concrete room, her great
and caring heart that had been so maimed, and always wanting her,
wanting to disband, destroy the test, because she was so beautiful and
incapable of anything but truth. Wanting her, and loving her more and
more. And when she went into the woods his spirit followed her, and
the poetry she wrote, which spoke of suffering, the suffering of
others, he felt because of her. And he loved her still more and she
was everything that he had never found after an eternity. And after
an eternity she returned from those woods, made magic by her presence,
whose green leaves lifted for her in the wind and turned their light
undersides like Spring, the dark green returning like deepest summer as
she came back to them. The Villa. And those who questioned her he
wanted to kill but mostly only wanted her and needed to be with her.
Wanting her, and the time of their joining drew near and he knew she
would make love to her, Sonya, and he prayed in his sleep that the
dream would not fade.

And at the last she came to him. In the beautiful dying light of the
day, she lifted away her garment and stood shimmering by the open door
of the balcony, as the wind kissed her hair and rustled the leaves in
the high branches and she trembled slightly. And he was a woman once
more, in love and then a man, and they kissed as their breasts touched
through long hair and they stood in glorious nakedness and nothing held
back. And he led her to the bed and laid her down and made the
sweetest, purest love, giving her everything so gently as she quietly
groaned and still the pain was in her face but now a different kind of
pain, and he loved her as he had never loved and would never love
again, touch-kissing her breasts and pouring out his soul. And as the
love consumed and soon would be incarnate he closed his eyes. He was
Sonya, and his lover lifted something that gleamed a little and seemed
so unnatural, and stabbed her throat.

And Sonya Semenov was dead, killed by a Russian assassin, in the year
1989.

*

Salnikov woke in a cold sweat, as his memory raced to put back the
pieces of history and dream. KGB. He shuddered, because he knew it
was true.

........................................................................
............................

ACT THREE

Andromeda, Balthazar, Cerberus, Gorky and Larkspur Sectors
Months VI through XII
International Year: 2211

SAHARA OF SNOW

I

On Jun