[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
screwed."
"Cross your fingers that doesn't happen," Festina told him. "If we can't stop
the attacking army, this cube is our only way out of the city."
The moment she clambered onto the cube's glass roof, I grabbed the rope and
headed up too. No point me staying in the cube: I couldn't help Tobit with the
controls, and I couldn't help Innocence either. Sometime in the past two
minutes, while I was watching my dad get eaten, Innocence had quietly passed
out. Maybe that was a good sign Mandasars shut down like that when their
metabolisms shift into a full-out healing state but it could also mean she was
too broken inside to keep herself awake. We needed to get Innocence to the
infirmary... but she wouldn't be safe till we stopped the Black Army.
Outside the cube, the air had curdled with the smell of buttered toast eau de
Balrog,so thick the night breeze couldn't dissipate it. From this angle, I
could see how much of the parapet was covered with glowing red: a bulgy patch
where my father had been, a Dade-shaped mound nearby, a light dusting
everywhere else. Plebon and the Mandasars had been pelted with their share of
spores when the Balrog exploded from the stairwell, but they weren't coated
solidly... just a sprinkle of specks, like gleaming freckles all over their
bodies.
Festina turned toward me as I joined her. She stood at the edge of the cube,
where it nuzzled the top of the parapet wall. No spores had fallen on the cube
itself; but if Festina took another step forward, she'd be walking on moss
dust.
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"What do you think?" she asked. "Is it going to eat us?"
"I don't know," I said. "It sure likespretending it wants to eat us... but
that might be its idea of a joke. Jumping out and going, 'Boo!' at the lower
species. If the Balrog really wanted to have us for supper, it could have done
that long ago."
"Maybe it's just following its own code of ethics," Festina suggested. "Can't
eat anyone who keeps a respectful distance, but if you actually step on a
spore, you're fair game."
She had a point. Maybe if you stepped on a bunch of moss, it actually hurt
the spores I'd get hurt if someone walked all over me. In that case, the
Balrog might feel perfectly justified in biting your feet.
I glanced back at the palace's palisade. Outside, the Black Army was massing
for its final assault, with ramps and battering rams and siege towers. Even
worse, four Laughing Larries had taken up positions just inside one section of
wall; by the look of it, they'd soon open fire, slaughtering nearby guards as
the attackers began smashing their way in.
Whatever we needed to do, we'd better do it fast. Time to try a trick. "Give
me a second," I told Festina. Then I closed my eyes and thought of pheromones.
Here are the pheromones I'd made: the lust scent that got Festina talking
about judo mats; the "don't be scared" smell I'd used to comfort Counselor;
the royal pheromone that screamed, "Obey me now!" Some of those chemicals
worked on humans, some worked on Mandasars. I didn't know if I could make
something to work on Balrogs... but Balrogs could "taste" pheromones so maybe
the darned moss could be affected too.
Back on the orbital I'd tried to make a Balrog repellant and Kaisho had got
real mad: Stop it, Edward, before you produce something deadly. Okay maybe it
was dangerous, trying to make the Balrog go away... but what if I made itnice?
I pictured a different sort of royal pheromone: not one to subdue peasants,
but one that spoke to rulers. A scent that said,Some people end up in
positions of power; and if you're the one who comes out on top, you have to be
good about it. You have to do the right thing, and never ever act like a jerk.
It wasn't a fancy sentiment, and any philosopher would nitpick it to
pieces... but the Balrog and me, we had things in common. If we really wanted,
we could both run roughshod over normal folks; so we had to take special care
not to.Do the right thing and don't act like a jerk. That was a rule I wanted
to follow myself, and I wanted the Balrog to follow it too. I tried to make a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl ocenkijessi.opx.pl
screwed."
"Cross your fingers that doesn't happen," Festina told him. "If we can't stop
the attacking army, this cube is our only way out of the city."
The moment she clambered onto the cube's glass roof, I grabbed the rope and
headed up too. No point me staying in the cube: I couldn't help Tobit with the
controls, and I couldn't help Innocence either. Sometime in the past two
minutes, while I was watching my dad get eaten, Innocence had quietly passed
out. Maybe that was a good sign Mandasars shut down like that when their
metabolisms shift into a full-out healing state but it could also mean she was
too broken inside to keep herself awake. We needed to get Innocence to the
infirmary... but she wouldn't be safe till we stopped the Black Army.
Outside the cube, the air had curdled with the smell of buttered toast eau de
Balrog,so thick the night breeze couldn't dissipate it. From this angle, I
could see how much of the parapet was covered with glowing red: a bulgy patch
where my father had been, a Dade-shaped mound nearby, a light dusting
everywhere else. Plebon and the Mandasars had been pelted with their share of
spores when the Balrog exploded from the stairwell, but they weren't coated
solidly... just a sprinkle of specks, like gleaming freckles all over their
bodies.
Festina turned toward me as I joined her. She stood at the edge of the cube,
where it nuzzled the top of the parapet wall. No spores had fallen on the cube
itself; but if Festina took another step forward, she'd be walking on moss
dust.
Page 229
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"What do you think?" she asked. "Is it going to eat us?"
"I don't know," I said. "It sure likespretending it wants to eat us... but
that might be its idea of a joke. Jumping out and going, 'Boo!' at the lower
species. If the Balrog really wanted to have us for supper, it could have done
that long ago."
"Maybe it's just following its own code of ethics," Festina suggested. "Can't
eat anyone who keeps a respectful distance, but if you actually step on a
spore, you're fair game."
She had a point. Maybe if you stepped on a bunch of moss, it actually hurt
the spores I'd get hurt if someone walked all over me. In that case, the
Balrog might feel perfectly justified in biting your feet.
I glanced back at the palace's palisade. Outside, the Black Army was massing
for its final assault, with ramps and battering rams and siege towers. Even
worse, four Laughing Larries had taken up positions just inside one section of
wall; by the look of it, they'd soon open fire, slaughtering nearby guards as
the attackers began smashing their way in.
Whatever we needed to do, we'd better do it fast. Time to try a trick. "Give
me a second," I told Festina. Then I closed my eyes and thought of pheromones.
Here are the pheromones I'd made: the lust scent that got Festina talking
about judo mats; the "don't be scared" smell I'd used to comfort Counselor;
the royal pheromone that screamed, "Obey me now!" Some of those chemicals
worked on humans, some worked on Mandasars. I didn't know if I could make
something to work on Balrogs... but Balrogs could "taste" pheromones so maybe
the darned moss could be affected too.
Back on the orbital I'd tried to make a Balrog repellant and Kaisho had got
real mad: Stop it, Edward, before you produce something deadly. Okay maybe it
was dangerous, trying to make the Balrog go away... but what if I made itnice?
I pictured a different sort of royal pheromone: not one to subdue peasants,
but one that spoke to rulers. A scent that said,Some people end up in
positions of power; and if you're the one who comes out on top, you have to be
good about it. You have to do the right thing, and never ever act like a jerk.
It wasn't a fancy sentiment, and any philosopher would nitpick it to
pieces... but the Balrog and me, we had things in common. If we really wanted,
we could both run roughshod over normal folks; so we had to take special care
not to.Do the right thing and don't act like a jerk. That was a rule I wanted
to follow myself, and I wanted the Balrog to follow it too. I tried to make a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]