Read Online To Ride Pegasus by Anne McCaffrey - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Anne McCaffrey
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excitement is bad for you?” Henry said.
“Excitement bad for me? Goddamn you, Darrow, it’s kept me alive months past the estimate those jokers gave me. You’ve kept me alive, damn your eyes.”
“Damn ’em?” Henry laughed. “That was the point, George, and you’ve admitted it before impartial witnesses, too.”
Henner pursed his thin, bloodless lips, glaring at various people in the room, unsatisfied with his present victim’s reactions and unable to vent his feelings on anyone better suited than Henry. His restless, probing glance fell briefly on Molly.
“Having to leave here will put your program back, won’t it?”
Henry shrugged. “For this decade, perhaps yes. The new location will be too far for prospective Talents in thesubbie class to come for the test. We can have mobile units … once we have the personnel. Trouble is the units have to be especially constructed …”
“Yes, yes, you’ve told me all that.” George flounced around in his chair, seeking a new or comfortable position as well as another victim. But he returned to Henry. “You’ll be sorry you’ve kept me alive. In exactly two minutes and four seconds …”
“No, George, I won’t ever be sorry for your life. Only sorry for your death.”
“I can believe that!”
“Indeed you can!” cried Molly, unable to bear George’s taunting acrimony.
“Molly …” George’s voice entreated her and she instinctively stepped toward him, her hands outstretched to give the comfort which had often eased him. But he leaned away, suddenly suspicious even of her. Her hands flew to her mouth as the rebuff wounded her. But his reaction broke Henry’s tight control.
“Damn it, George, she only wants to help.”
“Help me? Live? Or die!?”
Molly began to cry, turning towards the wall. But Henry took her in his arms, for once the comforter.
“Molly didn’t deserve that from you, George. The wager was with me!”
“He didn’t mean it that way, Henry,” said young op Owen, the words bursting from his lips, as if he’d been holding back for some time the desire to speak out.
Henner nodded, his face flushed with what Dai op Owen afterwards said was remorse. But the monitors began flashing warning signals.
“Hell, Molly,” George began in a choked voice, “I don’t distrust
you.”
Then the death alarm went off. “Ha! The appointed minute … And I’m alive! You’re wrong, Henry Darrow. You and all your tea-leaf, table-tipping crystal-gazing …”
At precisely 9:00:30, George Henner’s heart gave a massive contraction and stopped. Cameras on the deadman recorded that his hand raised slightly, towards Henry and Molly before the dead body collapsed.
Accustomed as they were to the death processes, the physicians in attendance were held motionless by the dramatic circumstances. Gus Molnar reacted first, hand moving towards the adrenalin syringe.
“No!” cried Dai op Owen, stepping forward, his hand outstretched “He wants to die. He doesn’t want to win the wager.”
“My God,” cried one of the physicians, pointing to the screen. “Look at the Goosegg. It’s gone wild. The mind’s still alive … No. Consciousness has gone. But God, look at the graph.”
“Let him go. He wants to go,” Daffyd op Owen was saying.
Molnar looked first towards Henry whose face was expressionless, then at the other physicians staring at the monitor readings.
“That means the brain’s dead, doesn’t it?” asked LEO Commissioner Mailer, pointing to the Goosegg graph now scribing straight lifeless lines.
Two of the medical men nodded.
“Then he’s dead,” said Mailer, glancing towards the Governor who nodded accord. “I’d say you won the bet, Darrow.”
“The wager said ‘minute’, I trust, not second?” asked one of the Senators.
“He shouldn’t’ve excited himself like that,” a doctor muttered. “This party was a mistake. Of course we weren’t consulted on that. But it set up circumstances which
“Excitement bad for me? Goddamn you, Darrow, it’s kept me alive months past the estimate those jokers gave me. You’ve kept me alive, damn your eyes.”
“Damn ’em?” Henry laughed. “That was the point, George, and you’ve admitted it before impartial witnesses, too.”
Henner pursed his thin, bloodless lips, glaring at various people in the room, unsatisfied with his present victim’s reactions and unable to vent his feelings on anyone better suited than Henry. His restless, probing glance fell briefly on Molly.
“Having to leave here will put your program back, won’t it?”
Henry shrugged. “For this decade, perhaps yes. The new location will be too far for prospective Talents in thesubbie class to come for the test. We can have mobile units … once we have the personnel. Trouble is the units have to be especially constructed …”
“Yes, yes, you’ve told me all that.” George flounced around in his chair, seeking a new or comfortable position as well as another victim. But he returned to Henry. “You’ll be sorry you’ve kept me alive. In exactly two minutes and four seconds …”
“No, George, I won’t ever be sorry for your life. Only sorry for your death.”
“I can believe that!”
“Indeed you can!” cried Molly, unable to bear George’s taunting acrimony.
“Molly …” George’s voice entreated her and she instinctively stepped toward him, her hands outstretched to give the comfort which had often eased him. But he leaned away, suddenly suspicious even of her. Her hands flew to her mouth as the rebuff wounded her. But his reaction broke Henry’s tight control.
“Damn it, George, she only wants to help.”
“Help me? Live? Or die!?”
Molly began to cry, turning towards the wall. But Henry took her in his arms, for once the comforter.
“Molly didn’t deserve that from you, George. The wager was with me!”
“He didn’t mean it that way, Henry,” said young op Owen, the words bursting from his lips, as if he’d been holding back for some time the desire to speak out.
Henner nodded, his face flushed with what Dai op Owen afterwards said was remorse. But the monitors began flashing warning signals.
“Hell, Molly,” George began in a choked voice, “I don’t distrust
you.”
Then the death alarm went off. “Ha! The appointed minute … And I’m alive! You’re wrong, Henry Darrow. You and all your tea-leaf, table-tipping crystal-gazing …”
At precisely 9:00:30, George Henner’s heart gave a massive contraction and stopped. Cameras on the deadman recorded that his hand raised slightly, towards Henry and Molly before the dead body collapsed.
Accustomed as they were to the death processes, the physicians in attendance were held motionless by the dramatic circumstances. Gus Molnar reacted first, hand moving towards the adrenalin syringe.
“No!” cried Dai op Owen, stepping forward, his hand outstretched “He wants to die. He doesn’t want to win the wager.”
“My God,” cried one of the physicians, pointing to the screen. “Look at the Goosegg. It’s gone wild. The mind’s still alive … No. Consciousness has gone. But God, look at the graph.”
“Let him go. He wants to go,” Daffyd op Owen was saying.
Molnar looked first towards Henry whose face was expressionless, then at the other physicians staring at the monitor readings.
“That means the brain’s dead, doesn’t it?” asked LEO Commissioner Mailer, pointing to the Goosegg graph now scribing straight lifeless lines.
Two of the medical men nodded.
“Then he’s dead,” said Mailer, glancing towards the Governor who nodded accord. “I’d say you won the bet, Darrow.”
“The wager said ‘minute’, I trust, not second?” asked one of the Senators.
“He shouldn’t’ve excited himself like that,” a doctor muttered. “This party was a mistake. Of course we weren’t consulted on that. But it set up circumstances which
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