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."
"Ouch!"
"Sorry, Richard."
"Mayday, Mayday! Hail, Mary, I'm up the crick without a paddle! Answer me!"
"We read you. Major Lipschitz. Report local fix, planet, system, and
universe." It was a machine voice with a typical uninflected brassiness that
sets my teeth on edge.
"Now let's tape it tightly."
"Hell with procedures! I need T-shift pickup and I need it now! Check my
assignment and slam it! Switch point: 'One small step' by Armstrong. Local fix:
Hotel Raffles, room L. Time tick, now!"
I went on looking out the 'fresher door to avoid watching the unpleasant
things Xia and Gretchen were doing to me. I could hear shouts and people
running; something crashed against the corridor door. Then in the rock wall on
my right a new door dilated.
I say "door" for lack of a precise word. What I saw was a circular locus of
silver gray, floor to ceiling, and more. Inside this locus was an ordinary door
for a vehicle. What sort of vehicle I could not tell; its door was all I could
see.
It swung open; someone inside called out, "Grandma!" as the corridor door
crashed in and a man fell into the room. Hazel shot him. A second man was right
behind him; she shot him, too.
I reached for my cane-beyond Xia, damn it! "Hand me my cane! Hurry!"
"Now, now! You lie back down."
"Give it to me!" Hazel had one round left, or maybe none
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