Chaos in Lagrangia by Mack Reynolds

Author:Mack Reynolds [Reynolds, Mack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci Fi & Fantasy
ISBN: 9780812551280
Google: -lMwNgAACAAJ
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 1984-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

As they rode back toward her house, Martha looked over at Balt and said, “Those knock-knock jokes of yours are strictly from maize.”

He pretended indignation. “You’re not intellectual enough to understand them.”

“Ha,” she said. “There was a better line of yaks from an even earlier period. You simply take an old saying, or a quote and drop one word off the end of it.”

He glanced over at her. “What’s funny about that?”

“Well, for instance, It’s an ill wind that blows nobody.”

He snorted, “Holy Jumping Zen, it’d take you to come up with one like that.”

She said, “How about, You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make her.”

Balt said, “Wizard, but that’s a take-off on a knock-knock. Knock, knock.”

She sighed in resignation. “Who’s there?”

“Horticulture.”

“Horticulture who?”

“You can lead a horticulture but you can’t make her think.”

“I’ve had it,” she told him. “Listen, what’s our approach to Dad?”

“I don’t know. We’ll just have to play it by ear. You’re sure he belongs to this Sons of Liberty outfit?”

“He’s avid,” she told him definitely. “He has nothing else to do, for that matter. He hasn’t worked for over two years. He was trained as an agronomist and agriculture has been automated to the point that I doubt if more than a couple of hundred are employed in Grissom and Komarov combined. And, of course, since they’ve cancelled the building of Island Five there’s nothing in the line of setting up new systems.”

He looked over at her, from the side of his eyes and said, “Look, what would the old boy say if he knew that you were laying for me?”

She was surprised at the question. “Why should he care? I’ve been getting poked since I was fourteen.” She thought about it. “No, thirteen. And I liked it the first time I did it and every time since.”

They pulled up before her home, racked their wheels and went on in.

Fredric M-I/2-A-90 HH1783 was seated before the Tri-Di screen, looking pleased at whatever he was seeing and hearing. He looked up at their entrance.

He was a man in his mid-thirties, square of face, unhappy of expression usually though not now, and looked something like Rudolph Hess at the time of the Nazi takeover. He was nervous of mannerism and had little humor in his make-up. He seemed an unlikely parent for Martha.

He said, “Hello, Balt. What spins?”

Balt said, “Not much.” He slumped into a chair, teenage fashion, and said, “What’s on the air?”

“Damn good speech by Lonzo, Councilor for the Education Function. We need more men like him.” Martha had gone on into her bedroom.

The younger man said, “Oh? What was he talking about? I’ve heard some speeches by Lonzo before. Usually makes a lot of sense.”

Fredric looked at him in approval. “I didn’t know you young people had any interest in Lagrangian affairs.”

“Oh, sure. You’d be surprised. A lot of us don’t think much of the way things are going these days.” Fredric nodded. “That’s just what Lonzo was getting at.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.