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I allowed myself to get mad as hell. I encouraged it, stoked it.
"All right," I said. "Those same ancestors used to poke things like you off limbs just for laughs-to watch you spit and fall, to see whether you always landed on your feet. It's an old game. Hasn't been played properly in ages. I am about to revive it, in the name of my fathers. Behold the riant anthropoid, beware its crooked thumbs!"
I seized the beam and pulled myself up.
It backed up, paused, advanced, paused again. I felt a growing elation at its indecisiveness, a sense of triumph over the halting of the bombing of my mind. When I reached its level I ducked my head low and thrust both hands up onto the girder far enough apart so that whichever got clawed the other would still be sufficient for support.
It made as if to attack, apparently thought better of it, then turned and ran.
I pulled myself up. I stood.
I watched it scamper away, not halting until it was on the opposite side of the square of steel we held. Then I moved to the nearest corner and it moved to the farthest corner. I started up the next side. It started down the opposite side. I halted. It halted. We stared at each other.
"Okay," I said, taking out a cigarette and lighting it "With a stalemate you lose, you know. Those folks below aren't just sitting on their hands. They're calling for assistance. Every route down will be covered before long. I'm betting someone will be by soon in a chopper, too-with a mercy gun with infra-red sights. I have always understood it to be a little better thing to surrender than to resist arrest when you are in trouble. I am a bona fide representative of both my country's State Department and the United Nations. Choose whichever one you prefer. I-"
"Very well," the thought came into my mind. "I will surrender to you in your capacity as a State Department employee."
It immediately moved to the next corner, turned there and advanced along that side at a steady pace. I turned back, moving toward the corner I had recently quit. It reached that point before I did, however, turned and continued on toward me.
"Hold it right there," I said, "and consider yourself in custody."
Instead, it bounded forward and sprang toward me, my mind instantly filling with something which, when supplied with words, came through, roughly, as "It is (satisfying / noble) to die with your (teeth / claws) (in / at) the (throat / heart) of the enemy of (nest / totem / civilization)! Die, nestmolester!"
My hand had shot forward just as it was springing, and for want of any other weapon I had flipped my cigarette into its face.
It twisted and slapped at it just before its feet left the girder. I tried to drop back and go into a crouch at the same time, raising my arms for balance, for protection.
It hit me, but not in the throat or heart. It struck against my left shoulder, clawing wildly, raking my left arm and side. And then it fell.
An instant of thoughts and actions inseparable: Regain my balance, save the nasty little thing-for whatever it knew-right arm crossbody, weight shift to left foot, left hand dipping, hooking, seizing-don't overcompensate!-comes now the jerk, the tugging, the pull-
I had it! I had hold of it by the tail! But-
A brief resistance, a sudden ripping, a new shifting of moment ...
I held only a black, stiff, artificial tail, shreds of some rubbery costume material still attached. I caught a glimpse of the small, dark form as it passed through the area of greater illumination below. I don't believe that it landed on its feet.
Chapter 12
Time.
More fragments, pieces, bits ... Time.
Epiphany in Black & Light, Scenario in Green, Gold, Purple & Gray ...
There is a man. He is climbing in the dusky daysend air, climbing the high Tower of Cheslerei in a place called Ardel beside a sea with a name he ca
Climbing from hold to green stone on the seaward side of the structure, he has contrived to race with the last of the day as it flees upward, tilts, prepares to jump. In the antic light of evening the top of the Tower of Cheslerei is the last spot touched by the daygold before its departure from the capitol. He has given himself the time from the begi
He is racing with shadows now, his own already diffuse about him, his hands darting like fish above the darkness. In the great high places above him the night continues with the minting of stars. Through atmosphere's crystal mask, he glimpses their englossment as he goes. He is panting now, and the spot of gold has diminished. The shadows begin to pass him as he mounts.
But it lingers, that tiny touch of gold on the green. Thinking, perhaps, of another place of green and gold, he moves even faster, pacing his shadow, gaining on it. The light fades for an instant, returns for another.
During that instant, he catches hold of the parapet and heaves himself upward, like a swimmer departing the water.
He draws himself up and stands, turning his head toward the sea, toward the light. Yes ...
He catches the final fleck of gold that it tosses. For a moment only he stares after it.
He seats himself then on the stone and regards the night's other thousands, as he had never seen them before. For a long while, he watches ... I know him well, of course.
Portrait of Boy & Dog Romping on the Beach, TickTock and Tempest Past, Fragment- "Fetch, boy! Fetch!"
"Damn it, Ragma! Learn to throw a frisbee properly if you want to play! I'm getting tired of going after it!"
He chuckled. I recovered it and sailed it back. He caught it and threw it, to lose it again in the bushes upshore.
"That's it," I said. "I quit. It's hopeless. You catch fine, but you throw lousy."
I turned and headed back toward the water. A few moments later I heard a scuffing noise and he was at my side.
"We have a game somewhat like that back home," he said. "I was never very good at it there either."
We watched the waves foam in, green to gray, crowding and frothing as they ran.
"Give me a cigarette," Ragma said.
I did, taking one myself also.
"If I tell you what I know you want to know, I will be breaking security," he said.
I said nothing. I had already guessed as much.
"But I am going to tell you anyhow," he went on. "Not details. Just the general picture. I am going to exercise my discretion. It is really pretty much an open secret, and now that your people are begi
"My Cheshire cat ... " I began.
"Was a Whillowhim," he said, "a representative of one of the most powerful cultures in the galaxy. Competition among the various peoples who make up the total of civilization has always been keen in terms of trade and the exploitation of new worlds. There are great cultures and massive power blocs, and then there are-developing worlds, shall we say?-such as your own, newly arrived at the threshold of the big world. One day your people will probably have membership in our Council, with the right to a voice and a vote. What sort of strength do you think you will wield?"