Across the Spectrum Read Online Free PDF

down to the
mat, his left arm crooked in a careless reverse-half-nelson, his right hand
tickling just below those magnificent—
    Whack! Tweeeeeeet! “Pin! The match goes to the
human!” brayed the centaur-ref.
    And he almost couldn’t make himself stop tickling her now
that he had her down, but the roar of the crowd was enough to make him look up
in a daze, and the first thing he saw, past the four legs of the ref, was
Harmin’ Harmon jumping up and down like a dancing buffalo. His friend’s voice
was drowned out, but it hardly mattered. And the second thing Hog saw was the
centaur bending down to look at him with apparent puzzlement in its eyes.
    “Human, I am unsure how you did that,” the ref said, waving
its paddle-hands. “But congratulations. And if you don’t get up off your
opponent, it will be a shame that you will be required to forfeit the
match . . .”
    “Huh?” Hog released the Ektra with a start and sat back on
his haunches, blinking in amazement at what he had done. He stood up shakily,
and extended a hand to help his opponent up off the mat.
    The Ektra-woman was pouting as it rose. But after a moment,
its lips quivered and reformed into a smile . . . and then into
a beaming grin. A grin? Hog thought.
    “Earth!” “Earth!” “Earth!” “Earth!” “Earth . . . !” A chant had started in the stands and was growing in intensity. They were
banging their seats now. “ Number One!” “One!” “One . . . !”
    “WAY T’ GO, HAWWWWWG!” bawled Harmin’ Harmon, striding up
and down the sidelines, fists in the air.
    “Look at the camera, Justin—look at the camera!” His
mother was practically on the mat, pointing up into the stands at his father
and the fastcam.
    Hog grinned weakly and looked back at the Ektra. It was
still a dazzling creature, but her grin had continued to widen, bright teeth
sparkling, until the grin seemed to take up most of her face. And then Hog
realized dizzily that her face was slowly disappearing, leaving only the
grin. And he stood, blinking, watching the grin fade last of all, until the
Ektra was gone altogether. And Hog turned in bewilderment to the ref, who was
looking toward the scoring table and didn’t see any of it happen.
    “Justin! Ask it to do that again! Your father missed it!”
    Hog turned around, waving in confusion. “Say, uh—” he
croaked to his absent opponent, “nice match!” And found himself thinking, Is it
true? Is it really true? Did I win the tricrystal medal for Earth? The only
human in history to win a tricrystal? And then the centaur-ref trotted back
to him, and hoisted his hand in victory, and Hog forgot his doubts and waved
triumphantly to the crowd. And when he turned, he saw a large, iridescent
lizard rising up as if from the very substance of the mat and turning to
shuffle away.
    “Hey, Ektra!” he cried.
    “Breee?” said the lizard, looking back. (We like
semiconductor medals better, anyway. (I lie!) (I lie!)) it whispered in a
psicry.
    Hog laughed happily and patted it on the back. “Great match,
guy. Next time don’t be so ticklish!”
    “Breee,” said the lizard. (Done well. Next match I get the
home crowd, okay?)
    “Okay. See you around.” Hog trotted off the mat, waving
again to the crowd, and fell into the congratulating arms of his mother and
Harmin’ Harmon. He hardly even heard their voices, or the voice of Coach Tagget . . .
    “Drinks on me, just like I said . . .”
    “Where’d you learn to do that sort of a thing with a
woman, Justin . . . ?”
    “Donovan, just like I been tellin’ you, the brain is the
most important . . .”
    But if he didn’t hear what they said after that, he did hear
the chants of Earth! Earth! and he could already feel the tricrystal
medal glistening and breathing in his hand. And he heard a centipede voice
hissing, “Kreeeepy kreeepy earthman—sssee you nexxxt yearrr on Meetsssnepp
Fffive, hah-hahhh! Zerrrro grrravity unlimited,