The Repairman, page 4
courtesy!" I shouted. He made little bubbles in the water."The ancestors are annoyed and have decided to forbid entrance to theInner Temple forever; though, out of kindness, they will let the watersflow. Now I must return--on with the ceremony!"
The torture-master was too frightened to move, so I grabbed out his hotiron. A touch on the side of my face dropped a steel plate over my eyes,under the plastiskin. Then I jammed the iron hard into my phonyeye-sockets and the plastic gave off an authentic odor.
A cry went up from the crowd as I dropped the iron and staggered inblind circles. I must admit it went off pretty well.
* * * * *
Before they could get any more bright ideas, I threw the switch and myplastic pterodactyl sailed in through the door. I couldn't see it, ofcourse, but I knew it had arrived when the grapples in the claws latchedonto the steel plates on my shoulders.
I had got turned around after the eye-burning and my flying beast hookedonto me backward. I had meant to sail out bravely, blind eyes facinginto the sunset; instead, I faced the crowd as I soared away, so I madethe most of a bad situation and threw them a snappy military salute.Then I was out in the fresh air and away.
When I lifted the plate and poked holes in the seared plastic, I couldsee the pyramid growing smaller behind me, water gushing out of the baseand a happy crowd of reptiles sporting in its radioactive rush. Icounted off on my talons to see if I had forgotten anything.
One: The beacon was repaired.
Two: The door was sealed, so there should be no more sabotage,accidental or deliberate.
Three: The priests should be satisfied. The water was running again, myeyes had been duly burned out, and they were back in business. Whichadded up to--
Four: The fact that they would probably let another repairman in, underthe same conditions, if the beacon conked out again. At least I had donenothing, like butchering a few of them, that would make themantagonistic toward future ancestral messengers.
I stripped off my tattered lizard suit back in the ship, very glad thatit would be some other repairman who'd get the job.
--HARRY HARRISON
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Galaxy_ February 1958. Extensive researchdid not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publicationwas renewed.
Thank you for reading books on Archive.BookFrom.Net
Share this book with friends
The torture-master was too frightened to move, so I grabbed out his hotiron. A touch on the side of my face dropped a steel plate over my eyes,under the plastiskin. Then I jammed the iron hard into my phonyeye-sockets and the plastic gave off an authentic odor.
A cry went up from the crowd as I dropped the iron and staggered inblind circles. I must admit it went off pretty well.
* * * * *
Before they could get any more bright ideas, I threw the switch and myplastic pterodactyl sailed in through the door. I couldn't see it, ofcourse, but I knew it had arrived when the grapples in the claws latchedonto the steel plates on my shoulders.
I had got turned around after the eye-burning and my flying beast hookedonto me backward. I had meant to sail out bravely, blind eyes facinginto the sunset; instead, I faced the crowd as I soared away, so I madethe most of a bad situation and threw them a snappy military salute.Then I was out in the fresh air and away.
When I lifted the plate and poked holes in the seared plastic, I couldsee the pyramid growing smaller behind me, water gushing out of the baseand a happy crowd of reptiles sporting in its radioactive rush. Icounted off on my talons to see if I had forgotten anything.
One: The beacon was repaired.
Two: The door was sealed, so there should be no more sabotage,accidental or deliberate.
Three: The priests should be satisfied. The water was running again, myeyes had been duly burned out, and they were back in business. Whichadded up to--
Four: The fact that they would probably let another repairman in, underthe same conditions, if the beacon conked out again. At least I had donenothing, like butchering a few of them, that would make themantagonistic toward future ancestral messengers.
I stripped off my tattered lizard suit back in the ship, very glad thatit would be some other repairman who'd get the job.
--HARRY HARRISON
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Galaxy_ February 1958. Extensive researchdid not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publicationwas renewed.
