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There was something on the screen when she sat down in his chair. Sentences upon sentences, a veritable barrage of words. He must have put them all there one by one. Why, she could not imagine. She did know that there must be some meaning hidden in the text.
Sitting down, Sarah tried to puzzle out the words. She saw what she knew was her name repeated several times. She realized that he must be writing about her.
“Hello, you.” William's deep drawl interrupted her investigation. “What are you doing there?”
“Just looking,” she said, hoping she was not in trouble. She’d had her fill of trouble for a while.
“Oh yes, finding it interesting?”
“This is my name,” she said, pointing to an instance of the word 'Sarah.’ She could have pointed to almost any place in the text, it appeared there so often.
“It is.”
“Why are you writing about me?”
“It's not just about you,” he said, coming around behind her and putting a calming hand on her shoulder. “I write about the wilds. The animals that live there, and the humans who do too. City dwellers don't know much about wildling culture. There has been a great deal of divergence between our two societies over the years.”
“What did you write about me?”
“I wrote that you're a very unique creature, a civilian gone feral, completely disconnected from existing wildling tribes.”
“Did you write that I am pretty?”
His lips twisted in amusement. “Why don't you try reading what's there?”
“It's faster if you tell me.”
“It will be more rewarding if you read it yourself. Try this word.” He put his finger up to a word which seemed too long and too complex to be bothered working out. It started with a B, ended with an L, and had a whole lot of other letters in between.
She looked up at him. “Just tell me.”
“Just read it.”
Concentrating, Sarah tried. There were vowels after the B. Three of them. E. A. U. She had no idea how one might even begin to sound out such a mess of round sounds, so she moved on to the more comfortable hard letter. T. T was good. She knew where she was with T. Then an I. Then an F.U.L. She knew what that sound was. Ful. Puzzling over the word for long seconds, she found it began to form in her mind. It was a nice word. A very nice word.
“Beautiful?”
“That's right,” he said, kissing the back of her neck. “You're beautiful. And now it's a matter of public record.”
“Public?”
“Once I publish this, it will be added to the archives which are shared digitally between all the cities. Millions of people will know of you and your beauty.”
A little smile spread across Sarah's face. “What else did you say about me?” She scanned the text eagerly, suddenly interested in the art of reading. “This word,” she mused aloud. “What is this word.... S...T...U...B...B...O...R...N.”
“You are stubborn,” William said, “and a great many other things besides.”
She could not disagree with that. She would have liked to have read more, but for once, William had other ideas.
“If you have had your fill of reading, then perhaps you'd like to come out with me today. An order has been put in for ten wild ducks for the celebrations of the upgrades.”
“Upgrades?”
“The city has been adjusting the technology it runs on for some time. All cities do it, but the engineers like to pat themselves on the back when they manage not to kill us all,” he smirked down at her and squeezed her shoulder. “And now we get to provide them with the finest wild meats.”
Sarah did not need to be asked twice. She bounced up from the chair and went to get her armor. She still did not like it, it made her heavy and stiff and annoyed, but it was the price of freedom and one she'd gladly pay. She even stood willingly by the front door and let him slip her tracking collar over her neck.
“You're being so good,” he praised, simultaneously patting her bottom and kissing her cheek. His praise was genuine and warmed her from the inside. She leaned against him a little and was rewarded with a hug.
They left the city with a quickness. She avoided the indignity of the crate, but that meant putting up with the nine-minute journey on the whizzing sky platform which still made her stomach lurch and her palms sweat. William made the trip standing, she sat at his feet, trying not to obviously cower. She would never truly become accustomed to the city, she thought to herself as she wrapped her arms around his left thigh for support and comfort.
She forgot her fear the moment the platform landed and they made their way to the exit. William's documents were stamped and they were waved through, out into the verdant green which grew thickly around the base of the concrete dome. There was very little between the city and the wilds, not so much as a seam of dead space. Creeping tendrils and mosses and little crawling creatures all made incursions up the walls, attempting an invasion which was as insistent as it was futile.
