a little voice.
Ill have to pick all over again. Most of you went home, didnt you?
Some did, Felicia said. We stayed.
We needed students to occupy and hold, to take the administration chambers and dictate terms. We could work from the university as a base, claim it as a forfeit for illegal voiding, claim it for damages If I had been there, thats what we would have done.
I felt like crying. The injustice of Seans veiled accusations, mixed with my very real infatuation and guilt at not serving the cause better, turned my stomach.
Go talk to Gretyl. And you two He pointed to Charles and me. Think it over. Who are you? Where do you want to be in ten years?
Gretyl was less severely injured, but looked worse. Her head had been wrapped in a bulky breather, leaving only a gap for her eyes. She had been laid back at forty-five degrees on a steel recovery plate as well, and tubes ran from mazes of nano clumps on her chest and neck. An arbeiter had discreetly draped the rest of her with a white sheet for our visit. She watched us enter, and her silky artificial voice said, Hows Sean? Youve been to see him?
Hes fine, Oliver said. I was too unhappy to talk.
We havent been allowed to visit. This hospital shits protocol. Whats being said outside? Did we get any attention?
Felicia explained as gently as possible that we really hadnt accomplished much. She was ready to be a little harder with Gretyl than with Sean; perhaps she was infatuated with Sean as well. I had a sudden insight into people and revolutions, and did not like what I saw.
Sean has a plan to change that, Gretyl said.
Im sure he does, Oliver said.
Whats on at UMS?
Theyre moving in a new administration. All the Statist appointees have resigned or been put on leave.
Sounds like theyre being punished.
Its routine. All appointments are being reviewed, Oliver said.
Gretyl sighedan artificial note of great beautyand extended her hand. Felicia squeezed it. Charles and I remained in the background. He thinks the charge that blew up was tampered with, Oliver said.
It may have been, Gretyl said. It must have been.
But only you and he handled it, Charles said.
Gretyl sighed again. It was just a standard Excavex two-kilo tube. We didnt pay a lot of money. The people who stole it for us may have tampered with it. They could have done something to make it go off. Thats possible.
We dont know that, Oliver said.
Listen, friends, if we havent attracted any attention yet, its because She stopped and her eyes tracked the room zipzip, then narrowed.
I have new eyes, she said. Do you like the color? Youd better go now. Well talk later, after Im released.
On our way out of the hospital, in the tunnel connecting us to Times River Stations main tube, a hungry-looking, poorly-dressed and very young male LitVid agent tried to interview us. He followed us for thirty meters, glancing at his slate between what he thought were pointed questions. We were too glum and too smart to give any answers, but despite our reticence, we ended up in a ten-second flash on a side channel for Mars Tharsis local.
Sean, on the other hand, was interviewed the next day for an hour by an agent for New Mars Committee Scan, and that was picked up and broadcast by General Solar to the Triple. He told our story to the planets, and by and large, what he told was not what I remembered.
Nobody else was interviewed.
My sadness grew; my fresh young idealism waned rapidly, replaced by no wisdom to speak of, nothing emotionally concrete.
I thought about Seans words to us, his accusations, his pointed suspicion of me, his interview spreading distortions around the Triple. Now, I would say that he lied, but its possible Sean Dickinson even then was too good a rabbler to respect the truth. And Gretyl, I think, was about to pass on some sound advice about political need dictating how we seeand usehistory.
When we returned to our dorms at UMS, we found notices posted and doors locked. Diane met me and explained
Ill have to pick all over again. Most of you went home, didnt you?
Some did, Felicia said. We stayed.
We needed students to occupy and hold, to take the administration chambers and dictate terms. We could work from the university as a base, claim it as a forfeit for illegal voiding, claim it for damages If I had been there, thats what we would have done.
I felt like crying. The injustice of Seans veiled accusations, mixed with my very real infatuation and guilt at not serving the cause better, turned my stomach.
Go talk to Gretyl. And you two He pointed to Charles and me. Think it over. Who are you? Where do you want to be in ten years?
Gretyl was less severely injured, but looked worse. Her head had been wrapped in a bulky breather, leaving only a gap for her eyes. She had been laid back at forty-five degrees on a steel recovery plate as well, and tubes ran from mazes of nano clumps on her chest and neck. An arbeiter had discreetly draped the rest of her with a white sheet for our visit. She watched us enter, and her silky artificial voice said, Hows Sean? Youve been to see him?
Hes fine, Oliver said. I was too unhappy to talk.
We havent been allowed to visit. This hospital shits protocol. Whats being said outside? Did we get any attention?
Felicia explained as gently as possible that we really hadnt accomplished much. She was ready to be a little harder with Gretyl than with Sean; perhaps she was infatuated with Sean as well. I had a sudden insight into people and revolutions, and did not like what I saw.
Sean has a plan to change that, Gretyl said.
Im sure he does, Oliver said.
Whats on at UMS?
Theyre moving in a new administration. All the Statist appointees have resigned or been put on leave.
Sounds like theyre being punished.
Its routine. All appointments are being reviewed, Oliver said.
Gretyl sighedan artificial note of great beautyand extended her hand. Felicia squeezed it. Charles and I remained in the background. He thinks the charge that blew up was tampered with, Oliver said.
It may have been, Gretyl said. It must have been.
But only you and he handled it, Charles said.
Gretyl sighed again. It was just a standard Excavex two-kilo tube. We didnt pay a lot of money. The people who stole it for us may have tampered with it. They could have done something to make it go off. Thats possible.
We dont know that, Oliver said.
Listen, friends, if we havent attracted any attention yet, its because She stopped and her eyes tracked the room zipzip, then narrowed.
I have new eyes, she said. Do you like the color? Youd better go now. Well talk later, after Im released.
On our way out of the hospital, in the tunnel connecting us to Times River Stations main tube, a hungry-looking, poorly-dressed and very young male LitVid agent tried to interview us. He followed us for thirty meters, glancing at his slate between what he thought were pointed questions. We were too glum and too smart to give any answers, but despite our reticence, we ended up in a ten-second flash on a side channel for Mars Tharsis local.
Sean, on the other hand, was interviewed the next day for an hour by an agent for New Mars Committee Scan, and that was picked up and broadcast by General Solar to the Triple. He told our story to the planets, and by and large, what he told was not what I remembered.
Nobody else was interviewed.
My sadness grew; my fresh young idealism waned rapidly, replaced by no wisdom to speak of, nothing emotionally concrete.
I thought about Seans words to us, his accusations, his pointed suspicion of me, his interview spreading distortions around the Triple. Now, I would say that he lied, but its possible Sean Dickinson even then was too good a rabbler to respect the truth. And Gretyl, I think, was about to pass on some sound advice about political need dictating how we seeand usehistory.
When we returned to our dorms at UMS, we found notices posted and doors locked. Diane met me and explained
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