Haldeman, Joe - Forever War 02 by Haldeman Joe

Author:Haldeman, Joe
Language: eng
Format: epub

Marty laughed. That's not exactly what I had in mind. But it was, exactly.

JULIAN HAD TO BICYCLE a mile through much-needed rain to get to Marty's lab, so he didn't arrive in too festive a mood.

Marty found him a towel, and a lab coat against the airco chill. They sat on a couple of straight-back chairs by the test bed, which was literally two beds, equipped with full-face helmets. There was a nice view of the sodden campus, ten stories down.

I gave my assistants the Saturday off, Marty said, and routed all my incoming calls to my home office.

We won't be disturbed.

At doing what? Julian said. What do you have in mind?''

I won't know for sure until we're linked. But I'd just as soon keep it between ourselves, for the time being. He pointed to the data console on the other side of the room. If one of my assistants was here, she could patch in one-way and eavesdrop.

Julian got up and inspected the test bed. Where's the interrupt button?

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You don't need one. You want out, just think 'quit' and the link is broken. Julian looked doubtful. It's new. I'm not surprised you haven't seen it before.

Otherwise, you're in control.

Nominally. I control the sensorium, but that's trivial for conversation. I'll change it to whatever you want.

One-way?

We can start out one-way and go limited two-way, 'stream of conversation,' on mutual consent. As Julian knew, Marty couldn't jack deeply with anyone; he'd had the ability removed for security reasons.

Nothing like you and your platoon. We can't really read each other's minds. Just communicate more quickly and clearly.

Okay. Julian hiked himself up on the bed and let out a long breath. Let's get on with it. They both lay down and worked their necks into the soft collars, slipped the plastic sleeves off the water tubes and moved their heads around until the jacks clicked. Then the front half hinged shut over their faces.

An hour later the masks sighed open. Julian's face was slick with sweat.

Marty sat up, looking refreshed. Am I wrong? I don't think so. But I'd better go to North Dakota anyhow.

It's nice this time of year. Dry.

IT WASN'T RAINING WHEN I left Marty's lab, but that turned out to be temporary. I saw a squall line coming at me down the street, but was providentially right by the Student Center. I locked up the bike and got through the doors just as the storm hit.

There's a bright and noisy coffee place under the dome on the top of the building. That felt right. I'd spent too long cooped up in two skulls, contemplating skullduggery.

It was crowded for a Saturday, I guess because of the weather. It took me ten minutes to get through the line and negotiate a cup of coffee and a roll, and then there was no place to sit. But the inside of the dome had a ledge at the proper height for parking against.

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