78. Doing The Right Thing

        Like a javelin rod, the pain shot through Zara’s head with piercing force. She tried to open her eyes but the lids felt stuck… She squeezed them tight and tried again, but the sharp pinch triggered a painful tear… She tried to reach for her eye to wipe the tear but she couldn't feel her hand… Slowly the tears loosened her eyelids and a crack of red stained light poured in, the dirt in her mouth confirmed her face was embedded in the ground… Somewhere… Dirty... For a moment she forgot what had happened... Or where she was... 

         Gradually Zara managed to pull her eye lids open a little. She stared at the blurry light play against the white wall for a few moments and closed her eyes again, mission accomplished, exhausted now. Her head was throbbing so hard...

         Moments passed before she tried to think again… Her mind kept freezing when she tried... Why was she on the floor?             Did something happen?             She couldn't remember where she was... 

         She opened her eyes again, this time the sounds of the construction site drifted into consciousness, growing louder and louder as she came around. She blinked again, both eyelids were unstuck now. Slowly objects began to appear… Round… Round rolls... Rolled prints lay scattered on the ground...

         Suddenly she remembered where she was, and what had happened. Terrified, she yanked her arm free from the rubble and wiped her eyes. Panicking, she reached for her head... It felt wet...  She looked at her hand, it was covered in blood... She tried to get up but found herself buried beneath a pile of books and book case… In spite of the burden her limbs seemed intact… She pushed herself up and wiggled out through the rubble but as she stood up, the blood began dripping down from her head, streaming across her eyes, blurring her vision once again. She wiped her face with her dirty sleeve, picked up her wig and stumbled towards the door.

         The sun was unusually bright, sounds that were close seemed really far away... The train was still at the stop... There was an empty seat at the very back of the train; a blessing from Medel, Medel had seen it all. The world around her felt like a surreal hallucination…     Was she sleepwalking?         Had she died an Honorable Death and gone to the Promised Land?

         Zara closed her eyes as the train lurched forward, grateful for the seat, needing to sit down in a big way... She held her hand over her head as the train trundled back down the hill towards Headquarters, pressing hard at the same time, trying to stop the bleeding. She felt like she had fallen through some strange dimension, she was somehow invisible to the strangers on the train, her body felt light and airy as if she was floating through a really twisted dream... like a ghost. Was she dead?

         She looked at her bloody hand and rubbed the blood between her fingers; it was real... Real as in she would need medical treatment if it didn't stop bleeding soon... Panicked, she searched for the sundial... The sundial suggested she was scheduled to return to the office... Ages ago! Mental paralysis struck hard and without any warning. Without proper authorization to take the time such an excursion would definitely cost her a lashing, if she wasn't already going to get one for being so late... What happened?

         She reached for her head and studied her bloody hand once again; it was still bleeding... Bad.

        

         As the train lurched to a stop outside Headquarters, she figured out the Right Thing To Do. Get Authorized. Confused, scared and unsure of how to word her excuse for being late, she got off the train and headed across the courtyard past the statue of Atalon, reminding herself to be strong. She hurried up the steps through the Headquarters building back to the Infrastructure office to get Authorized for some medical treatment.

77. The Right Thing To Do

        Clutching an arm full of drawings, revisions no less, Zara hurried out onto Main St, hopped on the train and rode up the hill toward the pyramid construction site. The fall breeze made the dust extreme, the final push to finish the pyramids was apparent from the extra noise, it was all hands on deck both above and below ground. 

        She hurried into the bustling site, always hurried so as to catch the train on its reverse trip. She knocked on the site office door and pressed her ear to the door, listening through the din... Nothing.

         She knocked again, harder. Again she pressed her ear tightly to the door, her free hand covering her other ear, trying so hard to shut out the din... Still no answer.

         She looked around, unsure of what to do, it was like this almost every time she had to deliver the plans, it was so stressful. Just looking at all the activity made her panic, Foremen seemed to appear out of nowhere, she had no time to wait and there was nowhere else to leave them. There were no Foremen in sight, but she dared not venture into the office...
         She knocked again. Again, there was no answer. She scanned the yard again... She had no choice but to go in, she was OBLIGED to deliver the plans, as quickly as possible so as to catch the return trip. It was a god's order, after all… Doing the right thing was the right thing to do, wasn't it?
         She took a deep breath and opened the door, bracing... To her relief, the Foreman's office was empty. Panicking, she hurried across the room and slid the plans into the inboxes, one by one. 

        But unbeknownst to Zara, Ra-Ku had spotted her entering the office from outside. He exploded into the office shortly behind her, enraged. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

         Zara froze. "I... I'm so sorry... My name is Zara, I’m from Infrastructure." She felt herself backing into the wall, fidgeting nervously, catching her slipping wig as it caught on the edge of the bookcase. "There was no answer when I knocked!"

         "ARE YOU STUPID OR JUST STUPID?" His rage was terrifying, he slammed his fist so hard on the file cabinet, it knocked over the jar of chalks onto the floor. "I said WAIT OUTSIDE!"

         Zara felt the fear grip her throat as he inched closer, his fists clenched knuckle white, his face expanding like a sweaty red balloon, the veins in his neck popping out of his skin, bulging in violent rage.

         "HOW MANY GOD DAMNED TIMES DO YOU NEED TO BE TOLD?"

         His breath stunk in her face, she just wanted it to be over. "I… I brought you some revised plans" she bravely reasoned, trying to sound cool.

         But Ra-Ku snapped. Fist clenched tight he lunged at her face, sending her backwards into the filing cabinets, toppling the bookcases over, knocking her out before the shower of heavy books, tablets and rolled up plans crashed down upon her head.