Gwendy's Final Task (Gwendy's Button Box Trilogy)

by Stephen King

First hit ’em with the sledgehammer, Patsy used to say, then offer them the painkillers.

Then she goes back to bed. She falls asleep with two hopes: no more dreams of the monster that calls itself Bobby, and that when she wakes up, her mind will wake up with her.

Sixty inhales and exhales first. Prebreathing, remember?”

“Set your suit temp to maximum hot, then adjust it down.”

Her meaning is clear, put it inside, but all at once Gwendy doesn’t want to.

Bobby whispers in her head. Don’t do this. The Tower must not stand. Rule Discordia!

“There’s no guidance system. No joystick. Once you start you just go, and you can’t come back. You can’t come back, Gwendy. Do you understand?”

When she peers over her shoulder (not easy in the suit, but possible), Earth looks exactly the same—big, blue, and beautiful—but the MF station is lost to view.

You will die in a pretty nightgown with blue flowers on the hem, Farris had told her. There will be sun shining in your window and before you pass you will look out and see a squadron of birds flying south. A final image of the world’s beauty. There will be a little pain. Not much.

Mr. Farris come forward.

He’s holding his hat in his hand. “Gwendy,” he says, and touches her cheek. “Well done, Gwendy. Very well done.”

Gwendy found out and put a stop to it before it was too late. She sacrificed her life so that others—millions of others—could live. I suppose that sounds awfully dramatic, but I swear to you it’s true.”

when faced with the choice of doing the right thing or nothing at all, you do what’s right.

Alan Peterson pulls out the small white feather from the pocket of his robe.

But Robin Furth, who aided Steve on the last three volumes of the Dark Tower books, deserves special mention.