We have come to a Dead City. No lamps are lighted in the dark street
passages and all the cubicles are empty. We have found many other
passages going out of the City, and we must now decide which is the best
to try. I do not think this will be difficult. One of the passages seems
newer than any of the others, much newer and larger than Black Passage
through which we have walked for so long. There are lamps in this
passage, and even though they are not lighted, they would not have been
put there unless the passage went to some other City. Although this
other city may be dead also, hope is now a little greater. Doctor Dorn
calls this passage Hope Passage. Another thing that adds to hope is the
way the passage goes down so steeply.
Hope Passage was found many hours ago, sleep time has now come, and yet
a decision has not been made. Much of this is because of Nina. Although
she has spoken very little, the things she has said have made Doctor
Dorn behave very strangely.
When he asked each of us if we thought Hope Passage would be the best
one to follow, everyone but Nina said yes right away. Even Bruno nodded.
But when he asked Nina, she did not answer so quickly. Then she said if
we all thought Hope Passage was the best, it was probably so.
But Doctor Dorn was not satisfied. Did she not think so herself, he
asked. Was there something about Hope Passage she did not like? Was
there some other passage she thought might be better?
I could feel Nina's fingers tighten on my arm the way they did whenever
she became very frightened or worried or disturbed. It was not something
her mind thought, she said. It was just a feeling she had which she
couldn't understand or explain.
Doctor Dorn's voice became very gentle. He said Nina shouldn't try to
understand or explain her feeling. But would she try to describe what it
was like, even a little.
Nina looked at me very troubled and I put my arm around her shoulders,
and said she didn't have to answer if she didn't want to. But then she
took a little breath and said in a very low voice that as far back as
she could remember, even when she was a tiny girl, she always had a good
feeling when she was going up and a bad feeling when she was going down.
It was a strange way to be, she knew, and she had never told anyone
before. But that was why she did not like Hope Passage, which went down
so fast. The passage she had liked best was the one near the old statue.
The way it went up gave her a good feeling.
Doctor Dorn asked didn't she know the passage by the statue was the
oldest one we had found, and therefore it should have the smallest
chance of going to a live city.
Nina said she knew, and her mind understood everything Doctor Dorn said.
But the things her mind knew and understood were not able to change the
way she felt. She said she was sorry she had made us all lose so much
time. She would not talk about it any more.
Doctor Dorn asked Nina would she please answer just one more question.
Did she have this good feeling while we were walking up the little climb
near the end of Black Passage.
Nina nodded her head yes, and Doctor Dorn said it was very interesting.
Then in a different voice, he said that Hope Passage was our best chance
of finding life, and after this sleep we would continue our walk there.
* * * * *