Descending Road - GONE by Dana W. Paxson

GONE

1563 4D

Engel moved easily through the crash and boom of the Run, his sense of unease growing. Whoever Arlen had sent after him was good — good enough to avoid all the usual detection ruses Engel knew. They were behind him, but no matter what he did he could sense nothing specific against the ruck of rhythm and swirling bodies. As if they were dancing up to him and — he whirled; again he saw only long lines of women swaying in unison, waving arms in multicolored sleeves, calling to the men through the words of the songs.

“Patch Man!” one yelled to him. “Get a tambo and shock your cock!” Her companions laughed.

Engel turned away, and Parthren undulated just ahead of him with the women near her. He turned to check the line of men with their percussion instruments; one grinned and handed him a small panpan. He shrugged, grinned back, got in line with them, and looked for Parthren again. Gone.

The blade went into his liver so hard that he had no time to scream.

Story List	SURPRISE ME	Author Page
USER SURVEY	PUZZLE ME	MAKE ELM MARK

HOVER Lucida Bright BARE	HOVER Lucida Bright FULL	HOVER Palatino Linotype BARE
HOVER Palatino Linotype FULL	HOVER Times New Roman BARE	HOVER Times New Roman FULL
PAD Arial BARE	PAD Arial FULL	PAD Lucida Bright BARE
PAD Lucida Bright FULL	PAD Times New Roman BARE	PAD Times New Roman FULL


	GONE 1563 4D Engel moved easily through the crash and boom of the Run, his sense of unease growing. Whoever Arlen had sent after him was good — good enough to avoid all the usual detection ruses Engel knew. They were behind him, but no matter what he did he could sense nothing specific against the ruck of rhythm and swirling bodies. As if they were dancing up to him and — he whirled; again he saw only long lines of women swaying in unison, waving arms in multicolored sleeves, calling to the men through the words of the songs. “Patch Man!” one yelled to him. “Get a tambo and shock your cock!” Her companions laughed. Engel turned away, and Parthren undulated just ahead of him with the women near her. He turned to check the line of men with their percussion instruments; one grinned and handed him a small panpan. He shrugged, grinned back, got in line with them, and looked for Parthren again. Gone. The blade went into his liver so hard that he had no time to scream.