbo jumbo about gods from other
worlds, or some similar nonsense.
"Earth. How did you guess that?"
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