It stirred, then penetrated her flesh so abruptly in so many places-and so painfully-that she cried out. But she managed not to move beyond an initial reflexive jerk.
'Breathe deeply,' it said. 'I... I'll try not to hurt you anymore.'
'It's not that bad. I just don't see how this can help you.'
'Your body can help me. Keep breathing deeply.'
It said nothing more, made no sound of its own pain. She lay with it, eyes closed most of the time, and let the time pass, let herself lose track of it. From time to time, hands touched her. The first time she felt them, she looked to see what they were doing and realized that they were Oankali hands, brushing insects from her body.
Much later when she had lost track of time she was surprised to open her eyes to darkness; she felt someone lift her head and slip something under it.
Someone had covered her body with cloth. Spare clothing? And someone had wedged cloth under the parts of her body that seemed to need easing.
She heard talking, listened for human voices, and could not distinguish any. Parts of her body went numb, then underwent their own painful reawakening with no effort on her part. Her arms ached, then were eased, though she never changed position. Someone put water to her lips and she drank between gasps.
She could hear her own breathing. No one had to remind her to breathe deeply. Her body demanded it. She had begun breathing through her mouth. Whoever was looking after her noticed this and gave her water more often. Small amounts to wet her mouth. The water made her wonder what would happen if she had to go to the bathroom, but the problem never occurred.
Bits of food were put into her mouth. She did not know what it was, could not taste it, but it seemed to strengthen her.
At some point she recognized Ahajas, Nikanj's female mate as the owner of the hands that gave her food and water. She was confused at first and wondered whether she had been moved out of the forest and back to the quarters the family shared. But when it was light, she could still see the forest canopy-real trees burdened with epiphytes and lianas. A rounded termite nest the size of a basketball hung from a branch just above her. Nothing like that existed in the orderly, self-manicured Oankali living areas.
She drifted away again. Later she realized she was not always conscious. Yet she never felt as though she had slept. And she never let go of Nikanj. She could not let go of it. It had frozen her hands, her muscles into position as a kind of living cast to hold it while it healed.
At times her heart beat fast, thundering in her ears as though she had been running hard.
Dichaan took over the task of giving her food and water and protecting her from insects. He kept flattening his head and body tentacles when he looked at Nikanj's wound. Lilith managed to look at it to see what was pleasing him.
There first seemed nothing to be pleased about. The wound oozed fluids that turned black and stank. Lilith was afraid that some kind of infection had set in, but she could do nothing. At least none of the local insects seemed attracted to it-and none of the local microorganisms, probably. More likely Nikanj had brought whatever caused its infection into the training room with it.
The infection seemed to heal eventually, though clear fluid continued to leak from the wound. Not until it stopped completely did Nikanj let her go.
She began to rouse slowly, began to realize that she had not been fully conscious for a long time. It was as though she were Awakening again from suspended animation, this time without pain. Muscles that should have screamed when she moved after lying still for so long made no protest at all.
She moved slowly, straightening her arms, stretching her legs, arching her back against the ground. But something was missing.
She looked around, suddenly alarmed, and found Nikanj sitting beside her, focusing on her.
'You're all right,' it said in its normal neutral voice. 'You'll feel a little unsteady at first, but you're all right.'
She looked at its left sensory arm. The healing was not yet complete. There was still visible what looked like a bad cut-as though someone had slashed at the arm and managed only a flesh wound.
'Are you all right?' she asked.
It moved the arm easily, normally, used it to stroke her face in an acquired human gesture.
She smiled, sat up, steadied herself for a moment, then stood up and looked around. There were no humans in sight, no Oankali except Nikanj, Ahajas, and Dichaan. Dichaan handed her a jacket and a pair of pants, both clean. Cleaner than she was. She took the clothing, and put it on reluctantly. She was not as dirty as she thought she should have been, but she still wanted to wash.
'Where are the others?' she asked. 'Is everyone all right?'
'The humans are back at the settlement,' Dichaan said. 'They'll be sent to Earth soon. They've been shown the walls here. They know they're still aboard the ship.'
'You should have shown them the walls on their first day here.'
'We will do that next time. That was one of the things we had to learn from this group.'
'Better yet, prove to them they're in a ship as soon as they're Awakened,' she said. 'Illusion doesn't comfort them for long. It just confuses them, helps them make dangerous mistakes. I had begun to wonder myself where we really were.'
Silence. Stubborn silence.
She looked at Nikanj's still-healing sensory arm. 'Listen to me,' she said. 'Let me help you learn about us, or there'll be more injuries, more deaths.'
'Will you walk through the forest,' Nikanj asked, 'or shall we go the shorter way beneath the training room?'
