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Vlad stormed into his house and called out to Rachel and Lisa. It took a few minutes but they both ran down the stairs looking concerned. What! What happened! Said Rachel. Are you both ok? Asked Vlad desperately. Yeah fine, why what's going on? Asked Lisa. Vlad gave a sigh of relief and walked into the kitchen when he collapsed onto a chair. Rachel walked behind Vlad and put her hands on his shoulders. She looked up at Lisa and said Will you go upstairs and run a bath for Vlad please? Lisa nodded and ran upstairs. Rachel sat across from...

I pulled away from the telescope momentarily to consider my sanity, and realised that I was quite hungry; it had only been six hours since I ate a truly hearty steak--the last one my freezer was stocked with--but the rumbling could not have been a lie. I abandoned the balcony to arrive almost immediately in the vicinity of my fridge, which was flung open--it was not I who left it this way. Cautiously, I listened; I glanced about and, finding nothing else amiss, I approached the cold, exposed racks. Nothing was gone or out of place among my neat assortment of...

Chapter Five Excerpts from the Past Immortality—dazzling idea! Who first imagined thee! Was it some jolly burgher of Nuremburg, who with night-cap on his head, and white clay pipe in mouth, sat on some pleasant summer evening before his door, and reflected in all his comfort, that it would be right pleasant, if, with unextinguishable pipe, and endless breath, he could thus vegetate onwards for a blessed eternity? Or was it a lover, who in the arms of his loved one, thought the immortality-thought, and that because he could think and feel naught beside!—Love! Immortality! Heinrich Heine, The Hartz Journey (1824...

Late summer in the Menthino was a busy time. Kaarthen found herself in the gigantic palace map room. The entire floor was a moving image in real-time of Menthino, ladders on rollers and map tables on wheels were along the walls. Marcos was dressed almost casually in a dark green silk shirt and black Safi pants. The Queen and two princesses, Saliss the oldest and Ruegin, were with her listening to the annual plans of migration from the vast flood plains to Cardin. Three Hjordis in black Safi with their hair up in tight buns stood along the wall with Kaarthen...