Descending Road - A SEA-GREEN WOMAN by Dana W. Paxson

A SEA-GREEN WOMAN

1559 4D

Jeddin awoke thinking, the Lady has come again, but he hovered, immersed, alone, in a sapphire ocean that breathed for him. He was not dead.

Passion exploded him; the sea split open and cast him flaming up to a fierce magenta sky. He tried to spread the wings of his will, but he fell. Death beckoned him from jagged rocks below. This death was forever.

In a flash he knew that humans feared this death above all else. Lust, greed, desire, all newborn, flooded him as he fell, clawing tenaciously at the empty air, toward the piercing edges of stone.

He jerked awake in the cubby, shaking, alive, fear and anger and joy and hope awoke and went to war in him.

If this was being human, pain be damned; he wanted more of it.

Elated almost to a frenzy, he hunted through the City‘s depths for Zalles, to tell her, infect her, share with her. He reached the threshold of her dark cubby on Level 751, went inside, fumbled for light.

The Hounds were waiting there for him, smiling.

There was no place to run; they blocked the only way out. He held up one hand as if to ward them off.

“Please don’t kill me.”

“Shut up, Jeddin.” The Hounds laughed, alto and soprano counterpoints; their beams and bullets chewed him apart. As they left, they extinguished the lights.

Zalles came to him, fumbling in the dark. Dying, he turned to innerspace; her grief welled up into a storm that rent the colored airs with screaming claws of shadow. He left his body behind and took wing, to await his final disappearance. She vanished, left behind.

Tossed and battered, he rode glistening scale-feathered wings through dark air, waiting. Bewailing the loss of this incredible new life, he raged lightning through the umber mists of the endless inner sky.

An unfamiliar pool of quicksilver ruby below called to him, “Man.”

He dived like a cormorant to lance a gleaming fish that teased him at the water’s metallic surface; in that instant he reentered his cooling corpse.

The puddle of sticky blood clung to him; blackness became the ghost-light of a dream. A sea-green woman with phosphorescent skin, smiling gently, looked down at him through the dust and the burned-flesh smells of his destruction. “Again, Jeddin? How strange. You keep me busy. Sleep now,” she said, and bent down to kiss him. Her tongue slid down his throat.

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


	A SEA-GREEN WOMAN 1559 4D Jeddin awoke thinking, the Lady has come again, but he hovered, immersed, alone, in a sapphire ocean that breathed for him. He was not dead. Passion exploded him; the sea split open and cast him flaming up to a fierce magenta sky. He tried to spread the wings of his will, but he fell. Death beckoned him from jagged rocks below. This death was forever. In a flash he knew that humans feared this death above all else. Lust, greed, desire, all newborn, flooded him as he fell, clawing tenaciously at the empty air, toward the piercing edges of stone. He jerked awake in the cubby, shaking, alive, fear and anger and joy and hope awoke and went to war in him. If this was being human, pain be damned; he wanted more of it. Elated almost to a frenzy, he hunted through the City‘s depths for Zalles, to tell her, infect her, share with her. He reached the threshold of her dark cubby on Level 751, went inside, fumbled for light. The Hounds were waiting there for him, smiling. There was no place to run; they blocked the only way out. He held up one hand as if to ward them off. “Please don’t kill me.” “Shut up, Jeddin.” The Hounds laughed, alto and soprano counterpoints; their beams and bullets chewed him apart. As they left, they extinguished the lights. Zalles came to him, fumbling in the dark. Dying, he turned to innerspace; her grief welled up into a storm that rent the colored airs with screaming claws of shadow. He left his body behind and took wing, to await his final disappearance. She vanished, left behind. Tossed and battered, he rode glistening scale-feathered wings through dark air, waiting. Bewailing the loss of this incredible new life, he raged lightning through the umber mists of the endless inner sky. An unfamiliar pool of quicksilver ruby below called to him, “Man.” He dived like a cormorant to lance a gleaming fish that teased him at the water’s metallic surface; in that instant he reentered his cooling corpse. The puddle of sticky blood clung to him; blackness became the ghost-light of a dream. A sea-green woman with phosphorescent skin, smiling gently, looked down at him through the dust and the burned-flesh smells of his destruction. “Again, Jeddin? How strange. You keep me busy. Sleep now,” she said, and bent down to kiss him. Her tongue slid down his throat.