Hogan, James P Voyage from Yesteryear

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mother.
Oh yes, of course. Shirley nodded. That sounds pretty awful. Still, it s their business.
What do you do best? Ci asked him. I mean...apart from holding people s walls up for them. That
can t be much of a life.
Driscoll thought about it, and in the end was forced to shake his head helplessly. Not a lot that you d be
interested in, I guess, he confessed.
Everybody s got something, Shirley insisted. What do you like doing?
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You really wanna know? An intense note had come suddenly into Driscoll s voice.
Hey, back off, soldier, Ci said suspiciously. We re still strangers. Later, who knows? Give it time.
I didn t mean that, Driscoll protested, feeling embarrassed. If you must know, I like working cards.
You mean tricks? Shirley seemed interested. I can do tricks, sure.
Are you good?
The best. I can make em stand up and talk.
You d better mean it, Shirley warned. There s nothing worse than trying to spend money you don t
have. It s like stealing from people.
Driscoll didn t follow what she meant, so he ignored it. I mean it, he told her.
Shirley turned to look at Ci. Say, wouldn t he be great to have at our next party? I love things like that.
She looked at Driscoll again. When are you coming down to Chiron?
I don t know yet. We haven t heard anything.
Well, give us a call when you do, and we ll fix something up. I live in Franklin, so there shouldn t be too
much of a problem. That s where we usually get together.
Sounds good, Driscoll said. I can t make any promises fight now though. Everything depends on how
things go. If things work out okay, how would I find the place?
Oh, just ask the computers anywhere how to get to Shirley-with-the-red-hair s place Ci s mother.
They ll take care of you.
So maybe we ll see you down there sometime, Ci said.
Well...yeah. Who knows? He was about to say something more when Wellington interrupted.
Two of your officers are heading this way. I thought you ought to know.
Who? Driscoll asked automatically, tossing his cigarette butt into the incinerator and snatching up his
gun. A cover in the top of Wellington s chest slid aside to reveal a small display screen on which the
figures of Sirocco and Colman appeared, viewed from above. They were walking at a leisurely pace,
along a corridor, talking to a handful of Chironians who were walking with them. Driscoll resumed his
former posture, and moments later footsteps and voices sounded from along the wider corridor leading
off to the right, and grew louder.
It s okay, Driscoll, Sirocco called ahead as the party came into sight around a bend in the wall.
Forget the pantomime. We re back in the Bomb Factory. Driscoll relaxed his pose and sent a puzzled
look along the corridor.
I might have guessed, Colman said, nodding to himself and taking in the two girls as he drew to a halt.
Very cosy, Sirocco agreed.
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Er...Shirley and Ci, Driscoll said. And that s General Wellington.
Been having a nice chat, have you? Sirocco asked. Well, yes, actually, I suppose, sir. How did you
know? Sirocco waved at the corridor behind him. Because it s happening everywhere else, that s how.
Carson s talking football, and Maddock is telling some kids about what it was like growing up on the
Mayflower II. He sighed but didn t sound too ruffled about it. If you can t beat em, then join em, eh,
Driscoll...for an hour or so, anyway. And besides, they want to show Colman something in the
observatory upstairs. I don t understand what the hell they re talking about.
Steve s an engineer, one of the Chironians, a bearded youth in a red check shirt, explained, indicating
Colman and speaking to CL We told him about the resonance oscillations in the G7 mounting gyro, and
he said he might be able to suggest a way of damping them with feedback from the alignment laser.
We re taking him up to have a look at it.
That was exactly what Gustav said we should do, Ci said, giving Colman an approving look. He was
looking at it yesterday.
I know. Maybe we can get Gustav and Steve working on it together.
Hey, don t get too excited about this, Colman cautioned. I only said rd be interested in seeing it. The
Army might have different ideas about me getting involved. Don t bet your life savings on it.
The Chironians and Colman disappeared up the steel railed stairway, talking about differential [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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