Love's Equal Loss

Kyle was having a very sexy dream, one more exciting and vivid than he had ever imagined. Brianna was romping naked and dancing with him in passion and delight. The flashing curves of her breasts and legs, her joyful laugh, and bright smiling eyes filled the dream. Kyle gasped as Brianna dominated him for coupling, gasped again as she rolled to let him mount her for a short while, gasped a third time as she turned and reclaimed the mount position. It all seemed so impossibly vivid to be just a dream! Kyle began to ejaculate and awake...

"Do you always sleep with such an erection?" Brianna asked with a smile, still holding his penis firmly, but no longer stroking it.

Kyle awoke slowly, trying to recover from his intense orgasm. "How did you get past the security locks?"

Brianna just continued her smile.

"Oh, such a foolish question, forgive me. All my access codes would have linked to you when my adult ownership transferred yesterday... And as for your question, how would I know? I'd be asleep. Your stroking me certainly added to one incredible dream, though..." Kyle said, returning Brianna's warm smile.

"I have a lot to tell you. I've gotten the final approval to take a slip-ship out to NBHX35, to test out my doctoral thesis, and since you're now officially my sexpet, I can take you along."

"Wonderful news! We'll be the first two humans outside the solar system in almost 2,000 centuries. I can't believe it was this easy."

"I can. This society is so completely uncaring about exploration. No one cares at all about the slip-ships. There's almost no control over them because nobody wants them. They'd have been derelicts ages ago if they weren't self-repairing. Think about it, 200,000 years of total neglect, and they still work fine. The people who made them were such incredible builders..."

"The gender wars. They were so hopelessly outgunned. It was their one chance to escape. I enjoyed studying the ancient history; you were so kind to let me study with you when you were in primary school."

"It was a real pleasure for me too, my love. I admit I first took you as my child petmate on a dare, all my friends daring me to take a petmate that could talk back. But I quickly got attached to your kindness, couldn't believe all my friends could be happy with petmates that didn't talk. Their choices seemed so boring in comparison. And speaking of studying together, don't be so modest, we both know who wrote my doctoral thesis!"

"We both did, Brianna. Maybe I added a bit more of the inspiration; you added a lot more of the mathematical rigor. We make a good team."

"As your legal owner now, Kyle, I also got full access to your medical files. It's incredible! Your Y-chromosome appears pristine, totally unmodified, 200,000 years of genetic tampering thrown off in a single conception. No one has the faintest idea how it happened. They can prove it wasn't intentional. It should have been impossible. And it now is. There's a whole new layer of diagnostic security around male conception at the pro-creation genetics labs. You're the last of your kind, my dear friend, the very last talking male that will ever be born on Earth. All the layers of genetic modifications in the Y-chromosome that suppress neural development, it's totally gone from your gene. It'll never happen again."

Kyle sighed. "I guess I should be grateful. If I had been born within the first hundred centuries after the gender wars, I would have been killed at once. But after all this time, the fear has died away. I survived through benign neglect. It's no one's job anymore to kill the toddler male who starts to talk. I would have been killed though, along with all the other petmates, if I didn't have an adult mistress, now that I'm of age. Thank you, Brianna, for saving my life."

"Oh, don't embarrass me by reminding me what my gender is doing... They came so close, Kyle! The Equalists, making their last stand back at the Martian Planetia shipyards during the gender wars. They were within a month of launching their first wing of slip-ships when they were defeated. They probably would have made it, if it weren't for all the sabotage and the betrayals."

"I know your heart, dearest Brianna. You've given it to me, and accepted mine in return. Don't be embarrassed. We are both Equalists, though we certainly can't tell anyone else. The last Equalist on record was Sephra, just 1,500 years after the gender wars, and she was executed for writing her lamentation poetry: Love's Equal Loss. It does seem cruel, executing someone for writing poetry about love..."

"Within a week, we'll be orbiting NBHX35, and the day after that, inside it. I want to ask you something. What do you think would happen if we popped the slip bubble while we were inside?"

"Yikes! What a disaster! Don't worry, Brianna, it'll never happen. Once we're inside the event horizon of the black hole, the slip bubble is completely self-sustaining, even if we lost all power. Remember, the physics is reversed. Popping it from the outside would be like trying to open a door against infinite pressure. It's physically impossible."

"What if we popped it from the inside, Kyle? Reversed polarity on the homo-polar slip generator, and created a negative slip bubble inside the first. The slip exclusion principle implies the outer bubble must cease to exist..."

"Wow... What an interesting point... Let me think... Entropy integrity would still be maintained. A negative slip bubble would act like a ball being hit with a bat the mass of the black hole. I would guess we would appear intact, at some completely random location in the universe."

"Wow! You saw this in 10 seconds of intuition!? It took me three weeks of calculations to reach the same conclusion... Kyle, my love, I want to do it."

"What!?"

"I want to start a new society with you. Traveling through the black hole will make our path totally untraceable. The medical bay in the slip-ship has enough technology to restore your fertility. We can start a new society, one based on gender equality. There's probably enough technology in the medical bay to boost the genetic diversity of our children too, maybe even for the next generation..."

"Brianna... Oh, dearest Brianna, of course this appeals to me. But what about you? You would be giving up 200 years of a secure and pleasant life. We might be killed in the black hole, and even if we found a planet, life will probably be very difficult, even to survive at first. And a slip-ship medical bay is primitive, we couldn't give the synthetic anti-viral protection to any children we have."

"I'll never have fear of extinction, Kyle, if you're by my side... Yes, Earth is pleasant, a garden, really... Do you know the population of Earth at the end of the gender wars was close to 4 billion people? It's been in slow decline ever since, dropping a factor of 10 every 100,000 years. There are about 40 million people now, plus about 40 million sexpets, I guess. Sociohistorical analysis suggests the rate of decline is permanent. And what have we done with all this time? Turned Earth into a garden. A clean and beautiful nest. But where is our sense of exploration, except in genetic research? We've had slip technology for 200,000 years, and have ignored it. I have a deep guess that the desire to explore is somehow linked to the Y-chromosome, another tragic loss of the gender wars. Kyle, I really want to do this!"

"I... I accept your offer. Oh, Brianna, I love you so... We have so much to plan for! And we'll have to plan how to scale back our technology. We can't have our children depending on technology they don't understand. You and I are both fairly unusual, in being generalists in physics and math. But there are far too many areas of technology that we don't have a working knowledge in, much less will be able to teach to children. I don't know how far back we'll have to downscale the technology, we'll just have to make the best decisions we can when the times come... Let's try to upload the ship's library files with as much basic knowledge as possible..."

---

Epilogue

Kyle lay gasping for breath, choking in the thick, smoky air. His mind felt that it was being forced awake from a long, deep sleep. He struggled in bewilderment, trying to decide what to do. He felt strong arms around his body, lifting him like a feather, and then a blinding fast run through raging fires. He gasped for breath just as they left the burning lodge, pulling in a clean lungful of the cool night air. He was carried up a stone-cut path to safety, and laid in soft grass near the gardens. He suddenly recognized his rescuer...

"Conrel, is that you!? My, how you've grown!"

"Oh, Ancient of Days, you speak! I will go tell the others!"

"Wait, wait! Before you go, how long have I been sleeping? And just call me Kyle."

"Three seasons of the red bird, Kyle, Ancient of Days. I must tell the others."

Conrel left Kyle and ran back down to the burning lodge. Already, families from the lodges further upstream were arriving and helping to battle the fire. As Kyle looked down, he could see large flocks of children gathering at the village perimeter, gazing at the fire and playing in the firelight.

"Wow, I haven't been able to think this clearly in ages! Three seasons of the red bird. That great red hawk has a bi-annual migration pattern; I've been drifting for 6 years, which would be... 4.7 years Earth standard... A faster orbit here, closer to the sun... Fortunately, the star's mass is 13% less than solar standard, planetary heating is just like Earth... We thought we were so lucky at first..."

"But we didn't know! Brianna and I didn't realize how weak the core human immune system had become after 2,000 centuries of antiviral protection. It took all our efforts to repair the genetic damage, caring for our sick children, with no time to teach the technology. They're healthy now, but they live and die so fast, often in less than 50 seasons of the red bird..."

"It never seemed to worry you, Brianna, that we had to start from so far back. Back to the plow and the bow."

"Just teach them how to explore and how to love", you kept saying, "That's all they'll need. Let them advance at their own pace."

"You were so correct, my love, so brilliantly correct."

In the first hundred seasons of the red bird, Kyle and Brianna taught philosophy, leaving their children a heritage of much of the art, literature, and mathematics from before the gender wars, but almost nothing of the technology. The slip-ship was parked in high orbit, one final present for their children, for a time when they were old enough to reach for it.

Kyle remembered with amusement being taken out on a hunting party 50 years ago, his fifth-generation adult grandsons and granddaughters feeling the intense honor. Watching them hunt with their new iron-tipped arrows, how proud they were to have discovered how to smelt iron just the year before... They were skilled in both hunting and mathematics...

Kyle began to drift back into his deep sleep, and he realized without concern that he would not return again. His thoughts turned to his darling Brianna and their last years together. Kyle remembered with a smile that she had given him a pet nickname of "Ancient of Days", and somehow, he realized, it seemed to have stuck!

As he lay in the grass, Kyle looked up at the stars and remembered a distant memory from his very early childhood. During the migration seasons, he would sneak out of his pen at night and lie in the nearby meadow, watching and listening for the flying geese in the night sky. Listening to their calls, male and female, calling and affirming each other on their long journeys. Kyle remembered that he thought he could hear wild geese calling 20 years ago, in the depths of his sorrow, holding Brianna for the last time as she died without fear in his arms. Kyle noticed with amusement that it no longer seemed necessary to breathe, and his body didn't seem to mind at all. He thought he could hear the wild geese calling now.

Path of the Blue Spirit

Chapter 1

Mark was the second climber to reach the ledge on the way out of the old, abandoned silver mine. He turned and looked down at Kara, who was on the rope right behind him. "Can I give you a hand?"

"Get the hell out of my way!"

Mark mouthed a soft "Oh" in surprise but was otherwise too startled to answer. He walked to his left along the ledge and joined his friend, Dennis. Kara gracefully vaulted onto the ledge in seconds and walked to the right to wait for the rest of the class to finish the climb. Judging by the inexperience of the rest of the class, Mark guessed the wait might be a while.

"I see you finally met I.B." Dennis whispered with a smile.

"I.B.?"

"As in ibuprofen. It's the nickname for the Ice Bitch who just showed you her classic cold shoulder."

"The Ice Bitch? Dennis, that's unkind! She was a bit rude, but that's no reason to demean her."

"Mark, you have a very forgiving personality, but let me tell you, you're wrong on this one. I admit, anyone can have a rude moment, but Kara, a.k.a. the Ice Bitch, is like this all the time, or worse. You're only a freshman. You haven't gone to classes with her for a full year like the rest of us sophomores. She got the nickname in the fall last year by unanimous vote, and most of the guys now think the "I" stands for irate. See, I was being nice to still use the word ice."

"Oh yes, Dennis, a touching display of compassion!"

"I'm serious, Mark, my lad. I've known her for a full year, and I can't think of a single nice thing to say about her."

"That's because you're not trying. I'll prove it to you. Here, you like money, right?" Mark reached into his backpack and pulled out some loose dollar bills. "I'll give you a dollar for each compliment you can say about Kara. They have to be honest compliments, genuine thoughts only. What do you say?"

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Well, let's see... Uh, she doesn't talk too much!" Dennis smiled and held out his hand for his first dollar.

Mark slowly pulled a dollar from his wad, but frowned and didn't hand it over. "I know you're trying, Dennis, but that's not exactly a true compliment. Try to do better."

"Humph. Well... She's the best climber in the class, first-rate, graceful, and proficient. Wait! I take that first part back. You might give her some serious competition for best in class honors. Does that mean I lose this dollar too?"

"Huh? Oh no. Here. That was a true compliment. And you're right; I've been watching Kara too. I think we're both expert climbers. I've been caving since I was 5 years old. I practically lived my summers in caves as a child. I wonder how Kara got so good..."

"Ah, money! It beats dogs as man's best friend! Let's see, what else? Well, she's very studious. I've seen her a lot in the library working on papers, and she's a great listener in class, always paying attention."

Mark quietly forked over another dollar.

"And Mark, except for her personality, most of the guys would love to get into her pants. She's just a bit well-endowed in her rear, but the way she vaults around these tunnels, it's all muscle. Nice firm pair of tits too. Cute face, lovely hair. A bit long-waisted, but I like them that way, great for mounting... Long legs, probably very shapely, though I've never seen them. She's always in jeans. Bottom line, a grade triple-A prime fuckable body."

Mark paused for a second, and then handed over another dollar. "More than a bit crude, Dennis, but honest. Fits the rules of the game..."

Dennis smiled and continued to think. "I can't compliment her clothes. Clean, I guess, but below bargain basement, downright shabby. She should have thrown out her parka years ago. It's fraying. I wonder what it means, not to care that you're dressed in clothes that are falling apart."

"Dennis, it might mean she has no money. And being poor is not a fault, especially for someone who is still in school..."

"Well, yeah, I'll give you that..." Dennis was silent for several moments. "I can't think of any compliments about talking with her. I've been in several classes with her last year. She is always a bitch, usually an irate one. Rude just doesn't describe it. I'm serious. Just try talking to her, you'll see. You'll be calling her an irate bitch too."

"Would not!"

"Would too! I'll bet you these three dollars back!"

Mark paused and looked thoughtful. "Ah, now that's an intriguing wager. Sounds good in principle, but in practice... How would we score it?"

"Mark, I think you're the most trustworthy person I've ever met. You make the call. Heck, it's only a few dollars anyway. It'll be your job to try to be friendly with her. I'll tell you up front, you won't succeed. But that's not the bet. When the time comes that you just don't want to bother with her anymore, come and find me and fork over another $3."

"Well... I can't hassle her for friendship. It would be too much like stalking her. When she tells me to buzz off, I'll have to buzz..."

"I'm not betting on your actions, just your desires. When the time comes you just don't want to bother with her, not even to say hello to her ever again, come to me and pay homage to my wisdom."

"Done! I'll need one thing from you though..."

"Oh? What?"

"Tell absolutely no one about this bet."

"Okay, sure. Why?"

"Well, if word ever got back to Kara about this, it would probably seem to her that I'm trying to manipulate friendship out of her, in order to win a bet. And all I'm doing is testing my own principles. I'm not trying to manipulate her at all..."

Dennis sighed and looked at the rest of the class as it finished climbing onto the ledge. "Mark, let me take a rare step and put all joking aside for a moment. I think you're going to make some girl a wonderful husband someday. I really do."

A few minutes late, the class assembled and started the short walk up the slope to the mine entrance. Nearby was parked their college bus from the Colorado School of Mines, with the CSM logo blazoned on the side. Mark hung around outside for a while, looking at the scenery while the other students boarded. It was the last day of September, and the crisp wind of autumn was already in the air. "Beautiful country," he thought. "A lot different than home. I love the cornflower blue of the sky! Winter here is going to be really something. It'll be about the same temperatures as the Appalachians, but so much drier. Fluffy snow, less ice. I should try to learn skiing..." Lost in thought with the scenery, Mark was the last person to board the bus. His eyes widened a bit as he realized the only seat left was the aisle seat next to Kara, with Kara frowning at Jennifer, who was sitting next to her boyfriend for the ride back. Dennis was sitting in the row right behind Kara. He winked at Mark, and Mark realized Dennis had a front-row seat to the first day of their bet. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled back.

"Hi," said Mark as he sat next to Kara. The seats were just a bit cramped, and most of the coed pairs were enjoying pressing the lengths of their bodies against each other, but Mark scooted over to the far side of his seat in order to give Kara some breathing room. Kara did not return his greeting and just stared out the window. After a few moments, the bus started back to their Golden, Colorado campus.

After about 20 minutes, Mark thought he'd try to be sociable. "It was interesting to see the support methodology they used in the old mine. Very efficient. And still safe more than 100 years later." Kara said nothing and just continued to stare out the window.

"Kara, where are you from?"

Kara turned to face him. "Indiana."

"Oh? What part?"

"South Bend."

"Ah, the northern part of the state. I've never been up around there. Is it pretty country?"

"Not really."

"I grew up in West Virginia myself. A place called Cider Junction."

"Never heard of it, Mark!"

Her words by themselves were not offensive, but Mark couldn't help but hear her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Hey..." he protested softly, but Kara had already turned to look out the window again. Mark heard Dennis clear his throat, and the sound gave Mark a moment to catch his thoughts and stop himself from a biting retort that was almost on his lips. He just sighed and closed his eyes, resting his head on the back of the seat and still giving Kara the space to sit comfortably. He rode the rest of the trip in silence.

Chapter 2

October was hectic for Mark as he settled into his new life as an undergrad. He spent most of his time diving into his studies. By the end of the month, his bet with Dennis was all but forgotten. Right after their field trip in September, he had made it a point to smile and greet Kara in class, and she ignored him for a few days. But then he was passing her on the quad and said hi, and she hissed "Fuck off!" at him in return. Mark considered walking into Dennis's room and leaving $3 on the desk, but in the end, he decided just to let the matter rest.

It was the first Friday in November, and Mark had finished his last class of the afternoon and was heading back to his dorm room. The sky was a dark gray, and it felt as if they were about to get their first snowfall of the season. Up ahead, Mark noticed Kara sitting alone on a bench by the path. There was no one else around. She did not look up as he started to walk past, and then he suddenly realized that Kara looked miserable, flushed, and sweaty, and that her body was shaking. Mark took off his backpack and sat down on the far side of the bench.

"Kara, you look ill. Do you need a doctor?"

Kara glanced up and looked at Mark, and for the first time, he saw her eyes without scorn in them. She shook her head no and turned away from him.

"Really, Kara, you look very ill. Can I get you something? Some water perhaps?"

"No, really. I'm not ill. I just got... some bad news from home."

"Oh... Is there anything I can do to help?"

"There's nothing you can do. I just found out my mom died... I don't even have the money to get back for the funeral... Go away!"

Mark realized that the sweat he thought he saw were tears covering her cheeks. He unzipped his backpack and rooted around inside underneath his notebooks. After a moment of writing, he said, "Kara, I think I got your last name right, didn't I? Here, take this."

Kara took the slip. She realized it was a check for a thousand dollars. "What are you, rich or something?"

"Actually, I guess I am."

"Mark, I really want to get back to South Bend. What do I have to do?"

"Make a plane reservation. Take a bus to the airport. Wait! What am I saying? Let me drive you. I think Delta will fly you to South Bend through Atlanta. I'll help you set up the reservation. Is there anyone who can meet you in Indiana?"

"No one... Mark, that's not what I meant. What do I have to do for this?"

"Huh? The money? Nothing. Just keep it. It's a gift."

"Mark, I really want to get back to South Bend. I'll figure out how to pay you for this later." Kara suddenly got up and walked swiftly away. Mark dimly noticed she never said thank you, but his heart was so filled with compassion for her that he didn't mind.

It wasn't until the middle of the next week that Mark saw her again in class. She was very quiet and tended to avoid eye contact with him. But Mark thought the scornful looks were gone, and he considered that a great improvement. On the third Friday in November, he said hello to her at the end of class and just got a thoughtful nod back. Mark found this so encouraging that he decided to press his luck.

"Kara, would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"

"Okay."

"Really!? Great! What do you like? Thai, Mexican, Italian... maybe a steakhouse?"

"Oh, anything you like. When do you want to go?"

"Can I pick you up at six?"

"Okay. I'll be ready."

"Wonderful! Thanks!"

"Yeah." Kara gave Mark a goodbye nod and walked off to her next class. Mark found it a bit difficult to concentrate in his own remaining class. His mind kept wandering if the ice was finally beginning to melt.

Their date seemed to start out very well. Mark was very pleased to see that Kara wore a blouse and a beautiful wool skirt for their date, and he decided that he would never tell Dennis that Kara had very shapely legs indeed. Thinking to keep the cuisine on familiar ground for their first outing, Mark drove to a steakhouse on I-70 in nearby Denver. Kara was a bit quiet at first, but as the meal progressed, Mark was delighted to see her trying to be sociable.

"Nice car you have, Mark. So tell me, how did you get to be so rich?"

"Ah, I wish I could tell you it's due to my savvy business skills, but actually, it's all family money. It goes back to my great-grandfather. His name was William, but he went by the nickname of Iron Bill."

"Yeah?"

"He was into heavy construction. Some commercial buildings, but mostly road work, excavations, levies, stuff like that..."

"Ah huh..."

"He won a huge bid from a county in West Virginia to do a major expansion of their road system. More than tripling the paved roads in the county, just at the end of the 1920s. Then the Depression hit."

"Ouch. That must have hurt."

"Actually, it turned out to be a windfall. Iron Bill completed most of the roadwork, but then the Depression came and the bottom dropped out of the county's tax base. The county went broke, so... My savvy ancestor foreclosed on them!"

"What!?"

"Yep. He sued them in state court. It was rough justice back then. At the end of the day, the judge said, "Iron Bill, the county is yours!" It was close to 200 square miles of county land, and my family owned it all!"

Kara clapped her hands in delight. "Mark, that's fantastic!"

Mark stared at Kara. For the moment, all of her anger was gone. Her eyes were full of laughter and animation, and it suddenly struck him how stunningly beautiful she was. Mark gulped and then hid his surprise by drinking a sip of water. "Yeah. They sold off bits and pieces of it through the years, to developers who then merged the plots with the surrounding counties. The big core of it, though, is over 100 square miles of the roughest piece of the Appalachians in West Virginia. After World War II, the State began negotiating for some permanent solution. They didn't like so much land being outside any county jurisdiction. Iron Bill was a really shrewd negotiator. He sold them a 60-year lease for $1 just to keep it as a State nature preserve, with rights for my family to trespass on it. It let the State save face and bury the issue."

"Oh, so the land is all gone?"

"Oh no, not at all. The lease expires in less than two years. And since it's not part of any county, there will be no taxes on it! I'll be the sole owner."

"You?! You're kidding?!"

"No kidding. His agreement was set up to keep a sole owner for it. The formulas are a bit strange, but I win the prize. Iron Bill didn't want the family fighting over pieces of it... It's beautiful mountain country, pristine, gorgeous. And it was my backyard growing up. Our house is just on the edge of the preserve. Super rugged land, a box canyon, it would be very difficult to develop. Great for caving though. The hills are riddled with them. I've probably spent more of my life in those caves than out of them... Well, maybe not quite, but close..." Mark tried to think of a way to get Kara to talk about herself. "I've noticed you're an expert caver too, or at least an expert climber. How did you learn?"

It was like puncturing a balloon. Turning Kara's thoughts back to her past drained all the happiness from her. "There was a YWCA near my house. They put in some really huge rock wall climbs about five years ago, just before I hit high school. It was about the only thing around for entertainment. I spent a huge amount of time there. One of the instructors there was a nice guy. He took the kids who were serious about the sport, and we went to nearby places to practice technical climbing. There wasn't anything around for a real challenge, just short faces of sheer walls to practice the techniques. Most of our outings were to scale 30-foot cliffs, 40-foot max. It was good enough to develop the skills though... I hate thinking about South Bend. Sorry."

"It's only an hour's drive from here to the Rocky Mountain National Park. If you like, we could drive out there sometime to do some climbing... Kara, I can only dimly imagine what it must be like to lose your mom... I'm definitely the baby in my family. My brother Leon is six years my senior, getting an MBA at Harvard, and my sister Lois is even older. She's both a GP and an OBGYN. She has her own practice just a few miles from my parents' house. She's a classic backwoods doctor, but with an MD from Johns Hopkins, a really wonderful person... Kara, do you still have family around?"

"I'm an only child. Both of my parents were too. I have no uncles or aunts. There were a few distant second cousins at the funeral, not as many as I had... thought there would be... I used most of your money to pay for the funeral... My real dad is gone forever, like my mom..."

"Your real dad?"

"... My mom remarried ten years ago..."

"Oh? Was your step-dad at the funeral?"

"... My step-dad... I don't want to talk about my step-dad..."

Mark was dismayed to see Kara grimacing and clenching her jaw. "Oh gosh, sorry," he said as he tried to think of some way to change the conversation. He realized the shift would be awkward. "So, you're majoring in Geological Engineering?"

Kara took a moment to calm herself before replying. "I'm not sure. Purely from interest, I'd pick geophysics. But my first concern is to get a job as soon as I graduate. I had top grades in Indiana, and absolutely no money. It was a great combination to get almost a full scholarship at CSM, and my student loans and summer jobs make up the difference. But it won't last forever. I think my best chances for a paycheck will be in mining or petroleum engineering. I still haven't decided."

Their dinner was almost over. Mark tried to talk about a few other topics, but Kara became listless and uninterested. He decided not to push things and suggested they just drive back to CSM. He was surprised that Kara seemed quite nervous at the suggestion. They drove back to her dorm mostly in silence, and were soon standing outside her dorm door. Kara seemed very agitated.

"Well, Kara, thanks for your company. I hope to see you again next week!"

"You don't want to come inside?"

"Huh? Do you want me to?"

"No..." she whispered. "Yes? Damn it! My roommate agreed to stay away for the evening. You'll have several hours with me!"

"Huh?"

"Mark, I owe you a thousand dollars..." Kara began to tremble.

"My God..." Mark whispered, as he realized what Kara was thinking. "Kara, I'm not a monster, I'm really not." Kara did not reply. Mark was silent for a long moment, his mind in turmoil, trying to decide how to proceed. "Kara, I'm not a monster. Trust me. Let me prove it. Will you come into your room with me?"

"Yes," she whispered. Mark opened the door and walked into her room. Kara followed and closed the door behind her. She looked absolutely miserable. She stood trembling and facing Mark and then shut her eyes and began unbuttoning her blouse.

"Kara, stop," Mark whispered. He leaned over and lightly kissed her cheek. "There! I was hoping I would get a chance to kiss you goodnight, and now I have. It's worth a lot more than a thousand dollars to me. Would you please, please consider the debt repaid now?"

"Huh?"

"Kara, you know what I'm asking. Please?"

Kara opened her eyes. "Okay," she whispered.

Mark walked to the door and let himself out. "Goodnight, Kara. I'd like to see you again. Really. Pleasant dreams." Kara did not reply. Mark gave her a kind smile and left.

The following morning, Mark got up shortly after dawn and was walking down to the student building for a quick breakfast. He was startled to see Kara run up from behind him and walk by his side. "Mark, I have to tell you something."

"Hi! Yeah, okay."

"My stepfather, he's in jail now for raping me. It went on for years... Promise me something?"

Mark gasped, and it took him a long moment to find his voice. "What?"

"No one here knows about this, not even my roommate. Will you tell absolutely no one about this?"

"... I promise. You have my word."

"Thanks!"

Kara turned and walked briskly away. Mark thought about following her, but then thought it better to let her control the moment. He suddenly realized it was the first time she had ever thanked him.

Chapter 3

Mark held out a full day, but the longing to talk to Kara became unbearable. He called her shortly before noon on Sunday.

"Hi Kara! How are you?"

"Hi Mark! I'm... I'm what? I guess the word would be preoccupied. I've been doing so much thinking about you. Ha! My studies have gone to the dog. I'm really happy Thanksgiving is coming up this week. It'll give me a chance to catch up."

"Kara, can I buy you a present? We can drive to Southglenn Mall, grab a bite to eat, and then shop for a parka? How did you avoid frostbite last winter?"

"Hey, my parka has been in my family for generations! Are you mocking it?"

"Huh?"

"Just joking! Seriously though, Mark... Before we go anywhere, especially before you spend any more money on me, could we just talk for a while?"

"Oh gosh, I'd love to! Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Well, normally that would be very nice. But for this talk, I think I'd be more comfortable if you came to my dorm room... Ha! Literally! It's cold outside, and you're right about my parka."

"I'll be right over! See you soon!"

A short time later, Mark knocked on Kara's door.

"Hi Mark! Come on in!" Mark noticed that Kara was barefoot and dressed in simple jeans and a shirt. "Mark, I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to say and how I want to say it. Would you help me with something? It would be easier for me to talk if I had a bit of a dominant body position with you. Would you take off your shoes and lie down on my bed? Thanks!"

Mark took off his socks and shoes and was soon lying on his back. Kara sat down on the other side of the bed, folding her legs in a lotus position and facing Mark, sitting so that her folded knees were just touching his shoulder and hip, with her bare feet underneath her knees. "Ah, perfect. Thanks, Mark... First off, you'll have to forgive me for holding such a serious discussion with you so soon, but I can't see any way around it. I've been... Well, I want you to understand what you might be getting into. Do you really want me as a girlfriend? I'm carrying a lot of baggage."

"Baggage? All I see now is how wonderful you are. Ha! Getting blown off by you in the past was a little painful, but I was just trying for friendship. I didn't mind. The desire for dating, though... it just kind of crept up on me..."

Kara reached over and briefly petted the top of his head, and then pulled her hand back. "Baggage, Mark. It's here and it's heavy. You're just being sweet not to notice it. I have to show it to you. Don't worry, I won't walk you through the horror, at least not now, but I have to show you the results from it... First off, my body. I went through many cycles of bruising and tearing with my lower reproductive system. I also had some damage in my rectum. My uterus healed okay, I should still be able to have children, but vaginal birthing or even having vigorous sex might be... well, an issue..."

"Kara..."

"No, let me finish. My mental baggage. Mark, if you took me as your girlfriend, I don't know how I'll act when you want to get sexy with me. I might be okay one moment, and then just freak out the next. I just don't know, and I don't want to frustrate you, especially with something as intimate as sexual arousal. And all your friends, Mark! I think of you now so differently than I did before! But trying to push this to guys in general, learning to trust... It's something I really have to work on. And when I fail, I'll still be the Ice Bitch to them, and you might be ostracized for having me as your girlfriend..."

"Kara, do you want me as your boyfriend?"

Kara was silent for a long moment, and then whispered, "Oh yes, more than anything,... if you want me..." Mark sat up and put his arms around her. Words didn't seem necessary. After a while, Kara began quietly to sob in his arms. She rested her head on Mark's shoulder, and soon they were both lying down, Mark gently caressing Kara by her ribs, overwhelmed by the intimacy of feeling Kara's heartbeat in the palm of his hand. She calmed down and started to breathe in deep sighs. "Wow, that feels so nice... Don't stop... I had some therapy after my step-dad was arrested... before and during the trial... One of the nicer therapists suggested I might want to try crying my anger out of me... I finally took her advice after you left Friday night... I cried into my pillow for hours... wrapped it in a towel to catch all the tears... It really helped. It finally really helped. Thank you, Mark, for saving me. I couldn't have released my anger without you, and it was tearing me apart..."

A short time later, Mark and Kara were driving to the mall. Mark was delighted to see Kara looking so happy. "Kara, how about we expand the parka mission a bit? Throw in a few outfits too."

"Mark, you're spending too much money on me already. I'll start to feel guilty, or even worse, start to feel like a gold-digger. I can't be a drain on your checkbook."

"Kara, money really isn't an issue for me. This is a simple car, and I usually don't buy anything stupid because my parents were very careful to teach me good work ethics. But my family resources are huge. Buying some new clothes for you really isn't a money issue, and I'd enjoy doing it... For example, how many skirts do you have?"

"Uh, are you familiar with the mathematical concept of zero?"

"What?! But..."

"Ha! Yes, I know. Friday night. I'll never forget how gentle you were with me. But I borrowed that skirt from Nora down the hall. Imagine me owning a wool skirt! Do you know how much those things cost?!"

"Uh, I guess not. But I'm determined to find out!"

"Mark, really, I can't. I'll feel awkward if you spend a lot of money on me. I can't be a drain on your checkbook."

"From buying clothes? Kara, my family finances are huge, and my parents have me tied into it. Really."

"Oh my gosh, I feel like such a gold-digger asking this, but how much money are we talking about?"

"Well, I remember the equity investments alone were over $100M at the height of the market bubble in early 2000. I think they dropped close to 20% at their low, and then have come back quite a bit. The bond investments have done fine. And the real estate ledger is something my brother Leon is in charge of. They've done the best of all..."

"My God," Kara whispered. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Oh yes. I wouldn't pull your chain about something like this."

"I feel like such a gold-digger... Mark, okay! I'd love some decent clothes! But I have to give you something in return. Not sex, of course. When we're ready, we should share that outside of every other consideration... I know! Mark, do you think we could have some quiet time together soon? Tonight maybe?"

"Sure! I'll ask my roommate to take a hike for a few hours. Have you ever met Patrick? He's a freshman math major. A really nice guy."

"I don't think so. Ha, I guess Patrick lucked out! He missed his chance to be abused by me. Oh look, there's the mall now."

Kara and Mark wound up spending the afternoon shopping for a complete replacement of Kara's wardrobe, and it was after 8 p.m. before they had unloaded all the clothes in Kara's room and gotten to Mark's dorm. After locking the door, Kara sat on his bed, took off her new shoes and socks, and just smiled at him. Mark sat by her side and did the same. Kara reached over and hugged him.

"Payback time, Mark! I want to pay you in trust."

Mark reached over and kissed her, nuzzled her hair with his nose, breathed in, and sighed. "I'm so happy I've found you. How will this work?"

"I offer you my heart. I'll tell you anything about me that you want to know. Anything."

"Ha! Rare coinage indeed! I offer you the same trust, Kara."

"Dear Mark, I know. But come on, spend a question now! Any question at all. No matter how intimate."

"Okay... If I touch something too sensitive, just tell me. I know I'll still have your heart."

"Okay. If it's a scary question, put your arms around me first."

Mark cradled Kara in his arms, and he felt her press her body against his. Her warmth and softness made him tremble. "Kara, you have a tremendous amount of spunk, even to have survived... I'm trying to understand who you are. Couldn't you have reported the abuse when it started? Do something to strike back?"

Kara was silent for a moment. "Here, lie down with me. Keep holding me..." Lying in Mark's arms, Kara let out a deep sigh. "I dreamed of it. Running away or killing him, or even just going to the police... Somehow it was never the right day to do it... I think I have a submissive streak that runs deep into my personality. And into my mother's, she had it too. She loved me, she really did. But she kept making excuses for my stepfather. We both allowed ourselves to be dominated. I was confused... and so scared!" Kara trembled and hugged Mark fiercely. "A classmate of mine in high school had a dad who ran a target range for pistol shooting. They let me practice. I actually got to be a crack shot... My fantasy was to somehow smuggle a gun home and just empty a full clip into my stepfather. But I never moved outside my fantasy. I used to imagine him being the target at the range. Great motivation for accurate shooting..."

"Didn't any doctors pick up on the physical damage?"

"My stepfather took me to a doctor who was his close friend. The doctor more than looked the other way."

"SHIT!"

"Yeah..."

"So how was he finally caught?"

"I was in history class one day. I had an infection in a bad bruise near my cervix. As I got up at the end of class, the tissue tore... The pain was extraordinary. As if someone had shoved a red-hot poker high up into my vagina. I blacked out. The teacher saw all the blood on my jeans, and his quick actions saved my life. He rushed me to a nearby hospital ER in minutes, faster than an ambulance would have even reached the school. After all the years, I was finally seen with honest eyes... I was really lucky in a way. If it had happened at home, I would be dead now. I'm sure my dad's friend would have signed off on a death certificate listing some natural cause of death... No one would have ever known..." Mark gently petted Kara's head and gave her soft random kisses. Kara smiled. "Okay, if I spend a question now?"

"Oh yes! I'd love you to. What would you like to know?"

"Am I your first girlfriend?"

"Uh... No."

"You don't have another one now, do you?!"

"Gosh no! I was thinking of high school."

"Oh. Good. Are you a virgin?"

"Yep!" Mark smiled.

"Great! Tell me about the sexiest time you've ever had."

"Well, I was a pretty quiet kid. Maybe some light petting on dates... Wait! I just remembered something. This is by far the sexiest I've ever gotten. A girl I knew was having a birthday party. I stayed afterwards to help clean up. Her parents left to go shopping. We wound up in her bedroom, and she masturbated me to an orgasm. I don't know what the hell we were thinking of. We didn't even like each other. She thought I was boring, I thought she was rather untrustworthy... Just hormones, I guess. I remember she laughed at me when I ejaculated so quickly. It was quite embarrassing, but then I dreamed of her firm grip for a week..."

Kara rolled her body on top of Mark's. "Oh Mark, forgive me. I shouldn't have asked a question like that. I was just being a snoop." Kara rested her head on Mark's chest, sighed, and just listened to his heartbeat for a while. The minutes passed by quietly, with Mark's hands gently caressing the small of her back. "Mark," Kara whispered, "is that your erection that's pressing into me?"

'Yes... You can ignore it. I'm quite happy just holding you like this."

"Actually, I'm very interested to know how I'll react to it. Can I see it?"

"... Okay."

"Great! Here, don't move. Let me do this." Kara rolled off Mark's body and began unbuckling his belt. Mark tried to remain still, but he could feel himself hardening at the thought of what was about to occur. Kara pulled off his pants and briefs, and his penis popped to a hard vertical erection. Kara just stared silently at it. Mark was intently watching her, feeling overwhelmed with caring feelings, not being concerned with his own sexual needs at all. Kara reached out and held his penis, a feather-light touch that suddenly turned to a firm grip. With her eyes locked on his penis, she lowered her head and ran her nose along it, smelling it. "Mark, can I... your testes too?" Without waiting for a reply, Kara's head disappeared between Mark's legs, and as he felt her nose penetrating into his scrotum, he spread his legs to give her better access. Mark was breathing in shallow gasps. Soft fingers were tugging his buttocks apart just behind his scrotum, and then he felt a warm moisture as her tongue began licking his exposed anus. The flat part of her tongue first lubricated and tasted his opening, and then her tongue tip traveled in a slow inward spiral, caressing the sensitive skin and lubricated slit. Mark was gasping as he felt the moist stimulation beginning to dilate him. Kara began to build pressure with her tongue for penetration, with her fingers stretching his buttocks. Mark was in sexual ecstasy, feeling Kara's tongue and fingertips stroking him and teasing him to open. He decided to bear down and accept Kara to enter his body, when suddenly Kara's whole body gave a tremendous shake. She gasped and sat up. "Maybe that's enough for now." She hopped off the bed and stood facing away from Mark. "Am I frustrating you?"

"Oh no," gasped Mark, as he blinked at his lack of truthfulness. Mark took a deep breath to recover and put his pants back on. "That felt wonderful! Kara, how are you feeling?"

Kara sat back down on the bed, shaking, and looked at Mark. "My mind is jumping between nervousness and arousal. I don't know how to handle the arousal; it's overwhelming me. But there's no fear at all! I'm very, very hopeful... I think I should get back to my own room, though. This day has been magical. But maybe it's time for me to take off my glass slippers."

Kara and Mark walked out of Mark's dorm building, holding hands. They passed Dennis on the way out, and Kara gave him a warm laugh and nod as she saw his jaw drop. At the door of Kara's room, Mark put his arms around her waist and kissed her. She gave soft kisses back, and Mark gave a quick, affectionate lick to her earlobe. "Kara, I'd love for you to meet my family! Would you come to Cider Junction with me for Thanksgiving?"

Kara gasped. "So soon? That's in just a few days. I'd be very nervous. What if the Ice Bitch comes back? I need some time to work on my social skills... I really don't want to blow my first impression with your parents or brother or sister..."

"Oh. Okay... Christmas perhaps?"

"Yes, perhaps Christmas. I spent last Christmas here at CSM, and I was very lonely. Everyone on my hall here was gone. Yes, perhaps by Christmas, I'll be ready."

Chapter 4

"Here, try this," said Mark, as he sat back down on the cushions by Kara's side.

Kara took a sip of the hot liquid. "This is good! What is it?"

"Hot chocolate, with a classic West Virginia mountain kick. A perfect addition to a nighttime fire."

Kara sighed and took another sip, snuggling against Mark and staring at the blazing fireplace before them. The rest of Mark's family had already retired. Kara turned and kissed Mark's cheek. "This day has been like a dream. I've never had a Christmas like this!"

"Both of my parents find you enchanting. Leon and Lois do too... And you should have seen my dad's face after you came in from your pistol shooting match with him. He pulled me aside and practically ordered me to marry you."

"Ha! What exactly did he say?"

"Let me think... He said you had a tough-as-nails exterior over a soft core of pure female. I remember him saying, Mark my son, do not let this one get away!"

"And how, dear Mark, did you respond?"

"I told him very solemnly that I would do my very best."

Kara clapped her hands in delight. "He really is a wonderful person. And our shooting match was close!"

"Kara, I remember a month ago you told me you were a crack shot, but I had no idea how modest you were being. My dad said you emptied a full clip into a 2-inch bull's-eye from 100 yards! And then you went on to beat him in his specialty; a rapid-fire, multiple target contest. Is this all true?"

"Yes. I was in the zone. I love shooting your family's Glocks! I had never seen a Model 35 before, and the pistol scope was superb. It's as if the model were made for me. The trigger pull did feel quite a bit different than a Colt. And the kick from the 1800 fps Smith & Wesson ammo was also new to me, but I love the power from the 84-grain rounds. Vertical drop at 100 yards was only about 6 inches, so much nicer than the sub-sonic ammo I used to fire in South Bend. For the close-in rapid-fire work, I just put my sight directly on my target points. I loved it!"

"My dad was semi-serious about ordering me to marry you. There's a big regional father-daughter pistol competition here in the fall. He and you would take first place."

"But I wouldn't be his real daughter."

"This is the Appalachians of West Virginia. Attitudes here are a lot different in some ways compared to the rest of the country. Father and daughter-in-law teams are very common in the competition. Daughter-in-law here is pretty much the same bond as daughter."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No. No kidding. Take a look at your Christmas present from my mom."

Kara fingered the brooch above her breast. "It's beautiful, and so heavy for something so small. It's solid gold, isn't it?"

"I think so. But that's not what I meant. Take a look at the oil painting to the left of the fireplace. That's Eleanor Herrick, the great-grandmother of Iron Bill. Take a look at what she's wearing on her dress."

"My gosh! Six generations?! How could your mom give this to me?"

"It's an offer, Kara. My mom realizes how much you and I love each other. She's offering to accept you as her second daughter."

Kara was silent for a long time. "I don't know what to say... Mark, how much do your parents know about my past?"

"Well... They asked about your family... I told them your father died when you were seven, and that your mother died last month. I didn't say anything about your stepfather, of course."

"Mark... Could you tell your mom about him? If she's offering to become my mother, I'd like her to know."

"... Okay."

"Dearest Mark, I'm only nineteen. I never dreamed I would pledge to marry as a teenager, especially to someone a year younger than I am. But if you asked me, I'm sure you know what my answer would be..."

"Dearest, loveliest Kara, I want to ask anyway. Will you marry me?"

"Huh? Mark! Are you proposing to me?!"

"Yes."

"Yes, back! I accept!" Kara grabbed Mark in her arms and pushed him to the floor, showering his face with kisses. "Dearest, sweetest Mark... You are so gentle with me, so kind to wait for me... I know we haven't gotten sexy with each other since that one brief moment before Thanksgiving... Do you want to make love now?"

"Kara, are you ready?"

"Almost. I think I did frustrate you before. I saw it in your eyes, your sexual desire for me. I don't want to frustrate you ever again! Would you mind if we waited a bit longer?"

"Love is patient. I don't mind. Kara, you are stunningly beautiful. My desire for you is fierce! I also have an infinite desire to be gentle with you. Please, let's wait until you're ready."

Kara pressed Mark's head against her breast, silent for a while and then giving a deep sigh. "Mark, can we keep our marriage promise a secret for a while? I'd like a little time for this to sink in..."

"Sure! I think I feel the same way... needing some time to adjust. Hey, look at the time! You still up for our break-of-dawn expedition tomorrow?"

"Oh yes! And you're right, let's get some sleep. Come and wake me when it's time to get up, okay?"

After a goodnight kiss that seemed timeless, Kara went to her bedroom and was soon fast asleep.

Chapter 5

Kara walked into the kitchen before dawn, the smell of coffee, eggs, and sizzling bacon rich in the air. Ellen walked over to her without speaking and gave her a very prolonged and fierce hug. Mark's father, Tom, looked slightly surprised at the intensity of the emotions his wife was showing, but otherwise just nodded his greeting at Kara and smiled. Kara caught Mark's eyes, and she realized Mark had found the time to tell his mother about the horrors in Kara's childhood. Kara felt overwhelmed with a feeling that she was no longer an orphan.

After breakfast, Kara and Mark began to pack for their hike, with Mark's father helping them. "So, Mark, have any particular destination in mind?"

"Yeah, Dad. I thought we would visit the Blue Spirit. It's fairly close, less than three miles as the crow flies, and there's so little snow right now that the climbing shouldn't be difficult. We should be back by sundown. We'll take the walkie-talkies, of course."

Kara looked up with interest at what Mark had said. "The Blue Spirit? Is that a person or a place?"

"A mountain," Mark replied. "The Hopewell Indians had a very unusual name for it. They called it the Awesome Path of the Lost Blue Spirit. You'll be able to see a small bluestone wall they built around the conical top of the mountain. Really, really old. Maybe over 2000 years."

"Terrible, not awesome," said Tom. "My granddad told me the Hopewell word translates to terrible."

"Well," said Kara, "maybe it means both. Different cultures will do different things with ideas. Maybe they combined the concepts of awesome and terrible into one word. Wait a minute! I have an interest in anthropology. I've read some books on Indian history. I didn't think anything of the Hopewell language was known. I thought the tribe was prehistoric."

"True enough," said Tom. "The evidence suggests they disappeared in this area around 900 C.E., and were gone everywhere by a hundred years later. There's nothing published about their language. But when I was a very young boy, my granddad Iron Bill had me on his lap and told me a story his great-granddad John Herrick told him. As a young explorer, John once met a really old Indian shaman who told him a story passed down in his Shawnee tribe about the Hopewell people and their song of the Blue Spirit. The shaman said the Spirit was a giant serpent that could move through rocks and leave perfectly round tunnels in its wake. He insisted the Blue Spirit was not lost, that the word lost referred to the people who had stumbled onto its terrible path."

"Wow!" said Kara. "Sounds like a great ghost story!"

"Well, Iron Bill didn't believe in ghosts. But he gave that mountain a wide berth. The mountain isn't that large, but there's a strange, solemn presence about it. You'll see it yourself, or I guess I should say hear it."

"Huh?"

"What my dad is referring to, Kara, is that the mountain is remarkably quiet. You won't really notice it now, not in winter. But in the summer, the forest just seems to be a lot more quiet there than anywhere else. It looks rich and healthy, just quiet. It's a little spooky."

"More than a little..." said Tom quietly. He nodded at Kara and left the room.

Kara and Mark continued to pack their bags for the day's hike. Kara blinked when she saw Mark strap on a Glock holster and pack two extra clips of ammo. "Hey, partner," she said, trying to imitate a Western drawl, "You packin' a shootin' iron?"

"Well, what do you think, a good defense against nasty blue spirits?" Mark laughed. "Actually, it's for the wildcats. Usually, they're very shy, but every once in a while, one of them makes a wrong connection between people and food. Just firing a shot in the air reminds them who's boss..."

Kara paused for a moment, and then walked over to the gun case and strapped on her own Glock holster. Mark smiled at her and then packed the pistol scopes and two extra boxes of ammo into his bag, along with something Kara didn't recognize.

"Holy shit, Mark! That's 400 shots, 15 pounds of ammo! You want to carry all that?! Are we going to war against the wildcats?"

"Ha! No. There's a really nice spot on the trail for target shooting. We'll probably have enough time on the way back for some practice. I'd love to see you shoot! Would you mind packing the sleeping bag? I'll be packing the pup tent."

"Huh? I thought this was just a day's expedition. And you're packing enough survival rations for a week..."

"Just survival planning. The weather report is for clear skies. I'm certain we'll be fine. It's very rugged country though. It's nice to have some backup if something unexpected happens..."

A short time later, Kara and Mark said goodbye to the parents and started their upward hike in the pre-dawn light. Kara was delighted at the scenery around her as the sun's first light became visible.

"Kara, it'll be about a three-hour hike to the top of Blue Spirit. The whole preserve is one big box canyon. This gorge by my parents' house is the only walkable path into it. Any other route would involve some really serious technical climbing. That's why we never have to worry about trespassers. It's also a bit of a maze inside. Don't wander out of my eyesight, okay? And if you do, call for me. And if that doesn't work, give me a call on the walkie-talkie immediately."

"Okay... Gosh, this is all so pretty! And the air is so sweet!"

"Yes... I also have a big surprise for you. I think I might have found the lost Blue Spirit."

"What?! Really?"

"Yep! A part of it is just a little too risky to explore myself. I found a cave on Blue Spirit Mountain that's unlike anything I've ever seen. I can't wait to show it to you."

"No one else knows about it?"

"No..."

"Perhaps we shouldn't explore it, if nobody knows where we are."

"It's a short vertical tunnel. I carried the sections of a modular ladder there last August. Just take a look at it, tell me what you think."

"Okay! A great mystery! I feel that I'm a part of a ghost story. This is so much fun!"

Mark was right. It was well after 10 a.m. before they finally neared the top of Blue Spirit. Kara noticed the quiet presence of the mountain, but didn't think it was anything extraordinary. She smiled at the memory of the ghost story. Then Mark abruptly changed direction. Instead of taking the obvious path to the top, Mark guided Kara in a difficult sideways climb in a circle around the conical peak. "Look, Kara, you can just see a part of the blue stone wall from here, maybe 60 feet farther up."

"I see it! I agree. I make it to be another 50 to 60-foot vertical rise from here. This top part of the mountain is so different, Mark! This rock is igneous, granite! How in the world did it get on top of all the sedimentary rock below here? It seems perfectly conical, like an idealized volcano, with the slope increasing to about 45 degrees. A vertical cross section would be a right triangle at the top. Very strange indeed."

"Kara, do you see the cave opening right in front of you?"

"What?!" Kara stared at the shifting patterns in the coarse grains of the granite rocks. "No. Are you serious?"

"Yep! Watch this trick!"

Mark took a few steps and the granite just seemed to swallow him. Kara called out, "Mark, I've lost eye contact! Mark!" Mark reappeared as if by magic.

"Some illusion, huh? The outside crack pattern matches the cave's indentation, the illusion of a solid ragged wall is superb!"

"It looked like you just slipped into nothing. How did you ever find this?"

"Ever since I was a young boy, I knew I'd be the owner, the steward of this canyon. I took my charge very seriously. I collected all my family's folklore, all the maps, stories, diaries of people who explored here, all the Hopewell Indian legends. The Delaware and the Shawnee wouldn't come near this mountain, but I think the Hopewell tribe used to live here, until about 900 C.E. Then they all vanished... John Herrick's diaries are extensive. I studied them a lot. He listed over 300 words that came from their language. One day I realized that the Hopewell name for the base of this cone was a compound word for cave and opening..."

Mark looked out at the canyon below him and breathed deeply. "I started to see a pattern in the puzzle of the Blue Spirit. The clues are scattered across many of John's writings, but together they suggested a cave entrance hidden just like this. I spent last summer looking for it, hiking out here almost every day to search. I found this at the end of July, and spent the next month carrying in supplies and the ladder, one 4-foot section at a time. Come on! I'll give you a direct view of the Blue Spirit! It really is blue, and very pretty."

The cryptic comment was irresistible. Mark got out a flashlight while Kara took a brief last look at the weather, seeing a few high clouds partially blocking the sun. She then followed Mark into the cave entrance. They walked single file along a narrow path, a moderate incline with irregular walls and floor. After walking for about 60 feet, they entered a small circular chamber. "Take a look around, Kara, tell me what you think."

Kara was standing at the bottom of a circular well 40 feet deep and 10 feet across. Mark reached down and handed her a second flashlight from another backpack that was lying on the ground at the base of the ladder. Kara turned it on and started to examine the chamber's rock wall. "Mark, this makes no sense. I was expecting more granite, or maybe basalt, thinking this well could be part of an ancient volcano vent. But this rock is metamorphic, it's been re-crystallized. It's marble! Looks to be of a beautiful quality too. But how could a circular marble tunnel be formed in the middle of a granite cone? This makes no sense. Mark! This marble looks like re-crystallized limestone, the surface looks polished! Could this tunnel be artificial? It has to be manmade, right?"

"I puzzled over the same question. Look at the erosion wear on the walls though. I was here in August when water was flowing down the walls."

"Wow, you're right. It would take a million years to wear like this, at least. This rippling is classic water carving. Not man-made at all... All this still makes no sense! I remember you once told me that this canyon is riddled with caves. Are they all this bizarre?"

"Nope! All the others I've been in are classic limestone caves. Groundwater leaks in and reacts with the carbonate rocks to create carbonic acid, and the weak acid carves the limestone. Wonderful caves, but understandable. No re-crystallizing of the limestone into polished marble. I've never been able to make any sense of this cave. Want to hear something else spooky about it?"

"Sure!"

The water running down the rocks doesn't seem to correlate with the weather outside. I've been here when it's pouring rain outside and dry as a bone here, and other times when it's been dry for days outside and there's a film of water running down the walls. The cave can be very dank and drafty when the water's flowing."

"Wow! There must be some sort of catchment to store the water. I wonder what releases it? Where's it flowing from?"

There's a small tunnel at the top of this vertical well. It flows from there.

"Mark, what does the top of this mountain look like?"

For the last 60 vertical feet, it's almost a perfect 45-degree cone. But it doesn't go to a point. Think of cutting the top off of a cone to leave a 10-foot diameter flat circle. The Hopewell tribe then built a two-foot wall around the perimeter of the circle. Inside the wall are small crushed stones, all sorts mixed together. The Hopewell obviously went through a lot of effort to make all this.

Kara nodded thoughtfully, staring at the marble walls and the aluminum ladder Mark had constructed within the well.

"Well, Kara, ready to see the Blue Spirit?"

"Okay!"

"Point your flashlight straight up, and then run the beam around the top wall of the well."

Kara did as she was told, and gasped. "My gosh, it's so beautiful! But what is it?"

"I don't know. Want a closer look?"

"Oh yes! Will the ladder support both of us at once?"

"It's designed to, but I don't want to chance it. Why take the risk? Let me climb up first and sit on the ledge at the top of the tunnel." Kara and Mark both removed their backpacks. Mark took some ropes from the third backpack and tied one to each of the backpacks. Holding onto the other end of the ropes, he quickly climbed the ladder and sat on the ledge. He shined his light on the ladder and Kara was soon standing on the ladder just below him. Kara shined her own light back and forth on the blue circular ring that circled the tunnel about a foot below the ledge. Mark sat silently as Kara pondered her observations.

After extended thinking, Kara finally spoke. "This is so beautiful, so incredible... I shine my light anywhere on the ring, and the whole ring lights up. There must be multiple internal reflections inside. It must be some sort of crystal. It's as brilliant as a blue diamond! But it's also as iridescent as an opal. Mark, we both know the pressure, temperature, and time it takes to grow the diamond lattice structure from carbon. There's no way you can grow a ring of diamond. Ha! Especially not one 10 feet in diameter. So what the hell is this?"

"I don't know. I did bring a Geiger counter here last summer, as well as some dosimeter film. It's not radioactive at all. I tested for everything, even neutrons. Nothing."

"Mark, this can't be a natural rock. It must have been manufactured." Kara suddenly grabbed hold of the ladder and held on tightly.

"My thoughts tend to lean that way too. But look here. Most of the ring is deeply embedded in the original marble. How could this ring be artificial?"

"So what are you saying? That the Great Blue Snake re-crystallized the limestone and made a marble tunnel and left one of its rings when it did?"

"Yeah, I know. It's hard to physically look at something that defies all your understanding... I don't know what else to say..."

Kara remained silent on the ladder for a moment, and then suddenly gripped it tightly again. "Wow! That's the second time I felt it, a feeling of acceleration. But I'm not moving."

"I know. I feel it too, whenever I'm surrounded by the blue ring. That's one of the reasons I tested for the radiation. Why don't you come up here and sit on the ledge with me?"

A moment later, Kara was by Mark's side. "Mark, that small tunnel next to you. It seems to spiral upward. Does it lead to the top of the mountain?"

"I don't know. I thought it would be too dangerous to explore by myself. I've never found an opening near the top of the mountain. And I've looked quite a bit."

"Wait a minute. The top of the mountain has to be less than 60 feet from where we first entered the cave."

"I brought a survey scope out once. I measured a vertical distance of 57 feet from the entrance floor of the cave to the top of the Hopewell wall, so call it 55 feet of mountain."

"Okay. We walked about 60 feet to get to the vertical well, and I would estimate an upward slope of about 1 to 10 there, so we climbed another 6 feet, agreed?"

"No argument from me. I've been through this line of thinking many, many times..."

"And what's the height of this well?"

"Almost exactly 40 feet. It's 35 feet to the blue ring, 36 feet to this ledge, 40 feet to the roof of the well, and the beginning of the top tunnel."

"So let's see, the top tunnel is only 9 feet below the top of the mountain. It looks to have an upward slope of 1 to 5. If it keeps that up, it would have to end in about 40 feet. There must barely be enough room for it in the nose of the cone. Maybe its wall is only a foot or so from the outside."

"I know. But then where's the space needed for the catchment area for the water? I can hear trickling sounds when the water is flowing, but otherwise, the tunnel is pitch dark and silent. If it opened to the outside within 40 feet, I think I'd see or hear something."

"So you think it's a dead end?"

"The water's coming from somewhere. It's another bizarre mystery of this place."

"Mark, maybe this is one mystery we can solve. Would you mind if we took a look inside the tunnel?"

"I was hoping you would say that! I thought of exploring it by myself. It seemed just a little too dangerous. Do you mind if I take the point?"

"Not at all. You're the more experienced caver; you should be the one to go first. Just keep telling me what you're seeing."

Mark pulled up the ropes and soon had the three backpacks on the ledge beside them. He reached into the third backpack and pulled out caving gear, including gloves and kneepads for Kara and himself. Giving her a quick smile, Mark entered the tunnel and began to crawl up the spiral, dragging two packs behind him. Kara soon followed.

The tunnel height stayed in a range of 3 to 4 feet, with about the same width, making the crawl easy. After a number of minutes of crawling, Kara called out, "Mark, stop!"

"Yeah! I think I know what you're thinking."

"I think we've crawled a hundred feet. The slope here must be at least 1 to 5. We should already be at the top of the mountain. No, let me rephrase that. We should already be 10 feet above the top of the mountain. How is this possible? Where are we? What do you see?"

"Just more spiraling tunnel. The air does feel more damp now, and colder too! I think we must be approaching an exit. Maybe we made a mistake with our earlier measurements."

"I don't see how."

"I don't either. Want to turn back?"

"Are you kidding?! This is an incredible mystery! The tunnel seems safe, walls of smooth solid marble. Let's press on."

Mark and Kara continued their crawl for many minutes, becoming more and more incredulous at the continued length of the tunnel. Kara called out, "Mark, this is impossible! What the hell is going on?"

Just then Mark turned off his flashlight and called out, "I see light! There's also snow up ahead on the floor. I think we're almost out!"

Kara kept pace with Mark, keeping a few feet behind the two packs he was dragging. She wondered how her own pack was managing with the friction of being dragged, but thought the pack was of such high quality that it could probably take it, especially with the floor so smooth. The marble had been polished by the water. Suddenly she noticed a lot of dull gray light in the passage ahead, and watched as the packs in front of her were lifted out of the tunnel. Kara quickly followed and was soon standing on the top of Blue Spirit Mountain, in the center of the low rock wall surrounding the summit. Around them was beginning to blow a blinding snowstorm.

"Mark! How the hell did this storm move in so quickly? There were just a few puffy clouds here an hour ago!"

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like it!" Mark tried to reach his family on his walkie-talkie but got no reply. "Kara, there's not really any snow cover yet on the mountain. Let's get down from here before we get trapped!"

The two headed down as quickly as possible, grateful that the blowing snow was not yet sticking to the rocks. After a brief discussion, they decided to press on to Mark's home and to try to get there before dark. They roped themselves together with a lead of rope so that they couldn't lose each other in the blizzard conditions. They started the return hike, and Mark assured Kara that he knew the way back so well he really didn't need to see the terrain, and that their chances were excellent for getting back before nightfall. The snow was so blinding Mark could not see the exact path they were taking, but he was sure they were heading in the right direction. They hiked for two hours in the blinding snow, and then Mark started to have some serious worries. The light was failing rapidly, even though it was still before 2 p.m. Mark thought the storm must be tremendous to darken the sky so completely, and then the wind calmed a bit and he got a clear view of the gorge before him. He stopped dead in his tracks in absolute shock. The fork in the gorge before him looked completely unfamiliar.

Kara called out behind him, "I'm stunned by it too. This darkness isn't the storm. The sun has set! Yet it's only 2 p.m. This is impossible! What's going on?!"

"Kara, forgive me. I don't recognize where we are! Why don't we set up the shelter and try to think things out?"

By the time they found some level ground and erected the tent, it was pitch dark outside. Inside the tent, Mark laid down an insulation pad and unrolled the sleeping bag on top of it. They took off their boots and placed their parkas over the sleeping bag, and then sat down. One flashlight was on, running a low-power bulb. Kara reached into her pack and pulled out some rations. "Hungry? This tent is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Cozy, but it's great we have room for all our gear." Kara saw Mark pull something from his pack. "Is that a cell phone?"

"I wish! There are no cell towers covering this area. This is a GPS receiver. My dad trained me to know every part of this canyon from its GPS coordinate. I can't believe I don't know where we are! I haven't been lost in this canyon since I was six years old. I feel like such an idiot... SHIT!"

"What? Low batteries?"

"I don't think so." Mark worked with the unit in silence for several minutes. "Shit. The diagnostics read fine. It's just not getting any signal from the satellites. Nothing."

"Well, maybe it's snowing in space too."

"Huh? Oh, very funny. Kara, I owe you a sincere apology. I would have guessed the odds of us having all these troubles to be almost zero. I still can't believe I'm lost."

"I can. We followed the awesome path of the Blue Spirit, and now we're terribly lost."

"But Kara, that's legend."

"But the blue ring is real. Climbing in tunnels above mountaintops is real. Getting lost is real. The sun setting before 2 p.m. is real. The evidence is before us, and the evidence is compelling. I propose we treat the legend as real, and act accordingly. Forgive me if I sound crazy."

Mark sat and pondered Kara's suggestion. "Well, okay. This means we drop into complete survivor mode. There's at least two weeks' worth of food rations in the third backpack. I was thinking of Blue Spirit as a base camp, building up a few supplies. I'm so glad I did... But we should still conserve our food as much as possible. Assuming the legend is true means we can't assume anything else, anything at all. Our first priority should be to explore, to try to understand our environment. Worst-case scenario is that we are lost forever. But that can't be right, can it?"

"I don't know. The Hopewell lived in this canyon a thousand years ago, and then they just vanished forever... I'm just glad I brought the second Glock. Let's be sure to mount the scopes before we sack out."

After a very light dinner, Kara smiled at the sight of the single sleeping bag. Mark blushed a bit at her smile. "I know. I was just packing all this as a backup emergency shelter. I never expected we'd be sleeping together so soon... It's a very big bag, designed to sleep two. Err, I could sleep in my parka outside the bag if..."

"Don't be silly! We became husband and wife yesterday night. We just haven't linked our marriage to society yet." Kara stripped herself naked and climbed into the sleeping bag. "Come, Mark! Come keep me warm!"

A moment later, Mark was sliding his naked body next to Kara's. They just held each other for a while, neither saying anything. Then Kara reached up and began to shower Mark's head with kisses. "Mark, what would you like?"

"Kara... This is the first time I've seen you naked. I'm overwhelmed by how beautiful you are!"

"Ha! Sweet Mark, would you do something for me?"

"Sure, what?"

"Will you pet my butt?"

"I'd love to! Turn over!"

Kara lay on her stomach, closed her eyes, and arched her back in invitation as she felt Mark's hand on the small of her back. Mark started to caress her, long, loving strokes down her rear and continuing to the back of her thighs. Kara cooed with the pleasure of it. Time seemed to pass very slowly. Kara spread her legs after a while and was delighted that Mark accepted her invitation to caress her vulva. Time flowed, and Kara realized she was breathing in slow gasps as Mark's fingers continued to pet her labia and run his fingers lightly over her anus. She could feel his erection throbbing as it pressed into her thigh. Mark was kissing her head and lightly licking her earlobe. Kara opened her eyes and smiled, "Mark, what would you like?"

"I want to be inside you... now... Kara, how are you?"

"I think my vagina is a swamp! I'm so happy I'm able to lubricate this well; it's very encouraging. I'm just a little scared of trying intercourse. I think I might be fertile right now. And where's the nearest hospital if I... if we have a problem with my vagina? But I do want to get sexy with you! Have you inside me... Can I suckle you?"

"Hmmm..."

Kara turned and unzipped the sleeping bag a bit in order to maneuver. Ignoring the chill air, her hands came to Mark's pubic area, slowly stroking his penis with one hand and gently kneading his balls with the other. Her nose and lips brushed the penis head for a while, and then her tongue came out to give playful licks to the exposed, sensitive skin. Mark was gasping in pleasure, and Kara could feel his hips beginning to rock in a thrusting stroke. As his arousal grew, she opened her mouth and slid his penis into it, sealing her lips near the base and beginning a rhythmic suckle.

Kara worked her timing to counter Mark's thrusting hips, giving him the pleasure of thrusting his penis into her mouth, and then giving a strong suckle so he would have to pull against her for his backstroke. Her fingers were inside his scrotum, caressing his testes. Kara felt Mark's penis lengthen inside her mouth, and she felt his testes lift to the high roof of his scrotum as they were pulled into position for ejaculation. Kara let her middle finger descend to caress his anus, and she lifted her suckle to his penis head. As Mark released, she pumped his penis with her hand between his ejaculation spurts. Mark gave a tremendous shudder and was still.

"Kara," he said sleepily, "What can I do for you?"

"Hush. I'm fine. Really. Go to sleep, my love."

Mark fell asleep within minutes. Kara snuggled quietly, her mind at peace, and soon joined Mark in his dreams.

Chapter 6

The deep growl woke both of them with a start.

"What the hell was that?" asked Kara sleepily. She blinked, and suddenly remembered where she was. Mark felt her stiffen with the shock.

"Sounded like a bear, a big one... Not too close..." Mark put the flashlight back on to low power and moved to his backpack. He pulled out something Kara did not recognize. Kara gave a quick smile of admiration to his naked body and said, "Mark, I saw you get that out of the gun case yesterday. What is that thing?"

Mark unzipped the tent flap about one inch and poked the instrument out. "Remember when I once told you I usually don't buy stupid things? Did you notice that I didn't say never? This is a night vision scope for the Glocks. I think I see the bear now. Kind of an unusual shape for a bear actually, but as big as one... Ah, must be a bear, just one with a really big head. Strange it's not hibernating... It's heading away."

"Do those things work?"

"The night-scope? Actually, it's not bad. Come take a look."

Kara sighed and left the delightfully warm sleeping bag to kneel naked by Mark's side in the cold air of the tent. She stared through the scope. "Oh wow, way cool!"

"Ha! Those were my exact words the minute before I bought the scope."

"What powers it?"

"Two lithium batteries. They should provide about 10 to 20 hours of use."

"Oh" said Kara, as she looked down at the scope and turned it off. "Mark, you owe me big-time for getting me out of that sleeping bag. Come back inside and warm me." Kara and Mark were soon cuddling back inside the bag. "Mark, do you think one of us should stand watch?"

"Tough call. We have no food outside. We aren't smelling attractive to any predators. And we'll have a big day tomorrow. I think we'll be okay if we both sack out again. Let's just keep the Glocks within easy reach."

Kara curled around Mark and sighed. The moments passed and she realized she wasn't falling asleep. "Mark, will you pet my butt again? Nothing too sexy. The butt, and nothing but the butt."

"Ha! Sure. Turn over."

Kara turned and relaxed as she felt the delightful caresses across her hips and buttocks. Feeling that Kara was fully awake, Mark penetrated into her flesh and massaged her powerful muscles.

"Kara, you are in such excellent physical shape. I love feeling the muscles in your butt, and in your upper thighs... here... You are so gorgeous..."

Kara sighed and cooed with pleasure. "I've always been like this. When I was in kindergarten, I picked up the nickname of Pony."

"Pony?"

"As in a horse. I saw some old home videos my dad shot. The other kids in the class ran and danced. I pranced. I think all my thigh and butt muscles really help me with my shooting, especially with the rapid-fire multiple-target work. A lot of the work for positioning and setting up for the shots gets done with the hips. I'm glad it's something my hips love to do... I remember running with the other kids as a young child, being called Pony and laughing. Then my dad died and my mom remarried... and then my childhood ended..."

Mark looked at Kara thoughtfully, and realized there was no longer any bitterness in her, just wistful dreaming of how things could have been different. He lifted her hair and began to very softly nuzzle her back of her neck. Kara sighed in contentment. "How about you, Mark? What was your childhood like?"

"It was nice. It's very rustic country here, not too many people. I had fairly small classes both in grade school and high school. I had a lot of good friends, mostly boys. I was a bit shy around girls, even in high school. Taking a girl to a movie was a really big thing for me... I spent a lot of time hiking the canyon with my dad. He trained me extensively, taking me to random spots by super twisting ways and then telling me to find the shortest way back. I still can't believe I don't know where I am. My mind is telling me this gorge is not in the canyon at all, but how could that be possible?"

"Did you ever think to tell your parents or Leon or Lois about finding the cave?"

"Not Leon. This canyon is not really his interest. He'll get his Harvard MBA next year; financial analysis is his passion. And he's a great asset to the family. Our financial positions have done wonderfully under his management... And Lois isn't into caving either..."

"So how about telling your Dad?"

"My dad... Yeah. He loves this canyon, I think as much as I do. But he also has a dread of Blue Spirit Mountain that I never shared. In hindsight, a dread that was justified... I thought of telling him about the cave... and the blue ring, but I worried he would order me to stay away from the mountain. As his son, I think I would have honored his desire..." Mark fell silent, quietly continuing to massage the muscles in Kara's hips and thighs. Kara cooed and spread her legs, opening up her backside to him, and Mark responded by caressing the soft center of her anus.

"Oh, that feels so nice, so soft and sexy and loving... Right there, yes... I'm starting to fall back to sleep..." Kara looked at Mark with heavy eyelids. She sighed and smiled, totally relaxing and closing her eyes. "This feels so super intimate, having you at my back door like this... Mark, will you caress my vulva too? Just lightly. I'd love to fall asleep with you caressing me like this..." Kara was soon in the deep, even breathing of sleep. Mark continued to pet her, gliding his fingers in a loving caress between her anus and vulva, feeling her body shuddering in delight through her sleep...

Kara woke in surprise the next morning to the sensation of Mark suckling her breast. "Ha, you beast! You'll have to impregnate me and wait nine months before you can get breakfast like that!" Kara ruffled Mark's hair and then reached down and popped her nipple from his suckle. "Hi! Good morning!"

The two had a light breakfast and then broke camp. They both agreed that they would start mapping their new environment, and if possible, get back to Blue Spirit and retrace their path through the tunnel. As the morning sun continued to rise, they began to hike over the rolling hills. Mark became very unsure about which direction to head. "My sense of direction tells me we came from that direction, but the sun is also rising more than 90 degrees away from where I thought it would be. None of this terrain looks familiar at all..."

"Mark, even the trees look different. I don't think we're in your canyon at all. Shit! Are we even on Earth? Did you ever see a tree like that?"

Before them was a very tall tree, almost 200 feet, still holding its deciduous leaves in the dead of winter. "Well," said Mark, "an American Beech will hold its leaves through the winter and drop them in the spring. It fertilizes the ground right before the spring growing season, not a bad idea. But this! This tree has huge silver leaves with black tiger striping. I've never seen anything like it."

"And look over here, Mark! This tree has conifer needles at its base and what looks like maple branches higher up! A conifer-deciduous hybrid? There's nothing like this on Earth... AHH!"

"Kara, what?!"

"LOOK!" In the tree, a small animal was watching them. It was covered in red and brown stripes of fur and was the size of a large squirrel. Both Kara and Mark gazed in amazement at its six legs. Suddenly realizing it was being observed, the animal spun around and disappeared in a flash. "Not a mutation, Mark! Did you see how coordinated it was with its legs? There's nothing like this on Earth..."

"No... There isn't. And yet... Kara, I've seen all sorts of familiar trees here. We camped last night in a grove of hickory trees, mostly butternut and pignut. I've seen sugar maples, green and white ash trees, chestnuts... Look, there's a classic dogwood. It's almost as if there are two ecosystems here, one native to West Virginia, and another completely unknown..."

Kara and Mark returned to exploring their world, mapping the terrain and keeping an eye out for the Blue Spirit Mountain. As it became time for lunch, the last of the clouds cleared and the bright sun cheered their spirits. They built a fire and melted snow to re- fill their canteens. In the late afternoon, the temperature rose above freezing, and Kara became so warm that she considered taking off her parka. She then heard a sound that chilled her heart. "Oh my God, was that a scream?"

The scream occurred again, and it sounded blood-curdling. Kara and Mark headed for the sound and climbed to the top of the next rise. As they rounded the crest, they both just gaped at the scene of carnage before them.

There were over twenty bodies in the snow, most wearing rough, woven clothes and several wearing animal skins. The snow was red with blood. A large group of men in animal skins were roughly searching the dead and taking their possessions. Kara's and Mark's eyes traveled to another group of six men who were a little closer to their position on the rise, about 125 yards away. They wore animal skins and were gathered around two people who were obviously prisoners. Their woven clothing had been cut to expose their stomachs and abdomens. It was a man and a young girl Mark guessed to be about 10 years old. The prisoners' legs and arms were lashed to the opposite ends of long poles, stretching their bodies into tight X positions. Their arm-poles were tied to tree branches above their heads. The six men gathered around their male prisoner and began to sing.

To Mark's and Kara's horror, one of the men took a large black knife and slashed deeply across the prisoner's exposed abdominal wall, and then reached in and began pulling out his intestines. The prisoner screamed in shock and pain. The other five men pulled and unrolled the intestines into a large circle. In the freezing air, they held the steaming intestines and continued to sing. They sang until the prisoner seemed to lose consciousness, and then they dropped the intestines to the snow and stomped on them, rupturing them in a sickening sound and eliciting one last scream of pain from the prisoner. The man then slumped down like a ragdoll.

The group moved towards the young girl. The girl cried out in terror. "My God!" whispered Mark, "They're going to do the little girl next!"

"Like hell they are!" hissed Kara. Mark looked at Kara and saw that she had already shed her pack and was crouched in a firing position, looking rock solid as she aligned her first target in her scope. Kara's pistol began to bark rapidly. Mark thought he counted 6 quick shots in less than 10 seconds, and as he turned back, he was astonished to see all six men by the girl down and lying unmoving in the snow.

The sound of the pistol shots had a shocking effect on the large group of scavengers. As a group, they yelled a war cry and began to rush towards Kara and Mark's position. Kara's pistol began to fire rapidly.

Mark dropped his own two packs and brought his own Glock up for firing. He fired two shots, bringing down one of his targets. Then he heard Kara's gun click on empty. "Switch guns!" bellowed Kara, "Get the extra mags!"

Kara started to fire Mark's gun as Mark dived into his backpack and desperately rooted for the two extra magazines. After what seemed to be an eternity, he found them, pulling them out and forcing himself to calm down and exchange the empty pistol magazine with a fresh 15-round clip. He had just completed the maneuver when he heard Kara click on empty again. "Switch guns!" Kara bellowed.

Kara began to fire the third clip, and Mark snapped their last loaded magazine into his Glock. He stood up and began to fire with Kara, his mind not taking in the carnage that Kara had already created. Fortunately, the hill before them was covered with rough rocks, slowing the attackers down. The lead men were still 30 yards away, charging with raised spears and war cries. Kara and Mark's combined fire began to wither their ranks. Kara was firing much more rapidly than Mark, and her pistol clicked on empty again. Mark handed her his pistol and looked at the few remaining attackers. As Kara resumed firing, Mark became so furious at the attackers' monstrous behavior that he acted without thinking. He pulled his hunting knife from his belt and whip-snapped his arm to throw the blade at the nearest attacker 10 yards away. Mark was aiming for the center of the torso, but the throw sailed a bit high and caught the man squarely in his throat. He fell over backwards with blood gushing from his mouth and neck. At the sight of this, the two remaining attackers stopped their charge and tried to hurl their spears at Mark, but Kara shot them both dead before they could get off their throws.

As quickly as it had started, the insanity was over. After the intense loudness of the battle cries and pistol shots, the silence was eerie. Kara and Mark stood stunned at the scene of massive death and destruction before them. In a dead calm voice that chilled Mark's heart, he heard Kara say, "Whoa, Mark. That was a hell of a knife throw."

Mark walked in front of Kara and looked at her closely. Her eyes seemed glazed and unfocused, her pistol still held out in a firing position. Mark gently pulled the gun from her hand and switched on the safety. "Kara, the girl needs us. We have to put off coping with the horror for now..."

Kara blinked, and her body gave a large tremble. She then nodded and headed down the hill. Mark grabbed all three backpacks and followed her, retrieving his knife on the way down.

They were soon standing in front of the young girl. She looked so terrified that Mark was hesitant to approach her, but Kara walked in immediately and cut the girl's feet free and then the lashings binding her hands. As soon as she was free, the girl ran away and picked up the large black knife of the first person Kara shot. The girl whirled back to face Mark and Kara, and gave a warning hiss. She looked both terrified and furious.

"Be careful, Kara. I don't think she understands that our guns killed her enemies."

"No, I don't think so either. I don't think she knows about guns at all. Look at her clothing Mark, what's left of it? It's woven from grasses... How do we show her we don't want to kill her? She looks terrified..."

Mark pondered Kara's question as he surveyed the horror of the scene around them, trying to make sense of it. "Kara, all the people in animal skins are men. I think more than half the bodies of the people wearing woven clothing are women or children. Perhaps if you showed her that you're a woman..."

"Okay, good idea." Kara opened her parka, lifted her shirt and bra, and exposed her breasts to the girl before her. Mark saw the girl's eyes widen in surprise. And then, incredibly, the girl began to sing.

Mark listened to the words in her voice and felt suddenly shocked. "Kara, the words! She's singing Hopewell words!"

"What?! Are you sure?"

"Almost certain! Let me try to sing back the word for hello! Wait! Kara, my magazine is empty. How many rounds are left in your mag? We're sitting ducks out here if we get attacked again. Can you reload the mags while I try to talk?"

Kara ejected the clip from her Glock and looked at it. "Three. Shit! Mark, that's a really, REALLY great idea! I am SO happy you brought those two extra boxes of ammo."

The girl continued to sing. Her eyes snapped to Mark as he began his attempt to sing a reply. The girl sang back, and as Kara reloaded their four magazines, she was amazed at how beautiful and complex the singing language sounded. Mark replies sounded stiff and awkward, but Kara got the sense that they were communicating, at least partially. The girl had lowered the knife to rest by her leg, and it looked as if she had forgotten she was holding it.

After reloading the magazines, Kara stood quietly and just listened to the singing, trying to give the girl a friendly smile when the girl looked at her. The singing went on for quite a while. Then Mark went to the third backpack and pulled out a spare wool sweater he had in it. It had a large woven picture of a reindeer across its front. The girl's eyes widened in disbelief as Mark walked up to her and offered it. She dropped the knife and lifted off her own ruined shirt. Mark blinked and suddenly realized he had misjudged her age from her compact size. Without a top covering, he thought she definitely looked to be an adolescent teenager, well past puberty. The girl put on the sweater with wide eyes and was delighted with its warmth. But then the lights in her eyes suddenly darkened. She whirled around towards the bodies in the field and began running toward them. She knelt down by two of the corpses and began to weep, and then to sing. The sorrow of her song transcended all need to understand the words.