Silence. To the left the cloudy green glass of the Wall. And just ahead the dark red mass. Those two colors combined, gave me as a resultant what I thought was a splendid idea.
“Wait! I know how to save you! I shall save you from.... To see one’s own child for a few moments only and then be sent to death! No! You shall be able to bring it up! You shall watch it and see it grow in your arms, and ripen like a fruit....”
Her body quivered and she seemed to have chained herself to me.
“Do you remember that woman, I-330? That ... of ... of long ago?... Who during that walk?... Well, she is now right here, in the
Ancient House. Let us go to her and I assure you that I shall arrange matters at once.”
I already pictured us, I-330 and I, leading O-90 through the corridors ... then how she would be brought amidst flowers, grass, and leaves.... But O-90 stepped back, the little horns of her rosy crescent trembling and bending downward.
“Is she that same one?” she asked.
“That is....” I was confused for some
reason. “Yes, of course ... that very same....”
“And you want me to go to her, to ask her ... to.... Don’t you ever dare to say another word about it!”