[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

his vision seemed to be
limited to about two feet clearly, three before almost everything was lost.
Still, he could see very close, and it almost looked to him as if he had some
sort of muzzle on, as if he could see part of his nose and jaw.
Then the door opened, and he smelled Mengele Turtle enter. The doctor if that
was what he could be called began making a lot of very stupid silly noises at
him, until finally he heard, "One . . . two . . . three.
Page 167
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Ah! I see you can hear me now! Very good! We, of course, removed your
translator, among, ah, other things. It has been replaced with an artificial
device that interpolates speech both in and out. You can speak, but to be
understood you will have to be heard by someone with the same sort of device
set to the same frequency. Similarly, you must hear something through the same
conditions to understand it.
Otherwise, even your native tongue will sound like nothing more than a noise
pattern. It is quite useful for couriers such as you will be trained to
become. It can't be removed or bypassed without causing permanent damage to
the speech centers of the brain, and it can be reset to any frequency we
choose or even reprogrammed with a whole new code by remote control. You see
how handy that is. You can convey the most sensitive message, but only one who
has both the de-vice and your code and frequency can retrieve it.
You, on the other hand, sound like an animal making random noises. If anyone
attempts to play random sequences and hits it but does not give the code
header, it erases, cutting you off completely. Absolutely secure."
"Very clever," he admitted sourly. "But what sort of cou-rier would this body
make? And what makes you so sure that I'll transfer the right information?"
"Well, you will be trained, of course, both in the uses of the body and in
courier technique. You will be used locally, basically between Agon and Clopta
through Lilblod. The system itself is simple. There is a specific version of
the drug you are on. To survive, you will have to make your assignations, for
only they will have it. If any of them find out later that you gave false or
incorrect or even incomplete information, they will notify someone and they
might well forget your dose. As for finding your way, it will take prac-tice,
but you will find that your senses of smell and hearing are incredibly acute.
You will learn to follow days-old scents and interpret a vast number of
sounds. As most of your route will be through dense forest at night, sight is
of little use anyway. The drug will motivate you and ease your pain and
exhaustion.
Your digestive system can handle most of the ground-level plants of Lilblod.
Save for an in-significant amount of the drug you need, you are, shall we say,
cost-free and maintenance-free labor."
"Yeah, well these breasts are going to cause no end of trouble in the woods."
"They are tough, and you will get used to them. In ad-dition to supplying your
absent clotting factor, they can carry enough food in the form of fat and
water to allow you, if need be, to exist for a week or more eating and
drinking nothing, so if something happens and you fall be-hind, you can skip
food and water to make up time. You also have a small pouch of which I'm quite
proud. It will hold small microencoded materials and even carry the re-ceiving
code and frequency for you. It will, however, dis-solve such material in
gastric juices if you are very late getting your dosage. Withdrawal, in other
words, triggers it, so even if you are captured, nothing will be learned."
"You must have studied hard to think up things like this."
The doctor ignored the comment. "Food and drink will be necessities, but they
consist of raw leaves and grasses and water only water will really do and
they'll taste pretty much like what they are. Anything else will make you
sick. You won't have much in the way of conversations or companionship,
obviously, and you are as asexual as a machine. We were able to locate and
neutralize the actual sexual center in your brain. You can't have sex, do not
and will not want it, won't even fantasize about it; indeed, if we've done it
properly, you won't even be able to figure out why you or anyone else liked it
in the first place. It boils down to this: The only thing, the absolute only
thing that can and will stimulate your pleasure center is our little cube.
Over time, as brain and body adjust, it will become your sole reason for
existence and our sole expense. Per-fect, are you not?"
"Yeah. Perfect."
Drug or not, I'll kill myself at the first opportunity rather than live like
that.
He seemed to anticipate the thought, "If you think of su-icide, be sure you do
Page 168
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
it, because otherwise we'll give you no cube at all for one full cycle . . ."
That was too much. He knew he'd never go through with it, couldn't kill
himself with that kind of threat.
They had won. All this way and the bad guys had won!
For the other captive it was possibly even worse.
At one time or another Mavra Chang had been put on or tried an enormous number
of drugs, but nothing like rhap-sody. Within minutes it seemed as if every
pleasure center in her brain and body exploded in
continuous delight while all else, everything else, faded into total
insignificance. She knew she was still chained to the wall, but it just didn't
seem important, nor did it when they released her and she dropped to the
floor. Everything, every touch, every move, was a new delight.
She was aware of others, of being asked questions and answering them, but it
was of so little consequence, she didn't even remember the specifics of the
conversations. Darkness, light, colors, sounds, creatures moving around, all
had their wonders and delights. She was being poked and probed and moved here
and there, but none of it really mattered to her.
It was hard to say how long this lasted, but the coming down was very, very
slow. Awareness outside of herself re-turned in dribs and drabs, shapes and
creatures took on more realistic appearances, and things began to seem more
logical. Even so, she remained high and knew she was, able to function but [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]