This Time of Darkness by H. M. Hoover

Author:H. M. Hoover
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: sci-fi
ISBN: 9780765345677
Publisher: Starscape
Published: 1980-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

12

In her dream she was taking a test. The computer had three different voices. It asked odd questions, about her mother and Janet and the book. It flashed printed text on its screen and made her read the words aloud. And she couldn’t lie or pretend she didn’t know answers. She didn’t even want to lie, but she knew she should. Sometimes the dream felt very real.

The computer told her to rest, and it asked Axel questions, and she could hear him answering. Then she knew it was really a dream because Axel never answered tests. Her tongue felt thick, and her mouth was very dry. A too-sweet taste filled her throat, and the dream faded into nothingness.

“Amy? Wake up. Please wake up!”

Axel’s voice was coming from a long way off. A hand patted her arm, hesitated, and patted her again. “Amy?”

She didn’t want to wake up; she couldn’t remember why. She wanted to stay asleep. The hand patted her cheek, two awkward, gentle pats. Amy?” He seemed to be pleading with her—but .Axel should know it did not pay to wake in Rehab. She moaned and turned her face away from that hand, and then it slapped her.

“Amy! Wake up!*’ He yelled so loudly into her ear that her head jerked back and her eyes flew open—then shut against the overhead lights.

“You awake now?”

“Yes.” The word slurred out through her dry lips.

“Here’s some water. Open your eyes so you don’t spill it.” He picked up her right hand and folded it around a cup.

“Are we in Rehab?” She managed to get the words out.

“No. We’re still up above. You can’t taste the air, and I haven’t seen any bugs in here.”

Amy took a deep breath; he was right about the air. She opened her eyes wide enough to let her see to guide the cup to her mouth. The water was the best she’d ever tasted.

“They drugged us,” Axel said. “You got more than me because you fought so much.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve been awake a long time. I learned—down there—not to fight them because they always drug you. …”

She finished the water and opened her eyes. She was in a small white room, and Axel was sitting across from her on the lap of a recliner.

“What is this place?”

He shrugged. “Don’t know—a questioning room, I guess. There are two doors behind you. One’s locked. The other’s a lava—a sanit. There’s a speaker in the wall. That windowlike thing there is a one-way mirror. We have glass like that at home—you can see out but no one can see in. It’s nice— in a house.”

“Is there more water?” she asked and started to sit up.

“I’ll get it.” Axel took the cup from her limp hand and walked around behind her into the sanit. When she turned her head to see where he was going, the room began to go around and around.

“l’m so dizzy.”

“It goes away,” he said as he came out with more water. “It’s the drug they

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