When he came to the roped-off passage in Tunnel 351,
he ducked in and walked along through the dark,
feeling his wayHe was pretty sure the door would be
locked as usualHis mind was on other thingsHe was
thinking of his green worm, which had been behaving
155
oddly, refusing to eat and hanging from the side of its
box with its chin tucked inAnd he was thinking about
Lina, whom he hadn't seen for several daysHe wondered
where she wasWhen he came to the door, he
reached absently for the knob, and what he felt startled
him so much that he snatched his hand back as if he'd
been stungHe felt again, carefullyThere was a key in
the lock!
For a long moment, Doon stood as
omega seamaster fake still as a statueThen he took hold of the doorknob and turned itVery
slowly, he pushed on the doorIt swung inward without
a sound
He opened it only a few inches, just enough to
peer around the edgeWhat he saw made him gasp
There was no road, or passage, or stairway behind
the doorThere was a brightly lit room, whose size he
could not guess at because it was so crowded with
thingsOn all sides were crates and boxes, sacks and
bundles and packagesThere were mounds of cans,
heaps of clothes, rows of jars and bottles, stacks of
light-bulb packagesPiles rose to the low ceiling and
leaned against the walls, blocking all but a small space
in the centerIn that small space, a little
borse fendi living room
had been set upThere was a greenish rug, and on the
rug an armchair and a tableOn the table were dishes
smeared with the remains of food, and in the armchair
facing Doon was a great blob of a person whose head
was flopped backward, so that all Doon could see of it
156
was an upthrust chinThe blob stirred and muttered,
and Doon, in the second before he stepped back and
pulled the door closed, caught a glimpse of a fleshy ear,
a slab of gray cheek, and a loose, purplish mouth
That day, Lina had more messages to carry than everThere had been five blackouts in a row during the
weekThey were all fairly short--the longest was four
and a half minutes, Lina had
chanel white watches heard--but there had
never been so many so close togetherEveryone was
nervousPeople who might ordinarily walk to someone's
house were sending messages insteadOften they
didn't even come out into the street but beckoned to a
messenger from their doorway
By five o'clock, Lina had carried thirty-nine
messagesMost of them were more or less the same:
"I'm not coming to the meeting tonight, decided to
stay home "I won't be in to work tomorrow "Instead
of meeting me in Cloving Square, why don't you come
to my house?" The citizens of Ember were hunkering
down, burrowing inFewer people stood around talking
in groups under the lights in the squaresInstead,
they would pause briefly to
picasso cartier murmur a few words to
each other and then hasten onward
Lina was on her way home to MrsMurdo's--she
and Poppy had moved in with all their things--when
she heard rapid footstepsStartled, she turned and saw
Doon racing toward her
157
At first he was so out of breath he couldn't speak
"What is it? What is it?" said Lina
"The door," he panted
Lina's heart leapt"You did?"
Doon nodded
"Is it the way out?" Lina whispered fiercelyHe glanced behind himClutching
Lina's arm, he pulled her into a shadowy spot on
the street "It doesn't lead out of Ember," he whispered"It leads to a big room
Lina's face fell"A room? What's in there?"
"EverythingFood, clothes, boxes,
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