From e9433e938c983790fa7be141145912ea5589c0a5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: david Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2020 09:10:39 -0600 Subject: [PATCH] removing incomplete files --- book-1/10.tex | 4 - book-1/9.tex | 339 ------------------------------------------------ book-1/Main.tex | 1 - 3 files changed, 344 deletions(-) delete mode 100755 book-1/10.tex delete mode 100644 book-1/9.tex diff --git a/book-1/10.tex b/book-1/10.tex deleted file mode 100755 index 8b1252f..0000000 --- a/book-1/10.tex +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4 +0,0 @@ -\chapter{10} - - -test diff --git a/book-1/9.tex b/book-1/9.tex deleted file mode 100644 index fdd9afc..0000000 --- a/book-1/9.tex +++ /dev/null @@ -1,339 +0,0 @@ -\chapter{9} - -The nausea and pain let up for a moment, -but in return Andrew felt like a newborn child. -He visibly collapsed in on himself and had to fight to keep his eyes open. - -``Are you okay?'', -asked Katt. - -``I don't know'', -answered Andrew truthfully. -Even speaking was hard for him now. -The fever that was causing him increasing discomfort was probably the reason for this whole absurd story: He was laying in a hospital bed somewhere, -had a twenty seven degree\footnote{Celsius} fever, -and was hallucinating all of this nonsense. - -``I think they're gone'', -said Katt. - -Andrew couldn't remember if any measurable time had passed since the last time she had spoken, -but it must have been because when he --- with Katt's help --- stood up and looked over the edge of his cover the plaza was completely empty. -The girl gave him another doubtful look, -but didn't say anything else, -instead continuing on at a pace that he could barely keep up with. -After she had taken a couple of steps, -it got remarkably better. -The fresh air felt good and the careful movements brought his circulation back in swing. -In addition whatever he had seemed to come in waves and apparently the time between them seemed to be decreasing. - -``How far do we still have?'', -he asked. - -``Two blocks'', -answered Katt. -She corrected herself. -``Three. -But the gobblers moved in a different direction. -I haven't ever seen them turn around.'' - -``And other than that there aren't any people-eating monsters here?'', -asked Andrew. - -He almost counted on a \textit{yeah} as the answer, -but Katt just gave him a slanting glance and shook her head. -``Nothing that the gobblers have overlooked.'', -she explained. -She didn't say anything for a moment, -then: ``You're from outside, -am I right?'' - -Why should he still lie? In any case Andrew was sure that he wouldn't survive the next hour. -Either some bizarre twelve-armed and three-headed beast that Katt had forgotten to mention would eat him, -or he would collapse after a few steps --- or finally wake up from this insane nightmare. -And he still hesitated to answer. - -``I'm not sure if we're talking about the same \textit{outside}'', -he said. - -Katt looked at him unsettled. -``Is there more than one?'' - -``If you mean the world that \textit{Men in Black} with their flying kitchen mixers are from, -I'll have to disappoint you'', -he replied. -``I haven't ever heard of these types before. -And of their Science-Fiction-Helicopters and Star-Trek-Weapons definitely not.'' - -``Aha'', -said Katt. - -``We don't have any of that'', -insisted Andrew. -``Other than that \dots'' He shrugged and looked back at the sky, -that was still completely black and starless. -A crazy thought crossed his mind: Could it be, -that he had jumped through time from some unknown phenomenon? Had he ended up in a bleak and fear-inducing future or in some kind of terrible parallel universe? He thought about that possibility in earnest for a moment, -but arrived at the conclusion that the combination of accident victim/brain damage/nuthouse was much more realistic. - -``I think so.'', -he said in the end. - -Again Katt looked at him for quite a while in a way that he didn't want to interpret --- even if it seemed to him that she wasn't especially happy about his answer. -``And how is it \dots there?'', -she asked with hesitation. - -``Its kinda like here'', -answered Andrew. -``But completely different.'' - -Katt seemed to be somewhat insulted, -but she didn't say anything but walked a little faster so that he had to use what little strength he had left to keep up with her. - -In some regards Andrew was right. -He needed some time to clear his thoughts, -and Katt would just ask him more questions that he wouldn't or couldn't really answer. -There were enough questions bouncing around his head that he didn't have any answers to. -He was stranded in a place that shouldn't exist, -was followed by men that fired at him for no reason with weapons that have even less reasons to exist and flew in helicopters out of the next century, -and had almost been eaten by monstrosities that looked like they had been created by Roland Emmerich. - -Oh yeah, -and just as an aside: Nick was dead. - -A deep sorrow overcame Andrew as he thought of his friend --- Nick hadn't been anything else. -His friend. -Maybe the only real friend he had ever had. -He felt as if he had betrayed him, -yes, -as if he was at fault for what had happened to Nick, -and in a certain sense it was true. -If he hadn't convinced Nick to let him drive, -then maybe the kidnappers wouldn't have been able to outrun them and hide in the Cessna \dots - -Andrew stopped that thought short. -What-if thoughts wouldn't help him further. -He didn't have any choice other than to keep going and to wait and see what happened. - -While he was walking two steps next to and a step behind Katt, -he stealthily looked at her probably for the first time since they had met with actual attention. -He had to think of the nightmarish face that he believed he had seen in the factory hall. -So far he had automatically assumed that it was Katt, -but now he realized how bitterly unjust that was to her. -He corrected his estimate of her age down by at least one year, -maybe two. -And he noticed something else that so far he hadn't thought was possible, -but also confused him a lot: He suddenly saw how pretty Katt was. -Even hunger and lifelong hardships that emaciated her to the point of almost being a caricature, -her natural elegance and grace hadn't been affected. - -``We're almost there.'' - -Katt raised her hand, -and as Andrew followed her gesture, -he saw that they had passed the burning building a long time ago. -In front of them was another block of ruins and behind that he recognized an unswerving line of darkness that divided the city in two halves. -The river, -that Katt had been talking about? He tried to discern what was on the other side, -but he couldn't work it out. -The ruined city seemed to continue there, -but he couldn't really see anything other than more shadows. -There were no signs of the \textit{day} that it seemed to be on the other side as far as he could see. - -A sharp pain shot through the back of his head. -At the last moment Andrew suppressed a yelp of pain, -breathed in deeply and held on to the mad hope that it was just happenstance and that it would go away soon. -Instead of that it slowly spread out like a spiderweb of white-hot threads, -and after a few seconds his old friends nausea and dizziness added themselves to the mix. -He didn't have much time. - -Katt seemed to feel how he was doing because she quickened her pace, -and Andrew trotted after her until they had reached the line of solid blackness that separated the city of ruins. -By now he was in such a state that he would have stumbled right into the abyss had Katt not held him back at the last moment. - -``What\dots?'', -he mumbled dazedly. -He wasn't sure if his voice was still understandable. -Or if he was speaking at all or if he had just imagined it. - -Katt just considered him with a pitiful glance. -Her voice suddenly took on the tone that you only use with very young children (or very old people) and still weren't sure that they understood. -``Just stay right here and don't move, -okay?'' - -Andrew nodded obediently --- he probably would have also nodded if she had told him the lottery numbers from last week ---, -and Katt made a funnel in front of her mouth with her hands and expelled an especially warbling scream; -it wasn't especially loud, -but it was so piercing that it must have been audible\footnote{\href{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHMjD0Lp5DY}{this book sponsored by Audible\texttrademark, -use code ANDERS or text ANDERS to 500 500 to learn more} \textsuperscript{/s}} throughout the whole city. - -``My sister is waiting on the other side'', -she said. -``She'll let the bridge down, -don't worry.'' - -Andrew wasn't worried. -He also couldn't remember if he had asked a corresponding question, -but just in case he nodded anyway; -Very carefully, -as even that small movement made the headache he had explode. - -Katt raised her hands again and repeated the warbling sound, -then stomped the ground madly and yelled. -``Ratt god damn it! Where are you?'' - -``Ratt?'', -asked Andrew. -Did she have to yell like that? His head would explode if she kept yelling around like that. - -``My sister'', -explained Katt. - -``Katt and Ratt'', -giggled Andrew. -``How peculiar.'' - -``Does something about that bother you?'', -asked Katt sharply. -She glared at him defiantly for a moment and roared for her sister louder than before. - -Andrew distorted his face demonstratively and took a step away from her; -however not a very big one and not without getting within two steps of the \textit{river}. - -It wasn't a river. -Apparently they were speaking the same language that used the same words, -but meant different things. -What lay in front of him had no similarities with a body of water. -It was a good five meter wide canal of weather-beaten gray concrete that went down an indeterminate distance. -Andrew precariously bent over and immediately righted himself. -He had only had a short glimpse into the depths, -but he didn't see anything that reminded him of water. - -``What's down there?'', -he asked. - -Katt shrugged. -``The gobblers don't cross'', -she said. -``Isn't that enough?'' She didn't wait for Andrews answer, -instead regarding him with an almost hostile look and roared as loud as she possibly could for her sister. -This time she used a whole litany of insults and curses that would have made Andrew blush in any other circumstance. - -It worked. -This time it was just a moment before he heard a bright squeaking voice and a long spindly shadow appeared from the silhouette of the city ruins on the other side of the river. -Andrew tried focusing on it with wide eyes for a few seconds, -but he couldn't concentrate on one thing that long. -His thoughts were increasingly revolving around himself. -It was impossible to focus his thoughts on a single thing for more than a moment. -He was more nauseous than he had ever been before in his whole life. - -``We've almost made it'', -said Katt. -``I knew that I could rely on Ratt. -Just one more moment. -Can you keep it up that long?'' - -Of course not. -He nodded. -``Yes.'' - -Katt's facial expression explained very clearly what she thought of that answer. -But she was diplomatic enough to not say anything, -instead concentrating on the delicate shadow hat was slowly lowering over the river with a shrill screeching. -Andrew followed her lead --- at least he tried. - -His thoughts were getting more and more confused. -He was unimaginably nauseous. -He had the worst headache on this side of the Andromeda galaxy and his fever had a good chance to break the Guinness world record; -actually his blood had surpassed the boiling point and must have been steaming out of his ears like an overheated pressure cooker. - -For some reason he thought the whole thing exceptionally strange. - -Squeaking and aching the spider-web-like outline lowered itself more before it impacted their side of the \textit{river} with a long echoing bang and Katt was suddenly very lively. -``Can you keep on going?'', -she asked. - -``Sure'', -answered Andrew and sunk to his knees. -Katt caught him and did the most embarrassing thing to him that had ever happened: She bounced a bit in her knees and threw him over her shoulders with no hesitation. -He could feel her sway under his weight for a moment, -then found her balance again with a quick motion. -She turned around and ran off with almost provocatively light steps. - -Andrew was almost glad that he wasn't currently understanding all that was going on around and especially \textit{to} him. -If what he could recognize of the \textit{bridge} that Katt was prancing over with mischievous ease was real, -then it was definitely a pure nightmare: a breakable structure of \textit{tied (!)} together rungs and struts that was aching under each of her steps, -as if it wanted to collapse at any moment. - -Andrew looked into the deep, -but he regretted that almost immediately. -There was \textit{something} below them, -but he couldn't say what. -Whatever it was, -it scared him to imagine what it was based on what he had seen so far. - -After what seemed like an eternity they arrived at the other bank. -Katt stumbled two more steps on terra firma before she collapsed to her knees with an exhausted groan and let Andrew glide off her shoulders like a wet sack. -He fell, -which hurt less than he expected and rolled two, -three times across the ground before he stopped, -laying on his back. -Underneath him was soft grass and earth, -not hard stone. -Through his closed eyelids he saw bright sunlight. -But Katt had told him that the day wasn't over on that side of the river --- whatever that meant. - -He wanted to open his eyes, -but he was only successful after his third try. -Something really was wrong with him. -Something was incredibly wrong with him. - -It looked like the effort was worth it. -Above him a cloudless and almost obscenely radiant blue midsummer sky stretched out over the facades. -Their slightly shifted to the left lines weren't any different than the ones on the other side. -They were the same burnt-out soot-stained ruins like on the other side. -It seemed that the destroyed city continued on this side of the river as well. - -As if from a great distance he heard Katt's voice, -but it wasn't talking to him; -even though he was too dazed to comprehend any of the words that were being spoken, -he could feel it. -A different, -more bright and somehow hissing sounding voice answered, -then light steps that were hardly audible on the grass approached. - -Katt appeared above him. -She looked sweaty and so exhausted as if she had just done such extreme bodily exertion that hadn't just pushed her to her limit of what she was capable of, -but possibly a little over it. -And the concern in her gaze had grown so much that Andrew, -in spite of his dazed state, -asked himself if it weren't advisable for him to seriously worry as well. - -``This is Ratt, -my sister.'' She made a hand movement towards a shadow that was just outside of Andrew's field of view, -making him use quite a bit of what energy he had left to turn his head and blink up at the figure that was approaching him from the other side. -Katt's sister seemed to be somewhat smaller than her, -and he had the crazy feeling that she had a type of shaggy fur coat, -even though the sun on this side of the river was burning down so hot that it was almost uncomfortable. -He couldn't really identify Ratt as the sun was directly above her, -so that the glaring light actually drove tears into his eyes. - -``This is Andrew, -who I was talking to you about'', -Katt continued, -obviously turned toward her sister. - -Ratt came closer and bent over curiously. -Andrew still couldn't really identify her, -but something wasn't right about her head either. -In spite of the head she seemed to be wearing not just a fur coat, -but also a fur hat. - -``He says he's from outside'', -Katt continued. -``I don't know if that's true, -but he has the sickness\footnote{he got down with it}.'' - -Ratt bent down even further, -and Andrew, -who had just wanted to start to be frightened about Katt's last remark thought better of it and fainted. diff --git a/book-1/Main.tex b/book-1/Main.tex index e93cf94..4b183b9 100644 --- a/book-1/Main.tex +++ b/book-1/Main.tex @@ -90,7 +90,6 @@ I'll need to go over it multiple times later anyway.} \input{7} \input{8} \input{9} -\input{10} %=========================================================================================================================================== \end{document}