[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
cancel most of the sound. A lot of upstairs came
downstairs onto both of them. He fought through
smoking rubble to reach her side.
She lay on her back, blinking up at him. "I am
finding it very hard not to dislike Paul
Throtmanian," she said, her voice gentle in the
sudden silence.
"Are you all right?"
She scanned herself and winced. "I came
through fine but love . . . I'm afraid that was
the Last Straw."
He turned to stone, and it did not help enough.
"You're sure."
"My whole defensive system overloaded. For
good. I'm an ordinary mortal."
He flinched, but said nothing. He owned no
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Robinson, Spider - The Mind 3 - Lifehouse
words equal to the occasion. He dropped to his
knees beside her and took her in his arms.
This was a body blow, for her and for him and
for their marriage and for their mission. They
had both known this day might come, for either
or both of them had spent centuries preparing
themselves for it, knowing that preparation
would be no help. Sure enough, it was not.
Suddenly it was a very sad day . . . and nowhere
near over, with utter disaster on the horizon.
They shared their heartbreak in silence for
several seconds.
"I dislike Paul Throtmanian," she said then, her
voice even gentler than before. "Let's go see
what he was protecting."
He helped her up. Her clothing was already
starting to repair itself as if to underline the
point that she no longer could. Her temper was
not improved when she found that Paul's hiding
place had concealed money. "Oh for God's
sake," she snapped. "I thought it was something
important."
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Robinson, Spider - The Mind 3 - Lifehouse
He was almost as annoyed that the cash had
been destroyed it certainly could have come in
handy for them, particularly just now but he
could not say so without implying criticism of
her judgment. Worse, accurate criticism.
Fortunately the stream of incoming data still
being assimilated and analyzed throughout the
house picked then to yield up a useful
distraction. "Ah," he said gratefully, "there's a
lead."
She held the flagged datum before her mind's
eye, studied it, and nodded just as gratefully.
"Good. It's a place to start, at least."
"Do we want to involve the law?" he asked.
She started to answer . . . caught herself. "You
decide. My judgment is a little off tonight."
It was one of the bravest things he had ever
heard her say. He saluted it by ignoring it. "I'm
on the fence," he said at once. "My inclination is
obviously to go for a full-court press; I'd call out
an air strike on them if I could think of a cover
story. But the way they bugged out of here, on a
second's notice, without even stopping for the
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Robinson, Spider - The Mind 3 - Lifehouse
cash . . . maybe our only chance is for them to
think they've gotten clear, and relax just a hair. I
think the cops might simply keep those two
alert."
"Tough call," she agreed. "Make it."
He juggled the universe, backstopped but all
alone. As he thought, he heard a clock ticking,
louder than one had ever ticked for him before.
Sweat sprang out on his forehead for the first
time in decades.
"More data," he said. "We know one of them; we
know about the other the one with the
testosterone. We need to integrate everything we
just got here with everything June knows about
him."
Ignoring the ticking, they closed their eyes,
joined hands, joined minds, and did as he had
proposed.
Chapter 5
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Robinson, Spider - The Mind 3 - Lifehouse
Cute Meat
MEMORY SHARD:
JUNE BELLAMY, 08 JULY 1993:
June tried to walk as if the right shoe still had a
high heel, and scanned both sides of the deserted
street, searching the shadowed places for danger
and the arc-lit places for a door out of the world.
At age twenty-eight, she had just made what she
intended to be her last professional mistake,
overestimating not the character but the
intelligence of her partner. The Slider was so
innately lazy, she had assumed he realized what
a valuable asset she was to him. She had trusted
him completely to handle the blow-off; it was
well within his talents. Instead he had simply
skipped, left her standing there to take the gaff [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl aikidobyd.xlx.pl
cancel most of the sound. A lot of upstairs came
downstairs onto both of them. He fought through
smoking rubble to reach her side.
She lay on her back, blinking up at him. "I am
finding it very hard not to dislike Paul
Throtmanian," she said, her voice gentle in the
sudden silence.
"Are you all right?"
She scanned herself and winced. "I came
through fine but love . . . I'm afraid that was
the Last Straw."
He turned to stone, and it did not help enough.
"You're sure."
"My whole defensive system overloaded. For
good. I'm an ordinary mortal."
He flinched, but said nothing. He owned no
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/S...on%20-%20The%20Mind%203%20-%20Lifehouse.htm (114 of 430) [10/16/2004 3:06:15 PM]
Robinson, Spider - The Mind 3 - Lifehouse
words equal to the occasion. He dropped to his
knees beside her and took her in his arms.
This was a body blow, for her and for him and
for their marriage and for their mission. They
had both known this day might come, for either
or both of them had spent centuries preparing
themselves for it, knowing that preparation
would be no help. Sure enough, it was not.
Suddenly it was a very sad day . . . and nowhere
near over, with utter disaster on the horizon.
They shared their heartbreak in silence for
several seconds.
"I dislike Paul Throtmanian," she said then, her
voice even gentler than before. "Let's go see
what he was protecting."
He helped her up. Her clothing was already
starting to repair itself as if to underline the
point that she no longer could. Her temper was
not improved when she found that Paul's hiding
place had concealed money. "Oh for God's
sake," she snapped. "I thought it was something
important."
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/S...on%20-%20The%20Mind%203%20-%20Lifehouse.htm (115 of 430) [10/16/2004 3:06:15 PM]
Robinson, Spider - The Mind 3 - Lifehouse
He was almost as annoyed that the cash had
been destroyed it certainly could have come in
handy for them, particularly just now but he
could not say so without implying criticism of
her judgment. Worse, accurate criticism.
Fortunately the stream of incoming data still
being assimilated and analyzed throughout the
house picked then to yield up a useful
distraction. "Ah," he said gratefully, "there's a
lead."
She held the flagged datum before her mind's
eye, studied it, and nodded just as gratefully.
"Good. It's a place to start, at least."
"Do we want to involve the law?" he asked.
She started to answer . . . caught herself. "You
decide. My judgment is a little off tonight."
It was one of the bravest things he had ever
heard her say. He saluted it by ignoring it. "I'm
on the fence," he said at once. "My inclination is
obviously to go for a full-court press; I'd call out
an air strike on them if I could think of a cover
story. But the way they bugged out of here, on a
second's notice, without even stopping for the
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/S...on%20-%20The%20Mind%203%20-%20Lifehouse.htm (116 of 430) [10/16/2004 3:06:15 PM]
Robinson, Spider - The Mind 3 - Lifehouse
cash . . . maybe our only chance is for them to
think they've gotten clear, and relax just a hair. I
think the cops might simply keep those two
alert."
"Tough call," she agreed. "Make it."
He juggled the universe, backstopped but all
alone. As he thought, he heard a clock ticking,
louder than one had ever ticked for him before.
Sweat sprang out on his forehead for the first
time in decades.
"More data," he said. "We know one of them; we
know about the other the one with the
testosterone. We need to integrate everything we
just got here with everything June knows about
him."
Ignoring the ticking, they closed their eyes,
joined hands, joined minds, and did as he had
proposed.
Chapter 5
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/S...on%20-%20The%20Mind%203%20-%20Lifehouse.htm (117 of 430) [10/16/2004 3:06:15 PM]
Robinson, Spider - The Mind 3 - Lifehouse
Cute Meat
MEMORY SHARD:
JUNE BELLAMY, 08 JULY 1993:
June tried to walk as if the right shoe still had a
high heel, and scanned both sides of the deserted
street, searching the shadowed places for danger
and the arc-lit places for a door out of the world.
At age twenty-eight, she had just made what she
intended to be her last professional mistake,
overestimating not the character but the
intelligence of her partner. The Slider was so
innately lazy, she had assumed he realized what
a valuable asset she was to him. She had trusted
him completely to handle the blow-off; it was
well within his talents. Instead he had simply
skipped, left her standing there to take the gaff [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]