The moon completed its cycle and began a new one. Deeper into the city, there was quite a lot of foot traffic as well as sky traffic. Strange bipeds, looking something like Beings, walked the streets on enigmatic errands of their own. They sometimes looked at the pair and Beast as they passed, but they never spoke and continued upon their way. At first, Raaij or Shaih thought they were the Gods and tried to engage them. When they tried to speak with them, they just stared and then stepped around them and continued on their way. There were other things with many different shapes that silently rolled or hovered just above the pavement as well. Like the bipeds, their skin was hard and shiny; not soft like flesh. Water was not a problem. There seemed to be fountains and water basins all over the city. Food was the problem. Beast's grain supply was gone and a day later, despite carefully rationing since entering the city, the last of the couple's food was eaten. They pleaded for something to eat from the bipeds they met, but were met with the same silent response. The pair felt as if they had become invisible to the city's inhabitants. Starving only contributed to that feeling. For several days, they pressed on. Both Raaij and Shaih had become gaunt and much weaker. Hunger consumed their thoughts almost more than it did of the Gods. Without food, Beast became too weak to pull the cart. Raaij had Shaih stop and he unhitched Beast from the cart. The pair abandoned the cart and headed on down the street. Beast weakly plodded after them. "What are we going to do about Beast?" Shaih asked. "He's suffering, Raaij.' "And aren't we as well?" he muttered. Raaij stared back at Beast. Then he grabbed up his ax and strode over to the creature. With a quick blow, he struck Beast, killing him instantly. Beast didn't even make a sound as his body slumped to the pavement. Raaij walked back to Shaih. She had a deep affection for Beast and was shaken by the suddenness of his actions. "Get out your knives. We've a lot of butchering to do." Shaih did not think she had ever heard such hardness in his voice ever. Raaij and Shaih consumed a large portion of Beast's raw meat. They spent the next few days turning his flesh into jerky. Returning to their cart, the pair pushed and dragged it back to the drying meat. The effort totally exhausted them. The next morning, they placed as much of the dried jerky as they could into the barrels and boxes on the cart. They each carried what they could and resumed their trek into the city. "We'll have to use the cart as a camp and go as far as we can until we run out of food; then return to get more and set out in a different direction. When we've covered the entire area around the cart, we'll have to move the cart to a place where we haven't been." Periodically, the silvery spheres would return, to buzz around them crazily then head back toward the south. Since they always returned in that direction, Raaij and Shaih always moved their cart in the same general direction. "Somebody's definitely checking on us," Raaij told his mate. "I'm certain that there must be some Gods who have remained behind." They did come to realize that the buildings did have doors--some of them, anyway. A biped or one of the stranger looking things would walk up to a wall and an opening would appear. After the thing had passed inside, the wall returned. When Raaij or Shaih tried to follow after it, the opening never appeared. It was very frustrating to them. "How are we ever going to find a God if it is inside and we can't get in?" demanded Shaih. Raaij shrugged. "Don't know. We'll just have to keep trying and hope." About a quarter of a moon's cycle later, a biped, with a vaguely feminine appearance, strode purposefully up to them. "Come with me!" it curtly demanded, then pivoted about and began walking back the way it had just come. TO BE CONTINUTED: __________________