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William went off to do his work. She did not leave immediately, for she knew that it would take some time for him to fully immerse himself in his descriptions of the natural flora and fauna which he 'discovered' with every trip to the wilds. The people of the city seemed entranced by descriptions of the world which lay directly outside their gates, but they had no apparent desire to experience firsthand.
Unlike a city dweller, Sarah only saw value in personal experience. If you did not see it with your own eyes, taste it with your own tongue, then it was of little value being told about a thing. In her weeks of captivity, she had grown increasingly curious about the city itself. The aerial view provided by the transporters had given her an idea of the general layout of the place. It truly was like a nest of some kind, all tiny passages feeding onto larger walkways and pod-like structures in between.
A quiet settled over the house and she knew that he must be engrossed in his work. She could sense his concentration several rooms over. He would stay that way for at least an hour, she imagined from past experience. That meant she had an hour to explore the city—and perhaps find a way out of it.
Creeping toward the window, Sarah looked over her shoulder. There was no sound, no creaking of a chair which would have indicated that he'd sensed something wrong. A little pang of some emotion she couldn't quite place shot through her stomach, but she ignored it and slipped out of the window onto the ledge beyond. She was free, in a manner of speaking. The air outside the house was still, unnaturally so. The dome prevented any real air currents from entering the city space. What little breeze there was brought with it an unpleasant scent. She couldn't place the smell at first, but it quickly became very obvious. Farts. The entire place smelled of farts, thanks to the many hundreds of people going about their day in a big, impermeable dome.
There had to be some kind of venting system somewhere, or they would have all succumbed to the posterior gasses a long time ago. Looking around, Sarah noticed that there were little grates dotted through the upper portion of the wall. They were closed at that moment, but she imagined they could be opened if the flatus became overwhelming. It could potentially allow radiation in, but no doubt there was some kind of technology to keep it out. These people had an answer for everything, including things that didn't need answers.
She sat for a time, getting her bearings and making sense of the place. It was not at all like the forested wilds. It had a strict order to it, a grid-like system which occasionally deviated into curves and triangles, but soon returned to straight lines. She would have no trouble navigating it, especially as William's house had the benefit of being elevated above much of the city. There were other homes located nearby, providing a series of white domed stairs down toward the central city. Of course, no citizen in their right mind would have taken their life in their hands by leaping from roof to roof, but Sarah had no such misgivings. She hurled herself from the ledge and flew through space in a crouched position, landing on a nearby roof on both hands and feet. It was easier to absorb the shock of landing with four limbs rather than two.
She looked back over her shoulder and saw the window from whence she had come still empty. William had not noticed her leaving. She had gotten away with it! Quite thrilled with herself, Sarah bounded from rooftop to rooftop, taking the path of least resistance and letting gravity do most of the work. If there was one thing she was good at, it was moving through uneven terrain with alacrity. After several dozen such jumps, she found herself overlooking the very heart of the city. People were everywhere, going to and fro in the brightly colored robes which they seemed to so admire. There were ornate garments with flowing trains and large shoulders and more fabric than Sarah had seen in her life. If they had needed to flee a predator, they would have become instant meals. But the city people did not dress to survive, they dressed to impress one another.
There were a few people wearing leggings, but they seemed to be of lower rank. The well-dressed ladies and gentlemen moved past them as if they did not exist. Sarah felt a pang of sympathy for those who wore leggings. They seemed closer to nature than their better dressed counterparts, but that seemed to make them mere objects.
This city, so obsessed by its technology, so dependent on a thousand systems of delicate control, liked to pretend that it was separate from the world it had walled itself off from. But it was not. The people looked the same to Sarah's eyes as hogs about a watering hole, or flies on a choice bit of carcass. Swarming beasts were swarming beasts, no matter how you dressed them.
