WEBVTT

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"13" "Upon hearing his
tale, affairs from long ago

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began to infiltrate
Chen's memory,

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although in a disordered
and cloudy fashion.

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He thanked his old retainer.

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A passing dragonfly
landed on his sleeve.

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'Would you prefer to travel on
foot or by some other means?'

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inquired the motorized
airport staircase,

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bowing almost imperceptibly.

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'Whoever heard of a high
functionary trudging about

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on foot?'

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protested the cadaverous
valet, already beginning

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to fade around the edges.

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Ascending the
scuffed metal steps,

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Chen bid his servant farewell.

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After a journey of many
leagues, the staircase

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arrived at a red river
moving slowly through jungle.

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Two boys swam
against the current,

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their heads dipping
in and out of view.

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From his motorized perch,
Chen noted how their blow guns

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helped them to stay afloat.

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He could see clouds
of butterflies

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suspended above the leafy
canopy on the far shore.

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Up to this point in
his travels, Chen

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had marveled at his
expeditious conveyance, which

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traversed mountains and deserts
alike without any action

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on his part.

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But now he protested in vain
as the infernal contraption

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sped into the river's shallows.

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Chen waved to the
boys midstream,

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calling for assistance.

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Out of earshot, they waved back.

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The staircase pushed on
through the deepening flow.

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As the waters rose around
him, Chen's soaked robes

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grew impossibly heavy, dragging
the former assistant magistrate

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down, down into
the crimson flux.

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The last thing he remembered
was his mouth filling

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with blood, which he sensed,
somehow, wasn't his own."

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