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- HOMER NARR2-PD/RDRef@5419
-
- Still, Peter and his group may have
- continued undisturbed had not Seemie
- fallen victim to the Mind Wars. The
- fighting in Chicago had grown fierce,
- and was spreading south. She was caught
- in the crossfire while attending a music
- symposium at the University of Chicago
- Warren.
-
- Peter and Ran sat by her bed in the
- Springfield hospice. She had full life
- support, but it meant nothing: they may
- as well have been watching a recording,
- a reconstruction. The monitors
- registered life-maintenance, nothing
- more.
-
- "She's gone, Peter," Ran said softly. He
- laid his hand on Peter's shoulder.
-
- "I know, Dad." Peter watched his
- mother's chest rise and fall, forced by
- the monitors to continue breathing. He
- looked for the little signs that would
- indicate there was a personality there,
- a flutter of the eyelids, movement of
- the eye under the lid, small changes of
- expression, the nervous twitch of a
- finger. "We haven't learned much, have
- we?"
-
- Ran sighed. "I guess not."
-
- "She was working on a new piece. She had
- that look, just last week. Something new
- was going to come of it. Now it won't."
-
- The wall opposite displayed sunset
- across the Park, the trees on the
- horizon gathering into shadow as the
- light slipped behind them. Nearby the
- creek flowed toward a cattle pond where
- some people skated in winter. A light
- breeze disturbed the surface of the
- water, turning it rough and dark.
-
- "No," Ran said at last. "Now it won't."
- They sat in silence as the darkness
- gathered outside.
-