Descending Road - AREESA'S NEW MAN by Dana W. Paxson

AREESA’S NEW MAN

1551 4D

Women straggled off into the dim corridor, voices low. Ezzar‘s body burned with pain, but she had earned the instructor’s grudging words: “No more baby food for you.” She rubbed one aching calf as she sat on the stone floor, her back to the wall, and closed her eyes.

Monford was a small city as cities go on Tarnus. It was bigger than Drevill in mining country, and smaller than Purusil on the western coast, and much smaller than Gran Dar, the one City that dwarfed all the others on the planet. Humans had lived in the cities for over ten thousand years, ever since the Colonization, but the cities were far older, no one knew how old. And all of them were deep in bedrock.

Why? That question had haunted the human race from the beginning. The sun of Tarnus was an ordinary star much like Sol of ancient Earth: a bit brighter, but still benign in its treatment of the planet. There were no enemies launching destructive attacks, no monsters or environmental upheavals that threatened human existence. But the cities, by their sheer size, protectiveness, and beautiful engineering of fresh air, water, and waste management, had invited habitation.

Ezzar‘s Monford family lived in a stone-bored street lined with dwellings hollowed neatly and spaciously from the native rock, not more than a half-kilometer below the planet surface. They belonged to the Arcus Coll, a huge collective of interrelated families spread like the other colls among many cities and some surface towns. As in all colls, men traced their line from their fathers; women, their mothers.

The colls generally kept an uneasy peace among themselves. When fighting erupted, from slights, encroachments, or outright crimes, the results were often bloody. Colls had fought for ten thousand years. Now Novander Wye and Arcus fought. Now, her family in ruins, Ezzar was at war.

Her eyes opened. The room lights had dimmed, and no one was there with her. Time to get on home, put on a smiling face, and see if Boren‘s niece Areesa had come over to tell Ezzar about her new man.

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


	AREESA’S NEW MAN 1551 4D Women straggled off into the dim corridor, voices low. Ezzar‘s body burned with pain, but she had earned the instructor’s grudging words: “No more baby food for you.” She rubbed one aching calf as she sat on the stone floor, her back to the wall, and closed her eyes. Monford was a small city as cities go on Tarnus. It was bigger than Drevill in mining country, and smaller than Purusil on the western coast, and much smaller than Gran Dar, the one City that dwarfed all the others on the planet. Humans had lived in the cities for over ten thousand years, ever since the Colonization, but the cities were far older, no one knew how old. And all of them were deep in bedrock. Why? That question had haunted the human race from the beginning. The sun of Tarnus was an ordinary star much like Sol of ancient Earth: a bit brighter, but still benign in its treatment of the planet. There were no enemies launching destructive attacks, no monsters or environmental upheavals that threatened human existence. But the cities, by their sheer size, protectiveness, and beautiful engineering of fresh air, water, and waste management, had invited habitation. Ezzar‘s Monford family lived in a stone-bored street lined with dwellings hollowed neatly and spaciously from the native rock, not more than a half-kilometer below the planet surface. They belonged to the Arcus Coll, a huge collective of interrelated families spread like the other colls among many cities and some surface towns. As in all colls, men traced their line from their fathers; women, their mothers. The colls generally kept an uneasy peace among themselves. When fighting erupted, from slights, encroachments, or outright crimes, the results were often bloody. Colls had fought for ten thousand years. Now Novander Wye and Arcus fought. Now, her family in ruins, Ezzar was at war. Her eyes opened. The room lights had dimmed, and no one was there with her. Time to get on home, put on a smiling face, and see if Boren‘s niece Areesa had come over to tell Ezzar about her new man.