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.Strike a man's arm upinto the air and it follows a sweeping curve.Right over Raydos's face.And Raydos's eyes.She refused to look at him after the first time.She pushed through the othersto take a long look at the unconscious man's face where he lay, his armsthrown out, in the snow: the precise line where his face began, the preciseline where it ended, the fine, powdery, black char that had been carefullylaid across the rest of it.Stirred by their breath, the black powder rose infine spirals.Then she saw the fused circles ofRaydos's eye lenses: black, shiny black, little puddles resting as if in avalley; they still gave out an intense heat.She heard Gunnar say nervously"Put put snow on it," and she turned her back remarking, "Snow.And do whatyou have to do." She walked slowly over to the transparent bubble.In thedistance she could see some land of activity going on over Raydos, thingsbeing brought out of his pack, all sorts of conferring going on.She carefullykicked snow over the dead body.She reflected that Paradise must know them allvery well, must know them intimately, in fact, to find the levers to open themone by one until none of them were left or only she wasfile:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Joanna%20Russ%20-%20Picnic%20on%20Paradise.html (77of 114)23-12-2006 0:25:15Picnic on Paradise left or none of them were left.Maudey.She stood asidecarefully as Gunnar andMachine carried up something that was lacking a face or rather, his face hadturned lumpy and white and put him in the transparent bubble.That is, Gunnarput him in, getting half in with him for the thing would not hold more thanthe head and arms of another occupant.Gunnar was taping Raydos to the seatand the walls and working on the control board.Then he said, "I'll set theautomatic location signal to turn itself off an hour after sundown; he did sayhe was cruising.""So you know something," said Machine.Gunnar went on, his voice a littlehigh:"I can coordinate it for the Pole station.""So you are worth something," said Machine."They won't shoot him down," said Gunnar quickly."They would but I've set itfor a distress call at the coordinate location.They'll try to trap him."That's not easy," he added, "but I think it'll work.It's a kind of paradox,but there's an override.I've slowed him down as much as I can withoutshutting him off altogether, he may last, and I've tried to put in someindication of where we are and where we're headed but it's not equipped forthat; I can't send out a Standard call or they'll come and pick him up, I meanthe others, of course, they must have this section pretty well under controlor they wouldn't be sending loners around here.And of course the heat burst registered, but they'll think it's him; he didsay ""Why don't you write it, you bastard?" said Machine.Page 50ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Write?" said Gunnar."Write it on a piece of paper," said Machine."Do you know what paper is? Hehas it in his pack.That stuff he uses for drawing is paper.Write on it!""I don't have anything to write with," said Gunnar."You stupid bastard," said Machine slowly, turning Raydos's pack upside downso that everything fell out of it: pens, black stuff, packets of things tapedtogether, food, a kind of hinged manuscript, all the medicine."You stupid,electronic bastard," he said, ripping a sheet from the manuscript, "this ispaper.And this" (holding it out)file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Joanna%20Russ%20-%20Picnic%20on%20Paradise.html (78of 114)23-12-2006 0:25:15Picnic on Paradise"is artist's charcoal.Take the charcoal and write on the paper.If you knowhow to write.""That's unnecessary," said Gunnar, but he took the writing materials, removedhis gloves and wrote laboriously on the paper, his hands shaking a little.Hedid not seem to be used to writing."Now tape it to the wall," said Machine."No, the inside wall.Thank you.Thank you for everything.Thank you for your heroism.Thank you for yourstupidity.Thank you ""I'll kill you!" cried Gunnar.Alyx threw up her arm and cracked him under thechin.He gasped and stumbled back.She turned to Machine."You too," she said, "youtoo.Now finish it." Gunnar climbed half inside the bubble again and commencedclumsily making some last adjustments on the bank of instruments that hung inthe air.The sun was setting: a short day.She watched the snow turn ruddy,ruddy all around, the fingerprints and smears on the bubble gone in a general,faint glow as the light diffused and failed, the sun sank, the man inside wholooked deadwobbled back and forth as Gunnar's weight changed the balance of the delicatelittle ship.It looked like an ornament almost, something to set on top of aspire, someone's pearl."Is he dead?" said Alyx.Machine shook his head."Frozen," he said."We allhave it in the packs.Slows you down.He may last.""His eyes?" said Alyx."Why, I didn't drink you cared," said Machine, trying to make it light."His eyes!"Machine shrugged a little uncomfortably."Maybe yes, maybe no," he said, "but"(here he laughed) "one would think you were in love with the man.""I don't know him," said Alyx."I never knew him.""Then why all the fuss, Tiny?" he said."You don't have a word for it."file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Joanna%20Russ%20-%20Picnic%20on%20Paradise.html (79of 114)23-12-2006 0:25:15Picnic on Paradise"The hell I don't!" said Machine somewhat brutally."I have words foreverything.So the man was what we call an artist.All right.He used color onflat.So what? He can use sound.He can use things you stick your fingers intoand they give you a jolt.He can use wires.He can use textures.He can usepulse-beats.He can use things that climb over you while you close your eyes.He can use combinations of drugs.He can use direct brain stimulation.He canuse hypnosis.He can use things you walk on barefoot for all I care.It's allrespectable; if he gets stuck in a little backwater of his field, that's hisbusiness; he can get out of it."Page 51ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Put his sketches in with him," said Alyx."Why?" said Machine."Because you don't have a word for it," she said.He shrugged, a little sadly.He riffled the book that had come from Raydos's pack, tearing out about halfof it, and passed the sheets in to Gunnar.They were taped to Raydos's feet [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]