Reunification Read Online Free Page B

street, I saw one that I
recognized with no trouble at all:
    It was my sister, Kiriah, wearing a long
brown cloak that did not look Xeeonite in origin, and she was
standing there with everyone else, watching the floats and bands
that paraded down the street in celebration of something I did not
know.
    ***
     

Chapter
Two
     
    I looked at the waitress, urgency
rising within me like lava within a volcano. I pointed at the
telescreen. “Miss waitress, where is that parade taking place?”
    The waitress glanced at the telescreen
above and then looked back at me. “Ya mean the Annual Unification
Day Parade? It's in downtown Xeeon.”
    “ What's the quickest way
to that parade from this restaurant?” I asked, already prepared to
run.
    “ Just go down the main
street, take a right when you get to the Police Center, and keep
going down that alleyway,” said the waitress. “Should take ya there
no problem, though I doubt ya'll get a good spot. Why?”
    “ Many thanks, miss
waitress,” I said as I turned and headed for the doors. “Perhaps I
will return someday to give ye a tip for helping me so, assuming I
do indeed find the person there I am searching for. Farewell, and
may the Old Gods be with ye!”
    The doors opened just as I approached
them, but that no longer startled me so. Indeed, I was pleased as a
pygmy when I crossed the threshold and headed down the main street,
just as the waitress had suggested, praying to the Old Gods that I
would get to the parade in time to see my sister again for the
first time in six years.
    -
    Run! I told myself as I fought through the
crowds of Xeeonians traveling along the crowded streets. Run! Do
not let your sister get away! Do not hesitate, nor tremble, nor
allow doubt or fear to fill your muscles with lead or freeze your
bones to the marrow.
    How thankful was I for the waitress's
simple directions! Down the main street I ran, heading for the
Police Center, which was distinctive among Xeeon's many buildings,
for it was shaped something like a castle, with turrets and towers
rising up out of the corners. 'Twas even easier to spot, for those
bothersome robots flew from and onto its turrets, perhaps reporting
in or coming to charge their energy from a long day's work.
    Though it mattered not to me what they
were or were not doing. Once I spotted the building, I turned right
down an alley, dashing past a couple of youngsters who looked at me
as I ran, like they had never seen a real live Delanian before. My
dress was unusual, but I was in such a hurry that I did not dwell
on their possible opinion of me.
    The alleyway I ran down was narrow and
dingy, a stark contrast to the clean street I just left. Ahead, I
could hear the sounds of strange music bellowing, that horrid
electronic mess that sounded to me less like music and more like
broken wires hissing through the air. Under normal circumstances, I
would have been running the other way in order to escape this
terrible music, but knowing that my dearest sister was there,
watching the parade, I kept going.
    Just as I reached the middle of the alley,
something jumped down from the roofs nearby and landed in mine
path. I skidded to a halt, almost tripping over a discarded beer
bottle on the street, and righted myself as I looked upon the
newcomer, who stood up to his full height.
    No; not 'his,' but 'its.' The figure
standing before me was a machine; not one of those J series robots,
but a completely different kind of robot I could not identify.
'Twas humanoid, but whereas the J bots had at least a semblance of
a human face, this thing had no facial features at all. Its face
was as blank as a canvas, which made it resemble Falnoth the Old
God, which was so uncanny that it made me shiver in my clothes.
    Yet that would not have deterred me from
going around it, if only the robot had not drawn a long, silvery
sword—with blinking lights running along its flat—from its waist.
It drew the sword with the same expertise as the Knights of