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Glitz clambered up a service shaft leading from the Ice
Passages to the basement areas of Iceworld. He had just reached the
top, when a strident voice pierced the air. 'Ah - you there!'
Glitz froze in surprise and terror.
'Yes - you. Where is everyone? What kind of a way is this to run a
business?'
Glitz turned round to see a white sparkly thing festooned in fluffy pink
feathers bearing down on him.
'Have you seen a small child anywhere? She answers to the name of
Stellar. I appear to have mislaid her.'
Glitz was lost for words.
The woman peered at him, but quickly decided from the man's vacuous
expression that he was a complete buffoon. 'Evidently not. Well, if you
find her, would you be so good as to take her to the Refreshment Bar to
wait for me?'
The woman turned to leave, but then turned back again and looked at
Glitz. 'Don't just stand there gawking, man. Start looking for her.'
'Certainly, missus.'
Glitz turned a little confusedly, and started looking, while the woman
flounced off in a quiver of pink ostrich. Glitz had already peered
uncertainly behind two fire extinguishers and an ash tray before he
realised what he was doing...
The Doctor was hurrying through the empty corridors.
'Ask him what he's up to,' Ace kept insisting, as the two women hurried
along in the Doctor's tracks. But Mel knew better than to pester the
Doctor with trivial questions when he was in this kind of a mood.
Suddenly, Ace halted, and pointed at an access ladder on the wall that
led down to the floors below. 'Here - this is a short cut to my quarters.
It's right underneath us. Look.'
Mel looked at the ladder. There was some graffiti felt-tipped onto the
wall beside it:
'Ace for Wayne?' said Mel with a slight smile.
'Yeah, he's my stuffed dog.' Then Ace realised what Mel had been
thinking, and turned on Mel accusingly. 'Here, who d'you think he was?'
'Come on, you two!' called the Doctor from down the corridor. 'Why
are you always squabbling?'
'Come on,' said Mel.
'No - wait. I just want to pop back to my quarters. I feel a bit naked
without a couple of cans of nitro.'
'There isn't time.'
'Will you two hurry up!'
'I'll only be a sec' Ace was already half-way down the ladder. 'I'll catch
you up before you reach Kane's Cryogenics Chamber.' And she was
gone.
Mel ran and caught up with the Doctor. 'What's happened to Ace?' he
asked in concern.
'She's gone back to her quarters. But she said not to wait for her.'
The Doctor was annoyed by this time-wasting. 'I'll have something to
say to her when I see her again. Come on. The Creature's still in
danger.'
'I hope it's found somewhere to hide. Somewhere safe...'
McLuhan was calm as she lay with her finger pulling gently on the
Cosmolite's trigger. She heard the quiet ticking of the signal tracker that
Bazin was holding.
'One hundred metres,' he said, as the ticking grew slightly faster.
For some reason, an incident from her childhood suddenly came into
McLuhan's mind. She and her gang of friends had been playing in a
disused quarry, and the boys had dared the girls to climb up a rock face.
There were plenty of hand- and footholds, but it was almost vertical.
The smallest girl had got halfway up, then got frightened. McLuhan was
nearest to her and had started to edge towards the small girl. She kept
looking at her and could see the sheer terror in the small girl's eyes. But
before McLuhan could reach her, the expression in the girl's eyes
changed. It was almost as if the small girl had realised that the choice
between life and death was hers, and had decided to fall. Even as a
child, McLuhan knew at that moment that the other girl would fall
before she could reach her.
'Fifty metres. It's there!' Bazin's voice brought her back to the Ice
Passages.
She saw the ANT appear at the edge of her gunsight, moving towards
the cross-wires in the centre, and she pulled her finger another
millimetre further back, until she felt the resistance of the trigger point.
She knew what she had to do. She saw it all clearly now - a simple
choice between black and white. All the inessential greys of everyday
life had melted away: all the half-truths and half-lies that everyone
tells; all the confused emotions and confused relationships that
everyone lives through; all the delayed decisions and delayed affection [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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Glitz clambered up a service shaft leading from the Ice
Passages to the basement areas of Iceworld. He had just reached the
top, when a strident voice pierced the air. 'Ah - you there!'
Glitz froze in surprise and terror.
'Yes - you. Where is everyone? What kind of a way is this to run a
business?'
Glitz turned round to see a white sparkly thing festooned in fluffy pink
feathers bearing down on him.
'Have you seen a small child anywhere? She answers to the name of
Stellar. I appear to have mislaid her.'
Glitz was lost for words.
The woman peered at him, but quickly decided from the man's vacuous
expression that he was a complete buffoon. 'Evidently not. Well, if you
find her, would you be so good as to take her to the Refreshment Bar to
wait for me?'
The woman turned to leave, but then turned back again and looked at
Glitz. 'Don't just stand there gawking, man. Start looking for her.'
'Certainly, missus.'
Glitz turned a little confusedly, and started looking, while the woman
flounced off in a quiver of pink ostrich. Glitz had already peered
uncertainly behind two fire extinguishers and an ash tray before he
realised what he was doing...
The Doctor was hurrying through the empty corridors.
'Ask him what he's up to,' Ace kept insisting, as the two women hurried
along in the Doctor's tracks. But Mel knew better than to pester the
Doctor with trivial questions when he was in this kind of a mood.
Suddenly, Ace halted, and pointed at an access ladder on the wall that
led down to the floors below. 'Here - this is a short cut to my quarters.
It's right underneath us. Look.'
Mel looked at the ladder. There was some graffiti felt-tipped onto the
wall beside it:
'Ace for Wayne?' said Mel with a slight smile.
'Yeah, he's my stuffed dog.' Then Ace realised what Mel had been
thinking, and turned on Mel accusingly. 'Here, who d'you think he was?'
'Come on, you two!' called the Doctor from down the corridor. 'Why
are you always squabbling?'
'Come on,' said Mel.
'No - wait. I just want to pop back to my quarters. I feel a bit naked
without a couple of cans of nitro.'
'There isn't time.'
'Will you two hurry up!'
'I'll only be a sec' Ace was already half-way down the ladder. 'I'll catch
you up before you reach Kane's Cryogenics Chamber.' And she was
gone.
Mel ran and caught up with the Doctor. 'What's happened to Ace?' he
asked in concern.
'She's gone back to her quarters. But she said not to wait for her.'
The Doctor was annoyed by this time-wasting. 'I'll have something to
say to her when I see her again. Come on. The Creature's still in
danger.'
'I hope it's found somewhere to hide. Somewhere safe...'
McLuhan was calm as she lay with her finger pulling gently on the
Cosmolite's trigger. She heard the quiet ticking of the signal tracker that
Bazin was holding.
'One hundred metres,' he said, as the ticking grew slightly faster.
For some reason, an incident from her childhood suddenly came into
McLuhan's mind. She and her gang of friends had been playing in a
disused quarry, and the boys had dared the girls to climb up a rock face.
There were plenty of hand- and footholds, but it was almost vertical.
The smallest girl had got halfway up, then got frightened. McLuhan was
nearest to her and had started to edge towards the small girl. She kept
looking at her and could see the sheer terror in the small girl's eyes. But
before McLuhan could reach her, the expression in the girl's eyes
changed. It was almost as if the small girl had realised that the choice
between life and death was hers, and had decided to fall. Even as a
child, McLuhan knew at that moment that the other girl would fall
before she could reach her.
'Fifty metres. It's there!' Bazin's voice brought her back to the Ice
Passages.
She saw the ANT appear at the edge of her gunsight, moving towards
the cross-wires in the centre, and she pulled her finger another
millimetre further back, until she felt the resistance of the trigger point.
She knew what she had to do. She saw it all clearly now - a simple
choice between black and white. All the inessential greys of everyday
life had melted away: all the half-truths and half-lies that everyone
tells; all the confused emotions and confused relationships that
everyone lives through; all the delayed decisions and delayed affection [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]