Tangle in the Dark - Kassidor

that was entangled with one of the dark bodies in the spacewe are passing thru.” As she said that she realized that even ifthis person spoke Kassidorian fluently, she would have a hardtime understanding any of that if she was really immersed inthis ancient society. “I have no way of telling if I am in asimulated universe transmitted from the dark bodies, or if Iam in an event horizon imposed by someone in the crew ofGordon’s Lamp.”The old woman sadly shook her head. The sergeantargued and there was a long discussion, sometimes a bit testy,with both of them pointing at Ava, he at her left wrist, she atthe sundress. Ava began to understand that the soldier wastrying to get the old woman to agree to take Ava off his hands.Finally he used a gesture that left no doubt in Ava’s mind asto what he and his men would use Ava for if the palace didn’ttake her. The old woman sighed again, and acquiesced to thesoldier’s demands. The old woman gently took Ava’s handand the troops left. She shook her head and tut-tutted, thenlead Ava away.At this point Ava knew she could break away easily, butwhere would she go? What would she do? She was stuck in auniverse where she didn’t know the language and didn’t havean ID, which is what those bangles must be. She had beendelivered far over the sea to this enormous structure, city orwhatever it was. If she was lucky she had been turned in to aconvent before she was raped in the outside world. If this wasa faithful reproduction of the bronze age, she was probably406