[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
this is what they call being in love."
I was gallant. "It's what makes the world go around. No, not 'it.' You are."
She shook her head regretfully. "Sometimes I can't stand you," she said. "Sagittarians
never make it with Geminis. I'm a fire sign and you-- well, Geminis can't help being confused."
"I wish you wouldn't keep going on about that crap," I said.
She didn't take offense. "Let's get something to eat."
I slid over the edge of the hammock and stood up, needing to talk without touching for a
moment. "Dear Klara," I said, "look, I can't let you keep me because you'll be bitchy about it,
sooner or later -- or if you aren't, I'll be expecting you to, and so I'll be bitchy to you. And I
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file:///F|/rah/Frederik%20Pohl/Pohl,%20Frederik%20-%20Heechee%201%20-%20Gateway.txt
just don't have the money. You want to eat outside the commissary, you do it by yourself. And I
won't take your cigarettes, your liquor, or your chips at the casino. So if you want to get
something to eat go ahead, and I'll meet you later. Maybe we could go for a walk."
She sighed. "Geminis never know how to handle money," she told me, "but they can be
awfully nice in bed."
We put our clothes on and went out and got something to eat, all right, but in the
Corporation commissary, where you stand in line, carry a tray, and eat standing up. The food isn't
bad, if you don't think too much about what substrates they grow it on. The price is right. It
doesn't cost anything. They promise that if you eat all your meals in the commissary you will have
one hundred plus percent of all the established dietary needs. You will, too, only you have to eat
all of everything to be sure of that. Single-cell protein and vegetable protein come out
incomplete when considered independently, so it's not enough to eat the soybean jelly or the
bacterial pudding alone. You have to eat them both.
The other thing about Corporation meals is that they produce a hell of a lot of methane,
which produces a hell of a lot of what all ex-Gateway types remember as the Gateway fug.
We drifted down toward the lower levels afterward, not talking much. I suppose we were
both wondering where we were going. I don't mean just at that moment. "Feel like exploring?" Klara
asked.
I took her hand as we strolled along, considering. That sort of thing was fun. Some of the
old ivy-choked tunnels that no one used were interesting, and beyond them were the bare, dusty
places that no one had troubled even to plant ivy in. Usually there was plenty of light from the
ancient walls themselves, still glowing with that bluish Heechee-metal sheen. Sometimes -- not
lately, but no more than six or seven years ago -- people had actually found Heechee artifacts in
them, and you never knew when you might stumble on something worth a bonus.
----------------------------------------
The Gateway Anglican The Rev. Theo Durleigh, Chaplain Parish Communion 10:30 Sundays Evensong by
Arrangement
Eric Manley, who ceased to be my warden on 1 December, has left an indelible mark on
Gateway All Saints' and we owe him an incalculable debt for placing his multicompetence at our
disposal. Born in Elatree, Herts., 51 years ago,he graduated as an LL.B. from the University of
London and then read for the bar. Subsequently he was employed for some years in Perth at the
natural gas works. If we are saddened for ourselves that he is leaving us, it is tempered with joy
that he has now achieved his heart's desire and will return to his beloved Hertfordshire, where he
expects to devote his retirement years to civic affairs, transcendental meditation, and the study
of plainsong. A new warden will be elected the first Sunday we attain a quorum of nine
parishioners.
----------------------------------------
But I couldn't keep up with her pace, and after a few moments she asked if I wanted to go
back. Nothing is fun when you don't have a choice. "Why not?" I said, but a few minutes later,
when I saw where we were, I said, "Let's go to the museum for a while."
"Oh, right," she said, suddenly interested. "Did you know they've fixed up the surround
room? Metchnikov was telling me about it. They opened it while we were out."
So we changed course, dropped two levels and came out next to the museum. The surround
room was a nearly spherical chamber just beyond it. It was big, ten meters or more across, and in
order to use it we had to strap on wings like Shicky's, hanging on a rack outside the entrance.
Neither Klara nor I had ever used them before, but it wasn't hard. On Gateway you weigh so little
to begin with that flying would be the easiest and best way to get around, if there were any
places inside the asteroid big enough to fly in.
So we dropped through the hatch into the sphere, and were in the middle of a whole
universe. The chamber was walled with hexagonal panels, each one of them projected from some
source we could not see, probably digital with liquid-crystal screens.
"How pretty!" Klara cried. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl szkicerysunki.xlx.pl
this is what they call being in love."
I was gallant. "It's what makes the world go around. No, not 'it.' You are."
She shook her head regretfully. "Sometimes I can't stand you," she said. "Sagittarians
never make it with Geminis. I'm a fire sign and you-- well, Geminis can't help being confused."
"I wish you wouldn't keep going on about that crap," I said.
She didn't take offense. "Let's get something to eat."
I slid over the edge of the hammock and stood up, needing to talk without touching for a
moment. "Dear Klara," I said, "look, I can't let you keep me because you'll be bitchy about it,
sooner or later -- or if you aren't, I'll be expecting you to, and so I'll be bitchy to you. And I
file:///F|/rah/Frederik%20Pohl/Pohl,%20Frederik%20-%20Heechee%201%20-%20Gateway.txt (65 of 109) [1/15/03 6:31:21 PM]
file:///F|/rah/Frederik%20Pohl/Pohl,%20Frederik%20-%20Heechee%201%20-%20Gateway.txt
just don't have the money. You want to eat outside the commissary, you do it by yourself. And I
won't take your cigarettes, your liquor, or your chips at the casino. So if you want to get
something to eat go ahead, and I'll meet you later. Maybe we could go for a walk."
She sighed. "Geminis never know how to handle money," she told me, "but they can be
awfully nice in bed."
We put our clothes on and went out and got something to eat, all right, but in the
Corporation commissary, where you stand in line, carry a tray, and eat standing up. The food isn't
bad, if you don't think too much about what substrates they grow it on. The price is right. It
doesn't cost anything. They promise that if you eat all your meals in the commissary you will have
one hundred plus percent of all the established dietary needs. You will, too, only you have to eat
all of everything to be sure of that. Single-cell protein and vegetable protein come out
incomplete when considered independently, so it's not enough to eat the soybean jelly or the
bacterial pudding alone. You have to eat them both.
The other thing about Corporation meals is that they produce a hell of a lot of methane,
which produces a hell of a lot of what all ex-Gateway types remember as the Gateway fug.
We drifted down toward the lower levels afterward, not talking much. I suppose we were
both wondering where we were going. I don't mean just at that moment. "Feel like exploring?" Klara
asked.
I took her hand as we strolled along, considering. That sort of thing was fun. Some of the
old ivy-choked tunnels that no one used were interesting, and beyond them were the bare, dusty
places that no one had troubled even to plant ivy in. Usually there was plenty of light from the
ancient walls themselves, still glowing with that bluish Heechee-metal sheen. Sometimes -- not
lately, but no more than six or seven years ago -- people had actually found Heechee artifacts in
them, and you never knew when you might stumble on something worth a bonus.
----------------------------------------
The Gateway Anglican The Rev. Theo Durleigh, Chaplain Parish Communion 10:30 Sundays Evensong by
Arrangement
Eric Manley, who ceased to be my warden on 1 December, has left an indelible mark on
Gateway All Saints' and we owe him an incalculable debt for placing his multicompetence at our
disposal. Born in Elatree, Herts., 51 years ago,he graduated as an LL.B. from the University of
London and then read for the bar. Subsequently he was employed for some years in Perth at the
natural gas works. If we are saddened for ourselves that he is leaving us, it is tempered with joy
that he has now achieved his heart's desire and will return to his beloved Hertfordshire, where he
expects to devote his retirement years to civic affairs, transcendental meditation, and the study
of plainsong. A new warden will be elected the first Sunday we attain a quorum of nine
parishioners.
----------------------------------------
But I couldn't keep up with her pace, and after a few moments she asked if I wanted to go
back. Nothing is fun when you don't have a choice. "Why not?" I said, but a few minutes later,
when I saw where we were, I said, "Let's go to the museum for a while."
"Oh, right," she said, suddenly interested. "Did you know they've fixed up the surround
room? Metchnikov was telling me about it. They opened it while we were out."
So we changed course, dropped two levels and came out next to the museum. The surround
room was a nearly spherical chamber just beyond it. It was big, ten meters or more across, and in
order to use it we had to strap on wings like Shicky's, hanging on a rack outside the entrance.
Neither Klara nor I had ever used them before, but it wasn't hard. On Gateway you weigh so little
to begin with that flying would be the easiest and best way to get around, if there were any
places inside the asteroid big enough to fly in.
So we dropped through the hatch into the sphere, and were in the middle of a whole
universe. The chamber was walled with hexagonal panels, each one of them projected from some
source we could not see, probably digital with liquid-crystal screens.
"How pretty!" Klara cried. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]