Chapter 16 chapter Five
"You know," he said to Stone. "I had a really bad feeling that I was going to die... but looking back, it's clear that I was feeling pretty bad at the time. What do you think?"
Stone said nothing.
He had just decided that the stone was the center of the universe, and he could prove it, but the stone just didn't want to accept its prominent position in the whole big system, at least not yet, so he could only talk to himself.Or he could talk to birds and insects.
Everything shakes again.Things were like waves, a cloud of carrion birds approaching him, moving towards the center, trapping his head and knocking it all over the ground, like rotting fruit under the muzzle of a machine gun.
He tried to crawl away unobtrusively; he could see what was going to happen next.His whole life will flash before his eyes.What a horrible thought.
Mercifully, he recalled only part of his life, as if in the reflection of a shattered body; he remembered things like sitting in a bar on an asteroid, dark glasses making eerie lines through the darkened windows; He remembered a place where the wind was so strong that they measured the severity by counting the number of tree trunks that fell each night; Madness, engulfing despair, the commander standing on the chariot and the burning farmland, the smoke drifts slowly and burns all night, spreading the blackness surrounded by fire... The planted grass is the field The justification and reward of war, but it was destroyed for it; he thought of a hose bobbing under searchlighted water, the silent hose tumbling; The geological friction of icebergs, the bitter ending of a century of slow sleep.
and a garden.He remembered the garden.and a chair.
"Scream!" he screamed, and began to flap his arms, trying to generate enough momentum to fly into the sky to escape... escape...he barely knew what.He could hardly move, either; his hand only flicked away to dislodge balls of guano, but patient birds gathered around him, waiting for him to die, just watching at the pair's inappropriate flying behavior. , was not deceived in the slightest.
"Oh, well," he murmured, stepping back and looking at the mild blue sky with his chest folded.Why is a chair so scary?He began to crawl again.
He dragged himself around the puddle, brushing the dark balls of dung left by the birds along the way, and at some point started heading toward the lake.He only went so far before stopping, turning, and continuing around the puddle again, pushing away the black pellets of bird droppings and apologizing for the disturbing insects passing by.When he was back where he had been earlier, he stopped and began to assess the situation.
The warm breeze brought him the sulfurous smell of the lake...and he was back in the garden again, thinking of the scent of flowers.
Once upon a time there was a great house which stood on an estate surrounded on three sides by a broad river, between the mountains and the sea.The ground is strewn with old trees and gnawed pastures; the rolling hills are full of frightened, untamed animals, and the winding roads and streams crossed by little bridges; Laughter, a decorative lake and a quiet, rustic summer house. Over the years and generations, many children were born and raised in this big house and played in the beautiful surrounding gardens, but for those who have never seen the house, or heard the family name, only four of them story is particularly important.Two of the children were sisters, named Dakens and Lifyetta; one of the boys was their older brother, Sharidian, and they both shared the family name, Zarqawi.The last child was not related to them, but was of a house long ago allied with their family; his name was Elsioma. Charedion was the elder of the boys; he could only remember the panic of Elsiomos' mother arriving at the big house, pregnant and tear-stained, surrounded by nervous servants, tall guards, and sobbing Maids give around.There were days when the focus of the house seemed to be on the pregnant woman, and—though his sisters continued to play happily, happy to have the nannies and guards lessen their attention—he had come to hate the unborn baby. A soldier of the Household Cavalry came to the Great House a week later, and he remembered his father standing talking calmly on the broad steps leading to the courtyard, and his men running quietly across the house, standing ready at all the windows.Charity Dean ran to find his mother, and as he ran down the corridor he stretched out one hand in front of him as if holding the bridle, and with the other he slapped his hips and made a one-two-three, a-two-three, Pretend to be a cavalryman.He found the mother with the pregnant woman; she was crying and he was asked to leave. The boy was born that night, with screams. Haridian noticed that the atmosphere in the house had changed dramatically since then.Everyone is busier than ever, but less worried. For a few years he was still able to torment the younger boys, but then Ilsioma outgrown him and began to fight back, and the two eventually developed an uneasy truce.Tutored them, and Haridian soon found that Elsiomus was the favourite, always learning faster than he, always praised for those early-developed faculties, always being said to be progressive and clever. And smart.Charidian tried to catch up to him, getting a little bit of persistent approval, but that was never really what he wanted.Their martial arts instructors were even more extreme in both men's strengths; Haridian was more adept at wrestling and boxing, Ilesiomo more at spear and sword (with proper supervision; the boys were sometimes drawn open), though Haridian might have tied him with a knife. But the sisters loved them both, and they played together through the long summers, and the short, cold winters, and--except for the first year, after Ilesiomos was born--every spring and autumn Take your time in the big city, far down the river, where Dakens, Livrietta, and Charidian's parents have a tall house in town.But none of the children liked that place; the garden was too small, and the park was too crowded.Elciomo's mother was always quieter and cried more often when they went to the city, often leaving for a few days, excited before leaving, and crying when they returned. Once they were in the city, one autumn day, a messenger came to the house, and the four children avoided getting in the way of impatient adults. They could not help hearing the screams, and leaving the toy war behind, they ran out of the nursery to the landing, and peeked down over the railing into the hall, where the messenger stood, and Eletheoma's mother shrieked. Call.The mother and father of Dakens, Livretta, and Charidien all hugged her and spoke calmly.Finally, their father signaled the messenger to leave, and the hysterical woman looked down at the floor in silence, a piece of paper crumpled in her hands. Then the father looked up and saw the children, but at Elsiomos instead of Charedion.They were all sent to bed before long. When they returned to the country house a few days later, Elciomo's mother was crying and refusing to come down to eat. "Your father was a murderer. They executed him for killing a lot of people." Sheridan sat with her feet dangling outside the stone jetty.It was a beautiful day in the garden, and the trees sighed with the wind.The sisters laugh and giggle in the background, collecting flowers on the pedestal in the middle of the stone boat; the stone boat sits on the West Lake and is connected to the garden by a short gravel path.They played pirates for a while, and then began to investigate the flower beds above the ship's two decks.Charidian collected a series of pebbles around him and dropped them one by one into the calm waters, creating ripples like archery targets as he tried to hit the same area. "He didn't do any of these things," said Ilesiomo, kicking the stone breakwater and looking down. "He is a good man." "If he is a good man, why should the king execute him?" "I don't know. People must have told stories about him. Lies." "But the king is wise," said Haridian triumphantly, throwing another pebble into the spreading circle. "Smarter than anyone. He'll know if they're lying." "I don't care," Elisiomus insisted. "My father is not a bad man." "He is, and your mother must be very promiscuous, or they wouldn't have made her stay in the room all the time." "She's not messing around!" Elsioma looked up at the other boy, feeling something surge in his head, behind his nose and eyes. "She's sick. She can't leave the room." "That's what she said," said Charidian. "Look! Millions of flowers! We can make perfume! Do you want to help?" The two sisters ran behind them, their arms full of flowers. "Little Yi..." Dakens tried to grab Elsioma's arm. He pushes her away. "Oh, Xiao Yi...Xiao Xia, please don't do this," Lifuetta said. "She's not fucking!" he yelled into the other boy's back. "Yes, she—has," said Charidian, singing another pebble into the lake. "She didn't!" screamed Ilesiomo, and rushed forward and gave him a hard push in the back. Haridian cried out and fell off the stone jetty; his head hit the stone as it fell.The two girls screamed. Elsioma leaned against the low wall and saw Charedion splashing in the middle of his own multiple wave circles.He disappeared, resurfaced, and floated face down. Dakens screamed. "Oh, Xiao Yi, don't!" Livretta dropped all the flowers and rushed towards the stairs.Dakens continued to scream, crouching where she was, her back against the stone breakwater, the flowers on her chest. "Xiaoda! Run to the house!" Livietta called from the stairs. Elciomo watched the figure in the water move weakly and bubbles appeared, and the sound of Livietta's footsteps resounded sharply on the deck below. A few seconds later the girl jumped into the shallow water and went to lift her brother up; Dakenses was still screaming, and Ilesiomo swept away the remaining stones from the parapet, letting them slap and plop on the boy. in the water beside. No, not that.Should be worse, shouldn't it?He's sure he remembers something about the chair (he also remembers something about the boat, but that doesn't seem to have much to do with it).He tried to think of all the worst things that could happen to a chair, crossing out one by one the ones that didn't happen to him or anyone he knew--at least as far as he could recall--and finally settled on what was right for a chair. Attention is nothing more than a random event; he just happens to think of the chair, and then it becomes all of this. Then there's the name; the name he's used, the pseudonym that no longer really belongs to him.Imagine him calling himself a ship!What a ridiculous guy, what a naughty boy; that's what he was trying to forget.He didn't know, didn't understand how he could be so stupid; everything seemed so obvious now.He wanted to forget about that ship; he wanted to bury that thing so he shouldn't call himself by that thing anymore. Now he understands, now he understands, it's too late to do anything now. Ah, he made himself want to be seriously ill. A chair, a boat, a...something; he forgot. Boys learn metalworking and girls pottery. "But we are not common people, or...or..." "Artist," suggested Ilesiomo. "You are not allowed to argue, and you will also learn how to handle the ingredients," Charidian's father told the two boys. "But then everyone will!" "Learning how to write and count, too. Mastering these skills will not make you a clerk any more than learning how to use steel will make you a blacksmith." "But……" "You'll have to do what you're told. If it's as good as both of you's martial ambitions, you might try to build swords and armor in class." The boys look at each other. "You may also wish to tell your language teacher that I ask him to judge whether it is acceptable for a young man in his teens to begin almost every sentence with an unfortunate 'but'. That's it." "Thank you, sir." "Thank you, sir." Once outside, they agree that metalworking isn't that bad. "But we have to tell Big Nose the 'yes' thing. We'll be crossed!" "No. Your dad said we might like to tell Nose; that's not the same as asking us to tell him." "Ha. Yeah." Livuetta also wanted to do metalworking, but her father wouldn't allow it; it wasn't for her.She is stubborn.He is unwilling to soften.She loses her temper.They finally compromised and switched to carpentry. The boys made swords, Dakens made pots, and Livette made furniture for the summer house deep in the estate.It was in that summer house that Charidien found out... No, no, he doesn't want to think about that, thanks.He knows what's behind. Hell, he'd rather think about other bad times, like that gun they took from the armory the other day... No; he didn't want to think about anything.He tried to stop the thinking by banging his head up and down, staring at the crazy blue sky, bumping his head up and down, hitting the scaly rocks underneath and pushing away balls of guano, but it hurt too much and the rocks only wanted , he didn't even have the strength to threaten a determined little fly, so he stopped. where is he? Ah, yes, craters, submerged volcanoes... We are in a crater; the crater of an old volcano, long dead and filled with water.In the middle of the crater is an island, and he's on that island, and he's looking at the wall from the island, and he's a man, not a kid, and he's a good guy, dying on this island and... "Screaming?" he said. Sky looked down suspiciously. That's blue. Stealing the gun was the idea of Elciomo.The armory, though unlocked at this time, was guarded; the adults seemed always busy and worried, and there was talk of sending the children away.Summer is over, but they haven't gone to the city yet.They are getting bored more and more. "We can run away." They shuffled across the leafy roads of the estate.Elsioma spoke quietly.They can't even come out here for a walk without guards.People stay thirty paces ahead of them and twenty paces behind them.How can you have fun if guards follow you everywhere?They were allowed to go out around the house without guards, but that made it even less fun. "Don't be stupid," Livuetta said. "That's not stupid," said Duckens. "We can go to the city. That's gotta get us something to do." "Yes," said Charidian. "You're right. It will." "Why do you want to go to the city?" Livietta said. "It could be... dangerous." "Well, it's boring here," said Duckens. "Yeah, really," Haridian agreed. "We can sail away," said Charidian. "We didn't even have to actually drive, or row, a boat," Ilesiomo said. "We just have to push the boat out and it will definitely end up in the city." "I don't want to go," Livietta said, kicking a pile of fallen leaves. "Oh, Lily," said Duckens. "It's getting boring for you now. Come on, we should do this together." "I don't want to go," Livuetta repeated. Elsioma pursed his lips.He kicked a clump of fallen leaves so hard that they exploded into the air.Several guards turned around quickly, then relaxed, and turned their heads again. "What should we do," he said, looking at the guards ahead, admiring the automatic rifles they were licensed to carry.He was never allowed to handle a real big gun, only useless small-bore pistols and light carbines. He grabs a leaf that floats past his face. "Falling leaves..." He turned the leaves, turning them around in front of his eyes. "Trees are stupid," he said to the others. "Of course," Livuetta said. "They don't have nerves and brains, do they?" "I didn't mean that," he said, crumpling the leaves in his palm. "I mean they're such a stupid idea. It's such a waste every autumn. If a tree keeps leaves, it doesn't have to grow new ones; it'll grow taller than the others, and be king of the trees at last." "But the fallen leaves are beautiful!" said Duckens. Elsiomo shook his head, and exchanged glances with Charidian. "You girls!" He laughed contemptuously. He had forgotten another word for crater; there was another word for a large crater.There must be a word for it, there must be another word for it, I just put it here a minute ago, and some goddamn stole it, that goddamn... if only I could find it... Minutes to put it here... Where is the volcano? The volcano is on a large island in an inland sea, somewhere. He looked at the pit wall in the distance, trying to recall where this was.His shoulder hurt when he moved, and it was there that a robber had stabbed him.He tried to shush away the swarm of flies to protect the wound, but he was pretty sure they had already laid their eggs. (Not too close to the heart, at least he's still carrying her there, and it will take a while for the rot to spread that far. He's dead long before they reach his heart and her.) But why not?Come on; come on, little maggots, stuttering, stuffing your teeth; anyway, I'll probably die when you're hatched, and you'll be spared the pain and anguish I'd blow away... Dear Delicious little maggots, delicious little maggots. (Little delicious me; it's me who gets eaten.) He paused to think about the pool, the little pool around which he had progressed, like a stone captive into the orbit of a planet.It was the bottom of a small depression, and he felt as if he was constantly trying to get away from the stinking mound of water, mud, flies swarming nearby, and bird droppings he'd been crawling through...but he didn't succeed; he Always seemed to come back here for some reason, but he often thought about the pool. The pool was shallow and muddy, rock solid and stinking; it was filthy and unpleasant, swelled beyond normal limits by the things he spit up and the blood he shed; he wanted to get away, out of its vicinity.Then he will send heavy bombers to blow up here. He resumed crawling, dragging himself across the pool, disturbing the dung balls and insects, making his way toward a point in the lake, then turning back, and returning to the exact same spot, stopping, his eyes fixed on the pool and the stones . What did he do before? As always, help out the locals.Honest advice; be an advisor, suppress madmen and keep people happy, and lead a small army later.But they thought he would betray them and that he would use the army he trained as his power base.So at the moment of victory, when he finally captured the sanctuary, they also turned to deal with him. They took him to the furnace room and stripped him naked; he escaped, but the soldiers broke the ladder by which he had escaped.He was forced to jump into the river, where they surrounded him again.The dive nearly knocked him out.The current carries him, he spins slowly...he wakes up in the morning, on the winch of a large barge.How he got there he didn't know; there was a rope trailing from the stern, so he could only guess that he had climbed.His head still hurts. He took some clothes drying from a line behind the wheelhouse, but was spotted; he jumped into the water with them and swam to shore.He is still being hunted, constantly forced to stay away from the city and sanctuary, where civilization might come to him.He spent countless hours figuring out how to contact them. When he skimmed over the rim of the water-filled crater on a stolen horse, the bandits attacked him there; in the crater lake, then throwing stones as he tried to swim away -- using only his hands, his legs floating uselessly behind. He knew a rock was going to hit him sooner or later, so he tried to inspire some amazing civility, taking a quick breath and diving in.He just has to wait a few seconds.A large rock splashed into the water, into the bubble line of his dive; he embraced the rock like a lover, and let it drag him down into the dark depths of the lake, using The way of teaching shuts down the mind, but doesn't really care if that works, or if he can wake up again. He thought for ten minutes as he dived.He awoke in a choking darkness; he remembered, and let go of the stone with his hands.He kicked to swim to the light, but nothing happened.He uses his hands instead.The water finally lowered to meet him.The air has never been so sweet. The walls of Crater Lake are steep; the small rocky islands are the only places where you can swim.Screaming birds flew off the island as he washed ashore. At least, he thought, dragging himself up the guano pile, it wasn't the priests who found me.Otherwise I would be in real danger. Ten minutes later the diver's sickness struck, like acid seeping slowly into every joint, and he began to wish that it was the priests who had found him. Yet—talking so the brain can ignore the pain, he told himself—they'll come for him; civilization will sail a beautiful ship, and they'll take him and make things better. He's sure they will.He'll be taken care of, made better, he'll be safe, very safe and well taken care of, free from any pain, go back to their paradise, and it'll be like... like a kid again; Like going back to that garden again.It's just -- the untamed part of his mind reminded himself -- that bad things happen in gardens sometimes. Dakens dragged the armory guard to help her open the jammed door, left along the corridor, and rounded the corner.Charidian slipped in and grabbed the automatic rifle Eltheoma described.He stepped back, covered the gun with a cloak, and heard Dakens thanking the guards repeatedly.They met in the back hall bathroom, whispering excitedly, feeling at home in the smell of wet clothes and the polished floor, taking turns taking the gun.That's heavy. "It only has one magazine!" "I don't see anything else." "God, you're blind. I think you must be." "Evil; it's all oil," said Duckens. "That prevents rust," Charidian explained. "Where should we go to fire it?" Livueta asked. "We'll hide it here and go out after supper," said Ilesiomo, taking the weapon from Dakens. "Big Nose would be reading, and he'd always sleep through the night. Mother and Father would entertain the Colonel; we could leave the house and go into the woods and shoot—not 'fire', really—fire the gun." "We could be killed," Livuetta said. "The guards will think we are terrorists." Elsioma shook his head patiently. "Xiao Li, you are so stupid." He pointed the gun at her. "There's a silencer on it; otherwise what do you think this thing is?" "Quiet," Livuetta said, pushing the muzzle away. "Is there a safety catch on it?" Elsioma looked uncertain for a moment. "Of course," he said aloud, then shuddered and glanced at the closed door to the hall. "Of course there is," he whispered. "Come on; we'll hide it here and come back and get it when we get rid of the big nose." "You can't hide here," Livuetta said. "Bet, I can." "It's too strong," Livuetta said. "The oil stinks; you'll smell it as soon as you walk in. What if Father wants to come and walk?" Elsioma looked worried.Livretta passed him and opened a small tall window. "How about hiding in the stone boat?" Charidien suggested. "No one is going there at this time of year." Elsioma thought for a while.He grabbed the cloak that Charidian had wrapped around the gun and re-covered the weapon. "Okay. You get it." Still not far enough, or far enough forward...he wasn't sure.What he was looking for was the right place.suitable location.A very important place that represents everything.Take this rock for example... "I'm going to use you as an example, Stone," he squinted at it. Ah yes, we have a nasty big flat rock here, sitting there doing nothing, immoral and uninteresting, sitting like an island in the middle of a polluted pool.The pool is a small lake on an island which is in the mouth of a submerged pit.Crater is a caldera, a volcano that is part of an island in an inland sea.The inland sea is like a huge lake on a continent, and the continent is like an island in a planetary ocean.Planets are like islands in the sea of galactic space, galaxies are floating in star clusters, like an island in the ocean of the Milky Way, and the Milky Way is like an island in the group of islands, and an island in the entire universe; the universe is like an island Floating in the space continuum, they float in "reality" like islands, and then... But all the way down through the space continuum, universe, galaxies, galaxies, star clusters, galaxies, planets, continents, islands, lakes, islets...the stone stays here.So that means this rock, this crappy rotten rock is the center of the universe, the center of the continuum, the center of the whole reality! That word is caldera.The lake is within a submerged geocrater.He looked up at the walls of the pit across the still, yellowing water, and then he seemed to see a ship made of stone. "Scream," he said. "Go to hell," he heard the sky say, unconvinced. The sky was cloudy and starting to darken quickly; their language teacher was taking longer than usual to fall asleep at the high table, and they were almost about to abandon the whole plan and wait until tomorrow, but couldn't help it.They tiptoed out of the classroom, then walked as normal as possible to the back of the hall to get their boots and coats. "Look," Livuetta said. "Still smells a little like gun grease." "I can't smell anything," Elsioma lied. The banquet hall—where the visiting colonel and his staff drank and dined tonight—faced the park in front of the house; the lake with its stone boats was behind. "Just a walk by the lake, Sergeant," Charidian said to the guard who stopped them on the stone-paved road leading to the stone ship.The sergeant nodded and told them to hurry; it would be dark soon. They slipped aboard and found the rifle that Charidian had hidden under a stone chair on the upper deck. But when Elsiomus lifted the gun from the slate, he knocked it against the edge of the stone chair. There was a sound, and then the magazine fell, and then there was a sound like a fountain, and the clatter of bullets fell on the stones. "Idiot!" said Charidian. "Shut up!" "Oh, no," Livuetta said, bending over to pick up a few bullets. "Let's go back," Dakens whispered. "I'm so scared." "Don't worry," Charidian said, clapping her hand. "Come on; let's find the bullets." It seemed like it took them a lifetime to find and pick up the rounds and put them back in the magazine, but they still figured they might have missed some.By the time they finished and put the magazines in place, it was almost night. "It's too dark," Livuetta said.They all squatted behind the railing, looking out at the house.Elciomo held the gun. "No!" he said. "We can still see." "We can't see clearly," Charidian said. "We'll save it until tomorrow," Livuetta said. "They'll notice we've been gone too long," whispered Charidian. "We don't have time!" "No!" said Ilesiomus, watching the guard walk slowly past the end of the gravel path.Livretta was watching too; it was the sergeant who had spoken to them. "You idiot!" said Charidian, holding out a hand to grab the gun.Elciomo drew away. "Don't do it, it's mine!" "It's not yours!" Haridian hissed. "It's ours; it belongs to our family, not you!" He grabbed the gun with both hands.Elsioma drew away again. "Stop!" Dakens said, very quietly. "Come on..." Livueta began. She looked over the edge of the parapet, in the direction where she thought she heard the voice. "Bring it to me!" "Let go!" "Please stop, please stop. Please, let's go back..." Livretta didn't hear them.She stared, her mouth was dry, and she jumped over the low wall to look.A man covered in black is picking up a rifle dropped by a guard.The guard sergeant lay on the gravel road.Something flickered in the hands of the man in black, casting light on the house.The man pushed the sergeant's slack body over the gravel into the lake. She held her breath.Livietta knelt down and patted the two boys with her hands. "Stop..." They were still struggling. "stop……" "mine!" "Let go!" "Stop!" she hissed, hitting both of them on the head.They all stared at her. "Someone just killed the sergeant, right there." "What?" The two boys looked over the low wall.Elciomo still held the gun. Dakens sat down and began to cry. "where?" "Over there; that's his body! In the water!" "Of course," said Elciomo in a low, drawn out tone. "Then who..." The three saw a shadowy figure moving towards the house, using the shadows of the trees beside the road as cover.A dozen or so people - just a few dark shadows on the gravel path - advanced along the edge of the lake, leaving a narrow trail of grass. "Terrorist!" Elsiomo said excitedly, and the three squatted back behind the low wall, while Dakens sobbed silently. "Warning the house," said Livretta. "Shoot that gun." "Remove the silencer first," Charidian said. Elsioma struggled to twist the muzzle of the gun. "its stuck!" "Let me try!" All three of them tried. "Just shoot," Charidian said. "Okay!" whispered Ilesiomo.He swung the gun and weighed it. "Good!" he said, kneeling and setting the gun on the stone jetty to look. "Be careful," Livuetta said. Elsioma took aim at the shadowy man who was crossing the road towards the house.He pulled the trigger. The gun seemed to explode.The whole deck of the stone ship was lit, and the noise was terrible; Elsiomo was thrown back, and the gun was still firing, blasting rows of tracers into the night sky.He hit the stone chair.Dakens screamed with all her might; she jumped up, and the sound of the shooting echoed around the house. "Xiao Da, get down!" Lifuetta screamed.A few rays of light flashed and hit the stone boat harshly. Dakens stood screaming, then began to rush for the stairs.Elciomo shook his head and looked up to see the girl running past him.Livretta tried to catch her but failed.Charidian tried to trip her. Lines of light fell, blasting rubble from the rocks around them into fine dust clouds, while Dakens, still screaming, staggered down the stairs. The bullet went into Duckens' hip; over the gunfire and the girl's scream, the other three heard the rather distinctive sound of the impact. He was hit too, he just didn't know it then. The attack on the house was repelled.Dakens survived.She nearly died from blood loss and shock, but survived.The best doctors on the continent had struggled to rebuild her pelvis, which had shattered into dozens of major chunks, and a hundred pieces, under the impact of bullets. Bone fragments flowed through her body; they found fragments in her feet, a hand, internal organs, and even a piece in her cheek.The military doctors were quite familiar with this kind of injury, and they had the time (because it was before the war) and the motivation (because her father was a very important person) to try to put her back together.However, her walking style will still be a bit weird, at least until the end of development. A fragment of one of her bones flew out of her own body; that entered his.Just above the heart. The military doctor said it would be dangerous to operate.Sooner or later, they said, his body would have rid itself of the debris. But that didn't happen. He started crawling around the pool again. Earth crater!It's the word, the name. (The sign was important, and he found what he was looking for.) Victory, he told himself, saying sorry to the insects as he dragged himself to sweep the last clumps of guano from the path.He decided that everything would be all right.Now he knows that, and knows that you always win at the end, and even if you lose you don't know, there's only one kind of fight, and he's at the center of this whole absurdity; the word is crater , the word is Zarqawi, the word is Starblind, and they will come for him; they will come down in a beautiful ship, they will take him out of here, and make him better again it is good. "They'll never learn the lesson," Sky sighed, quite clearly. "Fuck you," he said. It wasn't until many years later that Charity Dean—who came back from the military academy to look for Dakens, and was sent in that direction by a gardener with a short answer—stepped across the carpet of fallen leaves and walked to the door of the small summer house. He heard someone screaming inside.It's Dakens. He rushed up the steps, drew his pistol, and kicked the door open. Dakens turned her astonished face and looked him over his shoulder; her hands were still on Ilesiomo's neck.伊勒西欧摩坐着，长裤堆在脚踝，手放在妲肯丝拉起洋装下的裸露臀部上，平静地望着他。 伊勒西欧摩坐在一张小椅子上，那是丽芙叶塔好久以前在木匠课做的。 “你好啊，老家伙，”他对握着手枪的年轻男子说。 夏瑞狄恩看着伊勒西欧摩的双眼一会儿，接着转开，收起手枪、扣上枪套走出去，把门在背后关上。 他听见妲肯丝在背后哭起来，伊勒西欧摩则大笑。 地火山口中央的岛屿再度变得平静。一些鸟儿飞了回来。 感谢这位男子，岛屿改变了。小岛中间的凹地周围画出了一个圈，在苍白岩石的黑色鸟粪上清出一条路，加上适当的尾巴朝着某边延长正确的长度（另一端指着石头，当成中央的点），岛屿似乎被印上了一个字或一张简单的图，黑底白字。 那是当地语言“救命！”的信号，而你只有从飞机上，或者从太空才看得见。 在避暑小屋的情景过了几年后，在某个树林燃烧、远方炮火震响的夜晚，一位年轻的陆军少校跳上一台他麾下的战车，命令车手驾驶机器穿过树林，沿着一条老树间蜿蜒的道路前进。 他们离开那座重新掳获的大宅，火红的烈焰照亮了一度宏伟的装潢（火映在装饰湖的水面上，也映在炸毁的石造船只上）。 战车撕裂着穿过树林，破坏小树跟溪流上的小桥。 他透过树看见避暑屋的空地；那被闪动的白光照耀着，彷佛是出自上帝之手。 他们进入空地；一颗照明弹落在树梢，降落伞卡在枝叶上。它发出嘶声、劈啪声，接着对整个空地爆出纯粹、强烈、极度明亮的亮光。 在小屋里，那张小木椅清晰可见。战车炮直指着小屋。 “长官？”战车指挥官说，担忧地从底下的舱口瞥看他。 扎卡维少校低头看他。 “开火，”他说。
Once upon a time there was a great house which stood on an estate surrounded on three sides by a broad river, between the mountains and the sea.The ground is strewn with old trees and gnawed pastures; the rolling hills are full of frightened, untamed animals, and the winding roads and streams crossed by little bridges; Laughter, a decorative lake and a quiet, rustic summer house. Over the years and generations, many children were born and raised in this big house and played in the beautiful surrounding gardens, but for those who have never seen the house, or heard the family name, only four of them story is particularly important.Two of the children were sisters, named Dakens and Lifyetta; one of the boys was their older brother, Sharidian, and they both shared the family name, Zarqawi.The last child was not related to them, but was of a house long ago allied with their family; his name was Elsioma. Charedion was the elder of the boys; he could only remember the panic of Elsiomos' mother arriving at the big house, pregnant and tear-stained, surrounded by nervous servants, tall guards, and sobbing Maids give around.There were days when the focus of the house seemed to be on the pregnant woman, and—though his sisters continued to play happily, happy to have the nannies and guards lessen their attention—he had come to hate the unborn baby. A soldier of the Household Cavalry came to the Great House a week later, and he remembered his father standing talking calmly on the broad steps leading to the courtyard, and his men running quietly across the house, standing ready at all the windows.Charity Dean ran to find his mother, and as he ran down the corridor he stretched out one hand in front of him as if holding the bridle, and with the other he slapped his hips and made a one-two-three, a-two-three, Pretend to be a cavalryman.He found the mother with the pregnant woman; she was crying and he was asked to leave. The boy was born that night, with screams. Haridian noticed that the atmosphere in the house had changed dramatically since then.Everyone is busier than ever, but less worried. For a few years he was still able to torment the younger boys, but then Ilsioma outgrown him and began to fight back, and the two eventually developed an uneasy truce.Tutored them, and Haridian soon found that Elsiomus was the favourite, always learning faster than he, always praised for those early-developed faculties, always being said to be progressive and clever. And smart.Charidian tried to catch up to him, getting a little bit of persistent approval, but that was never really what he wanted.Their martial arts instructors were even more extreme in both men's strengths; Haridian was more adept at wrestling and boxing, Ilesiomo more at spear and sword (with proper supervision; the boys were sometimes drawn open), though Haridian might have tied him with a knife. But the sisters loved them both, and they played together through the long summers, and the short, cold winters, and--except for the first year, after Ilesiomos was born--every spring and autumn Take your time in the big city, far down the river, where Dakens, Livrietta, and Charidian's parents have a tall house in town.But none of the children liked that place; the garden was too small, and the park was too crowded.Elciomo's mother was always quieter and cried more often when they went to the city, often leaving for a few days, excited before leaving, and crying when they returned. Once they were in the city, one autumn day, a messenger came to the house, and the four children avoided getting in the way of impatient adults. They could not help hearing the screams, and leaving the toy war behind, they ran out of the nursery to the landing, and peeked down over the railing into the hall, where the messenger stood, and Eletheoma's mother shrieked. Call.The mother and father of Dakens, Livretta, and Charidien all hugged her and spoke calmly.Finally, their father signaled the messenger to leave, and the hysterical woman looked down at the floor in silence, a piece of paper crumpled in her hands. Then the father looked up and saw the children, but at Elsiomos instead of Charedion.They were all sent to bed before long. When they returned to the country house a few days later, Elciomo's mother was crying and refusing to come down to eat. "Your father was a murderer. They executed him for killing a lot of people." Sheridan sat with her feet dangling outside the stone jetty.It was a beautiful day in the garden, and the trees sighed with the wind.The sisters laugh and giggle in the background, collecting flowers on the pedestal in the middle of the stone boat; the stone boat sits on the West Lake and is connected to the garden by a short gravel path.They played pirates for a while, and then began to investigate the flower beds above the ship's two decks.Charidian collected a series of pebbles around him and dropped them one by one into the calm waters, creating ripples like archery targets as he tried to hit the same area. "He didn't do any of these things," said Ilesiomo, kicking the stone breakwater and looking down. "He is a good man." "If he is a good man, why should the king execute him?" "I don't know. People must have told stories about him. Lies." "But the king is wise," said Haridian triumphantly, throwing another pebble into the spreading circle. "Smarter than anyone. He'll know if they're lying." "I don't care," Elisiomus insisted. "My father is not a bad man." "He is, and your mother must be very promiscuous, or they wouldn't have made her stay in the room all the time." "She's not messing around!" Elsioma looked up at the other boy, feeling something surge in his head, behind his nose and eyes. "She's sick. She can't leave the room." "That's what she said," said Charidian. "Look! Millions of flowers! We can make perfume! Do you want to help?" The two sisters ran behind them, their arms full of flowers. "Little Yi..." Dakens tried to grab Elsioma's arm. He pushes her away. "Oh, Xiao Yi...Xiao Xia, please don't do this," Lifuetta said. "She's not fucking!" he yelled into the other boy's back. "Yes, she—has," said Charidian, singing another pebble into the lake. "She didn't!" screamed Ilesiomo, and rushed forward and gave him a hard push in the back. Haridian cried out and fell off the stone jetty; his head hit the stone as it fell.The two girls screamed. Elsioma leaned against the low wall and saw Charedion splashing in the middle of his own multiple wave circles.He disappeared, resurfaced, and floated face down. Dakens screamed. "Oh, Xiao Yi, don't!" Livretta dropped all the flowers and rushed towards the stairs.Dakens continued to scream, crouching where she was, her back against the stone breakwater, the flowers on her chest. "Xiaoda! Run to the house!" Livietta called from the stairs. Elciomo watched the figure in the water move weakly and bubbles appeared, and the sound of Livietta's footsteps resounded sharply on the deck below. A few seconds later the girl jumped into the shallow water and went to lift her brother up; Dakenses was still screaming, and Ilesiomo swept away the remaining stones from the parapet, letting them slap and plop on the boy. in the water beside. No, not that.Should be worse, shouldn't it?He's sure he remembers something about the chair (he also remembers something about the boat, but that doesn't seem to have much to do with it).He tried to think of all the worst things that could happen to a chair, crossing out one by one the ones that didn't happen to him or anyone he knew--at least as far as he could recall--and finally settled on what was right for a chair. Attention is nothing more than a random event; he just happens to think of the chair, and then it becomes all of this. Then there's the name; the name he's used, the pseudonym that no longer really belongs to him.Imagine him calling himself a ship!What a ridiculous guy, what a naughty boy; that's what he was trying to forget.He didn't know, didn't understand how he could be so stupid; everything seemed so obvious now.He wanted to forget about that ship; he wanted to bury that thing so he shouldn't call himself by that thing anymore. Now he understands, now he understands, it's too late to do anything now. Ah, he made himself want to be seriously ill. A chair, a boat, a...something; he forgot. Boys learn metalworking and girls pottery. "But we are not common people, or...or..." "Artist," suggested Ilesiomo. "You are not allowed to argue, and you will also learn how to handle the ingredients," Charidian's father told the two boys. "But then everyone will!" "Learning how to write and count, too. Mastering these skills will not make you a clerk any more than learning how to use steel will make you a blacksmith." "But……" "You'll have to do what you're told. If it's as good as both of you's martial ambitions, you might try to build swords and armor in class." The boys look at each other. "You may also wish to tell your language teacher that I ask him to judge whether it is acceptable for a young man in his teens to begin almost every sentence with an unfortunate 'but'. That's it." "Thank you, sir." "Thank you, sir." Once outside, they agree that metalworking isn't that bad. "But we have to tell Big Nose the 'yes' thing. We'll be crossed!" "No. Your dad said we might like to tell Nose; that's not the same as asking us to tell him." "Ha. Yeah." Livuetta also wanted to do metalworking, but her father wouldn't allow it; it wasn't for her.She is stubborn.He is unwilling to soften.She loses her temper.They finally compromised and switched to carpentry. The boys made swords, Dakens made pots, and Livette made furniture for the summer house deep in the estate.It was in that summer house that Charidien found out... No, no, he doesn't want to think about that, thanks.He knows what's behind. Hell, he'd rather think about other bad times, like that gun they took from the armory the other day... No; he didn't want to think about anything.He tried to stop the thinking by banging his head up and down, staring at the crazy blue sky, bumping his head up and down, hitting the scaly rocks underneath and pushing away balls of guano, but it hurt too much and the rocks only wanted , he didn't even have the strength to threaten a determined little fly, so he stopped. where is he? Ah, yes, craters, submerged volcanoes... We are in a crater; the crater of an old volcano, long dead and filled with water.In the middle of the crater is an island, and he's on that island, and he's looking at the wall from the island, and he's a man, not a kid, and he's a good guy, dying on this island and... "Screaming?" he said. Sky looked down suspiciously. That's blue. Stealing the gun was the idea of Elciomo.The armory, though unlocked at this time, was guarded; the adults seemed always busy and worried, and there was talk of sending the children away.Summer is over, but they haven't gone to the city yet.They are getting bored more and more. "We can run away." They shuffled across the leafy roads of the estate.Elsioma spoke quietly.They can't even come out here for a walk without guards.People stay thirty paces ahead of them and twenty paces behind them.How can you have fun if guards follow you everywhere?They were allowed to go out around the house without guards, but that made it even less fun. "Don't be stupid," Livuetta said. "That's not stupid," said Duckens. "We can go to the city. That's gotta get us something to do." "Yes," said Charidian. "You're right. It will." "Why do you want to go to the city?" Livietta said. "It could be... dangerous." "Well, it's boring here," said Duckens. "Yeah, really," Haridian agreed. "We can sail away," said Charidian. "We didn't even have to actually drive, or row, a boat," Ilesiomo said. "We just have to push the boat out and it will definitely end up in the city." "I don't want to go," Livietta said, kicking a pile of fallen leaves. "Oh, Lily," said Duckens. "It's getting boring for you now. Come on, we should do this together." "I don't want to go," Livuetta repeated. Elsioma pursed his lips.He kicked a clump of fallen leaves so hard that they exploded into the air.Several guards turned around quickly, then relaxed, and turned their heads again. "What should we do," he said, looking at the guards ahead, admiring the automatic rifles they were licensed to carry.He was never allowed to handle a real big gun, only useless small-bore pistols and light carbines. He grabs a leaf that floats past his face. "Falling leaves..." He turned the leaves, turning them around in front of his eyes. "Trees are stupid," he said to the others. "Of course," Livuetta said. "They don't have nerves and brains, do they?" "I didn't mean that," he said, crumpling the leaves in his palm. "I mean they're such a stupid idea. It's such a waste every autumn. If a tree keeps leaves, it doesn't have to grow new ones; it'll grow taller than the others, and be king of the trees at last." "But the fallen leaves are beautiful!" said Duckens. Elsiomo shook his head, and exchanged glances with Charidian. "You girls!" He laughed contemptuously. He had forgotten another word for crater; there was another word for a large crater.There must be a word for it, there must be another word for it, I just put it here a minute ago, and some goddamn stole it, that goddamn... if only I could find it... Minutes to put it here... Where is the volcano? The volcano is on a large island in an inland sea, somewhere. He looked at the pit wall in the distance, trying to recall where this was.His shoulder hurt when he moved, and it was there that a robber had stabbed him.He tried to shush away the swarm of flies to protect the wound, but he was pretty sure they had already laid their eggs. (Not too close to the heart, at least he's still carrying her there, and it will take a while for the rot to spread that far. He's dead long before they reach his heart and her.) But why not?Come on; come on, little maggots, stuttering, stuffing your teeth; anyway, I'll probably die when you're hatched, and you'll be spared the pain and anguish I'd blow away... Dear Delicious little maggots, delicious little maggots. (Little delicious me; it's me who gets eaten.) He paused to think about the pool, the little pool around which he had progressed, like a stone captive into the orbit of a planet.It was the bottom of a small depression, and he felt as if he was constantly trying to get away from the stinking mound of water, mud, flies swarming nearby, and bird droppings he'd been crawling through...but he didn't succeed; he Always seemed to come back here for some reason, but he often thought about the pool. The pool was shallow and muddy, rock solid and stinking; it was filthy and unpleasant, swelled beyond normal limits by the things he spit up and the blood he shed; he wanted to get away, out of its vicinity.Then he will send heavy bombers to blow up here. He resumed crawling, dragging himself across the pool, disturbing the dung balls and insects, making his way toward a point in the lake, then turning back, and returning to the exact same spot, stopping, his eyes fixed on the pool and the stones . What did he do before? As always, help out the locals.Honest advice; be an advisor, suppress madmen and keep people happy, and lead a small army later.But they thought he would betray them and that he would use the army he trained as his power base.So at the moment of victory, when he finally captured the sanctuary, they also turned to deal with him. They took him to the furnace room and stripped him naked; he escaped, but the soldiers broke the ladder by which he had escaped.He was forced to jump into the river, where they surrounded him again.The dive nearly knocked him out.The current carries him, he spins slowly...he wakes up in the morning, on the winch of a large barge.How he got there he didn't know; there was a rope trailing from the stern, so he could only guess that he had climbed.His head still hurts. He took some clothes drying from a line behind the wheelhouse, but was spotted; he jumped into the water with them and swam to shore.He is still being hunted, constantly forced to stay away from the city and sanctuary, where civilization might come to him.He spent countless hours figuring out how to contact them. When he skimmed over the rim of the water-filled crater on a stolen horse, the bandits attacked him there; in the crater lake, then throwing stones as he tried to swim away -- using only his hands, his legs floating uselessly behind. He knew a rock was going to hit him sooner or later, so he tried to inspire some amazing civility, taking a quick breath and diving in.He just has to wait a few seconds.A large rock splashed into the water, into the bubble line of his dive; he embraced the rock like a lover, and let it drag him down into the dark depths of the lake, using The way of teaching shuts down the mind, but doesn't really care if that works, or if he can wake up again. He thought for ten minutes as he dived.He awoke in a choking darkness; he remembered, and let go of the stone with his hands.He kicked to swim to the light, but nothing happened.He uses his hands instead.The water finally lowered to meet him.The air has never been so sweet. The walls of Crater Lake are steep; the small rocky islands are the only places where you can swim.Screaming birds flew off the island as he washed ashore. At least, he thought, dragging himself up the guano pile, it wasn't the priests who found me.Otherwise I would be in real danger. Ten minutes later the diver's sickness struck, like acid seeping slowly into every joint, and he began to wish that it was the priests who had found him. Yet—talking so the brain can ignore the pain, he told himself—they'll come for him; civilization will sail a beautiful ship, and they'll take him and make things better. He's sure they will.He'll be taken care of, made better, he'll be safe, very safe and well taken care of, free from any pain, go back to their paradise, and it'll be like... like a kid again; Like going back to that garden again.It's just -- the untamed part of his mind reminded himself -- that bad things happen in gardens sometimes. Dakens dragged the armory guard to help her open the jammed door, left along the corridor, and rounded the corner.Charidian slipped in and grabbed the automatic rifle Eltheoma described.He stepped back, covered the gun with a cloak, and heard Dakens thanking the guards repeatedly.They met in the back hall bathroom, whispering excitedly, feeling at home in the smell of wet clothes and the polished floor, taking turns taking the gun.That's heavy. "It only has one magazine!" "I don't see anything else." "God, you're blind. I think you must be." "Evil; it's all oil," said Duckens. "That prevents rust," Charidian explained. "Where should we go to fire it?" Livueta asked. "We'll hide it here and go out after supper," said Ilesiomo, taking the weapon from Dakens. "Big Nose would be reading, and he'd always sleep through the night. Mother and Father would entertain the Colonel; we could leave the house and go into the woods and shoot—not 'fire', really—fire the gun." "We could be killed," Livuetta said. "The guards will think we are terrorists." Elsioma shook his head patiently. "Xiao Li, you are so stupid." He pointed the gun at her. "There's a silencer on it; otherwise what do you think this thing is?" "Quiet," Livuetta said, pushing the muzzle away. "Is there a safety catch on it?" Elsioma looked uncertain for a moment. "Of course," he said aloud, then shuddered and glanced at the closed door to the hall. "Of course there is," he whispered. "Come on; we'll hide it here and come back and get it when we get rid of the big nose." "You can't hide here," Livuetta said. "Bet, I can." "It's too strong," Livuetta said. "The oil stinks; you'll smell it as soon as you walk in. What if Father wants to come and walk?" Elsioma looked worried.Livretta passed him and opened a small tall window. "How about hiding in the stone boat?" Charidien suggested. "No one is going there at this time of year." Elsioma thought for a while.He grabbed the cloak that Charidian had wrapped around the gun and re-covered the weapon. "Okay. You get it." Still not far enough, or far enough forward...he wasn't sure.What he was looking for was the right place.suitable location.A very important place that represents everything.Take this rock for example... "I'm going to use you as an example, Stone," he squinted at it. Ah yes, we have a nasty big flat rock here, sitting there doing nothing, immoral and uninteresting, sitting like an island in the middle of a polluted pool.The pool is a small lake on an island which is in the mouth of a submerged pit.Crater is a caldera, a volcano that is part of an island in an inland sea.The inland sea is like a huge lake on a continent, and the continent is like an island in a planetary ocean.Planets are like islands in the sea of galactic space, galaxies are floating in star clusters, like an island in the ocean of the Milky Way, and the Milky Way is like an island in the group of islands, and an island in the entire universe; the universe is like an island Floating in the space continuum, they float in "reality" like islands, and then... But all the way down through the space continuum, universe, galaxies, galaxies, star clusters, galaxies, planets, continents, islands, lakes, islets...the stone stays here.So that means this rock, this crappy rotten rock is the center of the universe, the center of the continuum, the center of the whole reality! That word is caldera.The lake is within a submerged geocrater.He looked up at the walls of the pit across the still, yellowing water, and then he seemed to see a ship made of stone. "Scream," he said. "Go to hell," he heard the sky say, unconvinced. The sky was cloudy and starting to darken quickly; their language teacher was taking longer than usual to fall asleep at the high table, and they were almost about to abandon the whole plan and wait until tomorrow, but couldn't help it.They tiptoed out of the classroom, then walked as normal as possible to the back of the hall to get their boots and coats. "Look," Livuetta said. "Still smells a little like gun grease." "I can't smell anything," Elsioma lied. The banquet hall—where the visiting colonel and his staff drank and dined tonight—faced the park in front of the house; the lake with its stone boats was behind. "Just a walk by the lake, Sergeant," Charidian said to the guard who stopped them on the stone-paved road leading to the stone ship.The sergeant nodded and told them to hurry; it would be dark soon. They slipped aboard and found the rifle that Charidian had hidden under a stone chair on the upper deck. But when Elsiomus lifted the gun from the slate, he knocked it against the edge of the stone chair. There was a sound, and then the magazine fell, and then there was a sound like a fountain, and the clatter of bullets fell on the stones. "Idiot!" said Charidian. "Shut up!" "Oh, no," Livuetta said, bending over to pick up a few bullets. "Let's go back," Dakens whispered. "I'm so scared." "Don't worry," Charidian said, clapping her hand. "Come on; let's find the bullets." It seemed like it took them a lifetime to find and pick up the rounds and put them back in the magazine, but they still figured they might have missed some.By the time they finished and put the magazines in place, it was almost night. "It's too dark," Livuetta said.They all squatted behind the railing, looking out at the house.Elciomo held the gun. "No!" he said. "We can still see." "We can't see clearly," Charidian said. "We'll save it until tomorrow," Livuetta said. "They'll notice we've been gone too long," whispered Charidian. "We don't have time!" "No!" said Ilesiomus, watching the guard walk slowly past the end of the gravel path.Livretta was watching too; it was the sergeant who had spoken to them. "You idiot!" said Charidian, holding out a hand to grab the gun.Elciomo drew away. "Don't do it, it's mine!" "It's not yours!" Haridian hissed. "It's ours; it belongs to our family, not you!" He grabbed the gun with both hands.Elsioma drew away again. "Stop!" Dakens said, very quietly. "Come on..." Livueta began. She looked over the edge of the parapet, in the direction where she thought she heard the voice. "Bring it to me!" "Let go!" "Please stop, please stop. Please, let's go back..." Livretta didn't hear them.She stared, her mouth was dry, and she jumped over the low wall to look.A man covered in black is picking up a rifle dropped by a guard.The guard sergeant lay on the gravel road.Something flickered in the hands of the man in black, casting light on the house.The man pushed the sergeant's slack body over the gravel into the lake. She held her breath.Livietta knelt down and patted the two boys with her hands. "Stop..." They were still struggling. "stop……" "mine!" "Let go!" "Stop!" she hissed, hitting both of them on the head.They all stared at her. "Someone just killed the sergeant, right there." "What?" The two boys looked over the low wall.Elciomo still held the gun. Dakens sat down and began to cry. "where?" "Over there; that's his body! In the water!" "Of course," said Elciomo in a low, drawn out tone. "Then who..." The three saw a shadowy figure moving towards the house, using the shadows of the trees beside the road as cover.A dozen or so people - just a few dark shadows on the gravel path - advanced along the edge of the lake, leaving a narrow trail of grass. "Terrorist!" Elsiomo said excitedly, and the three squatted back behind the low wall, while Dakens sobbed silently. "Warning the house," said Livretta. "Shoot that gun." "Remove the silencer first," Charidian said. Elsioma struggled to twist the muzzle of the gun. "its stuck!" "Let me try!" All three of them tried. "Just shoot," Charidian said. "Okay!" whispered Ilesiomo.He swung the gun and weighed it. "Good!" he said, kneeling and setting the gun on the stone jetty to look. "Be careful," Livuetta said. Elsioma took aim at the shadowy man who was crossing the road towards the house.He pulled the trigger. The gun seemed to explode.The whole deck of the stone ship was lit, and the noise was terrible; Elsiomo was thrown back, and the gun was still firing, blasting rows of tracers into the night sky.He hit the stone chair.Dakens screamed with all her might; she jumped up, and the sound of the shooting echoed around the house. "Xiao Da, get down!" Lifuetta screamed.A few rays of light flashed and hit the stone boat harshly. Dakens stood screaming, then began to rush for the stairs.Elciomo shook his head and looked up to see the girl running past him.Livretta tried to catch her but failed.Charidian tried to trip her. Lines of light fell, blasting rubble from the rocks around them into fine dust clouds, while Dakens, still screaming, staggered down the stairs. The bullet went into Duckens' hip; over the gunfire and the girl's scream, the other three heard the rather distinctive sound of the impact. He was hit too, he just didn't know it then. The attack on the house was repelled.Dakens survived.She nearly died from blood loss and shock, but survived.The best doctors on the continent had struggled to rebuild her pelvis, which had shattered into dozens of major chunks, and a hundred pieces, under the impact of bullets. Bone fragments flowed through her body; they found fragments in her feet, a hand, internal organs, and even a piece in her cheek.The military doctors were quite familiar with this kind of injury, and they had the time (because it was before the war) and the motivation (because her father was a very important person) to try to put her back together.However, her walking style will still be a bit weird, at least until the end of development. A fragment of one of her bones flew out of her own body; that entered his.Just above the heart. The military doctor said it would be dangerous to operate.Sooner or later, they said, his body would have rid itself of the debris. But that didn't happen. He started crawling around the pool again. Earth crater!It's the word, the name. (The sign was important, and he found what he was looking for.) Victory, he told himself, saying sorry to the insects as he dragged himself to sweep the last clumps of guano from the path.He decided that everything would be all right.Now he knows that, and knows that you always win at the end, and even if you lose you don't know, there's only one kind of fight, and he's at the center of this whole absurdity; the word is crater , the word is Zarqawi, the word is Starblind, and they will come for him; they will come down in a beautiful ship, they will take him out of here, and make him better again it is good. "They'll never learn the lesson," Sky sighed, quite clearly. "Fuck you," he said. It wasn't until many years later that Charity Dean—who came back from the military academy to look for Dakens, and was sent in that direction by a gardener with a short answer—stepped across the carpet of fallen leaves and walked to the door of the small summer house. He heard someone screaming inside.It's Dakens. He rushed up the steps, drew his pistol, and kicked the door open. Dakens turned her astonished face and looked him over his shoulder; her hands were still on Ilesiomo's neck.伊勒西欧摩坐着，长裤堆在脚踝，手放在妲肯丝拉起洋装下的裸露臀部上，平静地望着他。 伊勒西欧摩坐在一张小椅子上，那是丽芙叶塔好久以前在木匠课做的。 “你好啊，老家伙，”他对握着手枪的年轻男子说。 夏瑞狄恩看着伊勒西欧摩的双眼一会儿，接着转开，收起手枪、扣上枪套走出去，把门在背后关上。 他听见妲肯丝在背后哭起来，伊勒西欧摩则大笑。 地火山口中央的岛屿再度变得平静。一些鸟儿飞了回来。 感谢这位男子，岛屿改变了。小岛中间的凹地周围画出了一个圈，在苍白岩石的黑色鸟粪上清出一条路，加上适当的尾巴朝着某边延长正确的长度（另一端指着石头，当成中央的点），岛屿似乎被印上了一个字或一张简单的图，黑底白字。 那是当地语言“救命！”的信号，而你只有从飞机上，或者从太空才看得见。 在避暑小屋的情景过了几年后，在某个树林燃烧、远方炮火震响的夜晚，一位年轻的陆军少校跳上一台他麾下的战车，命令车手驾驶机器穿过树林，沿着一条老树间蜿蜒的道路前进。 他们离开那座重新掳获的大宅，火红的烈焰照亮了一度宏伟的装潢（火映在装饰湖的水面上，也映在炸毁的石造船只上）。 战车撕裂着穿过树林，破坏小树跟溪流上的小桥。 他透过树看见避暑屋的空地；那被闪动的白光照耀着，彷佛是出自上帝之手。 他们进入空地；一颗照明弹落在树梢，降落伞卡在枝叶上。它发出嘶声、劈啪声，接着对整个空地爆出纯粹、强烈、极度明亮的亮光。 在小屋里，那张小木椅清晰可见。战车炮直指着小屋。 “长官？”战车指挥官说，担忧地从底下的舱口瞥看他。 扎卡维少校低头看他。 “开火，”他说。