flesh was crushed against the bone. -
Even so, she did not shrink or exclaim. She struck him again with that peculiar flat of the hand, this time across the throat. Incredible agony blossomed there. His stomach drove its content up into his mouth and he could not even catch his breath or cry out. He let go, gagging and choking.
When he became aware of his surroundings again he was sitting on the floor and she was kneeling astride his legs and resting her hands upon his shoulders. 'I'm sorry I did that, Sos. But you are very strong.'
He stared dully at her, realizing that she was somewhat more talented than he had guessed. She was a woman, but her blows had been sure.
'I really would like to keep your bracelet, Sos. I know what it means.'
He thought about the way Sol had given his bracelet to Sola. The initial carelessness of the act had not signified any corresponding laxity in the relationship, though its terms were strange. Was he now to present his own bracelet even more capriciously, simply because a woman asked for it? He tried to speak, but his larynx, still constricted from the knock, did not permit it.
She held out her wrist to him and did not retreat. He reached up slowly and circled it with his fingers. He remembered that he had fought for Sola and lost, while this woman had, in more than a manner of speaking challenged him for the bracelet and won.
Perhaps it had to be taken from him. Had he been ready to give it away, he should have given it to blonde Miss Smith, knowing that she wanted it. Sola, too, had forced her love upon him and made him respond. He did not like what this,seemed to indicate about his nature, but it was better to accept it than to try to deny it.
He squeezed the bracelet gently and dropped his hand.
'Thank you, Sos,' she murmured, and leaned over to kiss him on the neck.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
When he woke again, he suspected that it had been a fantasy, like the oddities visible on the silent television, except that his bracelet was gone and his left wrist was pale where it had rested. This time he was gone, in another squared-off cabin, and feeling fit. Somehow he had been taken from the mountain and revived and left here, while his little friend Stupid had died. He could not guess the reason.
He got up and dressed, finding his clothing clean and whole, beside the bunk. If this were death, he thought, it was not unlike life. But that was foolishness; this was not death.
No food had been stocked, and there were no weapons upon the rack. As a matter of fact, the rack itself was absent. Sos opened the door, hoping to see familiar forest or landscape or even the base of the mountain-and found only a blank wall similar to the one he had traveled down in the vision. No vision after all, but reality.
'I'll be right with you, Sos.' It wis the voice of the little girl-the tiny woman who had teased him and outmaneuvered him and finally struck him down. His throat still ached, now that he thought of it, though not obtrusively. He looked at his bare wrist again.
Well, she had claimed to know what the bracelet meant. She trotted down the hail, as small as ever, wearing a more shapely smock and smiling. Her hair, now visible, was brown and curly, and it contributed considerably to her femininity. The bracelet on her arm glittered; evidently she had polished it to make the gold return to life. He saw that it reached all the way around her wrist and over lapped slightly, while the mark it left on his own wrist left a good quarter of the circle open. Had this tiny creature actually prevailed over him?
'Feeling better, Sos?' she inquired solicitously. 'I know we gave you a rough time yesterday, but the doc says a period of exercise is best to saturate the system. So I saw that you got it.'
He looked uncomprehendingly at her.
'Oh, that's right-you don't understand about our world yet:' She smiled engagingly and took his arm. 'You see, you were almost frozen in the snow, and we had to bring you around before permanent damage was done. Sometimes a full recovery takes weeks, but you were so healthy we gave you the energizer immediately. It's some kind of drug-I don't know much about these things-it scours out the system somehow and removes the damaged tissue. But it has to reach everywhere, the fingers and toes and things-well, I don't really understand it. But some good, strenuous calisthenics circulate it nicely. Then you sleep and the next thing you know you're better.'
'I don't remember-'
'I put you to sleep, Sos. After I kissed you. It's just a matter of touching the right pressure points. I can
