David's Sling by Marc Stiegler

Author:Marc Stiegler [Stiegler, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780671653699
Google: pVPWPgAACAAJ
Amazon: 0671653695
Publisher: Baen
Published: 1988-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

December 8

America never remembers the past. The Soviet Union never forgets.

—Industrial Age Societies:

A Historical Perspective

Leslie stood outside the intricately etched doorway, reluctant even to make his presence known. He felt the eyes of the lad behind him, and the eyes of the house in front of him. None of it felt good.

This time the house did not sing to him with Amos Leung's voice. He searched the porch for a doorbell, found none. As he finished searching, the door opened.

Flo—beautiful, graceful Flo—appeared as a wraith. "Colonel Evans. You are quite punctual." She spoke with the same melodious precision as always, but with little animation. "Please come in."

Les stepped to the side, motioning to Ronnie. "Thanks. But first let me introduce Ronnie Dwyer. Ronnie just finished his MS in computer science from RPI. Were hoping he can help you with the comm problems."

Squeezing his hands together nervously, Ronnie stepped forward and shook hands with Flo.

Flo smiled with good grace, saying, "I am pleased to meet you."

Ronnie offered her a smile in return and mumbled hello.

The living room in red and gold had not changed; only the encompassing presence of Amos Leung was absent. Leslie kicked one of the beautiful cushions accidentally. The feeling of goatlike awkwardness that Amos always brought upon him returned. He snorted.

"What did you say, Colonel Evans?" Flo asked.

"Nothing," Les replied. In some sense, Amos Leung's presence remained.

"Would you care for some tea?"

Les nodded, but Ronnie spoke rapidly. "No thanks. I don't drink caffeine."

Les rolled his eyes; Flo just smiled at the boy. "I see. Do you drink water?"

"Uh, yeah."

Flo disappeared into the kitchen.

They sat in the quiet peace of Amos's living room for a while. At length Ronnie whispered, "She's beautiful."

"She certainly is. She's also old enough to be your mother."

"I guess so. Man, I wish I were here for some reason other than because her husband . . ."

The cup of tea appeared beside Leslie's cheek, giving off a warm and luscious aroma. "Because my husband died?" Flo finished the sentence.

Ronnie choked; Flo handed him his water.

"My husband was a wonderful man. It will be a great challenge for us to complete our small project without him." She turned away for a moment, then turned back. "But we shall."

Ronnie jumped into the work at hand. "What exactly was Dr. Leung working on at the end?"

"We had submitted part of the HopperHunter's obstacle- dodging software to Mr. Dante-Cortez for testing."

"Have you gotten the results back?"

"Yes. It worked quite well." Flo did not notice the look of shock on Ronnie's face; that kind of software could not possibly work well on first test. Leslie easily guessed the thoughts behind Ronnie's expression: No one writes code that good. Flo continued, "Of course, we had planned to make a few optimizations. The responsiveness of the simulated Hopper lagged when approaching a ridge crest."

Ronnie sipped his water. "What kind of documentation do you have for this stuff?"

"I am the documentation," Flo sang. She pointed at her head. "It is all here. That is why we will work together.

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