[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
same as no recovery."
Which is explained to her before the installation of the jack." He held up a
document five or six pages long. "Before she signs the release."
"Why don't you jack her and ask her?" I said.
"It is not simple," Spencer said. "The first moment she is jacked, is new, new
neural pathways are formed. The network grows ..." He gestured with one hand.
Page 48
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"It grows more than fast."
"It grows at an exponential rate," Marty said. "The longer she's jacked, the
more experiences she has, the harder it is to undo."
"And so this is why we do not ask her."
"In America you'd have to," Marty said. "Right of full disclosure."
"America is a very strange country. You don't mind my saying?"
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/1998%20-%20Novel%20+%20n...99%20-%20Forever%20Peace%
20by%20Joe%20Haldeman.txt (63 of 261)15-8-2005 0:05:12
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/1998%20-%20Novel%20+%20nebula%201999%20-%20Forever%2
0Peace%20by%20Joe%20Haldeman.txt
"If I jacked with her," I said, "I could be in and out muy pronto. Dr.
Larrin's had a jack longer, but it's not an everyday tool, the way it is with
a mechanic." Spencer frowned at that. "A soldier."
"Yes ... I suppose that's true." He leaned back and paused. "Still, it is
against the law."
Marty gave him a look. "This law is never broken."
"I think you would say 'bent.' The law is bent, for foreigners." Marty made an
unambiguous gesture with thumb and two fingers. "Well... not a bribe, as such.
Some bureaucracy, and a tax. Do either of you have a ..." He opened a desk
drawer and said, "Poder."
The drawer answered, "Power of attorney."
"Do you have one of those with her?"
We looked at each other and shook our heads. "This was a surprise to both of
us."
"She was not well advised. This is something she should have done. Is either
of you her fiance?''
"You could say that," I said.
''Bueno, okay.'' He picked a card out of a drawer and passed it over. "Go to
this office after nine o'clock and this woman will issue you a temporary
designation de responsabilidad." He repeated it into the drawer. "State of
Jalisco Temporary Assignment of Legal Responsibility," it translated.
"Wait," I said. "This allows a person's fiance to authorize a life-threatening
surgical procedure?"
He shrugged. "Brother, sister, too. Uncle, aunt, nephew. Only when the person
cannot decide for himself, herself. People wind up in Profesora Harding's
situation every day. Several people every day, counting Mexico City and
Acapulco."
It made sense; elective surgery must be one of the biggest sources of foreign
income for Guadalajara, maybe for all of Mexico. I turned the card over; the
English side said, "Accommodations to the Mexican
Legal System."
"How much is this going to cost?"
"Maybe ten thousand pesos." Five hundred dollars.
"I can pay for it," Marty said.
"No, let me do it. I'm the fiance." I also make three times his salary.
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/1998%20-%20Novel%20+%20n...99%20-%20Forever%20Peace%
20by%20Joe%20Haldeman.txt (64 of 261)15-8-2005 0:05:12
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/1998%20-%20Novel%20+%20nebula%201999%20-%20Forever%2
0Peace%20by%20Joe%20Haldeman.txt
"Whoever," Spencer said. "You come back with the piece of paper and me, I set
up the jack. But have your mind ready. Find the answer and then unplug. That
will be safer and easier all around."
But what would I do if she asked me to stay?
It took almost as long to find the lawyer as it had to get to Guadalajara from
Texas. They had moved.
Their new digs were not impressive, a table and a moth-eaten couch, but they
Page 49
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
did have all the paperwork. I wound up with a limited power of attorney that
gave me authority for medical decisions. It was a little scary, how easy the
process was.
When I came back, I was directed to Surgery B, a small white room. Dr. Spencer
had Amelia prepped for both jacking and surgery, lying on a gurney with a drip
in each arm. A thin cable led from the back of her head to a gray box on a
table. Another jack was coiled on top of it. Marty was dozing in a chair by
the door. He woke up when I came in.
"Where's the doctor?" I said.
"Aqui." He was right behind me. "You have the paper?" I handed it to him; he
glanced at it, folded it, and put it in his pocket.
He touched Amelia on the shoulder, and then put the back of his hand on her
cheek, then her forehead, an oddly maternal gesture.
"For you, you know ... this is not going to be easy."
"Easy? I spend a third of my life "
"Jacked, si. But not with someone who's never done it before. Not with someone
you love." He pointed.
"Bring that chair here and sit."
While I was doing that, he rummaged through a couple of drawers. "Roll up your
sleeve."
I did that and he buzzed off a little patch of hair with a razor, then
unwrapped a 'derm and slapped it on.
"What's that, a trank?"
"Not exactly. It does trank, tranquilize, in a way. It softens the blow, the
shock of first contact."
"But I've done first contact a dozen times." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl rafalstec.xlx.pl
same as no recovery."
Which is explained to her before the installation of the jack." He held up a
document five or six pages long. "Before she signs the release."
"Why don't you jack her and ask her?" I said.
"It is not simple," Spencer said. "The first moment she is jacked, is new, new
neural pathways are formed. The network grows ..." He gestured with one hand.
Page 48
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"It grows more than fast."
"It grows at an exponential rate," Marty said. "The longer she's jacked, the
more experiences she has, the harder it is to undo."
"And so this is why we do not ask her."
"In America you'd have to," Marty said. "Right of full disclosure."
"America is a very strange country. You don't mind my saying?"
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/1998%20-%20Novel%20+%20n...99%20-%20Forever%20Peace%
20by%20Joe%20Haldeman.txt (63 of 261)15-8-2005 0:05:12
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/1998%20-%20Novel%20+%20nebula%201999%20-%20Forever%2
0Peace%20by%20Joe%20Haldeman.txt
"If I jacked with her," I said, "I could be in and out muy pronto. Dr.
Larrin's had a jack longer, but it's not an everyday tool, the way it is with
a mechanic." Spencer frowned at that. "A soldier."
"Yes ... I suppose that's true." He leaned back and paused. "Still, it is
against the law."
Marty gave him a look. "This law is never broken."
"I think you would say 'bent.' The law is bent, for foreigners." Marty made an
unambiguous gesture with thumb and two fingers. "Well... not a bribe, as such.
Some bureaucracy, and a tax. Do either of you have a ..." He opened a desk
drawer and said, "Poder."
The drawer answered, "Power of attorney."
"Do you have one of those with her?"
We looked at each other and shook our heads. "This was a surprise to both of
us."
"She was not well advised. This is something she should have done. Is either
of you her fiance?''
"You could say that," I said.
''Bueno, okay.'' He picked a card out of a drawer and passed it over. "Go to
this office after nine o'clock and this woman will issue you a temporary
designation de responsabilidad." He repeated it into the drawer. "State of
Jalisco Temporary Assignment of Legal Responsibility," it translated.
"Wait," I said. "This allows a person's fiance to authorize a life-threatening
surgical procedure?"
He shrugged. "Brother, sister, too. Uncle, aunt, nephew. Only when the person
cannot decide for himself, herself. People wind up in Profesora Harding's
situation every day. Several people every day, counting Mexico City and
Acapulco."
It made sense; elective surgery must be one of the biggest sources of foreign
income for Guadalajara, maybe for all of Mexico. I turned the card over; the
English side said, "Accommodations to the Mexican
Legal System."
"How much is this going to cost?"
"Maybe ten thousand pesos." Five hundred dollars.
"I can pay for it," Marty said.
"No, let me do it. I'm the fiance." I also make three times his salary.
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/1998%20-%20Novel%20+%20n...99%20-%20Forever%20Peace%
20by%20Joe%20Haldeman.txt (64 of 261)15-8-2005 0:05:12
file:///H|/eMule/Incoming/1998%20-%20Novel%20+%20nebula%201999%20-%20Forever%2
0Peace%20by%20Joe%20Haldeman.txt
"Whoever," Spencer said. "You come back with the piece of paper and me, I set
up the jack. But have your mind ready. Find the answer and then unplug. That
will be safer and easier all around."
But what would I do if she asked me to stay?
It took almost as long to find the lawyer as it had to get to Guadalajara from
Texas. They had moved.
Their new digs were not impressive, a table and a moth-eaten couch, but they
Page 49
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
did have all the paperwork. I wound up with a limited power of attorney that
gave me authority for medical decisions. It was a little scary, how easy the
process was.
When I came back, I was directed to Surgery B, a small white room. Dr. Spencer
had Amelia prepped for both jacking and surgery, lying on a gurney with a drip
in each arm. A thin cable led from the back of her head to a gray box on a
table. Another jack was coiled on top of it. Marty was dozing in a chair by
the door. He woke up when I came in.
"Where's the doctor?" I said.
"Aqui." He was right behind me. "You have the paper?" I handed it to him; he
glanced at it, folded it, and put it in his pocket.
He touched Amelia on the shoulder, and then put the back of his hand on her
cheek, then her forehead, an oddly maternal gesture.
"For you, you know ... this is not going to be easy."
"Easy? I spend a third of my life "
"Jacked, si. But not with someone who's never done it before. Not with someone
you love." He pointed.
"Bring that chair here and sit."
While I was doing that, he rummaged through a couple of drawers. "Roll up your
sleeve."
I did that and he buzzed off a little patch of hair with a razor, then
unwrapped a 'derm and slapped it on.
"What's that, a trank?"
"Not exactly. It does trank, tranquilize, in a way. It softens the blow, the
shock of first contact."
"But I've done first contact a dozen times." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]