Fred couldn't help wondering for a moment whether Astra had abandoned
him. Once the audience had sorted themselves out, it seemed likely that
they would want to take out on him their anger at having been deprived
of "entertainment" from Astra.
But no, she wouldn't have saved herself at his expense. He knew that she was better than that. She must have thought that he had a good chance of escaping as well, before the confusion died down. But how? Presumably by the same route that Astra had used herself. How had she vanished so quickly, for she could only have had a few seconds before he had looked back at the stage? There didn't seem to be anywhere on the stage where a statuesque, six foot tall woman could hide herself. And if she had gone into the wings then their two seconds would surely have seen her. Nor could she have sunk through the floor. The primitive stage didn't have a trapdoor, and even if it had Astra wouldn't have had enough time to open it. That left only one possibility. Even as he started to look up, the end of a rope swung across in front of his face. As he grabbed it, knowing that it must be Astra's doing, he looked up. She was standing some nine feet above the ground, balancing on the rail that was used to slide the curtain across the front of the stage between acts. After kicking him into the audience, she must have leapt up and grabbed the rail, and then hauled herself onto it. The rope which she had managed to get hold of and had thrown across to him was normally used for opening and closing the curtain. He shinned up the rope before anyone could intervene, and joined her on the rail.
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8/11/2008 12:23:05 PM
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