The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive.
The Guild Master’s General and Katherine have been phased between matter and energy, and followed Eric Mehmed through the convent cloisters, to where Sister Ancille showed him to his room. (This story is dedicated to David Prosser, who has supported these stories for almost a decade. You can visit David’s blog The Buthidars here)
The Guild Master’s General has had the audacity to take Katherine with him on the very same cart ride that Alexand’s father is on. Neither of them is phased out of focus and are corporeal. The Guild Masters General has replaced his balaclava with a Stetson hat, and his sunglasses have clear lenses, so they look like ordinary glasses. They are both a few seats behind Eric Mehmed. Thankfully Eric doesn’t recognise Katherine as they had never met, although Alexand told her father a lot about the woman she fell in love with, so Katherine has insisted that the Guild Master’s General call her by her middle name, Anastasia.
Alexand finds the Ocular Cyber-technology ward, where there are patients being assessed, and other patients recovering from operations. Sister Ancille sits reading to a man with bandages around his eyes but stops when she sees Alexand.
The Guild Master’s General wants to show Katherine something important, as he knows she will try to contact Alexand now she has her writer back. He takes her to Saskatoon, just before dawn, to the military graveyard, where Katherine’s fake corpse is buried.
Alex has a writer full of potential cures, and needs to get her group out of the facility, unnoticed by the guard. This means remaining with the socialites for a few hours longer, to avoid suspicion. (A note from the author: Fight fascism. Never give up on hope and love and a future where everyone is treated with respect, dignity and equality.)
Alex collapses onto the floor, taking Katherine’s body with her; she remains on the floor, hugging her dead wife, unable to move through the grief.
Doctor Kothari released Katherine after Katherine refused to discuss being part of the resistance with her. Katherine has spent the past day analysing Juba Apfvarzian’s blood. She hasn’t had to avoid Doctor Kothari, as she is in Afghanistan, arranging her son’s funeral. Katherine has retired to her apartment to record one final message to her mother and father. It’s her birthday, and she’s alone.
Alexand and the rest of the resistance have settled in a cave in the mountains of Southern Russia. Alexand has scanned the area; there are no inhabitants for hundreds of miles. Inajda has illuminated a map on the far cave wall, showing the topography for two hundred square miles. She scrolls through the map, until she reaches the nearest settlement.
