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.Hmm! I wonder if it couldhave to do with the angle of incidence of the light--No, that wouldn't fiteither.And most of the early ones, come to think of it, are all right.It'sonly from about the point where we climbed up the rockfall that I startedhaving trouble.Maybe a wind-blown drop on the lens, butI was careful to shield it.Oh, I can't figure it out, unless." She fixedhim with a stern glare."You didn't drop the leaf-pack by any chance?""No, I promise I didn't!" Awb cried, recoiling in alarm."And if I had, surelythe damage would show on one edge or one corner?""Ah.Yes, of course it would.I'm sorry." Thilling clattered her mandiblesin confusion."This makes no sense at all, you know.It's as thoughsome trace of light--very bright light--got through the pack-wrap, and.""A fault in the making," Awb offered.Page 210ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlfile:///G|/rah/John%20Brunner%20-%20The%20Crucible%20of%20Time.txt (338 of557) [2/14/2004 12:25:09 AM]file:///G|/rah/John%20Brunner%20-%20The%20Crucible%20of%20Time.txt"I suppose so." All of a sudden she sounded weary."But I never had troublewith my supplier before.I've been trying not to arrive at that conclusion,because if all the leaf-packs I have with me are faulty, I might as well nothave come."Startled to find himself in the unprecedented situation of having to reassurean adult, Awb said, "Please, you're making too much of this.As far as I couldtell, those images were fine until you pointed out the flaws.Nobody is likely to notice what worries you so much, except maybe anotherpicturist.""I suppose you're right," Thilling sighed."Let's go and eat something.I've had enough for one bright, or even two."Because the scientists were still arguing, Axwep had suggested thatLesh and her senior colleagues, along with Eupril and some of her companions,should eat this evening on Voosla, where the food was better than on shore.However, although she made it clear that she could not repeat the invitationregularly, because any floating city was in a delicate balance with itsinhabitants and the best efforts of the giqs could never gather as muchnourishment as she collected for herself in open water, there were some whoinstantly accused the mayor of wasting public resources.Wasn't it bad enough to have brought these scores of passengers all thisway?--that was their cry, and they took no account of the fact that Voosla hadbeen specially replanted with new high-yielding secondary growths developed atthe University of Chisp, which would continue paying her back long after thereturn voyage.Prominent among those who complained, of course, was Phrallet.Ax-wep hadfinally lost patience with her, and ordered that she be forbidden access tothe prime food zone.Tagging along behind Trilling, Awb managedfile:///G|/rah/John%20Brunner%20-%20The%20Crucible%20of%20Time.txt (339 of557) [2/14/2004 12:25:09 AM]file:///G|/rah/John%20Brunner%20-%20The%20Crucible%20of%20Time.txt to steal inand join the company, hoping desperately as he nibbled a bit here and a bitthere that his budder would not get to hear.Finding herself next to one of Eupril's fellow quarry-workers, whom she hadseen earlier but not spoken with, Thilling said, "What's all this about apoison, then? Why can't it be a disease? Name of Thilling, by the way.""Name of Hy," said the other."Well, it's because of the way it acts inBLOOM 181living tissue, of course.Ever hear of a disease organism that simply killedthe cells around it, without spreading, or reseeding itself at a distant site?Oh, we've carried out all the tests we're equipped for, and we even managed toget our claws on the corpses of some of the natives.They don't seem to careabout their dead, just leave 'em to rot.And in every single case we've foundnecrotic tissue, either in the digestive tract or quite often in thePage 211ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlnerve-pith, and if you take the dead center--excuse me!--and triturate it andapply microscopic drops to a suitable test medium, like the partly flayed rindof a cutinate.Well, what would you expect to see?"Thilling frowned with her entire mantle."A whole series of infection-sites,obviously.""That's exactly what we thought.Wrong.One and only ever one new patch ofnecrosis.The rest is unaffected [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]