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"But without us, he would have no way to make a living."
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"That is his concern. No one has to emigrate. Personally I feel that
Earth itself has a lot to offer if only people would take advantage of
it."
Scot was amazed. This man had aptly expressed his own thoughts yet
he worked for MT! Or was it a trap? If they had learned that Brand
was married and had a baby, two babies
Lucy looked crestfallen. She certainly was good at lying, even by mute
expression! "We wanted so much to go! But now could we take some
time to think it over?"
Does the end justify the means? Scot thought. Here we are stealing
and lying in the name of a good cause...146
The policeman smiled. "We'll issue you a 24-hour extension on your
Authorization. Then you can go or stay, as you decide. But that
decision will be irrevocable."
"Thank you," she whispered.
As they returned to the waiting room, Scot relaxed partway. "Nice
going but without Brand, what can we do?"
"He got the manual and they didn't recover it," she said. "He must
have hidden it somewhere "
"The bathroom!" he exclaimed.
Sure enough: tucked behind the tank of a corner toilet was the thick
leatherbound Operations Manual. Brand had done his part.147
Lucy obtained the Extension Permit at the desk while Scot concealed
the manual in his shirt. They still hadn't seen Brand, but could not
risk looking for him, much less trying to free him. The authorities just
might be giving them enough rope to hang themselves, waiting to
discover how they were going to sabotage the MT unit.
Outside, they walked until they found a large blank building, circled
around it, and settled in the privacy of the back wall. Eagerly they
perused the manual.148
"I wish I were an engineer," Scot muttered. "This thing's a monster!"
"We don't need to understand the details," Lucy said. "Just locate the
time and place."
"The place we know. But the time I can't make head or tail of these
technicolor tables!"
She closed her eyes and poked her finger at the page. "Then," she said
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as it touched.
"We can't go into it randomly! We'll either miss the mark or miss the
capsule entirely. We won't get a second chance."
"It's not random," she protested. "It's intuition."
Scot made a derisive noise. "Intuition!"
"Well, what's wrong with that?" she demanded. "The nature Gods
approve it."
Too late he read the signs: she was tired and nervous, ready to blow
up when balked. "Nothing's wrong. Only "
"Only you can't read the manual, and Brand's in jail, so it's all wasted!
What will I say to Bitsy? We might as well have stayed home! You and
your big ideas! Save the world! Blow up MT!"
"Pipe down," he cautioned her. "Someone'll hear."
"I will not pipe down! We left a perfectly good farm for this idiocy!
What do you think you're ?"
So it was to be a full-scale tantrum. He couldn't afford that! Not here,
not now. But only desperate measures would cut her off.
He swept his arm out, scooped up a handful of snow, and thrust it
down her bosom. And quickly covered her mouth to muffle her
piercing shriek.
His action had the desired effect. Lucy went into a frenzy of
contortion to relieve the cold mush in her clothing, and didn't even
bite his hand. He helped as well as he could. Then she started
laughing. Then they made love. And finally they talked it out and
deciphered the manual's coding system.149
They had just two hours to plant the radiation coder, when the MT
program shifted from Planet Sylva to Planet Oceana. If they missed
that, they would have to wait another month for the shiftover to
Planet Zephyr. "We can't risk that delay," Scot muttered. "If we don't
emigrate, and hang around beyond our permit extension, they'll
arrest us too."150
They took another thirty minutes to study the MT complex layout by
the wan light of the storm lantern, then proceeded. Scot kissed Lucy:
"In case we have to part suddenly, and I don't see you again."
Immediately he amended himself. "Soon."
"Oh, Scot do we have to?"
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"I promise: this is my last world-saving mission."
"That's what I'm afraid of!"
"Okay, darling I promise it's not my last."
She hugged him close. "Without you, I'm nothing at all."
"Uh-uh. Without that grinder you'd be nothing at all."
She twisted so as to strike him with her right breast. "Just a thief."151
"First my car then my heart."
"I gave back some, you know."
He kissed her again. "I love you."152
She pushed him away. "Do your job, then come home, and I'll give you
such a reward!"
It was now 5 A.M. by the huge outdoor clock above the capsule
building.153 The changeover to Oceana was to occur precisely at 6 A.M. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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