The Computer Connection by Alfred Bester & Harlan Ellison & Harlan Ellison
Author:Alfred Bester & Harlan Ellison & Harlan Ellison [Bester, Alfred]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 1588240053
Publisher: ipicturebooks
Published: 2010-01-11T16:00:00+00:00
9
When I got to the tepee at last, Natoma was there with Borgia and Mâbantu. Also the wolves. Also Jacy. I was too exhausted to be surprised. The Zulu took one look at my face and said, âI will take the wolves for a walk.â
âNo, please. It might be better for me to talk. You know what happened?â
âWe do,â Borgia said. âGuess called at the house and asked us to come here. He told us why.â
âDr. Guess said you would probably try to hole up like a sick animal and would need all help,â Mâbantu added.
âDio!Do I!â I tried to crawl up to reality. âIâWhereâs the Greek?â
âHe go,â Natoma said. âBusinessiness.â
âWhat has happened to the poor girlâs clay?â Jacy asked.
âTheyâThey wanted to bury her in a public compost. I held out for a private. El Arrivederci. Thatâs what took so long. . . . Arrivederci. . . . Until we meet again. Isnât that a laugh? Fee w-would haveââ I began to cry. Iâd been holding it back for hours and now it came out in bursts and heaves. Natoma put her arms around me to comfort me. I shook her off. âNo,â I said. âI killed her. I deserve nothing.â
âMy dear Guig,â Borgia began briskly.
âNothing!â I shouted.
âLove Fee,â Natoma said.
âYes. Yes, Nat. She was my baby, and I watched her grow into a woman. . . . A great lady. . . . And I killed her. Arrivederci, F. Iâll never see her again.â
âThe cryocapsule killed her, Guig.â
âDâyou know how and why, McB? I know and I know Iâm accountable. I murdered her.â
âNo, no, no!â They were all emphatic.
âIt was the oversophisticated machine, Guig,â Mâbantu said. âIt was bound to break down sooner or later. Machinery always does.â
âBut this time I made it break down.â
âHow?â
âI talked too much.â
âTo whom?â
âThe machine.â
Mâbantu threw up his hands. âForgive me, Guig. Youâre not making sense.â
âI know it. I know it. Fee-5 gave me the information when we were in the bubble. She could bug Extroâs conversations with Sequoya. I had to blab it like a damned show-off. Damn me. Damn my goddamn mouth. And sheâll never be able to forgive me. Never. Never.â
âNeverââ
I burst into tears again.
Jacy said, âI will take Guig for a walk. Just the two of us. Please wait here, children.â
Mâbantu said, âItâs dangerous to walk without protection. Take a wolf. I will instruct him.â
âThank you. No wolf will be needed. Kiss him, my love.â
Natoma kissed me and out we went, Jacyâs hand on my shoulder. It was the usual hell in the streets; a labyrinth of horror. The streets and lanes twisted and corkscrewed, crossing each other, sometimes broken through abandoned buildings, giant heaps of debris and small wastelands. They were dotted with rotting bods, alive and dead and stinking. There were cul-de-sacs where gangs lurked, fought, and swung in Sado-Mac wars that would have astonished Krafft-Ebing. We passed one blind alley where a small mob was poised for an attack, but they were all skeletons in tatters. Burned by a flesh gun.
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