[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
quality of the cubes he wants to review.
Still. . . what choice is there?
His decision made, he pulls the index cube and places it in the console. He
can use the screen for the first part, at least.
About half the cubes are listed as technically deficient. Four have been
deleted from the records, and only a faint hesitation marks their former
existence. Since the index is merely a record, he wonders why all reference to
those four was removed.
From the entire cube, only six seem interesting from the three-line
descriptions. Martel notes the key numbers in the console memory and returns
the index to storage. You work too hard. It won't do a bit of good. Hollie
Devero stands inside the portal, wearing a mint-green one-piece coverall. She
is too thin to carry off an outfit that severe, and the brightness of her
eyes, reflecting all too obviously her cernadine habit, accentuates her
angularity and the plainness of the coverall.
Just trying to get a handle on what I'm supposed to be doing.
You're not due in until the late swing, and it's barely twelve hundred.
Martel flicks off the screen. This is the first time Hollie has seemed
friendly, and making an approach of sorts, yet. He swivels in the chair to
face her, gestures to the vacant seat across from him. Thank you. Wonder
what she is thinking.
He touches the edge of her thoughts, recoils at the turmoil. Is that the
cernadine?
Why do you take so much cernadine? he blurts out, off his guard from the
mental confusion he has touched.
If you're going. . . Flame! Try to be civil, Martel! Flame you anyway!
She has not seated herself. Rather, she draws back and puts both hands on the
top of the chair. She leans forward. Martel smells the sour spice of the drug
on her breath. He tilts back, trying not to seem too obvious. Sorry. I'm not
diplomatic. I don't know what came over me.
You're right. You're not diplomatic. Flame! Everyone else knows. Why should
you be any different? I take too much. Didn't use to. But that's my problem.
It's not why I came in to see you, anyway.
She comes around the chair and plops herself into it, right across from him,
oblivious to the strand of hair dangling in front of her right eye.
Malta's afraid of you. I'm not sure why, but you're the only one she's ever
been scared of. That's in the ten years since we've been stuck here. Why?
Scared of me? Why? Martel shrugs, trying to think of an answer. Is she? I
thought she was very professional. Hollie leans forward. Believe me. She's
scared of you. So am I, sort of. Except I don't matter.
. . . don't matter to anyone. . . Gates? Martel cannot ignore the stray
thought fragment. He decides to change the subject. You've been here ten
years. Isn't that a little unusual?
Not necessarily. Terms range up to forty-fifty years. Some people like it
here. But not me. . . not here. . . flamed cernadine ...
I didn't realize there were that many long-termers, particularly with such
generous contracts. How did you get here, if I could ask. . . He would ask!
Busybody. Hollie crosses her amis, sits up squarely. That's no secret. Gates
supported the Popular Front on Nalia. Did so publicly, and the Regency felt
embarrassed and suggested to MatNews that Gates shouldn't be welcome. The
Matriarchy agreed. So. . . I came with him . . . to this exotic stinkhole.
The picture is clearer. Gates had somehow gotten tangled with
Regency/Matriarchy politics, and Hollie had followed him. Now Hollie is hooked
on cernadine, expensive as it is. That means that despite the lucrative
possibilities for a first-class faxer on Aurore they'd never be able to leave.
Not unless Hollie could kick her habit. Few do, because the addiction feeds on
a poor self-image, not only physically but psychologically as well. In a word,
cernadine makes the world seem more interesting and imparts an artificial
sense of self-esteem to the user.
Page 32
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
A clink from down the hallway signals the opening of a studio portal. You
both from Nalia?
No. Herdian.
But how did you get involved with Nalia?
MatNews covers the entire Matriarchy and reports on outsystem news.
'Covers' is a good word, interjects Gates from the entryway. Like a nice
warm blanket.
I'm confused. What did your coverage on Herdian have to do with Nalia?
Call it a matter of politics, says Gates dryly. Politics? Martel asks
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]