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       Yes: the Doctor had warned me: "Earth would be hostile ground for us very soon:" but
I couldn't leave forever without saying goodbye. And I felt that hostility a long time ago.
From looks and muted conversations:       from evasive non-touches      and non-involuntary
mishearings - and I've gotten used to it.       And until the last moment: I believed: that
humanity and common sense would eventually win.
       But no: as often in the history of the mankind: stupidity and greed won.
       I even looked at Mastern as a paranoid conspirator: when she told me:       "They're
definitely going to attack us: Andrea: and take the Embers.      And we won't be able to do
anything about it - if we don't prepare."
       The long-haul taxi pilot paid me no attention: and dropped me off  without a word at
our green station in the middle of the last large rainforest on the planet.
       "Tomorrow about this time:"   I shouted to him through the crack of the closing door
and took a deep breath  .. and as always near the dense natural greenery: I felt the desire
to take off my clothes and disappear among the wet leaves. The last time I visited Lyra: it
happened to me in one of Alia's greenhouses:    "it's actually a compliment:"  she laughed:
"just like dancing at a party with a boy: who has an erection."
       I kissed my Academy colleagues: we exchanged sweet presents: kind pleasantries: some
concerns and dozens of gossips: and I left a little tipsy for the guest room.
       But I didn't plan to sleep.
       I turned off the light:  got into bed:   and waited patiently for about three hours:
until the bungalow was completely quiet.   Then I slipped out of my clothes: rubbed my body
with aromatic oil:    and climbed through the window:   directly into the fabulous tropical
darkness.
       After a few careful minutes: just like last time:  I reconnected to the ancient net-
work of rustles: smells and shadows   - my back bent:  my hands touched the ground by them-
selves - and the ardent voices of frogs led me towards the waterfall.
       How better to spend the last night on earth:   than among water lilies   and newborn
mist?
       The mother Amazon received her daughter   - dewed with the fingers of ferns and sung
by the whisper of cicadas   - with a warm embrace   - as the green anaconda on the opposite
bank: and mediated a brief meeting of their glances: in which they exchanged:   in addition
to surprised astonishment: something like admiration and mutual respect - and both returned
to their worlds a little different.