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February passed and the first two weeks of March. On the plains, preparations for
resuming the War had begun and the officers began returning west. The University,
however, remained open for another month so that those who were not on the front lines
could stay on and, more importantly, so that the females could be scrutinized for any sign
of distress caused by exposure to the men. On March 28th, Angel received a note from Mike. 'Good-bye, I'm sorry' was all it said. Two days later an announcement of the deaths of both Peter Bodley and Mike Blessing in combat was posted in the place that such announcements were made in the Administration Building. This news finally broke the icy climate that had existed between Elizabeth and Angel. Angel broke down and cried in Elizabeth's room and told her everything of her visit to Mike's home. That Elizabeth did not appear surprised by what she said did not surprise Angel in the least. She had deduced from Elizabeth's silence that she must know more. Thus, eventually, she said directly, 'Who told you about the War, Lizzie? Was it your father? Why didn't you tell me?' Elizabeth tried to appear nonchalant but she was still feeling very disgusted with her father and anxious about the situation at Granite Gorge. 'It isn't something you go around telling people. I'm not supposed to know. We're not supposed to be discussing it now. They'd probably put both of us in hospital and my father would go to prison.' 'What hospital do you mean, Lizzie?' 'Some people go to the hospital because they are ill and others because they know too much or say the wrong things.' 'I don't believe you.' 'Ask your father then.' 'I'd rather not.' Angel looked uncomfortable. 'Who are these strange people who fight in the War, Lizzie? The one's who... what did Mike call them?' 'The Country Folk?' 'That's right. Where do they come from?' 'They're all around us. All around the Golden Lands. At least they were. At one time, my father said, there were nearly a billion people in the Republic alone and over a hundred billion in the world. They were called the Gigamass. Now there aren't many of them left at all.' 'But have you seen any of them. Have you spoken to them?' 'Oh, yes. In father's mine at Granite Gorge...,' Elizabeth stopped. She stared long and hard at Angel as her face went bright red. 'Your father has a mine, Lizzie? What sort of mine is that?' After that, Elizabeth became a mine herself, to be plundered continually until the full truth was told. When classes ended at last and she prepared to return to Granite Gorge with her father she was a nervous wreck. She dared not look him in the eye and she had no idea how she was going to pluck up the courage to ask him if Angel could come and stay with them at Granite Gorge. |
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