sickness and I was just fifteen. I feel the same way you feel, Luke. I don't like it, but that's the way I am. No man has ever touched me and it doesn't
look as if one of you ever will, not the way I feel. So your virtue would be safe with me.» Luke was unable to speak. He turned away. It wasn't the act he was
afraid of. It was the continuous smutty talk of these people. Alone with one of them in a city? He'd die if she said something similar to what she'd been saying where people could hear. «And I also know that you don't talk about things like that,» Caster said. He looked at her quickly. Maybe she could read his thoughts. «I pray every night,» she said simply. «Huh?» «I shouldn't. My prayers have never been answered. I've never had a sign from heaven like you, but I pray. I pray because I think there has to be something. Something better than this.» He was silent. He thought about the big Fare who had come to his defense, who had fought the Techs to allow him to preach without heckling. He thought about the way the big man was breathing, all jerky and gaspy, how the blood and ooze covered his lower body. He thought about how he felt, seeing the sign from God. And Caster prayed. She