Dorothy

Chapter 6

Auden's spastic thrash that sent his arm connecting with her head was more than enough to wake Dorothy the next morning. Her eyes struggled open to reveal a Lunar thaumaturge bending over Auden with a syringe in hand. Dorothy was about to leap at the woman, all sleep forgotten, until she noticed that Rosie was with the thaumaturge, guiding her shaking hand. They were talking in hushed tones. Dorothy couldn't make sense of what was happening until the woman looked up at her. Dorothy immediately recognized the thaumaturge from the wreck the previous day. Elwyn. Right. That was her name, Elwyn.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're awake," Elwyn said. Auden mumbled something to the effect of 'good morning.'

     "What are you doing here?" Dorothy asked. It came out more hostilely than she had meant it to. Elwyn went on the defense.

"I'm saving this shell's life," The way that she said the name made Dorothy's nerves stand on end.  But just as she had opened her mouth to retort, she noticed that Elwyn was grabbing another syringe from somewhere, and that it was full of blood. Auden shuddered as the thaumaturge poked the needle into him, and Dorothy saw the life-giving substance pushed into his fragile form.
Elwyn stood up, and Dorothy struggled up too. "Thanks," Dorothy managed rather gruffly.
"You're welcome," Elwyn replied with a nod. "Now I may know someone that can help you, but they live on the other side of the dome. You'll have to get around it first. Rest a little longer-the only transport I can offer you is your own legs, or treads, " she motioned with obvious disdain toward Rosie, who was practically running circles around Auden trying to make him more comfortable. "Any questions?"
"Well, a couple, actually. Where is everyone?" Dorothy asked.
"That's easy. Yesterday was Queen Channary's birthday, and all if Artemisia attended late into the night. Today, all stores will be closed while people make up their sleep. It is not a luxury that you will have much longer."
"Alright,"Auden sighed. He started to get to his feet. Rosie was on him in an instant. Auden pushed her away. "We need to start. The longer we wait, the more danger we're in."
"Good. I'll see you all at a later date if ever then, I'll be missed at my post soon."
"Thank you Elwyn," Rosie piped up, rolling toward her. Elwyn looked at her with mingled interest and disgust- an interesting combination on her features. As the thaumaturge's perfect figure turned away from her, another question seized Dorothy.

"Elwyn," she called. The woman turned. "Why are you doing this? Helping us, I mean."

Elwyn seemed almost to smile a bit. "Because I believe in a better Luna. Without fear and hate."

Half-an-hour later, the trio was ready to begin their journey. Having received final instructions from Elwyn before her hasty departure, they were fairly confident in the path they had to take. Rosie had pulled up a whole map of Luna from the Lunar database and highlighted their route. The importance of speed pressed in on them now, they wouldn't be alone much longer.

The elephant left in the room was Auden. What would he do when they got to this contact's house? He could hardly walk in the front door. But for now, there seemed to be silent consent among the companions that no one would mention the matter, and that their was simply nowhere else for Auden to go than with Dorothy and Rosie.

A more immediate goal, however, was to start on their route. Rosie seemed especially enthusiastic about their medieval form of travel. Auden, less than excited. Dorothy, personally, was thinking only of the end goal. Her hair felt snarled, and she was pretty sure that her breath was rancid.

They walked in silence for quiet sometime. Not until the biodome's false light reached its brightest did Dorothy finally give into the hunger pangs that were gnawing at her and asked for a break.

"We can stop down here," Auden told her, pointing at a secluded alley. "From now on, we'll probably want to keep to less used roads anyway if we don't want to be seen."

They crouched to the weirdly clean ground in the alley. Dorothy retrieved their nonperishable foodstuffs (a gift from Elwyn) from the cavity in Rosie's back.

"Ahh," Rosie sighed. "You humans and your taste buds. I don't think you appreciate them enough. I can only imagine what taste would be like."

"In this situation, Rosie, I can't pity you too much. Nonperishable and non-tasteable," Auden muttered in an extremely self-pitying way. "Haven't used my taste buds in years, and this is what they've had to look forward to." Auden took an annoyed bite of cracker and chewed too loudly for Dorothy's comfort. Though, she had to admit, the crackers tasted more like glue than anything else.

When they finished their 'meal' and Rosie had put in a few more words concerning ungratefulness, the party rose to move on. Light was beginning to dim in the domes, but only enough to indicate early afternoon.

Rosie led them down winding alleys, with Auden following and Dorothy in the rear. They had agreed that verbal communication was absolutely unacceptable, which had led to some pretty hysterical charades by Auden, but also left them in a tense state of mind.

Dorothy, for one, was lost in thought as they turned a corner into another alley. How had she let this happen? Fear coursed through her with every step she took. What if they were discovered? What if they were captured? What if-

Dorothy nearly ran into Auden at the abrupt stop. She craned her neck to see around his larger form...

A man stared back from the other side of the alley.