Conformity/2



Dana took Kari's hand and got to her feet, none too steadily. She quickly realized that the force of gravity was too low, but she estimated that it was closer to Earth normal than to the one sixth gee of the Moon. Kari turned and stepped off of the platform, gracefully falling four feet to the floor, her long dark hair sailing behind like a tail.

Dozens of thoughts continued to rise in Dana's mind, including thoughts of alien abduction and desire for clothing. Dana was vaguely comforted that Kari was also naked and seemed quite in control, without being at all threatening. Kari turned and looked up towards Dana. Obviously impatient, Kari gave a brief wave of her hand and spoke more of a language that Dana did not recognize. Dana shuffled her feet over the metal surface of the platform and descended the set of steps, keeping one of her hands on the hand rail.

Kari turned and led the way across the room past jumbles of fascinating machinery, pipes and bundles of colored wires. Several times she had the sensation of someone moving off in the distance, but her quick glances revealed no others besides Kari. They passed through the doorway into an ugly, utilitarian hallway. Although the air was warm, the floor felt distinctly cool against Dana's feet, as did her wet hair against her back. Kari began to move even faster along the open length of the hallway and Dana had to concentrate on establishing a productive gait in the low gravity.

The hallway ended at a monorail where Keri stepped down into a waiting car and sat on a bench along the far side of the car. Dana looked up and down the rail but was disoriented by the strange pattern of lights stretching of in both directions down the tunnel. Dana sat down opposite from Kari and began to notice the transparent dome of the car's windshield. The car accelerated rapidly down the track and the bench seemed to grow tentacles that clung to her torso and held her in place.

Dana saw that Keri was relaxing back into the cushion of the bench as it grew extensions to support her back. Dana tried to do the same, but she quickly grew alarmed at the dizzying rate of the car's movement through the tunnel. The car's acceleration stopped and then reversed. Dana shifted around to face the direction they had come and found that view less inducing of vertigo.

Suddenly the tunnel ended and the car popped out into the open. At first Dana was captivated by the dark, star-filled sky then she became aware of being in the midst of a strange city that seemed to glow with a hundred subtle fluorescent shades. Dana could not put the glowing city into perspective until the car stopped and she stepped out onto a grass-covered slope next to Kari's house. Dana now realized that they were in more of a village than a city and as her mental model adapted she realized that they were in a cavern, not on the surface of a world.