After a while, she put a hand down between her legs, then pulled it away and looked at it to see if she was bleeding; she wasnt, thank God.
She waited for her breathing to calm down, and for her stomach to settle enough that she thought she could rise to her feet without vomiting. And then she did get up, painfully, slowly. She could hear voiceswomens voicesoff in the distance, two students chatting and laughing as they went along. Part of her wanted to call out to them, but she couldnt force the sound out of her throat.
She knew it was maybe twenty-five Celsius out, but she felt cold, colder than shed ever been in her life. She rubbed her arms, warming herself.
It tookwho knew? Five minutes? Five hours?for her to recover her wits. She should find a phone, dial 911, call the Toronto police or the campus police, orshe knew about it, had read about it in campus handbooksthe York University rape-crisis center, but
But she didnt want to talk to anyone, to see anyoneto to have anyone see her like this.
Mary closed her pants, took a deep breath, and started walking. It was a few moments before she was conscious of the fact that she wasnt heading on toward her car, but rather was going back toward the Farquharson Life Sciences Building.
Once she got there, she held the banister all the way up the four half flights of stairs, afraid of letting go, afraid of losing her balance. Fortunately, the corridor was just as deserted as it had been before. She made it back into her lab without being seen by anyone, the fluorescents spluttering to life.
She didnt have to worry about being pregnant. Shed been on the Pillnot a sin in her view, but certainly one in her mothersever since shed married Colm, and, well, after the separation, shed kept it up, although there had turned out to be little reason. But she would find a clinic and get an AIDS test, just to be on the safe side.
Mary wasnt going to report it; she had already made up her mind about that. How many times had she cursed those shed read about who had failed to report a rape? They were betraying other women, letting a monster get away, giving him a chance to do it again to someone else, toto her, now, but
But it was easy to curse when it wasnt you, when you hadnt been there.
She knew what happened to women who accused men of rape; shed seen it on TV countless times. Theyd try to establish that it was her fault, that she wasnt a credible witness, that somehow she had consented, that her morals were loose.
So, you say youre a good Catholic, Mrs. OCaseyoh, Im sorry, you dont go by that name anymore, do you? Not since you left your husband Colm. No, its Ms. Vaughan now, isnt it? But you and Professor OCasey are still legally married, arent you? Tell the court, please, have you slept with other men since you abandoned your husband?
Justice, she knew, was rarely found in a courtroom. She would be torn apart and reassembled into someone she herself wouldnt recognize.
And, in the end, nothing would likely change. The monster would get away.
Mary took a deep breath. Maybe shed change her mind at some point. But the only thing that was really important right now was the physical evidence, and she, Professor Mary Vaughan, was at least as competent as any policewoman with a rape kit at collecting that.
The door to her lab had a window in it; she moved so that she couldnt possibly be seen by anyone passing by in the corridor. And then she undid her pants, the sound of her own zipper causing her heart to jump. She then got a glass specimen container and some cotton swabs, and, blinking back tears, she collected the filth that was within her.
When she was done, she sealed the specimen jar, wrote the date on it in red ink, and labeled it Vaughan 666, her name and the appropriate number for such a monster. She then sealed her panties in an opaque specimen container, labeled it with the same date and designation, and put both containers in the fridge in which biological specimens were stored, placing them alongside DNA taken from a passenger pigeon and an Egyptian mummy and a woolly mammoth.
Chapter 7
Where am I? Ponter knew his voice sounded panicky, but, try as he might, he couldnt control it. He was still seated in the odd chair that rolled on hoops, which was a good thing, because he doubted hed be very steady on his feet.
Calm down, Ponter, said his Companion implant. Your pulse is up to
Calm down! snapped Ponter, as if Hak had suggested a ridiculous impossibility. Where am I?
Im not sure, said the Companion. Im picking up no signals from the positioning towers. In addition, Im cut off entirely from the planetary information network, and am receiving no acknowledgment from the alibi archives.
Youre not malfunctioning?
No.
Thenthen this cant be Earth, can it? Youd be getting signals if
Im sure it is Earth, said Hak. Did you notice the sun while they brought you over to that white vehicle?
What about it?
Its color temperature was 5,200 degrees, and it subtended one-seven-hundredth of the celestial spherejust like Sol as seen from Earths orbit. Also, I recognized most of the trees and plants I saw. No, this is clearly the surface of the Earth.
But the stench! The air is foul!
Ill have to take your word for that, said Hak. Could we havecould we have traveled in time?
That seems unlikely, replied the Companion. But if I can see the constellations tonight, I will be able to tell if weve moved forward or backward an appreciable amount. And if I can spot some of the other planets and the phase of the moon, I should be able to figure the exact date.
But how do we get back home? How do we
Again, Ponter, I must exhort you to calm down. You are close to hyperventilating. Take a deep breath. There. Now let it out slowly. Thats right. Relax. Another breath
What are those creatures? Ponter asked, waving a hand at the scrawny figure with dark brown skin and no hair and the other scrawny figure with lighter skin and a wrapping of fabric around his head.
My best guess? said Hak. They are Gliksins.
Gliksins! exclaimed Ponter, loud enough that the two strange figures turned to look at him. He lowered his voice. Gliksins? Oh, come on
Look at those skull images over there. Hak was speaking to Ponter through a pair of cochlear implants, but by changing the left-right balance of his voice he could indicate a direction as surely as if he had pointed. Ponter got upshakilyand crossed the room, heading away from the strange beings and approaching an illuminated panel like the one they were looking at, with several deepviews of skulls clipped to it.
Green meat! said Ponter, looking at the strange skulls. They are Gliksinsarent they?
I would say so. No other primate has that lack of browridge, or that projection from the front of the lower jaw.
Gliksins! But theyve been extinct forwell, for how long?
Perhaps 400,000 months, said Hak.
But this cant possibly be Earth of that long ago, said Ponter. I mean, theres no way the civilization weve seen would have failed to leave traces in the archeological record. At best, Gliksins chipped stone into crude choppers, right?
Yes.
Ponter tried to keep from sounding hysterical. So, again, where are we?
Reuben Montego looked agape at the casualty officer, Dr. Singh. What do you mean, He appears to be a Neanderthal?
The skull features are absolutely diagnostic, said Singh. Believe me: Ive got a degree in craniology.