Analog Science Fiction and Fact - 2022 11-12 by Penny Publications

Analog Science Fiction and Fact - 2022 11-12 by Penny Publications

Author:Penny Publications [Publications, Penny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penny Publications
Published: 2022-10-31T23:00:00+00:00


Guy Stewart has had stories in Analog, Cast of Wonders, Shoreline of Infinity, Cricket, Stupefying Stories, Nanoism, and an essay in The Writer. He also got to create experiments for episodes of the PBS science shows Newton’s Apple , and T he New Explorers —for which he became the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year.

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Sacred Cow

Larry Niven & Steven Barnes | 7046 words

Taffy’s bedroom was a bit too warm, but I sensed that the chamber itself was cold. Couldn’t feel it of course. It was just a projection from Geneva. And it was probable that none of the people I faced were really at ARM’s Geneva facility at all.

The committee chamber was dark at the edges, with bright glowing circles spotlighting each of five ARM executives. Martin Lister sat second from the left. He was one of my supervisors and seemed more irritated than the others. Maybe that was just his default face, as if a normal person had gargled with lemon juice. “Before we retire to consider, have you anything to say, officer Hamilton?” Lister stands five feet two, lean and muscular, straight black hair, pale complexion, sharpedged nose and chin and cheekbones. It’s hard to meet his eyes. They burn, especially when he is pissed. At those moments there’s someone else living in there, someone I’m not sure I’d want to know.

I fought to control my temper: this was not the time or place for an outburst. “I saved a life,” I said. “Mine. Fujimoto resisted arrest, and it is reasonable to assume he knew he’d be spare parts if found guilty... and he’s guilty as hell.” However true that was, it was also true that Fujimoto was an officer of one of Japan’s largest corporations, and therefore capable of causing ARM trouble. First unwritten rule of any organization: Thou shalt not shit where we eat . Put into improbably appropriate terms, someone wealthy enough to purchase a black-market penis is powerful enough to screw you.

Lister seemed to have expected more of an outburst, was slightly surprised that I’d kept my voice stable. Maybe I’d lost a step in Earth’s gravity well. In the Belt, maintaining a tight rein on your emotions under stress can be all that keeps you and your crew alive.

The woman in the center of the table was a gray-hair, with a symmetrical, unlined face. Which was the correct data? Gray hair, or smooth face? Her name was Wallingford. “Your actions have caused an international incident. ARM functions as it does purely by fiat of the member nations. Tazing a foreign national half to death is NOT the image we wish to project. Is that understood?”

“Yes, but—”

“And there is nothing more to say,” Wallingford said. “You are restricted to ‘level two’ administrative functions until we complete deliberations. Is that understood?”

“Yes.” Restricted to a single syllable. I could feel that my tenure at ARM was hanging by a thread, my career over before it had really begun. What I wanted to



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