[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
partition wall, and a minute later our neighbor Mrs. Berko-Boyler was on the
doorstep wearing a pink quilted dressing gown, her hair in curlers.
Good evening, Mrs. Berko-Boyler, I said.
Is it? she said with a snarl. Is itreally ?
We ll be about an hour, explained Landen, who was more skilled at dealing
with our volatile yet oddly helpful neighbor.
Do you know the last time Mr. Berko-Boyler took me out anywhere? she asked,
scowling at all three of us.
I ve no idea.
Saturday.
Well, that s notthat long ago
Saturday, October the sixth, 1983, she said with a contemptuous sniff, and
shuffled past us into the living room. Nineteen years ago. Makes me sick, I
tell you. Hello, Tuesday, she said in a kindlier tone. Where s your sister?
We walked down to the tram stop in silence. Friday s lack of interest in the
ChronoGuard was a matter not only of annoyance butsurprise. The Standard
History Eventline had him joining the industry three years ago on their Junior
Time Scout program, something that he had failed to do despite our efforts and
those of the ChronoGuard, which was as concerned as we were. But we couldn t
force him either time was the glue of the cosmos and had to beeased apart push
destiny too hard and it had an annoying habit of pushing back. He had to join
the ChronoGuard, but it had to be his decision. Every way you looked at it,
time was out of joint.
14.
The ChronoGuard
SpecOps-12 is the ChronoGuard, the governmental department dealing with
Temporal Stability. Its job is to maintain the integrity of the Standard
History Eventline (SHE) and police the time stream against any unauthorized
changes or usage. Its most brilliant work is never noticed, as changes in the
past always seem to have been that way. Planet-destroying cataclysms generally
happen twice a week but are carefully rerouted by skilled ChronoGuard
operatives. The citizenry never notices a thing which is just as well, really.
The ChronoGuard had its regional offices in the old SpecOps building where I
had worked at SO-27, the Literary Detectives. It was a large, no-nonsense
Germanic design that had certainly seen better days. Landen and I walked into
what had once been the main debriefing room, Friday shuffling in behind us,
hands thrust deeply in his pockets and head nodding to the beat of his
Walkman. Of course, this being the ChronoGuard, they already had a list of
attendees from the forms we d filled out at the end of the evening, which
seemed to work quite well until a couple with a spotty kid in front of us
Page 75
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
found they weren t on the list.
Oh, dear, said the woman at the registration desk in an apologetic tone.
But it seems that you don t stay until the end of the presentation, so we ve
been unable to include you in the registration process. You re going to have
to come to the next careers presentation in six months time.
The father of the group scratched his head for a moment, stopped to say
something, thought better of it and then departed, arguing with his wife.
Mr. and Mrs. Parke-Laine-Next and their son, Friday, I said to the woman,
who blinked for a few seconds, looked at Friday, gave a shy smile and then
started to chatter and gush in a most unseemly manner.
Mr. Next Friday how do you do? I ve wanted to meet you again for the first
time. May I shake you by the hand and congratulate you on
She stopped, realized she was being a bit previous and making a fool of
herself, so coughed in an embarrassed manner before smoothing her skirt
absently and sitting down again.
Sorry. Welcome to the pre sen ta tion. Here are your badges and your
information pack. If you would like to go in, Captain Scintilla will join you
soon.
We dutifully took our seats, and Friday slouched in a very obvious
don t-give-a-monkey s manner until I told him to sit up straight, which he
didn t like but sat up nonetheless.
What are we doing here? he asked in a bored voice. And why the time
industry? What about plumbing or something?
Because your grandfather was a time operative.
Yeah, he grunted, and look what happened to him.
Landen and I exchanged glances. Friday was right. Ending up not having
existed wasn t a terrific end to a promising career.
Well! said a youthful-looking man in the pale blue uniform of the
ChronoGuard who up until now had been helping escort the previous group out of
the room. My name is Captain Bendix Scintilla, and I am head of ChronoGuard
Recruitment. I d like to welcome all of you to this ChronoGuard careers pre
sen ta tion and hope that this short talk might go some way toward explaining
what it is that we done. Did.Do. Anyhow, my aims are twofold: secondly, to try
to demonstrate to the young people here that a career in the time industry is
a very exciting prospect indeed and, firstly, to lift the lid on the Temporal
Trade and explode a few common myths and misunderstandings. As I m about to
say, did say or would say, my name is Bendix Scintilla, and I was died on
March sixteenth, 3291. I m twenty-three years old in my own personal time,
seven hundred and twenty-six in my elapsed work time, and you meet me
twenty-seven percent through my life.
He smiled, unaware that he was making very little sense. I was used to it,
but by the manner in which the rest of the audience members were scratching
their heads and looking at one another, they weren t. Bendix picked up a solid
bar of yellow plastic that was about three feet long, two inches wide and
domed at either end.
Does anyone know what this is? he asked. There was silence, so he passed it
Page 76
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
to the nearest family and told them to pass it on. Anyone who can guess wins
a prize.
The first family shrugged and passed it to us. Friday gave it the most
cursory of glances, and I passed it on.
Yes, sir? asked Bendix, pointing to a man in the front row who was with his
painfully thin wife and a pair of geeky-looking twins.
Me? said the man in a confused voice.
Yes. I understand you have a question? Sorry, I should have explained. To
save time I thought I d ask youbefore you actually raised your hand.
Oh! said the man, and then he shrugged and said, I was wondering, since we
were told this was the only open day for six months, just who the previous
group filing out of the door was and why were they looking at us in that
extremely inquisitive manner?
Why, that wasyou good people, of course! In order not to keep you from your
busy schedules, this meeting actually takes no time at all. The moment you
arrived was precisely the time you left, only out the other entrance so you
wouldn t meet yourselves.
As soon as he said it, a twitter of understanding and wonderment went through
the small group. I d experienced the ChronoGuard in the past, so these sorts
of cheap parlor tricks didn t impress me, but for many of the people present, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl rafalstec.xlx.pl
partition wall, and a minute later our neighbor Mrs. Berko-Boyler was on the
doorstep wearing a pink quilted dressing gown, her hair in curlers.
Good evening, Mrs. Berko-Boyler, I said.
Is it? she said with a snarl. Is itreally ?
We ll be about an hour, explained Landen, who was more skilled at dealing
with our volatile yet oddly helpful neighbor.
Do you know the last time Mr. Berko-Boyler took me out anywhere? she asked,
scowling at all three of us.
I ve no idea.
Saturday.
Well, that s notthat long ago
Saturday, October the sixth, 1983, she said with a contemptuous sniff, and
shuffled past us into the living room. Nineteen years ago. Makes me sick, I
tell you. Hello, Tuesday, she said in a kindlier tone. Where s your sister?
We walked down to the tram stop in silence. Friday s lack of interest in the
ChronoGuard was a matter not only of annoyance butsurprise. The Standard
History Eventline had him joining the industry three years ago on their Junior
Time Scout program, something that he had failed to do despite our efforts and
those of the ChronoGuard, which was as concerned as we were. But we couldn t
force him either time was the glue of the cosmos and had to beeased apart push
destiny too hard and it had an annoying habit of pushing back. He had to join
the ChronoGuard, but it had to be his decision. Every way you looked at it,
time was out of joint.
14.
The ChronoGuard
SpecOps-12 is the ChronoGuard, the governmental department dealing with
Temporal Stability. Its job is to maintain the integrity of the Standard
History Eventline (SHE) and police the time stream against any unauthorized
changes or usage. Its most brilliant work is never noticed, as changes in the
past always seem to have been that way. Planet-destroying cataclysms generally
happen twice a week but are carefully rerouted by skilled ChronoGuard
operatives. The citizenry never notices a thing which is just as well, really.
The ChronoGuard had its regional offices in the old SpecOps building where I
had worked at SO-27, the Literary Detectives. It was a large, no-nonsense
Germanic design that had certainly seen better days. Landen and I walked into
what had once been the main debriefing room, Friday shuffling in behind us,
hands thrust deeply in his pockets and head nodding to the beat of his
Walkman. Of course, this being the ChronoGuard, they already had a list of
attendees from the forms we d filled out at the end of the evening, which
seemed to work quite well until a couple with a spotty kid in front of us
Page 75
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
found they weren t on the list.
Oh, dear, said the woman at the registration desk in an apologetic tone.
But it seems that you don t stay until the end of the presentation, so we ve
been unable to include you in the registration process. You re going to have
to come to the next careers presentation in six months time.
The father of the group scratched his head for a moment, stopped to say
something, thought better of it and then departed, arguing with his wife.
Mr. and Mrs. Parke-Laine-Next and their son, Friday, I said to the woman,
who blinked for a few seconds, looked at Friday, gave a shy smile and then
started to chatter and gush in a most unseemly manner.
Mr. Next Friday how do you do? I ve wanted to meet you again for the first
time. May I shake you by the hand and congratulate you on
She stopped, realized she was being a bit previous and making a fool of
herself, so coughed in an embarrassed manner before smoothing her skirt
absently and sitting down again.
Sorry. Welcome to the pre sen ta tion. Here are your badges and your
information pack. If you would like to go in, Captain Scintilla will join you
soon.
We dutifully took our seats, and Friday slouched in a very obvious
don t-give-a-monkey s manner until I told him to sit up straight, which he
didn t like but sat up nonetheless.
What are we doing here? he asked in a bored voice. And why the time
industry? What about plumbing or something?
Because your grandfather was a time operative.
Yeah, he grunted, and look what happened to him.
Landen and I exchanged glances. Friday was right. Ending up not having
existed wasn t a terrific end to a promising career.
Well! said a youthful-looking man in the pale blue uniform of the
ChronoGuard who up until now had been helping escort the previous group out of
the room. My name is Captain Bendix Scintilla, and I am head of ChronoGuard
Recruitment. I d like to welcome all of you to this ChronoGuard careers pre
sen ta tion and hope that this short talk might go some way toward explaining
what it is that we done. Did.Do. Anyhow, my aims are twofold: secondly, to try
to demonstrate to the young people here that a career in the time industry is
a very exciting prospect indeed and, firstly, to lift the lid on the Temporal
Trade and explode a few common myths and misunderstandings. As I m about to
say, did say or would say, my name is Bendix Scintilla, and I was died on
March sixteenth, 3291. I m twenty-three years old in my own personal time,
seven hundred and twenty-six in my elapsed work time, and you meet me
twenty-seven percent through my life.
He smiled, unaware that he was making very little sense. I was used to it,
but by the manner in which the rest of the audience members were scratching
their heads and looking at one another, they weren t. Bendix picked up a solid
bar of yellow plastic that was about three feet long, two inches wide and
domed at either end.
Does anyone know what this is? he asked. There was silence, so he passed it
Page 76
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
to the nearest family and told them to pass it on. Anyone who can guess wins
a prize.
The first family shrugged and passed it to us. Friday gave it the most
cursory of glances, and I passed it on.
Yes, sir? asked Bendix, pointing to a man in the front row who was with his
painfully thin wife and a pair of geeky-looking twins.
Me? said the man in a confused voice.
Yes. I understand you have a question? Sorry, I should have explained. To
save time I thought I d ask youbefore you actually raised your hand.
Oh! said the man, and then he shrugged and said, I was wondering, since we
were told this was the only open day for six months, just who the previous
group filing out of the door was and why were they looking at us in that
extremely inquisitive manner?
Why, that wasyou good people, of course! In order not to keep you from your
busy schedules, this meeting actually takes no time at all. The moment you
arrived was precisely the time you left, only out the other entrance so you
wouldn t meet yourselves.
As soon as he said it, a twitter of understanding and wonderment went through
the small group. I d experienced the ChronoGuard in the past, so these sorts
of cheap parlor tricks didn t impress me, but for many of the people present, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]