answer.
"Even if you know where the sensor control is, you still have to be able to see it to make the adjustment."
"It's done,” said Neil, returning to his cot in total darkness.
"How the hell did you do it?” asked Lomax.
"I thought I told you: I work with computers. I was picking up some parts when I met you."
"So?"
"A couple of years ago I programmed a pair of microchips for infrared vision and had them surgically inserted in my eyes."
"You can really see in the dark?"
"Sure,” said Neil.
"Amazing!” muttered Lomax.
"Oh, that's nothing. I've got chips in me that enhance my hearing and my sense of smell, too."
"You designed yourself?"
"It's what I do."
"I suppose if you had to, you could probably design one that would speed up all your reactions,” said Lomax.
"Given enough time, I probably could. Why?"
"It might prove useful where you're going."
"You know, it never occurred to me,” admitted Neil thoughtfully.
"Well, it's an idea, anyway,” said Lomax, laying back down on his cot.
"It's a damned good idea, Gravedancer,” said Neil. “If I'm going to live on the Frontier, I ought to be ... well, prepared ."
"Nothing wrong with that,” agreed Lomax. “Out here you need any edge you can get. I just went up against a man who had a laser built into a fake finger. Never spotted it. If the fat old man I'm working for hadn't been a little more alert than I was, I wouldn't have lived long enough to get to Greycloud."
"A weapon in a prosthetic finger...” mused Neil. “I could do that.” He considered the proposition. “Hell, I could turn my whole body into a killing machine."
"Who do you plan on killing?” asked Lomax.
"No one."
"Then why bother?"
"Because one of these days someone may want to kill me, and it's best to be prepared."
"Contrary to what you may have seen on the video, life on the Inner Frontier isn't one prolonged gunfight,” said Lomax.
"Yours is."
"My life is like anyone else's in my profession,” replied Lomax. “Endless stretches of boredom, punctuated by very brief periods of danger that make you wonder what was so wrong with the boredom in the first place."
"Well, it can't hurt to be prepared,” said the young man stubbornly. “After all, you suggested it."
"I know,” said Lomax sleepily. “You do what you want to do."
"I'll start designing what I need on the ship's computer in the morning."
"Fine,” yawned Lomax. “At least I know what to call you now."
"You do?"
"Yeah. From this day forward, you're the Silicon Kid."
Neil smiled happily in the darkness. “I like that!"
"Somehow I thought you might,” said Lomax.
[Back to Table of Contents]
4.
Olympus was a rugged little world, filled with too many mountains and too little farmland, saltwater oceans that tended to produce tidal waves and freshwater lakes and rivers that tended to dry up every summer. At first view there was no reason why anyone should have wanted to settle there, let alone produce a sprawling megalopolis between two of the larger mountain ranges, but it happened that the planet was almost ideally located between the Democracy and that section of the Inner Frontier dominated by the Binder system. Originally it housed a single Tradertown, but as commerce grew between the Democracy and the worlds of the Inner Frontier, the Tradertown began growing in all directions—including up —and one day, without anyone knowing quite how it had happened, it had become a huge city encompassing almost two million humans and perhaps fifty thousand aliens of various races, a shipping and trading center of truly Homeric proportions. There were four spaceports, two orbiting hangars each capable of accommodating more than one thousand ships that were too big or too heavy to land on the planet's surface, and some forty square miles, just to the north of the city, for storing grain that was en route to the Democracy.
The city was named, appropriately enough, Athens, and most of the major thoroughfares
"Even if you know where the sensor control is, you still have to be able to see it to make the adjustment."
"It's done,” said Neil, returning to his cot in total darkness.
"How the hell did you do it?” asked Lomax.
"I thought I told you: I work with computers. I was picking up some parts when I met you."
"So?"
"A couple of years ago I programmed a pair of microchips for infrared vision and had them surgically inserted in my eyes."
"You can really see in the dark?"
"Sure,” said Neil.
"Amazing!” muttered Lomax.
"Oh, that's nothing. I've got chips in me that enhance my hearing and my sense of smell, too."
"You designed yourself?"
"It's what I do."
"I suppose if you had to, you could probably design one that would speed up all your reactions,” said Lomax.
"Given enough time, I probably could. Why?"
"It might prove useful where you're going."
"You know, it never occurred to me,” admitted Neil thoughtfully.
"Well, it's an idea, anyway,” said Lomax, laying back down on his cot.
"It's a damned good idea, Gravedancer,” said Neil. “If I'm going to live on the Frontier, I ought to be ... well, prepared ."
"Nothing wrong with that,” agreed Lomax. “Out here you need any edge you can get. I just went up against a man who had a laser built into a fake finger. Never spotted it. If the fat old man I'm working for hadn't been a little more alert than I was, I wouldn't have lived long enough to get to Greycloud."
"A weapon in a prosthetic finger...” mused Neil. “I could do that.” He considered the proposition. “Hell, I could turn my whole body into a killing machine."
"Who do you plan on killing?” asked Lomax.
"No one."
"Then why bother?"
"Because one of these days someone may want to kill me, and it's best to be prepared."
"Contrary to what you may have seen on the video, life on the Inner Frontier isn't one prolonged gunfight,” said Lomax.
"Yours is."
"My life is like anyone else's in my profession,” replied Lomax. “Endless stretches of boredom, punctuated by very brief periods of danger that make you wonder what was so wrong with the boredom in the first place."
"Well, it can't hurt to be prepared,” said the young man stubbornly. “After all, you suggested it."
"I know,” said Lomax sleepily. “You do what you want to do."
"I'll start designing what I need on the ship's computer in the morning."
"Fine,” yawned Lomax. “At least I know what to call you now."
"You do?"
"Yeah. From this day forward, you're the Silicon Kid."
Neil smiled happily in the darkness. “I like that!"
"Somehow I thought you might,” said Lomax.
[Back to Table of Contents]
4.
Olympus was a rugged little world, filled with too many mountains and too little farmland, saltwater oceans that tended to produce tidal waves and freshwater lakes and rivers that tended to dry up every summer. At first view there was no reason why anyone should have wanted to settle there, let alone produce a sprawling megalopolis between two of the larger mountain ranges, but it happened that the planet was almost ideally located between the Democracy and that section of the Inner Frontier dominated by the Binder system. Originally it housed a single Tradertown, but as commerce grew between the Democracy and the worlds of the Inner Frontier, the Tradertown began growing in all directions—including up —and one day, without anyone knowing quite how it had happened, it had become a huge city encompassing almost two million humans and perhaps fifty thousand aliens of various races, a shipping and trading center of truly Homeric proportions. There were four spaceports, two orbiting hangars each capable of accommodating more than one thousand ships that were too big or too heavy to land on the planet's surface, and some forty square miles, just to the north of the city, for storing grain that was en route to the Democracy.
The city was named, appropriately enough, Athens, and most of the major thoroughfares
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