Текст книги "Темное, кривое зеркало. Том 5 : Средь звезд, подобно гигантам.(ЛП)"
Автор книги: Гарэт Д. Уильямс
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Текущая страница: 35 (всего у книги 78 страниц)
Lennier sighed. "He might be right."
She thought about this for a moment. "I don't think you're evil. You look strange, but you talk nicely. My name is Na'Lar, but it will soon be time to take a new name, when I become grown up, and choose a religion. I don't know what name to take."
"You will, when the time is right." He reached down a hand to her. "Come on, little one. I will take you to the spaceships."
"I can't walk. I hurt my leg."
"Then I will carry you." She took his arm and he slowly pulled her to her feet. Then he scooped her up and held her tightly. "Are you safe there?"
"Yes," she said.
"Good."
He began to run. He was trained and fit and healthy and he had exercised hard, but he had never run as he ran now. He sped through the abandoned streets of Narn, past dead buildings, always beneath the oppressive darkness in the sky above. She buried herself in his arms and pressed her head into his shoulder.
She had seemed so light at first, but with every step he took she became heavier. He was not sure if he could even keep hold of her, but he continued to run.
Why are we doing this? asked the voice in his mind. W hat is she to us?
"An innocent," he replied.
What does that have to do with us?
"Everything."
The spaceport grew nearer with every step, but the burning in his lungs and the weight of his burden increased even more quickly. He recited Ranger cants in his mind, meditation techniques, historical texts, anything and everything he could think of.
There were no guards on duty, nothing to stop him entering the launch pad itself. There was one cargo ship remaining, its hold filled with people. He saw a few soldiers, carrying what looked like a coffin towards the ship and carefully loading it on board.
Urgency gave him renewed energy and he sprinted across the pad, ignoring the heat from the engines. One of the soldiers was one the verge of closing the hold when Lennier arrived beside him.
"There's no more room," the Narn said. "Certainly not for.... your kind."
"Not for.... me," Lennier gasped. "But.... her?" He handed over Na'Lar, who looked up at the ship with wide eyes. "A child.... innocent. Take her!"
The soldier looked at him, and plucked Na'Lar out of his arms. She reached back for him. "Wait! You have to come as well!" she called.
"I can't, little one," he whispered. "I have to stay here."
"But you helped me."
"Yes. There is one thing.... you can do for me.... to pay me back for helping you."
"Yes?"
"If you ever meet a man.... called Londo Mollari.... tell him.... I was honoured.... to be his friend."
"Londo Mollari," she repeated. "Yes, I will. I will."
"Good." He pulled back, and the soldier pushed the girl into the hold. The door closed. "Good," Lennier said again, stepping back.
He did not stay to watch the last ship take off. He turned his back and walked away. Exhaustion filled him, but he did not care. There would be plenty of time to rest when he was dead.
* * *
They walked slowly, in a silence that veered between the companionable quiet of friends and the awkwardness of people who had once been friends and were now not certain what they were.
They made small talk, chatting about the improvements that had been made on Minbar. Corwin asked about old friends, although there were fewer than he had realised. Sheridan asked about life on Minbar. Corwin did not mention Susan. Sheridan did not mention Delenn.
Finally they stopped, looking at each other awkwardly.
"You've come to ask me to go back, haven't you?" Corwin asked.
Sheridan looked at him, and gave a half-smile. "Sort of," he said. "In a manner of speaking."
"I don't want to go back. I like it here. I'm doing something good. Not morally grey, or vaguely good intentions, or less bad than other people. I'm doing something good. I like it here."
"You don't belong here."
"That's what Kats said."
"Is she the one who brought you here?"
"Yes. I met her at the Day of the Dead on Brakir. I don't remember a great deal about it, but.... it was bad. I had no idea just how many ghosts there were. She invited me here, to help with the rebuilding."
"David, there's something I need you to...."
"No! I don't like what the Alliance has become, John. It's a dark, cold place where everything seems to be about numbers and pieces and pawns and nothing actually matters apart from winning. Towards the end of the war, I was looking around and I gradually realised there was nothing there I wanted to be fighting for.
"It's got worse since then, hasn't it? I've heard what's been happening. The Drazi, the Centauri. I found out recently that one of those Inquisitors visited Kats. Inquisitors? Think about that for a minute. We have Inquisitors and secret police and ...." He came to a halt. "Everything just feels wrong. For God's sake, is this what we were fighting for all those years?"
"No. It isn't. David, I've been asleep for a very long time. I didn't see all those things you've just described. All I could think about was.... getting through the day. And then the next day, and the next. But I've opened my eyes now.... or rather, had them opened for me.
"You're right. This isn't what we were fighting for. I'm not quite sure what all that struggle was for, but it wasn't this.
"But it was worth fighting for once. Surely it is again! I can't do this alone, David. I need your help. I've always needed your help."
David looked at him, at his outstretched hand, and the absolute sincerity and passion in his eyes. For a moment he looked ten years younger, as he had looked when they first met, determined to create a better world and to defend it against anyone or anything who tried to stop him.
He reached out and took his Captain's hand.
"I'm here," he said.
John laughed, and they hugged, as friends and brothers and warriors who have just regained their purpose.
"So," David said when they separated. "Where do we start?"
"There's something I need you to do for me. No one else can do it. It's probably the most important thing I've ever asked anyone to do."
"What?"
"I need you to be my best man.
"I'm going to ask Delenn to marry me."
* * *
G'Kar awakened instantly, passing from dissonance to clarity in a second. He remembered killing Da'Kal, fulfilling a decades-old promise to end her life if ever she asked him to. He remembered the soldiers attacking him, hitting him and kicking him.
And then he realised he was awake and in a cargo hold filled with his own people. It was dark and dirty, and it was moving. He sensed the familiarity of spaceflight.
"Oh, Da'Kal," he whispered, trying to stand. He couldn't, of course. Everyone was strapped in tightly. The cargo hold was hardly designed to carry people, but such was necessity.
"Oh, Da'Kal." He tried to blink through his single eye and shed a tear for her, but he could not. He knew she had arranged this. There was no other way he could have been convinced to leave the planet, unless he was removed by force.
"Is something wrong?" asked a solicitous voice from beside him.
He turned, somewhat awkwardly given the pain in his neck and back. It was a comfortable pain, a pain that reminded him he was still alive, but it was limiting nonetheless. A young girl was sitting there, strapped in as awkwardly and uncomfortably as he was.
"You look hurt," she said.
"I am fine," he replied. "I am not hurt."
"What happened to your eye?"
He reached out to touch the ruin at the side of his head. "Nothing. I can see more clearly now than I could before, when I had both."
"I know you," she said. "You're G'Kar, the Prophet."
"I am. I think you have the advantage of me. Who are you?"
"I.... I was called Na'Lar, but it's almost time for me to choose my new name. I don't know what to pick, but.... Do you know a man named Londo Mollari? I have a message to give to him. A strange man called Lennier asked me to. He helped me."
"Londo?" G'Kar tried to follow the unconscious stream of rambling from the girl. Her innocent chatter was welcome, but trying to follow her.... "Lennier! Have you seen him?" He had entirely forgotten about the Minbari. He had assumed Lennier and Ta'Lon would have left the planet when they overheard his conversation with Da'Kal. "Is Lennier on this ship?"
"No," she said, sadly. "He couldn't come on. He helped me. He carried me here. He was a good man."
G'Kar closed his eyes. "Yes. Yes, he was."
"Do you know this Londo Mollari?"
"Yes, I do. I will take you to him if you like. If I can."
"I'd like that. I've got something to tell him."
"What?"
"I can't tell you. I can only tell him. Who is he?"
"A friend. A friend of mine. And Lennier's. Another good man. There are.... not enough good men in this galaxy."
"Are you a priest?"
"A priest? Yes, I suppose so. I believe, if that means anything."
"My mother said I had to go to a priest when I'd chosen my new name, when I chose which religion I wanted to follow. She wanted me to call myself Na'Hiri and adopt her religion, but none of them.... made any sense to me. I wasn't sure what name I wanted. Can I....
"Can I call myself L'Neer?"
He looked at her. Lennier had bought her life at the cost of his own. He must have seen something within her, something special, and for a moment G'Kar thought he could see it as well.
"Little one," he said, smiling. "You can call yourself whatever you wish."
* * *
Lennier had left the city far behind him, walking out into the countryside. High grey mountains loomed on either side, every stone and plant and breath of air filled with blood. This world had been a battleground for so long that in the end no one had known what else to do with it.
The sad thing was that Lennier had no better idea that the Narns did.
"Hey, Minbari!"
Lennier turned in the direction of the shout. He had thought himself alone. Most of the remaining inhabitants of Narn were cowering in their homes with friends and family, or in the chapels praying for a salvation that would never come. He had certainly not expected to find anyone out here.
It was an old soldier, dressed in a uniform that was ripped and torn and scuffed with age, but still worn with pride. Lennier had seen him before – walking about in the city, but earlier than that too. A long time ago.
"I know you, don't I?" the old Narn said, drinking from a bottle held in one hand. "You're one of my nephew's men. His Rangers."
Lennier touched the sunburst badge which he had taken to wearing openly again. "I.... was," he said, carefully. "My name is Lennier."
"G'Sten. I knew I'd seen you before somewhere. You were with the Centauri, weren't you? The one who's now Emperor, and Marrago. You helped break him out." Lennier nodded, remembering now. So many years ago.... "I knew it. Have you seen Marrago recently? Last I heard he'd been fired and gone into private work as a mercenary."
"I heard the same thing."
"Pity. He was a damned good man. For a Centauri. There's something about an enemy like that, someone you respect, even like. It makes it less of a war, less about hatred, and more about proving yourself better than he is. More about the Game." He took another swig. "Not that that's always a good thing, of course.
"But it's done now. Both of us are old men, discarded by our Governments, put out to grass. Happens to us all eventually."
"You did not try to leave?"
"Leave? Me?" He laughed. "I'm too old, boy. No, leave this life to the younger ones, the ones who've got enough time left to enjoy it. I'm a relic of the old days, me. By any rights I should be dead a hundred times over." He pointed a little way up the mountain. There was a cave mouth there. "Do you see that cave?"
"Yes."
"We had a Resistance base there, during the Occupation. Anyway, when I was young, in the early days, I was captured by a Centauri lord. I'd been sabotaging his estates, burning stables and farmland, that sort of thing. Turned out he had one of those witches on his staff. The ones who can see the future. You heard of them?"
Lennier nodded.
"Well, she went into a trance, and said she saw me dying in the mountains. She described this place perfectly. I don't mind admitting I was a bit scared. The Centauri had a thing about unpleasant deaths. One thing they liked to do was stick dozens of sharp stakes into the ground and then throw their prisoners off the top of a mountain on to them. The fall wasn't so far that it'd kill you, but the stakes would. Eventually. I thought that was what they'd do to me.
"But some of my friends broke me out that night, and I almost forgot about the prophecy. Some years later, twelve at least, the Centauri soldiers tracked down one of our bases, to that cave over there. We were outnumbered and overrun and pretty soon I was on my own, my gun running low on energy, staring at what looked like hundreds of the bastards. I remembered the old witch's prophecy again, and I was sure she was right. For a moment I felt like giving up and letting them kill me."
He fell silent for a moment.
"And what happened?" Lennier asked.
"I picked up the gun and carried on firing. Managed to fight my way out. Went to ground in the mountains. Hid for weeks, starving and hurt. But I was still alive. I'd won, see. I'd beaten the old witch. She died the night before we burned her lord's estates to the ground. Pity. I'd have liked to talk to her one last time."
He looked around at the mountains and sighed.
"And you have come back to die here?" Lennier asked.
G'Sten looked at him and laughed. "Are you joking, boy? No, I came here to spit in the bitch's face one last time." He threw his arms wide and shouted into the sky. "Do you hear me, witch? I'm still alive! And I'm not going to die here!"
He laughed, long and loud, and then jumped down from the rock he was sitting on. "I'm going to walk back into town. Do you want to come with me?"
"I...." Lennier looked around. "No, I think I will stay here. I.... like this place."
"Suit yourself." He shook the bottle. There was the sloshing of liquid. "Do you want some?"
"Is it alcoholic?" G'Sten nodded. "Then, no. My people do not drink alcohol."
"I don't think you'll have time to worry about a hangover."
"No, but thank you."
"Word of advice, boy. Take every opportunity you have to experience new things, because you never know when you'll never get a chance again." G'Sten thought over those words. "Or something like that. Are you sure you don't want any?"
"No."
"Your loss. Nice to have met you, boy."
"My name is Lennier."
"Nice to have met you, Lennier." He took another long draught and headed back along the road to the city.
Lennier looked up into the sky, and sat down to pray.
It was beginning to get dark.
Gareth D. Williams
Part 5
The Three–Edged Sword.
It begins as shock. It turns to anger, then fear. A dead world. A homeless people. And a lust for revenge. All forces begin to converge on Babylon 5, demanding answers, demanding retribution, demanding justice. Kats and Sinoval and Corwin and Delenn and Sheridan and the remnants of the Narn people. And Sebastian. And the Vorlons. Truth is a three-edged sword – but then understanding is not required. Only obedience.
Chapter 1
At first word came slowly from Narn. The ships, overburdened and slow and drifting, arrived on other worlds. Angry and traumatised and incoherent refugees tumbled out. Initially they were not believed.
Dark Star s and scientific patrol vessels arrived in neighbouring systems, sent from Babylon 5 by Commander Kulomani. They picked up more refugee ships and helped to escort them to safe havens. Some worlds were at first reluctant to admit so many fugitives, but the military might of theDark Star s convinced them.
TheDark Star s kept trying to force jump points into the Narn system. They experienced escalating problems – system failures and jump engine damage. Eventually a more conventional military vessel, a Brakiri troop carrier, managed to jump into the system.
It was destroyed in a collision with a huge asteroid cloud that had not been there before.
After that, the truth of what had happened to Narn was obvious. The shock was palpable, the fear more so. Narn space was shut down completely, the governors on Narn colony worlds closing down jump gates and fortifying their systems. Governments across the galaxy waited nervously for word from Babylon 5.
The Vorlons said, and did, nothing. As far as they were concerned, there was no need for explanation or apology.
Elsewhere, Sinoval had his own response to the tragedy.
MATEER, K. (2295) The Second Sign of the Apocalypse. Chapter 9 of The Rise
and Fall of the United Alliance, the End of the Second Age and the
Beginning of the Third, vol. 4, The Dreaming Years. Ed: S. Barringer,
G. Boshears, A. E. Clements, D. G. Goldingay & M. G. Kerr.
* * *
G'Kar didn't talk at all on that long journey from home, other than those first few words to me. I was a little scared of this tall, imposing, badly–wounded figure. He had clearly been attacked. My young eyes saw him as a great soldier, although what he was doing in that cargo ship I had absolutely no idea.
I remember very little of my life before that moment. It was not just my name that changed that day, it was my life and whatever destiny had been laid out for me. I realised later the enormity of what Lennier had done for me, sacrificing his life and his entire future for mine, for someone he did not know. That realisation has permeated my life all these years. I have forgotten what he looked like, how he spoke, what he was wearing that day, but I have always remembered that I owe my life and everything I am to him.
It is a chilling thing to know, that, but sobering and welcoming as well. I have always been able to feel him watching me, watching the young Narn girl who took his name and his life and his destiny. I hope he is not disappointed in me.
I stayed close to G'Kar throughout the journey, talking to him when I could, and thinking in scared silence the rest of the time. I was not entirely sure what had happened, but from the faces of the adults around me I could tell it was something serious, something very bad indeed.
I had never been away from Narn before. I had little comprehension that there were such things as other worlds. Thus, the first sight of aDark Star , visible through the windows of the cargo hold, filled me with both awe and terror. I had to strain to see it, but the few glimpses I could catch were both wondrous and horrible at the same time. I seemed to behold a face screaming beneath its surface.
TheDark Star escorted us to the nearest world. I forget which one, and in truth I do not want to remember. Seeing all those sad–faced, black–eyed adults moving out into the blinking sun that seemed too.... bright, was a chilling image. I looked around frantically for my parents, but everyone seemed the same, alike in misery and disbelief.
I finally found my way back to G'Kar, who was talking with a very strange alien I later learned to be a human. He kept addressing this human as 'Captain', and I thought she was some soldier whom G'Kar had fought beside. He kept mentioning a place called Babylon 5, and a Council, and I remember the captain promising to take him there
That was when I said I had to go as well. G'Kar and the human captain, whose name seemed to be B'thany T'kopai, tried to persuade me to look for my parents, but of course they were nowhere to be found. In any event, I wasn't sure I wanted to be with them. My eyes had been opened, and I could see far more clearly than before. Besides, I knew even then that they would not understand the value of my holy quest. I had a message to deliver to Londo Mollari, and I would hold to that mission.
G'Kar relented, and convinced the human captain. Then we set off on the second stage of the journey that has consumed my entire life and is still not done.
Only now, I walk it alone.
My tears still soak these pages as I remember that sight.
L'Neer of Narn, Learning at the Prophet's Feet.
* * *
He will come.
Yes, Cardinal.
The treacherous and the wicked will come to this place. They will look to their leaders for answers. They will look to their leaders for succour and shelter. They will look to their leaders for revenge.
Yes, Cardinal.
We will permit them. We will know which of their leaders have betrayed us. The virtuous and the loyal will accept what has happened and understand why it was necessary. They will know with no need to ask. Those who question, those who disagree, those are the traitors and the Shadow–tainted.
Yes, Cardinal.
But they are ours. They are beneath your attention, Most Favoured Servant. He will come. He will have to. He will bring his fleet and his servants. You will be ready for him.
Yes, Cardinal.
Come to this place we have built for the good of these races. Look for the threads of his webs and cut them where you find them. Draw him out here and run him to ground. When he arrives, as he will, destroy him.
Yes, Cardinal.
We have always trusted you. Since you were enjoined to our service, you have proven your worth. You are our most trusted, our most favoured. Perform this task for us and prove us true in our trust.
Yes, Cardinal.
We have faith in you, Sebastian.
Yes, Cardinal.
* * *
There were four of them, friends and strangers. Four of them walking slowly towards an uncertain and increasingly bleak future. y
Sheridan to Corwin to Kats to Tirivail. A leader to a warrior–turned–builder to a creator to a warrior. o
To Kats, Babylon 5 had once seemed such a hopeful place. It was a place built to symbolise peace and unity, somewhere new, apart from all the old grudges and the old hatreds. She had watched her world and her people torn apart by war and she wanted no part of that. She wished she could have visited the station under better circumstances. u
Word had reached her the day after General Sheridan arrived to see David. She had been planning a visit to Babylon 5 anyway, to study the work that had been done there and to make arrangements for the appointment of a permanent Ambassador. w
The Grey Council had gathered aboard their ship, in dark and shadowed silence. Takier had walked into the centre of the circle. i
"Something has happened," he said, in his sonorous voice. "We learned recently that the Narn Government had given shelter to some of the former vassal races of the Shadows. Very recently, the Vorlons also learned of this. Their response was to blockade the Narn system and deliver an ultimatum to the planet. They had one day to evacuate their homeworld. When that day was past, they destroyed Narn." l
There had been shock, followed by anger, followed, inevitably, by disbelief. l
"I have dispatched patrol vessels and probes to the area to confirm this," Takier said. "But the Alliance has contacted us. They seem convinced. I doubt that they are lying. Refugees from Narn are arriving on nearby planets. Given some of their recent activities, it is doubtful if many will be prepared to accept them, and their own colonies cannot support so many people. We will inevitably be asked to take on as many as we can support. I propose we refuse." o
Debate followed, compassion against planetary security. Takier, a warrior to his fingertips, had not surprisingly suggested a war footing. b
"We should close all our jump gates and double all system patrols. We should recall all ships and troops currently in service to the Alliance and declare a Federation–wide war footing. All aliens, especially Vorlons, should be expelled from our space." e
It had fallen to Kats to speak up against him, as it often did. "The Alliance has yet to issue a formal response to the incident. I have made arrangements to visit Babylon Five in any event. I think my plans should be hastened. The Alliance will have a meeting on this matter, and we should be there. I agree with the increase in security, but I think any other measures would be premature. Let us first wait to hear the response. y
"And compassion and mercy dictate we should shelter as many of the Narns as we can. It is not so long since we both dealt and received such a blow. If we are to prove ourselves better than the Vorlons, we must show how much we have atoned for our own guilt." u
"Take bodyguards," Takier advised coldly. "Things may be dangerous there." s
"Too many soldiers may cause the Alliance concern. Tirivail may come if she wishes, but I will need no one else." y
"Tirivail?" Takier mused. "If you wish." o
Back in the cabin of the warship Miya, Kats closed her eyes and touched Kozorr's necklace. "I wish you were here," she whispered to his spirit. "I miss you." u
Tirivail was pacing up and down, too angry to meditate, too filled with fire to find true peace. Sheridan and David were talking quietly in their native language. Kats was too weary and too grief–stricken for the mental effort of translating. w
She looked up at Tirivail. "Why me?" the warrior woman asked. i
"I trust you," Kats replied. "I have faith in you." l
Tirivail snorted, but said nothing else. l
Babylon 5 grew closer with each second. Kats felt like a drowning woman reaching vainly for the sun, only to realise the light she could see was the surface of the lake on fire. o
"I wish you were here," she whispered again. b
eyus
* * *
"God Almighty!" y
She was pacing up and down, tears streaming from her eyes, running down the furrows of her scarred face. Sinoval knew enough to realise that they were tears of anger, not grief. o
"Good God, I just want to.... I feel so angry I can't.... I just want to go and kick every damned encounter–suited butt I can find." u
Different people react to shock in different ways. Sinoval had turned his rage inwards. He already hated the Vorlons as much as it was possible to hate anything. He doubted there was a single thing they could do that would make him hate them any more. w
But this.... the destruction of a planet, of billions of people.... He understood death. He could look at it with eyes that were colder and more dispassionate than others. He could see the patterns behind it, and heading out from it. i
He remembered the feeling of all those lives expiring in one instant. And not just the Narn deaths. The plants, the animals, the grass and the air and the planet itself. Narn had been just as much a living, breathing organism as anything that had lived and moved and crawled across its surface. l
The Well had shaken with the loss, with the Narn souls therein sensing the deaths of their living brethren and crying out in grief. Soul Hunters had visited Narn, although not for many centuries. The Well knew that world. l
Just as it, and Sinoval, knew that this would not be the last. o
"How can you not be angry?" Susan spat. "I.... well, there really isn't a big enough word. Furious might just about cover it." b
"I am angry," Sinoval replied. "But I am a leader. I must think as a leader, and that means not letting anger cloud my thoughts. Was it not you who was sent here to ensure that did not happen? To make sure I understood that the Vorlons have to be destroyed because it is right that they be destroyed, and not just for some personal vendetta?" e
"Well.... yes, that was part of it, but surely this is right now. After what they did, can you really say it isn't right to wipe out every one of the sons of bitches?" y
"Maybe it is, but why do you want to wipe them out? Is it because it is right to defeat them, or is it because you hate them and want them dead?" u
"I.... well.... To hell with it, does it matter?" s
"Yes, I am very much afraid that it does." y
"As far as I'm concerned at the moment we should just go into Vorlon space and blow apart every single planet there." o
"And how would that make us better than them?" u
"We're on the side of the angels." w
Sinoval smiled; a sly, sardonic smile. "Ah, but Susan.... theyare the angels. It is a strange thing, but no one ever believes themselves to be evil. Everything is justified. Even the Brotherhood, even the worst of them, they could justify everything they did and have it make sense. The Vorlons are no different." i
"So what are you saying? Forget it? Well, that would be easy for you, wouldn't it? You've done this before! It's fine for you." l
Sinoval rose to his feet, eyes flashing in the darkness. "I will forgive your anger, but never say that again! The Vorlons will pay for what they have done, just as surely as we did. But it will be when the time is right, and it will be because it is right to do so. What they have done is wrong, and I will make them see it." l
"So what now, then?" Her breath was coming in harsh, ragged gasps. "What do we do now?" o
"We carry on our journey to Tuchanq. The Vorlons have destroyed a world. If we are to be better than they are, we must prove ourselves better. We will restore a world, and bring the Song back to Tuchanq. There will no doubt be many there who will say the Narns deserve what they are suffering. It is easy to hate when hate is all you have known. I will give them back their world, and then maybe they will see that the Narns deserve pity and help, not hatred." b
"And then?" e
"We go to Babylon Five. Things are starting to happen there. The peace, the slow night of terror and nightmares, is over. The war will start again. The Vorlons have seen to that. And this time it will not stop short of the final ending. For us or for them." y
"So, we will have revenge after all." Her tears were of fire, her eyes blazing in the night. u
"Vengeance is for lesser men." If her eyes were fire, his were death. "We will have justice." s
* * *
"That's it?" y
"You were expecting something else?" o
"It's a box. It's a big box. I can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a box like that." u
Talia elbowed him in the ribs, and Dexter grunted. "It's not just a box," she said firmly. w
"It looks just like a box. Ow, that hurt. Unless it has some all–powerful weapon inside it. I mean it, that really hurt." i
"Oh, don't be such a baby. Al found it.... God knows where. I managed to salvage it from one of his safety deposit boxes. It's how we've been fighting off the Hand of the Light. It's been helpful in other ways too." l