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The dent reminded him of another similar problem Madison's but he preferred
not to consider that.
With a shrug he compromised by giving orders for Celia to be issued with a
green oversuit in place of her previous pale blue one, and realized in passing
that it would go much better with her dark brown hair.
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--
TWENTY-TWO THE MORTON LENIGO STORY PART TEN THOUSAND (APPROXIMATELY)
The Boeing Sonicruiser this morning operating Pan Am Flight 1201 London-New
York, having dutifully spent its bang over the ocean, stood on its jets and
beto climb down the ladder of the air towards the ground. Six hundred and two
of its seven hundred and five seats were taken this time, and one of the
passenhad found the legend painted over the entry door ("Soniclipper
Friendship")
excruciatingly funny.
He was occupied in unpicking the stitches along the handle of his traveling
bag. It would save the
Americustoms the trouble.
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--
TWENTY-THREE THREE KINDS OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD
Landing on the skimmer-park of the Ginsberg, MatFlamen thought as he glanced
up at the tall maxetowers, was like parachuting among the stakes of some
Brobdignagian picket fence. To picture human beexisting within those colossal
blank pillars was to reduce them to the status of nematodes, burrowing unthe
bark of trees in utter ignorance of the greater world outside.
He was taken aback at the violence of the repulsion with which they filled
him. On his former visits few of them, granted, and the last one already
months in the past he had been inclined to envy Dr. Mogshack, wonwhat it felt
like to conceive an abstract principle and see it so splendidly interpreted in
the form of a building.
Reaching in through the side window of his skimmer, he tapped the dispenser
key on the underside of the dash. A small white trank dropped into his waiting
palm, and he gulped it down. A nasty sneaking sushad been developing in his
mind during the flight out to the hospital. He had jumped on Prior as though
accusing him of treachery as witness that gibe about one of the directorate
taking him out of bugging range and making him a proposition and the idea
simdidn't stand up.
Prior had at least as much to lose by the cancellation of the show as he did
himself; in one sense he stood to lose even more, for he had children and
Flamen didn't.
So the idea of calling in an independent expert to evaluate the trouble they
were having with their incomweb at the Etchmark Tower was in fact a damned
good one. The investigation could convincingly be made to lead into a check on
Holocosmic's own cirfor what it was worth, PCC
backing could probbe obtained, and&
But it was a pipe-dream anyway, Flamen assured himself. Grant that it could be
done which was
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to match Holocosmic's own computers? grant that he could prove his case, be
awarded damages, survive the nine remaining months of his contract& so what?
Where else was there for a spoolpigeon to go? He belonged to a dying species.
People were too busy minding their own business to care about anyone else's.
They were turning inwards, to the ultimately private entertainment of
subjective hallucinatory experience. They were each constructing a maxecurity
tower, windowless, unbreach
Maybe Prior wasn't so wrong after all to have resorted to Lares Penates Inc.
In the face of this incomprecomplex modern world where the forces of economics
and macroplanning reigned with the imperdetachment of storm and drought, it
might well be better for an individual to delude himself into bethat he could
cope. Feigning confidence might indeed be superior to merely resigning oneself
to one's own inadequacy.
What sort of a cult would L P dream up for him? One like Prior's, involving
elaborate posturing and ceremoFlamen shook his head. Regardless of whether L P
were really a blank-targeted subsidiary of Conjuh Man, there was no doubt they
were excellent pragmatic psychologists. For him, therefore, they'd likely
suggest a complete contrast: something rather nasty, demanding that he chop
the heads off chickens and smear his face with their blood. Doing duty to
one's Lar was supto externalize one's inward characteristics, and for somebody
who had originally established himself in his career by systematically
slaughtering reputations there was bound to be an element of sacrifice&
The trank took hold. His mood lightened. But his irdidn't pass away
completely. How much longer was he going to be kept out here in the clammy
heat of midsummer? No doubt it was decently cool inside, but here he was
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