their viewing through it would get static.
This is a great idea, said Siggy enthusiastically.
Claire looked more doubtful. Are you sure we won't get into a whole lot of trouble if we're caught?I don't see why, said Silver. Mr. Van Atta disconnects the smoke alarm in his quarters whenever he has a jubajoint.
I thought downsiders weren't allowed to smoke on board, said Siggy, startled.
Mr. Van Atta says it's a privilege of rank, said Silver. I wish I had rank. . . .
Has he ever given you one of his jubas?asked Claire ina tone of gruesome fascination. Once, said Silver.
Wow, said Siggy, grinning in admiration. What was it like?
Silver made a face. Not much. It tasted kind of nasty. Made my eyes red. I really couldn't see the point to it. Maybe downsiders have some biochemical reaction we don't get. I asked Mr. Van Atta, but he just laughed at me.
Oh, said Siggy, and switched his interest to the holovid display. All three quaddies settled around it. An anticipatory silence fell in the chamber as the music swelled and the bold red title letters rotated before their eyes—The Prisoner of Zenda.
The scene opened on an authentically-detailed street scene from the dawn of civilization,before space travel or even electricity. A quartet of glossy horses, harness jingling, drew an elaborate box on wheels across the ground.
Can't you get any more of the 'Ninja of the Twin Stars' series? complained Siggy. This is more of your darned dirtball stuff. I want something realistic, like that chase scene through the asteroid belt... His hands pursued each other as he made nasal sound effects indicating machinery undergoing high acceleration.
Page 14
Shut up and look at all the animals, said Silver. So many—and it's not even a zoo. The place is littered with them.
Littered is right, giggled Claire. They're not wearing diapers, you know. Think about that.
Siggysniffed. Earth must have been a really disgusting place to live, back in the old days. No wonder people grew legs. Anything, to prop them up in the air away from—
Silver switched the vid offwith a snap. If you can't think of anything else to talk about, she said dangerously, I'll go back to my dorm. With my vid. And you all can go back to watching' Cleaning and Maintenance Techniques for Food Service Areas.'
Sorry.Siggy curled his four arms around himself in a submissive ball, and tried to look contrite. Claire refrained from further comment.
Huh. Silver switched the vid back on, and continued watching in rapt and uninterrupted silence. When the railway scenes began,even Siggy stopped squirming.
Leo was well launched into his first class lecture.
Now, here is a typical length of electron beam weld . .. he fiddled with the controls of his holovid display. A ghost image in bright blue light, the computer-generated x-ray inspection record of the original object, sprang into being in the center of the room. Spread out, kids, so you can all get a good look at it.
The quaddies arranged themselves around the display in a spherical shell of attentiveness, automatically extending helping hands to neighbors to absorb and trade momentum so that all achieved a tolerable hover. Dr. Yei, sitting in—if you could call it that—floated unobtrusively in the background. Monitoring him for his political purity, Leo supposed, not that it mattered. He did not propose to alter his lecture one jot for her presence.
Leo rotated the image so that each student could see it from every angle. Now let's magnifythis part.
You see the deep-V cross section fromthe high-energy-density beam, familiar from your basic welding courses, right? Note the small round porosities here . . .the magnification jumped again. Would you say this weld is defective or not? He almost added, Raise your hand, before realizing what a particularly unintelligible directive that was here. Several of the red-clad students solved the dilemma for him by crossing their upper arms formally across their chests instead, looking
This is a great idea, said Siggy enthusiastically.
Claire looked more doubtful. Are you sure we won't get into a whole lot of trouble if we're caught?I don't see why, said Silver. Mr. Van Atta disconnects the smoke alarm in his quarters whenever he has a jubajoint.
I thought downsiders weren't allowed to smoke on board, said Siggy, startled.
Mr. Van Atta says it's a privilege of rank, said Silver. I wish I had rank. . . .
Has he ever given you one of his jubas?asked Claire ina tone of gruesome fascination. Once, said Silver.
Wow, said Siggy, grinning in admiration. What was it like?
Silver made a face. Not much. It tasted kind of nasty. Made my eyes red. I really couldn't see the point to it. Maybe downsiders have some biochemical reaction we don't get. I asked Mr. Van Atta, but he just laughed at me.
Oh, said Siggy, and switched his interest to the holovid display. All three quaddies settled around it. An anticipatory silence fell in the chamber as the music swelled and the bold red title letters rotated before their eyes—The Prisoner of Zenda.
The scene opened on an authentically-detailed street scene from the dawn of civilization,before space travel or even electricity. A quartet of glossy horses, harness jingling, drew an elaborate box on wheels across the ground.
Can't you get any more of the 'Ninja of the Twin Stars' series? complained Siggy. This is more of your darned dirtball stuff. I want something realistic, like that chase scene through the asteroid belt... His hands pursued each other as he made nasal sound effects indicating machinery undergoing high acceleration.
Page 14
Shut up and look at all the animals, said Silver. So many—and it's not even a zoo. The place is littered with them.
Littered is right, giggled Claire. They're not wearing diapers, you know. Think about that.
Siggysniffed. Earth must have been a really disgusting place to live, back in the old days. No wonder people grew legs. Anything, to prop them up in the air away from—
Silver switched the vid offwith a snap. If you can't think of anything else to talk about, she said dangerously, I'll go back to my dorm. With my vid. And you all can go back to watching' Cleaning and Maintenance Techniques for Food Service Areas.'
Sorry.Siggy curled his four arms around himself in a submissive ball, and tried to look contrite. Claire refrained from further comment.
Huh. Silver switched the vid back on, and continued watching in rapt and uninterrupted silence. When the railway scenes began,even Siggy stopped squirming.
Leo was well launched into his first class lecture.
Now, here is a typical length of electron beam weld . .. he fiddled with the controls of his holovid display. A ghost image in bright blue light, the computer-generated x-ray inspection record of the original object, sprang into being in the center of the room. Spread out, kids, so you can all get a good look at it.
The quaddies arranged themselves around the display in a spherical shell of attentiveness, automatically extending helping hands to neighbors to absorb and trade momentum so that all achieved a tolerable hover. Dr. Yei, sitting in—if you could call it that—floated unobtrusively in the background. Monitoring him for his political purity, Leo supposed, not that it mattered. He did not propose to alter his lecture one jot for her presence.
Leo rotated the image so that each student could see it from every angle. Now let's magnifythis part.
You see the deep-V cross section fromthe high-energy-density beam, familiar from your basic welding courses, right? Note the small round porosities here . . .the magnification jumped again. Would you say this weld is defective or not? He almost added, Raise your hand, before realizing what a particularly unintelligible directive that was here. Several of the red-clad students solved the dilemma for him by crossing their upper arms formally across their chests instead, looking
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