Read Online Reconception: The Fall by Deborah Greenspan - Free Book Online

several
spaces available with lower priority than his. Ergo, Morgan did not
really need his space. He'd wanted it for some other reason.
Perhaps he'd not really wanted it at all.
    Jersey sat down heavily as he realized that Morgan
had been manipulating him. Morgan wanted him afraid and at the same
time grateful. Why? Of course it was true that available space or
not, Morgan could probably succeed in taking over his space if he
really wanted it, but it wouldn't put Jersey out in the cold. He'd
just have to move; so why? What did the man want, what did he stand
to gain? He never had trusted him, anyway, not since that day,
nearly twenty years ago, when he’d come out of Evie Chandler’s
quarters covered in blood.
    "He wants something from me," Jersey muttered aloud,
"something he doesn't think I'd do if he just came right out and
asked for it. Well, I won't put up with it. I'll just go and tell
him so."
    When Jersey burst into Morgan's office, Morgan
realized instantly that his plan had not worked. For one thing,
Jersey was not acting the part of subordinate. He was acting quite
triumphant. Oh, this should be interesting, Morgan thought. This
will be very interesting.
    "Morgan," Jersey said, "just what are you up to? You
had no intention of taking over my laboratories, did you? You were
just trying to manipulate me, and I demand to know why."
    Morgan, stalling for a few moments to think, got up
and went to the drink dispenser. "Would you care for a drink,
Jersey?" The man was naïve; otherwise he'd have bided his time.
    "No, I want an answer."
    "Well," Morgan said, "you're absolutely right, of
course. I knew you'd figure it out, and I told the others so, but
they insisted that I try."
    "What others? What are you talking about?"
    "The fact is it's a secret. I just can't tell you at
this time, because it's a matter of security."
    "Security! What rubbish! Who's going to threaten
us?"
    Morgan looked worried. "I know it sounds unlikely,
but we are in danger, and you may be called upon to help. We
thought we could get your cooperation without telling you the
facts; we don't want to start a panic, you see, but I guess that's
not going to be the case. If you'll just give me a few days, I'll
discuss this with the ... others and see if they can give you
security clearance."
    Jersey didn't know what to say. Security. Clearance.
These were a foreign language to him.
    "Trust me," Morgan said, grabbing the advantage.
"Just trust me."
    The physicist mumbled his agreement and left the
great manipulator behind. Morgan put his feet up and grinned from
ear to ear. Lipton was going to be fun. It was going to take some
real creativity to get the physicist to cooperate. The idea added
spice to Morgan's heady sense of personal power. It made him,
literally, high.

CHAPTER 7
     
    Mountain People: 2128
     
    The camels were unexpected. Everything that had
happened in the last twenty-four hours was unexpected, but the
camels went beyond the realm of the unforeseen, and into the
surreal. Garret could not believe such ungainly, smelly creatures
even existed. Oh, he'd seen them in books, but the picture did not
remotely compare with the reality.
    Camels! Evie, on the other hand, took to the camels
as easily as she'd taken to the Mountain People. She petted them
and fed them grasses. She even climbed on and took a ride.
Laughing, she walked over to Garret and hung her arms around his
neck. "Oh Garret, isn't it wonderful?"
    The plan was that several men from the mountain
people would take the food and the producers to Southeast via
caravan. They'd discussed it over dinner the night before, and Eye
of Eagle had insisted that it would be faster, and safer, and that
the food had a much better chance of getting there.
    Cries at the Moon, Red Deer and Nightstalker were
looking over the maps while the camels were watered and fed. In a
few moments, they would load the packs containing the producers
onto the backs of eight animals and be off. Unsure and