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not have a large tolerance for error. His hours of practice with
the kep's lock enabled him to open it on the first attempt. He
drew another deep breath, knowing that he was doing well in
the eyes of the Havoc Forces' evaluation personnel.
Beneath the stiff flap of the kep his equipment was packed
with regulationary order, arranged on a stacked series of
trays. He removed the topmost tray, containing a transceiver
module that would not operate wherever it was that he was, a
copy of the Forces' standard manual on alien linguistics and
emergency protocol methods, several boxes of condoms, an
eight-foot banner celebrating the five hundredth anniversary
of the founding of the Havoc Forces, with two collapsible
poles, guy wires, and six stakes, and a marker buoy with two
dye capsules. He placed the tray on the ground according to
the instructions he had received during his training period.
He pulled apart the magnetic seams of the kep to remove
the second tray. This tray held his entertainment rations,
which he knew from the reports of previous candidates to be
the most dangerous material that he carried. Even the
briefest of glances at the contents of the second tray during
his time in the field would be rated an Error. He had received
240
Dirty Tricks
by George Alec Effinger
his rations only minutes before lifting out to the exercise, and
had not had time to examine them. He was certain that his
curiosity was a carefully metered variable, and that a large
section of his final report would concern his attitude toward
these potential distractions. He remembered that the tray
held several popular novels (two of them openly seditious),
lifelike sensuals of nude women and men and other
organisms, programs of several types of music, a variety of
narcotics and hallucinogens, and even an illegal intercranial
stimulator. With an expression empty of interest he placed
the tray on the ground, adjacent to the first and at the proper
angle.
He parted the seams farther and removed the third tray,
which contained a chronometer, an empty canteen for use in
some emergency when he would need an empty canteen, a
white metal bar with a beacon at one end and a siren at the
other, his personal toilet articles (which he knew also to be an
Error even to touch), his Book of Reward, a bundle of
personal message plasties and a bundle of the official sort,
and an alto recorder that he didn't yet know how to play. The
third tray joined the first two, in exactly the proper place in
the formation.
In the fourth tray were many cellophane packets. Some of
the packets contained white lozenges about the size of a
thumbnail; these were food. Others contained white pills
about half that size, and were water. There were enough of
both to last him many months. When he placed the fourth
tray on the ground, it formed the last side of a regular
241
Dirty Tricks
by George Alec Effinger
pentagon consisting of the four trays and the base of the kep.
The pentagon was the symbol of the Havoc Forces.
He peeled the sides of the kep away to allow him access to
the bottom tray. It was divided into two identical parts, each
with a lid and a three-panel color lock. He opened one of the
two boxes and placed the mover inside. It would not function
while it was within the correct section of the correct tray.
Then he relocked the box and pressed the seams together
around the fifth tray. He replaced the fourth tray and then the
third, fitting together the sides of the kep from the bottom
upward. He realized that he must do something meaningful,
no matter how trivial, in order to justify his rest to the
evaluation staff. Therefore he removed the chronometer from
the third tray and studied it briefly, fearing to take too much
time and thus commit an Error. Six days, he thought. I have
been here for six days.
The second tray and then the first were restacked within
the kep, and the sides rejoined tightly around them. He pulled
the flap over and down and relocked it. I must show them
how efficient I can be, he thought as he walked around the
kep and strapped on the harness. I will walk until I am
completely exhausted, and they will see that it is so. Then I
will stop and eat, combining a rest period with an eating
period. After that I will be allowed to take out the mover once
again. He began walking across the silent plain. It was much
more difficult than traveling with the mover: his feet sank in
the gray sand or he slipped on the unsure footing of the gray
stones. His legs ached, but he knew that it was not yet time
to stop. His chest pained him with each breath, but he was
242
Dirty Tricks
by George Alec Effinger
sure that he was not yet exhausted. He kept going, and the
sun stayed high overhead, as it had been for six days, a dull
patch of lighter cloud in the grayness of the sky. Even the
minimal pleasure of watching the shadows lengthen was
denied him.
He walked for many miles, although there were no
landmarks that he could use to judge the distance, and
nothing moved on the ground or in the sky to indicate the
passage of time. His body was filled with pain, but as long as
he could take another step he did so, proud that the
evaluation personnel were surely impressed with his extra
effort. As the fatigue grew within him his thoughts, too,
turned gray; inside and out he was becoming more and more
a suitable addition to the scene.
The clicking of the loose stones roused him. The sound was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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