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Read Ebook: Vassi by Lewis Art Ritter Bob Illustrator
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Ebook has 197 lines and 7989 words, and 4 pages
"My cat. Can you touch her?"
"A cat? My, the anatomists would love to see that! But it's the same as with you. My hand passes right through her."
Julia put Belle back on the floor. Her mind was racing.
Vassi said, "She's sitting right where I'm standing."
"I've got to believe it's not a nightmare. I've got to believe you're real and that you can help me."
"If I can do it quickly. I have so much else to do. Others are waiting to use the machine."
"Are people well where you come from?"
"Very well, thank you."
"Are there any incurable diseases?" She tried to listen for his breathing.
"Incurable? You mean sickness that doesn't respond to treatment? No, of course not."
"Then take me with you!" she cried.
"You just said you wanted to guide me here."
"Take me with you to your time."
"I can't do that. I can't even touch you."
"There must be a way. You have got to think of something."
"Even if I could take you, I'm not supposed to."
"Why?"
"It would mix up history to remove persons from their time. It might even be dangerous with artifacts. I suppose we couldn't hold onto them very long."
"History? I have no history. I'm going to die very soon. No one depends on me. I have no one. Please take me, Vassi."
"I feel very strange."
"Are you all right?"
"Yes. I just feel--odd."
"How...."
"First you want to guide me, then you want to come with me, you don't care about mankind's survival. You sound so terrified and confused."
Julia sank down on the couch. If only she could see him. "Don't leave me to die."
"How strange to talk about dying," said Vassi. "We all live so long we never think about it."
"You will take me with you, Vassi?"
"If people in your time have such short lives, then why does dying trouble you? It would seem a matter of course."
"Vassi, I haven't lived yet."
"This is out of my line. I'll tell you what. When I return, I'll talk to one of the scientists. If they're interested in the project, they'll send someone back."
"How long will that be?"
"Now let's see if I can figure in your time. Hmm.... I'd say about a year...."
Julia closed her eyes. She felt dampness under the lids. Her voice was hollow as she spoke to the empty room. "I'll be dead in six months."
And the voice in her head echoed, "Six months...."
"Vassi, isn't there someone you can talk to now?"
He didn't answer her.
Julia looked around the room. "Vassi, are you still here? Vassi? Vassi, if you don't talk, I can't tell if you're still here! Vassi, please answer me. Did I talk too much? I didn't mean to run on about my problems. I know you have a job to do. Maybe you can squeeze me in. I don't want to keep you from your work. Vassi, you didn't go, did you? You didn't leave me! Don't leave. I believe in you. I believe in you...."
And now she had the aloneness she had longed for. He was gone and she would be left with the Mrs. Shultzes and the doctor.
She went from the living room to the kitchen to the bathroom and back into the living room, listening, hoping to catch the small sound of his breathing. But her body would not be quiet and she heard nothing except herself.
She stood for a long while looking down at the bed. The sunlight drifted from the pillow onto the covers and finally spilled off the foot of the bed onto the floor and the room was a shade darker. She was a stone, but a stone whose blood gurgled and stomach rumbled and heart beat and pulse pounded, so loudly she could hear nothing else.
Her legs gave way and she crumpled to the bed and she was silent at last.
The breathing came from the direction of the window.
She spoke into the covers. "Vassi, why didn't you answer me?"
"You tempt me and I have so much to do, so much ground to cover."
"You can come back."
"We haven't got enough of these time centers. There's quite a lineup to use them. If I go now, there's no telling how long it'll take me to get back."
Julia got up and went to the window. "Am I facing you?"
"Yes."
"You're my only hope, wild as it seems. Vassi, wouldn't it be helpful to your research to have a real live person from my time to study?"
Vassi spoke slowly. "You mean you would be willing to have us--study you?"
"Within limits.... No, not within limits."
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