” she said, weakly. “I’m not sure I want to continue.” Just the thought of his white stuff was making her stomach queasy. “Ariana, both us...have to do this, or we both lose the bet right?” Adriana demanded sternly. Ariana nodded glumly in agreement. “Then you are definitely going through with this today, and we ARE going to win tomorrow, got it?!?” Ariana nodded again. “I am not losing my virginity because you lamed out on me! Now take your turn and do it right! Suck the whole thing,. But what good would it do — death was there, waiting. He ran the tutorials on blood transfusions. He had been taught the procedures at the academy, but he wanted to refresh his memory. Grimly, he set about the task, set the timer for his next dose of anti-rad. Death would have to take him, kicking and screaming, clawing for life the way he had fought for his dreams.Days dragged on, faithfully recorded by the elapsed-time clock. He tired of watching vids and playing games with the computer. He. I’ve never driven a tractor but my old car is a stick shift.“How did you get named Agnes?”She gave a little grimace. “It is different, isn’t it?” I nodded. “I’m named for my paternal grandmother. She died before I could really remember anything about her though my parents say she was proud to have me named after her. I have two younger brothers who have more normal names. From everything I’ve been told, she was a real ball of fire and her hair was the same color as mine. I’ve learned to live. The European explorers of the coast in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries met no one. They saw no signs they could recognize. So there was no one here. The land was uninhabited. A hundred and more years later, settlers came from the east. They encountered Aborigines, but ignored them, occasionally employing one or using one for sex or killing one. Sometimes one of the settlers was killed. I doubt whether the ‘spearings’ were of Aborigines by Aborigines.”“No. Interesting that that report.