Sugarcane

The Arrowhead hums - a whisper, barely there.\n\nOdis' eyes roll back[[....|How are we tonight]]\n\n<<set $dosedOdis = "yes">>

Even with the Arrowhead [[as]] arbiter?\n

You press the Arrowhead to Lu's flesh, which is like dead leaves.\n\nThe Arrowhead hums - a whisper, barely there.\n\n[[....|dark]]\n<<set $dosedluagain = "yes">>

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") repeat;\n}\n

In the distance, the bottom of the sky and the plain are the same shade of gray.\n\nYou wander absently toward the horizon.\n\nYou seem to orbit the fire, which makes it like a sun, and the gray grass is like outer space, and, above, the empty sky is like a reflection of all that's down here, or else you and the fire and the grass and the sky are of one <<replace "fabric.">>fabric.\n\nBut someone is [[approaching]].<<endreplace>>\n\n

His pulse throbs weakly in his wrist.\n\n[[Administer a Citizen's Dose to Odis|doseodis2]]

You step out into the cold of the night.\n\n[[Latch the door]].

Symbolic.\n\nIt was last fired, you're sure, not in the Great War itself, but in its dark and chaotic after-time, before the world fell further backward still.\n\n[[....|snarl]]

...and Priest rode in the other, until your three elected moved in.\n\nYou shiver in the purpling twilight. \n\nThe horses are watered from the plastic tank. \n\nThe healthy children squeal and tumble by the fire.\n\nFrom the direction of the second wagon, you hear [[chanting]].

When you were expelled from New Harmony, you became a traveler, it seems, not only in space but in [[time]] -

No one speaks. All are hungry. The people huddle together, in one great mass, shivering, dirty, tired. \n\nTheir clothes are greasy. Their hair is matted. They'll wait for morning together. \n\n[[Boss|Boss2]] stands alone.\n\n[[Priest]] walks slow circles around the group, muttering to himself, running wooden beads through his fingers.\n\nOn the outskirts of the camp, [[your three elected]] sit in their wagon.\n\n

rolls slowly [[up]]\n

I wonder if [[you]] are that man - if the story is true.

<<timedinsert 2s>>In the sunless [[morning]]<<endtimedinsert>>

"For a long time now, scholars have approximated the figure of homo sacer as that of the 'devotus' who consecrates his own life to the gods of the underworld in order to save the city from grave danger.\n\nLivy has left us a vivid, meticulous [[descripti|jolt]] - \n

He understands that she is to go [[alone]].

<<if visited ("Wait 2") eq 1>>boom sway boom sway - lots of ground under me [[today]]<<endif>><<if visited ("Wait 2") eq 2>>boom sway boom sway -- lots of ground under me [[today|Wagon 2]]<<endif>><<if visited ("Wait 2") eq 3>>boom sway boom sway -- lots of ground under me [[today|Wagon 2]]<<endif>><<if visited ("Wait 2") eq 4>>The wagon groans to a stop.\n\nThe people will begin to make camp.\n\nYou'll need to visit the three elected.\n\n[[Go outside]].\n\n<<endif>>

<<if visited ("Wait1") lt 3>>You don't have to go right now.\n[[Back|Wagon]]<<endif>>\n\n\n<<if visited ("Wait1") eq 3>>It's hard to get used to this.\n [[Back|Wagon]]<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("Wait1") gt 3>>You don't have to go. \n[[Back|Wagon]]<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("Sleep")>> [[...|Wagon 2]]<<endif>>

It's impossible, you sigh, and put the book down.\n\n[[Back|Wagon 2]]

Boss asks you what's wrong - come by the fire, he says. It's cold where you are. Eat more.\n\nWe don't do this where I come from, you say.\n\nDo what, he wants to know.\n\n<<replace "Sing.">>Sing. To Ioga. Or to anyone up there. In New Harmony, in the metal-walls, we learn this is wrong. Makes trouble. [[In ways you can't see yet]].<<endreplace>>

<<timedinsert 2s>><<replace ". . . . . * . . . . . ">>You can't read [[in here|Wagon]] any longer; you'll be sick.<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>>

\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t[[the creaking and the swaying|5]]

<<if not visited ("Check for a pulse")>>Odis' eyes are half-open, but he is asleep.\n\n[[Check for a pulse]].<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("Check for a pulse")>> [[....|dark]]<<endif>>

The Unfinished Country\n\n -or-\n\nYour Three Elected

Strips of meat are served to you on a stone. \n\nYou did not eat meat in New Harmony, but you've no choice <<replace "here.">>here.\n\nThe people watch you expectantly. \n\nYou eat. When you nod, they cheer.\n\n<<replace "Next,">>Next, dishes are prepared by Priest, blessed, and carried off to your three elected, in their wagon.\n\nThen the men eat.\n\nThen the women, and then the children.\n\n[[...|fire]]<<endreplace>><<endreplace>>

You look down to see a snake, burrowing into the veins in your <<replace "wrist">>wrist \n\nit’s tail working crazily in the <<replace "air">>air\n\nit writhes up your left <<replace "arm">>arm\n\nthrough and across your <<replace "chest">>chest\n\nback down your right <<replace "arm">>arm\n\nand emerges, hungrily, from your right wrist (matching stigmata), mouth working\n\nand straining, [[twisting]],<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n

The wagon creaks and sways.\n\n1. You lie on a straw pallet, in the center of the compartment, nauseated by the constant motion.\n\n2. With your right hand, you can just reach the large [[chest]] that sits beside the pallet.\n\n3. To your left is the tin [[jar]] with the cleverly-built clasped [[lid]].\n<<if not visited ("Wait1")>>\n<<replace "Your observations?">> Irregular windows of scavenged plastic admit dirty light -- yellow and red to your left, blue and yellow to your right.<<endreplace>><<endif>>\n<<if visited ("Wait1") eq 1 >> <<replace "Your observations?">>The light is fading.<<endreplace>> <<endif>><<if visited ("Wait1") eq 2>><<replace "Your observations?">>There's singing from outside. Travel songs. Unintelligible; angular; abrasive. You contemplate emerging to tell them some fairytale so they'll stop.<<endreplace>><<endif>><<if visited ("Wait1") eq 3>><<replace "Your observations?">> A particularly sharp jolt. You find yourself sitting up, and you can't tell if you've been sleeping.<<endreplace>><<endif>>\n[[Wait|Wait1]]\n\n\n

You look at Boss, and gesture towards the children.\n\nBoss looks at Priest, who looks back at you, nervously.\n\nBoss unsheathes his knife and cuts a slab from the roast. He brings it to you.\n\n[[Eat]]

You slip your hand under her cheek and lift her head. \n\nA knot of her hair is tangled in Mac's coat; it comes out of her scalp by the roots, simply and easily.\n\n[[Administer a Citizen's Dose to Lu|doselu2]]

<<if not visited ("Wagon 2")>>You'll be sick. Your head hurts too much.\n\nYou can't anymore [[today|Wagon]].<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("Wagon 2")>>It's begun to feel<<replace "....">>.... too [[remote|Wagon 2]].<<endreplace>>\n<<endif>>

Now the hunter gets up to perform his part in the dance. Enraptured, eyes rolled back, arms raised, he shivers in front of the fire.\n\nPriest leads all of the people in a song - a song to Ioga.\n\n<<timedinsert 4s>>You're sick of this delay. It's time to start traveling.\n\n[[Stand and leave]].<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n

[[Lu|lu2]], [[Mac|mac2]] and [[Odis|odis2]] huddle together.\n\n<<if $dosedodisagain eq "yes" and $dosedmacagain eq "yes" and $dosedluagain eq "yes">>[[Goodnight|goodnight2]].<<endif>>\n\n\n

curls to take [[its own tail]] in its mouth

Priest rears back and snarls at the cold, moonless sky.\n\nBoss appears, holding his ancient salvaged [[rifle]] skyward, towards the evening star, newly born above the plain. His beard is knotted into two coarse braids; the muscle in his arms is visible through his buckskin.\n\nWhen the people see Boss, they are quiet.\n\nHe [[regards you|calls to you]].\n

As you stare the dark becomes textured, <<replace "rugose.">>rugose.\n\n[[Colors then bloom]] from it.<<endreplace>>

Priest, with his [[crown of feathers]] and his shells, leads a group of men to the second wagon <<replace "-">>\n\nThe wagon where <<replace "your three elected">>Lu, Mac and Odis<<endreplace>> ride.\n\n<<timedinsert 8s>>[[What are they doing?|hey]]<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>>

A pack of men and women consume him utterly.\n\nHe's dead, likely, for minutes before they finish.\n\nBoss sits against the wall, by himself, breathing hard.\n\nHe stares into your eyes.\n\n[[....|sixmonths]]

Give me your arm, you say.\n\nShe raises it to you, eyes lowered.\n\nWith your left hand, you grab her wrist.\n\n[[Press the Arrowhead to her flesh]]

You were just reading this yesterday; you're a little sick of it.\n\n[[Back|Wagon 2]]

You asked what they called themselves - who they were, where they were from. \n\nYour people were from New Harmony, you said, and called themselves Harmonists.\n\nThey had heard of New Harmony, but never seen it. And they knew, and were afraid of, the Others. And they spoke of, and prayed to, Ioga.\n\nBut us, they said - we are just [[the people]].\n\n

They claw and trample to get through the mouth\n\nScraping and tearing and rending [[until]]

You would prefer to be in your wagon - you've no interest in listening to Priest. Any sort of anthropological curiosity value this sort of thing might once have held has lost all its <<replace "novelty.">>novelty.\n\nAnd you're sick of the way these people transform their lack of understanding of - well, anything really - into a narrative on the scale of creation and the <<replace "cosmos.">>cosmos.\n\nIt's not a complicated story. The Harmonist outpost at 100 Mile House is abandoned, likely with its foodstores still <<replace "intact.">>intact.\n\nBut the door will open only for a Citizen, and your genetic code is <<replace "damaged.">>unsalvagable. Anyone without the right genetic markers who tries to enter a Harmonist structure is incinerated at the threshold.\n\n\nThe <<replace "Arrowhead">>Arrowhead (you touch the pouch compulsively to make sure it's still there<<replace ")">>) found three possible genetic matches - three, among these miserable people, who might fool the sensors at 100 Mile House if they were pumped full of Citizen's Doses <<replace "first.">>first.\n\nIt probably won't work at all. But trying is better than sitting around, waiting to die.\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>You don't begrudge the people their version of the story. You're only sick of it, and you'd prefer to be in your wagon.\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>It's just too damned [[cold|youstay]] to leave the fire.<<endtimedinsert>><<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>

your horse a hollow husk between your legs, like paper; your tongue gray and bloated; your eyes unfocused; your daughter on the saddle in front of you, slumped back and slowly dying; your mind a tumble and riot of dreams[[....|sparkles]]

You pause before leaving. Your three elected are weak from the dose.\n\nYou feel you should [[say something]] - \nbut[[....|say nothing]]\n\n\n\n

Ju[[st]] now?

He has responded poorly to the Citizen's Doses. They've withered him away <<replace "so quickly.">>so quickly.\n\nMac and Lu - they've suffered. But Odis[[....|but Odis]]<<endreplace>>

pallet - of [[all]] the auks\n\nof the rocs?

There were enough of us to fight the Others.\n\nThe people stayed in one place - weren't always [[moving|bossmoving]].\n\n

It's full.\n\n[[....|Wagon 2]]

It's [[Boss]].

Food and water for six months, you'd imagine.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>Six months or less.<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 5s>>[[....|end]]<<endtimedinsert>>

The Arrowhead is glassy and black - like obsidian. \n\nEyes closed, hand working slowly, you turn it over in your palm -\n\n[[once|died without it]].\n\n[[twice|anna]].\n\n[[three times|the people]].\n\n[[....|Wagon 2]]

And not much better now. \n\nThe people are slaves to the id. \n\nYou wonder if they're fully conscious, fully self-aware, fully human.\n\n[[...|human]]

"Medea, like Ajax, reminds us of a fundamental truth about <<replace "violence.">>violence. \n\nIf left unappeased, violence will accumulate until it overflows its confines and floods the surrounding <<replace "area.">>area.\n\nThe role of sacrifice is to stem this rising tide of indiscriminate substitutions and redirect violence into 'proper' <<replace "channels.">>channels.\n\nAjax has details that underline the close relationship between the sacrificial substitution of animals and <<replace "humans,">>humans. \n\nBefore he sets upon the flock of sheep, Ajax momentarily contemplates the sacrifice of his own <<replace "son.">>son. \n\nThe boy's mother does not take this threat lightly; she whisks the child [[away|Read1]]."<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>

The bio-purge was excruciating - you were sick for the first several days of excommunication.\n\nYour DNA is wrecked. No entryway would ever let you through the gates of New Harmony, or any colony, or any outpost. \n\nThe gene tags and vulnerability fixes that made you a Harmonist were bleached out, replaced with contaminants to keep you from ever [[getting back in]].\n\nA single citizen's dose from the Arrowhead might not be lethal. But you don't want to find out.\n\n[[....|Wagon 2]]\n

You elect <<replace "Lu.">>Lu.<<set $sent_lu = "true">>\n\nHer owner presses through the crowd and takes her arm.\n\nHis other wives weep, their sobs turning to steam on the plain.\n\n[[....|walk]]<<endreplace>>\n\n\n

It's like watching it start again, you think. \n\nIt's like traveling back to the beginning of time.\n\nThe whole story - the great and cataclysmic failure - is there in Priest's crown.\n\n[[Written there|mob]].

Then a great sickness came.\n\nVery few survived. But my great-grandfather, he survived, and he could [[talk of it]].\n

<<if $sentmac eq "false" and $sent_lu eq "false" and $sent_odis eq "false">>The quiet of the plain is burdened and heavy.\n\nYou may send one at a time.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[Send Lu]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 4s>>[[Send Mac]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 5s>>[[Send Odis]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n<<endif>><<if $sentmac eq "true" and $sent_lu eq "false" and $sent_odis eq "false">>The quiet of the plain is burdened and heavy.\n\nYou may send one at a time.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[Send Lu]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 4s>>[[Send Odis]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n<<endif>><<if $sentmac eq "true" and $sent_lu eq "true" and $sent_odis eq "false">>The quiet of the plain is burdened and heavy.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[Send Odis]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n<<endif>><<if $sentmac eq "false" and $sent_lu eq "true" and $sent_odis eq "false">>The quiet of the plain is burdened and heavy.\n\nYou may send one at a time.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[Send Mac]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 4s>>[[Send Odis]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n<<endif>><<if $sentmac eq "false" and $sent_lu eq "true" and $sent_odis eq "true">>The quiet of the plain is burdened and heavy.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[Send Mac]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n<<endif>><<if $sentmac eq "true" and $sent_lu eq "false" and $sent_odis eq "true">>The quiet of the plain is burdened and heavy.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[Send Lu]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n<<endif>><<if $sentmac eq "false" and $sent_lu eq "false" and $sent_odis eq "true">>The quiet of the plain is burdened and heavy.\n\nYou may send one at a time.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[Send Lu]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 4s>>[[Send Mac]]<<endtimedinsert>><<endif>>\n\n

You can almost see it [[expire|that night 2]] in the black, starrless sky.

the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and th[[e sw|camp 3]] aying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the sw[[aying the creak|camp 3]] ing and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking an[[d|camp 3]] the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swa[[yin|camp 3]] g the creaking and the s[[way|camp 3]] ing the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying [[ |camp 3]] the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking [[and the swaying the creaking and the swaying|camp 3]] the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying the creaking and the swaying

--Let the player undo moves? (on / off)\n--In Sugarcane, this enables the browser's back button.\n--In Jonah, this lets the player click links in previous\n--passages.\n\nUndo: on\n\n--Let the player use bookmarks? (on / off)\n--This enables the Bookmark links in Jonah and Sugarcane\n--(If the player can't undo, bookmarks are always disabled.)\nBookmark: on\n\n--Obfuscate the story's HTML source to prevent possible\n--spoilers? (swap / off)\n\nObfuscate: off\n\n--String of letter pairs to use for swap-style obfuscation\n\nObfuscateKey: zhqyxjunfrwocvkbglpastdeim\n\n--Include the jQuery script library? (on / off)\n\njQuery: off\n\n--Include the Modernizr script library? (on / off)\n\nModernizr: off\n

and [[its]] left eye

<<if not visited ("Grab his arm")>>Odis might not [[make it]] to 100 Mile House.<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("Grab his arm")>>Odis is unconscious, breathing raggedly.\n[[....|How are we tonight]]<<endif>>

Mac falls to his knees in supplication.\n\nPriest sets to work with a sharp <<replace "stone.">>stone.\n\nTears well in Mac's eyes, but he is silent <<replace "and">>\n\nWhen it is over, amidst great whooping and cheering, Priest holds the tooth by its gory roots and parades it around the fire, which the women have, during this time, finished building.\n\n[[....|that night 2]]<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n

You elect <<replace "Mac.">>Mac.\n\nIn slow but even strides, Mac approaches the mouth of 100 Mile House. \n\nNo one comes to walk with him; no one speaks.\n\n<<replace "....">>....\n\nand in Mac's eyes there is a <<replace "wild look">>wild look\nyou have not seen before.\n\n[[....|macruns]]<<endreplace>>\n<<endreplace>>\n<<endreplace>>\n<<set $sentmac = "true">>\n\n\n

You latch the door behind you.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[And]]<<endtimedinsert>>

The bright interior of 100 Mile House is visible.\n\nMac begins to stir.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[....|run]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n<<set $maclives = "true">>

You'd be killed, in fact. Burnt up as soon as you <<replace "approached.">>approached.\n\nBut maybe, between the three of them in the other wagon[[....|what would happen]]<<endreplace>>\n\n

<<timedinsert 4s>>It's too [[dangerous]] to make a fire tonight.<<endtimedinsert>>

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t[[the creaking and the swaying|4]]

This is our way, Boss begins coolly.\n\nMac is the blackskin - the only blackskin in all of the people.\n\nA godly one.\n\nIoga sent him to us.\n\n\n[[....|men]]

<<silently>>\n<<set $sentmac = "true">>\n<<endsilently>>\nMac is gone -\n\nA line of ash all that is left in his place.\n\nThe inner door remains closed.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[....|Choose]]<<endtimedinsert>>

One of Boss's wives fixes his tent as he mills about. Her veil has begun to slip, and he scolds her.\n\nThe wagon was his until you came.\n\n[[....|camp night 2]]

[[Anna|truth]] slipped the Arrowhead to you, quietly, hopefully, on the morning you were [[cast out]]. \n\n[[....|Arrowhead]]

Why do you call it that, you'd asked her once - a long time ago it seems, now. Why do you think it's a boy?\n\nShe'd looked puzzled. You have magic - how could you have a girl child?\n\n[[...|Lu]]

The men watch intently.\n\nThe women, too, have stopped making camp to look.\n\n[[....|tooth]]

The people are still for a moment\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>and then they [[run|trample]]<<endtimedinsert>>

She may still think that you were telling the truth — that the allegations were all lies. \n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>She may still think that you were telling the truth. But it’s unlikely.<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 4s>>You're sure they've found the boy by now.<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 5s>>[[...|anna]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n

- weeks of eating grass, of manic pacing to survive the cold, of terror at every new sound, and at the silence, of animal thirst.\n\nThe Arrowhead told you where to go, led you to water. Kept you sane. \n\nEven though it could no longer connect to New Harmony's network, it was a lifeline - reminded you who you were.\n\nBut still, there were days when you lived [[like an animal]].\n

The people gather at the fire. Priest sings to them.\n\nHis song is strained and exhausted and [[desperate]].\n\nPriest points at you, and tells the people <<replace "-">> \n\nIn a dream Ioga showed me the metal-walls he leads us to.\n\nWhen the people live in the metal-walls, Ioga said in this dream, they will eat every day, and they will be warm and safe from <<replace "Others.">>Others.\n\nWe have traveled long, and we have been hungry. We have given up three of our people for the Insider's medicine. Even now, some of you doubt. Some wish we had not traveled north at all.... \n\n<<replace "....">><<replace "(murmurs from the people)">>....\n\nBut where Ioga points, we may only follow, without doubt.\n\n<<replace "....">>The people [[eye]] you<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n

[[the creaking and the swaying|2]]

Wait, wait - \n\n<<timedinsert 2s>> don't tell me[[....|Wagon 3]]<<endtimedinsert>>

Others, says Boss.\n\n[[....|dangerous]]

Priest holds a smoking wreath in his hand; he sings and dances and shakes it over the elected's wagon. \n\nYou stride quickly [[towards him]].\n\n

If they think it contains all the power of heaven and hell, you've no real desire to correct them.\n\nThey'd be entirely incapable of understanding what an Arrowhead is, in any case.\n\n[[....|the people]]

Trembling, Lu steps into the <<replace "mouth.">>mouth.\n\nThe mouth seals behind <<replace "her.">>her.\n\nThe whir of the door seems to startle her, <<replace "for">>for\n\nat the instant it shuts <<replace "completely,">>completely,\n\nshe is midway through the <<replace "motion">>motion\n\nof turning to <<replace "look">>look\n\nover her right shoulder.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[....|andlu]]<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n<<endreplace>>\n<<endreplace>>\n<<endreplace>>\n<<endreplace>>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

<<if $sent_odis eq "false" and $sentmac eq "false">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|openslu]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endif>><<if $sent_odis eq "true" and $sentmac eq "false">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|openslu]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endif>><<if $sent_odis eq "false" and $sentmac eq "true">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|openslu]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endif>><<if $sent_odis eq "true" and $sentmac eq "true">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|lulives]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endif>>\n\n\n

<<timedinsert 5s>>[[Open your eyes|waitwait]]<<endtimedinsert>>

<<if not visited ("today2")>>Lu sleeps on Mac's shoulder. \n\nShe hasn't been up [[today|today2]], says Mac.<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("today2")>>[[....|dark]]<<endif>>

<<replace ".....*.....">>This evening, you sense something wild in the people.\n\nIt's been a lean winter, and food is scarce this far north. The hunting party has returned with nothing, <<replace "again.">>for the third day in a row.<<endreplace>>\n\nPriest had forecast success<<replace "....">>\n\nIn its absence, their hunger has burst into a sort of [[mania|mob]].<<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n\n\n

<<if not visited ("u2")>>Boss' eyes are deep and sad.\n\nWhat do your gods say, he [[asks]].<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("u2")>>Boss' eyes are sad and [[cold]].<<endif>>

Books. Dusty, torn, broken. \n[['The Birth of Purgatory.'|readBirth]] \n[['Homo Sacer.'|readHomo]] \n[['Violence and the Sacred.'|readViolence]]\n

You key the door shut.\n\nThe people have already fallen savagely upon the food stores.\n\nSome copulate on the ground and against walls.\n\nWild cries echo from the top of the dome.\n\nThe people rush to touch you, to exalt you\n\n<<timedinsert 8s>>[[Order Priest's execution|execution]]<<endtimedinsert>>

The wagon creaks and sways.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>><<replace "I am">>You are<<endreplace>> so tired of [[the creaking and the swaying]] of the wagon.<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n

<<if not visited ("Arrowhead")>>You wake to the creaking and swaying of the wagon.\n\n1. You're on your stomach, and the silken [[pouch]] digs into your flesh.\n\n2. To your left is the [[chest|chest2]]. To your right is the [[jar|jar2]].\n\n<<replace "Your thoughts?">>None to speak of.<<endreplace>>\n\n[[Wait|Wait 2]]<<endif>><<if visited ("Arrowhead")>>The wagon creaks and sways. \n\n1. To your left is the [[chest|chest2]]. To your right is the [[jar|jar2]].\n\n2. You hold the [[Arrowhead]].\n\n<<if visited ("Wait 2") eq 0>><<replace "Your thoughts?">>None to speak of.<<endreplace>><<endif>><<if visited ("Wait 2") eq 1>><<replace "Your thoughts?">>Still none. Almost feels as if you have fewer these days.<<endreplace>><<endif>><<if visited ("Wait 2") eq 2>><<replace "Your thoughts?">>You're hungry again. But there's not much you can do.<<endreplace>><<endif>><<if visited ("Wait 2") eq 3>><<replace "Your thoughts?">>If you were back in New Harmony, you'd take your Citizen's Dose now. You find yourself half tempted to press the Arrowhead to your cubital vein...old habits, and all.\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>But you know [[what would happen]].<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endif>>\n\n[[Wait|Wait 2]]<<endif>>\n\n\n\n\n

No more, today.\n\n[[Back|Wagon]]

We respect you and follow you, Insider, says Boss.\n\nWe give you the three you want for your medicine.\n\nBut these are our [[ways|poormac]].

Things are quiet a moment - <<timedinsert 1s>>then -<<endtimedinsert>><<timedinsert 3s>>\n\nLu's owner wails and, wheeling fiercely, charges at you.\n\nSeveral of the men are on him before you can <<replace "react.">>react.\n\nIt's not over yet.\n\n[[Choose]]<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>>\n

by Phantom Williams

The land is burnt, empty, lunar. The sky is gray, and darkening <<replace "now.">>now. \n\nBefore you are desperate men, women and children, wretched and tired, <<replace "hollow-cheeked.">>hollow-cheeked. \n\nSome ride on gaunt and bony horses; some walk. \n\nSome wear painted faces; some carry bows or sticks; some are wrapped in <<replace "hide.">>hide. \n\nSome are lucky to wear salvage, their prized possessions: plastic boots, backpacks, hooded jackets, all faded with untold <<replace "lifetimes of age.">>lifetimes of age.\n\nThey shamble together in a ragged caravan - men, women, horses, and two wagons: yours, and another<<replace "....">>....\n\nThey are [[the people|hunting party]].<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n

The Arrowhead hums - a whisper, barely there.\n\n[[....|dark]]\n

Books. Dusty, torn, broken. \n[['The Birth of Purgatory.'|Read day 1]] \n[['Homo Sacer.'|Read day 1]] \n[['Violence and the Sacred.'|Read day 1]]\n\n \n

It's like paper.\n\nYou push the Arrowhead to his [[flesh|dose Odis]].

<<if $sent_lu eq "false" and $sent_odis eq "false">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|opensmac]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endif>>\n<<if $sent_lu eq "true" and $sent_odis eq "false">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|opensmac]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endif>><<if $sent_lu eq "false" and $sent_odis eq "true">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|opensmac]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endif>><<if $sent_lu eq "true" and $sent_odis eq "true">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|maclives]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endif>>

<<replace "Your three elected">>Lu, Mac and Odis<<endreplace>> are brought forth through the crowd.\n\n<<replace "....">>\nThey stare into the mouth.\n\n<<replace "....">>\nWhat has he done to her, cries <<replace "a man">> Lu's owner.\n\n<<replace "....">>\n(...it's true; she's not looking well. she stares emptily and holds her belly)\n\n<<replace "....">>\nThe people seem afraid. Boss, too. Priest blesses Odis, then Lu, then Mac.\n\n<<timedinsert 4s>>[[Choose]]<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n<<set $sentmac = "false">>\n<<set $sent_lu = "false">>\n<<set $sent_odis = "false">>\n<<set $maclives = "false">>\n<<set $lulives = "false">>\n<<set $odislives = "false">>\n\n

Your lips crack as you attempt to move them.\n\nYour tongue aches.\n\nYou try to shout, to scream, but nothing works and you feel as if you will strangle.\n\nAnd yet you must.\n\n<<timedinsert 8s>>[[Breathe in|back to you]]<<endtimedinsert>>

100 Mile House is bigger than you'd anticipated. \n\nIts geodesic dome appears half sunken into the face of the plain.\n\nIt looks like the <<replace "center of the world, the pole around which all else spins.">>center of the world, the pole around which all else spins....\n\nthe only evidence of sense and order in this unfinished and prehistorical country that you've seen since you left New Harmony.\n\n[[....|coda]]<<endreplace>>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In the [[night]], of the \n

Together, they approach the mouth. \n\nThe people seem afraid of it; they keep their <<replace "distance.">>distance.\n\nAs do you, you notice.\n\n[[....|enterlu]]<<endreplace>>\n\n\n

The Unfinished Country\n\nor\n\nYour Three Elected\n\nby Phantom Williams\n\n. . . . . [[ *|at the beginning]] . . . . .\n\n<<silently>>\n<<set $dosedOdis = "no">>\n<<set $dosedlu = "no">>\n<<set $dosedmac = "no">>\n<<set $dosedluagain = "no">>\n<<set $dosedmacagain = "no">>\n<<set $dosedodisagain = "no">>\n<<set $sentmac = "false">>\n<<set $sent_lu = "false">>\n<<set $sent_odis = "false">>\n\n<<endsilently>>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

<html><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ze9-ARjL-ZA?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ze9-ARjL-ZA?fs=1&hl=en_GB&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></html>\n\nby Phantom Williams\nMacros by Leon Arnott\n...with apologies to McCarthy and LeGuin for lines lifted

She's underweight and sick now, but her eyes still sparkle. They were the first thing you'd wanted to [[take|Lu]].

Whose is that? Did you write that[[?]]\n\n

[[Something shimmers on the horizon.|obelisk]]

They push and paw at you.\n\nYou look around.\n\n[[....|end1]]\n

Lu stands silhouetted against the bright interior of 100 Mile House.\n\nShe holds an arm up against its brightness.\n\nShe stands <<timedinsert 3s>>very<<endtimedinsert>><<timedinsert 4s>> [[still|run]].<<endtimedinsert>>\n<<set $lulives = "true">>

Same as before, you reply.\n\nHe nods.\n\nThe people used to be big, and proud, Boss says.\n\nWe were thousands. When I was young my great-grandfather [[told me]].\n\n

Smoke from his wreath burns your eyes.\n\nThey need blessing, he says, for 100 Mile House.\n\nA crowd has gathered - men, women and children, watching.\n\nThey need no such thing, you say. They need me. Get away. Get out. You grab the wreath, pull it from Priest’s hand, and toss it aside.\n\nPriest puffs out his chest, but walks off.\n\nGet out of here, you call to the crowd.\n\nA pale moon is out now, over the plain.\n\n<<timedinsert 12s>>[[Enter the electeds' wagon]].<<endtimedinsert>>

The wagon is cold. The plastic windows, colorless in the gray morning, are covered in frost.\n\n[[Sleep again|Sleep]]

Priest lifts the latch on the wagon's door.\n\n[[Run|leads them]]

You are not like the man in the story.\n\n[[....|cold]]

Shouldn't be much longer, you offer.\n\nYou step out into the cold of the night.\n\n[[Latch the door]].

The camp is quiet.\n\nReturn to your [[wagon|sleep 2]].

\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t[[the creaking and the swaying|3]]

Odis is gone -\n\nA line of ash all that is left in his place.\n\nThe inner door remains closed.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[....|Choose]]<<endtimedinsert>>

they're all through, and those who are not lie crumpled and broken in the mouth\n\n<<if $odislives eq "true">>and under those, and the most broken of all, is Odis<<endif>><<if $maclives eq "true">>and under those, and most broken of all, is Mac<<endif>><<if $lulives eq "true">>and under those, and most broken of all, is Lu<<endif>>\n\n<<timedinsert 6s>>The evening star is still up on the horizon, late as it seems.<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 8s>>[[Walk over the corpses|step]]<<endtimedinsert>>\n

boom sway boom sway - lots of ground under me today\n\n...that's a little song your head makes out of the rhythm of the [[wagon|Wagon 2]].

<<if $sent_lu eq "true" and $sentmac eq "true">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|opensodis]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endif>>\n\n<<if $sent_lu eq "false" and $sent_mac eq "true">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|failodis]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endtimedinsert>><<endif>><<if $sent_lu eq "true" and $sentmac eq "false">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|failodis]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endtimedinsert>><<endif>><<if $sent_lu eq "false" and $sentmac eq "false">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|failodis]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endtimedinsert>><<endif>><<if $sent_lu eq "false" and $sentmac eq "true">><<timedinsert 1s>><<replace "and">>and\n\nwhen the mouth [[opens|failodis]] again<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endtimedinsert>><<endif>>

Odis stands silhouetted against 100 Mile House's bright <<replace "interior,">>interior,\n\nrevealed through the inner <<replace "door,">>door\n\nwhich had opened for him\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>and <<replace "presently">>presently,\n\nhe sits, and ducks his head between his knees\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>[[....|run]]<<endtimedinsert>><<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n<<set $odislives = "true">>

<<if visited ("Wait1") lt 4>>You roll noisily [[on|Wagon]].<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("Wait1") eq 4>> Voices from outside.\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>The wagon groans to a [[stop]].<<endtimedinsert>><<endif>>\n\n\n\n

There are songs, and dancing.\n\nThe young man who killed the dog sits in the position of honor, to Boss's right.\n\nYou're to his left. \n\nThe commonwomen dance around the fire, stopping to perform their presentations in front of you, then Boss, then the [[hunter]].\n\n

You will do no such thing to him, you roar.\n\nThose three are our only chance. They're weakened already by the <<replace "Citizen's Doses.">>medicine (because you didn't say Citizen's Doses. You never do. This word medicine they understand)<<endreplace>>\n\nIf he gets sick - an infection, or <<replace "-">>-\n\n[[Boss eyes you steadily|steadily]]. <<endreplace>>\n\n

<<replace "But">>But\n\nYou carry Odis to the mouth, and place him, on his two feet, before it.\n\n<<replace "He takes the last step alone">>\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>the mouth closes behind him<<endtimedinsert>><<timedinsert 3s>>[[....|andodis]]<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>

Let them be savages, if it will quiet them.\n\nMac is weakened enough by the Citizen's Doses you've been administering him that, you imagine, the tooth will come out quite <<replace "easily.">>easily.\n\nMac falls to his knees in supplication.\n\nPriest sets to work with a sharp <<replace "stone.">>stone.\n\nTears well in Mac's eyes, but he is silent <<replace "and">>\n\nWhen it is over, amidst great whooping and cheering, Priest holds the tooth by its gory roots and parades it around the fire, which the women have, during this time, finished building.\n\n[[....|that night 2]]<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n\n\n\n

Another man takes Mac's wrists, and he is heaved and swung into the mouth, and the mouth closes over him.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[....|andmac]]<<endtimedinsert>>

You slip your fingers into it and run them along the contours of the [[Arrowhead]].\n\n

<<timedreplace 4s>>\nwhen the first faint glow of dawn crept into the camp<<becomes>>a woman was dead, sitting at the fire's ashes<<becomes>>A child stared glassy-eyed from her arms<<becomes>>Her owner wanted to butcher them, but Priest had him killed for suggesting it<<becomes>>And we left them and rode on <<becomes>>Spectre horsemen, pale with dust<<becomes>>Rolling under us was the barren plain, raw and formless, like it was still new<<becomes>>for days, no food or hope of it<<becomes>>one morning, three hunters went out, but none came back<<becomes>>maybe they were killed, maybe they were lost, maybe they rode off<<becomes>>and the next morning, an old man was dead, and a young child too sick to travel<<becomes>>and we left both in the country, under the dirty sky<<becomes>>and in the night, the light from the fire lashed at our sunken faces, and we cried with our hunger<<becomes>>some wanted to kill the Insider, saying he had brought this on us<<becomes>>but no one would do it<<becomes>>and even though there was no moon and no stars, and we had not slept, we struck camp and rode, because we were hungry<<endtimedreplace>>\n<<timedinsert 68s>>[[....|act3]]<<endtimedinsert>>

Stop that, you call. Stop it now.\n\nHe glares at you.\n\nYou'll rile them, you say, gesturing towards the wagon. They need rest.\n\nPriest steps towards [[menacingly]] towards you.

The scouts found [[tracks]], less than a mile from where you rode today.\n\nIt's [[cold]]. On the plain, ice sparkles in the sun's last lights.\n\n

Straw covers the wagon floor thinly. Otherwise, it is bare.\n\n[[How are we tonight]], you say.\n\n\n\n\n

[[to meet yours]]

The latch is heavy. It appears [[immovable]].\n\n

You lift the latch and step inside.\n\nYour eyes adjust to the [[dark]].

"Thus Christianity took the ancient myth of a Golden Age and assigned it a place and not, as the ancients had been content to do, just a time, a nostalgic memory of the good old days.\n\nThe Earthly Paradise figures on medieval maps in [[the|jolt]]

his eyes are rolled back\n\nhis mouth slacked\n\nshoulders dropped in surrender.\n\n[[Let him go|cold]]

He feels like a doll, and yet, you walk slowly toward the mouth\n<<replace "....">>....\n\n[[You are weak, too|but]].<<endreplace>>

You press the Arrowhead to his flesh, which is like ash.\n\nThe Arrowhead hums - a whisper, barely there.\n\n[[....|dark]]\n<<set $dosedodisagain = "yes">>

(you [[gasp]] in horror)\n

<<if not visited ("flesh2")>>Mac offers up his arm.\n\n[[Adminsiter a Citizen's Dose to Mac|flesh2]] <<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("flesh2")>> [[....|dark]]<<endif>>

It's cold on your pallet, and hard to sleep when you have not eaten.\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>How quickly we grow hungry again.<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 4s>>You stare at the ceiling[[....|rugose]]<<endtimedinsert>>

Your pulse quickens. Your mouth opens.\n\n[[Call out]]

Without the Arrowhead, you never could have survived those [[first weeks|weeks of]], before the people found you -\n\n[[....|Arrowhead]]\n

Anna approaches, an imploring look on her face.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[Lie to her]].<<endtimedinsert>>\n

<<if visited("dose Lu")>>Lu stares through the floor.\n\n[[....|How are we tonight]]<<endif>>\n\n<<if not visited("dose Lu")>>You stand over Lu.\n\nYou can see, from this angle, her growing belly.\n\n[[He]]'s kicking again, she says, [[looking up]] at you.\n\nYour face must betray surprise, because she looks away.\n\nYou feel the [[Arrowhead|dose Lu]] in your palm.<<endif>>\n\n\n

You stand. Your legs ache. The ghost of motion haunts your insides.\n\n[[Open the door|patchwork]]

He told me a story.\n\nLots of people told this story, then, but no one tells it now.\n\nThe story was that a man would come, with magic, to lead the people. To bring happiness back to the people.\n\n[[....|happiness]]

The people amass before <<replace "the mouth of 100 Mile House">>\n\nthis boundaryline that separates past from future, and life from death\n\n[[....|edge]]<<endreplace>>\n

We take a tooth, Boss <<replace "continues.">>continues.\n\nA tooth from the blackskin and Ioga will provide.\n\nSee his mouth - for every tooth gone, I will tell you a night the people ate meat when they thought they would not eat meat.\n\nThe people love Mac as they love no other.<<endreplace>>\n\n<<timedinsert 10s>>\n[[Permit]]\n[[Refuse|helpmac]]<<endtimedinsert>>

You drive it into her.\n\nThe Arrowhead hums - a whisper, barely there.\n\nIt leaves an imprint, which she massages.\n\n[[....|How are we tonight]]\n<<set $dosedlu = "yes">>

They're not entirely savage. They surprise you every once in a while.\n\n[[Back|Wagon]]\n

[[Grab his arm]].

\n. . . . . [[ *|werner]] . . . . . \n\n

What’s that poem - it describes exactly this, in fact [[-]]

[[Lu]] sits against the left wall, huddled in a blanket. On a slab of tin next to her are some shreds of this morning's meat.\n\nYou sense that these are [[Mac]]'s portion; that he gave his up for her. He sits near Lu.\n\n[[Odis]] doesn't look well. His head is between his pointed knees.\n\n<<if $dosedOdis eq "yes" and $dosedmac eq "yes" and $dosedlu eq "yes">>[[Goodnight]]<<endif>>

<<timedinsert 5s>>[[....|100 mile house]]<<endtimedinsert>>

'I feel my mind [[whiten]] to moonlight -\n\nAltering that form which daylight unambiguously designed.'

You lift the iron bar that locks their wagon. The door falls open. It’s dark and cold [[inside]]. \n

<<replace "We will travel on a full stomach today, says Boss, and orders the fire built anew.">><<replace "....">>\nThe meat is oily and black. It drips into the fire. The children watch eagerly, but some of them, the younger ones, eyes half-lidded, bellies swelling, only look bored.\n\nThe people clear a path: it is understood that you will eat first.\n\n<<timedinsert 7s>>[[Accept|Eat]]\n[[Refuse]]<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n\n

A silver obelisk erupting out of the plain.\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>You watch it for a time, feeling vaguely curious.\n\nThe men and women riding alongside you are slumped, their eyes vacant.<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 5s>>They have not seen [[it]].<<endtimedinsert>>

<<if not visited ("flesh")>>You gave your food to Lu, Mac? you ask.\n\nHe nods. His upturned eyes are the same deep brown as his face but his beard is gray, though he can't be older than thirty.\n\n[[Approve]]\n[[Disapprove]]<<endif>>\n\n<<if visited ("flesh")>>Mac looks up at you. \n\nHe looks like he's thinking.\n\n[[....|How are we tonight]]<<endif>>

-the edge of the universe-\n\n [[*]]

[[The people|name]] likely would have killed and eaten you immediately, if the Arrowhead had not [[terrified]] them so.\n\n[[....|Arrowhead]]

From outside, a shrill and desperate scream.\n\nThe wagon creaks and sways.\n\nYou sit up on your pallet.\n\n[[....|travel]]

But look at us - we are hungrier than ever.\n\nAnd [[you|u2]] -

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[[So you stay.|time passes]]

The Arrowhead hums - a whisper, barely there.\n\nMac inhales, exhales[[....|How are we tonight]]\n\n<<set $dosedmac = "yes">>\n

You stand. Your legs ache. The ghost of motion haunts your insides.\n\n[[Open the door]].

You're suddenly aware of the pouch. It's heavy against your chest.\n\nMy gods say we'll be there soon, you tell him, and turn to walk back to your wagon.\n\n[[....|Frost]]

You touch Priest's shoulder - Priest, you say.\n\nBut he only keeps [[moving]], his mouth working.

He'll not ignore me, you think.\n\nYou step in front of him. Priest, you say.\n\nBut looking into his face, you see that he [[won't be stopped]]

You press the Arrowhead to Mac's [[flesh|dosemac2]], which is like clay.\n\n<<set $dosedmacagain = "yes">>

You look down to see a snake, burrowing into the veins in your wrist - \n\nits tail working crazily in the air\n\nit writhes up your left arm\n\nacross your chest\n\ndown your right arm\n\nand emerges, hungrily, from your right wrist (matching stigmata), mouth working\n\nand straining, [[twisting|twisting2]],\n\n\n

Unprompted, Mac stretches his arm to you.\n\nYou place the Arrowhead to his [[flesh]].

The people are happy, says Boss. They want to give thanks. We are thankful to Ioga. And [[proud]].\n\n

She's weak, you say.\n\nIf the baby dies, so will she.\n\nIt's good of you, [[Mac|Mac nods slowly]].

She turns to a pillar of [[salt|down your right arm]].\n

You sense it coming, and then it does <<replace "-">>-\n\nMac, like a shot buck, <<replace "is running">>is running\n\nout into the plain.\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>Some of the men pursue, and overtaking him, become a tangle on the ground.<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 4s>>You see a pallid hand raise a stone, and the tangle becomes still,<<endtimedinsert>>\n\n<<timedinsert 6s>>and Mac is dragged back to the mouth [[by his ankles|entermac]].<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>

Lu is gone -\n\nA line of ash all that is left in her place.\n\nThe inner door remains closed.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[....|Owner]]<<endtimedinsert>>

Stop, you yell.\n\nWe need them in good health. We're almost there.\n\n[[....|snarl]]

A light snow dusted the plain while you rode inside today.\n\nThe people are setting up the tents, the daily patchwork of tanned hide and salvage. Cracked buckskin, stretched cotton, torn burlap, bleached nylon.\n\n[[....|boss's tent]]

The people are happy, says Boss. They want to give thanks. We are thankful to Ioga. And proud.\n\nThere's no such thing as Ioga, you say. Your people are here by themselves. Like mine. When we get to 100 Mile House - then you'll be thankful. To me. To my peoples' <<replace "gods.">>gods.\n\nBoss looks at the sky.\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>Have you talked to your gods today? Boss [[asks|asks2]].<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>>\n\n

The people need you to live until 100 Mile House, you say.\n\nThey've been sacrificing for you - making sure you eat when they do not. Letting you rest inside while they travel and make camp.\n\nIf I hear of you doing this again, I will kill you myself after we get to 100 Mile House.\n\n[[Do you understand?|Mac nods slowly]]

IS there in fact a way of knowing travelogues and building scope for\n\n<<timedinsert 3s>>[[Lu|in the night]], if she <<endtimedinsert>>

You elect <<replace "Odis">>Odis.\n\nCome now, Odis, you say, and lift him into your <<replace "arms.">>arms.\n\nHe feels like a doll.\n\n<<timedinsert 2s>>[[....|enterodis]]<<endtimedinsert>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n<<set $sent_odis = "true">>

They are pulling Mac out.\n\nHis face is <<replace "expressionless">> <<replace "resigned">> <<replace "unsurprised">> <<replace "controlled">> <<replace "[[sorry|expressionless]]">><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>>\n\nIn the wagon's dark mouth, you dimly perceive Lu and Odis, twisted into a frightened tangle.\n\n

You drift under, in spite of the chanting that continues from outside.\n\n. . . . . [[ *|Wagon 2]] . . . . . \n

There were always the rumors that a settlement of excommunicates existed, in the south. Schoolyard lore, really.\n\nIt could still be true. But, thinking back on those weeks you lived alone, hungry, in withdrawal, you doubt it — you’re quite sure they’re all dead.\n\n[[....|anna]]

- and you've tumbled backwards, through the aeons, away from New Harmony's centuries of progress, and landed in the Dark Ages, a place and time ignorant of New Harmony, in which thought is chained, unfree to range beyond the [[present moment|Arrowhead]].\n\n

<<timedinsert 3s>><<replace "And in the morning">>And in the morning\n<<replace "Before dawn, as the people strike camp">>Before dawn, as the people strike camp\n<<replace "A young hunter, who had rode out very early">>A young hunter, who had rode out very early\n<<replace "Returns dragging, on a sleigh behind his horse,">>Returns dragging, on a sleigh behind his horse,\n<<replace "A dog, greatly swollen with its young">>A dog, greatly swollen with its young\n<<replace "It had been sunken in a ditch, waiting to give birth">>It had been sunken in a ditch, waiting to give birth\n<<replace "And he bears it into camp with tears in his eyes">>And he bears it into camp with tears in his eyes.\n\n[[.....*.....|camp]]<<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endreplace>><<endtimedinsert>>

Odis has no calves to his legs; his belly protrudes. He shakes when he’s touched. His hair has fallen out in patches and remains in <<replace "wisps.">>wisps.\n\nYou’re doing very well, Odis, you say, and he only shakes. We’re almost done the medicine, you say, and soon, you’ll be all ready, and we’ll be at 100 Mile House. And if you’re the one who gets us all in – where there’s more food than we’d know what to do with, where there’s machines that make it warm, like summer, all the time, where there’s sleep-stuff a hundred times softer than straw – you’ll be everyone’s hero. \n\nDoesn’t that make you excited, now? \n\nOdis tucks his chin deep into his shoulder. He looks [[afraid]].<<endreplace>>\n