LE Modesitt Eschbach 01 Of Tangible Ghosts

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high life as an almost-diva in France before the Fall.
Rationally, I couldn t blame her for a lot, but her recent coolness bothered
me. Was it really my
doing? I d sort of fit her in between my disasters, and no one likes to
be fitted into the spaces in another
person s life. It makes you part of the furniture. Yet we were continually
doing it to each other.
Was I projecting too much into Carolynne, hearing what I wanted to hear?
Losing my sanity? I
thought I heard what she said, but had I? I knew she was real others saw
her. But did they hear what I
heard?
I took a deep breath. I needed to talk to Llysette, and merely fighting
with myself wouldn t change
much. I turned back to the program parameters, adding another expression
to the code line.
The wireset chimed as I was fiddling with how to transform another code
line in the secondary
structure of my mercy and justice ghost.
Yes?
Doktor Eschbach, this is Gilda Gurtler. From the Natural Resources
Department
My dear Gilda, how formal we are.
Doktor Doniger would like to know if
He must be standing at your shoulder.
you would be well enough to see him if he stopped by in an hour or
so.
I could manage. I wanted to talk, or listen, to David like I wanted to
trade places with poor Bill
vanBecton.
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He would appreciate just a few moments very much.
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I would be charmed.
Thank you, Doktor Eschbach.
Thank you, Gilda.
I got a click in return. That bothered me. Then I got to thinking. I d
made a number of assumptions,
and most of them had been wrong. That bothered me, too. I could certainly
have read dear David
wrong. He was so boring that no one looked beyond, yet ... he generally did
get his way, as with the
course-capping business. And he generally persuaded the dean to go along
with his proposals. Even
outspoken Gilda changed her personality when he was standing nearby.
Why?
I turned off the difference engine, did some quick rearranging of my
study, and retrieved the handgun
I d never used in Columbia City. It was all too easy to let down before
everything was over, and I had
the feeling that things were not yet over unfortunately and that I might
be in for yet another surprise.
Just wonderful.
As usual on Fridays, Marie had already left, to get her own house ready for
the weekend. I put on
the chocolate, and wandered around waiting, not wanting to be surprised. I
didn t have to worry.
David s steamer whistled all the way up the drive, and I was waiting at
the door as he came in from the
drizzle that had turned to an almost steady rain.
He shook his umbrella, folded it, and stepped inside. His beady blue eyes
raked over me as I
ushered him in.
You do look a bit peaked still, Johan. It s a good thing you have the
weekend to recuperate.
Would you like some chocolate?
I wouldn t wish to impose.
It s no imposition, David. I was already fixing some. I made a pot
while he watched and carried it
and two mugs into the study. I even supplied biscuits. But I never
turned my back on him.
I took the desk chair, turned at an angle, wishing I d actually used a
shoulder holster.
Johan, the dean and I were talking ...
I just nodded, sipping the too-hot chocolate.
... about this whole ghost business. Now, on the surface it really doesn t
have much to do with
Natural Resources, but you do have a doctorate and the political
background.
I nodded again.
As you know, the university faces some severe financial constraints,
especially with the new state
budget for higher education. David leaned forward and sipped his chocolate
with a faint slurp. This is
good chocolate.
Thank you. I still watched his eyes. Was he at the house just to talk
about ghosts, politics, and
natural resources? What linked them together?
The department has had an increasing number of majors. We re over two
hundred now, but the
political science department is losing majors. They re down to
forty-five, and twenty are seniors. Garth
Bach is retiring next spring. He s thinking about taking up his country
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singing full-time. David shrugged.
We have to think about the future.
You want to consolidate the departments?
Create a larger department of environmental and political studies. In a
way, your work with the
environmental politics courses makes it a natural idea.
How do ghosts fit into this? I asked, trying not to glance toward the
desk drawer.
I suppose they don t, exactly. But when all this ... disruption
occurred David made a vague
gesture, as if he found the whole business somewhat unpleasant and the
dean looked into your
background, she was rather impressed with your political credentials. Of
course, those ... distinctive ...
credentials would be even more impressive in a department in which
politics I mean the study of
politics played a larger role. David smiled.
I returned the smile. More chocolate?
No, thank you.
In short, David was about to use me as the wedge to expand his academic
empire. I d be interested
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in the dean s reaction.
She was most interested. She spoke about perhaps approaching the trustees
for an endowed chair
of environmental politics. David smiled even more broadly. She also
hoped that you would be most
happy with Professor duBoise, and wondered if, perhaps, the arrangement might
be made more ...
permanent, at some suitable time, of course. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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